Wall Street Journal
Movies For Grown-Ups
Ten cinematic checkoffs, from would-be holiday blockbusters to worthy Oscar bait
By RACHEL DODES
November 9, 2012
Killing Them Softly, Nov. 30
Director Andrew Dominik (“The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford“) elevates a mob-protected card game to a metaphor for the 2008 banking crisis in this adaptation of the dialogue-rich George V. Higgins novel “Cogan’s Trade.” Brad Pitt plays a mob fixer called in to investigate a robbery that has shaken players’ confidence in the criminal economy. James Gandolfini is a bathrobe-clad, alcoholic hit man. The film, which also features Ray Liotta, is loaded with profanity and violence. It’s peppered with speeches by George W. Bush and Barack Obama; the only woman who speaks any lines is a hooker.
Hyde Park on Hudson, Dec. 7
King George VI is having a moment in Hollywood. After “The King’s Speech” and Madonna’s “W.E.,” the king is back in director Roger Michell’s dramatization of a real-life visit to the U.S. of a reigning British monarch. It took place in 1939 at FDR’s Hudson River estate. The movie explores the secret love affair between Roosevelt (Bill Murray) and his distant cousin Margaret “Daisy” Suckley (Laura Linney) but derives much of its humor from culture clashes, such as the debate over what type of foods to serve the royals (hot dogs?), and whether Eleanor Roosevelt (Olivia Williams) can call the queen “Elizabeth.”
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, Dec. 14
Peter Jackson’s “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy was one of the most successful Hollywood franchises of all time, grossing nearly $3 billion world-wide and winning 17 Academy Awards. Warner Bros. is hoping that Mr. Jackson’s new three-film prequel–this time in 3-D–will be an even bigger hit. The film, based on the J.R.R. Tolkien classic, concerns Middle-earth’s Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman) and his quest to wrest the dwarf kingdom of Erebor from the control of a dragon named Smaug. It’s the first movie ever to be released at 48 frames per second, twice as many as normal, which is supposed to increase clarity. The look of some footage got mixed reviews at CinemaCon in April, with some saying that it created a “soap opera” feel.
Zero Dark Thirty, Dec. 19
The title of the newest film by Kathryn Bigelow is derived from the military term for 30 minutes past midnight–but the director has said that the name is also a nod to the government’s secrecy during the decade-long hunt for Osama bin Laden. Ms. Bigelow and screenwriter Mark Boal, who collaborated on the Oscar-winning military drama “The Hurt Locker,” had initially planned to make a film about a failed mission to capture the al Qaeda leader in Tora Bora, but after the unexpected announcement that bin Laden had, in fact, been found and killed in a clandestine raid in Pakistan, they started over.
The Guilt Trip, Dec. 19
Barbra Streisand is becoming the go-to overbearing mom. She showed off her comic-timing skills playing the straight-talking sex-therapist mother of Ben Stiller’s hapless Gaylord Focker in “Meet the Fockers” and “Little Fockers,” the two sequels in the successful “Meet the Parents” series. Now, she’s back as a mother who goes on a cross-country road trip with her son, Andy (Seth Rogen), a menschy but commitment-phobic organic-cleaning-products entrepreneur. The script is by Dan Fogelman, known for the breakout hit comedy “Crazy, Stupid, Love,” which generated almost $150 million world-wide.
Jack Reacher, Dec. 21
Tom Cruise’s box-office impact over the past year has been spotty. Just six months after “Mission: Impossible–Ghost Protocol” generated nearly $700 million globally, Mr. Cruise came back to earth in the seldom-seen film version of the Broadway musical “Rock of Ages.” In “Jack Reacher,” adapted from Lee Child’s “One Shot,” Reacher is an ex-military drifter who imposes brute ethics on the American landscape. There’s been much ado that Mr. Cruise lacks Reacher’s mammoth frame, but a true franchise could be born: There are 17 of these novels. Famed German director Werner Herzog improbably plays Reacher’s adversary, the Zec.
Not Fade Away, Dec. 21
The long-awaited movie debut of David Chase, creator of “The Sopranos,” features James Gandolfini, with John Magaro, above, in the role of a stern New Jersey patriarch. But those expecting mob violence may be surprised by this meditative coming-of-age drama about a group of 1960s teens with an abundance of rock ‘n’ roll dreams and a dearth of discipline. Steven Van Zandt, of the E Street Band (and Silvio Dante on “The Sopranos”) served as music supervisor.
Django Unchained (Weinstein Co. ”“ Dec. 25)
In Quentin Tarantino’s last film, 2009’s “Inglourious Basterds,” Austrian actor Christoph Waltz had a breakout role as a ruthless Jew hunter in Nazi Germany. In his newest film–inspired by a 1960 Spaghetti Western called “Django”–Mr. Waltz plays a German-born bounty hunter in the pre-Civil War American South, who winds up joining forces with a slave named Django (Jamie Foxx) to kill criminals and rescue Broomhilda (Kerry Washington), Django’s wife. Leonardo Di Caprio co-stars as the owner of a plantation called “Candyland,” and Samuel L. Jackson plays his loyal house slave.
Parental Guidance (Fox ”“ Dec. 25)
This multigenerational comedy stars boomer favorites Billy Crystal and Bette Midler as technologically challenged grandparents Artie and Diane, who are summoned to look after their three grandchildren while their Type-A daughter (Marisa Tomei) and son-in-law (Tom Everett Scott) are away. Mr. Crystal, who hasn’t been seen in a liveaction film since 2002’s “Analyze That,” has written two books on the subject of being a grandparent. He came up with the idea for the script after an extended visit with his two granddaughters, and has a producing credit on the film.
Les Misérables (Universal ”“ Dec. 25)
In the past few years Hollywood has tried, with mixed results, to transform Broadway musicals into blockbuster movies. “Mamma Mia,” starring Meryl Streep, was a tremendous success, while “Nine” and “Rock of Ages” failed to live up to expectations and lost money. But Universal has high hopes for its adaptation of Les Miz–itself a musical adaptation of the Victor Hugo novel–which won eight Tony awards in 1987 and is the third-longest-running production in Broadway history. Directed by Tom Hooper (“The King’s Speech”) the film boasts an A-list cast including Broadway regular Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, and Anne Hathaway, whose pixie hairstyle to play the role of Fantine has been as discussed as her singing skills.
A version of this article appeared November 9, 2012, on page D2 in the U.S. edition of The Wall Street Journal, with the headline: Movies For Grown-Ups.
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