At the Xmas Movies

Every year Margaret and David are there to tell us what flicks to catch over the Christmas break. And this year is no exception.

The two beloved critics have a one hour At The Movies special next Sunday night reviewing lots of new releases and offering special interviews with Ang Lee, Tony Leung, Todd Haynes, Joe Wright, James McAvoy, Keira Knightley, Vanessa Redgrave, Wes Anderson, Jason Schwartzman, Joel Coen & Ethan Coen, Javier Bardem, Josh Brolin and Kelly MacDonald.

Press Release:

Final line-up for ‘At the Movies’ Holiday Special on Sunday December 16 at 6PM:

THE GOLDEN COMPASS – starring Nicole Kidman, Daniel Craig, Eva Green, Kathy Bates and Sam Elliott. In a parallel universe, young Lyra Belacqua journeys to the far North to save her best friend and other kidnapped children from terrible experiments by a mysterious organisation.

ATONEMENT – starring Keira Knightly, James McAvoy. On the hottest day of the summer of 1935, thirteen-year-old Briony Tallis sees her older sister Cecilia (Knightly) and their housekeeper’s son Robbie Turner (McAvoy) embrace. By the end of that day the lives of all three will have been changed forever. Robbie and Cecilia will have crossed a boundary they had never before dared to approach and will have become victims of the younger girl’s scheming imagination, and Briony will have committed a dreadful crime, the guilt for which will colour her entire life.

Interviews with Joe Wright I/V (Director), James McAvoy, Keira Knightley and Vanessa Redgrave I/V

I’M NOT THERE – Bob Dylan “biopic” starring Cate Blanchett, Heath Ledger, Christian Bale and Richard Gere.
Interview with director Todd Haynes

ENCHANTED – animated and live-action fantasy/fairy tale starring Amy Adams, Patrick Dempsey, James Marsden, Susan Sarandon. It follows the beautiful princess Giselle (Amy Adams) as she is banished by an evil queen (Susan Sarandon) from her magical, musical animated land and finds herself in the gritty reality of the streets of modern-day Manhattan. Shocked by this strange new environment that doesn’t operate on a “happily ever after” basis, Giselle is now adrift in a chaotic world badly in need of enchantment. But when Giselle begins to fall in love with a charmingly flawed divorce lawyer (Patrick Dempsey) who has come to her aid — even though she is already promised to a perfect fairytale prince (James Marsden) back home – she has to wonder: Can a storybook view of romance survive in the real world?

THE DARJEELING LTD – starring Jason Schwartzman, Owen Wilson, Adrien Brody as three brothers reconnecting on a train trip through India.

Interviews with Wes Anderson I/V (Co-Writer/Director )and Jason Schwartzman

2 DAYS IN PARIS – Marion (Julie Delpy) and Jack (Adam Goldberg) try to rekindle their relationship with a visit to Paris, home of Marion’s parents — and several of her ex-boyfriends. Written and Directed by Delpy.

I SERVED THE KING OF ENGLAND – Directed by Jirí Menzel. While serving the cream of Prague society, humble waiter, Jan Dítì (Ivan Burnev) dreams of owning his own hotel and becoming a millionaire. Full of desire and ambition, he hustles his way towards his dream. But getting a fortune and keeping it are two different things.

JUNO – new film from Jason Reitman – starring Ellen Page, Jennifer Garner and Jason Bateman about Juno, a teenage girl who falls pregnant and decides to adopt the baby to young couple.

AMERICAN GANGSTER – Directed by Ridley Scott. Starring Russell Crowe and Denzel Washington in story of drug Kingpin Frank Lucas (Washington) who in the 1970’s became the biggest heroin dealer in Harlem, with a smuggling scheme that imported heroin out of Vietnam in the body bags of dead American GI’s.

KITE RUNNER – Directed by Marc Foster and adapted from the first novel of Afghanistani American author Khaled Hosseini. Follows the story of Amir, the privileged son of a wealthy businessman in Kabul, and Hassan, the son of Amir’s father’s servant. As children in the relatively stable Afghanistan of the early 1970’s, the boys are inseparable. They spend idyllic days running kits and telling stories of mystical places until an unspeakable event changes the nature of their relationship forever, and eventually cements their bond in ways neither boy could ever have predicted.

NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN –Coen Brothers latest with Javier Bardem and Tommy Lee Jones. Violence and mayhem ensue after a hunter stumbles upon some dead bodies, a stash of heroin and more than $2 million in cash near the Rio Grande.

Interviews with Joel Coen & Ethan Coen I/V (Writer/Directors), Javier Bardem, Josh Brolin and Kelly MacDonald

LUST, CAUTION – the new Ang Lee film starring Tony Leung, Joan Chen and Tang Wei.
An espionage thriller set in WWII-era Shanghai, in which a young woman, Wang Jiazhi, gets swept up in a dangerous game of emotional intrigue with a powerful political figure, Mr. Yee.

Interviews with Ang Lee and Tony Leung.

At The Movies Holiday Special airs 6pm Sunday December 16 on ABC TV.

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