Holiday season brings movie choices
“Slumdog Millionaire”
My excellent colleague George Lang and I labored lovingly on this roundup of the movies set to open in Oklahoma City during the holiday season. The story ran in Friday’s Weekend Look section of The Oklahoman.
Have a treat for holidays
Studios serve possible award nominees
The holidays bring a variety of seasonal treats, from spiced eggnog and pumpkin pie lattes to Christmas lights displays and better movie choices.
Between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Eve, the movie studios proudly serve up their possible award nominees, along with Christmas-theme movies, sci-fi spectacles and raucous comedies.
These are the holiday films on the menu for Oklahoma City, but remember that studios sometimes move around opening dates. Check movie listings before you head out to the theater.
“Australia”
Opened Wednesday
A couple (Vince Vaughn and Reece Witherspoon), both with divorced parents, try to visit all four sides of their families on Christmas Day in “Four Christmases.”
Jason Statham returns as high-dollar, multi-talented courier Frank Martin in “Transporter 3.”
Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman find love in the midst of World War II in “Australia,” the anticipated epic from director Baz Luhrmann.
“Cadillac Records”
Dec. 5
“Cadillac Records” follows the rise of Chess Records and its stars, including Muddy Waters (Jeffrey Wright), Etta James (Beyonce Knowles) and Chuck Berry (Mos Def).
“I’ve Loved You So Long” centers on a convicted murderer (Kristin Scott Thomas) who after her release from prison goes to live with the sister she barely knows (Elsa Zylberstein).
In “Punisher: War Zone,” Ray Stevenson plays vigilante Frank Castle, taking over the role from Thomas Jane, who played the Marvel anti-hero in 2004’s “The Punisher.”
“The Day the Earth Stood Still”
Dec. 12
Sean Penn, Josh Brolin and James Franco star in “Milk,” Gus Van Zant’s long-awaited biopic of Harvey Milk (Penn), the first openly gay man elected to major public office in America.
In “Nothing Like the Holidays,” a Puerto Rican-American clan copes with family and personal dramas during what may be their last Christmas together.
Keanu Reeves, Jennifer Connelly and Kathy Bates star in “The Day the Earth Stood Still,” a remake of the 1951 sci-fi classic.
The long-delayed animated fantasy “Delgo,” features the voice talents of Val Kilmer, Freddie Prinze Jr. and the late Anne Bancroft.
“The Tale of Despereaux”
Dec. 19
Will Smith plays an Internal Revenue Service agent trying to make up for an grievous error in “Seven Pounds.”
A hyper-intelligent mouse (Matthew Broderick) is banished from his society after becoming friends with a human princess (Emma Watson) in the CG fantasy “The Tale of Despereaux.”
A Chinese warrior must recover from a lost love and maintain his battle stance in “Ashes of Time Redux.”
In “Yes Man,” Jim Carrey agrees to agree to every opportunity, no matter how life-threatening or buffoonish, while finding romance with an indie rocker (Zooey Deschanel).
“Frost/Nixon”
Dec. 25
Meryl Streep stars as a Catholic school principal who suspects a priest (Philip Seymour Hoffman) of child molestation in “Doubt.”
Ron Howard’s “Frost/Nixon,” starring Frank Langella and Michael Sheen, portrays the events leading up to and during BBC presenter David Frost’s 1977 interviews with Richard Nixon.
David Fincher (”Se7en,” “Zodiac”) directs “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” in which the title character (Brad Pitt) starts life as an old man and ages backwards.
A couple (Owen Wilson and Jennifer Aniston) grapple with the difficulties of modern marriage and dog ownership in “Marley and Me.”
A nutty uncle (Adam Sandler) spins wild tales for his young relatives in “Bedtime Stories,” a family-friendly comedy from director Adam Shankman (”Hairspray”).
Frank Miller directs “The Spirit,” based on his graphic novel with Will Eisner about a rookie cop (Gabriel Macht) who comes back from the dead to fight crime.
Kate Winslet and Ralph Fiennes star in the post-World War II drama “The Reader,” about former lovers who are reunited when the woman is put on trial for war crimes.
“Valkyrie”
Dec. 26
Director Danny Boyle (”Trainspotting,” “28 Days Later”) tells of a young man whose winning answers on India’s version of “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” parallel with his own difficult life in “Slumdog Millionaire.”
In “Valkyrie,” Tom Cruise plays a World War II German army officer who led a plan to assassinate Adolf Hitler in 1944.
-BAM
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