Chronicle
Nationwide
Hope you are not sick of the whole “found footage” film style done so well with Blair Witch Project and Cloverfield and so terribly by countless others. The sci-fi film follows three high school students who gain superhuman powers after a mysterious event and must test their friendship as things dive out of control.
Opens 02/03

The Woman in Black
Nationwide
Daniel Radcliffe tests his post-Harry Potter box office draw power with this supernatural remake of an ’80s thriller. Radcliffe plays a lawyer who travels to a remote village that is said to be terrorized by the ghost of a scorned woman.
Opens 02/03

Brazil
Cedar Lee
Terry Gilliam mind-messing sci-fi cluster fuggle is one of the most bizarrely original films you are ever likely to feast your eyeballs on. Jonathan Pryce plays a bureaucrat in a futuristic world in which he tries to make things right and instead finds himself running from the law. Don’t miss this chance to see the classic film on the big screen.
Saturday, 02/04 at Midnight

The Fall of the House of Usher
Cleveland Cinematheque
The painting of a portrait seems to sap the life out of the picture’s subject in Jean Epstein’s visually stunning adaptation of Poe’s famous story. This moody silent is perhaps the greatest poetic horror film ever made, with stark landscapes, dreamy slow motion, and ghostly superimpositions. Preceded at showtime by “The Three-Sided Mirror,” another Epstein silent classic in which past, present, and future merge in a story of a wealthy young businessman and his three lovers.
Saturday, 02/04 at 5 p.m.
Sunday, 02/05 at 6:30 p.m.

You Are All Captains
Cleveland Cinematheque
In this meta-movie that bridges the worlds of documentary and fiction, Spanish filmmaker Oliver Laxe plays “Oliver,” a European film director who leads a filmmaking workshop for a group of disadvantaged local children in Tangier, Morocco. Though the plan is to have the kids tell their own stories on film, the reality finds them “enslaved” by Oliver’s own vision of the project, and they rebel. Winner of the Int’l Critics Prize at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival.
Saturday, 02/04 at 6:50 p.m.
Sunday, 02/05 at 8:20 p.m.

Time Regained
Cleveland Cinematheque
Catherine Deneuve, Emmanuelle Béart, and John Malkovich head an all-star cast in this lavish film version of the final volume of Marcel Proust’s literary epic “Remembrance of Things Past.” Often mentioned as the finest work by Chilean-born filmmaker and surrealist Raúl Ruiz (who died last August), “Time Regained” turns Proust’s elegy to the past into a baroque kaleidoscope of characters and incidents inhabiting the mind and imagination of a dying writer.
Saturday, 02/04 at 8:30 p.m.
Sunday, 02/05 at 3 p.m.

On February 2, Kevin Smith will be combining the two with “Live From Behind,” a unique event where Kevin and his long-time best friend Jason Mewes (Jay, from the Jay and Silent Bob duo) will host their “Jay and Silent Bob Get Old” podcast live. Following the podcast, Kevin will host a live Q&A session from fans all over the country.

Although the two of them will be onstage at the Scotiabank Theatre in Toronto, Ontario, the show will be broadcast live to theaters across the nation, including a number right here in Northeast Ohio. In fact, here’s a list of all the Ohio theaters broadcasting the show:

Montrose Movies 12 AKRON OH 44333
Hollywood Stadium 20 @ Fairfield Commons BEAVERCREEK OH 45431
Springdale Showcase Cinemas CINCINNATI OH 45246
Severance Stadium 14 CLEVELAND OH 44118
Cinemark 24 Cleveland CLEVELAND OH 44125
AMC Lennox Town Center 24 COLUMBUS OH 43212
AMC Easton Town Center 30 with IMAX COLUMBUS OH 43219
Georgesville Stadium 16 COLUMBUS OH 43228
Crosswoods Cinema 17 COLUMBUS OH 43235
Movies 16 COLUMBUS OH 43230
Hudson Cinema 10 HUDSON OH 44236
Cinemark 15 (Macedonia) MACEDONIA OH 44056
Cinemark 14 MANSFIELD OH 44903
Deerfield Town Center MASON OH 45040
Tinseltown USA 290 NORTH CANTON OH 44720
Pickerington Cinemas 16 PICKERINGTON OH 43147
Miami Valley Center PIQUA OH 45356
Cinemark – Sandusky SANDUSKY OH 44870
Southpark Mall STRONGSVILLE OH 44136
Crocker Park Stadium 16 WESTLAKE OH 44145
Movies 10 WOOSTER OH 44691
Tinseltown USA YOUNGSTOWN OH 44512
Colony Square Mall ZANESVILLE OH 43701

For more information, click here!

Man on a Ledge
Nationwide
A criminal pleads his innocence from a rooftop ledge, while his brother carries out one of the biggest diamond heists of all time. Jamie Bell and Elizabeth Banks are presumably wasted in this Sam Worthington lead crime thriller. Please shoot me now.
Opens 01/27

One for the Money
Nationwide
Katherine Heigl and crew try to deliver an action comedy that already seems stale by trailer’s end. After taking a job at a bail bond business, she must track down a past low-life boyfriend of hers. Wake me up when it’s over.
Opens 01/27

A Dangerous Method
Cedar Lee
David Cronenberg takes a shot at a historical period piece with “A Dangerous Method,” his third collaboration with Viggo Mortensen. Based on the relationships between psychiatrist Carl Jung (Michael Fassbender), his mentor Sigmund Freud (Mortensen) and Sabina Spielrein (Keira Knightley), a troubled yet beautiful woman who comes between them, this should be yet another Oscar buzzed-about film.
Opens 01/27

Albert Nobbs
Cedar Lee
Glenn Close plays a woman passing as a man in order to work and survive in 19th-century Ireland. Can she go through with her dream while trapped in her very own prison she so reluctantly created? Expect a one-of-a-kind performance from Close in this intriguing picture, which also stars Mia Wasikowska.
Opens 01/27

Pina (3D)
Capitol Theatre
This 3D dance film from German director Wim Wenders pays tribute to choreographer Pina Bausch. Before you get all “Step Up” on us, “Pina” is actually a documentary about the famed German director, who died just prior to the film’s release.
Opens 01/27

Martha Marcy May Marlene
Cleveland Cinematheque
A damaged young woman with multiple monikers (Elizabeth Olsen) escapes an abusive cult in rural New York and goes to live with her older sister and her new husband at their lakefront summer house. Haunted by past traumas (which she keeps secret from her baffled hosts), she struggles to re-enter their normal, “polite” society but soon wears out her welcome. John Hawkes is seductively scary as the charismatic cult/commune leader.
Saturday, 01/28 at 9:30 p.m.
Sunday, 01/29 at 8:20 p.m.

Red Tails
Nationwide
This exciting new film follows a group of African-American pilots in the Tuskegee training program during World War II. Cuba Gooding, Jr., Terrence Howard and “Breaking Bad’s” Bryan Cranston star in this George Lucas-produced film.
Opens 01/20

Underworld Awakening
Nationwide
When human forces discover the existence of the Vampire and Lycan clans, a war to eradicate both species commences. The vampire warrioress Selene leads the battle against humankind. Make sense to you? At least that makes one of us. Kate Beckinsale once again stars in this now iconic, completely worn-down role.
Opens 01/20

The Artist
Cedar Lee
Taking home the Best Actor Award at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, “The Artist” pays tribute to the silent-film era. The story takes place in Hollywood during the late 1920s and focuses on a declining actor and a rising new actress in a time when the silent cinema was bowing to the new talkie pictures. This French flick is not only filmed in stark black and white but also is a silent film itself.
Opens 1/20

Shame
Cedar Lee
Director Steve McQueen follows up his debut film “Hunger” with an equally enthralling film about sexual addiction. The director’s muse Michael Fassbender plays a thirty-something sex addict who must cope with his younger sister (Carey Mulligan), who moves in with him. The film, which was smacked with the dreaded NC-17 rating, should draw its fair share of Oscar buzz.
Opens 01/20

Pianomania
Cleveland Cinematheque
Many movies have been made about virtuoso pianists. Here’s a movie about a technician who helps some of those musicians sound so good. Stefan Knüpfer is a master piano tuner for Steinway & Sons in Vienna. He has tuned instruments for Lang Lang, Alfred Brendel and others, and in this documentary we watch him work with famous performers and fanatically pursue sonic perfection.
Saturday, 01/21 at 7:10 p.m.
Sunday, 01/22 at 4:15 p.m.

Contraband
Nationwide
Chris Farraday (Mark Wahlberg) thought he had left his criminal past behind him, but is forced back in order to settle his brother-in-law’s debt. Here’s hoping this film is more like Wahlberg’s enjoyable pictures (“The Fighter,” “The Departed”) and not his forgettable ones (“Max Payne,” “The Happening”). Kate Beckinsale, Ben Foster and Giovanni Ribisi also star.
Opens 01/13

Joyful Noise
Nationwide
The film tells the story of an unlikely partnership between two strong-minded women (Queen Latifah and Dolly Parton) who are forced to work together to help win the national choir competition.
Opens 01/13

Carnage
Cedar Lee
“Carnage” follows two sets of parents who meet up to talk after their children have been in a fight that day at school. This black comedy was written and directed by Roman Polanski and stars Kate Winslet, Christoph Waltz, Jodie Foster and John C. Reilly. Expect a handful of Academy Award nods for this one come Oscar time.
Opens 01/13

Iron Lady
Shaker Square Cinemas
The film takes a look at the life of Margaret Thatcher (Meryl Streep), the former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, and the price she paid for power. Streep should have no problem running away with a handful of accolades at award season.
Opens 01/13

In the Family
Cleveland Cinematheque
A gay man is devastated when his partner dies suddenly and the dead man’s biological six-year-old child, who both men were raising, goes to live with the dead man’s sister, as specified in the will. The forlorn lover struggles to make peace with the family and the situation. This first-time film by writer/director/star Patrick Wang was rejected by 30 film festivals before finally opening in NYC.
Thursday, 01/12 at 6:45 p.m.
Saturday, 01/14 at 8:30 p.m.

Cruise’s latest Mission: Impossible flick is a sleek, bulletproof specimen that resurrects all the infectious pacing and brazen improbabilities of the well-trod, but still not tired, franchise. The movie opens on a caffeinated high note, with Cruise breaking out of prison to the tune of Dean Martin’s “Ain’t That a Kick in the Head.” Once out, he joins forces with team members Simon Pegg and Paula Patton, and the trio heads to Moscow, where they plan to infiltrate the high-security Kremlin. The film earns major points with a clever espionage scheme involving a projector and a screen, punctuated by Pegg’s well-placed comic relief.
When the Kremlin is bombed, the mission falls apart, and the group, deprived of agency support, decides to go rogue.

In true M: I style, the plot gets nearly impossible to follow from there, with director Brad Bird expertly steering the cast to breathtaking set pieces in India and Dubai. Fortunately, the stunning visuals are as simple as the plot is convoluted. Bird navigates scene after palm-sweating scene with relentless aplomb, and Cruise’s blithe arrogance is the perfect foil to the nervy, vengeful Patton and Pegg’s twitchy humor.

The clean, wrenching finale — and the poster’s photo op — comes at the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, the world’s tallest building. As Cruise clings to the dizzyingly high glass exterior with failing equipment, a billowing sandstorm looms in the distance. Say what you will about Tom Cruise (and we will), but the stunts — he did them on site, himself — and the visceral, spine-tingling tension is worth every penny.

The Women on the Sixth Floor
Cedar Lee
Set in 1960s Paris, a conservative couple’s lives are turned upside down by two Spanish maids who live on the sixth floor. This French comedy, an official selection at the Berlin Film Festival, is the first film by director Philippe Le Guay in over four years.
Opens 01/06

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Cedar Lee
Swedish director Tomas Alfredson follows up his exhilarating “Let the Right One In” with this highly acclaimed film, which also marks his English language debut. Gary Oldman joins Colin Firth, Benedict Cumberbatch and John Hurt in a Cold War espionage thriller about a veteran forced from semi-retirement to uncover a Soviet agent. We’re talking “Best of the Year” material here if the cast and crew play their cards right.
Opens 01/06

Passione
Cleveland Cinematheque
Naples, Italy has been a musical melting pot for centuries, and this romantic, rapturous new movie by actor-director John Turturro celebrates the city’s many songs and singers. Turturro guides us through 23 beautifully filmed musical numbers.
Friday, 01/06 at 9 p.m.
Sunday, 01/08 at 4 p.m.

Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Nationwide
“The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” is the first film in Columbia Pictures’ three-picture adaptation of Stieg Larsson’s literary blockbuster “The Millennium Trilogy.” Directed by David Fincher (“Se7en,” “Fight Club,” “The Social Network”) and starring Daniel Craig and Rooney Mara, the film is based on the first novel in the trilogy, which altogether has sold 50 million copies in 46 countries and became a worldwide phenomenon. Expect a heavy Oscar push for this one.
Opens 12/21

Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol
Nationwide
Tom Cruise leads the fourth film in the famed spy series with “Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol.” Anticipation is high for this one after one hell of a resurgence in interest in the life of agent Ethan Hunt following the stellar J.J. Abrams offering back in 2006. The latest is the first live-action picture from Brad Bird, the mastermind behind Pixar classics “The Incredibles” and “Ratatouille.” In the latest installment, the IMF is shut down when it’s implicated in the bombing of the Kremlin, causing Ethan Hunt and his new team to go rogue to clear their organization’s name. Jeremy Renner, Ving Rhames and Tom Wilkinson also star.
Opens 12/21

The Skin I Live In
Canton Palace
Based on Thierry Jonquet’s novel “Mygale,” “The Skin I Live In” is director Pedro Almodóvar’s first film with former regular Antonio Banderas in 21 years. Described as Almodóvar’s take on a horror story, the film follows a plastic surgeon, traumatized by tragedies from this past, who uses a mysterious woman as his test subject and the key to his obsession. “The Skin I Live In” should be part of the select few come Oscar talk at year’s end.
Thursday, 12/22 at 7:30 p.m.
Friday, 12/23 at 7:30 p.m.

We Bought a Zoo
Nationwide
Cameron Crowe, the director of such classics as “Singles,” “Almost Famous” and “Jerry McGuire” returns with “We Bought A Zoo.” Based on a memoir by Benjamin Mee about how the author and his family used their life savings to buy a dilapidated zoo in the English countryside that is on the verge of destruction, the flick stars Matt Damon and Scarlett Johansson. As with most December films, this film should make the list come Academy Award season.
Opens 12/23

Saint
Cedar Lee
This twisted Christmas film from the Netherlands depicts a darker side of St. Nicholas and gives chilling new meaning to the old holiday adage “You better watch out.” In Dutch with English subtitles.
Opens 12/23

War Horse
Nationwide
Steven Spielberg takes another stab at live action in this highly anticipated film. Based on both a British children’s novel and a stage adaptation of the same name, “War Horse” looks to be a critical darling ripe for the award season. The film follows a young gent named Albert and his horse, Joey, who is sent to the trenches of World War I. Though Albert is not yet old enough to enlist in the war, he heads out to find his horse. Chock-full of brilliant, yet relatively unknown (at least here in the States) British actors, “War Horse” should be a must-see picture.
Opens 12/25

The Darkest Hour
Nationwide
Yet another attempt at 3D zaniness, this sci-fi picture takes place in Russia where a young couple gets caught up in an alien invasion. Olivia Thirlby and Emile Hirsh star in this film produced by acclaimed Russian filmmaker Timur Bekmambetov, the madman behind such films as “Wanted” and “Night Watch.”
Opens 12/25

The Artist
Cedar Lee
Taking home the Best Actor Award at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, “The Artist” pays tribute to the silent-film era. The story takes place in Hollywood during the late 1920s and focus on a declining actor along with a rising new actress in a time when the silent cinema was on the verge of bowing down to the new talkie pictures. This French film itself is not only filmed in stark black and white but also is a silent film as well. One of our most anticipated releases here at the Buzzbin offices.
Opens 12/25

Alvin and The Chipmunks: Chipwrecked
Nationwide
Playing around while aboard a cruise ship, the Chipmunks accidentally go overboard and find themselves stranded on a tropical paradise. While neither of the previous films could be considered watchable by most cinema aficionados, the studio behind the ongoing series clearly has an audience that will spend money at the box office and the latest should be no exception.
Opens 12/16

Take Shelter
Canton Palace Theatre
Come to the Palace for this month’s Dinner and a Movie with “Take Shelter.” Shot right here in Northeast Ohio, “Take Shelter” tells the story of a young husband and father plagued by a series of apocalyptic visions that questions whether to shelter his family from a coming storm, or from himself. Both a sensation at Sundance and the winner of the Grand Prix Critics Week award at the Cannes Film festival, the film stars Michael Shannon (“Boardwalk Empire”) and Jessica Chastain (“The Tree of Life”), two character actors due for the limelight.
Thursday, Dec. 12/15: Dinner at 6 p.m.; film at 7:30 p.m.

Bunny and The Bull
Cleveland Cinematheque
The whimsical work of Michel Gondry and Charlie Kaufman is evoked in this crazy, surreal comedy from creators of the cult British TV show “The Mighty Boosh.” A road movie set entirely within an apartment, the film centers on Stephen, an agoraphobic young man who discovers that his flat has mice and decides he must take a vacation. Using snapshots, souvenirs and other mementos from a disastrous trek around Europe, Stephen “hits the road” again.
Thursday, 12/15 at 6:45 p.m.
Friday, 12/16 at 9:30 p.m.

Happy, Happy
Cleveland Cinematheque
Norway’s official entry for last year’s foreign-language-film Oscar is a dark comedy about an eternally optimistic rural housewife whose nondescript life with her disinterested husband is turned upside down when a “perfect” couple from the city moves in across the street.
Thursday, 12/15 at 8:45 p.m.
Saturday, 12/17 at 7:05 p.m.

Babes in Toyland
Cleveland Cinematheque
In this elaborate movie adaptation of Victor Herbert’s famous operetta, Laurel and Hardy play Stannie Dum and Ollie Dee, two bumbling residents of Toyland, a realm populated by characters from fairy tales. Living in a shoe that also houses Little Bo Peep, the fabled “old woman” and others, Stannie and Ollie attempt to resolve a mortgage dispute with their villainous landlord, Silas Barnaby, while also protecting Bo Peep from his lecherous designs.
Saturday, 12/17 at 5:30 p.m.

Black Power Mix Tape
Cedar Lee
Made entirely from 16mm footage shot between 1967 and 1975 by a group of Swedish journalists documenting the Black Power Movement in the United States, this new documentary was edited together by a contemporary Swedish filmmaker. Sign us up for this one.
Opens 12/17

The hell is that Christmas movies are a big deal. There’s a ton of them, and they include significant films like Home Alone, Elf, It’s A Wonderful Life and Charlie Brown’s Christmas. Holiday movies rake in cash and profoundly effect our most important years.

The reason we’re getting to them early: next week’s list is going to be devoted to the big man himself, and the actors that took the challenge of bringing him to life. For now, enjoy 6 Christmas Movies you should go watch this week to get ready for the big day.

A Christmas Story
The most important Christmas film of the 80s, A Christmas Story takes place in Indiana (on Cleveland St.) but was famously filmed right here in Cleveland. Every minute of the film has something memorable happening, whether it be a pink bunny outfit, a tongue stuck to a pole, dogs stealing a meal or a strange obsession with a lamp. The film is still so dear to our memories, there’s a contest for people to win a night at the house the movie was made in.

Holiday Inn
Turner Classic Movies has made this one of the most watched Christmas films ever thanks to their endless holiday programming that includes this regardless of which holiday they’re programming. Holiday Inn may include scenes that take place on a number of holidays, but if an Irving Berlin movie starring Fred Astaire and Bing Crosby that opens on Christmas (with the song “Happy Holidays”) and sweeps into its dramatic conclusion on the following Christmas with the greatest rendition of “White Christmas” ever recorded isn’t a damn Christmas movie, then I don’t know what the hell is.

And the argument that it ends at a New Year’s Eve party is invalid, because that’s an epilogue – the same as New Year’s Eve is an epilogue to the holiday season.

Fred Claus
Jon Favreau and Vince Vaughn have competed with films since they worked together on Swingers. Favreau’s Elf was his toss into the holiday hat that became an overnight Christmas classic. Vaughn’s Fred Clause did well, but wasn’t nearly as well received.

People need to go back and take another look at what they’re missing. Fred Clause includes Kevin Spacey as the evil bureaucrat trying to destroy Christmas, ninja elves, Paul Giamatti as Santa (more on that next week) and a siblings anonymous meeting that includes a Stallone, a Baldwin and a Clinton. It also has this exchange:

Scrooged
Although National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation may be the most well-known of the SNL alum holiday stories, Scrooged is my far-and-away favorite. The film stars Bill Murray (I could stop right there and be validated) as a chronically pissed-off media exec playing out “A Christmas Carol” in the coke-fueled glam of the late 80s.

It’s a darker comedy than the usually holiday fare, but the reality is that the source material is meant to be pretty damn dark as well. The upbeat ending with the smiling Tiny Tim is made stronger by the despair being warded-off by Scrooge’s change of heart. That’s what makes it so endearing.

Did I mention that it stars Bill Murray.

Babes In Toyland
Which Babes In Toyland am I talking about? Is it the original Laurel and Hardy version? Perhaps I preferred the 1961 flick that starred Annette Funicello, Ray Bolger and Fred Wynn. Or my 80s nostalgia could kick in and I could choose the goofy version that starred Keanu Reeves, Drew Barrymore and Pat Morita. Maybe I’ve completely lost my mind and think the 90s animated version is the best.

The answer is: yes, except for the animated one and even that one is okay. Every significant version of Babes In Toyland is worth watching for one reason or another. If I were pressed to answer which is definitively better, I would say the Laurel and Hardy version and use the tired excuse that it was first just so I could be done with it, but they’re all good.

Die Hard
All John McClain wanted to do for Christmas was see his estranged family. Just as we started to feel for the man, because who doesn’t love squishing their bare toes into the carpeting, he learns that terrorist are holding his ex-wife hostage and he has to go kill them all with almost nothing.

“Now I have a machine gun, ho-ho-ho” may be the greatest message anyone ever sent anyone at Christmas. Spoiler: at the end of the film Snape dies. But you better have known that, because if you haven’t seen Die Hard you should be hunted by John McClain.