15 Best Movies Released This December

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey - out 13 Dec
The first instalment of Peter Jackson's second Middle-earth trilogy finally arrives in cinemas - in 3D - on Thursday 13 December.

Seven Psychopaths - out 5 Dec
This sunbaked shaggy-dog story from In Bruges writer/director Martin McDonagh is like Charlie Kaufman taking down Quentin Tarantino.

Celeste And Jesse Forever - out 7 Dec
Rashida Jones and Andy Samberg play a recently divorced couple who are still best friends in this unconventional romcom.

Gremlins - out 7 Dec
Joe Dante’s anarchic creature feature from 1984 is re-released in cinemas in time for Christmas.
Read full Gremlins film review

I, Anna - out 7 Dec
A slice of modern London noir from writer/director Barnaby Southcombe, starring his mother Charlotte Rampling.

The Man With The Iron Fists - out 7 Dec
Grisly and goofy, this ode to the Shaw Brothers’ ’70s-era kung fu epics serves up 96 minutes of murder and mutilation and not a lot else.

The Oranges - out 7 Dec
A top-notch cast elevates this amiable, relatively unpredictable domestic farce that flirts with a darkness it never quite dares to embrace.

Chasing Ice - out 14 Dec
Jeff Orlowski’s eco-doc is full of visually spectacular montages of ice floes receding that will make you gasp and move you to tears.

Smashed - out 14 Dec
Like Blue Valentine crossed with an AA meeting, Smashed is really a study of the disintegration of a marriage, perfectly realised by Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Breaking Bad ’s Aaron Paul.

Life Of Pi - out 20 Dec
A riot of saturated colour and delirious imagination, Ang Lee’s adaptation of Yann Martel’s Booker Prize winner radiates spirituality.

Pitch Perfect - out 21 Dec
Rebel Wilson is hilarious, Anna Kendrick is terrific and there are as many gross-out gags as there are singing numbers in this raucous musical comedy.

West Of Memphis - out 21 Dec
Documentary-maker Amy Berg's investigation into what became known as the case of the West Memphis Three, a notorious miscarriage of justice.

Jack Reacher - out 26 Dec
Tom Cruise plays Reacher, a homicide investigator who’s looking into a case in which a sniper shot five random victims, in this adaptation of Lee Child’s novel One Shot.

Safety Not Guaranteed - out 26 Dec
Aubrey Plaza plays a disenfranchised twenty-something investigating a guy who claims to know how to time travel.

Midnight's Children - out 26 Dec
Salman Rushdie adapts his own novel about the coming of age of two children born as India gains independence.