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Every Christmas movie has to have its scrooge. In Alexander Payne’s holiday-set dramedy The Holdovers, the curmudgeon is Paul Hunham (Paul Giamatti), a long-time teacher at Barton Academy, an elite Massachusetts boarding school. Paul treats the affluent students in his ancient history class with contempt, gleefully terrorizing them with poor grades in order to trip up their otherwise smooth rides to fancy colleges. He’s the kind of teacher who flunks almost everyone on their end-of-semester exam and then assigns the class extra homework over the holidays as prep for yet another exam as soon as they get back. Bah humbug, indeed.

It’s not just the students at Barton who loathe Paul. So does the school’s administration. Hence Paul being saddled with holdover duty over the winter break—that is, to supervise any students who, for whatever reason, can’t go on lavish vacations like the rest of their peers,...

'The Fighter' movie: Mark Wahlberg as boxer Micky Ward. 'The Fighter' movie review: 'Smart' filmmaking from a business standpoint David O. Russell's The Fighter is a smart film; smart in the way it's constructed and executed as a means to appeal to a wide audience. People tend to like sports movies. They also tend to like movies where the good guys win and where the hardships the characters go through can all get tidily worked out by the time the credits start rolling. The Fighter is smart from a business standpoint. That also means Scott Silver, Paul Tamasy, and Eric Johnson's screenplay is predictable and much too “safe” as well. Russell and the screenwriters don't tread any new territory; in fact, they don't even try. On the positive side, The Fighter offers several solid performances that make up for some of what's lacking elsewhere. 'The Fighter'...

Hello again, dear readers. I hope at least some of you got out to see Machete Kills over the weekend – we need to get those box office numbers up! But moving on from films paying tribute to the 1970s to films actually set in the 1970s, this week’s new installment of Trailer Trashin’ takes a look at David O. Russell’s upcoming period drama American Hustle.

Premise: Brilliant con man Irving Rosenfeld (Christian Bale), along with his equally cunning and seductive British partner Sydney Prosser (Amy Adams), is recruited and forced to work for wild FBI agent Richie Dimaso (Bradley Cooper). Dimaso pushes the two into the world of Jersey power-brokers and mafia that is as dangerous as it is enchanting. The operating eventually involves Carmine Poltio (Jeremy Renner), the Mayor of Camden, New Jersey, who is caught between the cons-artists and the Feds. But Irving’s unpredictable wife...

Check out these 5 new posters for American Hustle with Jennifer Lawrence, Christian Bale, Bradley Cooper, Amy Adams and Jeremy Renner. David O'Russell brings his cast of The Fighter in Bale and Adams, together with Silver Linings Playbook stars Cooper and Lawrence for the film which opens in theaters on Also on board this strong cast are Robert De Niro, Louis C.K., Michael Peña, Jack Huston, Elisabeth Röhm, Alessandro Nivola, Dawn Olivieri, Erica McDermott and Melissa McMeekin. "American Hustle is a fictional film set in the alluring world of one of the most stunning scandals to rock the States which tells the story of brilliant con man Irving Rosenfeld (Bale), who along with his equally cunning and seductive British partner Sydney Prosser (Adams) is forced to work for a wild FBI agent Richie Dimaso (Cooper). Dimaso pushes them into a world of Jersey powerbrokers and mafia that’s as dangerous as...

Chicago – In our latest boxing edition of HollywoodChicago.com Hookup: Film, we have 30 admit-two advance-screening movie passes up for grabs to “The Fighter” with Christian Bale and Mark Wahlberg! Five additional winners will win sweatshirts and headphones, too!

“The Fighter” also stars Amy Adams, Melissa Leo, Mickey O’Keefe, Jack McGee, Melissa McMeekin, Bianca Hunter, Erica McDermott, Jill Quigg, Dendrie Taylor, Kate B. O’Brien, Jenna Lamia, Frank Renzulli and Caitlin Dwyer from director David O. Russell and writers Scott Silver and Paul Tamasy.

To win your free “The Fighter” movie passes or prizes courtesy of HollywoodChicago.com, just answer our question in this Web-based submission form. That’s it! Directions to enter this HollywoodChicago.com Hookup and immediately win can be found beneath the graphic below.

The movie poster for “The Fighter” with Christian Bale and Mark Wahlberg.

Image credit: Paramount Pictures

Here is the plot description for “The Fighter...

David O. Russell's The Fighter is based on the true story of Micky Ward, a stepping-stone boxer, and his older brother Dick Eklund, whose claim to fame was dropping Sugar Ray Leonard several years and many crackpipe hits long ago. Because it's beholden to the framework of Ward's technical boxing style and the fights he fought, the story has a tendency to lag and meander. But what elevates it to championship status is the acting, because it's kind of ecstatically horrifying to watch Christian Bale and Melissa Leo tear themselves and everyone else apart. Ultimately, the family dynamic and the bitter squabble of this destructive family is what makes The Fighter worth watching.

A documentary crew is filming Dick Eklund (Christian Bale) for his supposed comeback. Meanwhile, he's training his kid half-brother Micky Ward (Mark Wahlberg), a slugger with a fierce hook who most promoters book to boost their more promising fighters.