Studios trot out season's best for Oscars home stretch

By DAVID GERMAIN - Associated Press | Wednesday, December 3, 2008 11:09 AM PST ∞

LOS ANGELES ---- Nixon's back. So are Kate and Leo, Tom Cruise in full Nazi regalia, Meryl Streep as a crusading nun and Will Smith as a crusading IRS agent.

Despite the harsh economy, Hollywood has been on a box-office roll the last month, and studios head into the year's homestretch with a solid lineup of returns, reunions and promising newcomers that could uphold the old saw about movies as a recession-proof business.

Lighthearted fare such as "Beverly Hills Chihuahua" and "High School Musical 3: Senior Year" provided a brisk prelude to the holiday season, of which the first big offerings were the animated sequel "Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa," Daniel Craig's return as Bond in "Quantum of Solace," the Disney animation doggy caper "Bolt" and "Twilight," based on the best-selling novel about a teen's romance with a studly vampire.

But heading into the holiday stretch, there are still some huge titles awaiting audiences. "Titanic" stars Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio are together again in the domestic drama "Revolutionary Road"; Tom Cruise, stars in his own World War II tale "Valkyrie"; Frank Langella reprises his stage role as Richard Nixon in Ron Howard's "Frost/Nixon"; "Babel" co-stars Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett reunite for "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"; Keanu Reeves stars in an update of the sci-fi classic "The Day the Earth Stood Still."

A look at upcoming Hollywood highlights:

Holiday tale

In "Nothing Like the Holidays" (Dec. 12), a family copes with upheaval, new additions and old resentments as siblings head home for Christmas at their parents' place. The cast includes John Leguizamo, Debra Messing, Freddy Rodriguez, Alfred Molina and Elizabeth Pena.

Heavyweight drama:

Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio played lovers whose romance wound up on the rocks after the ship hit the iceberg in "Titanic." With "Revolutionary Road," opening Jan. 9, they play a couple on another sort of collision course as they try to break free of their stifling suburban lives.

"We knew if we were going to do a relationship, a love story again, it would have to be dramatically different," DiCaprio said. "This very much is about the disintegration of a relationship."

Clint Eastwood directs and stars in "Gran Torino" (Jan. 9) about a bigoted Korean War veteran who develops unexpected rapport with his immigrant neighbors.

"Doubt" (Dec. 19), based on the Tony Award-winning play, features Meryl Streep, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Amy Adams in a moral showdown between a traditional nun and a progressive priest accused of abusing a student at a Catholic school in 1964.

Doggie tales:

"Marley & Me" (Dec. 25) stars Jennifer Aniston and Owen Wilson in an adaptation of John Grogan's book about a crazy mutt whose mischievous ways keep him perpetually in the doghouse with his exasperated owners.

Michelle Williams puts in a heart-wrenching performance in "Wendy and Lucy" (Jan. 23), a drama about a woman who encounters hostility, indifference and the occasional act of kindness after she and her dog become stranded on their way to a new life in Alaska.

On the war front:

Tom Cruise and Daniel Craig each headline thrillers about fighters opposing the Nazis in Europe.

Craig stars in "Defiance" (Jan. 16), a tale of Jewish brothers who organize a resistance movement in Eastern Europe, while Cruise plays German Col. Claus von Stauffenberg in "Valkyrie" (Dec. 25), a thriller about conspirators who plotted to kill Adolf Hitler.

Viggo Mortensen also puts on a German uniform in "Good" (Dec. 31), playing an academic gradually seduced into collaborating with the Nazis during the Holocaust.

"The Reader" (Dec. 25) features Kate Winslet and Ralph Fiennes in the story of a young man's obsession with an older woman, whom he encounters again years later when she is on trial as a Nazi war criminal.

Action:

Graphic novelist Frank Miller ("300") directs "The Spirit" (Dec. 25), the story of a resurrected crimefighter (Gabriel Macht) battling a villain (Samuel L. Jackson) with a destructive scheme to achieve immortality. Scarlett Johansson co-stars.

Sci-fi/fantasy:

Keanu Reeves and Jennifer Connelly star in "The Day the Earth Stood Still" (Dec. 12), an update of the 1950s classic about an alien and his robot partner who come to our world with an ultimatum for humanity.

"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" (Dec. 25) features Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett in an adaptation of an F. Scott Fitzgerald story that traces the strange life of a man born in his 80s who ages backward toward infancy.

Tragic leaders:

Steven Soderbergh's two-part epic "Che" (Jan. 23) stars Benicio Del Toro as revolutionary Che Guevara as he rises to power alongside Fidel Castro in Cuba but fails in a similar guerrilla campaign in Bolivia.

"Frost/Nixon" (Dec. 12) presents the behind-the-scenes and on-camera drama between Richard Nixon (Frank Langella) and British TV personality David Frost (Michael Sheen) amid their historic series of interviews in 1977.

With the actors reprising their roles from Peter Morgan's play, the film is anchored by a brooding, melancholy performance from Langella, who captures the intonation and bearing of Nixon without relying on mimicry or impersonation.

"He made it a point to steer clear of all of that," said "Frost/Nixon" director Ron Howard. "Frank, starting with the play and on through the movie, his approach to Nixon just became more and more laserlike and refined. He's not trying to do an impression, but he is trying to evoke an honest sense of the man."

For laughs:

In "Bedtime Stories" (Dec. 25), Adam Sandler stars as a hotel handyman who inexplicably finds the outrageous tales he spins for his niece and nephew coming true.

Jim Carrey accentuates the positive in "Yes Man" (Dec. 19), playing a loser whose life takes a positive turn after he adopts a self-help program requiring him to say yes to everything.

Second chances:

Will Smith follows his summer smash "Hancock" with the sober drama "Seven Pounds" (Dec. 19), playing a man trying to make amends for his past by helping seven strangers. The cast includes Rosario Dawson, Woody Harrelson and Barry Pepper.

Adrien Brody, Rachel Weisz and Mark Ruffalo star in "The Brothers Bloom" (Jan. 16) about a pair of con-man siblings, one with a shot to chuck his trade and find the life of romance and adventure he's always wanted.

"Last Chance Harvey" (Jan. 23) features Dustin Hoffman as a failed jingle writer and Emma Thompson as a statistics bureaucrat whose chance encounter at an airport bar could change both their lives.

Mickey Rourke may emerge as Hollywood's latest reclamation project with "The Wrestler" (Jan. 9), Oscar buzz swirling for his performance as a former star trying to recapture past glory in the ring.

The story parallels the real-life saga of Rourke, who squandered his early acting promise with years of bad behavior that made him an outcast in Hollywood. Rourke wants "The Wrestler" to prove he's willing and able to go the distance again.

"What I hope more than anything else is that when I meet directors that I want to work with, they don't have to say, 'Oh, no, no, we can't use him!' " Rourke said. "I want people to be not remembering the old Mickey but who I am now."