Monthly Movie Preview – November 2012 In a very crude generalization, the last three or four months of the calendar year is like the summer movie season for "smart" movies. Instead of being overloaded with expensive "tentpole" wannabe blockbusters, we instead are bombarded with wannabe Oscar-winners, some of them demanding gold statues for their promising casting alone. In that regard, the month of November has such releases as Life of Pi, Flight, Hitchcock, The Silver Linings Playbook, Lincoln, Anna Karenina, and more.
However, this is still the Hollywood we love, so there's plenty of mainstream fare soon to be at our disposal. This month offers us the conclusion to a highly lucrative teen horror franchise (The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2), a new James Bond movie (Skyfall), a remake of the '80s masterpiece Red Dawn, and a Disney movie based on video game history (Wreck-It Ralph).
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November 2
Movie of the Week
Flight
The Stars: Denzel Washington, Kelly Reilly, John Goodman, Don Cheadle, Melissa Leo The Plot: A pilot (Washington) pulls off an incredible life-saving crash landing, only to have it scrutinized by his own flaws. The Buzz: Director Robert Zemeckis steps away from the wreckage of his previous motion capture adventures (like Beowulf, A Christmas Carol, and Mars Needs Moms, which he produced) to make an adult character-driven drama in the vein of his earlier Cast Away. This film is led by a strong performance from Denzel Washington, who also dials down his flashier components to make something more intimate. With box office numbers to be determined, this film is certainly aiming for an Oscar bid at the end of the movie year.
The Others:
The Man with the Iron Fists - The RZA, Lucy Liu, Russell Crowe Wreck-It Ralph - John C. Reilly, Sarah Silverman, Jack McBrayer, Jane Lynch A Late Quartet - Christopher Walken, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Catherine Keener, Imogen Poots
November 9
Movie of the Week
Skyfall
The Stars: Daniel Craig, Javier Bardem, Ralph Fiennes, Judi Dench, Ben Whishaw The Plot: James Bond (Craig) protects MI6 mastermind M (Dench) from a security breach. The Buzz: It has been four years since Quantum of Solace, the Jason Bourne-y Bond movie that underwhelmed audiences hoping for a second serving of what made 2006's Casino Royale so popular. Now, the players have changed. Craig is still Bond, but he's under the direction of Sam Mendes - the guy who did American Beauty and Revolutionary Road, but also has Road to Perdition on his resume as well. Add in the inclusion of Javier Bardem as the main villain, and Skyfall is yet another Bond movie to be excited about before even seeing it.
The Others:
Lincoln - Daniel Day-Lewis, Sally Field, Tommy Lee Jones, Joseph Gordon Levitt A Royal Affair - Mads Mikkelsen, Alicia Viklander, Holy Motors (limited) - Denis Lavant, Eva Mendes, Michel Piccoli
November 16
Movie of the Week
The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2
The Stars: Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart, Taylor Lautner The Plot: The final movie in the Twilight saga. This time they've got kids. The Buzz: It will all be over soon. Whether this is good or bad news to you, this is the state of the world that we live in. Therefore, if you're going to see one movie about the conclusion of the Twilight movie series this year, it will be this movie.
The Others:
Anna Karenina - Keira Knightley, Jude Law, Kelly Macdonald, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Olivia Williams, Emily Watson This Must Be the Place - Sean Penn, Frances McDormand, Judd Hirsch
November 23
Movie of the Week
The Silver Linings Playbook
The Stars: Jennifer Lawrence, Bradley Cooper, Jacki Weaver, Robert De Niro, Chris Tucker The Plot: A man (Cooper) moves back in with his parents and falls for a girl (Lawrence). The Buzz: This is David O. Russell's first film after The Fighter, the Oscar-winning film that earned awards for Christian Bale and Melissa Leo. That being said, this is certainly an interesting movie for Cooper to be in. Will this be his dash for Oscar gold? We know that Lawrence is able to turn in a very solid performance, along with Weaver, and definitely De Niro. But what's Tucker doing here?
The Others:
Hitchcock - Anthony Hopkins, Scarlett Johansson, Life of Pi - Suraj Sharma, Irrfan Khan The Comedy - Tim Heidecker Red Dawn - Chris Hemsworth, Josh Peck, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Adrianne Palicki Rise of the Guardians - Chris Pine, Hugh Jackman, Isla Fisher, Jude Law, Alec Baldwin
November 30
Movie of the Week
Killing Them Softly
The Stars: Brad Pitt, Richard Jenkins, Ray Liotta The Plot: A high stakes poker game is robbed. The Buzz: Just as it took since 2007 for Paul Thomas Anderson to give us The Master in September, writer/director Andrew Dominik finally returns to the movies with Killing Them Softly after making the acclaimed '07 film The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. The late November release date is compelling, at least in the case of award season strategy. On the other hand, the lack of hype for this film is a little concerning, considering the powers that play. And really, what's with that title?
The Others:
The Collection - Josh Stewart, Christopher McDonald, Navi Rawat Wuthering Heights - Kaya Scodelario, James Howson, Solomon Grave