FILM: New in Theaters - 12/26/08

If you've finally escaped from your family or are just taking a break from eating, you might be interested in knowing what's in theaters:

For the kids with insane imaginations, the fantasy adventure Bedtime Stories helmed by Adam Sandler is perfect. He plays an uncle whose bedtime stories come to life after he tells them to his niece and nephew. Keri Russell plays his love interest and Courtney Cox is his sister.

For graphic novel fanatics, Frank Miller's visually impressive The Spirit is your best bet. Gabriel Macht (Because I Said So) plays a rookie cop who comes back from the dead to be a masked crime fighter. His arch nemesis is a lab technician who transformed himself into The Octopus (Samuel Jackson). It's sort of campy with old-school sleuthing, but the chemistry between Macht and his leading ladies (Jaime King, Eva Mendes, Scarlett Johansson, and Sarah Paulson) is something to tune in for.

For those who enjoy epic love stories and scifi, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button will knock your socks off. Brad Pitt plays a man who was born old and will die young. Although his life is difficult because of his condition, he still manages to enjoy his adopted family and fall in love with his childhood friend (Cate Blanchett). Their love is literally timeless and when it reaches the climax--when they're both the same age--that's when they realize how unbearable it'll be to lose.

For dog lovers and Jennifer Anniston-followers, I'd suggest Marley & Me. It's John Grogan's story about a married couple (Owen Wilson plays the hubbie) who get a dog to prepare for parenthood and are surprised to discover how equally stressful the experience is. It's kind of like when Beethoven ran amok with all of those kids, except there are no kids and the adults aren't as amused.

For those of you looking to drain your tear ducts, Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet are teaming up again for the adaptation of Richard Yates' Revolutionary Road. In an nutshell, it's about a married couple that is drowning in boredom due to their unfulfilled lives during the 50s. So it's like "Mad Men" minus the bustling ad agency.

For those who want to see Tom Cruise's comeback and are fans of Nazi hateration, you might enjoy the war thriller Valkyrie. Bryan Singer (Superman Returns) gears up to direct another heroic character, the man who led a German assassination team to bring down Adolf Hitler. Try to ignore the fact that Cruise doesn't have a German accent and is walking around with one eye, it's suspenseful--even though you know the end result...Hitler wasn't assassinated--and educational.

For those of you who are interested in the type of love that culminates in one day, the Before Sunrise-type of love, then maybe you'll want to watch Dustin Hoffman fall in love with Emma Thompson in Last Chance Harvey. It's the story of a man who loses his job and the privilege of walking his daughter down the aisle at her London wedding all in one day. While he drowns his sorrows, he runs into a sassy woman he can commiserate with, who inspires him to change his ways.