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Hollywood delivers Christmas Day movie gifts

By Diana Lasko dlasko@heraldstandard.Com 5 min read
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Meryl Streep ventures “Into the Woods” as the Witch who wishes to reverse a curse so that her beauty may be restored. The humorous and heartfelt musical, a modern twist on the beloved Brothers Grimm fairy tales, explores the consequences of the quests of Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Jack and the Beanstalk and Rapunzel — all tied together by an original story involving a baker and his wife, and the witch who cast a spell on them. (Photo courtesy of Disney Enterprises, Inc.)

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Disney's "Into the Woods" opens Christmas Day.

photo courtesy of Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

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"The Interview" starring Seth Rogen and James Franco opens Christmas Day.

photo courtesy of Columbia Pictures

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Angelina Jolie directs and produces “Unbroken,” an epic drama that recounts the life of Olympian and war hero Louis “Louie” Zamperini played by Jack O’Connell. Image courtesy of Universal Studios

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Tim Burton directs the biopic "Big Eyes" opening in theaters Dec. 25.

photo courtesy The Weinstein Group

Ho-Ho-Hollywood will again open its bag of gifts for movie goers on Christmas Day with the release of four highly anticipated films — “Into the Woods,” “The Interview,” “Unbroken” and “Big Eyes.”

Christmas Day movie releases have been trending in recent years with big films like “Les Miserable” and “Django Unchained,” and although beginning in the late 90s it became popular to unwrap what Santa left under the tree and then head off to the cinema, Dec. 25 film releases have been happening for more than a half-century.

In 1962, Universal Pictures released “To Kill A Mockingbird” on Christmas Day, a decade later, Universal did the same with “The Sting.” Among the other noteworthy Dec. 25 releases are “The Godfather III,” “Empire of the Sun,” “As Good As It Gets,” and “The Aviator.”

This Christmas Day joining Universal, are Walt Disney and Columbia and Sony Pictures and the Weinstein Company, all banking on movie goers trading time with family and friends, for time engaged in fables, laughter and tears.

‘Into the Woods’ Rated PG

Disney presents a star-studded musical fantasy from director Rob Marshall (“Chicago”). “Into the Woods” is a modern twist on Brothers’ Grimm fairy tales that intertwines plots of the tales and explores the consequences of wishes and desires.

Based on the Tony award winning Broadway musical by Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine, “Into the Woods” tells the story of a childless couple (James Corden and Emily Blunt) who set out to end a curse placed on them by a vengeful Witch (Meryl Streep).

The humorous and heartfelt musical follows classic tales of Cinderella (Anna Kendrick), Little Red Riding Hood (Lilla Crawford) and the Wolf (Johnny Depp), Jack and the Beanstalk (Daniel Huttlestone) and Rapunzel (MacKenzie Mauzy) and each character’s interaction with the Baker and his Wife and fairy tale characters interaction with one another.

Fans of the stage version of “Into the Woods” will notice some changes to Sondheim’s work including musical numbers and the fate of Rapunzel.

‘The Interview’ Rated R

Celebrity tabloid TV show host Dave Skylark (James Franco) and his producer Aaron Rapoport (Seth Rogen) are the masterminds behind the popular show “Skylark Tonight” but they desperately want to be taken as serious journalists.

When the pair discover North Korean dictator is a “Skylark Tonight” fan, they scoop the competition and land an interview with Kim Jong-un. But as they prepare to travel to Pyongyang, their plans are interrupted when the CIA recruits them, possibly the least qualified men imaginable, to assassinate Kim Jong-Un.

The action/comedy, is the second film Rogen has directed with Evan Goldberg.

The two teamed up for “This Is the End” in 2013. Rogen and Goldberg also co-wrote “The Interview” with Dan Sterling, and co-produced the move with James Weaver for Columbia and Sony Pictures.

‘Unbroken’ Rated PG-13

Oscar winner Angelina Jolie directs and produces “Unbroken,” an epic drama that recounts the life of Olympian and war hero Louis “Louie” Zamperini (Jack O’Connell).

As a child, Louie is always in trouble but he turns his life around when his brother (Alex Russell), helps him channel his energy into running and qualifying for the 1936 Olympics.

When World War II breaks out, Louie enlists in the military.

Louie and fellow airmen, Phil (Domhnall Gleeson) and Mac (Fin Wittrock), adrift in a raft for 47 days after their plane crashes in the Pacific.

The three are captured by the Japanese navy and sent to a POW camp, where Louie becomes the target of a cruel prison commander (Miyavi).

From Universal Studios, the film is produced by Jolie, as well as Matthew Baer (“City by the Sea”), Erwin Stoff (“The Day the Earth Stood Still”) and Clayton Townsend (“This Is 40”); and based on the wildly popular 2010 book by Laura Hillenbrand, “Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption.”

“Unbroken” marks Jolie’s second film as director.

In 2011, she wrote, produced and directed “In the Land of Blood and Honey,” which was nominated for a Golden Globe Award.

‘Big Eyes’ Rated PG-13

A biopic from the unusual mind of director Tim Burton tells the true story of Walter Keane (Christoph Waltz) who was one of the most successful painters of the 1950s and early 60s.

Keane’s enigmatic paintings of waif-like children with big eyes, earned him staggering notoriety that he turned into a commercial success. Keane turned the paintings into pictures of paintings and then postcards of pictures of paintings, revolutionizing the commercialization and accessibility of popular art.

The truth however, the paintings signed simply “Keane” were painted, not by Walter, but his wife Margaret Keane (Amy Adams) that he convinced to let him sell the work as his own, catapulting him to international fame.

“Big Eyes” centers around Margaret’s awakening as an artist, the phenomenal success of her paintings, the tumultuous relationship with her husband, and the fight to reclaim her work, for herself and her daughter.

“Big Eyes,” from the Weinstein Company, is a departure from the work Tim Burton is known for (“Beetlejuice,” “Edward Scissorhands,” ‘Alice in Wonderland,” “Frankenweenie”).

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