Holiday movie preview: 'True Grit,' 'Little Fockers' and more

Although Tron, The Fighter and How Do You Know will be duking it out for your box-office attention this weekend, things get really crowded next week, as Hollywood unleashes its annual blizzard of movies designed to keep the entire family distracted through the new year.

It's a familiar mix of sequels and reboots, family-friendly fare and high-end Oscar bait: In other words, a little something for everyone. Here's our look at six films that will be hitting theaters in the next two weeks. (We've gotten a sneak peak at all but two of them.) We also offer our suggestions for which members of your brood are best suited for each film; remember, the great thing about a multiplex is that you can all see different movies, and still feel as if you've done something as a family. Look for full reviews in next week's DFW.com Ink edition and at DFW.com/movies.

True Grit

Just a year after serving up one of their strangest, mostly grimly comic efforts, A Serious Man, Joel and Ethan Coen deliver a grand, sweeping, proudly old-fashioned Western. Yet if this remake of the Henry Hathaway-John Wayne classic might seem strange to Coen fans -- there isn't a note of irony anywhere -- most viewers will likely be enraptured by the confident direction and superb performances of Jeff Bridges (as the drunken federal marshal Rooster Cogburn -- a role that won Wayne the Oscar), Matt Damon (as an arrogant Texas Ranger), and especially newcomer Hailee Steinfeld, as the young girl determined to bring her father's murderer to justice.

Perfect for: It's a PG-13 Western that also has the hipster imprimatur of directors Joel and Ethan Coen: Who wouldn't this movie be perfect for?

Opens: Dec. 22

Little Fockers

This one hadn't screened as of press time, though we have a pretty good idea of what to expect: Shameless scenery-chewing from Robert De Niro, as the father-in-law from hell; righteous comic indignity from Ben Stiller, as the put-upon Greg Focker; and mug-it-up antics from Barbra Streisand and Dustin Hoffman, back again as Mama and Papa Focker. Plus those little Fockers.

Perfect for: Your easily amused pre-teens, who are probably the only ones who will still be laughing at the endless puns on the word "focker."

Opens: Dec. 22

Gulliver's Travels

Is Jonathan Swift spinning in his grave? Jack Black plays Lemuel Gulliver, a travel writer who gets stranded in Lilliput, a land populated by very small people, in this modern-day adaptation of the Swift classic. We haven't yet seen this special effects-heavy comedy, but the supporting cast -- including Jason Segel, Amanda Peet and Emily Blunt (as the princess of Lilliput) -- makes us hopeful.

Perfect for: The kids who are too old for Yogi Bear, but who don't want to sit through Narnia or Harry Potter a second time.

Opens: Dec. 22

Rabbit Hole

Be warned: This drama about a married couple struggling to come to grips with the death of their 4-year-old son in a dreadful car accident is nobody's idea of fun holiday entertainment. But if you can deal with the long silences and the fact there really isn't much of a plot, you will be treated to one of the year's finest performances, courtesy of a never-better Nicole Kidman. As the anguished mother, she shifts from nervous shyness to paralyzing anxiety to howling outrage, and invites us along on every painful twist of the emotional journey. Aaron Eckhart (as her husband) and Dianne Wiest (as her mother) appear similarly bound for Oscar nominations. It's based on a Pulitzer-winning play by David Lindsay-Abaire, who also wrote the screenplay adaptation; John Cameron Mitchell (Shortbus) directed.

Perfect for: Um, maybe you should wait until after the holidays to see this one; it's a bit more suited to the January blues, anyway.

Opens: Dec. 25 at the Angelika in Dallas

Casino Jack

Kevin Spacey plays Jack Abramoff, the notorious lobbyist who brought down Texas Congressman Tom DeLay, in an ambitious, but hopelessly muddled docudrama. The film never truly gives us a sense of what Abramoff did and why we should care. The best thing about it, go figure, is Jon Lovitz, who is hilarious as the sleazy mattress salesman with whom Abramoff had a series of shady interactions.

Perfect for: Your prone-to-hectoring liberal cousin, who will probably just end up complaining that this movie isn't nearly as good as the documentary Casino Jack and the United States of Money, which was released earlier this year.

Opens: Dec. 31 at the Magnolia

in Dallas

Made in Dageham

This spirited, sweet-natured history lesson follows the struggles of Rita O'Grady (a terrific Sally Hawkins), who leads her fellow female machinists in a labor strike in England in 1968 against the Ford Motor Co. Directed by Nigel Cole (Calendar Girls), this is a mostly predictable underdog story that nonetheless manages to win you over. Watch for Miranda Richardson to sneak into the Best Supporting Actress Oscar race as the government official who finds herself becoming an unexpected champion of the strikers.

Perfect for: Moms, aunts, sisters and really just about anyone who ever felt mistreated at a job.

Opens: Dec. 31 at the Magnolia in Dallas