Holiday Movie Releases - 12/11/09

Invictus

Morgan Freeman stops playing "Morgan Freeman" (i.e. Red) and becomes Nelson Mandela shortly after Mandela is released from prison in the mid 1990s. Freeman certainly has the talent and charisma to carry a long Eastwood-paced film. He's already picking up best actor awards here and there. Somehow, a blond rugby-playing Matt Damon is relevant to the story. Wide release.


The Lovely Bones

Saoirse Ronan (Atonement) gets murdered by Stanley Tucci and then stays in some kind of purgatory and watches her parents (Mark Wahlberg, Rachel Weisz). Peter Jackson directs, so the fantastical elements should work well. But this looks super-creepy and Tucci looks like the biggest perv in years. Congratulations. Limited release.

A Single Man

Colin Firth, Julianne Moore, and Nicholas Hoult (About a Boy's Marcus) star in a story about a gay British college professor (Firth) who loses his lover in 1962 and has to deal with the sadness and isolation. Sounds like Brokeback Mountain except this one has fabulous costumes instead of rugged peaks and wide valleys. As much as I love Moore, I'll defer this review to my colleagues. Limited release.