Richard Crouse

The Christmas movie season promises a little something for everyone. There’s family movies like The Muppets, Oscar bait like My Week with Marilyn, and even a silent movie in wide release! This week the Reel Guys look ahead to their most anticipated movies of November and December.

Richard: Mark, the film critic in me really wants to see Carnage, the Roman Polanski adaptation of the Braodway hit about two couples who get together to discuss an altercation between their children. I expect the all-star cast’s — Kate Winslet, John C. Reilly, Christoph Waltz and Jody Foster —heavy-duty acting chops may earn an Oscar nod or two and have heard there’s even Oscar buzz for Polanski. What are you most excited about?

Mark: Richard, I’d like to agree with you about Carnage, but I saw the play on Broadway and wasn’t impressed. However, I like everything Roman Polanski has ever done — well, ahem, almost everything — and maybe this will be an example of a movie improving on the play. I am looking forward to Young Adult, and here’s why: 1. screenplay by Diablo Cody. 2. directed by Jason Reitman. 3. starring Charlize Theron. 4. lots of bad behaviour. I also look forward to the new installment of Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol. Am I a fool?

RC: Not at all! I’m excited to see what Brad Bird, the Pixar wizard behind The Incredibles, can do with live action and a few hundred million dollar budget. I’m also curious to see how the Cold War paranoia of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy plays at Christmas, 2011. I want to know if playing in the Potterverse for the last few years has dulled Gary Oldham’s edge. I’m hoping for some of his old-school Romeo is Bleeding attitude!

MB: I don’t know… those John Le Carre adaptations can be pretty dry. What about My Week With Marilyn? Sounds pretty juicy to me.

RC: It’ll certainly have some juice with Oscar voters I think. The Academy loves biopics and while Michelle Williams might not have been the obvious choice to play Marilyn Monroe, the early word is that she might be in line to win the Oscar that Marilyn always wanted in real life. I think Williams’s biggest competition will be Meryl Streep as Margaret Thatcher in the Iron Lady.

MB: And the trailer for the Streep film is so good that it makes me want to line up for the movie today! And it would make a perfect double bill with the J. Edgar Hoover biopic at a Tea Party conference.