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Title:
Alice in Wonderland
Stars:
Mia Wasikowska, Johnny Depp
Studio:
Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
Plot:
19-year-old Alice (Wasikowska) returns to the magical world from her childhood adventure, where she reunites with her old friends and learns of her true destiny: to end the Red Queen's reign of terror.
Buzz:
I am one of those people who feels that Tim Burton's artistic vision is directly in line with Lewis Carroll's novels, and he is one of few filmmakers who can get away with asserting that a likable movie adaptation has never been made of this story. It is, of course, interesting to hear this from the man who made Charlie and the Chocolate Factory ...
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Title:
Brooklyn's Finest
Stars:
Richard Gere, Don Cheadle, Ethan Hawke
Studio:
Overture Films
Plot:
In Brooklyn, New York, three veteran cops (Gere, Hawke, and Cheadle) struggling with their own personal and professional dilemmas dispatched to a notorious housing project, where they will each collide with destiny.
Buzz:
Overture Films lost a bundle with Righteous Kill but the reunion of Ethan Hawke and his Training Day director Antoine Fuqua is pretty much a can't-miss shot at success, right? The trailer offers equal doses of machismo, stress, and style, though I paid the most attention when Don Cheadle shared the screen with Wesley Snipes, since their wedge of the story reads as though it has the most layers -- even though we've watched an infinite number of cops get way-too-undercover over the years. Also: Couldn't Mr. Fuqua direct a film like this in his sleep at this point in his career?
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Title:
Shutter Island
Stars:
Leonardo DiCaprio, Emily Mortimer, Mark Ruffalo
Studio:
Paramount Pictures
Plot:
When a psychotic killer (Mortimer) disappears from a mental institution on Shutter Island, a pair of U.S. Marshals (Ruffalo and DiCaprio) race against the clock in order to track her down.
Buzz:
Strike through all those notions of awards-season glamor for this reunion of Marty and Leo, since reports of marketing-budget shortfalls and promotional challenges (aka DiCaprio's availability) shuttled the movie into the middle of winter. Don't think it'll hurt the thriller's box-office, though, since it's been testing through the roof. Nikki Finke digs out the scoop.
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Title:
Cop Out
Stars:
Bruce Willis, Tracy Morgan
Studio:
Warner Bros. Pictures
Plot:
A comedy about a veteran NYPD cop (Willis) whose rare baseball card is stolen. Since it's his only hope to pay for his daughter's upcoming wedding, he recruits his partner (Morgan) to track down the thief, a memorabilia-obsessed gangster.
Buzz:
So this is first time Kevin Smith has directed someone else's screenplay; technically we could get behind this idea if co-writers Robb and Mark Cullen were a little less green (they're making the jump from ho-hum TV shows). We hear the script was blacklisted, but nothing we've seen on celluloid makes us believe this story is a precious resource. Considering the project originally was set to star Robin Williams -- back when it was known as A Couple of Dicks -- and that Kevin Smith has received more attention for being too girth-y for Southwest Airlines than for being a movie director, maybe Warner Bros. was right to bury this one in the snow.
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Title:
Avatar
Stars:
Sam Worthington, Sigourney Weaver, Michelle Rodriguez
Studio:
Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation
Plot:
A paraplegic former marine (Worthington) accepts a unique mission that sends him to the planet Pandora, where, through a connection to a remotely controlled biological body, he learns the way of the indigenous Na'vi people. His link to this world puts him in direct opposition with his orders to infiltrate the Na'vi and remove the barrier between them and the precious ore desired by military and corporate interests.
Buzz:
James Cameron's response to upping the world of visual effects? He takes a new approach to 3D -- all the way down to creating his own cameras -- and augments the natural world by introducing new plant life and creatures to the aforementioned band of humans. It's the kind of anticipation that even makes President Roslin swoon. Meanwhile, Sam Worthington quietly has become new face of sci-fi. That makes us swoon.
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Title:
The Crazies
Stars:
Radha Mitchell, Timothy Olyphant, Danielle Panabaker
Studio:
Overture Films
Plot:
As a toxin begins to turn the residents of Ogden Marsh, Iowa into violent psychopaths, sheriff David Dutton (Olyphant) tries to make sense of the situation while he, his wife (Mitchell), and two other unaffected townspeople band together in a fight for survival.
Buzz:
As distributor Overture Films is about to be sold off by its corporate parent, direct Breck Eisner is preparing to remake both Flash Gordon and The Brood as his next projects -- further proof that Hollywood's water supply is full of insanity-inducing toxins.
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Title:
Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief
Stars:
Logan Lerman, Kevin McKidd, Steve Coogan
Studio:
Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation
Plot:
Life changes in an instant for troubled 12-year-old Percy Jackson (Lerman) when he learns his birth father is the god Poseidon and he's looped in on a cross-country mission to settle a feud between his dad, Zeus, and Hades.
Buzz:
Harry Potter is going out of business, and Hollywood still hasn't found his successor. The Lightning Thief is book one in Rick Riordan's series of five proper novels to date; can Philsopher's Stone director Chris Columbus put this franchise into motion? The young adult in all of us could use a new hero, and Columbus's career needs a renaissance as well.
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Title:
Valentine's Day
Stars:
Julia Roberts, Jamie Foxx, Anne Hathaway
Studio:
New Line Cinema
Plot:
Intertwining couples and singles in Los Angeles break-up and make-up based on the pressures and expectations of Valentine's Day.
Buzz:
New Line Cinema, working for Warner Bros. here, looks to repeat their He's Just Not That Into You success by hauling that movie's formula across country. The project lost Katherine Heigl in transport but replaced her with every other top actress who was not in the aforementioned movie. Can we hope for a little edge and unexpected plot turns here? Maybe a "hard PG-13"? Of course not. But you can rest assured that a sequel, New Year's Eve is coming in late 2011!
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Title:
Crazy Heart
Stars:
Jeff Bridges, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Colin Farrell
Studio:
Fox Searchlight Pictures
Plot:
A hard-living country music singer (Bridges) makes a reach for salvation with the help of a journalist (Gyllenhaal) set in her attempt to find the real man behind the musician.
Buzz:
A late entry into this year's awards sweepstakes courtesy of Fox Searchlight and first-time director Scott Cooper, Crazy Heart doesn't sound like the story offers anything new, however, the idea of watching Bridges sing, drink, puke, cry, and redeem is undeniably appealing. Assuming Bridges will earn a Best Actor nomination, you might want to revisit Tender Mercies, the Oscar winner to which Heart is intimately linked.
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Title:
Dear John
Stars:
Channing Tatum, Amanda Seyfried, Richard Jenkins
Studio:
Screen Gems
Plot:
A romantic drama about a soldier (Tatum) who falls for a co-ed (Seyfried) while he's home on leave. Their relationship is tested in the wake of the September 11th terrorist attacks, an event that causes him to re-enlist for service.
Buzz:
Lasse Hallstrom is a perfect director pick for this adaptation of the novel by Nicholas Sparks, the John Grisham of romantic drama. Herein, Channing Tatum earns a chance to flex his dramatic abdominals, Amanda Seyfried wipes away her tears for what will be her weepy year (get ready for her Letters to Juliet in May), and Richard Jenkins lines up a potential second Oscar nomination for his part as supportive parent.
 
