The High Five: December

Studios often save their biggest (and sometimes best) movies for December, when the Christmas holiday brings families together and ships them off to the theater.  This year is no exception, with some of my most anticipated movies of the year hitting in the midst of all the mistletoe and silver bells.

1. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (December 14) - Peter Jackson's incredible Lord of the Rings trilogy may mark the first time I really loved a movie.  Obviously, as a kid, I had a slew of Disney fare that thrilled me and kept me glued to the TV, but it wasn't until seeing Middle-earth come to life on the big screen that I felt the obsessive passion for a movie that now, if I'm lucky, seizes me once or twice a year now.  Jackson brought Tolkien's words to life in brilliant fashion, and I'm excited for the director - whose non-LotR-related films since have disappointed - to return to the world of Hobbits and wizards.  The cast includes plenty of familiar faces from the previous films, as well as exciting new additions like Martin Freeman, Lee Pace, and Evangeline Lily. 

The production design looks as impressive as ever, and watching the movie should be like returning home (despite Gandalf intoning in the trailer that "home is behind," an echo of Pippin's song in Return of the King).  From a technical standpoint, I'm excited to experience the film in 48 frames per second, the way Jackson intended the it to be seen.  I've been waiting for this movie for many, many years, and I can't believe it's finally around the corner.

2. Les Miserables (December 25) - There's nothing like a great movie musical.  There's something about the genre that gets to me in a way that others can't quite manage.  Characters bursting into song may shatter the illusion of realism, but it's such an interesting way to tell a story, and such an effective way to delve into the emotional core of a scene, or a character.  Les Miserables is sung-through, meaning that it won't have to overcome the seeming unreality of musically expressive characters, instead creating an alternate reality where it's perfectly normal to express love or unrest in song.

Tom Hooper has done an exciting, daring thing having his actors sing live rather than having them lip-synch to recordings.  Having such talented singers as Hugh Jackman, Anne Hathaway, and Amanda Seyfried among the cast certainly helps, and the brief snippets of song in the trailers already have me swooning, and my eyes filling with tears.  Les Miserables looks like a grand triumph of a musical, and it's sure to pack some additional entertainment value when movie-goers try to pronounce the title at the box office.

3. Django Unchained (December 25) - Quentin Tarantino rewrote history to thrilling, hilarious effect with Inglourious Basterds a few years ago, and now he takes on the plantation-era South with Django Unchained, about a slave who teams with a bounty hunter to save his wife from her sadistic owner.  The cast is stellar (I'm especially excited to see Leonardo DiCaprio, who already has Oscar buzz despite the film having not been screened yet), the imagery is beautiful, and the film will surely have the edgy humor and unforgettable dialogue that mark Tarantino as an auteur, and one who delivers consistently quality films.

4. Zero Dark Thirty (December 19 limited) - Kathryn Bigelow follows up her Oscar-winning gut-wrencher The Hurt Locker with Zero Dark Thirty, about the manhunt for Osama bin Laden.  Bigelow and screenwriter Mark Boal had been planning a different film about the hunt for the world's most wanted man before bin Laden was finally found and killed, giving them a new story to tell.  Jessica Chastain, who broke out last year in a big way with a plethora of roles in films like The Help and The Tree of Life, stars, and early word is that the actress could be looking at her second Oscar nomination in two  years.  The film screened last weekend, and word is that it's grim, unflinching, and brilliant.  Unfortunately, most of us will have to wait till mid-January to see it for ourselves.

5. The Impossible (December 21) - If there's one film getting underestimated as we head into awards season, I'd put my money on The Impossible, Juan Antonio Bayona's film about a family's experience during the 2004 tsunami in the Indian Ocean.  The film makes a large-scale tragedy deeply personal, focusing on the family's efforts to reunite in the face of ruin and loss.  Naomi Watts and Ewan McGregor star, and Watts in particular has received fantastic notices, as has Tom Holland as one of the family's sons.  The effects work looks impressive and the perhaps-too-telling trailer promises that there will be mini tsunamis of tears in theaters this holiday season.  I'm bringing tissues.

Other Notable Releases: Hyde Park on Hudson (December 7), Amour (December 19), The Guilt Trip (December 19), This is Forty (December 21), Promised Land (December 28), Quartet (December 28), Therese (December 28)