At A Cinema

By Sherif Awad

  American Hustle Director: David O. Russell Cast: Christian Bale, Bradley Cooper, Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner and Jennifer Lawrence January 22 Nominated for seven Golden Globes and tapped as the closing film of 2013 Dubai Film Festival, American Hustle is already favored as an Oscar contender. Brilliant con man Irving Rosenfeld (Bale), along with his equally cunning British partner Sydney Prosser (Adams), is forced to work for a wild FBI agent Richie DiMaso (Cooper), who pushes them into the dangerous yet enchanting world of Jersey power brokers and mafia. The film is a fictionalized telling of the ABSCAM scandal of the late 1970s and early 80s, an FBI operation that began as an investigation into stolen property and later expanded to include political corruption. Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit Director: Kenneth Branagh Cast: Chris Pine, Kevin Costner, Keira Knightley, Gemma Chan and Kenneth Branagh January 1 Based on the character Jack Ryan created by novelist Tom Clancy, this film has an original screenplay not derived from Clancy’s novels and ultimately featuring an earlier point in Ryan’s life, when the young covert CIA analyst uncovers a Russian plot to crash the US economy with a terrorist attack. Chris Pine plays Ryan, following in the steps of Alec Baldwin, Harrison Ford and Ben Affleck. Out of the Furnace Director: Scott Cooper Cast: Christian Bale, Casey Affleck, Woody Harrelson, Willem Dafoe and Zoe Saldana January 15 Christian Bale plays factory worker Russell whose brother Rodney (Affleck) gets lured into one of the most ruthless crime rings in the Northeast and mysteriously disappears. The police fail to crack the case, so — with nothing left to lose — Russell takes matters into his own hands, putting his life on the line to seek justice.   Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones Director: Christopher Landon Cast: Andrew Jacobs, Molly Ephraim, Richard Cabral, Eddie J. Fernandez and Jorge Diaz January 22 A Latino-themed spin-off of the Paranormal Activity franchise, the new film follows Jesse (Jacobs) who finds himself “marked” after investigating the scene of black magic rituals. As mysterious forces pursue Jesse, his family and friends try to save him.   Lone Survivor Director: Peter Berg Cast: Mark Wahlberg, Ben Foster, Eric Bana, Taylor Kitsch and Ali Suliman January 29 Based on The New York Times bestselling true story, Lone Survivor tells the incredible tale of four Navy SEALs on a covert mission to neutralize Taliban operatives but instead were ambushed in the mountains of Afghanistan. Wahlberg plays Marcus Luttrell, the author of the first-person memoir Lone Survivor, which inspired the film.