Everyone got out of the way of arrow-slinging, rebellion-leading, multiplex-owning heroine Katniss Everdeen and portrayer Jennifer Lawrence. With “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part I” showing on 4,000 of the nation’s screens, let’s talk Turkey Day flicks and beyond. On the menu? Clear award-season contenders, sequels grand and silly, and more. If some of these films feel like leftovers from fall’s preview, it’s because openings — even at this late date — are subject to change.
Main course
“Foxcatcher”: You may experience a mood coma after watching director Bennett Miller’s reality-based drama about the fraught, codependent relationship of du Pont heir and wannabe coach John du Pont (Steve Carell) and Olympic wrestler Mark Schultz (Channing Tatum). As Mark’s older brother Dave, an Olympic medalist as well as a coach, Mark Ruffalo feels like a jetty of sanity from which to view encroaching madness. It’s an engrossing, dark, exquisitely observed tale of entitlement and self-doubt. (Nov. 26)
“The Homesman”: The American frontier proves too harsh for three women in actor/director Tommy Lee Jones’ sophomore feature. Two-time Oscar winner Hilary Swank stars as Mary Bee Cuddy, the determined woman who plans to transport them east. Jones plays the drifter she relies on for help. (Nov. 28)
“Keep On Keepin’ On”: Locals can see Alan Hicks’ lauded tale of love and learning Nov. 22. The documentary about the relationship of jazz master and phenomenal mentor Clark Terry and blind pianist Justin Kauflin has a red-carpet berth at the 37th Starz Denver Film Festival. Go then. Kauflin is set to perform after the screening. But if you can’t make it, don’t miss one of the feel-great movies of 2014. (Dec. 5)
“Wild”: Cheryl Strayed’s best-selling memoir about her arguably ill-considered but utterly illuminating trek along the Pacific Crest Trail makes its way to the big screen with the heroine’s prickly attitude and flaws intact, thanks to director Jean-Marc Valleé, writer Nick Hornby and star Reese Witherspoon as Strayed. (Dec. 12)
“Exodus: Gods and Kings”: “Moses supposes his toeses are roses…” “Let my people go to the multiplex.” OK, it’s hard for me to get excited about director Ridley Scott’s return to the sword-and-sandal genre. (Summer’s “Noah” has given me a sinking feeling.) Yes, even with the always remarkable Christian Bale as Moses. Joel Edgerton plays Rhamses. Also settled in Egypt’s land for this heavy-duty visual-effects epic: Sigourney Weaver, Ben Kingsley and Aaron Paul. (Dec. 12)
That cranberry sauce with the jiggle
“Horrible Bosses 2”: Having failed to off their nemesis in the first installment of this crude-funny presumptive franchise, Nick, Dale and Kurt make a move to be, if not masters of the universe, at least their own bosses. Jason Bateman, Charlie Day and Jason Sudeikis return as the tested trio. Christoph Waltz and Chris Pine saunter in as the slick father and son who rip off their bright idea. Pine’s character hijacks the fellas’ bone-headed kidnap-ransom plan as a way to stick it to his dad. (Nov. 26)
“Top Five”: Chris Rock wrote, directed and stars in this close-to-reality comedy about a stand-up comic who becomes a movie star. Rosario Dawson plays the journalist who throws him off his game. The line-up of comedians in supporting roles — Cedric the Entertainer, J.B. Smoove, Tracy Morgan, Kevin Hart — promises pointed laughs. (Dec. 12)
“The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies”: The final installment of Peter Jackson’s take on J.R.R. Tolkien’s fantasy adventure finds Bilbo Baggins, Thorin Oakenshield and the Dwarves stirring one very hot and bothered dragon by the name of Smaug into climactic action. (Dec. 17)
Over at the kids’ table
“Penguins Of Madagascar”: Skipper and his tuxedoed crew — Kowalski, Rico and Private — never failed to send a “Madagascar” outing soaring a little higher. Now they have their own movie, complete with undercover shenanigans and globe-trotting. Vocally distinct pros John Malkovich and Benedict Cumberbatch provide the voices for villain Dr. Octavius Brine and a elite spy-agency contact, Classified. (Nov. 26)
“The Polar Express”: Forget naughty, the nice folks at the Denver Film Society are screening this motion-capture treat for one day at the Sie FilmCenter. No, it won’t be in 3-D. Still, Robert Zemeckis’ version of Chris Van Allsburg’s children’s book (starring the voice of Tom Hanks), casts its own snowglobe magic. (Dec. 13)
“Annie”: “Beasts of the Southern Wild” star Quvenzhané Wallis portrays the famous orphan with the much simpler name in this update of the hard-knock tale also starring Jamie Foxx and Rose Byrne. Cameron Diaz steps in as the scheming foster-care honcho. (Dec. 19)
“Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb”: This final installment in the Ben Stiller franchise finds Larry Daley traveling the globe in an effort to save the waning magic of the Tablet of Ahkmenrah. If you know what that means, then you’re the target audience. If you didn’t, our advice: It’s the holidays: Live a little and spend a day at the museum instead. (Dec. 19)
The Christmas Day feast
“Unbroken”: Angelina Jolie adapts Laura Hillenbrand’s best seller “Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption.” Jack O’Connell plays Olympic athlete and WWII POW Louis Zamperini. Anyone who’s seen the British actor in “Starred Up” or “’71” has every reason to hope for a powerful outing.
“The Imitation Game”: A big hit as the Starz Denver Film Festival’s Big Night centerpiece, this elegantly braided drama plays as biopic and wartime thriller. Benedict Cumberbatch brings anguish and intelligence to the role of mathematician and WWII code-smasher Alan Turing.
“The Interview”: Will this be the day history teachers pinpoint as the one that lit the fuse of the war between the U.S. and North Korea? Headlines earlier this year about Pyongyang’s response to the trailer for this Seth Rogen/James Franco action-comedy had us believing so. After all, the pals play “entertainment journalists” recruited by the CIA to assassinnate supreme leader Kim Jong-un.
“Into The Woods”: Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine’s acclaimed musical heads into the multiplex thicket with a tantalizing cast that includes Meryl Streep as the Witch, Johnny Depp as the Wolf and “Good Wife” star Christine Baranski as a bad stepmom — Cinderella’s to be precise. Oscar winner Rob Marshall (“Chicago”) directs.
“The Gambler”: Mark Wahlberg plays a Harvard-educated, New York prof who plunges deeper and deeper into gambling debt in this remake of the 1974 film of the same name. Brie Larson, Jessica Lange and John Goodman also appear in what promises to be, at the very least, a stylish revisit of writer James Toback’s autobiographical tale of black-jack highs and, more often, lows.
Lisa Kennedy: 303-954-1567, lkennedy@denverpost.com or
