IN THEATER THIS WEEK < - - December 9

Theater release this Friday, 13^th December, 2013:

A MADEA CHRISTMAS

Mabel "Madea" Simmons gets coaxed into helping her niece pay her daughter Lacey a surprise visit in the country for Christmas, but the biggest surprise is what they'll find when they arrive. As the small, rural town prepares for its annual Christmas Jubilee, new secrets are revealed and old relationships are tested while Madea dishes her own brand of Christmas Spirit to all. (more)

Starring: Tyler Perry, Anna Maria Horsford, Larry the Cable Guy and Chad Michael Murray

Genre(s): Comedy, Drama

Directed by: Tyler Perry

SAVING MR. BANKS

The film centers on the life of Travers, shifting between 1907 with her childhood in Queensland, Australia, the 1961 negotiations with Walt Disney, and the subsequent making of Mary Poppins. While in California for filming, Travers thinks back to her difficult childhood in Australia, most especially to her father, the inspiration for the role of the story’s patriarch, Mr. Banks. (more)

Starring: Emma Thompson, Tom Hanks, Paul Giamatti, Jason Schwartzman, Bradley Whitford and Colin Farrell

Genre(s): Biography, Comedy, Drama, Family, History, Music

Directed by: John Lee Hancock

THE HOBBIT 2: THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG

The dwarves, along with Bilbo Baggins and Gandalf the Grey, continue their quest to reclaim Erebor, their homeland, from Smaug. Bilbo Baggins is in possession of a mysterious and magical ring. (more)

Starring: Martin Freeman, Ian McKellen, Richard Armitage, Ken Stott, Luke Evans and Orlando Bloom

Genre(s): Adventure, Drama, Fantasy

Directed by: Peter Jackson

AMERICAN HUSTLE

Con man Irving Rosenfeld, alongside his British partner and lover, Sydney Prosser, are recruited and forced to work for an FBI agent, Richie DiMaso, who pushes them into a world of Jersey powerbrokers and mafiosi that is as dangerous as it is enchanting. The operation eventually involves the Mayor of Camden, New Jersey, Carmine Polito, caught between the con-artists and Feds. Irving's wife, Rosalyn, could be the one to pull the thread that brings the entire world crashing down. (more)

Starring: Christian Bale, Bradley Cooper, Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner and Jennifer Lawrence

Genre(s): Crime, Drama

Directed by: David O. Russell

HOURS

On the day supposed to be one of the happiest day of his life, Nolan, the father of a newborn baby, finds his life turned upside down when Hurricane Katrina hits the hospital and causing power supply failure. With no one retuning, he finds himself in a precarious and life threatening situation as he has to struggle on his own to keep his infant daughter alive inside a Neonatal ventilator as the ventilator runs out of power with every passing second.

Starring: Paul Walker, Genesis Rodriguez, TJ Hassan, Nick Gomez and Judd Lormand

Genre(s): Drama, Thriller

Directed by: Eric Heisserer

See the note on these movies here