The war comes home
Iraq and terrorism figure on screen - but so do bees, Beatles, and multiple Bob Dylans
Threequels, horny teens, killer robots from Cybertron: Goodbye to all that. Or most of it. Fall is here. Make way for seriousness.
War and its implications are on the mind of many a movie, from the Reese Witherspoon-Jake Gyllenhaal vehicle "Rendition," about the ethics of torture, to "The Kingdom," with Jamie Foxx and others as FBI agents hunting terrorists in Saudi Arabia. The war in Iraq dominates "Grace Is Gone," about what happens to a female soldier's husband and children when she's killed there; Paul Haggis's first film since "Crash," "In the Valley of Elah," with Tommy Lee Jones and Susan Sarandon as the parents of an AWOL soldier; and Brian DePalma's "Redacted."
If those don't sound like fun for the whole family, there are the animated "Bee Movie" and several first installments in series, like "The Golden Compass" from the best-selling "His Dark Materials" trilogy.
Other esteemed books adapted for the screen include Ian McEwan's "Atonement," a Coen brothers treatment of Cormac McCarthy's "No Country for Old Men," and - mustache alert - Gabriel Garcia Marquez's seemingly unfilmable "Love in the Time of Cholera."
A version of Dennis Lehane's novel "Gone Baby Gone" is this year's entry in the Boston-based Oscar-bound crime-thriller sweepstakes. It's Ben Affleck's debut as a director, and whether he's any kind of Eastwood or Scorsese is among the season's more burning questions.
Make way for Bob Dylan, in Todd Haynes's "I'm Not There," by way of Julianne Moore, Christian Bale, Richard Gere, and Cate Blanchett. Blanchett, of course, fronts one of the season's few sequels - "Elizabeth: The Golden Age," which sounds perfectly disco. At the other end of the sequel universe is a second helping of "National Treasure."
A complete rundown of fall films follows.
"Across the Universe "
Director Julie Taymor, who brought "The Lion King" to Broadway and Frida Kahlo to the movies, gives us the 1960s - drugs, sex, 'Nam - told as a musical love story refracted through the prism of the Beatles songbook. Our lovers are Lucy and Jude (Evan Rachel Wood and Jim Sturgess), and while that sounds terribly hokey, there's no reason to expect anything less than allegorical spectacle from Taymor.
"The Brave One"
Jodie Foster plays a Manhattan radio host turned gun-toting vigilante after punks kill her fiance (Naveen Andrews); Terrence Howard is the troubled city cop hot on her trail. It's being touted as a provocative, upscale thriller and it's nice to see Foster back in a lead, but doesn't it sound like she's playing Travis Bickle from "Taxi Driver"? Weird. Neil Jordan ("The Crying Game") directs, so you know this won't be a tea party.
"Chalk" Writer-director Mike Akel has beaten Christopher Guest to the punch, delivering a semi-improvised faux-documentary look at teachers in the public-school system.
"Eastern Promises" David Cronenberg returns with this thriller about a London midwife (Naomi Watts) who gets mixed up in a Russian-mob sex-trafficking ring, featuring a gonzo thug (Viggo Mortensen). With Vincent Cassel and Armin Mueller-Stahl. Written by Steven Knight ("Dirty Pretty Things").
"The Hunting Party" A satirical drama about three American journalists covering the war in Bosnia, played by Richard Gere, Terrence Howard, and Jesse Eisenberg, who go looking for a Serbian war criminal. Their target, of course, mistakes them for CIA assassins and comes after them. Written and directed by Richard Shepard, whose previous film was "The Matador."
"I Don't Want to Sleep Alone" The latest from Taiwan's Tsai Ming-liang ("Goodbye Dragon Inn," "What Time Is It There?") sounds like another shot of low-voltage cinematic beauty. It's set in Malaysia, among the lower classes of Kuala Lumpur, and sex, loneliness, and smog figure heavily.
"I Want Someone to Eat Cheese With" Jeff Garlin, of "Curb Your Enthusiasm" fame, wrote, directed, and stars in this tale of an overweight Chicago actor with a fondness for dairy products. Sarah Silverman is the woman he hopes to share Brie with.
"In the Valley of Elah"
Write-director Paul Haggis has a hard act to follow with "Crash," so why not go for broke: a dramatic thriller about the human costs of the war in Iraq? Tommy Lee Jones and Susan Sarandon play parents of a soldier gone AWOL on his return to the States; Charlize Theron is the detective they hire to find him.
"Manda Bala"
First-time director Jason Kohn, who worked on Errol Morris' "The Fog of War," offers this documentary look at corruption and class in contemporary Brazil. Its cast of characters includes a crooked politician and a plastic surgeon who reconstructs the ears of kidnapping victims.
"Mr. Woodcock"
Seann William Scott - the once and future Stifler - is panicking because his mother (Susan Sarandon again) is about to marry his sadistic high school gym teacher (Billy Bob Thornton). Originally due to be released in August '06, this comedy has been delayed so long that director Craig Gillespie's next film, "Lars and the Real Girl," follows it by a month.
Also opening: "Dragon Wars: D-War," "In the Shadow of the Moon"
A new one from the anarchic Finnish director Aki Kaurismaki ("The Man Without a Past"). Helsinki noir at its most deadpan.
"Dedication"
An indie romantic comedy that stars Billy Crudup as a children's author with serious personality issues, and Mandy Moore as his new illustrator. Actor Justin Theroux ("Mulholland Dr.") makes his directing debut.
"Good Luck Chuck"
Gimmick comedy in which Dane Cook is a schlub who realizes he's the last stop on the date train before women find their one true love. Then he meets Jessica Alba and tries to stop the train. In other words, he loves her, so he can't have sex with her. Don't you miss the '70s, when it was the other way around?
"The Jane Austen Book Club"
Screenwriter Robin Swicord ("Memoirs of a Geisha") makes her feature directing debut with this adaptation of Karen Joy Fowler's novel about a Sacramento literary club. Maria Bello, Amy Brenneman, Hugh Dancy, and - hooray - Emily Blunt of "The Devil Wears Prada" star as some of the winsome wooers.
"The Last Winter" An eco-horror thriller set among a team of oil-company workers in Arctic Alaska. With James LeGros and Connie Britton, directed and co-written by Larry Fessenden ("Wendigo").
"Resident Evil: Extinction"
Milla Jovovich returns as post-apocalyptic ubervixen Alice in the third big-screen spinoff of the best-selling video game. This time the zombies are stalking the ruins of Las Vegas.
"Sydney White" Amanda Bynes in a version of "Snow White" set in the college Greek system. Now the dwarves are nerds, but presumably names like "sleepy" and "dopey" will still apply.
Also opening: "Fierce People," "Vanaja"
A gay romance between an Israeli and a Palestinian who meet during a border check. It's the latest film from the talented writer-director Eytan Fox (2004's "Walk on Water"), who does love controversy.
"Feast of Love" Comic romance in a small-town-Oregon coffee shop. With Greg Kinnear, Radha Mitchell, Selma Blair, Jane Alexander, and Morgan Freeman. Directed by Robert Benton ("Kramer vs. Kramer," "Places in the Heart"), adapted by Allison Burnett from the novel by Charles Baxter.
"The Game Plan" Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson plays an ex-NFL bachelor who discovers he has a 7-year-old daughter. Cue the comedy: Sounds like the Vin Dieselest movie ever.
"Into the Wild" Director Sean Penn brings to the screen the 1996 nonfiction bestseller about Christopher McCandless's journey to Alaska and death. Emile Hirsch ("The Lords of Dogtown") plays McCandless, aka "Alexander Supertramp," as he flees a life of privilege for "the real America." Vince Vaughn, Catherine Keener, and Hal Holbrook play people he meets along the way. Will the film paint its hero as a holy man, a holy fool, or something in between?
"King of California" Michael Douglas plays a mentally unstable man whose belief that his suburban enclave was built on a gold mine drives him even crazier. Evan Rachel Wood plays his skeptical daughter. Think of it as "Don Quixote Falling Down."
"The Kingdom" A team of FBI special agents - Jamie Foxx, Jennifer Garner, Chris Cooper, and, somehow, Jason Bateman - scours Saudi Arabia hunting a terrorist. The Saudi officials, of course, are less than thrilled to see Americans doing their jobs. Directed by Peter Berg ("Friday Night Lights").
"The Rape of Europa"
A documentary about the Nazi looting of European museums before and during World War II, and the ongoing battle to return the artworks to their proper owners.
Also opening: "Trade," "Outsource"
Professional provocateur Tony Kaye ("American History X") has made a documentary that looks at both sides of the abortion war. Its scabrous, no-holds-barred approach will likely offend both sides, too.
Get ready for the return of the art western. Writer-director Andrew Dominik adapts Ron Hansen's 1983 cult novel as a meditative drama - with shootouts - that stars Brad Pitt and Sam Shepard as Jesse and Frank James, Casey Affleck and Sam Rockwell as Robert and Charley Ford, and Mary-Louise Parker and Zooey Deschanel as the women in their lives.
"The Darjeeling Limited"
Lovers of shaggy-dog cinema rejoice: Wes Anderson is back with his latest bit of obliqueness. Anderson regulars Owen Wilson and Jason Schwartzman induct Adrien Brody into the club; they play three estranged brothers traveling across India by train. The director's well-established themes of family guilt and entropy sound present and accounted for, but can Anderson take it to the next level?
"Feel the Noise" The much-swooned-over singing dancer Omarion Grandberry stars in this J.Lo-produced drama. He plays a kid from the South Bronx who moves to Puerto Rico to become a reggaeton star.
"The Good Night"
Another first-time writer-director: Jake Paltrow, who cajoled sister Gwyneth into a supporting role. Martin Freeman plays a New Yorker whose midlife crisis screeches to a halt when he meets the woman of his dreams (Penelope Cruz) - but only in his dreams. Danny DeVito is a New Age therapist who tries to help him fine-tune his night vision.
"Grace Is Gone" John Cusack plays a father who has to explain to his two daughters the death of his soldier wife in Iraq. A road trip follows. Known unofficially as "The John Cusack Oscar Movie."
"The Heartbreak Kid"
The Farrelly brothers apparently loved the classic 1972 Elaine May comedy so much they just had to remake it. This time Ben Stiller is the husband who falls in love with another woman (Michelle Monaghan) during his honeymoon. Malin Akerman is the hapless wife and Jerry Stiller is her dad, so Stiller pere is actually playing his son's father-in-law. Wasn't the original film's lead, Charles Grodin, available?
"Lust, Caution" Ang Lee's first movie since "Brokeback Mountain" is about espionage and love-making in post-WWII Shanghai. It's adapted, by James Schamus, from Eileen Chang's 1950 short story and stars Tony Leung, newcomer Tang Wei, and Joan Chen. The MPAA gave the movie an NC-17. Lee says he's not changing a thing.
"Protagonist" Jessicu Yu's avant-documentary uses puppets, interviews, and the works of Euripides to plumb the nature of obsession in four very different men: an ex-terrorist, a "reformed" gay Christian, a martial-arts enthusiast, and a bank robber.
"The Seeker: The Dark Is Rising"
A movie taken from the second book in Susan Cooper's acclaimed fantasy series, with a tagline that says it all: "The last immortal warrior" - he's 11 - "fights to save the world."
Also opening: "Angels in the Dust," "Milarepa: Magician, Murderer, Saint," "Trick 'R Treat"
As Bette Davis did before her, Cate Blanchett returns to the role of Queen Elizabeth I, taking the monarch into the middle years of her reign. Shekhar Kapur returns as director and Geoffrey Rush as adviser/spymaster Sir Francis Walsingham, with Clive Owen newly spreading his cape as Sir Walter Raleigh and Samantha Morton fomenting as Mary, Queen of Scots.
"For the Bible Tells Me So" A documentary about five gay Americans' complex relationship with Christianity. Directed and written by Daniel Karslake.
"Michael Clayton" George Clooney plays a lawyer who gradually decides he's had enough of maintaining the tidy public image of his corrupt corporate firm. With Tilda Swinton, Tom Wilkerson, and Sydney Pollack. Written and directed by Tony Gilroy, who had a hand in all three "Bourne" screenplays.
"My Kid Could Paint That" And did! This documentary looks at the story of toddler-painter Marla Olmstead, whose paintings were compared to Kandinsky and Pollock when she hit the art scene at 4. But was her work a hoax? Was daddy really doing the painting? The Olmsteads turned to the director Amir Bar-Lev to help clear Marla's name.
"Tyler Perry's Why Did I Get Married"
The title's pretty self-explanatory: The "Diary of a Mad Black Woman" writer-director-star returns with a screen adaptation of his play about modern African-American marriage. Perry, Janet Jackson, and Jill Scott star, and Perry's even wearing pants this time.
"We Own the Night"
Writer-director James Gray ("Little Odessa," "The Yards") goes back to those mean streets once more with a 1988 Brooklyn-set thriller about father and son cops (Robert Duvall and Mark Wahlberg) going up against the Russian mafia, with Duvall's other son, a coked-up nightclub owner (Joaquin Phoenix), caught in the crossfire.
Also opening: "Rogue"
"The Comebacks" A washed-up football coach (David Koechner) tries to win games with a hopeless college crew. A comedy directed by Tom Brady - but not that Tom Brady.
"Gone Baby Gone" Ben Affleck directed this adaptation of Dennis Lehane's thriller about two Boston private detectives (Casey Affleck and Michelle Monaghan) who come undone investigating the disappearance of a little girl. With Ed Harris and Morgan Freeman.
"Kurt Cobain About a Son" At the heart of A.J. Schnack's documentary is material culled from hours of previously unreleased interviews between Cobain and journalist Michael Azerrad.
"Lars and the Real Girl"
Last year's It actor Ryan Gosling ("Half Nelson") pulls a full U-turn by playing a nerd who falls in love with the blow-up sex doll he ordered on the Internet. Patricia Clarkson, Emily Mortimer, Kelli Garner, and Paul Schneider play friends and family trying to cope with a most unusual romance.
"Rendition" America's sweetheart takes off the gloves. Reese Witherspoon is the pregnant and increasingly frenzied wife of an Egyptian man (Omar Metwally, "Munich") taken off an airplane into top-secret government custody, while Jake Gyllenhaal is a CIA operative who has to decide where coercion becomes torture. Be very afraid: Meryl Streep plays his boss. Gavin Hood, whose "Tsotsi" won a foreign language Oscar, directs.
"Reservation Road"
It's Oscar season, so here's another agonized family drama featuring great actors in high-stakes performances. Two couples (Mark Ruffalo and Mira Sorvino; Joaquin Phoenix and Jennifer Connelly) collide after a hit-and-run accident. Directed by Terry George ("Hotel Rwanda").
"Sleuth" Another version of the Anthony Shaffer play, this time with Michael Caine as the rich mystery writer squaring off against the jobless actor who ran off with his wife. Caine played the cad in the 1972 movie. Now, it's Jude Law, who else? Harold Pinter wrote the adaptation, and Kenneth Branagh directs.
"30 Days of Night" Evil comes to an Alaska town enveloped by a month of darkness. It's up to a married sheriff (Josh Hartnett) and deputy (Melissa George) to stop it. Directed by David Slade, from the horror-comic-book series.
Also opening: "Live-in Maid" "Wristcutters: A Love Story"
"Dan in Real Life" In this comedy by Peter Hedges ("Pieces of April"), Steve Carell plays a respected advice columnist who, surprise, is a failure with his friends and family. Juliette Binoche and Dane Cook also star.
"Martian Child" John Cusack is a bummed-out sci-fi novelist who adopts a little boy after the death of his fiancee. The boy claims he's from Mars. Amanda Peet is the new lady in Cusack's life, and Joan Cusack plays his sister. Probably not the other "John Cusack Oscar Movie."
"Music Within"
Will Ron Livingston's "Office Space" cult following follow him to this dead serious biopic about Richard Pimental, a Vietnam veteran and pioneer in gaining recognition for Americans with disabilities?
"Rails & Ties"
Alison Eastwood - Clint's daughter - directs a stark drama about a train engineer (Kevin Bacon) whose life goes off the tracks when he accidentally causes the death of a woman and gets involved in the life of her son.
"Run, Fat Boy, Run"
Simon Pegg ("Shaun of the Dead") plays a lout who ditched his pregnant fiancee (Thandie Newton), realized five years later he loves her, and is now running a marathon to woo her back from new beau Hank Azaria. David Schwimmer ("Friends") is directing.
"Slipstream"
Anthony Hopkins gets personal - writing, directing, starring in, and composing the score for this Charlie Kaufmanesque drama about a screenwriter (Hopkins) whose murder-mystery characters invade his life.
"Things We Lost in the Fire" Foreign-movie fans know that Denmark's Susanne Bier may be the one true heir to Douglas Sirk, turning out smart, powerful melodramas like "After the Wedding" and "Brothers." But can she do it in English? We'll find out in this tale of a widow (Halle Berry) who invites the heroin-addict friend (Benicio del Toro) of her late husband (David Duchovny) to live with her.
Also opening: "Saw IV"
Another true-crime saga but one with a hell of a pedigree. Ridley Scott directs from Steve Zaillian's script about the exploits of 1970s Harlem kingpin Frank Lucas (Denzel Washington), who smuggled heroin from Vietnam in the caskets of returning GIs, and Richie Roberts (Russell Crowe), the flawed cop on his tail. Cuba Gooding Jr. tries to salvage his career in a supporting role.
"Bee Movie" Contrary to some of the ads, this movie does not star Jerry Seinfeld hoisted above a set in a bee costume. It's an animated comedy, and Seinfeld's is the lead voice. He also came up with the idea: a bee discovers that honey is sold in jars and turns litigious. Probable line: "Store-bought honey? What is the deal with that?"
"Day Zero" The draft has been reinstated, and three friends - Elijah Wood, Chris Klein, and Jon Bernthal - debate whether to serve.
"The Kite Runner" Khaled Hosseini's acclaimed debut novel, about a privileged Afghan's return home from America to face the 20-year rift in a boyhood friendship, is now a movie, directed by Marc Forster ("Finding Neverland") and adapted by David Benioff ("Troy").
Also opening: "Four Minutes"
Santa Claus is such a good guy you know he has to have a stinker of a brother somewhere. Said brother is Fred (Vince Vaughn), who leaves Chicago and turns up at the North Pole hoping for employment. That big-hearted softie Paul Giamatti is Santa, Miranda Richardson is Mrs. Claus, and Kevin Spacey plays an efficiency expert named Clyde. Either they're all slumming or this is something special.
"Lions for Lambs"
Several stories touching on America's adventures abroad intertwine in this drama directed by Robert Redford from a script by Matthew Michael Carnahan. Two idealistic former students (Michael Pena and Derek Luke) of a college professor (Redford) go to fight in Afghanistan; meanwhile a Republican senator (Tom Cruise) approaches a TV newscaster (Meryl Streep) with a scoop. How are they all connected? With that cast, it's almost a moot point.
"No Country for Old Men"
The Coen brothers' thriller is an adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's stunningly gruesome novel about a Texan (Josh Brolin) who takes $2 million he finds alongside some dead bodies. The money's owners, including a killer nutjob played by Javier Bardem, want it back. Tommy Lee Jones plays the sheriff keeping an eye on Brolin, too.
Also opening: "I Could Never Be Your Woman," "The Price of Sugar"
Not the Old English epic, but close: a digitally enhanced Robert Zemeckis film of it, with Ray Winstone in the title role and Anthony Hopkins as nasty King Hrothgar. Costarring John Malkovich, Robin Wright Penn, Brendan Gleeson, Crispin Glover, Alison Lohman, and Angelina Jolie as - drum roll, please - Grendel's mother.
"The Life of Reilly "
Finally, someone tells the story of the late Charles Nelson Reilly. A documentary by Frank L. Anderson and Barry Poltermann.
"Love in the Time of Cholera" Director Mike Newell goes from one fiercely beloved literary adaptation ("Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire") to another. Gabriel Garcia Marquez's classic of magic realism follows a spurned lover (Javier Bardem) who embarks on a career as a serial Romeo after his heart's desire (Giovanna Mezzogiorno) marries another (Benjamin Bratt). Pray that Marquez's dreamy surrealism survives intact.
"Margot at the Wedding" Writer-director Noah Baumbach follows up "The Squid and the Whale" with more twisted (but entertaining) family psychodynamics. Nicole Kidman plays a novelist and unhappy single mom who crashes the wedding of her sister (Jennifer Jason Leigh) to a slob (Jack Black). Early buzz pegs this as a dramatic breakthrough for Black, with newcomer Zane Pais deftly playing another one of Baumbach's signature teenage screw-ups.
"Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium" In this fantasy from Zach Helm, who wrote "Stranger Than Fiction," an insecure woman (Natalie Portman) inherits the magic superstore of her 286-year-old boss (Dustin Hoffman).
"Enchanted"
An animated princess (Amy Adams) is tossed by a curse into live-action modern-day New York where she falls for a handsome prince of an attorney (Patrick Dempsey) while dealing with the evil queen (Susan Sarandon) who sent her there. It's a
"Hitman" An adaptation of the video game series, with Timothy Olyphant as the title assassin.
"The Mist" After a killer storm, bloodthirsty creatures take over a small Maine town whose residents hole up in a supermarket and fight for their lives. Frank Darabont ("The Shawshank Redemption," "The Green Mile") takes another crack at a Stephen King story. The cast includes Thomas Jane, Andre Braugher, and Marcia Gay Harden.
"This Christmas"
Preston A. Whitmore II ("Crossover") writes and directs a tale of loving family guilt-trips during the holiday season. Don't say you can't relate. Idris Elba, Loretta Devine, Delroy Lindo, and Regina King star.
"Cassandra's Dream"
The next chapter in Woody Allen's London Phase is another dark moral tale about two brothers (Colin Farrell and Ewan McGregor) and the femme fatale (newcomer Hayley Atwell) who drives a wedge between them. The trailer almost looks like a modern noir: How odd that the Woodman had to go to England to dust off an American genre. Costarring Tom Wilkinson.
"Crossing Over" An ensemble drama about immigration in Los Angeles with Harrison Ford, Ashley Judd, Ray Liotta, and Sean Penn. You'll have to forgive the metaphysical title. "Crash" was already taken.
"Flawless" In 1960s London, Michael Caine plays a janitor who convinces an American executive (Demi Moore) to pull a diamond heist after she hits the glass ceiling. We knew 1984's "Blame It on Rio" wouldn't be enough to keep these two apart.
"Pathology" A group of med students compete to see who can commit the perfect murder. You wouldn't believe what this does to their malpractice deductibles.
"Redacted"
Footage from video diaries is stitched together to create a "Rashomon"-style portrait of a deadly encounter between US soldiers and Iraqi citizens. It's fiction, thankfully. It's also quite possibly director Brian DePalma's riskiest work in decades, a potential throwback to his genre-busting late 1960s protest films.
"Thomas Kinkade's the Christmas Cottage"
A film somehow based on a commercially popular painting of a snow-covered house. Maybe they tried shooting an Elvis film on black velvet and it didn't work. Costarring Peter O'Toole, who clearly has realized they will never give him an Oscar so he might as well take what comes.
Also opening: "Aaja Nachle," "War Dance"
In prewar England, a girl accuses the son (James McAvoy) of her family's housekeeper and the lover of her older sister (Keira Knightley) of a crime he didn't commit. Years of catastrophe ensue. With Vanessa Redgrave, Brenda Blethyn, and Romola Garai. Adapted from Ian McEwan's complex 2001 novel and directed by Joe Wright, who did such a bang-up job with "Pride and Prejudice" two years ago.
"The Golden Compass "
In a world where people can turn themselves into small animals and children are mysteriously vanishing, a 12-year-old girl (Dakota Blue Richards) embarks on an adventure to rescue her missing buddy Roger. Could Mrs. Coulter (Nicole Kidman) be behind this? Does Lord Ashriel (Daniel Craig) know anything? Directed by Chris Weitz ("About a Boy"), who adapted the movie from the first of Philip Pullman's "His Dark Materials" series.
"Leatherheads" Another George Clooney hyphenate - he stars, directs, and co-wrote the script with Steven Soderbergh, among others - it's a rowdy comedy-drama set in the world of 1920s football. Clooney's team leader hires war hero John Krasinski to play, then both men fall for sportswriter Renee Zellweger. Sounds like "Bull Durham" with funny headgear.
"The Walker"
What would the American Gigolo be doing nowadays? Squiring rich Washington wives from place to place, as Woody Harrelson's elegant, amoral character does in writer-director Paul Schrader's mystery-drama. There's a murder to keep things cooking. There's also a rare appearance by screen legend Lauren Bacall.
Also opening: "How to Cook Your Life"
"I Am Legend"
Richard Matheson's 1954 cult novel about a human survivor fighting off virus-infected vampires in a dying city became "The Last Man on Earth" (1964), "The Omega Man" (1971), and very nearly a '90s action epic starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. Now it's Will Smith's turn. Hollywood's ever-fresh prince faces an urban environment several magnitudes meaner than the one he faced in "The Pursuit of Happyness."
"I'm Not There" Todd Haynes's first movie since 2002's "Far From Heaven" is a film about Bob Dylan, in which the legendary troubadour is interpreted by Julianne Moore, Cate Blanchett, Richard Gere, Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, and Charlotte Gainsbourg. So, like, he really isn't there?
"Juno" A pregnant teen (Ellen Page) debates how to proceed. A dramatic comedy with Jennifer Garner and Jason Bateman as a couple looking to adopt and Michael Cera, from "Superbad," as the father. Directed by Jason Reitman ("Thank You for Smoking") and written by Diablo Cody, an ex-stripper whom Garner has described as "kooky."
Jack Black's magnetic brain (don't ask) accidentally erases all the tapes in buddy Mos Def's video store. This deeply displeases loyal customer Mia Farrow and forces the two friends to re-create classic 1980s films like "Driving Miss Daisy" and "Robocop" using a cast of local townsfolk. What an idea; maybe it'll catch on. Written and directed by Michel Gondry ("The Science of Sleep").
"National Treasure: Book of Secrets" The best secret about this sequel to the hit Nicolas Cage action-adventure would be: They're just kidding! But they're not. This seems extremely real.
"P.S. I Love You"
To every movie season there is an unapologetic tearjerker, and this sounds like it: Hilary Swank plays a widow stepping back into life with the help of motivational letters left behind by her late husband (Gerard Butler).
"Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street" Tim Burton brings us his version of Stephen Sondheim's classic musical about an aggrieved serial killer (Johnny Depp) and the freakish gal-pal (Helena Bonham-Carter) who makes pies of the corpses. The fit between Burton and Sondheim seems oddly right. Sacha Baron Cohen, Alan Rickman, and Timothy Spall costar.
"Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story"
A loving parody of rock biopics, specifically the 2005 Johnny Cash story "Walk the Line." That's serious narrowcasting, but everything co-writer/producer Judd Apatow ("Knocked Up," "Superbad") has touched lately has turned to gold. John C. Reilly plays fictional country music legend Dewey Cox, staggering through decades of bad behavior and basso profundo hits. Jake Kasdan directs.
"Youth Without Youth" Francis Ford Coppola's first movie in a decade is about a 70-year-old (Tim Roth) who, after he's struck by lightning, ages in reverse, grows intellectually sharper, and embarks on a quest to grasp the nature of consciousness. Adapted from a novel by the great religious philosopher Mircea Eliade. So, basically, not "Jack."
"Charlie Wilson's War"
The 2003 nonfiction bestseller comes courtesy of writer Aaron Sorkin and director Mike Nichols. Tom Hanks plays the title character, a Texas congressman who decided to covertly arm the mujahadeen of Afghanistan during the 1980s. Hey, who let the Taliban in? Philip Seymour Hoffman plays a CIA rogue and Julia Roberts the lockjawed socialite who helped Wilson fund his dream.
"The Diving Bell and the Butterfly" Painter-turned-director Julian Schnabel ("Before Night Falls") adapts a memoir by the paralyzed Frenchman Jean-Dominique Bauby (Matthew Amalric), who typed each letter of his autobiography by blinking one eye. Typical Schnabel chutzpah: a movie about a man who can't move. Word is he pulls it off, finding a visual correlative for Bauby's passionate interior freedom.
"Persepolis" With the help of Vincent Paronnaud, Marjane Satrapi has adapted her autobiographical graphic novel into an animated feature about a young Iranian woman trying to figure where, culturally, she belongs. It won the Jury Prize at Cannes this year, and we promise it's not nearly as boring as we've made it sound. "The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep" A wee Scottish lad discovers an egg that will hatch into a certain mythical monster. Cue expensive special effects. Cue enchantment. Also opening: "Alien vs. Predator: Requiem" 
