Winter Movie Preview: New faces, local premieres of 2011 hits, and two big made-in-Pittsburgh flicks

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  Murray Close
  Jennifer Lawrence stars as Katniss Everdeen in "The Hunger Games."

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Amid the 3-D reboots of favorites such as "Beauty and the Beast," "Star Wars: Episode I -- The Phantom Menace" and "Titanic" (Leo looks so young!) are some new faces and franchises. Leader of the pack this winter and spring is "The Hunger Games," along with a pair of movies with Pittsburgh ties.

"One for the Money," starring Katherine Heigl as Janet Evanovich's popular heroine, is set in Trenton, N.J., played by the likes of Friendship-Bloomfield, the North Side, Braddock, Wilkinsburg, Shadyside, McKees Rocks, Ambridge in Beaver County and Kittanning, Armstrong County. It opens in two weeks.

"Won't Back Down," about women trying to transform a failing inner-city school, was shot in Pittsburgh, and by the time it's released March 30, Viola Davis ("The Help") could be an Oscar winner or two-time nominee.

Winter will bring Pittsburghers some of the most celebrated 2011 movies, many of which opened for a week in Los Angeles for Oscar consideration, along with a grab bag of action pictures, ghost or fairy tales, family films, romcoms, remakes and retoolings.

As always, dates are subject to change and titles will be added or subtracted before summer movie season arrives May 4 with "Marvel's The Avengers."

"The Artist" -- French actor Jean Dujardin was named best actor at the Cannes film festival (and is a surefire Oscar contender) for his portrayal of a silent movie star whose career may end with the introduction of talkies.

"The Iron Lady" -- Meryl Streep stars as the polarizing prime minister, Margaret Thatcher, in a performance guaranteed to turn Oscar voters' heads.

"Contraband" --Mark Wahlberg is a former criminal who returns to running contraband after a relative botches a drug deal for a ruthless boss.

"Joyful Noise" -- Queen Latifah and Dolly Parton tangle and harmonize in this music-infused comedy.

"Carnage" -- The play "God of Carnage" inspired this Roman Polanski movie featuring Jodie Foster, John C. Reilly, Kate Winslet and Christoph Waltz as warring parents.

"Beauty and the Beast" -- As with "The Lion King," Disney is reissuing this gem in 3-D.

"The Mill and the Cross" -- From Polish filmmaker Lech Majewski, a re-staging of Pieter Bruegel's epic 1564 painting "The Way to Calvary," presented alongside the story of its creation.

"Battle for Brooklyn" -- Documentary filmmakers Suki Hawley and Michael Galinsky spent seven years and shot 500-plus hours to chart plans to gnaw away at a neighborhood so 16 skyscrapers and a New Jersey Nets arena could be built.

"Semper Fi: Always Faithful" -- Environmental expose following Master Sgt. Jerry Ensminger as he fights for justice on behalf of Marines and their families exposed to toxic drinking water at Camp Lejeune.

"Ironclad" -- Violent action thriller about warriors who withstood brutal and bloody months under siege in a desperate bid to defend their country. Set in 13th-century England and starring Paul Giamatti, Brian Cox, James Purefoy, Kate Mara and Derek Jacobi.

"Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close" -- What a boy calls "The Worst Day" -- 9/11, when his father was killed -- touches off his search for the lock to go with the key he finds in his dad's closet. Young Thomas Horn leads the accomplished cast that includes Tom Hanks, Sandra Bullock and Max von Sydow.

"Red Tails" -- A World War II action-adventure about the young pilots who overcame racism to form the Tuskegee Airmen. With Cuba Gooding Jr., Terrence Howard, Nate Parker, David Oyelowo, Ne-Yo and Elijah Kelly.

"Haywire" -- Gina Carano, a female mixed martial arts star, appears alongside such established actors as Channing Tatum, Ewan McGregor, Michael Fassbender, Antonio Banderas, Bill Paxton, Michael Douglas and Michael Angarano in an action-thriller from Steven Soderbergh.

"Underworld Awakening" -- Kate Beckinsale returns as vampire warrior Selene, who escapes imprisonment to find herself in a world where humans have discovered the existence of both Vampire and Lycan clans and are conducting an all-out war to eradicate both immortal species. In 3-D.

"A Dangerous Method" -- Michael Fassbender portrays Dr. Carl Jung, Viggo Mortensen is Sigmund Freud and Keira Knightley a tormented, seductive patient in director David Cronenberg's film.

"Le Havre" -- In the French harbor city that gives the film its name, fate throws young African refugee Idrissa (Blondin Miguel) into the path of Marcel Marx (Andre Wilms), a well-spoken bohemian who works as a shoe shiner. With innate optimism and the unwavering support of his community, Marcel stands up to officials doggedly pursuing the boy for deportation.

"Tomboy" -- When a shy tomboy moves to a new suburb outside Paris with her family, she is mistaken for a boy and doesn't correct the error in this French film that had a single showing during the 2011 Pittsburgh International Lesbian & Gay Film Festival.

"Fullmetal Alchemist: The Sacred Star of Milos" -- Anime in which a fugitive alchemist with mysterious abilities leads brothers to a distant valley of slums inhabited by a proud people struggling against bureaucratic exploitation.

JAN. 26

"Roadie" -- Canned from a 20-year job as roadie for Blue Oyster Cult, Jimmy is broke and desperate. With nowhere else to go, he returns home to Forest Hills, Queens, to visit his aging mother, where a wild night with some hard-partying high school friends shows him that some things never change. Cast led by Ron Eldard, Bobby Cannavale and Jill Hennessy.

"One for the Money" -- Pittsburgh plays Jersey in this big-screen version of the Janet Evanovich novel about Stephanie Plum, who lands a job at her cousin's bail-bond business. Cast also counts Debbie Reynolds as her zany grandmother, along with Jason O'Mara, Daniel Sunjata, John Leguizamo and Sherri Shepherd.

"Man on a Ledge" -- A former cop turned fugitive (Sam Worthington) stands on the ledge of a high-rise building while a hard-living New York police negotiator (Elizabeth Banks) tries to talk him down.

"Albert Nobbs" -- Glenn Close plays a woman who long has passed for a man in order to work and survive in 19th-century Ireland. But her strategy and subterfuge threaten to collapse in this passion project also starring Janet McTeer, Mia Wasikowska, Aaron Johnson and Brendan Gleeson.

"The Grey" -- Liam Neeson leads an unruly group of oil-rig roughnecks when their plane crashes in the remote Alaskan wilderness and they face injuries, icy weather and wolves on the hunt.

"Pariah" -- Feature-length expansion of writer-director Dee Rees' 2007 short film about a 17-year-old African-American who lives with her parents in Brooklyn and is quietly but firmly embracing her identity as a lesbian.

"Big Miracle" -- Rescue adventure, based on a true story, about a small-town news reporter (John Krasinski) and animal-loving volunteer (Drew Barrymore) who must rally Inuit natives, oil companies and rival world superpowers to try to save a family of gray whales trapped by rapidly forming ice in the Arctic Circle.

"Shame" -- Provocative, NC-17-rated drama about addiction and secrecy in the modern world, starring Michael Fassbender as a New Yorker and sex addict and Carey Mulligan as his wayward sister.

"The Woman in Black" -- Daniel Radcliffe is a widowed London solicitor sent to a remote village to sort out the affairs of a recently deceased eccentric client. He lands in the middle of a ghost story in this movie based on Susan Hill's 1983 novel.

"Chronicle" -- Three high school students make an incredible discovery, leading to the development of uncanny powers beyond their understanding. However, their lives start to spin out of control when their darker sides take over.

"Safe House" -- Action thriller starring Denzel Washington as a dangerous renegade from the CIA, back on the grid after a decade on the run. He and a rookie (Ryan Reynolds) become unlikely allies when a so-called safe house is attacked.

"Journey 2: The Mysterious Island" -- Sequel to 2008's "Journey to the Center of the Earth," returning Josh Hutcherson as a now 17-year-old who receives a coded distress signal from a mysterious island. He and his new stepfather, played by Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, head there with a helicopter pilot (Luiz Guzman) and his daughter (Vanessa Hudgens).

"The Vow" -- A newlywed couple recover from a car accident that puts the wife in a coma. Waking up with severe memory loss, her husband endeavors to win her heart again in this romance starring Rachel McAdams, Channing Tatum, Sam Neill, Scott Speedman and Jessica Lange.

"Star Wars: Episode I -- The Phantom Menace" -- Didn't this movie come out in 1999? Why, yes, it did. But not in 3-D, which is how it will be re-released, in a never-ending effort to cultivate a new audience and give older fans reasons to revisit the force and fork over more cash.

Oscar Shorts -- Pittsburgh Filmmakers again plans to help Pittsburghers with their Oscar homework by showing the animated and live-action shorts nominated for Academy Awards.

"On the Ice" -- Friendship and honor are tested when three teenage boys embark on a seal hunt but only two survive in a movie shot entirely in Barrow, Alaska.

"This Means War" -- Chris Pine and the ubiquitous Tom Hardy play CIA operatives and best friends who become rivals for the same woman (Reese Witherspoon).

"Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance" -- Nicolas Cage is back as Johnny Blaze, onetime motorcycle stunt rider by day, bounty hunter of rogue demons by night. As he says in the trailer, "It doesn't matter how far you run, there are some demons you just can't escape." Especially when they're in 3-D.

"The Secret World of Arrietty" -- Animated adventure, based on the children's book series "The Borrowers," about little people who reside quietly beneath the floorboards.

"The Lady" -- Luc Besson's story of Burmese activist Aung San Suu Kyi and her husband, starring Michelle Yeoh and David Thewlis.

"Wanderlust" -- Paul Rudd and Jennifer Aniston star in a comedy about an overextended, stressed-out Manhattan couple who stumble upon a freewheeling community where the only rule is to be yourself.

"Tyler Perry's Good Deeds" -- Mr. Perry is the lead, writer, director and producer of this drama about a successful, wealthy businessman jolted out of his routine when he meets a single mother (Thandie Newton) on the cleaning crew in his office building.

"Gone" -- Suspense thriller starring Amanda Seyfried as a woman who believes her sister has been abducted by the same serial killer who kidnapped her a year earlier.

"Act of Valor" -- When the rescue of a kidnapped CIA operative leads to the discovery of a terrorist plot against the United States, Navy SEALs are dispatched on a worldwide manhunt in a fictionalized composite of actual events.

"Coriolanus" -- Ralph Fiennes makes his directing debut in Shakespeare's tale of a feared and revered military commander who courts tragedy when he enters the political arena. Story updated from ancient Rome to contemporary Europe.

"W.E." -- Madonna directs the story of two women, lonely New Yorker Wally Winthrop and Wallis Simpson. The former is obsessed with the latter, who led King Edward VIII to give up the throne in 1936. As Wally researches their lives she finds they weren't as idyllic as she imagined.

"Undefeated" -- You don't need to know the difference between a cornerback and an eligible receiver to be moved, enlightened and inspired by this documentary set in inner-city Memphis, Tenn., chronicling the historically beleaguered Manasass Tigers.

"Dr. Seuss' The Lorax" -- 3-D animated adaptation of the tale of a forest creature who shares the enduring power of hope. With voices of Danny DeVito, Ed Helms, Zac Efron, Taylor Swift and Betty White.

"Project X" -- Three seemingly anonymous high school seniors attempt to make a name for themselves by throwing a party no one will forget. Its rating says it all: R for crude and sexual content throughout, nudity, drugs, drinking, pervasive language, reckless behavior and mayhem, all involving teens.

"Being Flynn" -- Dramatic feature from Paul Weitz starring Paul Dano as a young writer, Julianne Moore as his late mother and Robert De Niro as his estranged father, a master storyteller. When the older man faces eviction, he reaches out to his son in a movie inspired by Nick Flynn's 2004 memoir.

"The Raven" -- Edgar Allan Poe (John Cusack) joins forces with a young Baltimore detective (Luke Evans) to hunt down a serial killer using the writer's own words as the basis for a string of murders in 19th-century Baltimore.

"John Carter" -- 3-D action-adventure, based on Edgar Rice Burroughs novel, about a war-weary man (Taylor Kitsch) inexplicably transported to Mars, where he becomes reluctantly embroiled in an epic conflict.

"Think Like a Man" -- Based on Steve Harvey's best-selling book, this movie follows four interconnected and diverse men whose love lives are shaken up after the ladies they are pursuing buy Mr. Harvey's book and start taking his advice to heart. Large ensemble includes Michael Ealy, Jerry Ferrara, Meagan Good, Regina Hall, Kevin Hart and Taraji P. Henson.

"Playing the Field" -- Soccer romcom starring Gerard Butler along with Jessica Biel, Judy Greer, Dennis Quaid, Uma Thurman and Catherine Zeta-Jones.

"Silent House" -- English-language version of a Uruguayan horror thriller about a young woman (Elizabeth Olsen) trapped inside her family's crumbling lakeside house.

"Mirror Mirror" -- This is the first of dueling "Snow White" movies to get out of the gate and into the forest, with Julia Roberts as a wicked enchantress, Lily Collins as Snow White, Armie Hammer as Prince Alcott, Sean Bean as the king and Nathan Lane as the queen's hapless servant. Pittsburgh native Bernie Goldmann is one of the producers.

"21 Jump Street" -- The late 1980s TV series, which helped to launch Johnny Depp's career, is given a reboot with Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum as cops who go undercover in high school to try to bust a drug ring.

"Butter" -- Satire starring "Modern Family" regular Ty Burrell as the "Elvis of butter" who is forced to lay down his carving knife -- only to have his wife, played by Jennifer Garner, pick it up. The carvings are really made of soy wax and the movie about race, class, age, politics and competition.

"The Hunger Games" -- In the ruins of what was once North America, the evil Capitol of the nation of Panem forces each of its 12 districts to send a teenage boy and girl to compete in the Hunger Games. They are a fight-to-the-death, live televised event in this adaptation of Suzanne Collins' best-selling novel.

"Won't Back Down" -- Filmed largely in the lower Hill District, Downtown and elsewhere in Pittsburgh, this story inspired by true events stars Maggie Gyllenhaal and Viola Davis as mothers determined to transform their children's failing inner-city school. Rounding out the cast are Holly Hunter, Oscar Isaac, Rosie Perez, Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Lance Reddick and Ving Rhames.

"Wrath of the Titans" -- Sequel to "Clash of the Titans," set a decade after Perseus' heroic defeat of the monstrous Kraken. Perseus (Sam Worthington) attempts to live a quieter life as a village fisherman and single dad to a 10-year-old, but the gods and Titans are locked in a struggle for supremacy.

"The Pirates! Band of Misfits" -- Hugh Grant tackles his first animated role as a bearded pirate captain, an enthusiastic but less than successful terror of the high seas who commands a ragtag crew. Based on Gideon Defoe's book, "Pirates in an Adventure With Scientists."

"Salmon Fishing in the Yemen" -- Ewan McGregor, Amr Waked, Emily Blunt and Kristin Scott Thomas star in an adaptation of Paul Torday's novel about a scientist who looks to fulfill a sheik's dream of bringing fly-fishing to his homeland in Yemen.

"The Bully Project" -- Two families who have lost children to suicide and a mother awaiting the fate of her 14-year-old daughter, incarcerated after bringing a gun on her school bus, are among the parents and children tracked during the course of a school year in this documentary.

"Jeff, Who Lives at Home" -- Jason Segel plays the title role, a man who still lives with his mother (Susan Sarandon) and spends his days in track pants, smoking weed and waiting for his destiny in this movie from Jay and Mark Duplass.

"American Reunion" -- "American Pie" gang returns for a high school reunion in this comedy set during one long weekend.

"Titanic 3-D" -- The more things change the more they stay the same. Thirteen years after Billy Crystal hosted the Academy Awards where "Titanic" won 11 Oscars, the watery epic is getting a 3-D conversion and re-release.

"The Three Stooges" -- Moe, Larry and Curly are left on the doorstep of the Sisters of Mercy Orphanage as babies in this Farrelly brothers comedy, which keeps the Stooges' finger pokes to the eyes, hammers to the skull and lobsters down the pants style of humor. Yes, it's do not try this at home time with a cast starring Sean Hayes, Will Sasso and Chris Diamantopoulos.

"Bullet to the Head" -- Action thriller based on a graphic novel and featuring Sylvester Stallone as a New Orleans hitman and Sung Kang as a New York City cop who form an alliance to bring down the killers of their respective partners.

"The Cabin in the Woods" -- Five friends go to a remote cabin in the woods. Darned if bad things don't happen in this horror film written by Joss Whedon and Drew Goddard and directed by Mr. Goddard.

"The Lucky One" -- Zac Efron is a U.S. Marine sergeant who returns from a third tour of duty in Iraq with a photo he credits with keeping him alive -- that of a woman he doesn't know. Once he learns her name, he shows up at her door in this adaptation of a Nicholas Sparks novel.

"A Thousand Words" -- This release was once timed to capitalize on Eddie Murphy's gig as Oscar host, but he withdrew from the job. The comedy casts him as a man who learns he has 1,000 words left to say before he dies.

"Chimpanzee" -- Disneynature documentary about the bond between a 3-year-old orphan chimp and the female chimp who adopts him and helps him find a home. Timed to coincide with the celebration of Earth Day.

"House at the End of the Street' -- Jennifer Lawrence and Elisabeth Shue play a teenager and her divorced mom who move to a new town looking for a fresh start. What they find is a house next door that was the site of a double murder and the massacre's sole survivor (Max Theriot).

"Scary Movie 5" -- More spoofing a dozen years after the franchise started by poking fun at such movies as "Scream," "The Sixth Sense," "Blair Witch Project" and "The Matrix."

"Lockout" -- Guy Pearce is a falsely convicted ex-government agent whose only chance at freedom means rescuing the president's daughter (Maggie Grace) from rioting convicts at an outer space maximum security prison.

"Seeking a Friend for the End of the World" -- Steve Carell and Keira Knightley star in a comedy, set in the near future, as humanity's last days are at hand. Directorial debut of "Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist" writer Lorene Scafaria.

"The Five-Year Engagement" -- Director and writer-star of "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" reteam for a comedy about an engaged couple (Jason Segel and Emily Blunt) who keep getting tripped up on the long walk down the aisle.

"Safe" -- Jason Statham plays a second-rate cage fighter on the mixed martial arts circuit who lives a numbing life of routine beatings and chump change, until he blows a rigged fight. The Russian Mafia, hoping to make an example of him, murders his family and promises to kill anyone he gets close to, down the road.