If you’re like a lot of people, you just didn’t have time to make it to the movies this Christmas. There’s Santa and family and friends and food and lots of stress! Some of the best blockbuster movies come out around the holiday season. If you couldn’t make it to the movies, don?t worry. It?s not too late to see these five that caught our eye:

1. Four Christmases. This looks like it’s going to be a great comedy. A couple (Vince Vaughn and Reese Witherspoon) have to visit family. Both sets of their parents are divorced, so they have to go see each one of them on Christmas - hence the title. Anyone who has a multiple families is sure to get a kick out of this one.

2. Bolt - This is the newest addition to Disney’s animation library. Bolt is a superstar puppy whose world gets turned upside down when he finds himself lost in the middle of America, far from the comfortable glamour of Hollywood. He has to rely on the help of his two new friends, a hamster named Rhino and Mr. Mittens a house cat, to find his way back to the set. This Christmas adventure is fun for the whole family.

3. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Brad Pitt in the title role will be a big draw for this movie, but the other advantage is that the storyline itself is so intriguing. It’s based on an F. Scott Fitzgerald story from the 1920s where a boy is born with the body of a seventy-year-old, and he ages backward. This unique tale scores big with moviegoers everywhere.

4. Valkyrie. For those who can’t get enough of Tom Cruise, or of Hitler, this movie is just what you’re looking for. It’s based on a plot to assassinate Hitler and, while it is not your typical WWII movie, this psychological thriller is a can’t miss..

5. Marley & Me. Who doesn’t love romantic, fun-loving, and tear-jerking family movies about happy people and cute puppies. For anyone who has read the book, you know how the story ends, but you’ll probably want to go and see it anyway. For those who you who haven’t read the book, go see the movie. Bring your tissues.

Tags: Benjamin Button, Bolt, christmas blockbusters, Four Christmases, Marley & Me, Valkyrie.

Defiance is a WWII movie, certainly, but it’s more than that. A lot of people will look the other way because they will just assume that it’s about the war and they won’t take the time to find out anything about it. That, coupled with the limited release that the film had, has hurt what it might have been able to do at the box office. The movie revolves around a group of four Jewish brothers who escape their homeland while it’s occupied by the Nazis. They join the Soviet partisans in order to help combat the Nazis, and from there they start in with rescuing over twelve-hundred Jewish people who are trapped in Polish ghettos. They try to maintain their mission while evading the German forces as much as they possibly can. There are some criticisms of the way that the story is portrayed, but since it is a fictionalized account it is difficult to say that it was not done correctly.

The most important issue with this movie is not whether the account is completely accurate but how it focuses on people who were trying to save others like them instead of focusing on the front lines in a ’standard’ war movie format. In this way, it becomes a much more humane movie than it otherwise would have been if it had only been focusing on the individuals who were on the front lines. This is a battle movie of a completely different kind, more interested in the battle between good and evil and the caring that human beings can show to one another as opposed to the basic and much more common battles that are seen in the typical WWII movie. These kinds of movies have been done and re-done, and Defiance is not in that category.

Tags: defiance movie, defiance preview.

Here’s the preview for the new movie from Writer/Director Darnell Martin called “Cadillac Records”

Tags: adrian brody, beyonce, Movie Previews.

Coming up with 10 movie speeches that would make a person stand up and clap isn?t that difficult. Some guys would stand, clap and fart through every Kevin Smith film. Some ladies would applaud each Manolo Blahnik word of praise in Sex in the City. But coming up with a monologue, even a one liner, that could inspire passion or touch the hearts of millions, that took some thinking. These following monologues need no introduction, they speak for themselves:

10. The Great Dictator, 1940: Charlie Chaplin

Hannah, can you hear me? Wherever you are, look up, Hannah. The clouds are lifting. The sun is breaking through. We are coming out of the darkness into the light! We are coming into a new world, a kindlier world, where men will rise above their hate, their greed and brutality. Look up, Hannah. The soul of man has been given wings and at last he is beginning to fly. He is flying into the rainbow. Into the light of hope. Into the future, the glorious future that belongs to you, to me, and to all of us. Look up, Hannah! Look up!

9. On the Waterfront, 1954: Marlon Brando

You was my brother, Charlie. You shoulda looked out for me a little bit so I wouldn’t have to take them dives for the short-end money. I coulda had class. I coulda been a contender. I coulda been somebody, instead of a bum. Which is what I am.

8. Dirty Harry, 1971: Clint Eastwood

I know what you’re thinking. Did he fire six shots or only five? Well, to tell you the truth, in all this excitement, I’ve kinda lost track myself. But being as this is a .44 Magnum, the most powerful handgun in the world, and would blow your head clean off, you’ve got to ask yourself one question: ‘Do I feel lucky?’ Well, do ya punk?

7. Gone with the Wind, 1939: Vivien Leigh

As God is my witness, they’re not going to lick me! I’m going to live through this, and when it’s all over, I’ll never be hungry again, nor any of my folks! If I have to lie, steal, cheat, or kill, as God is my witness, I’ll never be hungry again.

6. The Simpson?s Movie, 2007: Marge Simpson (Julie Kavner)

Homer, I always stood up for you. When people point out your flaws, I always say: ‘Well, sometimes you have to stand back to appreciate a work of art.’ Lately, what’s keeping us together is my ability to overlook everything you do. And I overlook these things because… Well, that’s the thing. I just don’t know how to finish that sentence anymore. So I’m leaving with the kids to help Springfield, and we’re never coming back. And to prove to myself that this is the end, I taped this over our wedding video. Good-bye, Homie!

5. Sunset Boulevard, 1950: Gloria Swanson

I can’t go on with the scene. I’m too happy! Mr. De Mille, do you mind if I say a few words?… There’s nothing else - just us - and the cameras - and those wonderful people out there in the dark. All right, Mr. De Mille, I’m ready for my close-up…

4. A Streetcar Named Desire, 1951: Vivien Leigh

A cultivated woman, a woman of breeding and intelligence, can enrich a man’s life immeasurably. I have those things to offer, and time doesn’t take them away. Physical beauty is passing, transitory possession, but beauty of the mind, richness of the spirit, tenderness of the heart - I have all those things - aren’t taken away but grow! Increase with the years!

3. Rebel Without a Cause, 1955: Natalie Wood

He must hate me. He hates me. I know he does. He looks at me like I’m the ugliest thing in the world. He doesn’t like my friends. He doesn’t like one thing about me. He called me - he called me a dirty tramp.

2. Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, 1958: Elizabeth Taylor

Why can’t you lose your good looks, Brick? Most drinkin’ men lose theirs. Why can’t you? I think you’ve even gotten better-lookin’ since you went on the bottle. You were such a wonderful lover… You were so excitin’ to be in love with. Mostly, I guess, ’cause you were… If I thought you’d never never make love to me again… why I’d find me the longest, sharpest knife I could and I’d stick it straight into my heart. I’d do that. Oh Brick, how long does this have to go on? This punishment? Haven’t I served my term? Can’t I apply for a pardon?

1. Casablanca, 1942: Bogie

Ilsa, I’m no good at being noble, but it doesn’t take much to see that the problems of three little people don’t amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world. Someday you’ll understand that. Now, now. Here’s looking at you, kid.

Tags: Movie speeches.

There’s no question that Bernie Mac will be missed by those who loved him and by those who watched his acting talent climb. He had a lot more depth than critics generally gave him credit for, but if there’s one movie that will make Bernie Mac fans miss him all the more, it’s Soul Men, in which he stars with Samuel L. Jackson.

Mac is so full of energy and so full of life in the movie that it’s hard to believe that he passed away so suddenly. It’s a comedy, but there are a few scenes in it that give insight into the way he might have been if he had been given a dramatic role, and it would have been amazing. In the credits there are some spots of him, and he seemed like he was truly happy.

He enjoyed the life that he was given, and certainly he didn’t want it to end. If he had to go out, though, from an acting and film perspective, Soul Men was the movie to go out on.

Tags: bernie mac, soul men.

There are always a lot of comedy movies out there. People need a reason to laugh, and this has never been more true in recent history than it is today with a struggling economy and all kinds of world problems that only seem to be getting larger with each passing day.

People need something that they can feel good about again, and one of the movies that they can feel good about is Role Models. It’s genuinely funny. It isn’t full of shock value just to force a laugh. It’s funny people in silly situations saying and doing hilarious things, and it’s great. It’s hard to get a comedy movie that stands out anymore. They all seem to be very similar, no matter what you do with them. However, this one is unique.

The plot line is not that original, but the characters are different than one would expect and not stereotyped, and it just makes for an overall amusing time. When the formula for a good comedy works well you just notice the comedy and don’t see the formula, and that makes it all work together.

Tags: Role Models.

If you liked the first Madagascar movie, you’re sure to love the second one. It’s even better than its predecessor and kids of all ages can enjoy the laughs.

While parents can easily tolerate this movie and will probably even enjoy it overall, it’s clearly designed to be for younger kids. There’s a lot of action, a touching romance between a giraffe and a hippo, and a lot of bright cinematography that makes the movie lighter and more engaging than the first one. The dense jungle can make a movie less interesting, too confusing, and too dark. Being on the savannah stops all of those problems and ensures that everyone can see what’s going on.

Even though all the animals are from different species, they all get along and work together. Nobody’s interested in having one another for lunch, and they all just want to get back home to New York and the zoo that they came from. How they try to do that, though, is frequently hilarious, often touching, and sure to be a hit with both children and adults.

Tags: madagascar 2.

Even if you’re a movie fan, you probably haven’t heard of Slumdog Millionaire. It was a Warner Independent title, but Fox Searchlight has acquired it and brought it to the US, where it will open on Thanksgiving Day.

It’s the story of a young boy in India who is able to go all the way on that country’s version of the popular ‘Who Wants to be a Millionaire?’ TV show. He is tortured in the movie’s opening sequence because it is believed that he cheated. Those who are torturing him demand to know how he could get so far, and he insists it is because he knows the answers.

As the movie unfolds, more about his life is seen and it becomes easier to understand how he learned everything that he did from those who he came in contact with. He had a very hard life and instead of feeling sorry for himself for what he had to go through he took the lessons that he learned and made the most of them, which allowed him to make the most of his life, as well.

Tags: bollywood, slumdog millionaire.

Leave it to Netflix to come up with an even better idea than they already had. They are now working to turn video game consoles into movie players. Sure, some of them play DVDs, and they have for some time, but that’s not where the future of movies is headed, and everybody knows it. Even DVDs know it.

Netflix has now set it up where a person with a subscription to send streaming video of a movie to a computer through the ‘watch it now’ feature can, instead, send that movie to their video game system. PlayStation 3 accommodates this, and so does Xbox 360. There are more than 12,000 movies that can currently be seen this way, and more are coming.

Most gamers have their consoles hooked up to enormous and high-quality TVs, so who wants to watch a great movie on a tiny laptop screen when they can watch it on a 50″ plasma screen instead? No one, that’s who. As more movies becomes available this way, it’ll fast become the new trend in moving watching, pushing DVDs away even further.

Tags: netflix, video games.

Just about everyone, who has ever had the privilege of playing the legendary 007 onscreen, has brought his own unique style to the character, and Daniel Craig is no exception. He’s well-skilled at making James Bond look very easy, even though he’s privately said that being Bond is a pain.

Craig is definitely different than the last Bonds that we’ve seen on the big screen in that he has a much more definite air of shooting first and asking questions after the fact. The Bond of years ago was suave and debonair. He almost never resorted to violence and was better designed to romance beautiful women and escape from dangerous situations than anything else.

This Bond, though, is grittier, edgier, tougher, and he’s not afraid to show it. He’s not worried about ruffling a few feathers, and he makes it known that he means business. That started in Casino Royale, and it’s carried through into Quantum of Solace. Even though re-inventing Bond was a big risk, it looks as though it was one that has paid off handsomely.

Tags: daniel craig, james bond, quantum of solace.