New Jack City: I’ll Show You Mine If You Show Me Yours

Christmas week usually represents the single biggest concentration of movie going days during the entire year…

From early afternoon on Christmas Day right on through New Years Day is prime time at the movieplexes across America. So it’s only logical that friends and acquaintances hit me up for suggestions as to what to go see.

To that end I once again offer my Top 10 picks for the best new and holdover film fare in Kansas City a.k.a. JACK’S BEST BETS AT THE BOX OFFICE

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For action, thrills and adventure Tom Cruise pulls off a surprisingly strong portrayal as freelance avenger JACK REACHER.

Quentin Tarantino‘s homage to spaghetti westerns and the slave trade in DJANGO UNCHAINED is something else—IF you can take the carnage. It’s no INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS, that’s for sure but Christoph Waltz once again  steals the show.

And if you still haven’t seen it, Daniel Craig as James Bond is still around in SKYFALL—the most successful 007 adventure EVER!

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For drama, Steven Spielberg’s LINCOLN starring Daniel Day Lewis is a must see.

So is the brilliant, yet slightly off-center mental illness ensemble drama SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK with Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence and Robert DeNiro.

And if you’re a movie-BUFF you’ll appreciate the behind the scenes turmoil before and during the filming of PSYCHO in HITCHCOCK co-starring Anthony Hopkins, Helen Mirren and Scarlett Johansson.
(You may have to do a little digging to find theaters still playing HITCHCOCK, but it’s still showing on a few local screens.)

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Looking for something the ENTIRE family will enjoy?

Then I’m recommending Billy Crystal, Bette Midler and Marisa Tomei in PARENTAL GUIDANCE. I’ll admit I was not looking forward to seeing it figuring it would be another dreadful DADDY DAYCARE-like snoozer.
But surprise! This one played more like a HOME ALONE!

I also recommend Peter Jackson‘s trip to middle earth and the dwarf kingdom in THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY.

And director Ang Lee‘s all-audience moving movie-event of adventure, fate and discovery in LIFE OF PI.

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Finally, don’t miss the musical big screen adaptation of one of the world’s most beloved stage sensations, the legendary LES MISERABLES with Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe and Anne Hathaway.

If there’s one movie in this bunch that NEEDS to be seen on the big screen, it’s the spectacle of director Tom (The King’s Speech) Hooper‘s LES MIZ which looks most likely to be the top movie of 2012’s holiday week.

There you have it; Jack’s 10 BEST BETS this holiday week at the box office.