The 11 Must-See Movies of December

Image courtesy of Sony Pictures

Passengers (December 21st)

Two passengers traveling on a space shuttle to a distant colony are awoken from hypersleep 90 years too early. Questions soon arise as to whether their waking stems from a larger conspiracy.

It’s been nearly a whole year since America’s darling, Jennifer Lawrence had a film. After her Oscar-nomination for Joy last Christmas, Lawrence returns with another Christmas release: Passengers. Passengers has been a project mired in development hell for years. Originally appearing on the Blacklist of best unproduced scripts in 2007, the film has gone through a litany of directors, actors and actresses. Keanu Reeves, Reese Witherspoon and Emily Blunt are just a few of the names attached to this at one point or another.

Director Morton Tyldum of The Imitation Game is directing, and honestly he couldn’t get more timelier leads than Chris Pratt and Lawrence. The two actors are at the top of their game; Chris Pratt has had a very good run between Guardians of the Galaxy – with a sequel out next year – and Jurassic World. Comparisons have been made between this and Interstellar, but it seems limited to both being set in space. All things considered, I’m hoping this isn’t Interstellar at all (sorry, Nolan fans). The trailers have certainly hyped up the suspense and the sex appeal of the leads, but is that enough?

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