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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2014
PAGE 7A
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WINTER BREAK MOVIE PREVIEW
Check out these films coming to theaters during Winter Break
ALEX LAMB
@Lambcannon
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies - Dec. 17
FIVE ARTHES — DEC. 17
The conclusion to "The Hobbit" nilogy promises to be the best and most epic entry, with the titular battle lasting a whopping 45 minutes and the scale of the film on par with "Lord of the Rings." This is the blockbuster of the holiday season.
James Corden, left, and Meryl Streep star in "Into The Woods," opening Christmas Day. "Into The Woods" is just one of many movies opening over the holidays.
The Imitation Game — Dec. 25
This top-notch British period drama shows the exciting true story of how mathematician Alan Turing (Benedict Cumberbatch) created the world's first computer in order to break the Nazi Enigma code and help win WWII. Cumberbatch's sharp performance, like a more sensitive, heartbreaking version of Sherlock, is a lock in the Best Actor race.
EAT COM
Into the Woods — Dec. 25
This excellent Stephen Sondheim musical subverts the classic fairy tales of Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel and Jack and the Beanstalk by playing them out normally then continuing past the endings we know, growing dark and realistic as the characters learn to be careful what they wish for.
the interview — Dec. 25
Seth Rogen and James Franco team up for another ridiculous buddy movie guaranteed to score big laughs, playing celebrity talk show hosts who go to interview Kim Jong-un in North Korea. Recruited to assassinate the dictator, they get hilariously out of their depth when things don't go according to plan.
Unbroken — Dec. 25
Angelina Jofie directs this inspiring true story of an Olympic athlete and soldier who was shot down in WWII, survived for 47 days on a raft at sea, then stayed strong through several years of Japanese POW camps before making it back home. Though told with heavy-handedness, it's a powerful journey nonetheless.
Selma — Jan. 9
In the wake of the Ferguson, Mo., protests, this potent historical drama about Martin Luther King Jr.'s crucial civil rights marches in Selma, Ala., in 1965 is especially timely, with both a mighty screen portrayal of MLK by David Oyelowo and brutal, gripping depictions of the protests.
Inherent Vice — Jan. 9
Paul Thomas Anderson has crafted some of the most fascinating American dramas of recent years ("There Will Be Blood," "The Master"). So his latest, a comedic crime noir about a stoner detective (Joaquin Phoenix) in 1970s L.A. that's comparable to "The Big Lebowski," will be a particularly strange and special treat.
American Sniper — Jan. 16 Clint Eastwood has been losing his directing strength with his most recent films, but his new war movie about the career of the deadliest sniper (Bradley Cooper) in American armed forces history ensures extreme intensity on the battlefield if not much weight outside of that. It won't quite be on the dramatic level of "The Hurt Locker," but it sure will exhilarate.
Edited by Logan Schlossberg