2014
2013
12/2
Aaron Eckhart is a scientist or priest who enters the consciousness of a boy possessed by a demon.
Working For It: Not much. Eckhart is still spending his Thank you For Smoking and Dark Knight goodwill. Otherwise, it's hard to get excited about Inception by way of The Exorcist.
Working Against It: It looks more supernatural than scary. Brad Peyton is a journeyman director (San Andreas, Journey 2, Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore). The first weekend of December is typically a burn off week for the studios and, with this as the only nation-wide release, 2016 is looking no different.
Verdict: No need to see this.
A documentary about a legally blind girl trying to make it on her own.
Working For It: I like a good documentary and inspiring tales.
Working Against It: This looks like an extended episode of MTV's True Life.
Verdict: Definitely not in theaters. Probably never.
Natalie Portman plays Jackie Kennedey in the aftermath of her husband's assassination.
Working For It: It's nice to see Natalie Portman back in the Oscar hunt. The cast also features the likes of Billy Crudup, Greta Gerwig, and Peter Sarsdaard. I hear that this is not a standard biopic, which makes me very curious.
Working Against It: Director Pablo Larrain is unknown to me. The screenwriter, Noah Oppenheim's other credits are The Maze Runner and Allegiant, which isn't encouraging.
Verdict: It's very likely that I'll see this.
12/9
Ensemble comedy about an office throwing a wild Christmas party to save their branch from closing down.
Working For It: Why, yes, I would like to see Kate McKinnon, Olivia Munn, Jennifer Aniston, TJ Miller, Jason Bateman, Vanessa Bayer, Jillian Bell, Randall Park, Jamie Chung, Abbey Lee, Rob Corddry, Courtney B. Vance, Matt Walsh, Sam Richardson, and others be funny and silly for 105 minutes.
Working Against It: A lot of names tied to the screenplay. None of them impressive. The two directors don't have an exceptional history either (Blades of Glory, The Switch, episodes of Cavemen).
Verdict: I plan to see it, but could very easily skip it [after all, I will be in Disney World that weekend]
I talked about this a month or two ago. If it got bumped on the schedule, that only hurts its low chances.
An aspiring actress and a jazz pianist fall in love.
Working For It: Damien Chazelle's follow up to Whiplash pairs Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling together in a showy, musical, dancing romance movie. What's not to be excited about?
Working Against It: I'm struggling to find a reason to not be excited. I already know that Stone and Gosling work great together (Crazy Stupid Love, Gangster Squad). I like the director and it just looks fun.
Verdict: Apologies to Rogue One, but this is the December movie I'm most looking forward to.
12/16
Felicity Jones leads the Rebellion group who gathers the secret plans for the Death Star (mentioned in Episode IV).
Working For It: This is a fantastically weird cast, including Ben Mendelsohn (Bloodline), Mads Mikkelsen (Hannibal), Riz Ahmed (Nightcrawler), Alan Tudyk, Forest Whitaker, and a dozen others who I do not know as well. This is the first Star Wars movie not led by a Jedi and the biggest test of how well the franchise can work away from the Skywalkers.
Working Against It: I'm not crazy about director Gareth Edwards' last film (Godzilla), although I don't think he was the problem.
Verdict: I'm seeing a Star Wars live-action movie if it's in theaters.
Depressed over the death of his daughter, Will Smith goes on a Christmas Carol-esque journey, meeting the human personifications of Time, Love, and Death.
Working For It: Every year, someone has to find a new spin on A Christmas Carol. I'm actually fine with that. I like Will Smith, even though he keeps falling short of that next Oscar nomination he so clearly wants. It's hard to dismiss any movie with Keira Knightley, Kate Winslet, Naomie Harris, Edward Norton, Helen Mirren, and Michael Pena joining him. Personally, I just want to see how Michael Pena will find a way to still be the best part of this movie, despite the high profile cast above him on the call sheet. It's just what he does.
Working Against It: David Frankel as a director is hit & miss (The Devil Wears Prada, Marley & Me) for me. This feels like the kind of movie that if it doesn't get me crying by the end, then I'm probably going to dislike it.
Verdict: ...maybe. I assume it will get lost in the season.
A boy born on Mars sneaks back to Earth to meet a girl he likes.
Working For It: The boy is Asa Butterfield (Hugo) and the girl is Britt Robertson (Tomorrowland), so I like the leads.
Working Against It: Is it weird that any time I've seen the trailer (and for some reason, I've seen this trailer a lot before other movies), I only focus on how clearly older Robertson is than Butterfield? I know she looks young, but it's not like he looks old. They could both pass for high schoolers on their own, but paired together, they don't look like contemporaries.
Verdict: I won't try to see it, but I wouldn't put up a fight if someone else invited me.
12/21
Michael Fassbender is transported back to the Spanish Inquisition (through science!) to fight as an assassin...or something.
Working For It: I like Michael Fassbender. Getting people like him, Marion Cotillard, Charlotte Rampling, Jeremy Irons, and Michael Kenneth Williams shows that they are trying. I'll give them that.
Working Against It: Name a good video game adaptation. Sure, Tomb Raider and Resident Evil were ok, but that's about it. One day, someone will crack the code (Seriously, how has no one done Zelda yet?), but for now, it's still a losing fight. Assassin's Creed, in the trailer, looks like it's bending over backwards to get the video game premise to fit a movie script. I appreciate the effort, but effort doesn't always translate into something that's good.
Verdict: I have little desire to see this. I could be convinced otherwise, but it seems unlikely.
Jennifer Lawrence and Chris Pratt wake up 90 years early from hibernation on a space ship transporting them to a new planet.
Working For It: The film is being presented as a two-hander with Lawrence and Pratt (although the cast list on IMDB would suggest otherwise). So, basically, are those two enough for you? I love love love Chris Pratt and I never soured on Jennifer Lawrence the way some have (I've had enough of her with David O. Russell though). Director Morton Tyldum's last film, The Imitation Game, I enjoyed a lot. I'm cautiously excited about this.
Working Against It: The trailer seems to be cut in a way that's hiding a lot of the movie. I don't know if that's a good or bad thing.
Verdict: I'm too curious not to see it.
Animals compete for an American Idol-esque competition.
Working For It: I won't even begin to list off the voice cast because it's stacked. Illumination definitely follows the Dreamworks Animation practice of casting based on star-power first and voice second*. That's not a bad thing, necessarily.
*As opposed to Disney Animation, who is happy to go will lesser-known people if the voice fits.
Working Against It: Truth be told, I still haven't forgiven Illumination for bringing the Minions into this world. Even the threat of a five-second Minion clip as part of the Illumination logo at the beginning is enough to make me highly resistant.
Verdict: I'm in no hurry.
A film that recounts the events of the Boston Marathon bombing.
Working For It: Two Peter Berg movies in one year. He's staying busy. I was impressed with Deepwater Horizon. This is in a different vein, but still pretty intriguing. It looks like he's adopting a United 93 style and relying on a large ensemble.
Working Against It: This looks more like an HBO original movie than a feature film. I'm sure it will be good, but I don't feel any urgency.
Verdict: It's likely to be lost in the season.
12/23
Bryan Cranston doesn't approve of his daughter's billionaire boyfriend (James Franco).
Working For It: Cranston is the best. Franco is part of the Apatow crew that I love, almost blindly. Zoey Deutch keeps showing up in different movies. Writer/director John Hamburg is also responsible for I Love You, Man (as well as many screenplays directed by someone else), which I adore. There's room for this to be better than it appears.
Working Against It: ...which is good, because it appears to be my least favorite versions of the two leads in conflict with each other. I don't care for smug Franco at all. Cranston can do "angry dad" as well as anyone (See: Malcolm in the Middle), but he does need some direction for that, or else you get something like Melissa McCarthy in Identity Thief or Tammy. Also, I know that Franco can play young and Deutch looks a little older than she is, but couldn't they find two people a little closer in age*?
*For comparison, remember Pineapple Express. They make a joke out of Seth Rogen dating a high school girl (Amber Heard). Rogen and Heard are four years apart in age. Franco and Deutch are 16 years. Maybe that's part of the joke on the movie, but still.
Verdict: I'll probably forget to see it.
A boy summons a monster to cope with his mother's illness.
Working For It: Another Felicity Jones movie. She's busy this fall. This looks awful similar to The BFG. I can assume that if you like one, you'll like the other.
Working Against It: The BFG bombed pretty hard despite getting a nationwide release and being directed by Stephen Speilberg. A Monster Calls is not nearly as credentialed or backed by its studio.
Verdict: If I didn't see The BFG, I don't imagine I'll see this.
Two Jesuit priests face persecution in the seventeenth century working as missionaries in Japan.
Working For It: It's anyone's guess with Martin Scorsese's latest movie. They only just now released a trailer. This is coming down to the wire. Scorsese has been planning to make this movie for over a decade, so I'm excited to see how it is. Andrew Garfield, Liam Neeson, and Adam Driver are the only cast members I can name. I'm always giving Scorsese a chance though.
Working Against It: It won't be quite as long as Wolf of Wall Street, but it's been a long time since anyone was able to convince Scorsese to cut a movie down.
Verdict: I'm seeing it, for better or worse.
12/25
Denzel Washington directs and stars in the adaptation of the Tony-winning play about a man trying to raise his family and struggle with race in the 1950s.
Working For It: Denzel doesn't direct often (only Antwone Fisher in 2002, The Great Debaters in 2007, and apparently, an episode of Grey's Anatomy this year), so I'm curious to see why he chose this. This is probably going to win Viola Davis her first Oscar and possible Denzel his third.
Working Against It: I hear that this is a fairly direct adaptation from the stage show, which bothers me. What's the point of making a play into a movie if you don't try to make it cinematic in some way? Films are more than the sum of their actors. We'll see though.
Verdict: If I saw August: Osage County, then I'll certainly see this.
Matthew McConaughey stumbles onto an Indonesian gold fortune in the 80s.
Working For It: McConaughey might pick up another Oscar nomination from this. I'm personally looking forward to seeing Timothy Simons in a non-Jonah Ryan role for a change.
Working Against It: It doesn't help that the trailer reminds me a lot of War Dogs. I don't think there's much of a movie beyond McConaughey, and a single performance normally isn't enough to make a movie good.
Verdict: Only if I want to cover all of my Oscar nomination possibilities.
An examination of the lives of three women in California set in the late 1970s.
Working For It: Apparently, Annette Bening is the reason to see this. The other two women of the three mentioned are Greta Gerwig and Elle Fanning, which is a pretty strong trinity. Writer/director Mike Mill's last film was Beginners, which I thought was pretty good. I think this movie will be good, but I can't quite say why.
Working Against It: I don't really know what it's about.
Verdict: If it shows up in January near me, I'll probably see it. In a busy December, that's less certain.
Three black women in the 1960s working for NASA to help with the early space missions.
Working For It: Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer, and Janelle Monae are a good core. People like Kevin Costner, Kirsten Dunst, Jim Parsons, and Mahershala Ali should fit in well. It looks fun.
Working Against It: I'm not sure what the comedy/drama balance for this is supposed to be. I'm hearing "Oscar" being thrown around, but if director Theodore Melfi's last film is any indication (St. Vincent), that doesn't seem realistic. This time of year, there's a lot of movies that try to sneak in before 12/31, thinking they can get awards attention. There's always a few that realize too late that they would've had more success releasing earlier in the fall (or year). This looks like one of those.
Verdict: I'm sure it will be fine, but I'm in no hurry.
Ben Affleck is a prohibition era crime boss.
Working For It: Affleck's first directorial effort since his Oscar-winning Argo. He's proven himself as a director and a leading man. 1920s and 30s crime movies are a genre I should be more tired of than I am.
Working Against It: From initial trailers, I'm not sure what sets this apart from similar movies (for example, Public Enemies). I'm sure this will be good. I just don't see it in the trailer though.
Verdict: I'm seeing it. To pretend otherwise would be dishonest.
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