20 Holiday Movies We Can't Wait to See

Nov. 19
Why We Can’t Wait: Do we really need to explain this? We’re six movies committed and we’re not going to quit now. Harry and his pals take on Voldemort in the final explosive battle for the future of Hogwarts, and if it’s anything like the book, there will be plenty of camping. And everyone loves camping, right? —Keith Staskiewicz

Nov. 24
Why We Can’t Wait: Christina Aguilera is a small-town girl with big-city dreams and a powerhouse voice that just might take her to the top of the wide (and wild) world of burlesque. Cher is the reigning Diva Queen (try to use your imagination) who mentors young Xtina in the ways of high camp and burlesque theater. Think Cabaret with fewer Nazis but more Stanley Tucci. —Joe Lynch

Nov. 24
Why We Can’t Wait: Because this could be the thinking person’s romantic comedy. With an unusually talented cast (Oscar nominees and Brokeback Mountain costars Jake Gyllenhaal and Anne Hathaway), an unusual mid-’90s story line, and an R rating, women and men might enjoy this tale about friendship, sex, and the dawn of Viagra. —Darren Franich

Nov. 24
Why We Can’t Wait: This candy-colored Rapunzel story features Mandy Moore as the voice of the long-haired protagonist and Chuck‘s Zachary Levi as her love interest, a dashing thief. And although you wouldn’t know it from the song-free trailers, Tangled is a musical — featuring songs by Alan Menken, a Disney legend who most recently composed the Oscar-nominated tracks in Enchanted. —DF

Nov. 26
Why We Can’t Wait: It’s juicy Oscar bait, and they’re going for the big fish. Colin Firth has a very good chance at securing his second Best Actor nomination in a row as the stuttering monarch King George VI. As those who conversed with the intelligent but speech-hindered George VI knew, good things come to those who wait. —KS

Dec. 3
Why We Can’t Wait: Sometimes you want a movie to put on some Al Green, turn down the lights, and make sweet love to your mind. Other times you just want your mind f—ed. Darren Aronofsky and Natalie Portman’s ballet psychodrama freak-out, in which Portman slowly loses her mind as she prepares for a performance of Swan Lake and starts going all Persona with Mila Kunis, promises to be a full-on pas de deux of crazy. —KS

Dec. 10
Why We Can’t Wait: Well, there are the beautiful cities of Paris and Venice, the Euro-vacation throwback story is reminiscent of To Catch a Thief and Charade, and it’s from the director of the brilliant The Lives of Others. What more could you want? Oh, there are a couple of famous people (Angelina Jolie, Johnny Depp) in it, too. —KS

Dec. 10
Why We Can’t Wait: First of all, boxing movies tend to be incredible. (Raging Bull? Million Dollar Baby? Rocky I, II, and IV?) More to the point, Mark Wahlberg spent years getting into fighting trim for this passion project, the true-life story of ”Irish” Mickey Ward, a mid-career boxer who sought a shot at a world title. Wahlberg struggles outside the ring with an impressive cast, including Oscar nominees Melissa Leo and Amy Adams. But keep a special eye on Christian Bale, who plays Wahlberg’s ex-con half brother and trainer. —DF

Dec. 17
Why We Can’t Wait: Based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning play by David Lindsay-Abaire, Rabbit Hole, in which a family grieves the death of their young son, sounds like a tough slog. But the director is John Cameron Mitchell, better known for the glam Hedwig and the Angry Inch, so this is far from your typical gritty indie. And maybe, just maybe, this will be Nicole Kidman’s long-awaited comeback role. (Let’s just forget about Australia, shall we?) —DF

Dec. 17
Why We Can’t Wait: Almost three decades after the first TRON introduced digital effects to the cinema, this sequel returns to the eye-popping neon universe of light-bikes and tyrannical computer programs. Garrett Hedlund and Olivia Wilde make an attractive lead twosome, but we’re especially excited to see the returning Jeff Bridges in a dual role: Besides playing original protagonist Flynn, Bridges also appears in a much-younger form as bad guy Clu. —DF

Dec. 17
Why We Can’t Wait: Two old friends (played by Reese Witherspoon and Paul Rudd) begin to fall in love after running into each other on the worst days of their respective lives. The problem is, Witherspoon is already living with Owen Wilson and Rudd is facing certain financial ruin — a fact his father (Jack Nicholson) won’t let him forget. How do you know if a movie is a must-see? Well, if it’s written and directed by James L. Brooks (As Good as It Gets, Broadcast News), plus it unites Oscar winners Nicholson and Witherspoon, and it boasts the charming Everyman cynicism of Paul Rudd, it probably falls into the ”can’t miss” category. —JL

Dec. 22
Why We Can’t Wait: After guest-starring on Glee and reminding us that she has a voice to rival husband Chris Martin’s, Gwyneth Paltrow returns to the big screen as a fallen country-music star. Paltrow’s Kelly Canter is fresh out of rehab and looking to resurrect her career on a comeback tour with a scruffy (but handsome) up-and-coming singer-songwriter, played by Garrett Hedlund. Paltrow leans on her manager husband (played by real-life honky-tonk king Tim McGraw) to help her stay booze-free while trying to regain her good name. Country Strong looks like the perfect opportunity for Gwyneth to flaunt her considerable vocal chops and remind us how great an actress she can be with a substantial leading role. —JL

Dec. 22
Why We Can’t Wait: Just three years after giving us their take on the Western with No Country for Old Men, the Coen Brothers remake this genre classic and place Jeff Bridges in John Wayne’s no-nonsense spurs. Bridges has a big saddle to fill portraying one-eyed Rooster Cogburn, considering that was the role that finally gave Wayne his Academy Award. But with his own Oscar tucked into his dusty belt, Bridges may be one of the few actors today capable of taking one of cinema’s classic characters and making it his own. Could Bridges even best the West’s most famous leading man at the same role? The Duke would probably say, ”That’ll be the day,” but with the Coens behind the camera, anything is possible. —JL

Dec. 22
Why We Can’t Wait: Sofia Coppola has amassed quite a consistently good filmography over the past decade or so — and that includes Marie Antoinette, all you naysayers out there — and we’re hoping her latest is just as good. It already picked up the Golden Lion at Venice, and it promises us our long-awaited Stephen Dorff comeback. —KS

Dec. 22
Why We Can’t Wait: Okay, maybe ”can’t wait” is a little too much for this threequel, but that doesn’t mean that it won’t be fun to see Robert De Niro and Ben Stiller back together once more as the imposing father-in-law and the hapless schmo. —KS

Dec. 31
Why We Can’t Wait: Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams combine their considerable acting skills to portray a heartbreakingly realistic story of a marriage on the rocks. The film jumps around chronologically between the giddy sweetness of their early courtship and the painful scenes of their failing marriage. Although the MPAA has seemingly doomed the film with an NC-17 rating, distributor Harvey Weinstein intends to secure a theater-friendly R rating without cutting the steamier scenes. —JL

Jan. 14
Why We Can’t Wait: Michel Gondry is known for eccentric curios like Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Be Kind Rewind. Who knows what he’ll do with this crime-fighting movie, but with the decidedly non-badass Seth Rogen as the titular masked man and the singular Christoph Waltz as the bad guy, this definitely sounds weirder than Captain America. —DF

Jan. 14
Why We Can’t Wait: There was the ”gay” kerfuffle, as well as a somewhat lackluster trailer, but many forget that director Ron Howard used to be good at this comedy stuff. Just look at Night Shift or Splash. —KS

Jan. 21
Why We Can’t Wait: Natalie Portman plays an overworked doctor who turns to a longtime friend (Ashton Kutcher) for straight-up sex, pure and simple. But this being a romantic comedy and all, nothing can stay pure and simple, and when the two begin to fall for each other, the sexually symbiotic relationship goes awry. Although the premise might be hard to swallow — how would the obscenely gorgeous Portman be hard-pressed to find a one-night stand? — the film looks genuinely funny, and it’s difficult to find fault with a supporting cast that includes Kevin Kline and Cary Elwes. —JL

Jan. 28
Why We Can’t Wait: It looks like Gus Van Sant has put together another elegiac, dreamlike film on youth like the phenomenal Paranoid Park, only more accessible. And it will be nice to see Alice in Wonderland star Mia Wasikowska in a role that allows her to showcase the acting she demonstrated on In Treatment. —KS