December 2013 Movies

An ex-con bent on avenging the death of his brother as soon as he's released from prison.

Willem Dafoe, Ridley Scott, Zoe Saldana, Christian Bale, Leonardo DiCaprio, Woody Harrelson, Ryan Kavanaugh, Tony Scott

R Thriller Crime

12% WILL SEE

4 / 5

Released Friday, December 6th

72%

3.3 / 5

(4)

Khumba

Story follows a half-striped zebra who's blamed for the lack of rain by the rest of his herd and sets out on a search for a legendary waterhole.

AnnaSophia Robb, Jake T. Austin, Loretta Devine, Anthony Silverston, Jonathan Roberts, Raffaella Delle Donne, Roger Jackson

Adventure Animation 1 hr, 25 mins

72% WILL SEE

3.3 / 5

73%

3.5 / 5

(4)

hen Colin (David Lyons) happens across a fatal car accident and a suitcase full of money, he soon becomes entangled in the dangerous lives of a crooked local cop (Jason Clarke) and his mysterious wife (Emma Booth). His initial good deed leads to a series of deadly events, and Colin struggles in a game of survival set against the backdrop of the South Australian outback.

Jason Clarke, Craig Lahiff, Emma Booth, David Lyons, Vince Colosimo

Thriller

73% WILL SEE

3.5 / 5

57%

5 / 5

(3)

Expecting

After years of struggling to conceive with her husband, Lizzie (Radha Mitchell) has given up hope of having a baby on her own. But when her best friend Andie (Michelle Monaghan) finds herself pregnant after a one-night stand, an unexpected solution arises: Andie offers to have the baby and give it to Lizzie. The couple agrees to the plan, on one condition: Andie must move in with them for the duration of the pregnancy. But can the women's friendship survive until birth? Jessie McCormack's debut is a refreshingly candid comedy about planning ahead for life's unexpected detours.

Michelle Monaghan, Michael Weston, Jessie McCormack, Radha Mitchell, Mimi Kennedy, Jon Dore

Drama Comedy 1 hr, 27 mins

57% WILL SEE

5 / 5

78%

Crave

A troubled photographer's dangerous visions wreak havoc when his romance with a young woman ends and he is pursued by a world-weary detective.

Josh Lawson, Robert Green, Ron Perlman, Charles de Lauzirika, Emma Lung

Thriller 1 hr, 53 mins

78% WILL SEE

64%

2.7 / 5

(10)

Inside Llewyn Davis

The singer-songwriter navigates New York's folk music scene during the 1960s.

John Goodman, Justin Timberlake, Joel Coen, Carey Mulligan, Oscar Isaac, Adam Driver, F. Murray Abraham, Garrett Hedlund

R Drama Music 1 hr, 45 mins

64% WILL SEE

2.7 / 5

22%

3.7 / 5

(6)

Twice Born

Tells the story of a single mother who brings her teenage son to Sarajevo, where his father died in the Bosnian conflict years before.

Penelope Cruz, Emile Hirsch, Sergio Castellitto, Mira Furlan, Jane Birkin, Saadet Aksoy, Branko Djuric

R Drama Adaptation 2 hrs, 4 mins

22% WILL SEE

3.7 / 5

85%

3.7 / 5

(9)

Commitment

After his father’s botched espionage mission, North Korean Myung-hoon and his young sister Hye-in are sent to a labor prison camp. In order to save his sister’s life, Myung-hoon volunteers to become a spy and infiltrates the South as a teenage defector. While attending high school in the South, he meets another girl named Hye-in, and rescues her when she comes under attack. South Korean Intelligence soon discover Myung-hoon’s activities and begin tracking him, all the while his own government sends a vicious assassin to eliminate him.

Hong-soo Park

Drama Action 1 hr, 48 mins

85% WILL SEE

3.7 / 5

Buy DVD On Amazon

57%

Live at the Foxes Den

After a night of debauchery, a corporate attorney must choose between sticking with his corporate life or pursuing his love of singing.

Gillian Jacobs, Jocelin Donahue, Kevin Mann, Jackson Rathbone, Michael Kristoff, Matt Perniciaro

NR Drama

57% WILL SEE

89%

3.2 / 5

(28)

The Last Days On Mars

As their last day on Mars draws to a close, the astronaut crew is on the verge of a major breakthrough – collected rock specimens reveal microscopic evidence of life. Meanwhile, communication is underway with AURORA, the approaching spacecraft that will relieve the crew of their operations. In their last hours on the planet, two astronauts go back to SITE 9, a cavernous valley on the surface of Mars, to collect further evidence of their discovery. But a routine excavation turns deadly when one of them falls to his death and his body taken host and re-animated by the very life form they sought to discover.

Liev Schreiber, Olivia Williams, Ruairi Robinson, Elias Koteas, Andrea Cornwell, Romola Garai, Goran Kostic, Johnny Harris

R Thriller Sci-Fi

89% WILL SEE

3.2 / 5

50%

Paradise: Hope

Tells the story of overweight 13-year-old Melanie and her first love. While her mother travels to Kenya (Paradise: Love) and her aunt (Paradise: Faith) does missionary work, Melanie spends her summer vacation at a strict diet camp for overweight teenagers. Between physical education and nutrition counseling, pillow fights and her first cigarette, Melanie falls in love with the camp director, a doctor 40 years her senior. As the doctor struggles with the guilty nature of his desire, Melanie had imagined her paradise differently.

Ulrich Seidl

Drama Comedy

50% WILL SEE

33%

A Journey to Planet Sanity

A reality-based (documentary) comedy debunking aliens, psychics and all things paranormal. The film follows Blake Freeman, who takes a 69-year-old man named LeRoy on a cross-country journey in search of the truth. LeRoy has spent his life savings on trying to protect himself from aliens and paranormal ghosts by buying gimmicks and entrusting psychics. Upon discovering LeRoy’s plight, Blake Freeman, with LeRoy in tow, decides to put these beliefs and so-called "experts" to the test.

Blake Freeman, LeRoy Tessina

Comedy Documentary 1 hr, 30 mins

33% WILL SEE

62%

White Reindeer

After an unexpected tragedy, Suzanne struggles to put her life back together during a sad, strange Christmastime in suburban Virginia.

Anna Margaret Hollyman, Zach Clark, Laura Lemar

Comedy

62% WILL SEE

Released Wednesday, December 11th

44%

Nuclear Nation

A documentary about the exile of Futaba’s residents, the region housing the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. Since the 1960s, Futaba had been promised prosperity with tax breaks and major subsidies to compensate for the presence of the power plant. The town’s people have now lost their homeland. Through their agonies and frustrations, the film questions the real cost of capitalism and nuclear energy.

The day after the magnitude 9.0 earthquake on March 11, 2011, Futaba locals heard the hydrogen explosion at Reactor Number 1 and were showered with nuclear fallout. In response, the Japanese government designated the whole town as an “exclusion zone” and 1,400 of the town’s residents fled to an abandoned high school 250 kilometers away. The entire community, including the Town Hall office, was moved into the four-story building, making the residents nuclear refugees.

The film portrays the evacuees as the nuclear disaster situation changes over time. One of them is Ichiro Nakai, a farmer who lost his wife, his home, and his rice fields in the massive tsunami. Doing his best to cope with the monotony of life at the evacuation center, he struggles to wipe away the haunting memories and start a new life with his son. The two finally get an official permit to enter the exclusion zone to visit their hometown. There, they see that their worst fears have become reality...

Atsushi Funahashi

Documentary

44% WILL SEE

Released Friday, December 13th

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug Poster

75%

4.6 / 5

(203)

The Hobbit: The Desolation o...

The story centers on Hobbit Bilbo Baggins and the scary adventure he makes with 13 dwarves.

Luke Evans, Cate Blanchett, Benedict Cumberbatch, Peter Jackson, Aidan Turner, Martin Freeman, Bret McKenzie, Philippa Boyens

PG-13 Drama Fantasy

75% WILL SEE

4.6 / 5

41%

3.7 / 5

(44)

Tyler Perry's A Madea Christ...

A Christmas-themed comedy from Tyler Perry.

Tyler Perry, Tika Sumpter, Chad Michael Murray, Larry the Cable Guy, Lisa Whelchel, Anna Maria Horsford, Ozzie Areu, Matt Moore

PG-13 Comedy Holiday

41% WILL SEE

3.7 / 5

40%

4.2 / 5

(85)

Saving Mr. Banks

It takes 14 years for Walt Disney to persuade Australian author P.L. Travers to sell him the rights to make a film out of Mary Poppins. Travers is extremely reluctant because the story is highly personal, and reflects hardships in her own life and her relationship with her father, who died when she was seven years old.

Tom Hanks, Colin Farrell, Andrew Mason, Emma Thompson, Bradley Whitford, Paul Giamatti, Kelly Marcel, Jason Schwartzman

PG-13 Drama Biography

40% WILL SEE

4.2 / 5

75%

4.2 / 5

(10)

Trap for Cinderella

"Trap for Cinderella" is the story of a suspicious fire that traps two young women. One dies; the survivor is burned beyond recognition and left with amnesia. Plastic surgery gives her a new face, but suspicions arise that she may not have been a victim.

Aneurin Barnard, Kerry Fox, Chris Gerolmo, Robert Jones, Dixie Linder, Iain Softley, Tuppence Middleton, Frances de la Tour

Drama

75% WILL SEE

4.2 / 5

62%

5 / 5

(1)

Here Comes the Devil

Francisco Barreiro and Laura Caro play parents Felix and Sol whose preteen son and daughter inexplicably reappear after being lost overnight on a desolate, cave-riddled mountainside after a casual hike became every parent’s nightmare. The good luck and good fortune of their return soon changes, as the children’s behavior suggests ominous and unspeakable events the night the children were lost that continue even now. As a loving couple – and loving parents – try to care for and protect their children, the ancient and half-whispered legends around the caves and the mountain and those who have gone there before become too strange to believe … and too dangerous, no matter how insane, to ignore.

Adrian García Bogliano, Francisco Barreiro, Laura Caro, Michele Garcia

Thriller Suspense 1 hr, 37 mins

62% WILL SEE

5 / 5

31%

3.8 / 5

(91)

American Hustle

The true story of Abscam, the FBI's 1980 undercover sting operation to root out corruption in Congress, which was the brainchild of the world's greatest con man.

Christian Bale, Charles Roven, Jennifer Lawrence, Eric Singer, Jeremy Renner, David O. Russell, Amy Adams, Bradley Cooper

R Drama 2 hrs, 9 mins

31% WILL SEE

3.8 / 5

14%

3 / 5

(1)

The Crash Reel

The epic rivalry between half-pipe legends Kevin Pearce and Shaun White is documented in this exhilarating ride into the world of extreme snowboarding. With both practicing more and more breathtaking and dangerous tricks leading up to the Vancouver Winter Olympics, everything suddenly changes for Kevin when a horrific crash leaves him fighting for his life. When he recovers, all he wants to do is get on his snowboard again, even though medics and family fear it could kill him.

Lucy Walker

Documentary 1 hr, 48 mins

14% WILL SEE

3 / 5

13%

2 / 5

(3)

The Last of the Unjust

NYC Only

1975. In Rome, Claude Lanzmann filmed a series of interviews with Benjamin Murmelstein, the last President of the Jewish Council in the Theresienstadt ghetto in Czechoslovakia, the only "Elder of the Jews" not to have been killed during the war. A rabbi in Vienna, following the annexation of Austria by Germany in 1938, Murmelstein fought bitterly with Adolf Eichmann, week after week for seven years, managing to help around 121,000 Jews leave the country, and preventing the liquidation of the ghetto.

2012. Claude Lanzmann, at 87 – without masking anything of the passage of time on men, but showing the incredible permanence of the locations involved –exhumes these interviews shot in Rome, returning to Theresienstadt, the town “given to the Jews by Hitler”, a so-called model ghetto, but a ghetto of deceit chosen by Adolf Eichmann to dupe the world. We discover the extraordinary personality of Benjamin Murmelstein: a man blessed with a dazzling intelligence and a true courage, which, along with an unrivaled memory, makes him a wonderfully wry, sardonic and authentic storyteller.

Through these three periods, from Nisko in Poland to Theresienstadt, and from Vienna to Rome, the film provides an unprecedented insight into the genesis of the Final Solution. It reveals the true face of Eichmann, and exposes without artifice the savage contradictions of the Jewish Councils.

Claude Lanzmann

PG-13 Documentary 3 hrs, 40 mins

13% WILL SEE

2 / 5

41%

Some Velvet Morning

Some Velvet Morning centers on Fred (Stanley Tucci), who arrives on the doorstep of his beautiful young mistress, Velvet (Alice Eve), after four years apart, claiming to have left his wife. But when she rejects his attempts at rekindling their romance, his persistence evolves into obsession -- and a dark history between the ex-lovers comes into focus.

Stanley Tucci, Neil LaBute, Alice Eve

Drama 1 hr, 22 mins

41% WILL SEE

91%

4.3 / 5

(45)

Hours

Set in New Orleans, Hours revolves around Nolan (Walker) as his beloved wife dies during childbirth, leaving him to care for their newborn on his own. As Nolan struggles to come to grips with his loss, Hurricane Katrina simultaneously devastates the coast of Louisiana. After the hospital is evacuated, Nolan alone must fight to keep his daughter alive – amid violent conditions and armed looters. When an electricity shortage threatens to disrupt his child’s incubator, Nolan will have to race against time in order to save his child from the raging storm.

Eric Heisserer, Paul Walker, Genesis Rodriguez, Peter Safran, Dan Clifton, Kevin Frakes, Kerry Cahill, Yohance Myles

PG-13 Drama Thriller 1 hr, 37 mins

91% WILL SEE

4.3 / 5

Released Wednesday, December 18th

Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues Poster

58%

4 / 5

(65)

Anchorman 2: The Legend Cont...

The continuing adventures of San Diego news anchor Ron Burgundy (Will Ferrell) and his reporting team, including Veronica Corningstone (Christina Applegate), Steve Carell (Brick Tamland) and Brian Fantana (Paul Rudd).

Josh Lawson, Luke Wilson, Nicole Kidman, Paul Rudd, Adam McKay, David Koechner, James Marsden, Steve Carell

PG-13 Adventure Comedy

58% WILL SEE

4 / 5

3.5 / 5

(57)

Her

A satire about how world leaders plan all major events, from oil prices to future wars.

Joaquin Phoenix, Sam Jaeger, Rooney Mara, Amy Adams, Samantha Morton, Megan Ellison, Portia Doubleday, Spike Jonze

R Drama Comedy

9% WILL SEE

3.5 / 5

Released Friday, December 20th

40%

4.2 / 5

(85)

Saving Mr. Banks

Tom Hanks, Colin Farrell, Andrew Mason, Emma Thompson, Bradley Whitford, Paul Giamatti, Kelly Marcel, Jason Schwartzman

PG-13 Drama Biography

40% WILL SEE

4.2 / 5

38%

3.5 / 5

(47)

Walking with Dinosaurs

Based on the BBC documentary series that explores the world of dinosaurs using both CGI and real-world locations.

John Collee, Neil Nightingale, Pierre de Lespinois

PG Action Family

38% WILL SEE

3.5 / 5

56%

3.1 / 5

(8)

The Past

When Ahmad returns to Paris after four years in Tehran in order to finalize his divorce from his French wife, a secret from the past is revealed.

Asghar Farhadi, Berenice Bejo, Tahar Rahim, Ali Mosaffa

Family

56% WILL SEE

3.1 / 5

43%

3 / 5

(2)

The Selfish Giant

The film tells the story of two schoolmates in a struggling working-class community in Bradford, England: the scrappy, hyperactive Arbor (Conner Chapman) and the reserved, more mature Swifty (Shaun Thomas). To pick up some extra cash, Arbor and Swifty begin collecting scrap metal for Kitten (Sean Gilder), a shady local dealer with a penchant for racing horses. Arbor is eager to please, desiring the wealth that appears to come with Kitten's lifestyle. But it soon becomes evident that Swifty is the favored one, because of his talent with horses. As jealousy sets in, the fragile bond that holds Arbor to his closest mate begins to crumble away.

Clio Barnard, Sean Gilder, Ian Burfield, Conner Chapman, Shaun Thomas, Lorraine Ashbourne

Drama 1 hr, 31 mins

43% WILL SEE

3 / 5

54%

3.3 / 5

(10)

Wrong Cops

A group of bad cops look to dispose of a body that one of them accidentally shot.

Marilyn Manson, Arden Myrin, Eric Wareheim, Grace Zabriskie, Quentin Dupieux, Mark Burnham, Steve Little, Eric Judor

Comedy Crime 1 hr, 22 mins

54% WILL SEE

3.3 / 5

Released Wednesday, December 25th

30%

4.3 / 5

(76)

The Wolf of Wall Street

Jordan Belfort, a Long Island penny stockbroker, served 20 months in prison for refusing to cooperate in a massive 1990s securities fraud case that involved widespread corruption on Wall Street and in the corporate banking world, including mob infiltration.

Jon Bernthal, Matthew McConaughey, Martin Scorsese, Margot Robbie, Leonardo DiCaprio, Jon Favreau, Terry Winter, Jonah Hill

R Drama Biography

30% WILL SEE

4.3 / 5

16%

4.3 / 5

(20)

Grudge Match

Revolves around retired boxers Billy "The Kid" McGuigan and Henry "Razor" Sharp, lifelong bitter rivals who are coaxed out of retirement and into the ring for one final grudge match -- 50 years after their last title fight.

Sylvester Stallone, Kevin Hart, Robert De Niro, Billy Gerber, Kim Basinger, Alan Arkin, Doug Ellin, Peter Segal

PG-13 Drama Comedy

16% WILL SEE

4.3 / 5

39%

4.5 / 5

(264)

The Secret Life of Walter Mi...

A very shy man lives all sorts of adventures via his daydreams.

Ben Stiller, Kathryn Hahn, Patton Oswalt, Shirley MacLaine, John Goldwyn, Peter Morgan, Steven Conrad, Kristen Wiig

PG Action Comedy 1 hr, 54 mins

39% WILL SEE

4.5 / 5

31%

3.8 / 5

(91)

American Hustle

The true story of Abscam, the FBI's 1980 undercover sting operation to root out corruption in Congress, which was the brainchild of the world's greatest con man.

Christian Bale, Charles Roven, Jennifer Lawrence, Eric Singer, Jeremy Renner, David O. Russell, Amy Adams, Bradley Cooper

R Drama 2 hrs, 9 mins

31% WILL SEE

3.8 / 5

41%

3.7 / 5

(43)

47 Ronin

Based on the group of swordsmen and their master who are revered in Japan for their revenge attack on Dec. 14, 1702.

Tadanobu Asano, Keanu Reeves, Pam Abdy, Hiroyuki Sanada, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, Ken Watanabe, Rinko Kikuchi, Togo Igawa

PG-13 Drama Action

41% WILL SEE

3.7 / 5

4 / 5

(31)

Labor Day

Tells the story of a long Labor Day weekend through the eyes of a then 13-year-old boy who along with his reclusive depressed divorced mother are willingly taken “hostage” by an escaped convict in their own home.

Tobey Maguire, Kate Winslet, Lianne Halfon, Jason Reitman, Helen Estabrook, Josh Brolin, Gattlin Griffith, James Van Der Beek

PG-13 Drama

7% WILL SEE

4 / 5

63%

3.3 / 5

(4)

The Invisible Woman

NYC/LA

Nelly (Felicity Jones), a happily-married mother and schoolteacher, is haunted by her past. Her memories, provoked by remorse and guilt, take us back in time to follow the story of her relationship with Charles Dickens (Ralph Fiennes) with whom she discovered an exciting but fragile complicity.

Ralph Fiennes, Felicity Jones, Abi Morgan, Tom Burke, Kristin Scott Thomas, Tom Hollander, Perdita Weeks, Michelle Fairley

R Drama Adaptation

63% WILL SEE

3.3 / 5

46%

3.4 / 5

(26)

Justin Bieber's Believe