View From the Phlipside Radio - Holiday Movies

My name is Jay Phillippi and I've spent my life in and around the media.  TV, radio, the movies and more.  I love them, and I hate them and I always have an opinion.  Call this the View from the Phlipside.

Periodically I like to take a glance at what’s headed out way in the world of movies.  Right now is a great time to do it because we’re heading into one of the big release time slots on the calendar.  Headed into the holidays is always one of the mileposts for the movie making community.

One of the things you may notice right off the bat is that there are a LOT of family type movies on the list.  Now there are almost ALWAYS a lot of family movies this time of year.  Why an uptick in family films this year?  That’s easy.  They are making lots and LOTS of money.  In the end that’s really what makes Hollywood stand up and notice.  If a movie makes money the movie makers will make more movies just like it.

So headed into this year’s holiday season you can keep you eyes open for a new Muppets movie, a sequel to the dancing penguins in Happy Feet, plus movies like Martin Scorcese’s Hugo, and a pair from Steven Spielberg, “War Horse” and “The Adventures of Tintin” which will introduce a lot of folks to the popular Belgian comic strip character and his dog.  Then you’ve got Cameron Crowe and Matt Damon teaming up for “We Bought a Zoo”, and oh yes, yet another Alvin and the Chipmunks movie.

But what if you want something else, anything else!  Fear not there’s an interesting line up waiting for you.  How about Ralph Fiennes in a movie version of Shakespeare’s Coriolanus?  Or the return of Robert Downey Jr’s Sherlock Holmes (the original of which I must admit I liked more than expected).  Another Mission Impossible?  Another John Le Carre novel turned into a movie with Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy?  Oh and yes I will note, for better or worse we also have yet another Twilight movie headed our way.
There are two other movies that really jump out at me.  One is Leonardo DiCaprio’s turn as FBI founder J. Edgar Hoover in the movie “J. Edgar”.  Not sure I would have believed that he was going to be the actor who could even get a shot at such a role.  And then there is Daniel Craig in the movie version of Stieg Larsson’s “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo”.  Trent Reznor worked with the director on the movie score for “The Social Network” and he’s back for this one.  That might make the movie worth seeing all by itself.

Call that the View From the Phlipside