Six Christmas Day movies to see in theaters

What it’s about
This based-on-a-true-story, in-tune-with-the-zeitgeist drama has Will Smith playing the doctor who discovered the first case of chronic traumatic encephalopathy, then found himself facing off against the NFL as it tried to suppress his research. Expect to see a lot of familiar actors playing other doctors, too.

What it’s about
Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg were surprisingly entertaining playing NYPD partners in The Other Guys. How will they hold up playing enemies instead? Well, we’ll find out in this flick, where Ferrell’s milquetoast stepdad finds himself crowded out of his family when Wahlberg’s bad-boy biological father pops back into the picture.

What it’s about
Quentin Tarantino’s latest flick revolves around an octet of strangers (including ones played by Tarantino vets Samuel L. Jackson, Kurt Russell and Tim Roth) in post–Civil War Wyoming trapped together in a cabin during a blizzard. Tensions deepen along with the snowdrifts outside.

What it’s about
David O. Russell teams up with some of his favorite actors—Jennifer Lawrence, Bradley Cooper, Robert De Niro—to tell the story of Joy Mangano, the single mother who became a business magnate by selling her inventions on QVC.

What it’s about
A remake of Kathryn Bigelow’s 1991 surfing-heist flick, this film has significantly more extreme action. Filmmakers have tapped some of the world’s top athletes to perform stunts like sheer-face snowboarding, wingsuit flying, free climbing and, of course, surfing—but tragically significantly less Keanu Reeves and Patrick Swayze (R.I.P.).

What it’s about
In 1823, frontiersman Hugh Glass was mauled by a bear, robbed by his associates and left to die. But since he’s being portrayed by Leonardo DiCaprio in Alejandro Iñárritu’s latest, his story doesn’t end there. Instead, Glass drags himself 200 miles through the wilderness on a trek to reach home and exact vengeance on those who wronged him.