With Christmas Day having come and gone, most people have already opened their gifts, but movie theatres still offer a few more gifts for movie lovers.
Based upon the popular Broadway musical, Disney’s Into The Woods gives a twist on several of the beloved Brothers Grimm fairy tales, intertwining plots of a few choice stories including Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Jack and the Beanstalk and Rapunzel.
All those plot lines are tied together in an original story involving a baker and his wife and their interaction with a witch that has put a curse on them.
With music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and directed by Academy Award winner Rob Marshall (Chicago), the film stars Meryl Streep, Emily Blunt, Anna Kendrick, James Corden, Chris Pine and Johnny Depp. It is nominated for three Golden Globe awards including Best Musical or Comedy.
Unbroken is the anticipated true story of Olympian and war hero Louis “Louie” Zamperini, directed by Angelina Jolie.
Zamperini was one of three men who survived in a raft for 47 days after a plane crash during World War II only to be caught by the Japanese Navy and sent to a prisoner-of-war camp.
It is an unbelievable and inspiring true story about the resilient power of the human spirit which surprised many when it was shut out of the Golden Globe nominations.
Tim Burton’s Big Eyes did acquire some Golden Globe nominations for stars Amy Adams and Christoph Waltz. It is the true story of Walter Keane, an artist during the 1950s and ‘60s who gained notoriety with paintings of waifs with big eyes. However, that was only the beginning of his notoriety because it was actually his wife Margaret, who created the paintings.
In The Gambler, Mark Wahlberg plays a risk taker who is both an English professor and a high-stakes gambler.
He bets it all when he borrows from a gangster and offers his own life as collateral. It is a remake of the 1974 movie of the same name starring James Caan. The remake also stars John Goodman, Jessica Lange and Brie Larsen.
And finally, the highly anticipated The Imitation Game arrives in Kelowna on Dec. 26 at the Paramount Theatre.
Based on another true story, Benedict Cumberbatch plays Alan Turning, a mathematician, cryptanalyst and World War II hero who is not only credited with cracking the so-called unbreakable codes of Germany’s Enigma machine, but ushered in the modern age of computing. However, his personal life would be his undoing. It is nominated for five Golden Globes including Best Motion Picture for a drama.
