I was lucky to see a bunch of films in November that all had something to really enjoy about each of them. This month has the last chance for a film to break into your favorite films of the year and there’s certainly some worthy competition.

DECEMBER 7

  • Playing for Keeps– So when I mentioned potential favorite films of the year I wasn’t referring to this. Okay okay, maybe it depends on who you are but this could not look cheesier. Poor Jessica Biel–I really think she deserves a better film career than the one she has. Then again she has Justin Timberlake so I can’t feel sorry for her.
DECEMBER 14
  • The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey – This looks lovely and all but it’s not exactly my thing. I haven’t seen any LOTR films, but considering this comes first I’m sure I don’t need to see the others before this. One thing I do have to say about it is Martin Freeman seems like perfect casting for Bilbo Baggins.
DECEMBER 21
  • The Guilt Trip (on Wed) – I’m willing to see anything Seth Rogen signs on to and even better it’s written by Dan Fogelman who wrote Crazy, Stupid, Love. Considering the last comedy I’ve seen this year was Hit & Run way back in August, I’m overdue for a good one.
  • This is 40 – And the same week we get this Judd Apatow sort of sequel to Knocked Up. The timing is weird considering they are direct competitors. Why didn’t one of these take advantage of the first weekend of December to not split audiences? As much as I love Knocked Up I’m not anticipating this as much. There were no big laugh out loud moments from the trailer and I was annoyed by another drugged up hotel scene. I’m not looking for easy jokes out of this, but I’m not writing it off either.
  • Jack Reacher – It’s unfair to Tom Cruise for me to be comparing this to Mission Impossible – Ghost Protocol but it’s hard not to make that connection and feel that this doesn’t look nearly as exciting. Also unfair is that Skyfall came out a month prior and was so fantastic that I’m not really worried about seeing another action movie try to come close anytime soon.
DECEMBER 25 (Tuesday)
  • Django Unchained – Of course my most anticipated movie of the year is one of the last releases. I have nothing but sky high expectations for this. Even Quentin Tarantino’s worst movie is still pretty fantastic so disappointment isn’t in the equation.
  • Les Miserables – I’ve never been familiar with this musical in it’s other adaptations but I can see why this looks so good. I’m sure it will be a wonderful film filled with spectacular performances. Just like The King’s Speech I will go into this not wanting to enjoy it as much as I probably will.
  • Parental Guidance – This is a movie for people over 50 as far as I can tell. It also looks horrible, but plenty of people were cracking up when the trailer came on before a movie I saw in theaters recently, so let them go see this and I’ll be cool ignoring it.

What are you looking forward to watching this month?