Holiday movie season promises space mishaps, biopics and thrillers
David Lee
Denzel Washington plays Troy Maxson and Viola Davis plays Rose Maxson in “Fences” from Paramount Pictures. The film is directed by Denzel Washington from a screenplay by August Wilson.
David Lee
Denzel Washington plays Troy Maxson and Stephen McKinley Henderson plays Jim Bono in “Fences,” which was directed by Washington from a screenplay by August Wilson.
For movie fans, it’s the most wonderful time of year.
Hollywood studio chiefs flood theaters with many pictures that have Oscar potential and promise to gross millions. One of the most highly touted films, “Fences,” was shot in Pittsburgh and features Denzel Washington (who also directed) and Viola Davis.
Meanwhile, Will Smith and Kate Winslet will face a destructive accident (“Collateral Beauty”); Taraji P. Henson, Janelle Monae and Octavia Spencer will help a space launch (“Hidden Figures”); Felicity Jones will feel the “Force” (“Rogue One: A Star Wars Story”); and Jennifer Lawrence and Chris Pratt will get lost in space after a major intergalactic mishap (“Passengers”) in theaters between now and Dec. 25.
Here are the movies scheduled for a theater near you.
Dec. 9
“Miss Sloan,” with Jessica Chastain, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Mark Strong, Alison Pill, John Lithgow, Michael Stuhlbarg, Sam Waterston and Dylan Baker in a thriller about a lobbyist battling the powerful gun lobby. (Rating: R)
“Office Christmas Party,” with Jennifer Aniston, Kate McKinnon, Olivia Munn, Jamie Chung, Courtney B. Vance, Jason Bateman, Randall Park, Rob Corddry and Vanessa Bayer in a wild comedy about a branch manager who plans a massive holiday party to land a client and then the ploy blows up in his face. (Rating: Pending)
Dec. 16
“Collateral Beauty,” with Will Smith, Kate Winslet, Keira Knightley, Edward Norton, Helen Mirren, Naomie Harris, Michael Pena and Kylie Rogers in a drama about a terrible accident that sends a New York ad executive into a fall from the top. (Rating: PG-13)
“La La Land,” with Ryan Gosling, Emma Stone, Rosemarie DeWitt, J.K. Simmons and John Legend in a highly anticipated song and dance musical-romance about a musician who falls for an actress in Los Angeles. (Rating: PG-13)
“Rogue One: A Star Wars Story,” with Ben Mendelsohn, Felicity Jones, Riz Ahmed, Mads Mikkelsen, Alan Tudyk, Jimmy Smits, Forest Whitaker, Diego Luna, Donnie Yen, Warwick Davis and the voice of James Earl Jones in a Force-driven prequel fantasy tale about the attempts of the members of the Rebellion to locate the plans for the Death Star. (Rating: Pending)
“The Space Between Us,” with Britt Robertson, Carla Gugino, Asa Butterfield, Gary Oldman and BD Wong in a film about the first person who lives on Mars and then returns to Earth to discover his background. (Rating: PG-13)
Dec. 21
“Assassin’s Creed,” with Marion Cotillard, Michael Fassbender, Jeremy Irons, Michael Kenneth Williams and Brendan Gleeson in a film about a man with family ties to a society of assassins. (Rating: PG-13)
“Passengers,” with Jennifer Lawrence, Chris Pratt, Michael Sheen, Andy Garcia and Laurence Fishburne in an adventure thriller about a fault in a craft headed to a distant colony and a couple of those on board who awaken 90 years early. (Rating: PG-13)
“Sing,” with the voices of Scarlett Johansson, Matthew McConaughey, Taron Egerton, Reese Witherspoon, Nick Offerman, Seth MacFarlane, John C. Reilly, Leslie Jones, Rhea Perlman, Jennifer Hudson, Sinbad, Kevin McDonald, Jay Pharoah and Laraine Newman in an animated tale about a koala seeking to bring prosperity to a theater by staging a massive singing competition. (Rating: PG)
Dec. 23
“Silence,” with Liam Neeson, Andrew Garfield and Adam Driver in a historical drama that Variety calls director Martin Scorsese’s “passion project” about Jesuit priests in feudal Japan. The epic opens in limited runs in December and goes wide in 2017. (Rating: Pending)
“Why Him?” with James Franco, Bryan Cranston, Zoey Deutch, Adam Devine, Megan Mullally, Keegan-Michael Key and Casey Wilson in a broad comedy about a father who disapproves of his billionaire son-in-law and works to end their relationship. (Rating: Pending)
Dec. 25
“Fences,” with Denzel Washington, Viola Davis, Mykelti Williamson and Russell Hornsby in a drama based on an August Wilson play about an African-American father struggling for basic rights in America of the 1950s. The picture, which Washington directed, was set and filmed in Pittsburgh, the place where the late Wilson was born in the city’s Hill District on April 27, 1945. (Rating: Pending)
“Gold,” with Bryce Dallas Howard, Matthew McConaughey, Edgar Ramirez, Bruce Greenwood, Stacy Keach and Rachael Taylor in a adventure tale about a couple seeking precious metal in a faraway jungle. (Rating: Pending)
“Hidden Figures,” with Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer, Janelle Monae, Kevin Costner, Kirsten Dunst, Jim Parsons, Mahershala Ali and Aldis Hodge in a factual drama about three brilliant African-American women working on the space program at NASA, where they provide important mathematical information needed to launch the program’s first successful missions into space. (Rating: PG)
Happy holidays and happy movie-going!
Sources include imdb.com, filmratings.com, Movie Insider, Allied Integrated Marketing, rottentomatoes.com, Wikipedia and Total Film.