Holiday Movie Highlights

Although the Summer usually has all the blockbusters, we'll always see one or two big pictures come in an dominate the holiday season.  That, and almost every indie movie that thinks they can win an Oscar.  Last year we had two big hits with Sherlock Holmes and Avatar.  While I don't think any movies coming out now will be multi-billion dollar sensations, that doesn't mean we can't get excited.  Here are the movies that will generate the most buzz, for better or worse.

Tron Legacy
When 30 years go by without a sequel, its usually time to call it quits.  But Tron's die hard cult fanbase refused to give in, and Disney delivered with a sequel.  And how.  It's clear that Disney wants this to be a huge success, and the movie boasts some of the coolest visuals in years.  Throw in Olivia Wilde and you'll have plenty to stare at for two hours.  The most interesting part of the movie is the fact that Daft Punk did the entire soundtrack which is full of win.

Reviews have been somewhat mixed, and the movie has a 66% on Rotten Tomatoes.  The story is point of some contention amongst reviewers, which isn't too surprising.  Hard to say if this will have an impact on the Box Office.  People will go see Tron because it looks so damn pretty, and we'll see if style points can lead to success.  The movie is due in theaters this Friday.


Yogi Bear
Go see this movie if you're under twelve, or are over forty and have some longstanding love for the character.  I have nothing against family movies, but this is more of a kiddie movie.  I really can't see this being anything else than exactly what it looks like.  The fact that it's the last family movie to come out this year might help it's numbers though.


True Grit
The Western that won John Wayne an oscar....and the Coen brothers?  That sounds just crazy enough to work.  I'm generally not a fan of Westerns, and I've never been able to watch more than five seconds of a Coen Brothers film (Big Lebowski notwithstanding).  Yet putting the two together somehow feels like a winning formula, and it will be fun to see the auteur directors take on a more commercial project.  Although I don't expect huge box office numbers, quality film making and an all star cast will turn this into a highlight of the holiday movie season and surefire contendor for Best Picture.  And wait, two Jeff Bridges movie in two weeks?

Little Fockers
Why did this become a trilogy?  Meet the Parents is a comedy classic.  De Niro at his best and some hysterical scenes made it memorable, and at it's heart it was a fairly smart movie.  It portraying the gap between generations and also changing perception of masculinity.  Yknow, in addition to portraying a cat peeing on the cremated remains of Don Corleone's mother.  And then Meet the Fockers was just a terrible, painful movie.  Still, it made money so here we are.  Expect it to do well at the box office but not make audiences too happy.

So those are big movies for the rest of December.  As shocking as it is for me to say this, it's True Grit that I'm looking forward to the most.  It's just something different.  And hey, after everyone bought and loved Red Dead Redemption, maybe people will be open to Westerns again.  It would be funny if the Coen Brothers can draw in teenage gamers, but we've seen weirder things happen.