Wide Release

Bride Wars - Starring Kate Hudson, Anne Hathaway, Candice Bergen, and more. As if weddings weren’t stressful enough already. Two best friends become rivals when the moments of their lives seem to clash with one another. Always planning to be each other’s maid of honor at their respective weddings; their dream location can only schedule their weddings on the exact same day.

Not Easily Broken - Starring Morris Chestnut, Kevin Hart, Taraji P. Henson, and more. After years of disagreeing on what true happiness, success, and love really are, Dave and Clarice Johnson have finally reached a breaking point in their marriage. When Clarice is hurt in a car accident, the obvious truth that more than just her injuries need immediate attention is exposed. Their odds of making it worsen as Clarice begins to see a physical therapist, and Dave develops a friendship with Julie and her teenage son Bryson. The acceptance and comfort he finds in them stirs his longing for a family and a passionate partner. As temptation tugs at Dave and Clarice pulls farther away, they must confront whether their vows are true or not worth the words spoken.

The Unborn - Starring Odette Yustman, Gary Oldman, Meagan Good, and more. A young woman begins seeing things that aren’t really there and dealing with frightening situations that don’t seem to be affecting anyone else. A doctor believes the things she is going through are only because it is something that all twins go through sometime in their lives. The only problem is that she is an only child and knows nothing of a twin she was supposed to have.

Gran Torino, The Reader, Last Chance Harvey, and Che are all expanding.

Stay with Popcorn Junkies all this year for the biggest news, movie reviews, and some new columns that are sure to shake up the way your week goes. Happy New Year from Popcorn Junkies everyone and here’s to hoping 2009 is the best year yet!

Wide Release

Bedtime Stories - Starring Adam Sandler, Keri Russell, Guy Pearce, Courteney Cox, and more. Sometimes our imaginations are what take us to the best places. Experience this tale about a hotel handyman whose life changes when the lavish bedtime stories he tells his niece and nephew start to magically come true.

The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button - Starring Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett, Elias Koteas, Julia Ormond, and more. “I was born under unusual circumstances.” And so begins The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, adapted from the 1920s story by F. Scott Fitzgerald about a man who is born in his eighties and ages backwards: a man, like any of us, who is unable to stop time. We follow his story, set in New Orleans from the end of World War I in 1918 to the 21st century, following his journey that is as unusual as any man’s life can be.

Marley And Me - Starring Jennifer Aniston, Owen Wilson, Alan Arkin, Kathleen Turner, and more. And you thought you had a bad dog! A family learns important life lessons from their adorable, but naughty and neurotic dog.

Valkyrie - Starring Tom Cruise, Kenneth Branagh, Bill Nighy, Tom Wilkinson, and more. At the height of WW2, a group of high-ranking German officers hatched a plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler, and seize power of the military command in order to end the war. The operation was codenamed “Valkyrie”, for the emergency plan that was meant to be used in case of a revolt against the Nazi government. This plan had been modified by the conspirators to ensure their success, but for various reasons the plot failed when finally carried out on 20 July 1944. The conspirators of the inner circle were shot after a kangaroo trial or sentenced to death soon after.

The Spirit - Starring Gabriel Macht, Eva Mendes, Samuel L. Jackson, Jaime King, and more. Down these mean streets a man must come. A hero born, murdered, and born again. Rookie cop Denny Colt returns from the beyond as The Spirit, a hero whose mission is to fight against the bad forces from the shadows of Central City. The Octopus who kills anyone unfortunate enough to see his face…has other plans. He’s going to wipe out the entire city.

Limited Release

Last Chance Harvey - Starring Dustin Hoffman and Emma Thompson. In London for his daughter’s wedding, a rumpled man finds his romantic spirits lifted by a new woman in his life.

Revolutionary Road - Starring Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio. A young couple living in a Connecticut suburb during the mid-1950s struggle to come to terms with their personal problems while trying to raise their two children. Based on a novel by Richard Yates.

Waltz With Bashir - One night at a bar, an old friend tells director Ari about a recurring nightmare in which he is chased by 26 vicious dogs. Every night, the same number of beasts. The two men conclude that there’s a connection to their Israeli Army mission in the first Lebanon War of the early eighties. Ari is surprised that he can’t remember a thing anymore about that period of his life. Intrigued by this riddle, he decides to meet and interview old friends and comrades around the world. He needs to discover the truth about that time and about himself. As Ari delves deeper and deeper into the mystery, his memory begins to creep up in surreal images.

Wide Release

Seven Pounds - Starring Will Smith, Rosario Dawson, Woody Harrelson, and many more. Sometimes you don’t necessarily need a reason to help out someone else. An IRS agent with a fateful secret embarks on an extraordinary journey of redemption by forever changing the lives of seven strangers.

The Tale Of Despereaux - Starring the voice talents of Matthew Broderick, Emma Watson, Dustin Hoffman, William H. Macy, and more. Follow along with a tale of three unlikely heroes - a misfit mouse who prefers reading books to eating them, an unhappy rat who schemes to leave the darkness of the dungeon, and a bumbling servant girl with cauliflower ears - whose fates are intertwined with that of the castle’s princess.

Yes Man - Starring Jim Carrey, Zooey Deschanel, John Michael Higgins, and more. It isn’t always easy to tell someone no so Carl Allen won’t do it for a very long time. Witness the struggles he faces as he attempts to say “yes” to everything for an entire year.

Limited Release

The Class - Teacher and novelist François Bégaudeau plays a version of himself as he negotiates a year with his racially mixed students from a tough Parisian neighborhood.

The Wrestler - Starring Mickey Rourke, Marisa Tomei, Evan Rachel Wood, and more. Making your way to the top is something that no-one ever said would be easy. Experience this intense drama centered on retired professional wrestler named Randy “The Ram” Robinson as he makes his way through the independent circuit, trying to get back in the game for one final showdown with his former rival.

Our own Jenny Rushing has already seen it so check out her review here.

Moscow, Belgium - Matty, a 41-year old mother of three with a husband in his midlife-crisis, meets 29-year old Johnny, a camion driver, who takes an interest in her.

Wide Release

The Day The Earth Stood Still - Starring Keanu Reeves, Jennifer Connelly, Kathy Bates, Jaden Smith, and more. In this remake of the 1951 classic; aliens land on Earth and have a message for all humans: evacuate their planet or everyone and everything will be destroyed.

Delgo - Featuring the voices of Freddie Prinze Jr., Val Kilmer, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Chris Kattan, and many more. Delgo, an adventurous but naive teenager, must rally his group of friends to protect their world from conflict between the Lockni and Nohrin people.

Nothing Like The Holidays - Starring Debra Messing, John Leguizamo, Alfred Molina, and many more. A Puerto Rican, family living in the area of Humboldt Park in west Chicago, face what may be their last Christmas together.

Limited Release

Doubt - Starring Meryl Streep, Amy Adams, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Viola Davis, and more. Set in 1964, Doubt centers on a nun who confronts a priest after suspecting him abusing a black student. He denies the charges, and much of the play’s quick-fire dialogue tackles themes of religion, morality and authority.

Dark Streets - Chaz Davenport is a dashing bachelor who owns what promises to become the hottest new nightclub in town–if only the lights would stay on. Surrounded by the sumptuous blues music he adores, and with his pick of the gorgeous women who perform their sensual dance numbers onstage every night, Chaz is the envy of every man. But with the city thrown into darkness by frequent blackouts and a menacing loan shark closing in, Chaz is in danger of losing the club–and far more.

Che - Starring Benicio del Toro. It is 1964 and well-known Argentine revolutionary Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara travels to New York City to address the United Nations.

Gran Torino - Starring Clint Eastwood, Geraldine Hughes, Christopher Carley, and more. Disgruntled Korean War vet Walt Kowalski sets out to reform his neighbor, a young Hmong teenager, who tried to steal Kowalski’s prized possession: his 1972 Gran Torino.

Where God Left His Shoes - A failed boxer struggles to find a job and an apartment for his family on Christmas Eve.

Paramount Pictures/DreamWorks Pictures announced that they will now release Peter Jackson’s The Lovely Bones adaptation in theaters December 11, 2009, nine months later than originally planned… The film centers on a young girl who has been murdered and watches over her family – and her killer – from heaven.

In addition, MGM has bumped back the release of Drew Goddard (Cloverfield) and Joss Whedon’s The Cabin in the Woods from it’s planned October ‘09 date all the way to February 5, 2010. No details have been revealed yet, but we’ll keep you posted as soon as a synopsis hits the net.

Credit: Bloody-Disgusting

Wide Release

Cadillac Records - Starring Adrien Brody, Cedric The Entertainer, Emmanuelle Chriqui, Mos Def, and many more. In this tale of sex, violence, race, and rock and roll in 1950s Chicago, follow along with the exciting but turbulent lives of some of America’s musical legends including Muddy Waters, Leonard Chess, Little Walter, Howlin’ Wolf, Etta James and Chuck Berry.

Nobel Son - Starring Danny DeVito, Ted Danson, Alan Rickman, Eliza Dushku, Bill Pullman, and many more. Barkley Michaelson is in a deep life rut. He’s struggling to finish his PhD thesis when his father Eli Michaelson wins the Nobel Prize for chemistry. Barkley and his mother, Sarah, a renowned forensic psychiatrist, now have the ill-fortune of living with a man-eating monster whose philandering ways have gotten less and less discrete. As if Barkley’s world is not bad enough, on the eve of his father receiving the Nobel, Barkley is kidnapped and the requested ransom is the $2,000,000 in Nobel prize money. Needless to say, Eli refuses to pay it and so starts a venomous tale of familial dysfunction, lust, betrayal and ultimately revenge. In the words of Michel De Montaigne, the 16th century philosopher: “There is more barbarity in eating a man alive than in eating him dead.”

Punisher: War Zone - Starring Ray Stevenson, Dominic West, Colin Salmon, and more. Frank Castle has not been the same man since his family was brutally murdered and taken from him. Agent Paul Budiansky, the ex-partner of a murdered undercover Fed, joins the NYPD’s “Punisher Task Force” to help bring Castle to justice, once and for all. Meanwhile, a facially mutilated Russoti recovers from his run-in with the Punisher with revenge on his mind and recruits a massive army of psychotic killers, gangbangers, and mobsters under his new alias “Jigsaw.”

Limited Release

Ciao - A man dies very unexpectedly and leaves behind two men: Jeff, his best friend and Andrea, an Italian he’s been corresponding with online. Jeff informs Andrea of Mark’s passing; Andrea writes back to express his shock and sympathies. On a whim, they continue their correspondence and a rapport grows between them. They eventually meet, where they extend their e-mail exchanges into more personal and intimate conversations. They talk about their respective countries, their jobs, their families, their lives. Mostly, they talk about Mark. What began as a tragedy that linked two strangers from different ends of the world becomes a deeply realized friendship that may change their lives forever.

Extreme Movie - A sketch comedy movie about the joys and embarrassments of teen sex. But mostly the embarrassments.

Frost/Nixon - A dramatic retelling of the post-Watergate television interviews between British talk-show host David Frost and former president Richard Nixon.

Timecrimes - A man accidentally gets into a time machine and travels back in time nearly an hour. Finding himself will be the first of a series of disasters of unforeseeable consequences.

Wide Release

Australia - Starring Hugh Jackman, Nicole Kidman, James Hong, and more. Set in northern Australia before World War II, an English aristocrat inherits a sprawling ranch reluctantly pacts with a stock-man in order to protect her new property from a takeover plot. As the pair drives 2,000 head of cattle over unforgiving landscape, they experience the bombing of Darwin, Australia, by Japanese forces firsthand.

Four Christmases - Starring Vince Vaughn, Reese Witherspoon, Robert Duvall, Jon Favreau, and many more. Brad and Kate aren’t quite looking to the holidays nearly as much as everyone else is. Their Christmas isn’t so simple as they try to make it happy for their parents…their divorced parents…who are in four separate locations.

Transporter 3 - Starring Jason Statham and more. Frank Martin puts the driving gloves on for a third mission: To deliver Valentina, the kidnapped daughter of a Ukrainian government official, from Marseilles to Odessa on the Black Sea. En route, he’ll have to contend with thugs who want to intercept Valentina’s safe delivery and not let his personal feelings get in the way of his dangerous objective.

Limited Release

Oye Lucky, Lucky Oye - Witness a modern day Robin Hood in this comedy caper based on a thief who tries to steal a life for himself.

Milk - Starring Sean Penn, Emile Hirsch, Josh Brolin, and more. After moving to San Francisco, middle-aged New Yorker Harvey Milk became a Gay Rights activist and city politician. On his third attempt in 1977, he was elected to San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors making him the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in the United States. It would be a wild ride for Harvey Milk who experience support and ridicule from all over.

Lionsgate has announced that Saw VI will be released in theatres on October 23 of 2009. Nothing is known about the plot or anyone that will star in the film except for of course Tobin Bell who plays Jigsaw.

The film will be directed by Kevin Greutert and s being written by Marcus Dunstan and Patrick Melton.

Credit: Lionsgate

Wide Release

Bolt - Starring (voices) John Travolta, Diedrich Bader, Miley Cyrus, James Lipton, and many more. Bolt, a German Shepherd, has lived his whole life on the set of his action TV show, where he believes he has superpowers. When separated from the studio by accident, he meets Mr. Mittens (actually a female cat) and a hamster named Rhino. Along the way, he learns that he doesn’t have superpowers and that the show is not realistic.

Twilight - Starring Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Billy Burkee, and many more. Bella Swan is a clumsy, kind hearted teenager with a knack for getting into trouble. Edward Cullen is an intelligent, good looking vampire who is trying to hide his secret. Against all odds, the two fall in love but will a pack of blood thirsty trackers and the disapproval of their family and friends separate them? Based on the popular novel by Stephenie Meyer.

Limited Release

I Can’t Think Straight - In the upper echelons of traditional Middle Eastern society, Reema and Omar prepare for the marriage of their daughter Tala. But back at work in London, Tala encounters Leyla, a young British Indian woman who is dating Tala’s best friend Ali. Tala sees something unique in the artless, clumsy, sensitive Leyla who secretly works to become a writer. And with Tala’s forthright challenges to Leyla’s beliefs thus begins a journey of self-awareness for Leyla.

Lake City - In this searing Southern drama, a mother and son reunite under desperate circumstances years after a family tragedy drove them far apart.

Special - Starring Michael Rapaport, Paul Blackthorne, and more. Les Franken leads a painfully unremarkable life as a meter maid until he enrolls in a drug study for an experimental anti-depressant. An unexpected side effect of the drug convinces Les he is developing special powers and must quit his job to answer his new calling in life…as a Superhero.