My Most Anticipated Films of the Holiday 2011 Movie Season

The Holiday 2011 Movie Season is upon us, and as the best time of the year for movie-going gets into high gear I thought I'd write up a list of my most anticipated films for the remainder of the year. There are a few big budget tentpoles mixed in, but this is largely a list of more art house-type films that are expected to be big awards contenders. I've gone ahead and thrown in a couple films that are already playing in limited release, but which I haven't been able to see yet. I haven't included any films from earlier in the year that are no longer in theatres that I still have to catch up on, though there are still quite a few of those. Right now my list of the top films of the year is pretty short, and hopefully lots of these films can change it up a bit.

So here we go with eighteen films in total, from the bottom up:

18. The Adventures of Tintin (December 21, wide)
Steven Spielberg's motion-capture adaptation of Herge's beloved boy reporter stories has already opened in Europe, where it's gotten decent reviews. I'm not a fan of motion capture and especially 3D, and the trailers don't make it look like this film has really captured the spirit of the stories that I loved growing up. But because I loved those stories so much, I'll be keeping an eye on this and will be seeing it unless the reviews take a turn for the worse.

17. Melancholia (November 11, limited)
Lars Von Trier's latest film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in May to mixed reviews, though Kirsten Dunst was highly praised for her performance as a woman who gets married as a rogue planet called Melancholia threatens to collide with Earth, winning the festival's Best Actress award.

16. The Muppets (November 23, wide)
Disney is attempting to reinvigorate Jim Henson's beloved Muppets franchise after more than a decade of dormancy. The marketing has consisted mostly of "parody trailers" with the fuzzy critters aping everything from "Green Lantern" to "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo." The actual story revolves around the Muppets trying to save their old theatre from a greey Texas oil baron. Recent comments by some of the original Muppet performers haven't been too kind to the new film, but I loved this characters when I was younger and The Muppet Christmas Carol is still a holiday tradition for me most years, so I'll likely check this new film out.

15. Hugo (November 23, wide)
Director Martin Scorsese ventures into family territory with this story of an orphaned boy who lives in the walls of a Paris train station. I wasn't enamored with the first trailer, which gave off too much of a generic kiddie adventure a la "Alice in Wonderland" in my opinion. The second trailer was much better I thought, and reviews out of a "working print" premiere at the New York Film Festival last month indicated that the Scorsese is very much in touch with the history of cinema with this film; one reviewer called it "a love letter to the silent film era."

14. Young Adult (December 9, limited, December 16, wide)
This film wasn't very high on my radar until today, when early reviews came out praising the performances of Charlize Theron and Patton Oswalt, as well as the script from "Juno" scripe Diablo Cody. The film is the story of a woman (Theron) who goes back to her high school town with the hopes of winning back her high school boyfriend (Patrick Wilson). Jason Reitman ("Juno," "Up in the Air") directs.

13. The Artist (November 23, limited)
This silent film from director Michel Hazanavicius premiered to solid reviews at Cannes, and has been the darling of the festival circuit ever since;  I consider it to be the Oscar Best Picture frontrunner right now.  It tells the story of a silent film actor who sees his career decline with the arrival of "talkies."

12. J. Edgar (November 9, limited, November 11, wide)
Clint Eastwood's biopic of controversial FBI directror J. Edgar Hoover has only had one screening and reviews were decidedly mixed. But the material and the talent involved (Leonardo DiCaprio as Hoover, along with Naomi Watts, Judi Dench, and Armie Hammer of "The Social Network") make this a film that's impossible to ignore.

11. War Horse (December 25, wide)
Steven Spielberg's second film of the holiday season is much higher than "Tintin" on most awards prognosticators' lists, though I'm not as high on it. Based on a Tony Award-winning play, it tells the story of a horse who is pressed into service in World War I, and how he affects the lives of the people who come into contact with him. The premise is still shaky to me, but the second trailer has won me over somewhat with some spectacular imagery and poignant music from the always reliable John Williams.

10. Carnage (December 16, limited)
Roman Polanski's latest film premiered at the Venice Film Festival to mixed reviews, but the talent involved and a solid trailer have me hooked. Based on the play "God of Carnage," the film tells the story of two sets of parents (Jodie Foster, John C. Reilly, Kate Winslet, Christoph Waltz), who meet to discuss the aftermath of one of their children harming the other at a playground, with the meeting becoming increasingly less civil as time progresses. Waltz's performance has already been singled out as a bright spot, and I think Winslet looks great in it as well.

9. Shame (December 2, limited)
The second film from director Steve McQueen ("Hunger") has earned rave reviews for Michael Fassbender's performance as a man who struggles with sex addiction. Distributor Fox Searchlight is moving forward with the film even though it carries an NC-17 rating, so I'm unsure how many theatres will actually show it.

8. Mission: Impossible--Ghost Protocol (December 16, limited / IMAX only, December 21, wide)
The fourth cinematic outing of this franchise sees the entire IMF disavowed after the organization is framed for a terrorist attack, and Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and company are forced to go rogue to clear their names. That doesn't sound particularly original to me, but two great trailers and a spectacular stunt set piece featuring the world's tallest building, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, have me hooked. Acclaimed Pixar helmer Brad Bird ("The Incredibles," Ratatouille") directs in his first live-action effort; he shot several scenes with IMAX cameras.

7. Anonymous (currently in limited release, November 4, limited expansion)
This film from director Roland Emmerich ("Independence Day," "The Patriot," "The Day After Tomorrow," "2012") posits the theory that it was in fact Edward de Vere, Earl of Oxford, who penned Shakespeare's plays; the film is set against the backdrop of the end of Queen Elizabeth I's reign. It has received mixed reviews, though most seem to attack the film for presenting itself as true history. However, some of the people whose film opinions I most trust have all loved it, saying that it should be viewed as historical fiction, not fact. British character actor Rhys Ifans has received near unanimous praise for his performance as de Vere.

6. My Week With Marilyn (November 23, limited)
This film tells the story of one week in the life of Marilyn Monroe (Michelle Williams), during her first visit to England. It has one of the year's best trailers and Williams and Kenneth Branagh as Laurence Olivier are receiving high praise for their performances from early screenings.

5. A Dangerous Method (November 23, limited)
David Cronenberg's latest film tells of the relationship between Sigmund Freud (Viggo Mortensen) and Carl Jung (Michael Fassbender) as they both treat a particularly difficult patient (Keira Knightley). The film has received mixed reviews out of the Venice and Toronto Film Festivals, though Knightley's performance has been highly praised.

4. The Descendents (November 18, limited)
The first film in seven years from writer / director Alexander Payne stars George Clooney as a man living in Hawaii who is forced to confront painful truths when his wife is injured in a boating accident and falls into a coma. Early reviews have been highly positive, with one critic calling Clooney's performance "the best dramatic performance of [his] career." Newcomer Shailene Woodley has also been praised as Clooney's character's daughter.

3. Martha Marcy May Marlene (currently in limited release)
This debut film from writer / director Sean Durkin stars Elizabeth Olsen as a damaged young woman who has just escaped from being a prisoner of a cult. The film is said to alternate between her experiences living under the terrifying cult leader (John Hawkes) and the effects this has had on her as she tries to readjust to a normal life living with her sister. The film premiered at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival to great reviews, and Olsen's performance has earned raves with many considering her a likely Oscar nominee.

2. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (December 9, wide)
Another film that has already opened to great reviews in Europe, this adaptation of the John LeCarre novel stars Gary Oldman as George Smiley, a retired MI6 agent who is called back into the fold to expose a Soviet mole within the organization's ranks. The supporting cast is a veritable who's who of British talent (Colin Firth, John Hurt, Ciaran Hinds, Tom Hardy, Toby Jones, Mark Strong) and the trailer is one of the best I've ever seen.

1. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (December 21, wide)
Director David Fincher offers up the second adaptation in as many years of the first novel in Steig Larsson's acclaimed trilogy. Rooney Mara stars as Lisbeth Salander, a genius computer hacker who is enlisted  by disgraced journalist Mikael Blomkvist (Daniel Craig) to help him solve the decades-old case of a disappearing young woman. The book is at the top of my reading list for the next couple months, though I've already seen the original Swedish film. I don't consider it to be a masterpiece by any means, though Noomi Rapace's performance as Lisbeth will be awfully hard for Mara to top. I think there's room for the original adaptation to be improved upon, and judging from two gorgeous-looking trailers--not to mention his other work on films from "Seven" to "Fight Club"--Fincher is the man for the job.