Russell Baillie previews some of the films vying for our attention in the coming weeks.
KEY POINTS:
National Treasure: Book of Secrets
Starring: Nicolas Cage, Diane Kruger, Helen Mirren
What: The sequel to the hit 2004 archaeology-action romp has Cage returning as Ben Gates who has to clear his great-great grandfather's name after it's revealed he planned the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Which of course leads on an international hunt for the US President's "secret book" via Paris, London and various dark caves and somehow involves Helen Mirren.
When: Boxing Day
Website: disney.go.com/disneypictures/nat
Priceless
Starring: Audrey Tatou
What: Bittersweet French farce in which Tatou plays a gold-digging prostitute who mistakenly woos mild-mannered bartender Jean (Gad Elmaleh), thinking he's a wealthy mark. He is smitten, but realising his true income bracket she escapes, only to get tangled up with the lovesick Jean a year later.
When: December 20
Alvin and the Chipmunks
Starring: The voices of Justin Long, Jason Lee
What: Computer-generated imaging and live action revival of the helium-voiced cartoon trio who have sold 43 million albums off the back of their TV cartoon. This stars My Name is Earl's Lee as their struggling songwriter Dave Seville. Quite possibly the Garfield of the season.
When: New Year's Day
Website: www.alvinandthechipmunksmovie.com
The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep
Starring: Emily Watson, Brian Cox, David Morrissey
What: Based on the book by Dick King-Smith, this is the filmed-in-New Zealand, set-in-Scottish-highlands, Weta-special-effects-powered kids' fantasy about wee Angus (Alex Etel from Millions) whose discovery of a magical egg - resembling a giant paua - leads to his friendship with a fast-growing mythical creature. Think Free Nessie.
When: New Year's Day
Website: www.sonypictures.com/movies/thewaterhorse
I am Legend
Starring: Will Smith and not many others
What: Smith is the last living boy in New York - he's scientist Robert Neville, a brilliant virologist who may be the last human being in a quarantined Manhattan Island, and possibly the world, after a virus wipes out the city and turns many into mutants who only come out after dark. The story is taken from Richard Matheson's 1954 novel which has had two previous screen incarnations - 1964's The Last Man on Earth, starring Vincent Price, and 1971's The Omega Man, starring Charlton Heston.
When: January 3
Website: iamlegend.warnerbros.com
Alien vs Predator Requiem
Starring: No one in particular.
What: The sequel to the 2004 monster mash knock-off which had the big-toothed beasties from outer space doing battle in the Antarctic. This time time they're in a Colorado town at Christmas time.
When: January 10
Website: www.avp-r.com
Death at a Funeral
Starring: Matthew Macfadyen, Keeley Hawes
What: Black British farce directed by Hollywood comedy guy - and voice of Yoda - Frank Oz about a family who, on the day they are burying their deceased patriarch, start finding various skeletons in the clan closet. Involves sibling rivalry, mistaken designer drug ingestion, and a mysterious dwarf.
When: January 10
Website: www.deathatafuneral-themovie.com
Cloverfield
Starring: A bunch of unknown twenty-somethings
What: This from Lost creator JJ Abrams is the year's blog-buster - our definition for a movie in danger of being more interesting for its web-hype than as a film. It looks a bit Godzilla meets Blair Witch Project with a group fo friends trying to escape a giant monster attack on New York - it pitches the Statue of Liberty's head into the city in the trailer- while documenting their experiences on handycam.
When: January 17
Website: www.cloverfieldmovie.com
Charlie Wilson's War
Starring: Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts, Philip Seymour Hoffman
What: The based-on-a-true-story drama about how in the early 1980s a Texas congressman (Hanks), his right-wing socialite sometime-lover (Roberts) and a CIA agent (Hoffman) armed the Mujahideen in their fight against Soviet invaders. Which of course led to all sorts of other troubles in the area since.
When: January 24
Website: www.charliewilsonswar.net
Sweeny Todd
Starring: Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Alan Rickman, Sacha Baron Cohen
What: Depp teams up for a sixth time with perpetually gothic director Tim Burton for a screen adaptation of the hit Stephen Sondheim Broadway musical about the Victorian London barber whose "little bit off the top" led to a grisly but delicious partnership with his pie-baking neighbour Mrs Lovett. Depp has, in the past, likened his singing to "the mating call of a rutting stag". But early reports suggest he might impress when he bursts into song.
When: January 24
Website: www.sweeneytoddmovie.com
30 Days of Night
Starring: Josh Hartnett, Melissa George, Danny Huston
What: The shot-in-New-Zealand set-in-Alaska vampire movie about a town plunged into Arctic darkness for a month coming under attack by a gang of bloodsuckers who don't play by the usual rules
When: January 31
Website: www.sonypictures.com/movies/30daysofnight
Juno
Starring: Ellen Page, Michael Cera, Jennifer Garner, Jason Bateman
What: When a feisty teenage girl (Page) gets herself knocked up by she decides to take it to full term and have it adopted by a nice couple (Garner and Bateman). It's a comedy with a style of wit which suggests it's closer to, say, Little Miss Sunshine than Knocked Up. And in Cera and Bateman it stars two alumni of television's Arrested Development.
When: January 31
Website: www.foxsearchlight.com/juno
Michael Clayton
Starring: George Clooney, Tilda Swinton, Tom Wilkinson
What: Legal thriller in which Clooney plays the titular Clayton, a burnt-out law firm "fixer" who finds himself facing the biggest mess and moral choices of of his career after a multimillion-dollar class action suit against an agrochemical giant spirals out of control.
When: January 31
Website: michaelclayton.warnerbros.com
No Country for Old Men
Starring: Tommy Lee Jones, Javier Bardem, Josh Brolin
What: Working from a book for the first time - a story by Cormac McCarthy about murder, money and a manhunt on the Tex-Mex border - the Coen brothers deliver a mystical crime thriller which has echoes of their early Blood Simple and Fargo. Expect to hear more about it come Oscar time.
When: January 31
Website: www.nocountryforoldmen.com
