Cool Picks Tuesday December 25, 2012

Cool Picks brings you the best in Pittsburgh entertainment every day, including Christmas day. Merry Christmas!

Today there are several options for dining and entertainment including: Chinese restaurants, kosher restaurants, hotel restaurants and bars, and movies. Check with the individual establishments for hours and offerings.

This is  a busy time of year for movie openings including one filmed and premiered here in Pittsburgh, Jack Reacher, starring Tom Cruise. Cruise plays a former military police officer who is called back into service to assist in the defense of an ex-army sniper accused of gunning down five people. He drives a hot ’66 Chevrolet Chevelle SS across some of Pittsburgh prettiest panoramas as he tries to solve the mystery. This could be the movie that propels Tom Cruise to the top again. Look for the highly talented, veteran actor Robert Duvall in the film.

Also screening are: The Guilt Trip, with Barbara Streisand and Seth Rogan on a comedic, mother-son, cross country road trip.; Not Fade Away,  a story about several young men in the sixties who catch flack from their parents for forming a rock band and trying to hit it big. one of the domineering parents is played by James Gandolfini, who portrayed mob boss Tony Soprano in the TV show, The Sopranos; On the Road is based on the Jack Kerouac novel of the same name and stars: Garrett Hedlund, Sam Riley and Kristen Stewart; Les Miserables, a musical film adaptation of Victor Hugo’s novel of 19th century France’s hardships and revolution, opens today, starring Hugh Jackman, Russel Crowe and Anne Hathaway.

Director Quentin Tarantino’s latest epic, Django Unchained, opens today. The film stars Jamie Fox as an escaped slave in the pre-war south.  If he helps a bounty hunter track down the murderous Brittle Brothers he will win his freedom.  Also starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Kerry Washington and Samuel L. Jackson.

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