December has some terrific mainstream movies to check out, but if you are more of an indie fan, there are some great movies to suit your tastes as well.
St Vincent
There is just four weeks left of the 2014 movie year, and we take a look at some of the independent films that could be right up your street this month.
- St. Vincent - released 5th December
St Vincent is a movie that has been playing well on the festival circuit this autumn, and sees Bill Murray back on the big screen.
The movie sees Murray team up with filmmaker Theodore Melfi for the first time, as he makes the leap from shorts to make his feature film directorial debut.
Melfi has brought together a terrific cast for the film, as Murray stars alongside Melissa McCarthy, Naomi Watts, Chris O'Dowd, and Terrence Howard.
In St. Vincent, Maggie (McCarthy), a single mother, moves into a new home in Brooklyn with her 12-year old son, Oliver (Lieberher).
Forced to work long hours, she has nochoice but to leave Oliver in the care of their new neighbour, Vincent (Murray), a retired curmudgeon with a penchant for alcohol and gambling. An odd friendship soon blossoms between the improbable pair.
St Vincent is a movie that really allows Murray to shine, and it is great to see him on top comedic form. This is a movie that is both funny, heart-warming and really will pull at the heartstrings in places.
- Hello Carter - released 5th December
A year after Hello Carter screened at the BFI London Film Festival it is finally getting a big screen release.
The movie marks the feature film directorial debut of filmmaker and writer Anthony Wilcox, who has adapted his Hello Carter short movie into a full feature movie.
Charlie Cox takes on the title role, while Jodie Whittaker, Paul Schneider, Christian Cooke, and Annabelle Wallis make up a very exciting cast list.
Down-on-his-luck Carter has recently become homeless, single, and unemployed. Desperate to win back his ex-girlfriend, he goes off on an adventure throughout London to find her, picking up some odd helpers along the way.
2014 has been another great year for British film, and Hello Carter should be checked out if you are a fan of the genre.
- Kon Tiki - released 12th December
Kon Tiki was a movie that whipped up an Oscar storm last year when it was nominated for Best Foreign Language film in 2013; it is now set to hit screens in the UK.
Joachim Rønning and Espen Sandberg reunite in the director's chair after working on the likes of Max Manus: Man of War and Bandidas together during their careers.
If you are looking for a movie that is unlike anything else this month, then Kon Tiki is the film for you - and it has also been met with critical acclaim over the last year or so.
The movie follows legendary explorer Thor Heyerdal's epic 4,300-mile crossing of the Pacific on a balsawood raft in 1947; in an effort prove that it was possible for South Americans to settle in Polynesia in pre-Columbian times.
Kon-Tiki is a terrific traditional adventure movie that boasts some great central performance from Pål Sverre Hagen as Heyerdahl.
Rønning and Sandberg are a couple of filmmakers to watch out for as they are set to step into the world of the big budget blockbuster for the first time with Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales.
- Electricity - released 12th December
Agyness Deyn has slowly been making the transition from model to actress with the likes of Clash of the Titans and Pusher in recent years, but Electricity promises to be the breakthrough performance that she has been looking for.
Directed by Bryn Higgins, Electricity follows an astonishing journey seen through the eyes of a young woman whose epilepsy brings extraordinary hallucinations as she searches for her lost brother.
Higgins is best known for his TV work in recent years, with the likes of Black Mirror, Garrow's Law, and Casualty under his belt, Electricity is only his second big screen feature film in the last ten years.
Deyn is on board in the central role of Lily O'Connor, while Lenora Crichlow, Christian Cooke, and Paul Anderson make up a very talented and exciting British cast list.
Electricity played at the BFI London Film festival earlier this year, and it was Deyn's central performance that really captured everyone's attention and gained much of the praise. She is an actress to keep an eye on over the next couple of years, as she looks set to land bigger and bigger roles.
- Big Eyes - released 26th December
It is always exciting when a Tim Burton movie is on the horizon, and Big Eyes is one that I am really looking forward to. This is also Burton's first movie since Frankenweenie back in 2012. Big Eyes is a biopic about Margaret Keane and her husband, who claimed credit for her work. Amy Adams and Christoph Waltz are on board as Margaret and Walter Keane, while Krysten Ritter, Jason Schwartzman, Danny Huston, and Terence Stamp are just some of the other names on board.
Big Eyes is based on the true story of Walter Keane (Waltz), who was one of the most successful painters 1950s and early 1960s. The artist earned staggering notoriety by revolutionizing the commercialization and accessibility of popular art with his enigmatic paintings of waifs with big eyes.
The truth would eventually be discovered though: Keane's were actually not created by him at all, but by his wife, Margaret (Adams). The Keanes, it seemed, had been living a lie that had grown to gigantic proportions.
Big Eyes is one of the December movies that I really cannot wait to see and I am exciting to see Burton return to the biopic genre to put his own stamp on this story.
Other movies to watch out for include Bonobo, Eastern Boys, and Open Bethlehem.
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