“I need to know what you are worth when I leave you nothing.”

These are the parting words that Jim Bennett (Mark Wahlberg) is left with from his dying grandfather.  At first these words may seem a bit harsh but after the more time we spend with Bennett we start to understand the grandfather’s intentions.  The Gambler, a remake of the 1974 film with same title, follows Bennett along his downward spiral as his gambling addiction drags him down to the point where death is imminent, yet death seems to be the escape Bennett so desperately craves.  In other words this is not exactly the film you watch to get into the holly jolly spirit of the holidays.

It took a while for Hollywood to finally venture Into the Woods. On one hand, the delay isn’t surprising given that the popularity of live-action musicals at the box office has ebbed and flowed many times since Woods made its Broadway debut in 1987. Then again, the story’s free-wheeling mash-up of Grimms’ fairy tale characters fits perfectly with the current obsession with shared cinematic universes. As a result, Disney — which has a storied past with fairy tales, and a lucrative present with cross-platforming popular characters — seems like the perfect landing spot for an Into the Woods movie.

“Be careful what you wish for.”

Well, it’s that time of year when the studios make that extra push for awards season, and with Angelina Jolie at the helm directing her second film, Unbroken is the kind of film where after one viewing of the trailer you just know this is Oscar bait.  I love this time of year, and I love seeing the best of what the studios have to offer, but sometimes these films with high hopes just don’t deliver as expected.  Unbroken takes us on a journey through the life of Olympian Louis Zamperini (Jack O’ Connell) from his early years as a troubled child on through his torturous years as a prisoner of Japan during World War 2. The front portion of the film jumps from Louis as a soldier and working inside a bomber to flashing back in time to what inspired Louis to become America’s fastest high school runner.  Having Louis reflecting back on his early years is understandable while his plane is taking fire, but the scenes we flash back to just don’t seem to have any real connection with the story, but seem to only serve the idea of putting action in the front half of the film to get the viewer’s attention.  As the film progresses, and the flashbacks seem to suddenly cease.  If this jumping back and forth through time isn’t too jarring, what turns out to be most off-putting is the film’s script.  Even with Joel and Ethan Coen (Fargo, No Country For Old Men) as well as Richard LaGravenese (The Horse Whisperer) and William Nicholson (Gladiator) sharing writing duties, what seems to work best for this film is when the characters are saying little to nothing at all.

Very little attention is paid to Zamperini and his journey to receive a medal in the Olympic games in Germany. Instead most of the film focuses on the physical and mental abuse Zamperini endures from the moment his plane crashes into the Pacific on through the punishing time he is prisoner in a detention camp.  Fellow soldiers come and go throughout the film, but the one constant, and in my opinion the most intriguing character in the film, is that of The Bird (Mutsushiro Watanabe), a ruthless commander of the detention center Zamperini first arrives at.  It doesn’t take long to see that all The Bird wants to do is break Zamperini’s spirit, but as we know by the title of the film, this man just can’t be broken.