Movies in Theaters This Friday, December 13, 2013: The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, American Hustle, and More
Maybe it’s because the last couple of weeks have seemed a little down (no offense Frozen, who has been killing the box office), or maybe it’s because we have some fantastic looking films finally debuting. Either way, this weekend is a big weekend, and it officially starts the end-of-the-year sprint to the finish line.
The biggest contender is Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. Not only do we get to see more Martin Freeman, Ian McKellen, and Cate Blanchett, but the ladies get to see more Orlando Bloom. Even if the crowds may be predominantly male, that’s okay because Middle Earth is back in all of our lives once again! I know I’ll be catching the movie later tonight.
Another movie I really want to see is American Hustle. Sure, Jennifer Lawrence’s The Hunger Games: Catching Fire will still be racking in millions of dollars this weekend, but perhaps we should try to see her latest movie. David O. Russell (Silver Linings Playbook) reunites her and Bradley Cooper (along with some more impressing names) for a period drama that will open even wider next weekend. If you’re in one of the flagship markets, check it out starting today.
Before I touch on the rest of the limited movies, I did want to mention A Madea Christmas is the other wide release. Instead of saying something mean, I just won’t say anything at all.
The last two limited releases I will plug are Saving Mr. Banks – the autobiographical look at Walt Disney and the production of Mary Poppins – and Hours. Mr. Banks stars Tom Hanks and Emma Thompson (Brave), with John Lee Hancock (The Blind Side) serving as director.
On a sadder note, Hours is making headlines because it stars Paul Walker. For those that didn’t hear the unfortunate news, he was tragically killed in a car accident almost two weeks ago.
To round out the releases, you can also see The Crash Reel, Here Comes the Devil, Some Velvet Morning, and Trap for Cinderella in limited theaters.
Have a great weekend!
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
After successfully crossing over (and under) the Misty Mountains, Thorin and Company must seek aid from a powerful stranger before taking on the dangers of Mirkwood Forest–without their Wizard. If they reach the human settlement of Lake-town it will be time for the hobbit Bilbo Baggins to fulfill his contract with the dwarves. The party must complete the journey to Lonely Mountain and burglar Baggins must seek out the Secret Door that will give them access to the hoard of the dragon Smaug. And, where has Gandalf got off to? And what is his secret business to the south?
Madea gets coaxed into helping a friend pay her daughter a surprise visit in the country for Christmas, but the biggest surprise is what they’ll find when they arrive. As the small, rural town prepares for its annual Christmas Jubilee, new secrets are revealed and old relationships are tested while Madea dishes her own brand of Christmas Spirit to all.
A fictional film set in the alluring world of one of the most stunning scandals to rock our nation, American Hustle tells the story of brilliant con man Irving Rosenfeld (Christian Bale), who along with his equally cunning and seductive British partner Sydney Prosser (Amy Adams) is forced to work for a wild FBI agent Richie DiMaso (Bradley Cooper). DiMaso pushes them into a world of Jersey powerbrokers and mafia that’s as dangerous as it is enchanting. Jeremy Renner is Carmine Polito, the passionate, volatile, New Jersey political operator caught between the con-artists and Feds. Irving’s unpredictable wife Rosalyn (Jennifer Lawrence) could be the one to pull the thread that brings the entire world crashing down. Like David O. Russell’s previous films, American Hustle defies genre, hinging on raw emotion, and life and death stakes.
Fifteen years of verite footage show the epic rivalry between half-pipe legends Shaun White and Kevin Pearce, childhood friends who become number one and two in the world leading up to the Vancouver Winter Olympics, pushing one another to ever more dangerous tricks, until Kevin crashes on a Park City half-pipe, barely surviving. As Kevin recovers from his injury, Shaun wins Gold. Now all Kevin wants to do is get on his snowboard again, even though medics and family fear this could kill him. We also celebrate Sarah Burke who crashed in Park City and died January 19, 2012.
HERE COMES THE DEVIL combines modern indie filmmaking and storytelling with a hint of ‘70s-styled psychological horror that may not just be psychological. Francisco Barreiro and Laura Caro play parents Felix and Sol whose preteen son and daughter inexplicably reappear after being lost overnight on a desolate, cave-riddled mountainside after a casual hike became every parent’s nightmare. The good luck and good fortune of their return soon changes, as the children’s behavior suggests ominous and unspeakable events the night the children were lost that continue even now. As a loving couple – and loving parents – try to care for and protect their children, the ancient and half-whispered legends around the caves and the mountain and those who have gone there before become too strange to believe…and too dangerous, no matter how insane, to ignore.
Before sunrise on August 29, 2005, Nolan Hayes (PAUL WALKER) arrives at a New Orleans hospital with his pregnant wife, Abigail (GENESIS RODRIGUEZ), who has gone into early labor. What should be one of the happiest days of Nolan’s life quickly spirals out of control when the birth goes tragically wrong and Hurricane Katrina ravages the hospital, forcing an evacuation. Told to stay with his child, who is on a ventilator, and await transfer by ambulance, Nolan and his newborn are soon cut off from the world by power outages and rising floodwaters. When no one returns to help, Nolan faces one life-and-death decision after another, fighting to keep his daughter alive, as minute-by-agonizing minute passes…becoming unimaginable hours.
Two-time Academy Award®–winner Emma Thompson and fellow double Oscar®-winner Tom Hanks topline Disney’s “Saving Mr. Banks,” inspired by the extraordinary, untold backstory of how Disney’s classic “Mary Poppins” made it to the screen. When Walt Disney’s daughters begged him to make a movie of their favorite book, P.L. Travers’ “Mary Poppins,” he made them a promise—one that he didn’t realize would take 20 years to keep. In his quest to obtain the rights, Walt comes up against a curmudgeonly, uncompromising writer who has absolutely no intention of letting her beloved magical nanny get mauled by the Hollywood machine. But, as the books stop selling and money grows short, Travers reluctantly agrees to go to Los Angeles to hear Disney’s plans for the adaptation. For those two short weeks in 1961, Walt Disney pulls out all the stops. Armed with imaginative storyboards and chirpy songs from the talented Sherman brothers, Walt launches an all-out onslaught on P.L. Travers, but the prickly author doesn’t budge. He soon begins to watch helplessly as Travers becomes increasingly immovable and the rights begin to move further away from his grasp. It is only when he reaches into his own childhood that Walt discovers the truth about the ghosts that haunt her, and together they set Mary Poppins free to ultimately make one of the most endearing films in cinematic history. Disney presents “Saving Mr. Banks,” directed by John Lee Hancock, produced by Alison Owen, Ian Collie and Philip Steuer, and written by Kelly Marcel and Sue Smith. Executive producers are Paul Trijbits, Andrew Mason, Troy Lum and Christine Langan. The film will release in U.S. theaters on December 13, 2013, limited, and open wide on December 20, 2013.
Fred (Stanley Tucci) arrives at the doorstep of his beautiful young mistress Velvet (Alice Eve) after four years apart, claiming to have finally left his wife. But when she rejects his attempts to rekindle their romance, his persistence evolves into obsession — and a dark history between the former lovers comes into focus. A return to form for writer/director Neil LaBute (In the Company of Men, Your Friends & Neighbors), Some Velvet Morning is an astutely written portrait of a very modern romance.
A young girl suffering from amnesia after surviving a house fire that takes her childhood friend’s life, begins a tormented road to recovery.
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