December 2016 - Forbidden Planet, Moana, Sully, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, and Snowden

Hi Everyone,

If you'd like to see trailers for the dozen or so major movies being released in the UK in December 2016 - in a single playlist - follow this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPe53Bz0eYM&list=PLsYqS17xRd6fzjhEbHYOu6K6CT9GBqoVD

I can't let 2016 go by without mentioning Forbidden Planet. This is a ground-breaking science-fiction movie released by MGM in 1956 – and it has therefore been celebrating it's 60 year anniversary this year. When the crew of a spaceship land on an alien world – Dr. Morbius, a survivor from a previous mission 20 years before, gives them a guided tour of the wonders of a lost civilization.

I first encountered the film at the age of 12 (in the early 1970s) when we all piled into the theatre at school – where a screening of the movie formed the centrepiece of that year's Christmas festivities. Having grown up enjoying Doctor Who on TV – in primitive black and white – all of a sudden one was faced with the magnificence of Eastmancolor and Cinemascope. And, from the opening credits onwards, the pioneering electronic score created by Bebe and Louis Barron - billed rather unusually as “electronic tonalities” - was absolutely mind-blowing.* 

 
Of course, modern audiences may think the film a bit dated, and may wonder at the “handsome leading man” - Commander John J. Adams of the Starship C-57D – turning out to be none other than Leslie Nielsen – far better known today as a corny gag man in The Naked Gun and Police Squad parodies. But I think the movie, despite being stylistically a work from the mid-1950s, holds up very well. The Blu-ray edition – which I watched again two days ago – has only a few shots that seem a bit sub-par, and on the whole the film looks crisp and beautifully restored.

Rather than waffle on too long about the film's great merits, let me simply invite those who haven't seen it to track down a copy and give it a look. This is not only intelligent story-telling (loosely based on Shakespeare's The Tempest) but there is also thrilling action, murder mystery, romance (with the gorgeous Anne Francis as the alluring but naive Alta), and perhaps - with the possible exception of Gort in The Day the Earth Stood Still – it has the most iconic of all the movie robots: “Robby the Robot” voiced brilliantly by the (uncredited) Marvin Miller. 
 
I am a huge Sci-fi fan and count many movies among my favourites - including Blade Runner, Moon, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, King Kong, The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms, Solaris, Guardians of the Galaxy, Ex Machina, The Andromeda Strain, Metropolis, Soylent Green, The Time Machine, Star Trek: First Contact, Quatermass and the Pit, Gravity, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, and many others. Yet, after sixty years, Forbidden Planet remains, in my view, the greatest science-fiction film of all time.

*It's a shame that, as non-musician's union members, they weren't deemed eligible for an Academy Award nomination.

There are some really good movies coming out this month; and among the most notable of these are:- Disney's Moana, Sully: Miracle on the Hudson, Snowden, and Rogue One: a Star Wars Story. Here's a still from each of these films to whet your appetite:-

Moana © 2016 Disney Studios. All Rights Reserved.

Sully: Miracle on the Hudson © 2016 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. Village Roadshow Films North America Inc. and Ratpac-Dune Entertainment LLC. Photo courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures. All Rights Reserved.

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story © 2016 Lucasfilm Ltd. Photo courtesy of Film Frame. All Rights Reserved.

Snowden © 2016 Vertigo Releasing. All Rights Reserved.

Here's a comprehensive run down of the December 2016 new releases:-

The major films are Ballerina, Birth of a Nation, Bleed For This, Collateral Beauty, Moana, Monster Trucks, Office Christmas Party, Passengers, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Snowden, Sully: Miracle on the Hudson, and Why Him?

Limited or “key cities” releases include And Then Came Munich: The Story of Duncan Edwards, Befikre, Crash & Burn, Dangal, Half Way, Holy Cow, Kahaani 2, Krisha, Jet Trash, Life Animated, Reset, The Ardennes, The Black Hen, The Dreamed Ones, The Eagle Huntress, The Heritage of Love, The Son of Joseph, The Unknown Girl, The Weekend, Uncle Howard, and The Young Offenders.

Other limited releases which have been given their own little spot in the magazine are Chi-Raq, Eat That Question, I am Not a Serial Killer, Molly Moon and the Incredible Book of Hypnotism, Mr. Right, Operation Chromite, The Coming War on China, and The Pass.

In addition to the above are three classic movies being showcased theatrically, and these are Blue Velvet (1986), Donnie Darko (2001), and The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993). 

Update: See Odeon, Cineworld, and other websites for details of screenings of such films as: A Trip to Jamaica, Get Better: A Film About Frank Turner, Pitbull: Niebezpieczne Kobiety (aka Pitbull: Tough Women), Suddenly Seventeen, Rats (a Morgan Spurlock documentary), 12 Chairs, and Lion. Look out for special UK screenings and previews of A Monster Calls from December 23rd onwards. 

Not included in the magazine are this month's “Event Cinema” special screenings and the like. This, however, is what's happening in December 2016:-

• 2^nd December 2016 – Nutcracker – Royal Opera, London 2016/17 (Royal Opera House). (Please note that I have uncovered alternative information giving the dates 8^th and 11^th December 2016 – so please double-check dates for yourself.)
  
  
• 7^th December 2016 – Madame Butterfly – Teatro Alla Scala Live 2016 (opera) [one night only] (Soda Pictures)
  
  
• 9^th December 2016 – L'Amour De Loin – Met Opera 2016 (By Experience)
  
  
• 15^th December 2016 – No Man's Land (Harold Pinter play starring Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart – including a Q&A with the cast and director) (NT Live) 
   
• 16^th December 2016 – Nutcracker – The Bolshoi Ballet 2016 (Picturehouse Entertainment)
  
  
• 30^th December 2016 – New Year's Gala Concert: Berliner Philharmoniker Live 2016 (More2Screen)
  
  

Here is the link to my latest newsletter (which is a download of approximately 27MB):-

Click here for the December 2016 newsletter

With lots of great films in theatres I hope you are going along and having a good time at the movies. Have a wonderful holiday at the end of the year. Seasons greetings to one and all. Happy viewing!

See below for trailers for most of the above mentioned films:-


 And Then Came Munich: The Story of Duncan Edwards


Ballerina


Befikre


Birth of a Nation


Bleed For This


Blue Velvet


Chi-Raq


Collateral Beauty



Crash & Burn
  

Dangal


Donnie Darko


Eat That Question


Half Way


Holy Cow


I am Not a Serial Killer


Kahaani 2


Krisha


Jet Trash


Life, Animated


Moana


Molly Moon and the Incredible Book of Hypnotism


Monster Trucks


Mr. Right


Office Christmas Party


Operation Chromite


Passsengers


Reset


Rogue One: A Star Wars Story


Snowden


Sully (aka Sully: Miracle on the Hudson)


The Ardennes


The Black Hen


The Coming War on China


The Dreamed Ones (aka Die Getraumten)


The Eagle Huntress


The Heritage of Love


The Nightmare Before Christmas
The Pass


The Son of Joseph


The Unknown Girl


The Weekend


The Young Offenders


Through the Wall


Uncle Howard


Why Him?