Fall Holiday Movie Preview
November Previews
Our picks for November’s must-see movies
Quantum of Solace
November 7
This 22nd James Bond movie, and the second to star fair-haired Daniel Craig, was beset with production problems — a set fire, two car crashes involving stuntmen — and proved harmful to Craig, who cut his face and sliced the tip off one of his fingers during filming.
Surely that bad luck won’t follow the film to the box office, where Quantum is primed to rake in cash from fans eager to see a vengeful Bond hunt down the people who blackmailed, and killed, his lover Vesper Lynd in Casino Royale. His search takes him to South America, where he confronts baddie Dominic Greene (Mathieu Amalric) and the organization known as Quantum, which plans to seize control of the continent’s water supply.
Aiding 007 in his mission is the mysterious beauty Camille (Olga Kurylenko) and the comely Agent Fields (Gemma Arterton), but it’s the watchful M (Judi Dench) who could prove to be the most dangerous woman in Bond’s life as she believes the superspy’s thirst for revenge puts MI6 in peril, and is willing to cut Bond loose.
Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa
The sequel to Madagascar sees stranded zoo critters Alex the Lion (Ben Stiller), Marty the Zebra (Chris Rock), Melman the Giraffe (David Schwimmer) and Gloria the Hippo (Jada Pinkett Smith) taking off from the island of Madagascar only to crash-land in Africa. For the first time these tame animals come face to face with their wild brethren, which makes for uncomfortable family reunions.
Release date: November 7
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Viggo Mortensen and Kodi Smit-McPhee star in The Road
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Australia
A rugged leading man (Hugh Jackman), a feisty leading lady (Nicole Kidman), sweeping vistas and simmering romance, it’s all here in director Baz Luhrmann’s
epic saga of an aristocrat (Kidman) who inherits a sprawling Australian
cattle ranch during WWII. She, and her stubbly faced ranch hand
(Jackman), must drive 2,000 cattle across the country while the
Japanese prepare to bomb Australia.
Release date: November 14
The Road
This adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s Pulitzer
Prize-winning novel is set in a post-apocalyptic America, where ash
covers the countryside, most people, plants and animals are dead, and a
father (Viggo Mortensen) and son (Kodi Smit-McPhee)
slowly travel southward toward the ocean. Along the way they fend off
desperate survivors — including cannibals — while trying to hold onto
their own humanity.
Release date: November 21 |
Bolt
In this animated flick, canine TV star Bolt (voiced by John Travolta) believes he really does possess the superpowers of the dog he plays on TV. But when he’s separated from his handlers and has to make his way back home, the German Shepherd learns the ugly truth, he’s just a regular pooch.
Release date: November 26
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Sean Penn as Harvey Milk in
Gus Van Sant's Milk
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Transporter 3
Frank Martin (Jason Statham), a.k.a.
“The Transporter,” sets up shop in Paris to continue his package
delivery service. Although the exact nature of the package Frank
delivers this time around is being kept under wraps, we do know the
movie’s villain is played by Robert Knepper (who stars as Prison Break’s resident pyscho T-Bag), and that Frank’s ride is a souped-up Audi.
Release date: November 26
Milk
Sean Penn portrays Harvey Milk in Gus Van Sant’s bio-pic of the openly gay San Francisco city supervisor who was gunned down by fellow supervisor Dan White (Josh Brolin) in 1977. Penn and James Franco, who plays Milk’s campaign manager and one of his lovers (Diego Luna and Emile Hirsch
are Milk’s other partners) contemplated living together before filming
started in order to get to know each other better, but had to nix the
plan due to scheduling conflicts.
Release date: November 28
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SPECIAL EVENTS ON THE BIG SCREEN
The Metropolitan Opera
Doctor Atomic (Adams)
Live: Saturday, Nov. 8, 1 p.m. ET
Salome (Strauss)
Encore: Saturday, Nov. 15, 1 p.m. ET
La Damnation de Faust (Berlioz)
Live: Saturday, Nov. 22, 1 p.m. ET
WWE Pay-Per-View
Survivor Series
Sunday, Nov. 23, 8 p.m. ET