Based on information provided by the Dark Horizons site and internet research, here are just some of the movies you can expect to see in the movie theatres in December.
Deadfall
Opens: December 7
Siblings Addison (Eric Bana) and Liza (Olivia Wilde) are on the run from a casino heist gone wrong. When a car accident leavers their “wheel man” and a state trooper dead, they split up and make a run for the Canadian border in a near white-out blizzard. While Addison heads cross-country, creating mayhem in his wake, Liza is picked up by ex-boxer Jay (Charlie Hunnam), who is heading home for Thanksgiving with his parents (Sissy Spacek and Kris Kristofferson). It is there that the siblings are reunited and Liza has to decide between her brother and Jay.
Hyde Park on Hudson
Opens: December 7
Set in 1939, the movie follows the (presumed) love affair between the married U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (Bill Murray) and his distant cousin Margaret “Daisy” Suckley (Laura Linney) during a visit from King George VI and then Princess Elizabeth. The cast include Olivia Williams and Samuel West.
Lay the Favorite
Opens: December 7
A woman falls into the world of professional gambling in Vegas, where she starts working as a cocktail waitress in hopes of making fast cash. Her gambling leads her to New York and the Caribbean, with gamblers soon becoming her second family. But when she falls in love, she had to re-evaluate her life. The film stars Rebecca Hall, Bruce Willis, Vince Vaughn, Joshua Jackson, Laura Prepon, Corbin Bernson and Catherine Zeta-Jones.
Playing for Keeps
Opens December 7
A former professional athlete (Gerard Butler) with a weak past tries to redeem himself by coaching his son’s soccer team, only to find himself unable to resist when in scoring position with his players’ restless and gorgeous moms. The cast includes Jessica Biel, Uma Thurman, Judy Greet, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Dennis Quaid and James Tupper.
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Opens: December 14
This prequel looks at young Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman) as he sets off on a quest to the Lonely Mountain with a company of dwarves. Returning faces from the trilogy include Ian McKellen, Andy Serkis, Hugo Weaving, Cate Blancett, Orlando Bloom, Ian Holm, Christopher Lee and Elijah Wood. And, new faces will include Evangeline Lilly, Lee Pace, Benedict Cumberbatch, Luke Evans, James Nesbitt, Richard Armitage, Aidan Turner, Graham McTavish and Ken Stott.
Zero Dark Thirty
Opens: December 19
This film is a chronicle of the decade-long hunt for al-Qaeda terrorist leader Osama bin Laden after the 9/11 attacks, and his death at the hands of the Navy SEAL Team 6 in May, 2011. The cast includes Joel Edgerton, Tom Hardy, Jason Clarke, Jennifer Ehle, Mark Strong, Chris Pratt, Kyle Chandler, Taylor Kinney, Guy Pearce, Harold Perrineau and Jessica Chastain.
Jack Reacher
Opens: December 21
Tom Cruise plays Jack Reacher, an ex-military cop who drifts around the U.S. with only a toothbrush and a thirst for bare-knuckle justice as he investigates a sniper-killing case. The film stars Rosamund Pike, Richard Jenkins, Robert Duvall, Michael Raymond-James and Jai Courtney.
Not Fade Away
Opens: December 21
Set in suburban New Jersey in the 1960s, a group of friends form a rock band and try to make it big. The cast includes Bella Heathcote, Jack Huston, James Gandolfini, Brad Garrett and newcomer John Magaro.
On the Road
Opens: December 21
The film adaptation of the classic Jack Kerouac novel, the story is about Sal Paradise, an aspiring New York writer, who – after his father’s death – meets Dean Moriarty, a devastatingly charming ex-con, married to the very liberated and seductive Marylou. Sal and Dean bond instantly. Determined not to get locked in to a constricted life, the two friends cut their ties and take to the road with Marylou; thirsting for freedom, the three young people head off in search of the world, other encounters and themselves. The film stars Garrett Hedlund, Kristen Stewart, Sam Riley, Amy Adams, Elizabeth Moss, Kirsten Dunst, Viggo Mortensen, Steve Buscemi and Terrence Howard.
The Impossible
Opens: December 21
The true story of a Spanish couple (Naomi Watts and Ewan McGregor) and their three children, as they begin their Christmas vacation in Thailand, with the intention of spending a few days at a tropical paradise resort; but their idyllic vacation is interrupted on the morning of December 26, 2004, when a devastating tsunami of dirty water interrupts their relaxation and destroys the coastal zone, separating the family and triggering a frantic search.
Django Unchained
Opens: December 25
Christoph Waltz plays Dr. Schultz, a bounty hunter who frees the slave Django (Jamie Foxx) to enlist his help tracking down three fugitive brothers. Once that’s done, Schultz helps Django in his quest to rescue his wife from Candyland, a Southern plantation owned by the brutish Monsieur Calvin Candie (Leonardo DiCaprio). The cast includes Samuel L. Jackson, Kurt Russell, Don Johnson, Sacha Baron Cohen, Anthony LaPaglia and Joseph Gordon-Levitt.
Les Miserables
Opens: December 25
Based on the 1862 novel and the Broadway musical, the film tells the classic tale Jean Valjean (Hugh Jackman), a Frenchman imprisoned for stealing bread, who has broken his parole and must flee from police Inspector Javert (Russell Crowe). The pursuit consumes both men’s lives, and after two decades on the run, Valjean finds himself in the midst of the 1832 June Rebellion in Paris. The cast includes Anne Hathaway, Helena Bonham Carter, Amanda Seyfried, Eddie Redmayne and Aaron Tveit.
Promised Land
Opens: December 28
Matt Damon and John Krasinski co-wrote and star in this drama about a natural gas company executive (Damon) and an environmentalist (Krasinski) who “battle” against each other in a rural community debating the issue of fracking. The film also stars Rosemarie DeWitt and Frances McDormand.
Quartet
Opens: December 28
Dustin Hoffman stars in this story set inside a British retirement home for classical musicians that is upended by the arrival of a fussy retired opera star (Maggie Smith). Among the cast are Billy Connolly and Michael Gambon.
Movies coming out in January will be posted at the end of December.
Enjoy!
Rueben's Ramblings 