December Boomer Movies

Between shopping, cooking, decorating and planning, take time out to see at least one of these movies for grown-ups this month!

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo

Dec. 21 - Based on the first volume in a series of mega-bestsers, Girl stars Daniel Craig as a crusading Swedish journalist out to unveil a decades-old mystery, aided by his punky sidekick Lisbeth Salamander, played by newcomer Rooney Mara.

New Year's Eve Dec. 9 - A glossy holiday movie with an all-star cast, this film includes everyone from Jessica Biel to the rapper Ludacris. Of most interest to boomers: Michelle Pfeiffer, who hasn’t made a movie since 2009. Like everyone else in New Year’s Eve, she’s looking for love on “the most magical night in the year.”

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy Dec. 9 - Gary Oldman plays the enigmatic secret agent George Smiley in John LeCarre’s classic spy thriller, where alliances shift moment by moment, morality is ambiguous, and truth sometimes loses to lies. Oldman has big shoes to fill: Alec Guinness played Smiley in the original BBC Tinker from 1979. With Colin Firth as a fellow espionage officer.

W./E. Dec. 9 - Director Madonna takes on the story of Wallis Warfield Simpson, the American socialite whose affair with the Prince of Wales, later Edward VIII, led him to abdicate the British throne. The episode ended with the couple going into exile as the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, and depending on your point of view, it was either the love story of the century or a disgraceful bit of royal history. Madonna seems to be going with the love-story angle.

Sherlock Holmes: A Game Of Shadows Dec. 16 - Guy Ritchie, fresh from a stint as Madonna’s husband, directs the latest installment in the hugely popular Sherlock Holmes franchise. Robert Downey Jr. returns as the brilliant and rather hunky Holmes, who seems able to out-maneuver any opponent. But can he defeat the notorious Prof. Moriarty (Jared Harris)? Faithful companions Dr. John Watson (Jude Law) and Irene Adler (Rachel McAdams) are there to help.

Carnage Dec. 16 - Get ready for a verbal slugfest. After one boy is attacked by another in a playground, the two kids’ parents try to sort out why it happened and what can be done. All four of them – Kate Winslet and Christoph Waltz; Jodie Foster and John C. Reilly – are civilized for a brief while before the polite middle-class façade begins to break down. With three Academy Award winners (and Academy Award nominee John C. Reilly), there’s bound to be some powerful acting - and tongue-lashings that will either crack you up or drive you crazy.

Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol Dec. 21 - Tom Cruise returns for the fifth time as impossibly agile and brilliant agent Ethan Hunt, who can foil deadly schemes and jump off really tall buildings. This time, the hero’s group, the Impossible Mission Force, is falsely implicated in the bombing of the Kremlin. Expect breathtaking skyscraper sequences and a minimum of thoughtful conversation.

In The Land Of Blood And Honey Dec. 23 - Making her directorial debut, Angelina Jolie ventures into the morass of the 1990s conflict in the Balkans. The story, about a Serb guard in a camp and his female Bosnian prisoner, shows the development of their relationship and how it darkens their lives rather than makes them more bearable. In real life, Jolie has made substantial donations to nonprofit areas in the region aimed at giving medical help to a land still devasted by the conflict. But women’s groups have protested the movie's depiction of a romance between a rapist and his victim.

Extremely Loud And Incredibly Close Dec. 25 - Since 9/11, there haven’t been a whole lot of movies about that catastrophic event. But “Extremely Loud And Incredibly Close” unhesitatingly ventures into the personal territory of the day that changed our lives forever. Tom Hanks, a father, is killed in the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, leaving behind his young son, Oskar. Convinced that his father has left a message for him somewhere in the city, Oskar goes on a heartbreaking journey to find it. With a stellar supporting cast: Sandra Bullock, Viola Davis ("The Help") and James Gandolfini ("The Sopranos").

The Iron Lady Dec. 30 - Meryl Streep channels former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher (known as the Iron Lady) in a portrait of the steely politician’s time in office. Coiffed in the blonde helmet hairdo that Thatcher made famous, Streep manages to be powerful, frightening and charming all at once. Talking with a couple of image-makers who want to tailor Thatcher’s look to what they see as mass appeal, Streep says frostily, “The pearls are absolutely non-negotiable.” Who would dare to disagree?