Sneak peek at upcoming movies

With Thanksgiving here and the end of semester only a few short weeks away, it’s time to take a look at a few upcoming films and see whether or not it’s worth it to get excited over all the hype. Here are five movies slated to be released in the next few weeks.

Julia Roberts (left) and Lily Collins in a scene from "Mirror Mirror." (Relativity Media)

“Mirror Mirror:” It’s nice to see that Julia Roberts is still getting work. It’s even better to see her in something that isn’t a romantic comedy. This time she plays the wicked queen in a “Snow White” retelling with Lily Collins (“Abduction”) playing the beloved princess. There were rumors originally circulating that this was supposed to be a dark, gothic reinterpretation like what “Red Riding Hood” tried to be, but the recent trailers have shown that not to be the case.

“Shame:” Michael Fassbender (“X-Men: First Class”) hops into what looks like one of the most intriguing roles of the year. He plays a well-off Wall Street executive with a massive addiction to sex. Sexual addiction is typically used in movies for comic relief, such as in “American Pie” and “Austin Powers,” but this film shows a much darker, much more painful side to it. It is more independent than Fassbender’s more familiar works, but it looks like he’s up for the job.

“Underworld Awakening:” Dust off the old catsuit and double pistol holster, Kate Beckinsale is back as everyone’s favorite non-sparkling vampire. This time it looks like the humans are throwing their hand into the vampire-lychen war. Now if one side eats humans and the other side feeds on human’s blood, the humans are more than justified to try and step in, but that doesn’t mean it’d be a great idea. It looks like that’ll add something interesting to the fourth installment of this series.

“The Pirates! Band of Misfits:” Even after more than 80 years of animation experience, Americans still love Claymation for some reason. Maybe it reminds people of those old Christmas specials with Rudolph and Santa. Whatever it is, there’s another one coming out, this time about pirates.

In case Disney didn’t already turn the scourge of the high seas into a homogenized family product, this thing will finish them off. Hugh Grant (“About a Boy”) plays a failing pirate captain trying to win the Pirate of the Year award. No seriously, that’s the plot. Kids’ll probably like this thing.

“Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol:” Tom Cruise isn’t the worst actor in the world, he just does what he does well and nothing else. The first “Mission Impossible” is one of his signature films, but in reality it was just a spy super-thriller with an okay plot. It really shouldn’t have had a sequel, much less a series. Cruise is at least entertaining in these things, and “Ghost Protocol” looks like more of the same so there shouldn’t be any real surprises here.