Not all January films are bad

By Rafer Guzman

Newsday

Good news, movie goers: It’s January!

I realize that January is unofficially known as Bad Movie Month, a dumping ground for films too weak to compete during busier seasons. You definitely don’t see many January releases go on to sweep the Oscars. This is a time for second-rate genre pictures — horror flicks, rom-coms, actioners.

So how is this good news? In January, the movies become fun again. After a long autumn of wrestling with deep subjects like the nature of power (“J. Edgar”) and the attacks of 9/11 (“Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close”), we can start asking other pressing questions: Can Dolly Parton beat Queen Latifah in a gospel sing-off in “Joyful Noise” (Jan. 13)? Why don’t more movies have easy-to-grasp titles like “Man on a Ledge” (Jan. 27)?

Here are five flicks I’m looking forward to seeing this month. I can’t promise that they’ll be any good, but I’m positive they’ll be more fun than “J. Edgar.”

“Contraband” (Jan. 13): This looks like Crime Flick 101, with Mark Wahlberg (exposing his abs even in the poster) as a former criminal reluctantly taking one last job.

“Haywire” (Jan. 20): Ever since Steven Soderbergh’s cool crime thriller “Out of Sight” (1998), I’ve been waiting for his return to the action genre.

“Red Tails” (Jan. 20): Cuba Gooding Jr. stars in a true-ish story about the Tuskeegee Airmen, the all-black squadron of World War II fighter pilots. I’m hoping for less historical drama, more explosions, especially since the script comes from two comic-book authors, Aaron McGruder (“The Boondocks”) and John Ridley (“The American Way”).

“The Grey” (Jan. 27): Somehow, 59-year-old Liam Neeson has become a rather convincing action hero, even if his recent films (“Taken,” “Unknown”) haven’t quite matched his intensity. In this movie, he and a planeful of others are stranded in Alaska and hunted by wolves.

“One for the Money” (Jan. 27): Katherine Heigl tends to waste her charm on crummy rom-coms, but she looks rather appealing in this action-comedy about an inexperienced bounty hunter. It’s based on the 1994 Janet Evanovich novel that launched the Stephanie Plum series. (Did someone say “franchise”?)