2015
2014
2013
11/6
Working For It: Skyfall proved that Quantum of Solace was the exception, not Casino Royale in the Daniel Craig era. Keeping Oscar winner Sam Mendes behind the camera and swapping out Oscar winner Javier Bardem for Oscar winner Christoph Waltz as the villain looks like this should be every bit as good.
Working Against It: I've soured recently on Christoph Waltz for only having one mode, and I think he will be a step down from Bardem. I wasn't as crazy for Skyfall as the rest of the world either. Make no mistake. This is still essential viewing, but it's a solid 3rd or 4th looking at what I'm excited for this month.
Interest Level:Pretty High
Working For It: Good grief. The movie has to do absolutely nothing to get me to see it. Brand loyalty alone does it.
Working Against It: ...which is good, because I have no idea what this movie is going to be about. It know it'll have Charlie, Snoopy, Lucy, and the gang. That's it. And I don't love Peanuts enough to give it a pass if the movie ends up awful. Hopefully it's delightful and that isn't a concern.
Interest Level: Highish
Working For It: This is a romance movie about an Irish immigrant moving to New York in the 1950s. It's supposed to be an Oscar player, which immediately catches my attention. And, it stars, among others, the always great Saoirse Ronan (The Host isn't her fault) and Domhnall Gleeson (recipient of eternal goodwill for starring in About Time).
Working Against It: It didn't look that special in the one trailer I've seen. I'm happy to see this on good word alone, but if the sentiment for it turns, I could miss it due to a glut of other options.
Interest Level: Mid to High
Working For It: Bryan Cranston plays blacklisted Hollywood screenwriter Dalton Trumbo in the late 1940s.
Working Against It: Jay Roach is not a director I trust. Earlier in his career, he directed the Austin Powers and Meet the Parents movies: two franchises that I always thought were overrated. More recently, he's been doing political satire like Recount (which I found to be meh), The Campaign (which I disliked), and the show The Brink (which I couldn't get through an episode). As much as I'd like to see Cranston as Trumbo (although Cranston isn't immune from picking back roles), Roach may scare me away.
Interest Level: Favorably Undecided
Working For It: It's the story of the Boston Globe investigators who uncovered the Boston Catholic child molestation scandal a decade and a half ago. It's got Rachel McAdams, Mark Ruffalo, Michael Keaton, John Slattery, and I'll stop there. If you aren't already on board after that last sentence, we can't be friends. I heard nothing but good reviews from when it premiered on the festival circuit and it looks like it'll be an Oscar player.
Working Against It: There is a version of this that could turn out to be a little too self-righteous and the Catholic church is a bit of an easy target. That's not the impression I get though. And, director and co-screenwriter Tom McCarthy I know better as "that annoying, lying Baltimore Sun writer from my least favorite season of The Wire". That doesn't mean anything to the movie, but I carry my grudges in my own way.
Interest Level: Up There
11/13
Working For It: It's about the Chilean miners who got trapped a couple years ago for two months or something crazy like that. Clearly, I follow the news closely.
Working Against It: I don't know anything about it other than the basic story and that they cast basically every actor who could pass for Chilean. That means Antonio Banderas, Lou Diamond Phillips, Gabriel Byrne...uh...Xerxes, from 300 (Rodrigo Santoro)...Oscar from The Office (Oscar Nunez), Ziva from NCIS (Cote de Pablo) - she actually is Chilean. As you can tell, not an All Star Cast. Not a bad cast though. Nothing about this jumps out at me as "must see".
Interest Level: Low to Mid
Working For It: Four generations of one family celebrate Christmas together. It has a nice eclectic cast ranging from Olivia Wilde to Diane Keaton to John Goodman to Amanda Seyfried. It could be fun.
Working Against It: Neither the writer nor the director have exciting credits (P.S. I Love You, Stepmom, I Am Sam, and others). I don't see how this will be any different than, say, Four Christmases.
Interest Level: Benignly Absent
Working For It: It's a sports movie from the writer of Rudy and Hoosiers. For that genre, it's hard to have better credentials than that, supposing they stay in the state of Indiana.
Working Against It: It's another football movie. It's based on a true story. Aaron Eckhart plays the
Interest Level:Considerably Low
Working For It: It's an Angelina Jolie/Brad Pitt movie, written and directed by Jolie. It's about a couple hanging out in a small French town. That's about all I know.
Working Against It: Unbroken sure was disappointing. Jolie isn't quite there yet as a director. I haven't seen In the Land of Blood and Honey so I don't have any sense of her skills as a writer. This sure sounds like an imitation of the Before series though. Whatever, I'll probably see it, but not in theaters.
Interest Level: Lower Than It Should Be
11/20
Working For It: It's the conclusion of the multi-billion dollar franchise. It's got Jennifer Lawrence, Elizabeth Banks, Natalie Dormer, Jena Malone, Julianne Moore, Gwendoline Christie, Phillip Seymour-Hoffman's final performance, and a bunch of other things and people. Thanks to Star Wars, it won't be the story of the season in the box office, but it will be big.
Working Against It: Part 1 disappointed me a lot. I'm apparently in a minority about that. Regardless, I still liked it and I'm not about to stop watching now.
Interest Level: Major
Working For It: It's a movie about three best friends, Seth Rogen, Joseph Gordon Levitt, and Anthony Mackie spending one last Christmas together since it looks like their annual tradition of hanging out is ending. It is no secret that this is exactly in my sweet spot. It's the director of 50/50 and Warm Bodies. While Rogen isn't a writer on this, a bunch of his buddies are. I'm hopelessly in the tank for Rogen and JGL. The supporting cast includes Lizzy Caplan, Mindy Kaling, and Jillian Bell. I'm pretty sure this is review-proof.
Working Against It: I suppose I could get horribly injurred on the 19th and not get out of the hospital until after the theatrical run. That's about it.
Interest Level: C'mon
Working For It: This is a remake of the Oscar Winning, highly regarded Argentinian film of the same name (translated). This one has Oscar Winners Nicole Kidman and Julia Roberts, Oscar runner-up (yeah, it's a thing I invented) Chiwetel Ojiofor, and TV actors I really like, such as Dean Norris (Breaking Bad), Michael Kelly (House of Cards, Everest), and the suddenly ubiquitous Lyndon Smith (Parenthood, Public Morals, The Middle). They already seem to be advertising hard for it, which either means it's high profile or the studio is desperate (See: Unfinished Business or Hot Pursuit).
Working Against It: I don't know much about the story and writer/director Billy Ray has only proven himself competent, not great by any means. I guess him writing the screenplays for Captain Phillips and The Hunger Games proves he can adapt someone else's work well.
Interest Level: Slightly Curious
Working For It: This is about a woman in the 1950s (Rooney Mara) who falls in love with another woman (Cate Blanchett). There's also TV people like Sarah Paulson (aka not Monica Potter), Kyle Chandler, and Carrie Brownstein.
Working Against It: The one trailer I saw for it made this look like it could be terribly dull. Then again, Cate Blanchett makes anything interesting.
Interest Level: Curiuous
Working For It: Tom Hardy plays twin British gangsters in the 1960, from the writer/director of A Knight's Tale. I'm in.
Working Against It: This looks like it simply won't get a proper release. It isn't an awards player and it's getting a limited release in a busy time of year. I fully assume that I'll have to catch this on Netflix.
Interest Level: Very Curious
11/25
Working For It: After Fantastic Four was a complete bust, I'm glad that Michael B. Jordan gets this star vehicle to redeem himself. He's plenty equipped to essentially be the new Rocky. I don't really know that much about the story but it doesn't really matter. It's a simple enough formula.
Working Against It: As Southpaw reminded me, there's not much more that can be done with boxing movies. It's all about execution. As good as Fruitvale Station is, it isn't proof that he can handle a movie like this. That is only a slight cause for worry.
Interest Level: Cautiously High
Working For It: Two Pixar movies in one year? What a treat! The story of a dinosaur with a human friend sounds perfect for the studio. Even if it's half as good as Inside Out it'll be the next best animated movie this year.
Working Against It: Name a bad Pixar non-sequel...
...
...exactly.
Interest Level: It's a Lock
Working For It: Daniel Radcliffe and James McAvoy in an Igor and Dr. Frankenstien movie. I like those two and that idea sounds interesting enough.
Working Against It: It's an odd release date and gives me far too many I, Frankenstein and Dracula Untold vibes. This isn't one of my genres of choice either.
Interest Level: Lowest Tier
Working For It: Eddie Redmayne (The Theory of Everything) plays Lili Elbe, one of the pioneers of the transgender community, as she transitions for male to female. Alicia Vikander (Ex Machina) plays Redmayne's wife. It's from director Tom Hooper (The King's Speech) and will be all over this Oscar season.
Working Against It: This will come down to whether this is a good movie or a good performance. It's the difference between The Theory of Everything and, say, Still Alice. The former I was happy to see. The latter I could've waited on.
Interest Level: Moderate
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