By Sandra Olmsted

The holidays are here and plenty of great films that are getting Oscar buzz and some movies that are just entertainment are headed to theaters in the next few week.

OPENING DEC. 18

ANCHORMAN 2: THE LEGEND CONTINUES (Paramount) Director Adam McKay brings the 1970s favorite anchorman back the big screen. With the 70’s behind him, San Diego’s top rated newsman, Ron Burgundy (Will Ferrell), returns to the news desk along with his co-anchor and wife, Veronica Corningstone (Christina Applegate), weather man Brick Tamland (Steve Carell), man on the street Brian Fontana (Paul Rudd) and sports guy Champ Kind (David Koechner).

They won’t make it easy to “stay classy” as they take the nation’s first 24-hour news channel by storm. Sure to delight fans of Ferrell’s humor. Rated PG-13 for crude and sexual content, drug use, language and comic violence.  119min.

OPENING DEC. 20:

SAVING MR. BANKS (Disney) P.L. Travers (Emma Thompson), the creator of Mary Poppins, is determined to be unshakable in her resolve to thwart Walt Disney’s (Tom Hanks) desire to turn the popular children’s book into a film. The only problem is that she desperately needs the money from the movie deal, and dear old Walt has been pursuing Mrs. Travers for the film rights to her famous book for about 20 years because he promised his children he would make their favorite book into a film.

From the moment Ralph (Paul Giamatti), whose hired to chauffeur the visiting writer around Tinsel Town, collects Mrs. Travers at the airport, she insists on being a pill and displays a loathing for all the Disney trapping. Once at the studio, writer Don DaGradi (Bradley Whitford), composer Richard Sherman (Jason Schwartzman) and his lyricist brother Robert Sherman (B.J. Novak) are charged with getting Mrs. Travers to sign on the dotted line. While they show off the ideas that will become one of the most popular live action films in the Disney vault, Mrs. Travers nixes, pooh-poohs, and vetoes one famous musical number after another and insists there will be no animation.

Mrs. Travers’ golden hued memories of her childhood spring up in flashback and reveal great sadness and some inconsistencies in her biography. Eventually, these slip out and are reported to Walt, who uses them to his advantage. Will the giddy informality of early 1960s Hollywood win over the stiffest upper lip of Britain? Do the means justify the creation of one of the most endearing children’s films?  Thanks to composer Thomas Newman, the newly composed score for Saving Mr. Banks mash up perfectly with the original Sherman Brothers songs written for Mary Poppins. The scene of Walt taking Mrs.Travers to Disney World is especially fun. Rated PG-13 for thematic elements including some unsettling images. 125 minutes.

INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS (CBS Films) Joel and Ethan Coen explore the New York City folk music scene of the 1960s through the eyes of a struggling, bohemian musician (Oscar Isaac), who can’t accept any compromises in his life or his music, such that they are. Carey Mulligan and Justin Timberlake also star. Inside Llewyn Davis is a excellent peek inside a world long gone, but the title character’s inability to change after the suicide of his singing partner makes the film feel like it goes no where. John Goodman has a small part for which there is some Oscar buzz. Rated R for language, including some sexual references. 105 minutes.

WALKING WITH DINOSAURS 3D This kid-friendly film allows audiences to see and feel what it was like when dinosaurs ruled the Earth by using state of the art, photo-real 3D to  create the ultimate immersive experience. The audiences is dropped in the middle of a thrilling and epic prehistoric world, where an underdog dino triumphs to become a hero for the ages. Based on a popular TV series and live show, which grossed more than $250 million in box office worldwide. Rated PG for creature action and peril, and mild rude humor. 80 minutes.

AMERICAN HUSTLE (Sony) Christian Bale, Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence, Amy Adams and Jeremy Renner star in director David O. Russell’s dramedy, which is loosely based on the 1970s Abscam government sting. The  Oscar buzz is thick for this film, which has 9 wins and 28 nominations already. Golden Globe nominations are for Best Motion Picture – Comedy or Musical, Best Performances for Bale, Adams, Cooper, and Lawrence, Best Director and Best Screenplay for Russell. Screen Actors Guild Awards include nominations for Lawrence’s performance and for the ensemble cast. New York Film Critics Circle Awards include wins for Best Picture and for Best Screenplay and for Lawrence in her supporting role. Rated R For pervasive language, some sexual content, and brief violence. 138 minutes.

OPENING DEC. 25

MANDELA: LONG WALK TO FREEDOM (The Weinstein Co.) Director Justin Chadwick’s biopic adapted from Mandela’s autobiography, with Idris Elba in a stellar performance as Nelson Mandela. Exceedingly well done production captures the life, times, and spirit of the legendary freedom fighter who spent 27 years in prison for opposing apartheid but eventually became the first democratically elected president of South Africa. It is good time to see the inspiring story of a man who changed a nation and won hearts and support from both sides of South Africa’s political struggle. Naomie Harris (Skyfall) plays his wife, Winnie. Rated  PG-13 for some intense sequences of violence and disturbing images, sexual content, and brief strong language. 139 minutes.

THE WOLF OF WALL STREET (Paramount) Director Martin Scorsese’s adaptation of Jordan Belfort’s book about the high life and debauchery of a legendary stock broker who traded, cheated, schemed, snorted, and screwed on his way up to and down from the heights of Wall Street. Leonardo DiCaprio in the title role, and Jonah Hill as his sidekick. Rated R for sequences of strong sexual content, graphic nudity, drug use and language throughout, and for some violence. 179 minutes.

THE SECRET LIFE OF WALTER MITTY (Fox) Ben Stiller directs and stars in this all-audience feel-good adventure that celebrates the true potential in everyone. Walter Mitty, an ordinary guy, lives out his fantasies in highly comedic and outrageous daydreams. When fate intervenes, Walter decides to jump into life and heads out on a global journey that turns his real life into an adventure more extraordinary than he could ever have imagined. Rated PG for some crude comments, language, and action violence. 125 minutes

GRUDGE MATCH (Warner Bros. Pictures) Billy “The Kid” McDonnen (Robert De Niro) and Henry “Razor” Sharp (Sylvester Stallone), two local Pittsburgh fighters whose fierce rivalry put them in the national spotlight, never fought their decisive third match, which delivers a knockout punch to both their careers. Thirty years later, boxing promoter Dante Slate Jr., sees big dollar signs if he can get them to reenter the ring. During their first encounter in decades, their long-festering feud erupts into an unintentionally hilarious melee that instantly goes viral, and the social media frenzy transforms their local grudge match into a must-see HBO event. Peter Segal directs. PG-13 for sports action violence, sexual content and language. 113 minutes.

OPENING JAN.  3

PARANORMAL ACTIVITY: THE MARKED ONES (Paramount) Another installment is the saga about possession promises another jump-out-and-ya thrill ride. Andrew Jacobs, Molly Ephraim, Richard Cabral star for writer-director Christopher Landon. Rated TBD. 84 minutes.

OPENING JAN.  10

AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY (The Weinstein Co.) Director John Wells’ adaptation of Pulitzer Prize-winning play about the turbulent reunion between a drug-addled mother and her three adult daughters. Meryl Streep, Julia Roberts, and Margo Martindale star. Plenty of Oscar buzz for the performances: Meryl Streep and Julia Roberts are nominated, respectively, for Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress by the and Golden Globes and Screen Actors Guild Awards. Rated R for language including sexual references, and for drug material. 130 minutes.

HER (Warner Bros.) Director Spike Jonze explores a lonely, recently dumped man’s growing love for the artificial intelligence on his new phone. Stars Joaquin Phoenix as Theodore and Scarlett Johansson as Samantha, the voice of his phone’s new operating system. With  Golden Globes nominations for Best Motion Picture – Comedy or Musical and for Joaquin Phoenix’s Performance and with National Board of Review awarding it Best Film, and Spike Jonze Best Director, the Oscar buzz is getting louder for this quirky comedy. Rated R for language, sexual content and brief graphic nudity. 120 minutes.

LONE SURVIVOR (Universal) Director Peter Berg’s adaptation of Marcus Luttrell’s first-person memoir of the failed June 28, 2005 mission “Operation Red Wings”. Four Navy SEALs are ambushed in Afghanistan while on a mission to kill an Al Qaida operative. Mark Wahlberg, Taylor Kitsch, Emile Hirsch, and Ben Foster portray the SEALs. National Board of Review listed as one of the Top Ten Films of the Year, and patriotic sentiment should lead to other awards and nominations. Rated R for strong bloody war violence and pervasive language. Running Time TBD.

With so many films garnering so many accolades, it is no surprise that several films have been pulled from release and rescheduled until next year. They include  Harvey Weinstein’s Grace of Monaco, starring Nicole Kidman; George Clooney’s World War II drama The Monuments Men; director Bennett Miller’s Foxcatcher, a true-crime drama starring Channing Tatum and Mark Ruffalo, and Paramount’s Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit, a Tom Clancy adaptation starring Chris Pine.

That’s my round up of what to see if you want to keep on top of Awards Season. Have a great Holiday! Happy New Year! See you at the movies! More of Olmsted’s reviews are available at <www.thecinematicskinny.com>

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