Arrow-right Camera
The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Christmas openings: Music, memoir and survival

Dan Webster

Moviegoing on Christmas Day has always been a tradition in my house. And regardless of what North Korea thinks, I'll be seeing something — not "The Interview," clearly — next Thursday, too. Following are the mainstream Christmas Day movie openings:

"The Imitation Game": Benedict Cumberbatch stars as Alan Turing, the British math whiz who led the team that cracked the vaunted German Enigma Code. Elementary, eh Watson? 

"Into the Woods": Rob Marshall directs the Broadway musical by James Lapine and Stephen Sondheim. It's not such a Grimm event.

"The Homesman": Saved by a determined woman (Hilary Swank), a weathered cowpoke (Tommy Lee Jones) agrees to help the woman shepherd a wagon full of emotionally disturbed women to safety. Shades of "Lonesome Dove."

"Big Eyes": A take on the true story of Walter Keane and his artist wife, Margaret. He only had eyes — for money.

"The Gambler": A university professor hits the skids when his obsession with gambling causes him to do unscrupulous deeds. Mark Wahlberg reprises the role James Caan played in the 1974 original. What's next? Sonny Corleone and a "Godfather" redux?

"Unbroken": Angelina Jolie directed this adaptation of Laura Hillenbrand's nonfiction biography of World War II survivor Louis Zamperini. Next to "The Boys in the Boat," one of the more incredible memoirs I have read in years. Hope the movie does the story justice.

So enjoy your Christmas. See a movie.