2011 RELEASES(Jan)

• January 7th

Season of the Witch

Director: Dominic Sena
Stars: Nicolas Cage, Ron Perlman, Claire Foy
Studio: Relativity Media

The Plot: A 14th-century Crusader (Cage) returns to his homeland, which has been devastated by the Black Plague. To appease members of the church, he and his comrade (Perlman) look to transport an accused witch (Foy) to a remote abbey, where monks hope that a ritual will end the pestilence.

THE BUZZ: Sounds like the beginning of a decent SyFy program, but as a feature film -- really? The last time Nic Cage partnered with director Dominic Sena, Gone in Sixty Seconds resuscitated Cage's career -- for the second time if we're remembering correctly. It was the era when Angelina Jolie was barely a movie star, too. Anyway, their reunion heralds Cage's first appearance in what looks to be another fascinatingly weird year of career choices. Conjuring up images of one of the most disastrous centuries in these troubled times? Folding in witches and the Black Plague? And a PG-13 rating? Sounds like a potential miscue for veteran production company/newly minted distributor Relativity Media, who picked up the film from Lionsgate, who teased us with a few come-and-go release dates last year.

Country Strong

Director: Shana Feste 

Stars: Garrett Hedlund, Gwyneth Paltrow, Leighton Meester 

Studio: Screen Gems

The Plot: A drama centered on a rising country-music songwriter (Hedlund) who sparks with a fallen star (Paltrow). Together, they mount his ascent and her comeback, which leads to romantic complications involving her husband/manager (McGraw) and a beauty queen-turned-singer (Meester).

THE BUZZ: Clearly taking advantage of Garrett Hedlund's icon-making appearance in TRON: Legacy, Country Strong also seems destined to remind us all of Jeff Bridges' Oscar-winning role in Crazy Heart, which was released almost one year ago to the day. I appreciate Gwyneth majorly playing against type, but I think she should have gone Method here; imagine her performance after weeks of whiskey blackouts and singing nothing but "Willin'" by Little Feat.

• January 14th

The Green Hornet

Director: Michel Gondry
Stars: Seth Rogen, Jay Chou, Christoph Waltz
Studio: Columbia Pictures





The Plot: A newspaper publisher by day and masked crime fighter by night, The Green Hornet and his martial arts expert sidekick, Kato, fight crime while trying to keep their true identities a secret.

THE BUZZ: It's hard to remember the initial excitement we felt for this take on the classic Bruce Lee TV show way back when Kevin Smith, or even Kung Fu Hustle's Stephen Chow, was going to make it. At the same time, we're kinda glad they didn't. After a few delays, the addition of Rogen and Gondry and a last minute 3-D conversion, we're just hoping this won't end up looking like an extended outtake from Be Kind Rewind -- a "Sweded" version of the '60s series with a bigger budget and more pot jokes. Meanwhile, who would've guessed a year ago that Waltz might be the best part of this movie?

The Dilemma

Director: Ron Howard
Stars: Vince Vaughn, Kevin James, Winona Ryder
Studio: Universal Pictures





The Plot: A comedy centered on a guy (Vaughn) who struggles with whether or not to tell his best friend (James) that his wife (Ryder) is having an affair.

THE BUZZ: Will Ron Howard finally make a fun movie? We hope so, and we also have fingers crossed for the celebrity count to keep increasing for this comedy, so it'll become the anti-Valentine's Day. Love knowing that Winona beat out Kate Beckinsale and Uma Thurman for the starring role, and that she'll be caught with a tattooed-and-pierced Channing Tatum.

Barney's Version

Director: Richard J. Lewis
Stars: Paul Giamatti, Rosamund Pike, Jake Hoffman (Full Cast)
Studio: Sony Pictures Classics





The Plot: Impulsive and irascible TV-show producer Barney Panofsky (Giammati) reflects upon his life's successes, failures, and its great mystery -- from his three marriages, to his doubts with the bottle and infidelity, and then to the unsolved disappearance of his best friend, Boogie (Speedman).

THE BUZZ: No surprise: Paul Giammati's performance anchors this drama, an adaptation of Mordecai Richler's last novel. Giamatti has a certain reputation for saving the films he's in (Cold Souls and The Hawk Is Dying come to mind), yet critics seem to be divided as to whether his work saves what is otherwise an aimless take on an overstuffed, unwieldy novel. We're always willing to give the actor the benefit of the doubt.

• January 21st

The Company Men

Director: John Wells
Stars: Ben Affleck, Chris Cooper, Tommy Lee Jones
Studio: Weinstein Company

The Plot: A drama centered a year in the lives of three businessmen (Affleck, Cooper, Jones) who look to what's next in their lives after being laid off by their company.

THE BUZZ: More comforting than you might think on first glance, the feature debut of TV mega-creator John Wells ("ER", "The West Wing") has been compared to Up in the Air since it unfurled at Sundance, where the worst reviews said it's a solid alternative to Hollywood offerings on the same subject of the effects of the withered economy. Most reviews were rapturous and Oscar buzzy, and with a firm commitment from the Weinsteins to market the picture, job losses could turn into awards wins. Of course, there's always the question of whether or not the story matter will appeal to general audiences ... Update: While the film will still qualify for awards nominations, The Weinstein Company shuffled the release date at the 11th hour since (we're assuming) their other project, The King's Speech, is a top candidate for Oscar wins. 

 No Strings Attached

Director: Ivan Reitman
Stars: Natalie Portman, Ashton Kutcher
Studio: Paramount Pictures

The Plot: A comedy centered on casual friends Adam (Kutcher) and Emma (Portman) as they try to keep their relationship strictly physical.

  

THE BUZZ: Ashton and Natalie hook up for the first in a series of friends-with-benefits comedies coming in the next year or so, though this is the one we're holding out for. While Natalie Portman pretty much can do no wrong, we wouldn't say the same of her co-star and her director. Hopefully Paramount keeps it edgy here with a hardcore title like the one originally announced, F__kbuddies). Meanwhile, screenwriter Liz Meriwether is earning attention for her script titles.

The Way Back 

Director: Peter Weir
Stars: Jim Sturgess, Ed Harris, Colin Farrell
Studio: Newmarket Films

The Plot: A young military officer (Sturgess) leads an escape from a hellish gulag in Soviet-occupied Poland during WWII. Making a pact with six companions, the group embarks on a daring mission across Asia to hopeful safety in India.

THE BUZZ: Revamped indie distributor Newmarket Films has Oscar hopes for the latest picture from Peter Weir (Gallipoli, The Truman Show), who is second only to Terrence Malick when it comes to selecting projects. Weir's adaptation of Slavomir Rawicz's novel The Long Walk -- a cult work widely believed to include bountiful factual liberties -- reportedly is a brutal, hard-to-endure affair. A hard sell for winter audiences? Perhaps. Though Jim Sturgess should benefit from a toughening-up, and the actors surrounding him -- Ed Harris, Mark Strong, and Colin Farrell (featuring a chest tattoo of Stalin's face) -- creates one of the strongest casts of the new year.