Hollywood Brings Out the Big Guns at Chatsworth's Winnetka 21

The days between Christmas and New Year's are the biggest movie-going period of the year. This is the time when Hollywood brings out the big guns, releasing popcorn extravaganzas with a wider age appeal than those of summer, and Oscar contenders expand to our local theater.

Here is an opinionated rundown of the new movies playing at Chatsworth's Winnetka Pacific 21 theaters. Show times and tickets are available at moviefone.com.

GULLIVER'S TRAVELS

Opening on Christmas Day is this adaptation of Jonathan Swift's classic satire, Gulliver's Travels. This newest version of the story, which has been adapted for the big and small screen more than 10 times, stars Jack Black as a man who, after spending 10 years in the mail room, finally gets his shot as a magazine journalist. Unfortunately for him, his assignment to cover the Bermuda Triangle strands him in Lilliput, a land of miniature people.

With a PG rating and a scant, 85-minute runtime, Gulliver's Travels looks to be a CGI-heavy romp full of cartoony action and rude, if family friendly, humor.

The buzz on Gulliver's has been muted at best with many complaining that despite the pedigree of his $600-million grossing Kung Fu Panda, Jack Black's shtick is simply not compatible with family entertainment. What's more, the filmmakers appear to have almost completely abandoned Swift's classic narrative in favor of stitching together sequences from other recent hits such as Transformers and Night at the Museum. The Rotten Tomatoes website currently ranks the film at only 22% fresh, based upon aggregate reviews from print and online film critics.

LITTLE FOCKERS

This second sequel to Ben Stiller's mega-hit Meet the Parents, which opened Wednesday, follows the Focker clan as they welcome a new generation into the fold. A plethora of awkwardness, Three's Company-inspired misunderstandings and Viagra jokes ensue.

Rated PG-13, appealed from the original R-rating, Little Fockers will no doubt be a popular choice for families, just as the previous entry Meet the Fockers was during the Christmas of 2004. However, as one might assume based upon the ribald title, those with younger children should be warned that the humor here is quite crude and a prolonged sequence dealing with Robert DeNiro's pharmaceutically enhanced arousal.

The buzz on Little Fockers is strong with the general public but shakier with those in the know. Though the previous entry ranks as one of the top grossing comedies of all time, it is not terribly well regarded. And although this film is said to be better than Part Two, it had a troubled production that resulted in significant reshoots that included the addition of Dustin Hoffman's Focker patriarch, despite the fact that he was not featured in the original shooting draft of the screenplay. Rotten Tomatoes ranks the film with an abysmal 11% fresh rating. If you know what you're getting going in, you might well enjoy it, but there is a strong risk of disappointment here.

TRUE GRIT

Also released on Wednesday was True Grit, the Coen Brothers' remake of the film that won John Wayne his only Oscar. In the film, Jeff Bridges plays a U.S. Marshal in the Old West who treks through Indian lands to help an orphaned girl hunt down the man who brutally murdered her father. Along the way, they encounter another man, played by Matt Damon, who has his own scheme.

It came as a bit of a surprise that True Grit received a PG-13 rating. The Coen Brothers are at a place in their careers where they are pretty much allowed to do whatever they want, and since their last venture into the Western genre was the hard-R No Country for Old Men, it seemed as though this would be another blood soaked meditation on morality, human fallibility and the absurdity of existence, all hallmarks of the Auteur siblings. However, as of Christmas morning, Chatsworth Patch has heard no complaints about the content of this film being too hard-edged for its' rating.

The buzz on True Grit is off the charts. Almost since the moment it was announced, the film has been considered a frontrunner for pretty much every major Oscar category with many influential critics and bloggers openly discussing its' seemingly inevitable place on their top 10 lists. However, anticipation cooled slightly in recent weeks as the film was screened for press and it became apparent that this film is simply a straight Western and not a total reinvention of the genre. Many are saying that it ranks in the lower rungs of the Coens' resume, but considering their pedigree, that still leaves it as one of the most well reviewed films in recent memory. Rotten Tomatoes ranks the film with 95% fresh reactions.

THE KING'S SPEECH

Expanding into wider release on Christmas Day is The Weinstein Company's Best Picture hopeful, The King's Speech. Colin Firth stars as King George VI, the real-life British royal who struggled to overcome his speech impediment on the eve of a World War.

This film received a hotly contested R-rating from the MPAA for a single scene of profanity wherein Firth repeats a certain forbidden expletive many times as part of his therapy. Though the film has limited appeal for tweens, parents who are unfettered by a few four-letter words, shown in a non-crude context, will likely find nothing objectionable here.

Since its' arrival on the film festival circuit, The King's Speech has met with near universal praise and considered a shoe-in for one of the Best Picture slots, as well as a Best Supporting Actress nod for Helen Bonham Carter and possibly a Best Director nod for Tom Hooper. With 95% positive reviews from Rotten Tomatoes, this one seems like a good bet. Just don't expect any car chases or explosions, this one's all about the words, both literally and figuratively.

OTHER FILMS

Continuing to play at the Winnetka is: Darren Aronofsky's exquisite but decidedly adult Black Swan, the latest entry in the perennial holiday favorite Harry Potter franchise Harry Potter and the Deadly Hallows: Part One, James L. Brooks' poorly received Reese Witherspoon vehicle How Do You Know?, Disney's latest princess Tangled, the post-production converted 3D Christian parable The Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader, David O. Russell's crowd-pleasing boxing opus The Fighter, Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie in the mostly forgettable The Tourist, the 3D spectacle of Tron: Legacy, and Yogi Bear, which exists, for some reason.

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About the writer: Hunter M. Daniels is a film critic, award-winning screenwriter and a graduate with distinction from the film program at the University of California, Santa Barbara.