Top 10 films coming to Seattle in December

Frost/Nixon : The first major Oscar contender of the month, there will be many, is Ron Howard’s Frost/Nixon. The picture is an adaptation of the stage play focusing on the series of interviews British talk-show host David Frost conducted with president Richard Nixon a few years after Watergate. The stage play was an enormous hit and the two leads, Michael Sheen as Frost and the incomparable Frank Langella as Nixon, return for their parts. Despite what are sure to be some factual inaccuracies, Frost/Nixon looks to be thoroughly entertaining drama with a pointed tongue for dialogue by the source’s playwright Peter Morgan. 

Stranded : I’ve Come from a Plane That Crashed on the Mountains : Remember the 1993 Ethan Hawke film about the plane crashing in the Andes. Well, this is that story, now told by those that survived the horrible incident. Their account of those 70 horrible days stuck in the mountains has never been told. Expect a tough but gripping documentary from this one. 

My Name Is Bruce : Cult icon Bruce Campbell is Bruce Camobell in a film directed by Bruce Cambell titled My Name is Bruce. That is a whole lot of the Great Chin. Here, Campbell plays himself when a monster begins attacking a small town and their only hope, or so they believe, is none other than The Evil Deadstar. B movie happenings, hawaiian shirts and Ted Raimi all show up too in a film that won’t be for everyone but will be a lot to some. 

Doubt : Director/screenwriter/playwright John Patrick Shanley brings his acclaimed play Doubt to theaters with a heavyweight cast, headed by Meryl Streep and Philip Seymour Hoffman. In 1964, Streep’s nun accuses Hoffman’s priest of abusing a young black student, causing an uproar amongst the quiet school. Amy Adams plays Sister James, who is unsure of Hoffman’s guilt and Viola Davis plays the mother of the abused child in a brief but allegedly powerful performance. The film looks stunningly shot and the ensemble put together is dynamite. Doubt’s doubters worry that Shanley’s only other film direction is the often reviled Joe Versus the Volcano and his past screenwriting gigs include the abysmal Michael Crichton adaptation Congo. 

The Reader : The directing and writing team of the award winning 2002 picture The Hours reunites in adapating Berhard Schlink’s novel The Reader. After World War II, Michael Burk, played in his youth by David Kross and as an adult by Ralph Feinnes, remembers the woman he had an affair with years earlier. The woman is Hanna, the always wonderful Kate Winslet, who is put on trial for aiding the Nazis. Schlink’s original book was praised and a major seller. The film may be the same, at least amongst critics, especially with cinephile favorites Feinnes and Winslet involved. 

Wendy and Lucy : Kelly Reichardt, director of 2006’s indie favorite Old Joy, is back with Wendy and Lucy, an adaptation of Jon Raymond’s short story Train Choir.  Michelle Williams is Wendy, a woman driving to Alaska hoping to get a new job, joined by Lucy, her dog. Wendy’s car breaks down along the way and a series of events forces Lucy into reconsidering what she is doing in life. Early reviews have been positive and Reichardt has proven to be an intimate, confident director, with Williams always a fascinating presence. 

Seven Pounds : The last time Will Smith worked with Gabrielle Muccino, he received his second Oscar nomination for 2006’s The Pursuit of Happyness. Smith reenters the dramatic realm with Muccino again for Seven Pounds, a mysterious story of a man seeking to redeem himself by aiding seven strangers. What he is atoning for and why the particular seven are chosen are have nicely been kept under-wraps by the trailer. Accompanying Smith is Rosario Dawson, Barry Pepper and Woody Harrelson, all solid actors when given good material. The main concern over Seven Pounds is its screenwriter, Grant Nieporte, who makes his feature film debut here whose past work includes only three past sitcom scripts. Still, this one will pack the crowds in for that is what Mr. Smith does. 

Waltz with Bashir : The award winning Israeli film Waltz with Bashir arrives this month and it will hopefully help tear down the perception that animation is kid’s stuff. Written and directed by Ari Folman, Waltz focuses on Folman’s pursuit of the truth behind his friend’s inability to remember what happened amidst his time in the Israeli Army during the first Lebanon War. The documentary is in the style of Richard Linklater’s A Scanner Darkly and has received glowing reviews in its festival showings. 

Revolutionary Road : Kate and Leo. That is what will get the press for the new Sam Mendes picture Revolutionary Road. It has Kate and Leo reuniting for the first time since 1997’s Titanic aka the highest grossing film of all time. Though DiCaprio and Winslet are married here, do not expect happy, blissful romance. The two are an unhappily wed, crumbling at the seems couple, prone to blaming each other for all their life’s problems. Also. Revolutionary Road marks Winslet’s first film under the direction of Mendes, her real life husband. 

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button : This is it. This is the big one of 2008. Months in the hyping, aided by a teaser this past May that left jaws dropping all over the country, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is director David Fincher’s adaptation of the F. Scott Fitzgerald short story about a man born at his eldest who grows younger with each passing day. With a cast headed by Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett, beautiful looking cinematography and remarkable breakthrough technology at its disposal, Button’s biggest draw to cinephiles is no doubt Fincher. After half a decade away from the screen, the director of Se7en and Fight Club came back in 2007 with Zodiac, a slow burn of a film that has only grown better in the months since its initial release. Fincher is visionary filmmaker and Button may be the most daring, breathtaking film for 2008 and quite possibly the frontrunner for that pesky little Oscar so many seek.