January movies

January 12

Alpha Dog

Genre: Drama

MPAA Rating: R (for pervasive drug use and language, strong violence, sexuality and nudity)

Cast: Ben Foster, Shawn Hatosy, Emile Hirsch, Christopher Marquette, Sharon Stone, Justin Timberlake, Anton Yelchin, Bruce Willis

Story: In the sprawling, privileged neighborhoods around L.A., bored teenagers with too much time and too much money string one hazy day into another, looking for the next thrill—doing suburban imitations of the thug life they idolize from rap music, video games and movies. When you’re living without any consequences, anything can happen. And in the hot California summer six years ago, something did. Inspired by true events, “Alpha Dog” follows three fateful days when the lives of a group of Southern California teens suddenly dead-ended. The film features a powerful ensemble cast including Ben Foster, Shawn Hatosy, Emile Hirsch, Christopher Marquette, Sharon Stone, Justin Timberlake, Anton Yelchin and Bruce Willis and is written and directed by Nick Cassavetes. Johnny Truelove (Emile Hirsch) controls the drugs on the well-manicured streets of his neighborhood. Where Johnny goes, the party, the girls and his loyal gang follow. When he’s double-crossed over missing deal money by raging hothead Jake (Ben Foste Johnny and his gang impulsively kidnap Jake’s little brother, Zack (Anton Yelchin), holding him as a marker and heading to Palm Springs. With no parents in sight, they grow used to having the kid around, and Zack enjoys an illicit summer fantasy of drinking, girls and new experiences.

Director: Nick Cassavetes

Studio: Universal Pictures

Website: AlphaDogmovie.com

Freedom Writers

Genre: Drama

MPAA Rating: PG-13 (for violent content, some thematic material and language)

Cast: Hilary Swank, Imelda Staunton, Patrick Dempsey, Scott Glenn, Mario

Story: “Freedom Writers” is inspired by a true story and the diaries of real Long Beach teenagers after the LA riots, during the worst outbreak of interracial gang warfare. Two-time Academy Award® winner Hilary Swank stars as Erin Gruwell, whose passion to become a teacher is soon challenged by a group of Black, Latino, and Asian gangbangers who hate her even more than each other. When Erin begins to listen to them in a way no adult has ever done, she begins to understand that for these kids, getting through the day alive is enough — they are not delinquents but teenagers fighting “a war of the streets” that began long before they were born. Erin gives them something they never had from a teacher before — respect. For the first time, these teens experience a hope that maybe, they might show the world that their lives matter and they have something to say.

Director:Richard LaGravenese

Studio: Paramount Pictures

Website: FreedomWriters.com

The Nomad

Genre: Drama

Cast: Kuno Becker, Jay Hernandez, Jason Scott Lee, Mark Dacascos, Doskhan Zholzhaksynov, Ayana Yesmagambetova

Story: 8th century Kazakhstan, a vast, pitiless region of austere and terrible beauty, bordered by China, Russia and Tibet. Here the proud and warlike Kazakh tribes have survived and fought for centuries – against invaders, against their formidable Jungar enemies and amongst themselves. Oraz, a mystic and warrior possessed of great powers, foretells the birth of a new star, a hero. This boy -Mansur – is destined to unite the Kazakhs, and lead them to glorious victory against their enemies. Fearful of Oraz’ prediction, the Jungar ruler Galdan orders his General, Sharish, to find the child and slay him. However, Oraz saves Mansur and delivers him to his father, Sultan Wali.

Director: Sergei Bodrov, Ivan Passer

Studio: The Weinstein Company

Website: Not Available

No Place Like Home

Genre: Comedy

Cast: Vince Vaughn

Story: An arrogant, wealthy man in New York finds his life falling apart after he breaks up with his girlfriend and is forced to move back in with his parents, whom he seemingly detests

Director: Gary Auerbach

Studio: Columbia Pictures

Website: Not Available

Pathfinder

Genre: Action, Adventure, Drama

Cast: Karl Urban, Moon Bloodgood, Russell Means, Clancy Brown, Jay Tavare, Nathaniel Arcand, Ralf Moeller

Story: An action-adventure set in the time when Vikings tried to conquer North America, “Pathfinder” tells the heroic story of a young Norse boy left behind after his clan shipwrecks on the Eastern shores. Despite his lineage, the boy is raised by the very Indians his kinsmen set out to destroy. Now, as the Vikings return to stage another barbaric raid on his village, the 25 year-old Norse warrior (Karl Urban) wages a personal war to stop the Vikings’ trail of death and destruction. Forging his own path, his destiny is revealed and his identity re-claimed

Director: Marcus Nispe

Studio: 20th Century Fox

Website: Pathfinderthemovie.com

Stomp the Yard

Genre: Drama, Musical

MPAA Rating: PG-13 (for a scene of violence, some sexual material and language)

Cast: Columbus Short, Meagan Good, Darrin DeWitt Henson, Ne-Yo, Brian J. White

Story: After the death of his brother, an expert street dancer goes to Georgia to attend Truth University. But his efforts to get an education and woo the girl he likes are sidelined when he joins in his fraternity’s effort to win a step dancing competition.

Director: Sylvain White

Studio: Screen Gems (Sony)

Website: SonyPictures.com

January 19

The Hitcher

Genre: Drama, Horror, Thriller

Cast: Sean Bean, Sophia Bush, Zachary Knighton, Kyle Davis, Neal McDonough

Story: From filmmaker Michael Bay’s Platinum Dunes production company (“The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” [2003], “The Amityville Horror” [2005]) comes a remake of the 1986 terror classic. Dave Meyers is directing the new film, which tracks the terrifying cross-country journey of Grace and Jim, two college students who are tormented by the mysterious hitchhiker John Ryder, a.k.a. The Hitcher.

Director: Dave Meyers

Studio: Rogue Pictures (Focus Features)

Website: TheHitchermovie.net

January 26

Blood & Chocolate

Genre: Drama, Horror, Romance, Thriller

Cast: Agnes Bruckner, Hugh Dancy, Olivier Martinez, Katja Riemann, Bryan Dick, Chris Geere, Tom Harper, John Kerr, Jack Wilson, Vitalie Ursu, Bogdan Voda, Kata Dobó, Rodica Mandache, Lia Bugnar, Mihai Calin

Story: “Blood & Chocolate” is based on Annette Curtis Klause’s novel about a teenage werewolf who has spent her life trying to hide the fact that she is part wolf. She must choose between her love for a human and her family after her relationship with a visiting American threatens to expose her secret.

Director: Katja von Garnier

Studio: MGM

Website: MGM.com/BloodandChocolate

Catch and Release

Genre: Comedy, Drama

Cast: Jennifer Garner, Timothy Olyphant, Sam Jaeger, Juliette Lewis, Kevin Smith

Story: Garner will play a woman facing the sudden death of her husband and the secrets he kept from her.

Director: Susannah Grant

Studio: Columbia Pictures

Website: SonyPictures.com

Epic Movie

Genre: Comedy

Cast: Kal Penn, Adam Campbell, Jennifer Coolidge

Story: The twisted minds of two of the six writers of “Scary Movie” tackle the biggest mega-blockbusters of all time in “Epic Movie.” The story centers on four not-so-young orphans: one raised by a curator at the Louvre (where an albino assassin lurks), another a refugee from Mexican “libre” wrestling, the third a recent victim of snakes on her plane, and the fourth a “normal” resident of a mutant “X”-community. The hapless quartet visits a chocolate factory, where they stumble into an enchanted wardrobe that transports them to the land of Gnarnia (with a “G”). There they meet a flamboyant pirate captain and earnest students of wizardry n and join forces with, among others, a wise-but-horny lion to defeat the evil White Bitch of Gnarnia.

Director: Jason Friedberg, Aaron Seltze

Studio: 20th Century Fox

Website: EpicMoviethemovie.com

The Invisible

Genre: Drama, Supernatural Thriller

MPAA Rating:PG-13 (for violence, criminality, sensuality and language – all involving teens)

Cast: Justin Chatwin, Marcia Gay Harden, Margarita Levieva, Chris Marquette

Story: From the producers of “The Sixth Sense” and the co-writer of “Batman Begins,” “The Invisible” is a supernatural thriller about a writer who finds himself trapped between the world of the living and the dead-completely invisible to the living. Nick (Justin Chatwin) has a bright future until he is brutally attacked and left for dead. Now in limbo, his only chance to live again is to figure out the mystery of what happened to him and why, before his time runs out. But how do you solve a murder, when the victim is you?

Director: David S. Goyer

Studio: Hollywood Pictures

Website: MySpace.com/TheInvisiblemovie

Smokin’ Aces

Genre: Action, Comedy

Cast: Ben Affleck, Andy Garcia, Alicia Keys, Ray Liotta, Jeremy Piven, Ryan Reynolds, Peter Berg, Martin Henderson, Taraji Henson, Common

Story: In these interlocking tales of high stakes and low lifes, Mob boss Primo Sparazza has taken out a hefty contract on Buddy “Aces” Israel (Piven)—a sleazy magician who has agreed to turn state’s evidence against the Vegas mob. The FBI, sensing a chance to use this small-time con to bring down big-target Sparazza, places Aces into protective custody-under the supervision of two agents (Reynolds and Liotta) dispatched to Aces’ Lake Tahoe hideout. When word of the price on Aces’ head spreads into the community of ex-cons and cons-to-be, it entices bounty hunters, thugs-for-hire, smokin’ hot vixens and double-crossing mobsters to join in the hunt. With all eyes on Tahoe, this rogues’ gallery collides in a comic race to hit the jackpot and rub out Aces.

Director: Joe Carnahan

Studio: Universal Pictures

Website: SmokinAces.net