Winter Movie Season: December 2010

Winter is almost upon us and the holiday season approaches. So what films will light up the holiday season? The month kicks off with Natalie Portman starring in Darren Aronofsky’s “Black Swan”, where dance can take a dark turn.

Mid-month is when some of the bigger movie releases are going to emerge. The third installment of the “Chronicles of Narnia” franchise, “The Voyage of the Dawn Treader” takes flight. Academy Award winner, Helen Mirren, stars in an adaptation of Shakespeare’s “The Tempest” while Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie star in the thriller “The Tourist”.

Getting a head start over the Christmas Day movie releases we have Disney’s “Tron: Legacy” (in 3D) which is sure to be a big hit, the movie adaptation of the popular cartoon Yogi Bear, and the rom com “How Do You Know” starring Academy Award winner Reese Witherspoon (“Walk the Line”) and funny men, Owen Wilson (“Wedding Crashers”) and Paul Rudd (“I Love You, Man”). As for the Christmas releases we have the latest film with the Fockers, “Little Fockers”, the new adaptation of “Gulliver’s Travels” starring Jack Black (“School of Rock”), and the Coen Brothers’s “True Grit”. Also Academy Award winner Gwyneth Paltrow stars in “Country Strong”, which opens as a limited release but will expand in January 2011. The film has also been generating some Oscar buzz.

My spotlight picks of the month are “The Company Men” and “The Fighter”. Mark Wahlberg (“The Italian Job”) and Christian Bale (“Batman Begins”) star in “The Fighter” which is gaining some Oscar buzz as well as “The Company Men”. Although both films have similar themes as other Oscar nominated films being “Rocky” and “Up in the Air”, they both seem to have a special quality that may be worth checking out.

Well that’s my December overview, click on the link below to check out the rest of the movies coming out this month and check back next month for more Winter Movie Season picks.