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2012

Director: Roland Emmerich
Stars: John Cusack, Thandie Newton, Chiwetel Ejiofor (Full Cast)
Studio: Columbia Pictures

The Plot: Academic researcher Jackson Curtis (Cusack) leads a group of people in a fight to counteract the apocalyptic events that were predicted by the Mayan calendar.

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THE BUZZ: After 10K BC's middling success, Roland Emmerich probably sensed that movie-going audiences worldwide prefer him in present-tense mode, heavy on apocalyptic imagery. I've heard rumors that 2012's script, which Emmerich wrote with composer-turned-screenwriter Harald Kloser, contains an incredibly cheesy twist of Shyamalanian proportions, but I'm not one to seek out (or deliver) spoilery goods. I will say that part of me hopes this end-of-the-world scenario could mint Emmerich as the slightly higher brow Uwe Boll, if only he thought to cast Tara Reid as an anthropologist here. Said differently: This A-and-B-list cast is slumming! P.S. Have you heard the one about Emmerich's planned 2012 TV spin-off?

Message Boards: Yellowstone Eruption | Does anyone have proof the world will end in 2012?

Pirate Radio

Director: Richard Curtis
Stars: Philip Seymour Hoffman, Bill Nighy, Nick Frost (Full Cast)
Studio: Focus Features

The Plot: A 1960's comedy about an illegal radio station run by a band of rogue DJs on a ship in the middle of Britain's North Sea. By defying the tastes and laws of the ruling government, the disc jockeys hooked their listeners on pop music and its attendant ideas of love and free will.

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THE BUZZ: Universal has reworked and retitled this rebellious period comedy since its UK go-round earlier this year, though I'm unsure whether lodging it in the middle of awards season is an indication that the studio simply is pushing the movie out to sea.

Message Boards: please tell me nationwide release or limited??? | Any Difference between US and UK Release?

Fantastic Mr. Fox [Limited expansion: 11/20; wide expansion: 11/25]

Director: Wes Anderson
Stars: George Clooney, Meryl Streep, Bill Murray (Full Cast)
Studio: Fox Searchlight Pictures

The Plot: Angry farmers, tired of sharing their chickens with a sly fox, look to get rid of their opponent and his family. Based on the book by Roald Dahl.

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THE BUZZ: While some of the media is slam-booking Wes Anderson, we're choosing to let his nuanced clutch of films speak for itself in advance of Mr. Fox's arrival. We admittedly were a bit anxious about the look and feel of the first trailer, but the supplemental featurettes and clips eased us into Anderson's make-believe world (and we were realigned by this feels-similar video by electronic brother-sister duo The Knife). We still wonder, however, if this is another Where the Wild Things Are in it's ability to resonate with adults, but not so much with kids.

Message Boards: Can't wait for this one | Box Office Predictions

The Messenger [LA/NY]

Director: Oren Moverman
Stars: Ben Foster, Samantha Morton, Woody Harrelson (Full Cast)
Studio: Oscilloscope Laboratories

The Plot: A soldier (Foster) struggles with an ethical dilemma when he becomes involved with a widow of a fallen officer (Morton).

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THE BUZZ: Neverminding The Hurt Locker's moderate success, Iraq-war dramas are still a dicey commercial prospect, though acclaimed screenwriter Oren Moverman's directorial debut has kept its festival buzz building, and insiders are saying Ben Foster turns in another watch-out performance. Ditto Harrelson, who has had a banner 2009.

Message Boards: Steve Buscemi: Could he Get a Nom? | if the movie is only half as good as the trailer...

Dare [limited]

Director: Adam Salky
Stars: Emmy Rossum, Zach Gilford, Ashley Springer (Full Cast)
Studio: Image Entertainment

The Plot: A drama centered around three high school seniors - an aspiring actress (Rossum), her misfit best friend (Springer), and a loner (Gilford) - who become engaged in an intimate and complicated relationship.

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THE BUZZ: I remember being seriously underwhelmed by this one at Sundance back in January - then again, this is more of a sleepover movie for edgy teenage girls than stimulation for a pudgy guy in his late 30s. Though I will say I expected a bit more from support staff Ana Gasteyer, Sandra Bernhard (who sorta look like sisters these days) and Alan Cumming, whose names are being used to promote the movie, though they have precious little screen time. For the young trio of actors at the center of this drama, let's say they are characterizations that would fade into the background of pretty much any show on the CW.

Message Boards: Someone Has To Upload It When They See it! | just watched it, go see it

Women in Trouble [limited]

Director: Sebastian Gutierrez
Stars: Carla Gugino, Adrianne Palicki, Connie Britton (Full Cast)
Studio: Screen Media Films

The Plot: Different forms of trouble bring together eight seemingly disparate women over the course of one day in Los Angeles.

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THE BUZZ: After a series of diminishing returns from the world of horror/thrillers, Sebastian Gutierrez seems on the brink of reinvention with a Almodóvar-inspired sex comedy that situates his real-life girlfriend, Carla Gugino, smack in the middle the manic/camp proceedings. Outfitted with a handful of actresses we'd love to see more often, and goosed by cameos from Josh Brolin and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, we hope this well-reviewed L.A. romp breaks away from the indie pack and convinces Gutierrez to take a long break from the big studios.

Message Boards: Has anyone actually seen this movie? | uk?

A Christmas Carol

Director: Robert Zemeckis
Stars: Jim Carrey, Gary Oldman, Colin Firth (Full Cast)
Studio: Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

The Plot: An animated retelling of the Charles Dickens novel about Ebenezer Scrooge (Carrey), a Victorian-era miser who is taken on a journey of self-redemption, courtesy of several mysterious Christmas apparitions.

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THE BUZZ: Could it be that Robert Zemeckis has finally found source material that perfectly suits his creepy mo-cap fantasies? Initially we were unsure, but ever since Comic-Con we've been behind this movie way more so than our affection for Monster House and Beowulf combined. However, this does not mean we're behind Who Framed Roger Rabbit 2 ...

Message Boards: Is it really THAT scary? | HOW RUDE IS THE MOVIE POSTER?

This Is It

Director: Kenny Ortega
Stars: Michael Jackson (Full Cast)
Studio: Columbia Pictures

The Plot: A compilation of interviews, rehearsals and backstage footage of Michael Jackson as he prepared for his series of sold-out shows in London.

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THE BUZZ: For the millions of MJ fans who bought tickets to his sold-out series of 50 comeback concerts before he died last June, this is definitely not it. But, it's the best the promoters could do to recover some of its losses and offer grieving fans a glimpse of what might have been. Sony and the Jackson family have apparently pulled out all the stops to make sure this lives up to the Gloved One's glittery standards -- featuring rare rehearsal and behind-the-scenes footage (shot in HD!), state-of-the-art digital sound and 3-D sequences intended for use in the live concerts -- building up to what will most likely be a spectacular celebration of the late entertainer's talents, but also a bittersweet reminder of them as well.

Message Boards: Where were you when you found out Michael was dead. | Moonwalker

The Men Who Stare at Goats

Director: Grant Heslov
Stars: Ewan McGregor, George Clooney, Kevin Spacey (Full Cast)
Studio: Overture Films

The Plot: In Iraq, reporter Bob Wilton (McGregor) meets Lyn Cassady (Clooney), whose seemingly wild claim - that he's a member of the U.S. Army's First Earth Battalion, a unit that employs paranormal powers in their missions - causes Wilton to join Cassady's hunt for the battalion's founder, whose gone missing.

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THE BUZZ: I like it when Clooney has a full-fledged character to play and isn't just in leading-man mode, and Kurt Wimmer's book is too against-the-grain for any established studio to be interested in the adaptation, which is being handled by Clooney's producing partner, Grant Heslov (his second picture as director). Enter Overture Films, who's gunning for awards-season recognition with this project as well as Michael Moore's Capitalism: A Love Story. Meanwhile, over at Sony, Clooney and Heslov will develop more mainstream fare after severing their decade-old relationship with Warner Bros. back in June.

Message Boards: CROWD REPORTS | Worst movie of all time

The Fourth Kind

Director: Olatunde Osunsanmi
Stars: Milla Jovovich, Elias Koteas, Will Patton (Full Cast)
Studio: Universal Pictures

The Plot: An investigator (Jovovich) is dispatched to Nome, Alaska to puzzle out a 40-year-long mystery involving an extraordinary number of unexplained disappearances in the town. Her videotaped evidence looks to present the most convincing evidence of alien abduction ever documented.

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THE BUZZ: Mystery and potential government conspiracies await Jovovich on her visit to Palin-ville. This thriller was scooped up by Universal during the summer when post-production on The Wolf Man pushed that film's release date to 2010. Before Paranormal Activity mania struck, I thought this movie was a goner -- another round of bad luck for Milla (and Universal) who saw her critically well-received thriller A Perfect Getaway fade away like a hazy summer memory. Now, it just might connect with audiences who are craving caught-on-tape horrors.

Message Boards: Other creepy alien movies? | Can Aliens and Christianity co-exist???

Paranormal Activity

Director: Oren Peli
Stars: Katie Featherston, Micah Sloat, Michael Bayouth (Full Cast)
Studio: Paramount Pictures

The Plot: While settling into her new home, Katie (Featherston) is disturbed in her sleep by a mysterious presence. Her husband, Micah (Sloat), tries to ease her fear by installing video cameras in an attempt to capture the strange behavior on tape. Bad idea.

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THE BUZZ: The found-footage story idea has served writer-director Oren Peli well, since Paranormal Activity has been buzzing for almost two years now. Paramount scooped up U.S. rights and scrapped the original idea to remake the movie for general audiences. No wonder the online scene has embraced the minimalist horror-thriller (it's a zero-budget affair shot with a barebones crew) and the studio subsequently will focus their marketing efforts to genre sites, Facebook, etc.; in fact, check out the movie's unique "Demand It" feature -- essentially a contest for screenings to occur in your area. Elsewhere, according to reviews, unlike recent horror bomb Sorority Row, this movie features a protagonist (Katie Featherston) you actually care about!

Message Boards: Another 'docufright' yawn inducer.... | Data about women's sizes in US

The Box

Director: Richard Kelly
Stars: Cameron Diaz, James Marsden, Frank Langella (Full Cast)
Studio: Warner Bros. Pictures

The Plot: A young couple is gifted with a mysterious box that promises them a handsome windfall with deadly consequences.

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THE BUZZ: Director Kelly's totally in his element here (and playing it much safer than his last movie) with this Twilight Zone-inspired thriller. Expect dark, supernatural elements, requisite non sequiturs, Hitchcocky plot twists and an indier-than-thou soundtrack (replete with Mellotron and tambourines). But, what's with the studio bumping this -- from March to November, back to October, etc. -- when it was supposedly a done deal and what's with all those Cameron Diaz ascots?

Message Boards: This movie was actually REALLY GOOD! Why do people act like it's bad? | Budget $30,000,000.

Couples Retreat

Director: Peter Billingsley
Stars: Vince Vaughn, Malin Akerman, Jon Favreau (Full Cast)
Studio: Universal Pictures

The Plot: Four couples settle into a tropical-island resort for a vacation. While one of the couples is there to work on their marriage, the others fail to realize that participation in the resort's therapy sessions is not optional.

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THE BUZZ: Whether Retreat's mainstream-cool cast was handpicked by former swingers Vince Vaughn and Jon Favreau or assembled by Universal's business-development execs, the crossover factor is off the PowerPoint charts here. Though the Industry has been riding the studio hard for its series of flops and underperformers (Public Enemies is the closet thing to a hit in a losing streak which includes Land of the Lost, Funny People, Brüno, and, most recently, The Invention of Lying), it would take a miscue of maximum incompetence for this date movie to tank.

Message Boards: what's with the ugly guys plus hot women couples? | Horrible!

Law Abiding Citizen

Director: F. Gary Gray
Stars: Gerard Butler, Jamie Foxx, Leslie Bibb (Full Cast)
Studio: Overture Films

The Plot: After family man Clyde Shelton (Butler) is failed by the court system, he concocts a series of events designed to exact his revenge on the killers of his wife and daughter. And from inside his jail cell, the mastermind lures the prosecutor (Foxx) who orchestrated the unjust deal into his deadly plan.

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THE BUZZ: Working chronologically backwards, notions of Jigsaw, Hannibal Lecter, and Charles Bronson's Paul Kersey come to mind for what shaping up to be one of the year's most guilty pleasures; "to not crave it is to not crave cheesesteaks," as one descriptive insider put it.

Message Boards: Beginning (Help!) | soft ending!!

Where the Wild Things Are

Director: Spike Jonze
Stars: Max Records, Catherine O'Hara, Forest Whitaker (Full Cast)
Studio: Warner Bros. Pictures

The Plot: Young, mischievous Max is sent to bed without his supper, but when his bedroom turns in to a magical jungle landscape filled with strange creatures, he embarks on a wild imaginary adventure.

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THE BUZZ: We've been waiting for the wild rumpus to start on this one since forever ... well, technically, since the fall of 2008. And by now the story of Warner Bros. worrying whether children would stream out of theaters in tears at Spike Jonze's vision of Maurice Sendak's ten-sentence classic is new Hollywood folklore. We still wonder, however, if this is more a film for young people or their parents who came of age in the 1960s/70s. (Cue Arcade Fire and then: "Daddy, why are you crying?") This article is more than a year old, but it encapsulates the saga and includes footage of an early version of the film directed by a now-well-known animator.

Message Boards: That, was my favorite arm!!! | Was Max Autistic?

Astro Boy

Director: David Bowers
Stars: Freddie Highmore, Nicolas Cage, Kristen Bell (Full Cast)
Studio: Summit Entertainment

The Plot: Set in futuristic Metro City, Astro Boy (voiced by Highmore) is about a young robot with incredible powers created by a brilliant scientist (voiced by Cage) in the image of the son he has lost. Unable to fulfill the grieving man's expectations, our hero embarks on a journey in search of acceptance, experiencing betrayal and a netherworld of robot gladiators, before he returns to save Metro City and reconcile with the father who had rejected him.

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THE BUZZ: I really like the look of this film, and the notion that its creators are looking to please fans of Osamu Tezuka's comic series and young kids alike. Rumors of financial troubles proved true, and I appreciated the level of honesty from Summit Entertainment, which confirmed production company Imagi's money woes as they shipped out images (seen above) verifying that everything was back on track. I'm also excited for director David Bowers, the Aardman Animations vet who got to trade the flat universe of Flushed Away for this version of sci-fi cool.

Message Boards: Major Flop! | This Movie is Pretty Bad

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