Movie Buzz – 12/26

The end of each year brings the best Hollywood has to offer as part of the awards-season rush. The great thing about it is that theaters are now flooded with award-worthy performances and top-notch storylines.

Unfortunately, there’s a downside: the next few months will bring more than our fair share of bad movies featuring Jessica Alba, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Katie Holmes and airhead socialite Paris Hilton. Sorry, I’m not kidding.

Enjoy the good flicks while you can. Mega-awards contenders “Charlie Wilson’s War” and “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street” are heating up the holiday box office. Another new release features the perpetually Oscar-ready Denzel Washington, who directed himself in “The Great Debaters.”

Washington teamed up with the ultimate power producer, Oprah Winfrey, to bring audiences this historical drama based on a true story. Oprah’s opinion has done everything from encouraging people to read her favorite books to considering voting for Barack Obama. So having her stamp of approval on Washington’s passion project could mean some surprising box-office receipts.

Washington plays the coach of a debate team at a historically black college in the segregated South during the 1930s. Forest Whitaker co-stars while Washington pulls
together a team, builds them up from nothing and helps them get to a championship bout with Harvard.

Expect the team to face harsh racism, overcome adversity and kick some butt with their finely-tuned debating skills.

Maybe you’re not a fan of “Alvin and the Chipmunks,” and, if that’s the case, and you’re looking for a suitable flick to entertain the whole family, be sure to check out “The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep.”

Sure, its title makes it sound like a National Geographic bore-fest, but this flick comes from the writer of “Babe,” so animals, humans and sea creatures are sure to share the screen in a peaceful and amusing manner.

This story focuses on a young Scottish boy who finds an egg, which he takes home and opens to reveal a mythical baby sea monster. He and his family keep the creature in their bathtub until it gets too big too handle. Then they release it, wowing unsuspecting fishermen with an unbelievable bit of folklore.

For some reason, a token horror movie opens on Christmas day as if to say “Bah, Humbug” to moviegoers each year. This time it’s “Alien vs. Predator: Requiem,” another pointless, poorly made horror sequel made possible by writer Dan O’Bannon’s odd obsession with extraterrestrials.

Two more promising flicks open in limited release this week and could make it to Augusta in January. “The Bucket List” features Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman as aging buddies who ditch their cancer care to start acting out the list of things they want to do before they die.

“There Will Be Blood” features the mysteriously enthralling talents of Daniel Day-Lewis, who plays a money-hungry oil tycoon at the turn of the last century. The actor’s performance in this film has already earned him a Golden Globe nomination.

Movie Buzz – 12/19

Just when audiences start thinking the Golden Globes might be a legitimate awards show, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association slaps us in the face with an insulting nod for an asinine performance.

Last year, Sacha Baron Cohen won the Best Actor Golden Globe in the Musical or Comedy category for his role in the funny, but utterly stupid “Borat.” Now, John C. Reilly has been nominated for an equally silly role, that of the title character in  “Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story.”

Reilly stars as an off-the-wall rocker who is meant to be a parody of some weird iconic rock star who is part Jim Morrison, part Johnny Cash, part Buddy Holly and part James Brown. This mockumentary comes from writer-producer Judd Apatow, the comic moneymaker behind “Knocked Up” and “Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby.”

Does anyone else fondly remember the days when Reilly was a celebrated serious actor? He was lauded for his performances in roles with more critical weight, like the ones he played in “Chicago” and “The Good Girl.”

Reilly will have to duke it out with Johnny Depp for his Golden Globe. Depp is nominated for his starring role in “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.” This marks Depp’s eighth Golden Globe nomination (and fifth consecutive), but will it be his first victory from the Hollywood Foreign Press?

Director Tim Burton, whose dark style has added character to several other Johnny Depp films like “Edward Scissorhands,” “Sleepy Hollow” and “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” is the creative mind behind this adaptation of Stephen Sondheim’s musical comedy.

Burton’s significant other, Helena Bonham Carter, takes over the role made famous by Angela Lansbury, and Alan Rickman, who has perfected acting’s darker side in the “Harry Potter” movies, co-star in this gory musical masterpiece about the bloody extremes one man will go to for vengeance.

Another Golden Globe nomination-adorned flick opening this week is “Charlie Wilson’s War,” which finds Hollywood’s pickiest actors gifting audiences with their wildly famous onscreen presences.

It has been a while since we’ve seen Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts, who have been hiding out and only lending their voices to animated flicks over the past few years. The one exception is Hanks’ “The Da Vinci Code” debacle.

Director Mike Nichols takes the helm as Hanks and Roberts play a fun-loving Texas politician and socialite, respectively, who work with a jilted government agent (Philip Seymour Hoffman) to make a war between Afghanistan and the Soviet Union go the way they want it to go. Their actions made a huge difference in Soviet Union and sent weapons to the Middle East, impacting us greatly in the present day.

Aaron Sorkin, the writer behind TV’s former political drama “The West Wing,” adapted this screenplay from journalist George Crile’s book, based on the true story.

Other openers this week are less critically acclaimed, but a high-profile sequel could earn some major box-office dough. “National Treasure: Book of Secrets” finds Nicolas Cage unlocking government secrets and seeking treasure once again.

Meanwhile, Hilary Swank tries the romantic comedy genre on for size with the help of “Friend” Lisa Kudrow in “P.S. I Love You.”