Overrated/Underrated: Holiday sneaks edition

UNDERRATED

Ben Mendelsohn in ‘Rogue One’: This December we’ll start getting some idea of just how many storytelling tangents the original “Star Wars” trilogy can support, but at least the casting in the first of the many spinoffs looks promising. While much has been made of the sharp choice of Felicity Jones out in front as the film’s rebellious rebel leader, also keep an eye on Mendelsohn as a new face of the Empire, one who apparently takes his fashion cues from Emerson, Lake and Palmer. While all the trailer offers of his role is a penchant for harsh glares and a long white cape, Mendelsohn doesn’t need much more, particularly given his outsized fashion in “Slow West.”

Jim Jarmusch: Though his long-gestating Stooges biopic “Gimme Danger” is now in theaters, Jarmusch returns to his patiently drawn wheelhouse this holiday season with “Paterson” (Dec. 28). While his last film richly tilted toward the supernatural with the darkly romantic “Only Lovers Left Alive,” “Paterson” looks to occupy a more grounded, intimate space with Adam Driver as a Paterson, N.J., bus driver, husband and secret poet. Drawing on the same eye for character-rich details and dialogue that made “Broken Flowers,” “Dead Man” and “Down by Law” so engrossing, Jarmusch can be a not-so-secret poet of the streets in his own right.

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OVERRATED

‘La La Land’: How many awards-courting gestures pack this heavily buzzed new film from director Damien Chazelle? A stylized throwback musical (check) set in vintage Los Angeles (check) with two talented, photogenic leads (check) trying to make it in show business (oh-so-many checks), the movie opening Dec. 9 comes from a budding young auteur (check) who already earned academy attention for “Whiplash,” a jacked-up sports movie in jazz clothing. Despite the combined charm of Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling, this tribute to vintage Tinseltown escapism looks as subtle as a Buddy Rich solo. This sort of glitz may play on Oscar night, but ... not my tempo.

Boston: Dear Hollywood: While your occasional ability to look outside of L.A. and New York as settings is admirable, we’re set with Boston movies for awhile. For all its character-rich history, traditionally barbed humor and colorful accents — as brilliantly parodied by Seth Meyers earlier this year — New England has enjoyed plenty of close-ups of late, including a tide of sports championships, gritty Southie indie dramas and the collected works of Wahlberg and the two Afflecks (“Live by Night,” “Patriots Day” and “Manchester by the Sea” are still to come this year alone). If you’re in the market for new locations, Chicago seems to have a lot going on.

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chris.barton@latimes.com

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