Holiday baking, holiday shopping — as if you don’t have enough to do between now and whatever holiday your family celebrates. But Hollywood has just made your life more difficult. There are a dozen major movies being released in the next 10 days. Yes, you read that right — there are more new films to see than days in which to see them. Four movies open Friday that are all getting a lot of buzz. “Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows” could repeat the success of the original. Spy thriller “Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy,” historical drama “A Dangerous Method” and dramedy “Young Adult” all feature the sort of acting the Oscars notice. (For the wee ones, “Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked” also opens).
Wednesday finds the opening of “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo,” one of the year’s most anticipated films. David Fincher, with the help of stars Daniel Craig and Rooney Mara, will put his distinctive stamp on the first book of the best-selling Swedish trilogy. The director is likely to have stretched his R-rating close to the breaking point. More family-friendly are “The Adventures of Tintin,” based on the Belgian comics, and Tom Cruise’s return in “Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol.”
Christmas weekend offers the same sort of variety. “The Artist,” a silent film about the silent film era, is one of the year’s best movies — something the Golden Globe Awards just recognized in announcing nominations. “War Horse,” about a World War I equine hero, is Stephen Spielberg’s second entry into the list of holiday films, while animals are also featured in the Matt Damon flick “We Bought a Zoo.”
