A Month In Movies : January 20120

Written by Parveen Maghera 

January calls for an excit­ing film-a-thon with 11 new movies being released this month, some of which have already been released :

January 6

The Devil Inside

Stars: Fernanda Andrade, Simon Quarterman and Evan Helmuth

A hor­ror genre film, The Devil Inside screams of exor­cism, as Isabella goes through a series of ille­gal exor­cism to help her pos­sessed mother recover but later dis­cov­ers about her very own mother mur­der­ing three oth­ers dur­ing her own exorcism.

(The Devil Inside is top on the Box Office with a week­end gross of $34.5 mil­lion and $34.5 mil­lion to date, to tepid crit­i­cal response. )

Beneath the Darkness

Stars: Dennis Quaid

Beneath the Darkness unfolds the mys­tery behind a mor­ti­cian, Ely Vaughn, as a group of high-school goers expose the secret behind Vaughn’s room­mate: a woman’s corpse.

January 12

Contraband

Stars: Kate Beckinsale, Giovanni Ribisi and Mark Wahlberg

Contraband depicts a thriller-action sequence of events when a for­mer smug­gler Chris Farrady makes his way to Panama to pay off his brother-in-law’s debt to a drug lord by invest­ing in coun­ter­feit bills.
(Box Office updates on Contraband hit­ting first place with $8.7 mil­lion on Friday.)

Beauty and the Beast 3D

Stars: Paige O’Hara and Robby Benson
This ani­mated 1991 re-release takes audi­ence back into the olden days as the stu­dious book-loving inventor’s daugh­ter, Belle, and the hand­some man turned ugly mon­ster, Beast, returns to the big screen with amaz­ingly per­formed chords and set pieces like the “Busby Berkeley-style dancing-kitchenware spec­tac­u­lar, ”Be Our Guest,” and the roman­tic ball­room centerpiece”.

January 13

Loosies

Stars: Peter Facinelli, Jaimie Alexander and Michael Madsen

Loosies fol­lows Bobby through his pro­fes­sional pick-pocket busi­ness in New York’s sub­way, only end­ing up leav­ing a woman, Lucy, three-month preg­nant after a one-night stand.

Albatross

Stars: Jessica Brown-Findlay, Felicity Jones and Sebastian Koch

Albatross is a drama and com­edy film of an intel­lec­tual, Beth, as her family’s quite exis­tence is ruined after the affair unfolds between Emilia, the new house­keeper, and Jonathan, Beth’s father.

Joyful Noise

Stars: Queen Latifah, Keke Palmer and Dolly Parton

Joyful noise takes on the musi­cal genre with catchy and feet-tapping num­bers, head­ing straight to The National Joyful Competition as Vi Rose Hill takes the direc­tions on her hands in G.G. Sparrows choir ensemble.

(Beauty and the Beast 3D takes the sec­ond place after Contraband, tak­ing $5.6 mil­lion on Friday.)

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Upcoming Movies:

January 20

Underworld: Awakening

Stars: Kate Beckinsale, Michael Ealy and India Eisley

Another vampire-thrilled install­ment, Underworld: Awakening takes on the war by both humans and vam­pires as they fight to erad­i­cate both species. Vampire Selene takes on the bat­tle to fight for her humankind after escap­ing 12 years of imprisonment.

Red Tails

Stars: Cuba Gooding Jr. and Terrence Howard

A WWII cen­tric film, Red Tails is a story about an African-American pilot team in a Tuskegee train­ing pro­gram. As the Africans take the back­seat to the Americans when air­power is needed despite their ample fly­ing skills, they risk their lives and own the skies to com­bat their enemy coun­ter­parts when a sud­den dan­ger­ous mis­sion arises.

Haywire

Stars: Michael Fassbender, Ewan McGregor, Michael Douglas, Channing Tatum, Michael Douglas and Gina Carano

An action-packed thriller film, Haywire takes the role of a for­mer marine, Mallory Kane, into promi­nence as she sets on kick-ass revenge when she is betrayed by whom she always reports her world­wide under­ground mis­sions to.

January 27

One for the Money

Stars: Katherine Heigl and Jason O’Mara

Divorcee Stephanie Plum, unem­ployed and pen­ni­less, is hired as a recov­ery agent at a cousin’s com­pany. She brings in a mur­der sus­pect, Joe Morellia, who turns out to be a for­mer sweet­heart from her high school days. As One for the Money goes on, Morellia’s fall for Plum takes on.

The Grey

Stars: Liam Neeson, Dermot Mulroney and Frank Grillo

The Grey fol­lows an oil-rig crew, with leader Ottway, in the bleak Alaskan wilder­ness after their plane crashes. With only a few days left to seek shel­ter as the freez­ing tem­per­a­tures and treach­er­ous ter­rains start to ham­per their efforts, they are in a dead zone with a pack of wolves prey­ing on them as they get weaker.

Man on a Ledge

Stars: Sam Worthington, Elizabeth Banks and Jamie Bell

Man on a Ledge takes on the crime-thriller genre as it explores the root cause of Nick Cassidy’s crime after being accused of a $40 mil­lion jewel theft by a cor­rupt busi­ness­man David Englander. The ex-con grabs the atten­tion by plant­ing him­self on a ledge of a high-rise hotel, in the hope to clear his name.

Entertainment Weekly — Coming Soon  ( Header pic cour­tesy of  Paper-Leaf )