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Title:
The Twilight Saga: New Moon
Stars:
Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner
Studio:
Summit Entertainment
Plot:
When Bella's blood is shed at her birthday celebration, Edward's intense reaction to the event causes his parents to pull up stakes andleave Forks, Washington for the sake of the young lovers. Heartbroken, Bella finds a form of comfort in reckless living, as well as an even-closer friendship with Jacob Black (Lautner). Danger in different forms awaits.
Buzz:
There's nobody hotter on IMDb -- or anywhere in general pop culture? -- than Edward and Bella. Even their real-life counterparts, Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart, are making indie-cool choices which make them appealing to those of us who might not be the biggest fans of Stephenie Meyer's novels, or their adaptations. Boosting the appeal of Twilight is the studio behind the franchise, Summit Entertainment, who listens to their fan base (We heart Jacob Lautner!) and is pulling a Disney move by investing in their stars (Kristen Stewart will co-star in the biography of seminal 1970s all-female rock band The Runways, while Robert Pattinson is shooting Remember Me) after New Moon wraps). We're interested to see how underdog director Chris Weitz meshes with this material, and, whether or not this second installment will boost its appeal to non-U.S. audiences.
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Title:
The Blind Side
Stars:
Quinton Aaron, Sandra Bullock, Tim McGraw
Studio:
Warner Bros. Pictures
Plot:
A disadvantaged teenager is taken in by a conservative family who see tremendous promise in the young man. Despite certain obstacles, the attention and inspiration he receives helps him mature into an athletically and academically successful NFL prospect.
Buzz:
This is the true story of Michael Oher, whose first season in the NFL will be underway by the time Sandra Bullock blitzes (?) the big screen with her third movie of the year. If Oher and the Baltimore Ravens, who selected the young man in the first round of this year's draft, are both performing well, some sort of uncharted cultural zeitgeist could occur at the box office. This is also great counterprogramming for all the non-Twilight moms out there.
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Title:
2012
Stars:
John Cusack, Thandie Newton, Chiwetel Ejiofor
Studio:
Columbia Pictures
Plot:
Academic researcher Jackson Curtis (Cusack) leads a group of people in a fight to counteract the apocalyptic events that were predicted by the Mayan calendar.
Buzz:
After 10K BC's middling success, Roland Emmerich probably sensed that movie-going audiences worldwide prefer him in present-tense mode, heavy on apocalyptic imagery. I've heard rumors that 2012's script, which Emmerich wrote with composer-turned-screenwriter Harald Kloser, contains an incredibly cheesy twist of Shyamalanian proportions, but I'm not one to seek out (or deliver) spoilery goods. I will say that part of me hopes this end-of-the-world scenario could mint Emmerich as the slightly higher brow Uwe Boll, if only he thought to cast Tara Reid as an anthropologist here. Said differently: This A-and-B-list cast is slumming! P.S. Have you heard the one about Emmerich's planned 2012 TV spin-off?
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Title:
Planet 51
Stars:
Dwayne Johnson, Seann William Scott, Jessica Biel
Studio:
TriStar Pictures
Plot:
The inhabitants of Planet 51 live in fear of alien invasion. Their paranoia is realized when astronaut Chuck Baker (voice of Dwayne Johnson) arrives from Earth. Befriended by a young resident, he has to avoid capture in order to recover his spaceship and try to return home.
Buzz:
A trio of videogame directors are handling this story from one of the dudes who wrote Shrek. Powered by Sony worldwide, we think audiences will embrace the human-as-alien spin here, especially since rendering here reminds us of an animated Pleasantville. Blockbuster? We don't think so. Solid performer that won't annoy you in the SUV Hybrid? You bet.
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Title:
A Christmas Carol
Stars:
Jim Carrey, Gary Oldman, Colin Firth
Studio:
Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
Plot:
An animated retelling of the Charles Dickens novel about Ebenezer Scrooge (Carrey), a Victorian-era miser who is taken on a journey of self-redemption, courtesy of several mysterious Christmas apparitions.
Buzz:
Could it be that Robert Zemeckis has finally found source material that perfectly suits his creepy mo-cap fantasies? Initially we were unsure, but ever since Comic-Con we've been behind this movie way more so than our affection for Monster House and Beowulf combined. However, this does not mean we're behind Who Framed Roger Rabbit 2 ...
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Title:
Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire
Stars:
Gabourey 'Gabby' Sidibe, Mo'Nique, Paula Patton
Studio:
Lionsgate
Plot:
In Harlem, an overweight, illiterate teen (Sidibe) who is pregnant with her second child is invited to enroll in an alternative school in hopes that her life can head in a new direction.
Buzz:
Mo'Nique is going to win the Best Supporting Actress for her role in this terrifying realistic drama from Lee Daniels. (Or maybe she won't?) A pivotal scene between Mo' and star Gabby Sidibe literally made crowds gasp at Sundance earlier this year, and it is sure to illicit similar reactions from general audiences this winter. What Daniels has done here is rather remarkable: His take on the hardships faced by the titular character is only semi-sentimental, and it implies that a person's conviction is the one thing that remains when their circumstances are remarkably bleak. Amazingly, his story is also funny. This is, quite simply, a great film. And if you need your mood lightened while watching it, squint just a bit and Mariah Carey's mustache really comes into focus.
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Title:
The Men Who Stare at Goats
Stars:
Ewan McGregor, George Clooney, Kevin Spacey
Studio:
Overture Films
Plot:
In Iraq, reporter Bob Wilton (McGregor) meets Lyn Cassady (Clooney), whose seemingly wild claim - that he's a member of the U.S. Army's First Earth Battalion, a unit that employs paranormal powers in their missions - causes Wilton to join Cassady's hunt for the battalion's founder, whose gone missing.
Buzz:
I like it when Clooney has a full-fledged character to play and isn't just in leading-man mode, and Kurt Wimmer's book is too against-the-grain for any established studio to be interested in the adaptation, which is being handled by Clooney's producing partner, Grant Heslov (his second picture as director). Enter Overture Films, who's gunning for awards-season recognition with this project as well as Michael Moore's Capitalism: A Love Story. Meanwhile, over at Sony, Clooney and Heslov will develop more mainstream fare after severing their decade-old relationship with Warner Bros. back in June.
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Title:
Couples Retreat
Stars:
Vince Vaughn, Malin Akerman, Jon Favreau
Studio:
Universal Pictures
Plot:
Four couples settle into a tropical-island resort for a vacation. While one of the couples is there to work on their marriage, the others fail to realize that participation in the resort's therapy sessions is not optional.
Buzz:
Whether Retreat's mainstream-cool cast was handpicked by former swingers Vince Vaughn and Jon Favreau or assembled by Universal's business-development execs, the crossover factor is off the PowerPoint charts here. Though the Industry has been riding the studio hard for its series of flops and underperformers (Public Enemies is the closet thing to a hit in a losing streak which includes Land of the Lost, Funny People, Brüno, and, most recently, The Invention of Lying), it would take a miscue of maximum incompetence for this date movie to tank.
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Title:
The Fourth Kind
Stars:
Milla Jovovich, Elias Koteas, Will Patton
Studio:
Universal Pictures
Plot:
An investigator (Jovovich) is dispatched to Nome, Alaska to puzzle out a 40-year-long mystery involving an extraordinary number of unexplained disappearances in the town. Her videotaped evidence looks to present the most convincing evidence of alien abduction ever documented.
Buzz:
Mystery and potential government conspiracies await Jovovich on her visit to Palin-ville. This thriller was scooped up by Universal during the summer when post-production on The Wolf Man pushed that film's release date to 2010. Before Paranormal Activity mania struck, I thought this movie was a goner -- another round of bad luck for Milla (and Universal) who saw her critically well-received thriller A Perfect Getaway fade away like a hazy summer memory. Now, it just might connect with audiences who are craving caught-on-tape horrors.
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Title:
Law Abiding Citizen
Stars:
Gerard Butler, Jamie Foxx, Leslie Bibb
Studio:
Overture Films
Plot:
After family man Clyde Shelton (Butler) is failed by the court system, he concocts a series of events designed to exact his revenge on the killers of his wife and daughter. And from inside his jail cell, the mastermind lures the prosecutor (Foxx) who orchestrated the unjust deal into his deadly plan.
Buzz:
Working chronologically backwards, notions of Jigsaw, Hannibal Lecter, and Charles Bronson's Paul Kersey come to mind for what shaping up to be one of the year's most guilty pleasures; "to not crave it is to not crave cheesesteaks," as one descriptive insider put it.