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Your list of the best movies this holiday season

It's been a huge month in movie openings and, frankly, we wouldn't mind a movie gift card in our stockings after seeing what's coming up in December. Here's a look ahead at a few highlights:

DEC. 9

OFFICE CHRISTMAS PARTY — When the boss (Jennifer Aniston) is away, employees Jason Bateman, Kate McKinnon, Olivia Munn and T.J. Miller throw a Christmas party anyway and go all out to land a big client (Courtney B. Vance) in this bawdy comedy.

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DEC. 16

COLLATERAL BEAUTY — Will Smith. Edward Norton. Kate Winslet. Helen Mirren. Keira Knightley. Smith plays a successful man who finds solace in writing to Time, Death and Love. Until they show up to answer.

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JACKIE — Natalie Portman stars as Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy in the aftermath of President John F. Kennedy's assassination in this intimate drama from Chilean director Pablo Larraín.

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LA LA LAND — Love L.A.? This one's for you. Emma Stone is an actress and Ryan Gosling is a jazz pianist in this effervescent modern musical set in Los Angeles.

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ROGUE ONE: A STAR WARS STORY — You've seen Luke Skywalker blow up the Death Star in the original Star Wars, but how did we get to that moment? Rogue One, the first of many spinoffs in the blockbuster series, goes back to the time of the scrappy Rebels vs. the powerful Empire.

THE SPACE BETWEEN US — You've heard that men are from Mars, right? Gardner Elliot literally is. As a human secretly born off-planet, life (and romance) on Earth might be more complicated than he would like. Asa Butterfield and Britt Robertson star in this interstellar love story.

DEC. 21

ASSASSIN'S CREED Video game movies don't have the greatest track record, but there's hope that star Michael Fassbender and director Justin Kurzel can make this hit science fiction series explode on-screen. If nothing else, it could be fun to watch Fassbender do parkour in 15th-century Spain.

PASSENGERS The setup may not sound too original: Astronauts are woken from cryosleep early because something is wrong, and they need to fight out what that something is. What could set this one apart are the always-lovable Jennifer Lawrence and Chris Pratt in the lead roles.

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SING Think of an animated American Idol mashed up with Breakin' 2, except with big names attached. Matthew McConaughey voices a koala named Buster Moon who wants the spotlight to shine on his theater again. So he decides to launch a singing competition. Other voices include Reese Witherspoon, Scarlett Johannson, Leslie Jones and Seth MacFarlane.

DEC. 23

WHY HIM? Bryan Cranston stars as a dad whose little girl has grown up to date James Franco's devil-may-care "internet zillionaire" in this comedy. Megan Mullally also stars as his wife.

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DEC. 25

GOLD What says "Christmas" like a balding Matthew McConaughey finding (and then struggling to keep) billions of dollars worth of gold in the jungles of Indonesia?

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FENCES Just hand over an Oscar (or two) now. Denzel Washington directs and stars from a screenplay by the late August Wilson, based on his Pulitzer Prize- and Tony Award-winning play. Lead actors Washington and Viola Davis also co-starred in the 2010 Broadway revival of this searing tale concerning race relations and the disconnect between a father and his family.