Winter movies roll in like a 800-lb. gorilla

“Aeon Flux”

Paramount Pictures

Starring: Charlize Theron, Marton Csokas, Jonny Lee Miller, Sophie Okonedo, Pete Postlethwaite, Amelia Warner, Caroline Chikezie, Frances McDormand
Director: Karyn Kusama
Story: Based on the MTV animated series, this film is set 400 years in the future. Disease has wiped out everything except the walled city of Bregna, which is ruled by scientists. Aeon (Theron) is a top operative from the underground rebellion led by The Handler (McDormand). When Aeon is sent on a mission to kill a government official, she uncovers a world of secrets.
Buzz: Interestingly (mostly because few others do it), Theron continues to choose to work with female directors. This action flick is quite a departure for Theron, who once notoriously said (and now denies she said it) that she never wanted to have Halle Berry’s post-Oscar career. Remember that old saying about karma being a bitch? Kursama is best known for the film “Girlfight,” so expect a tough, independent woman at the center of this film.
Web site:  http://www.aeonflux.com/

“First Descent”

Universal Pictures

Starring: Shawn Farmer, Nick Perata, Terje Haakonsen, Shaun White and Hannah Teter
Director: Kevin Harrison, Kemp Curley
Story: A look at the controversial rise of snowboarding, the film looks back at three of the early pioneers (Shawn Farmer, Nick Perata and Terje Haakonsen) and two of today’s hotshots (Shaun White and Hannah Teter). The five share their stories and then make the first descent down the snowy, untouched Alaskan mountains. Film intercuts footage from the ’80s and 90s with the group’s adventures today.
Buzz: This film is labeled as a docu-drama rather than a documentary, which leads me to believe we’re going to see some reenactments, similar to “Touching the Void.” Can anyone really do this stuff better than Warren Miller has for years?
Web site:  http://www.firstdescentmovie.com/

“Transamerica”

Amanda Edwards / Getty Images

Starring: Felicity Huffman, Kevin Zegers, Fionnula Flanagan, Graham Greene, Elizabeth Peña, Jon Budinoff
Director: Duncan Tucker
Story: Huffman plays Bree, a transsexual woman, who was born the genetically male Stanley. She’s about to take the final steps in becoming a woman and then finds out she has a 17-year-old son, street hustler Toby (Zegers). She goes out to New York to get him out of jail and the two embark on a cross-country trip to Los Angeles.  
Buzz: Huffman took home the best actress award at the Tribeca Film Festival for her performance. Sheri Linden of the Hollywood Reporter says of the film, “Impressively realized on all levels, this transgender spin on the road trip boasts an extraordinary central performance.”
Web site: http://www.transamerica-movie.com/

“Brokeback Mountain”

Focus Features

Starring: Heath Ledger, Jake Gyllenhaal, Linda Cardellini, Anna Faris, Anne Hathaway, Michelle Williams, Randy Quaid
Director: Ang Lee
Story: The story of two men (Gyllenhaal and Ledger) who herd sheep together on Brokeback Mountain. Their friendship becomes something deeper, but at the end of the summer they part ways. In the four years that follow, both marry (Williams and Hathaway) and have kids, but their bond remains. When they meet again, they struggle to reconcile their love with their real lives.
Buzz: Tremendous Oscar buzz for Heath Ledger’s performance (though he’ll have some stiff competition if he’s nominated in the best actor category rather than supporting). Williams (“Dick!”) could also walk away with a best-supporting actress nomination. Ang Lee’s always a threat for a director’s nod. If you need more proof that this film has pedigree, Larry McMurtry (“Lonesome Dove”) co-wrote the screenplay. So far, critics report this film has transcended the “gay cowboy movie” label. Variety’s Todd McCarthy notes, “This ostensible gay Western is marked by a heightened degree of sensitivity and tact, as well as an outstanding performance from Heath Ledger.” It will be interesting to see if mainstream America embraces this one.
Web site:  http://www.brokebackmountain.com/

“The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe”

Walt Disney

Starring: Tilda Swinton, Liam Neeson, Georgie Henley, William Moseley, Skandar Keynes, Anna Popplewell, Rupert Everett, Dawn French, James McAvoy
Director: Andrew Adamson
Story: Based on the books by C.S. Lewis, this film is the story of four kids (Henley, Mosley, Keynes and Popplewell) who discover the magical world of Narnia at the back of an elderly professor’s wardrobe. This new world they discover is being held in perpetual winter by the evil White Witch (Swinton). The mystical lion Aslan both terrifies and astounds the children as they try to defeat the witch.
Buzz: The books are thought to be a thinly veiled version of the Christ tale. But will the film be Christian enough for Christian audiences, yet secular enough to satisfy those who don’t want religion served with their popcorn? Reading the books as a small non-Christian kid, I didn’t really catch on to the religious aspects; the story had enough much magic, adventure and escapism to satisfy a kid of any religion. Disney would love for a “Harry Potter”-type series to grow out of this one.  Director Adamson is mostly known as being the force behind the “Shrek” films.
Web site:  http://adisney.go.com/disneypictures/narnia/index.html

“Memoirs of a Geisha”

Columbia Pictures

Starring: Ziyi Zhang, Gong Li, Ken Watanabe, Michelle Yeoh, Youki Kudoh, Koji Yakusho, Karl Yune, Ted Levine
Director: Rob Marshall
Story: Based on the best-selling novel by Arthur Golden, this is the story of a penniless Japanese girl, Sayuri (played as an adult by Zhang), who is torn from her home to work in a geisha house. The head geisha (Gong Li), jealous of Sayuri’s beauty, treats her poorly, but her rival (Yeoh) takes Sayuri under her wing and trains her the ways of being a true geisha. World War II looms, ready to change everything. Watanabe is on board as the man Zhang Ziyi longs for. 
Buzz: The acting powerhouse here is Gong Li (“Farewell My Concubine”), who’s a threat to steal the film away from Zhang and Yeoh, mostly known for their martial arts films (“Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon”). An epic like this should be a shoo-in for Oscar; but with a primarily Asian cast, this could be a tough sell (though “Last Emperor” has proved it can be done). The biggest test will be for Marshall (“Chicago”); can he avoid sophomore slump?
Web site: http://sonypictures.com/movies/memoirsofageisha/

“Mrs. Henderson Presents”

The Weinstein Company

Starring: Judi Dench, Christopher Guest, Anna Brewster, Bob Hoskins, Camille O'Sullivan, Kelly Reilly, Natalia Tena, Will Young, Victoria Hay, Anna Brewster
Director: Stephen Frears
Story: Dench stars as Laura Henderson, a woman who buys the Windmill Theatre in 1937 London. Hoskins is Vivian Van Damm, who Dench hires to help her run the theater. He decides to do an all-day, nonstop vaudeville show. And then Dench takes it one step further by suggesting that it be an all-nude revue. Guest co-stars as the prudish censor Lord Cromer who must give his approval. 
Buzz: With the low box-office return on “North Country,” the best-actress race for Oscar could boil down to Dench’s performance in this film vs. Reese Witherspoon’s turn in “Walk the Line.” Frears (“Dangerous Liasons,” “Dirty Pretty Things”) is the kind of sharp director who continues to surprise with just how good he is at telling a story.
Web site: http://www.weinsteinco.com/mrshenderson/

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