It’s beginning to feel a lot like Christmas, and mingling old and new traditions is one of the best ways to spend some extra free time off from work or school.
Nothing gets us into the holiday spirit like a family gathering when we are on break. So after the mugs of hot cocoa, tree trimming, present wrapping and other family favorites, taking in a matinee or evening movie, complete with hot buttered popcorn, can be just the family bonding to get everyone in the right frame of mind to celebrate.
This season’s offerings have a lot of warm fuzzies, a few solid life lessons, some romance, mystery, drama, action, adventure, laughs, tears, and lots of adorable puppies. Overall, this season’s film fare has something to offer every member of the family. Here is a glimpse:

NOTHING LIKE THE HOLIDAYS – December 12 (Overture Films)
It’s Christmastime and the far-flung members of the Rodriguez family are converging at their parents’ home in a Chicago suburb to celebrate the season and rejoice in their youngest brother’s safe return from combat overseas.
It is a bit of a departure from typical holiday movies, but “Nothing like the Holidays” is filled with Latin American flavor and promises lots of good humor. It is a story of a family who manages to be together for Christmas, but has to fight through some obstacles along the way. No Christmas dinner with three kinds of yams for this group and no melodic carols here, either.
The movie tells a story of the Rodriguez family’s holiday reunion. Jesse, played by Freddy Rodriguez, returns from Iraq, trying to mold back the family after a horrible tragedy he had to endure. He is also trying to rekindle his relationship with Marissa played by Melonie Diaz, who already has a boyfriend and a son.
The community of Humboldt Park, where the family lives, plays a significant role in the movie, as it symbolizes a home for all the characters to reconnect. The movie opens up with Jesse coming home from Iraq. As Jesse returns, he tries to settle back into everyone else's world. This proves to be harder than he expects because he is also fighting through his own problems.
Jesse's sister, Roxanne, portrayed by Vanessa Ferlito, comes back from trying to conquer Hollywood with a change of plans, thanks to a love interest named Ozzy (Jay Hernandez). The third child of the family is Mauricio (John Leguizamo), who visits with his stiff executive wife, Sarah (Debra Messing). The parents of these three children are Eduardo (Alfred Molina) and Anna (Elizabeth Pena). Another vital character who keeps the family alive is Cousin Johnny (Luiz Guzman).
While best known for her role as interior decorator Grace Adler on the hit sitcom, “Will & Grace,” and now starring in the popular USA series, “The Starter Wife,” Debra Messing enjoyed this holiday offering and says she wants to continue to work in both TV and movies.
“I’m a little commitment phobic, so I don’t really like to look long term, and make definitive plans. I love what I’m doing now and I love being able to change mediums,” said Messing recently, who is also the doting mother of a young son. “I would be even happier if I’d be able to slide in another play, here and there, along with film and television. I’m at my happiest when I’m doing all of the mediums.”

THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL – December 12 (20th Century Fox)
Jennifer Connelly and Keanu Reeves star in this remake of the 1951 sci-fi classic. Reeves plays an alien disguised as a human being, whose indestructible robot, Gort, threatens mankind. Aliens land on the Earth with a message for all humans: live in peace or be destroyed; definitely food for thought in this sci-fi fantasy.
The 2008 remake about an alien and his indestructible robot will star Keanu Reeves as Klaatu, Jennifer Connelly as Helen Benson, Jaden Smith as Jacob, and Kathy Bates.
“The movie looks at how we treat one another, how we live together, and if we do so responsibly,” says Connelly. In the original movie, a flying saucer orbits Earth and lands in Washington, D.C. on the mall. Klaatu (Michael Rennie) steps out and is shot by a jumpy soldier. Gort (Lock Martin), an indestructible robot, steps out of the spacecraft and proceeds to melt all the weapons, including tanks. Later, the Earth comes to realize that Gort has used very little of his power to make this happen. The remake is expected to remain true to the original movie, as well as to the short story, which the 1951 movie is based. For this movie, the alien weaponry seems to have been upgraded. In addition to a city going dark and a very brief look at the new Gort, the film trailer shows a cloud of black smoke, capable of rapid movement and disintegrating matter on contact.

MARLEY & ME – Christmas Day (20th Century Fox)
“Marley & Me” follows the life of Pennsylvania author John Grogan as a young reporter and newlywed when he and his wife bring “the world’s worst dog” into their lives.
Starring Owen Wilson, as Grogan, Jennifer Aniston as his wife, Jenny, and some 22 dogs as their wildly neurotic Labrador retriever, Marley, this holiday film is both heartfelt and extremely humorous. The tagline is: "Life and Love with the World's Worst Dog?” This charming movie is the story of a naughty dog, so naughty he was thrown out of obedience school, and the vital life lessons he taught his family, such as the importance of living in the moment. Grogan, who admits that he was a bit timid when he was a young man, learned to celebrate life to the fullest from his rather loopy dog.
Based on the 2005 best-selling memoir by Grogan, this very personal story is a sentimental favorite for the holidays. It is amusing, entertaining and heartfelt all rolled into one. In fact, it opens on Christmas Day. If you are a dog lover, you will swoon. If not, you will still relate. "A dog doesn't care if you're rich or poor, give him your heart, and he'll give you his."
Eventually, Grogan, a former Philadelphia Inquirer columnist, realized that his book was not so much a "dog book" as the story of a family in the making and the bigger-than-life animal that helped shape it.
“I have this theory, that people can learn a lot from their dogs -- lessons on how to lead happier, more fulfilling lives,” says Grogan. “Many of the qualities that come so effortlessly to dogs – loyalty, devotion, selflessness, unflagging optimism, unqualified love – can be elusive to humans.” Directed by David Frankel (“The Devil Wears Prada” and “Sex and the City”), the movie is about marriage, family, growing old, and confronting morality.
For Grogan, who was a consultant on the script and watched key scenes being filmed, seeing the finished product at a private screening for his family and the director in New York in mid-November was quite a thrill.
“The movie takes some liberties to translate our story to the big screen, but we all found the experience very satisfying,” said Grogan. “Even though I lived the real story, I felt tears welling up as I watched Owen Wilson and Jennifer Aniston act out the ending scenes.”

BEDTIME STORIES – Christmas Day (Disney)
Another family film making his its debut on Christmas Day is Adam Sandler’s “Bedtime Stories,” in which he plays an off-beat uncle, whose bedtime stories come to life.
Admitting that he wanted to make a film that his two-year-old daughter, Sadie, could watch, Sandler’s character, hotel handyman Skeeter Bronson, has his life transformed when the bedtime stories he tells his young niece and nephew come true. He attempts to take advantage of this unusual occurrence, incorporating his own aspirations into one outlandish tale after another. Although this is a family movie, romance takes place between Sandler’s character and Keri Russell, who he meets through his sister, played by Courteney Cox.
A preview of the movie gives a glimpse of the crazy fantasies that come to life in this fantasy film, and should prove to be a fun holiday comedy.
“Bedtime Stories” is directed by American filmmaker and long-time choreographer Adam Shankman, known for his work on The Wedding Planner, The Pacifier, Cheaper by the Dozen 2, and Hairspray.
Amid numerous special effects, Disney’s latest offering reveals that dreams do come true. For Sandler, a prolific film actor, it is another example that hard work pays off. “When we are working our tails off on the script and making a movie, I'm just picturing people having a great time. We just want to make a funny movie, that's all.”

THE SPIRIT – Christmas Day (Lionsgate)
The much-anticipated action film, based on a comic book series, finds a hero born, murdered, and born again.
A Rookie cop named Denny Colt returns from the beyond as The Spirit, a masked crusader and hero whose mission is to fight against the bad forces from the shadows of Central City. The Octopus who kills anyone unfortunate enough to see his face has other plans; he's going to wipe out the entire city. The Spirit tracks this cold hearted killer from the city's rundown warehouses, to the damp catacombs, to the windswept waterfront, all the while facing a bevy of beautiful women who either want to seduce, love or kill the masked crusader.
The film stars Gabriel Macht as The Spirit/Denny Colt, Samuel L. Jackson as The Octopus, Eva Mendes as Sand Saref, Jaime King as Lorelei Rox and Scarlett Johansson as Silken Floss.
Johansson recently said she never had much exposure to graphic novels or comics, but she loved director Frank Miller’s previous work in “300” and “Sin City.”
“I heard that he was doing this project, and that there were some fun female roles. I had heard of the graphic novel for ‘The Spirit.’ and I wanted to find out more. Both of us were interested in meeting the other person, and we just caught on like a house on fire,” recalled Johansson. “We both shared our love for the city and all of the different parts of it. Frank highlights all of those sort of dark shadowy corners. He loves that aspect of the story.”
Johansson recently said that there is no definite word on The Spirit sequel yet, but “with the success of the first film I hope that there will be more.”

BRIDE WARS - January 9 (20th Century Fox)
In this romantic comedy two best friends become rivals when they schedule their weddings on the same day and neither one of them will budge. Starring Anne Hathaway as Emma and Kate Hudson as Liv, it is directed by Gary Winick, director of Jennifer Garner’s “13 Going on 30,” and “Charlotte’s Web.” The two actresses go head-to-head in this comedy that follows them as brides navigating the wedding planning roller coaster.
In the movie, Hathaway’s skin is painted orange and Hudson’s hair is dyed blue, but this romp, also starring Candice Bergen and Kristen Johnston, should prove to be tasty “after holiday” fare. Despite some of these zany scenes, the two women look wonderful.
Anne Hathaway began filming “Bride Wars,” after working on “Rachel Getting Married,” which had a less stringent work schedule. “Bride Wars,” had a really rigorous shooting schedule. I was still coming out of Jonathan Demme’s light touch with the character, but “Bride Wars” is 180 degrees the other way. But it’s impossible to not have fun with Kate Hudson, who is a ray of sunshine!”

HOTEL FOR DOGS – January 16 (DreamWorks)
When two children, 16-year-old Andi and her younger brother, Bruce, are forbidden from having a pet, they have to use their quick wit to find a new home for their dog, Friday.
They stumble upon an abandoned hotel and using the boy’s talents as a mechanical genius, they secretly transform it into a magical dog paradise for Friday and all of the dog’s buddies. When the sound of barking dogs makes the neighbors suspicious, the children use their every invention to keep the dogs from being discovered.
The film from DreamWorks stars Emma Roberts and Lisa Kudrow. Best known for her role in the hit television series “Friends,” and star of several major films, Kudrow said she chose “Hotel for Dogs,” because she wanted to be in a film that her young son could watch. “He loves it,” the doting mom recently revealed. “He loves the dogs, but it's the inventions that Bruce comes up with that he loves so much. I thought that was a really fun part of the script to be honest.”
She said that the old warning about actors being smart to steer clear of children and animals did not apply in “Hotel for Dogs.
“In some ways, they're easier than adults because there's a limited amount of time you get with kids. These were older kids and very mature. They work harder than any of the adults because the minute they're not on set, they're in school,” says Kudrow. “So they're really disciplined and they work hard. They take notes. There's no attitude. Maybe it's just because Emma is that professional and I'm in love with her. I really admire her. I think she's really great.”