Four years later, we’re still feeling the effects of Avatar on Hollywood. While no one’s gone and outright copied the film for a knock-off, we’ve seen movies pick up on its wild embrace of motion capture performance and full-scale creations of digital worlds.
But the influence has never been so pronounced from James Cameron’s epic than with Epic. The Blue Sky Studios production (those Ice Age guys) chronicles a day in which a teenager, MK, gets shrunken down to a world where magical tiny dudes are fighting for the fate of the world. Coincidentally, the fate of the world is being fought for in the backyard MK’s father’s country estate.
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If you follow show business, you’ve probably heard that DreamWorks Animation isn’t doing too hot. Ever since they mercifully let their not-so-jolly green giant retire, they’ve struggled to find any other banner property to prop their studio on. And last year’s 
The original Die Hard did a lot of things very well, but one of the most remarked upon was its simplicity. Isolating the protagonist to a largely empty office building, Johh McClane spent most of the film without guns, gadgets, even shoes. Playing the game this straight let all of McClane’s accomplishments shine harder, and stacked up the stakes even more hopelessly against him.
I know what you’ve been thinking.
For as much as Hollywood loves trying to reboot all of its properties with a edgier, savvier turn, there’s a definite trend of releasing good ol’ family comedies around Christmas to a lot of success (and I use the word “good” very lightly). We’re talking about artless movies like Cheaper By The Dozen, Bedtime Stories, and the remarkable Alvin and the Chipmunks features.
Judd Apatow is a tough nut to crack. He might be the most powerful figure in movie comedies – serving as producer for huge Gen-Y cultural touchstones like Anchorman and Superbad. When he started directing films with The 40-Year-Old Virgin, it looked like they would be just as popular as raunchy comedies despite a lot of heart. But by the time Apatow got to his third feature, 2009′s Funny People, his scripts had taken on more drama than humor. Audiences rebelled, not knowing how to react to a comedy that didn’t want to play stupid, and showed a maturity you rarely see out of anything that gets a wide release.
Coming out in the immediate aftermath of a divisive presidential election full of big dramatic gaffes and embarrassing moments on stage, Lincoln – unsurprisingly about one a President, though I forget which – might feel a little anticlimactic.
Maybe this is just because I’m at the onset of adulthood, but I regard Nostalgia to be a powerful and dangerous drug. It’s pointless, addictive and, of course, impossible to resist.
Anyone who saw 
For eons, the mountains and lakes alike have cried for what is right, for fate to cede that which we have great want: a Tyler Perry action film. But, hark! At long last, our most fervant hopes have been delivered in the form of Alex Cross, sprung forth from that same vestibule that dared to dream of a franchise called xXx.
