Winter movie preview: Five films you shouldn’t miss

Jordan Wilson

Staff writer

Moviegoers and film critics alike have a lot to look forward to over the last three weeks of December – check out these brief previews of five upcoming premieres that might just be worth the price of admission.

“The Fighter” (Dec. 17 – Wide Release)

Director David O. Russell (Three Kings, Flirting With Disaster) takes on a boxing drama about “Irish” Micky Ward (Mark Wahlberg,) a fighter who experiences the “Rocky” road of failure, resurgence and underdog triumph.

His success is nearly derailed by his drug addict half-brother Dicky, played by Christian Bale in what is already one of the most acclaimed performances of the year. Bale has once again stripped himself down for the part and lost a significant amount of weight (a la “The Machinist”), while Wahlberg, conversely, has been training for two years to beef up for this role.

“The Fighter” shows a lot of promise, as it boasts an excellent cast, also including Amy Adams and Melissa Leo, and a director who already has one masterpiece under his belt with 1999’s “Three Kings.”

“Black Swan” (Dec. 17 – Wide Release)

A warped blend of Dario Argento’s “Suspira” and Michael Powell  and Emeric Pressburger’s “The Red Shoes,” “Black Swan” centers on Nina Sayers (Natalie Portman), a ballet dancer who is technically proficient, but lacks the raw emotional element of the craft.

After a rival dancer (Mila Kunis) threatens her part in a New York production of Tchaikovsky’s “Swan Lake,” Nina slowly begins to deteriorate mentally and physically, as she descends into a downward spiral that only Aronofsky could possibly envision.

Portman has received much acclaim for what many film critics have called the performance of her career. Aronofsky has called his new film “a perfect companion piece” to his previous film, “The Wrestler,” which, along with his previous three (“The Fountain,” “Requiem for a Dream,” “Pi”) also dealt with obsession and addiction. Here, Aronofsky tackles the obsession with perfection, and Portman is his puppet.

“True Grit” (Dec. 22 – Wide Release)

Transitioning again from comedy to drama, but never losing sight of either, Joel and Ethan Coen return to the silver screen with a remake of 1969’s “True Grit,” the movie for which John Wayne won his first and only Academy Award.

Jeff Bridges, who won an Oscar last year for the film “Crazy Heart” takes over the iconic role of Reuben J. Cogburn, a tough, one-eyed U.S. Marshal whose career has claimed many men’s lives. A young girl named Mattie Ross (Hailee Steinfeld) asks him to help her seek vengeance on her fathers’ killer (Josh Brolin.) Matt Damon also stars as a Texas Ranger who joins them on their quest for retribution – a great improvement over country singer Glen Cambell, who played the part in the original.

The Coen brothers have yet to deliver anything short of fascinating: from “Blood Simple” and “Fargo” to “No Country for Old Men” and “A Serious Man,” they have time and time again proved that they are filmmakers to be reckoned with. “True Grit” looks to be a shoo-in for nominations in the upcoming awards season.

“Biutiful” (Dec. 25 – Limited Release)

Alejandro González Iñárritu’s new film “Biutiful” is a love story between a father and his children.

Academy Award winner Javier Bardem plays Uxbal, an afflicted man who struggles in dealing with fatherhood, love, spirituality, corruption, remorse and morality while surrounded by the dangerous criminal world of present-day Barcelona.

A deeply complex drama, Iñárritu once again explores the farthest boundaries of human emotion, and the delicate fabric that composes the human soul. His previous films (“Amores Perros,” “21 Grams,” “Babel”) also examined these types of ideas, and Iñárritu has each time managed to redefine how far a film can go artistically in exploring these themes of humanity and conscience.

Bardem’s performance is being hailed, and the film is already a top contender for best foreign film in the coming awards season. “Biutiful” is in Spanish with English subtitles.

“Blue Valentine” (Dec. 31 – Limited Release)

Hailed as a modern day John Cassavettes film for its raw and seemingly improvised dialogue, “Blue Valentine”  stars Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams, two of Hollywood’s most talented and courageous actors, in a very small, non-Hollywood film that centers on the rise and fall of a young couples relationship, as they fall out of love after years of marriage.

The film skips around through time, showing them at different times in their relationship, from the first time that they met to their doomed and dissolving marriage.

“Blue Valentine” is the first film from writer/director Derek Cianfrance, and it is stirring up quite a controversy in the movie world, earning an NC-17 rating from the MPAA for a scene of explicit sexuality.

Unfortunately, this will  hurt its chances to be seen by a wider audience, but if it is released near you, and you are 17 or older, it is a film that you shouldn’t miss.

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