Film Fan Fridays for Friday December 16, 2011

Hello Film Fans and Fanatics!

Welcome to Film Fan Fridays for Friday December 16, 2011!

Limited release of the week are actually very limited to the documentary Dragonslayer (see review here) centred on skateboarder Josh 'Skreech' Sandoval and the spy thriller Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy based on the by John le Carré starring Gary Oldman, Tom Hardy & Colin Firth and is certainly on my to see list.

This is a pretty heavy week for adventureous films including both historical mystery/action flick Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows starring Robert Downey Jr. & Jude Law and Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol starring Tom Cruise & Jeremy Renner. Wow, those are some really heavy hitters going against each other and both look like could be a lot of fun (although I'm going with Sherlock on this one). If you'd rather get some laughs in there is the comedy Young Adult starring Charlize Theron, Patton Oswalt, & Patrick Wilson about a woman who goes back to her home town to win over an high school sweetheart, and this one looks pretty freaking cutting & hilarious. For a more family friend pick we have Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked.

And jumping ahead little bit to next week we have some mid-week releases including David Fincher directing The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011) starring Rooney Mara (Tanner Hall) & Daniel Craig (Casino Royale) in the nouveau version of the already adapted from Män som hatar kvinnor (Men Who Hate Women) by Stieg Larsson, the first book of The Millennium Trilogy for which we've already seen the Swedish film adaptations of the entire trilogy: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo / Män som hatar kvinnor, The Girl Who Played with Fire / Flickan som lekte med elden and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest / Luftslottet som sprängdes. In fact, you can see the original actors in other films this week with Noomi Rapace in Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows & Michael Nyqvist in Mission: Impossible - A Game of Shadows! Can you tell I'm not jazzed about the redux? And finally we have the wide releases of The Adventures of TinTin featuring the voices of Jamie Bell & Daniel Craig based on the comic books created by Belgian artist Georges "Hergé" Remi, specifically the three of: The Crab with the Golden Claws, The Secret of the Unicorn and Red Rackham's Treasure. Both The Adventures of Tin Tin and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011) open Wednesday December 21, 2011; with some evening showings of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo on Tuesday December 20, 2011. Have a great weekend!

Shannon

Friday December 16, 2011 Releases

Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked
Dir: Mike Mitchell (Sky High, Shrek Ever After)
Cast: Jason Lee, David Cross, Jenny Slate, Justin Long, Matthew Gray Gubler, Jesse McCartney, Amy Poehler, Anna Faris, Christina Applegate
USA
Official Film Site, IMDb Page, Trailer

Dragonslayer (2011)
Dir: Tristan Patterson - feature film directorial debut
Documentary following skateboarder Josh 'Skreech' Sandoval
USA
Limited Release
Official Film Site, IMDb Page, Trailer

Edit: Ladies vs. Ricky Bahl
also released December 16, 2011

Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol
Dir: Brad Bird (The Incredibles, Ratatouille)
Cast: Tom Cruise, Ving Rhames, Jeremy Renner, Josh Holloway, Simon Pegg, Paula Patton, Michael Nyqvist
USA
Official Film Site, IMDb Page, Trailer

Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows
Dir: Guy Ritchie (Sherlock Holmes, Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels)
Cast: Robert Downey Jr., Jude Law, Noomi Rapace, Jared Harris, Rachel McAdams
USA
Official Film Site, IMDb Page, Trailer

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Dir: Tomas Alfredson (Let the Right One In / Låt den rätte komma in)
Cast: Gary Oldman, Tom Hardy, Colin Firth, Mark Strong, Ciarán Hinds
UK/France/Germany
Limited Release
Official Film Site, IMDb Page, Trailer

Young Adult
Dir: Jason Reitman (Juno, Thank You For Smoking, Up in the Air)
Cast: Charlize Theron, Patton Oswalt, Patrick Wilson, Elizabeth Reaser
USA
Official Film Site, IMDb Page, Trailer

Wednesday December 21, 2011 Releases

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011)
Dir: David Fincher (Fight Club, Zodiac, The Social Network)
Cast: Rooney Mara, Daniel Craig, Stellan Skarsgård, Christopher Plumber
USA/UK/Sweden/Germany
Official Film Site, IMDb Page, Trailer

The Adventures of TinTin
Dir: Steven Spielberg (War Horse, Catch Me If You Can, Hook)
Voices: Jamie Bell, Daniel Craig, Cary Elwes, Andy Serkis, Simon Pegg & Nick Frost,
USA/New Zealand
Official Film Site, IMDb Page, Trailer

**please note this list of releases reflects first run film released in Toronto, Ontario, Canada as of December 23, 2011**