by Jazmine Ponce
Managing Editor
Along with the rush of shopping for gifts and decorating, this holiday season also brings the prime time for movie makers to sell and market their movies.
Anyone for dangling from a mountain? Or how about a duel with a mystical dragon? Well for those who crave action or similar situations the movies opening Dec 8 will promise that.
“Vertical Limit” stars Chris O’Donnell as a mountaineer who must go on a suicide mission to save his sister (Robin Turney) and her team, when she tries to climb the world’s second highest mountain, K2. and is trapped.
The role playing game finally hits theaters in “Dungeons and Dragons: The Movie.” The story in a typical fantasy fashion revolves around two thieves who must protect a young princess and her kingdom from an evil sorcerer.
In “Proof of Life” Meg Ryan plays a wife whose husband is kidnapped in South America. Russell Crowe stars as a hostage negotiator, who while trying to save him, falls in love with Ryan along the way.
Nicolas Cage takes stars in the drama “Family Man,” which is best described as “It’s a Wonderful Life” in reverse. Cage, a wealthy investment banker, is shown the life he would have had if he married his sweetheart, and settled down.
The Disney animated film “The Emperor’s New Groove” revolves around a spoiled emperor, Kuzko who is turned into a llama and must try to get back this throne, his only help is a kind peasant. David Spade, John Goodman and Eartha Kitt provide the voices.
Academy Award winner Hillary Swank stars in the thriller “The Gift,” where Cate Blanchett plays a woman who has a paranormal “gift” that allows her to reveal secrets about her neighbors.
Have women ever imagined if men could ever understand what they are thinking? In “What Women Want” Mel Gibson in his first romantic comedy stars as a chauvinistic man who accidentally gets electrocuted in his bathtub and can hear the thoughts of every woman.
A plethora of big name stars, directors and movies flood the theaters Dec 22 when audiences will have a choice of seeing Sandra Bullock as a FBI agent, Tom Hanks as a “survivor” or George Clooney as a convict.
In “Miss Congeniality,” Bullock shows her physical comedy as a tom-boy agent who must go undercover as a beauty pageant contestant to stop a bomb threat.
In one of the most anticipated movies of the year, “Castaway” Hanks stars as Chuck Noland, who’s plane goes down in the South Pacific and struggles on a deserted island as the 21st century’s Robinson Crusoe.
The Coen brothers new comedy set in the 1930s Clooney plays one of three convicts who escape jail and go on a wild adventure to find money one of them had buried before.
Director Steven Soderbergh follows up one of the year’s hits, “Erin Brokovich” with “Traffic.” The movie deals with the inner working of international drug trading. Dennis Quaid, Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta Jones star in this gritty drama based on a 1990’s British miniseries.
On Christmas day, the western drama based on Cormac McCarthy’s best selling novel, “All the Pretty Horses” opens. Billy Bob Thorton directs. Set in the 1940s, Matt Damon stars as John Grady, a cowboy and horse trainer who falls hard for the boss’ daughter played by Penelope Cruz.
On Dec. 29, “Shadow of the Vampire,” starring John Malkovich. The movie revolves around a make believe premise that the star of the classic 1922 silent film “Nosferatu” was a real vampire. “The Pledge,” written and directed by Sean Penn reteams with Jack Nicholson who plays a retired detective who pledges to solve the unsolved murder of a girl.
No matter what ones taste is there will be plenty of films for each member of the family to unwrap this holiday.
Journalism operations manager at the University of La Verne. Production manager and business manager of the Campus Times.