January movies

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