Back to the good old ways
The new season of films takes its cues from past glories
If this summer showed us a grim future (thank you, WALL-E and Batman), fall wants to bring us a happy past. The ultra-serious or super-dark dramas that regularly populate fall lineups have been replaced with lots of starry Hollywood entertainments that either are set in the past or feel like throwbacks. If levity doesn't completely abound, it's certainly easier than usual to find - there's more glamour, too.
Tellingly, Brad Pitt ages in reverse for David Fincher's "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button." He spends the first half of the 20th century magically going from 80 to 60 to scrumptious, while his love, Cate Blanchett, ages in the opposite direction. Diane English's remake of "The Women" has Annette Bening, Debra Messing, and Jada Pinkett Smith cheering Meg Ryan to confront her husband's mistress (Eva Mendes). Dakota Fanning plays a troubled Southern lass who finds a safe harbor with black people in the 1950s not once but twice, in "Hounddog" and "The Secret Life of Bees." In "Valkyrie," Tom Cruise applies an eye patch, a German accent, and one of his finest haircuts to join a band of Hitler assassins. Not a comedy, but still.
Going even further back, Baz Luhrmann's first movie since "Moulin Rouge" shuttles Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman to "Australia," an epic Western romance that will seduce us, apparently with maximum dust and slow-motion horse-riding. As for literary adaptation mixed with romantic reunion, Diane Lane and Richard Gere get back together for a version of Nicholas Sparks's "Nights in Rodanthe."
Even the two movies about Republican presidents - Oliver Stone's "W" and Ron Howard's "Frost/Nixon" - emit a whiff of comedy. The year's big biopic - Gus Van Sant's "Milk," with Sean Penn - is unlikely, too: the gay San Francisco supervisor, his boyfriend, and his assassin. My, my. The Coen brothers having tired, for the moment, of soul-crushing sourness, return to farce for "Burn After Reading," with George Clooney, Frances McDormand, Pitt, Tilda Swinton, and John Malkovich as an assortment of cynics and dopes.
For your pleasure, here's a breakdown of the rest of the season. Fingers crossed that the Coens' title doesn't predict a whole season of disposable movies.
Movie opening dates are subject to change.
SEPTEMBER 11
"The Gates" Did you miss getting down to New York in 2005 to see Christo's Central Park "Gates," the largest art installation in New York history? Antonio Ferrara's documentary replays it all for you.
SEPTEMBER 12
"Burn After Reading" The Coen brothers, as is their wont, follow up the Oscar glory and bruising artistry of last year's "No Country for Old Men" with a dippy little farce about two gym employees (Brad Pitt and Frances McDormand) who find a CIA computer disk and try to blackmail its owner (irascible John Malkovich). George Clooney and another 2008 Oscar winner, Tilda Swinton, costar, along with character actor Richard Jenkins, who finally got the press he deserves with this year's "The Visitor." Think "Fargo" but sillier.
"Enlighten Up" A documentary in which Nick Rosen, a yoga skeptic and journalist downward-dogs his way around the world, in the name of expanding his mind and, presumably, his range of motion.
"Righteous Kill" De Niro. Pacino. Together again for almost the first time, since the legends only shared two scenes in 1995's "Heat" and none, obviously, in 1974's "The Godfather, Part II." The two play veteran NYC cops trying to catch a serial killer - that's a journeyman plot for journeyman director Jon Avnet. And it's been a good long while since either De Niro or Pacino did anything worthy of their status. Do us a favor, boys: Surprise us.
"Trouble the Water" Filmmakers Carl Deal and Tia Lessint traveled to post-Katrina New Orleans to document the damage and found a natural-born star who'd done documenting of her own. Much of this breakout Sundance hit consists of video footage shot by Ninth Ward resident Kimberly Roberts as the disaster worsened over the days. It's like a frontline war documentary lit up by one woman's ebullience and rage.
"Tyler Perry's The Family That Preys" Secrets, lies, and piles of hair in Perry's sixth ensemble soap. This one stars Alfre Woodard and Kathy Bates as lifelong friends whose families are wrapped in assorted extramarital and business scandals. They take a road trip to escape from it all. With Sanaa Lathan, Taraji P. Henson, Cole Hauser, Rockmond Dunbar, KaDee Strickland, Perry, and Robin Givens. She lives!
"The Women" Like the 1939 classic on which it's based (which was based in turn on Clare Boothe Luce's hit play), this Diane English comedy doesn't feature a single male actor. But hell's bells, look at the actresses: Meg Ryan, Annette Bening, Eva Mendes, Candice Bergen, Bette Midler, Cloris Leachman, Debra Messing, and Jada Pinkett Smith. It's like "Sex and the City" cubed. (And go figure: One of the producers is Mick Jagger. The dog.)
Also opening: "Red Roses and Petrol"
SEPTEMBER 17
"Louisa May Alcott: The Woman Behind 'Little Women' " A self-explanatorily titled documentary about the beloved novelist's life.
SEPTEMBER 19
"Elite Squad" In Jose Padilha's hard-hitting action flick - a controversial smash in its native Brazil - the nation's military police are the sole line of defense separating civilization from anarchy. Some say the movie is brutal but truthful, others call it fascism on film. The Berlin jury awarded it the Golden Bear. For those who thought "City of God" was too tame.
"Ghost Town" At last, Ricky Gervais, the star of HBO's "Extras" and the BBC's "The Office," gets a movie of his own. Uh-oh, it's about a grumpy dentist "who sees dead people . . . and they annoy him." With Greg Kinnear, Kristen Wiig , and Téa Leoni. Directed and co-written by the screenwriter David Koepp ("War of the Worlds" and the most recent Indiana Jones picture).
"Hounddog" In Deborah Kampmeier's much puzzled-over drama, Dakota Fanning plays a 12-year-old who escapes her abusive life in a North Carolina backwoods through Elvis impersonation and the blues. It premiered to controversy at the Sundance Film Festival in 2007 and looked destined for the pop-culture dustbin. Not anymore.
"Igor" Admit it: You always thought the hunchback in all those old horror movies got a raw deal. In this animated family movie, John Cusack provides the voice of the title character, a mad scientist's sidekick who'd rather be a mad scientist.
"Lakeview Terrace" After shocking theater- and moviegoers with biting tales of the gender wars, writer-director Neil LaBute has looked increasingly lost of late. ("The Wicker Man"? Really?) This entry in the real-estate-suspense genre looks like a holding maneuver, but maybe it's less turgid than the trailers look. Patrick Wilson and Kerry Washington are the nice interracial couple who move into a new house; Samuel L. Jackson is their nut-job neighbor who, unfortunately, has an LAPD badge.
"My Best Friend's Girl" Dane Cook plays a "breakup specialist" hired by ex-boyfriends to take their dream gals on a date from hell, thus making them look good by comparison. When best pal Jason Biggs sics him on Kate Hudson, Cook finds his no-go mojo no longer works. Is this "Good Luck Chuck" turned inside out or what?
"Secrecy" Two Harvard profs document the history of governmental secrecy in the United States through interviews, and archival and artistic footage.
"Towelhead" Alan Ball, the creator of "Six Feet Under" and the writer of "American Beauty," wrote and directed this adaptation of Alicia Erian's novel about a girl (Summer Bishil) sent to live with her Lebanese uncle (Peter Macdissi) in Texas during the first Gulf war. She experiences the expected racism and eventually lusts after an Army reservist (Aaron Eckhart) too old and himself too racist to be appropriate. With Maria Bello and Toni Collette. It had been scheduled for a summer release.
"The Unknown Woman" The new film from Giuseppe Tornatore ("Cinema Paradiso") is a thriller about an Italian family's possibly crazy Ukrainian housekeeper (Xenia Rappoport).
Also opening: "Another Gay Sequel: Gays Gone Wild," "Momma's Man."
SEPTEMBER 26
"Battle in Seattle" Mr. Charlize Theron, Stuart Townsend, takes us back to the protests that erupted against the World Trade Organization meeting in 1999 with this dramatic reenactment. The riots, the tear gas, the piercings. André "3000" Benjamin, Michelle Rodriguez, Martin Henderson, and Jennifer Carpenter play demonstrators. Ray Liotta's the mayor. Woody Harrelson is a riot cop, and Theron is his pregnant wife. When, one wonders, will her water break?
"Choke" An adaptation of Chuck Palahniuk's darkly comic novel about a sex-addicted conman (Sam Rockwell) who pays for his mother's nursing home bills by forcing himself to choke in public and bilking money out of the sympathetic. Anjelica Huston plays mom, and the actor Clark Gregg directs.
"The Duchess" In this costume drama, Keira Knightley stars as Georgiana Spencer, the eventual Duchess of Devonshire, 18th-century England's biggest socialite. The movie deals mostly with her much chronicled unhappy marriage to William Cavendish (Ralph Fiennes) and seems to be positioning her as Princess Diana forebear, which, of course, Spencer was. Diana descended from Georgiana's brother's family. Directed by Saul Dibb.
"Eagle Eye" Two strangers (Shia LaBeouf and Michelle Monaghan) get mysterious phone calls instructing them to do the caller's bidding. Or else. A race-against-time techno-thriller ensues. Directed by D.J. Caruso who previously guided LaBeouf through the nonsense suspense of "Disturbia."
"The Exiles" Kent Mackenzie's little-seen, hard-to-categorize film from 1961 gets a fitting release. It's set in Los Angeles, was filmed in black-and-white, and features a cast of non-film-industry retirees, American Indians, and immigrants.
"Flow" A documentary on the global water wars that has been wowing audiences on the festival circuit, Irena Salina's film could well become the "Inconvenient Truth" of H{-2}O.
"Humboldt County" A medical student (Jeremy Strong) discovers a town whose cash crop is cannabis. Its residents include Frances Conroy, Fairuza Balk, Chris Messina, Brad Dourif, and Peter Bogdanovich. Written and directed by Darren Grodsky and Danny Jacobs.
"The Lucky Ones" The returning-veteran movie gets crossed with the road-trip drama. Rachel McAdams ("Wedding Crashers"), Michael Pena ("Crash"), and Tim Robbins play three scarred soldiers back from Iraq and forced to share a ride across the country. Can talented director Neil Burger make the jump from "Illusionist" fancy to painful realism? And if audiences didn't go to "Stop-Loss" or "Home of the Brave," how will he get them to see this?
"Miracle at St. Anna" Spike Lee's World War II movie. Derek Luke, Michael Ealy, and Laz Alonso are among the actors playing soldiers of the Army's 92d Infantry, a segregated unit that did, in fact, fight the Nazis in Italy. The film covers behind-the-lines action as well as the characters' experiences on the home front. Lee fought a war of words with Clint Eastwood over the ethnicity of WWII movies this spring. With luck, "Anna" will be more eloquent but just as pointed.
"Nights in Rodanthe" One for the (slightly) older crowd, this romance about a man and a woman finding love at an isolated inn on North Carolina's Outer Banks is based on a novel by Nicholas Sparks, who gave us "The Notebook," "A Walk to Remember," and other highly popular glop. What's that? It stars Richard Gere and the divine Diane Lane? That's all right, then.
"NowhereLand" Eddie Murphy plays a stressed-out executive who winds up in his daughter's imaginary play world, where his problems are solved, but if this preview is accurate, not all of them.
Also opening: "Forever Strong"
OCTOBER 1
"The Universe of Keith Haring" The artist behind the glowing-baby graffito gets a 90-minute documentary devoted to his legend and too-short life.
OCTOBER 3
"Allah Made Me Funny" A concert film starring three Muslim comedians - Mo Amer, Azhar Usman, and Preacher Moss - whose material deals with observations about Islamic life in America. This might be the comedy Albert Brooks couldn't make in the Muslim world.
"An American Carol" David Zucker, the maker of "Airplane!" and the "Naked Gun" movies, offers this politics spoof. Here a liberal documentary filmmaker, Michael Malone (Kevin Farley), wants to do away with celebrating the Fourth of July. The ghosts of George Washington, George S. Patton, and John F. Kennedy appear to try to make him change his mind. Kelsey Grammer plays Patton. Jon Voight is Washington, and Gary Coleman is a slave. It doesn't sound funny, but who knows.
"Appaloosa" Acting and facial hair alert! Ed Harris directed, co-wrote (based on the Robert B. Parker novel), and stars in this Western about two friends (Harris and Viggo Mortensen) hired to watch over a suffering small town lorded over by dastardly rancher (Jeremy Irons). Enter a youngish widow (Reneé Zellweger) whose alluring petticoats and mysterious ways threaten to break up the lawmen's partnership. Do things cul minate with a high-noon act-off? And between whom?
"Beverly Hills Chihuahua" Drew Barrymore provides the voice for the title character, a pampered little rat-dog lost in Mexico. The trailers for this comedy are so actively annoying they exert a weird fascination. The posters, meanwhile, insult the audience by providing a pronunciation key for "chihuahua." We're actually looking forward to this, but probably for all the wrong reasons.
"Blindness" From Fernando Meireilles ("City of God," "The Constant Gardener") and novelist Jose Saramago comes a dark fable in which humanity is struck with an epidemic of blindness and descends into anarchy. Mark Ruffalo, Julianne Moore, Gael Garcia Bernal, and Danny Glover star; the film opened this year's Cannes with a thud but rumors are that it's since been recut.
"Flash of Genius" This drama is based on the true story of Bob Kearns (Greg Kinnear), a Detroit college professor who invented the intermittent automobile window wiper and sued Ford for stealing his design. Boy, the car industry probably can't wait to relive this one. Lauren Graham plays Kinnear's wife.
"How to Lose Friends and Alienate People" Obnoxiousness in the magazine world. Simon Pegg plays an incompetent reporter bumbling his way through interviews at a Vanity Fair-like magazine. Kirsten Dunst is a co-worker. Megan Fox is a ditzy starlet. Jeff Bridges is the editor in chief. And this comedy looks like it's a mess.
"A Man Named Pearl" Pearl Fryar taught himself the art of topiary. This documentary tells his story and philosophy.
"Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist" Young love in nighttime Manhattan, with Michael Cera ("Superbad," "Juno") and Kat Dennings ("The 40-Year-Old Virgin") meeting while scouring downtown clubs for a secret concert by their fave band. Director Peter Sollett hasn't been seen since 2002's "Raising Victor Vargas," but that film got urban adolescence absolutely right. Fingers crossed; this could be a winner.
"The Pool" From Chris Smith, the director of "American Movie," a film about a young hotel employee (Venkatesh Chavan) in Goa, India, who offers his services to the owner of the home he covets.
"Religulous" Comedian-pundit Bill Maher takes on religion. Guess what: He thinks it's absurd. Larry Charles directs (his first gig since "Borat") and by all accounts the scorn is spread pretty evenly. Ladies and gentlemen, start your indignation.
Also opening: "Traveling With Pets"
OCTOBER 10
"Body of Lies" Leonardo DiCaprio is some kind of CIA operative with a bead on a terrorist leader in Jordan. But he needs backup, which comes courtesy of Russell Crowe, as the agency veteran pulling his strings and probably risking his life by remote. Director Ridley Scott will see to it that stuff explodes, maybe even Crowe's deep-fried accent.
"Days and Clouds" An Italian "Scenes From a Marriage" from director Silvio Soldini (2000's "Bread and Tulips"), this follows the financial and romantic ups and downs in a middle-aged couple's relationship. Much loved on the festival circuit.
"The Express" The true-sports saga of Ernie Davis, who in 1961 became the first African-American to win the Heisman Trophy, playing for Syracuse University while battling racism at the Cotton Bowl. Rob Brown ("Finding Forrester") plays Davis, whose pro career was ultimately cut short by tragedy, and Dennis Quaid plays the coach.
"Quarantine" More video-cam POV scares a la "Cloverfield" and "Blair Witch Project." This one, a remake of a 2007 Spanish horror film, follows a TV news crew on an EMT visit to an apartment building that quickly turns gruesome. Something - or some things - are attacking the tenants, and the authorities have sealed off the exits. And why are those trucks from the Centers for Disease Control parked outside?
"Rachel Getting Married" A change-up for Anne Hathaway is portended - and maybe a comeback for director Jonathan Demme - in this human comedy about a troubled woman sprung from rehab to attend her sister's wedding. Demme hasn't made a small dramatic film - arguably his métier - in ages, and Hathaway could use a good stretch. Plus: rare Debra Winger sighting!
Also opening: "City of Ember."
OCTOBER 15
"The Best of British TV Ads 2007" Apparently their commercials are so good that you can't not pay to see them at the Museum of Fine Arts.
OCTOBER 17
"Ashes of Time Redux" In 1994, Wong Kar-wai made his only martial arts movie, and it was about as surreal as you'd expect: a wuxia fight film turned meditatively inside out. Not content to leave well enough alone, Wong has re-edited the film (a bit), digitally manipulated the images (somewhat), and added some new music. It's still beautifully bonkers.
"Happy-Go-Lucky" In Mike Leigh's new comedy, a single schoolteacher (Sally Hawkins) attempts to bring happiness both to herself and the people in her life. With Eddie Marsan and Alexis Zegerman.
"Max Payne" What with all the sensitive Oscar-wannabe dramas getting released, the season needs some counterprogramming. Enter this big-screen adaptation of a hit video game, with Mark Wahlberg playing the oh-so-subtly monickered title character, a DEA agent on the run from - well, everybody. Mila Kunis ("Forgetting Sarah Marshall") plays assassin Mona Sax. Who comes up with these names?
"Morning Light" This
"The Secret Life of Bees" Adapted from Sue Monk Kidd's acclaimed novel by writer-director Gina Prince-Bythewood ("Love and Basketball"), this follows a troubled South Carolina teenager (Dakota Fanning) taken in by an eccentric family of powerhouse African-American personalities (Queen Latifah, Alicia Keys, and Sophie Okonedo) in the early 1960s. Jennifer Hudson's here, too; there'd darn well better be some singing.
"Sex Drive" A high school senior embarks on a road trip to hook up with a girl he met online. Totally the winner in a "My First Screenplay" contest, right?
"A Thousand Years of Good Prayers" According to the Chinese proverb in Wayne Wang's new movie, that's how long it takes for a father and a daughter to get along. The film focuses on an old man (Henry O) who comes to America for the first time to see his estranged daughter (Faye Yu). The freeze on their relationship will thaw. Promise.
"W." Oliver Stone strikes again - this time at the sitting president. The movie is a black comedy about how George W. Bush got to where he is today. The casting is certainly intriguing. Josh Brolin has the title part. Elizabeth Banks is Laura Bush. James Cromwell is dad. Ellen Burstyn is Barbara Bush. Thandie Newton is Condoleezza Rice. Jeffrey Wright is Colin Powell. And Richard Dreyfuss is likely to bring down the White House as Dick Cheney.
"What Just Happened?" Barry Levinson has turned Art Linson's Hollywood comic memoir into a movie about a veteran movie producer (Robert De Niro) trying to juggle a new project along with his two ex-wives. With Catherine Keener, Robin Wright Penn Kristen Stewart, Stanley Tucci, and Sean Penn and Bruce Willis as themselves. This doesn't sound funny either, but. . .
OCTOBER 24
"Breakfast With Scot" A Toronto-set comedy about a strait-laced gay couple (Thomas Cavanagh and Ben Shenkman) who inherit a young boy (Noah Bernett) and struggle with the fact that he's a screaming queen. Oh, those wacky Canadians.
"Changeling" Clint Eastwood's Oscar entry for this year is an odd one: A Depression-era true story about a single mother (Angelina Jolie) whose son is kidnapped, then returned to her. Problem is, she says it's not the same kid. From this comes a saga of a woman fighting the powers that be all the way to the madhouse and beyond. Eastwood pitches it as a period epic, and they loved Jolie in Cannes.
"Filth and Wisdom" Madonna makes her writing-and-directing debut with this romantic musical dramedy about a Ukrainian immigrant (the musician Eugene Hütz) who cross-dresses as a dominatrix to finance his dreams of rock stardom. One of his London flatmates wants to help starving African children. Glimpse the autobiography wherever you want.
"Frontrunners" "Election," the documentary. Four candidates run for Student Council president at New York's Stuyvesant High School and in the process prove that the American political process is a mixture of high ideals and low chicanery no matter what level you're at. An audience-charmer at this year's SXSW festival, but will campaign fatigue have set in by the time this comes out?
"High School Musical 3" The Disney Channel behemoth prepares to eat the moviegoing world. Run for your lives. OK, stop to ogle Troy and Gabriella. Then run.
"Passengers" Upscale suspense featuring Anne Hathaway as a grief counselor who interviews survivors of an airplane crash and gets caught up in a mystery when they start disappearing. Patrick Wilson, Dianne Wiest, and Andre Braugher costar in a change of genre pace for indie-drama director Rodrigo Garcia ("Nine Lives," "Things You Can Tell Just by Looking at Her").
"Pride and Glory" Another act-off. This time it's Edward Norton and Colin Farrell as brothers (huh?) in a family-cop-corruption thriller that puts them on opposite sides of a coverup. Will someone else own the night? Is there a title belt for that? Directed by Gavin O'Connor ("Tumbleweeds"), who wrote the script with Joe Carnahan ("Smokin' Aces").
"Saw V" Jigsaw (Tobin Bell) has been dead since "Saw III," but what's a profitable franchise without its brand-name villain? Bell's still listed in the cast, and the torture continues, onscreen and off, in the fourth sequel to the popular horror spurt-fest. Like the others, it stands to be fiendishly overplotted, really disgusting, and (scariest of all) profitable.
Also opening: "Lord Save Us From Your Followers."
OCTOBER 26
"Beautiful Losers" Documentary about a boundary-busting group of filmmakers, artists, and designers centered at New York's Alleged Gallery in the 1990s who took their inspiration from street culture and the DIY aesthetic.
Also opening, on Oct. 30: "Wild Combination: A Portrait of Arthur Russell."
OCTOBER 31
"Fear(s) of the Dark" A collection of short animated movies from France aimed at mining horror from literal and figurative darkness.
"I've Loved You So Long" British actress Kristin Scott Thomas ("The English Patient") has been spending more and more time in French movies, and in this drama, as a prisoner released after 15 years to the custody of her sister (Elsa Zylberstein), she appears to make the final leap to Gallic stardom.
"RocknRolla" Director Guy Ritchie (still Mr. Madonna to you) delivers another mad crime saga just in time for Halloween. Gerard Butler ("300") leads the fray as a charismatic hood trying to get his piece of a London real estate boondoggle and elbowing fellow players Idris Elba, Thandie Newton, Ludacris, and Tom Wilkinson aside. Expect high style and pray for coherence.
"Zack and Miri Make a Porno" From Kevin Smith, a comedy about two broke platonic friends - Seth Rogen and Elizabeth Banks - who agree to make some money by shooting an adult movie. Things get decidedly less porny when they start to fall in love with each other. Please, God, let this be as fun as the title.
Also opening: "Ballast" and "The Haunting of Molly Hartley."
OCTOBER TBA:
"Dear Zachary" Filmmaker Kurt Kuenne wanted to memorialize a murdered friend and leave a testimonial for the dead man's young son. Then he learned that the boy's mother was accused of the killing. The result is a true-crime documentary that has been leaving festival audiences exhausted, amazed, and outraged.
NOVEMBER 6
Also opening: "Richard Serra: Thinking on Your Feet" and "Louise Bourgeois: The Spider, the Mistress and the Tangerine"
NOVEMBER 7
"Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa" More talking, dancing animals, and this time they've gone to the Motherland, where presumably they promptly get to work on righting Zimbabwe's election woes. With the voices of Ben Stiller, Jada Pinkett Smith, David Schwimmer, Chris Rock, and Bernie Mac.
"Role Models" Paul Rudd and Seann William Scott play a couple of wild men forced to enroll in the Big Brothers program. A comedy directed and co-written by David Wain, who wrote the brutally unfunny commandments comedy "The 10." Things can only get better.
"Save Me" In this drama, Chad Allen plays a reckless junkie who enters a country clinic to deactivate his homosexuality. It's run by a loving Christian couple (Judith Light and Stephen Lang). Who will fall off the wagon and into a vat of love first? Written by Robert Desiderio and directed by Robert Cary. With Robert Gant ("Queer as Folk").
"Soul Men" When actor-comedian Bernie Mac unexpectedly died of pneumonia in early August, there were two films left in the pipeline: the 2009 release "Old Dogs" and this comedy-drama about backup soul singers (Mac and Samuel L. Jackson) who reunite onstage after years of acrimony. Making for an even more bittersweet experience, the film features an appearance by Isaac Hayes, who died a day after Mac.
"Synecdoche, New York" The long-awaited directorial debut of gonzo metaphysical screenwriter Charlie Kaufman ("Being John Malkovich," "Adaptation") casts Philip Seymour Hoffman as a downtrodden theater director building a giant replica of New York in a New York warehouse. What does it all mean? With luck, that Kaufman's as much a talent behind the camera as at his word processor. The women surrounding Hoffman are various and marvelous: Dianne Wiest, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Michelle Williams, Catherine Keener, Samantha Morton.
Also opening: "Repo! The Genetic Opera"
NOVEMBER 14
"Lake City" Troy Garity (Jane Fonda's son) plays a country boy gone wrong in the big city, but the buzz surrounding this Tribeca Film Festival hit is strongest for Sissy Spacek as his mother, a Virginia farmer who has to cope with her son's druggie confederates. A mixture of heartland drama and action-movie suspense? Sounds like "Witness" with Spacek in the Harrison Ford role.
"Nobel Son" Alan Rickman plays an arrogant Nobel Prize-winning academic, Bryan Greenberg plays his long-suffering son, and Shawn Hatosy ("The Cooler") plays a kidnapper in a manic black comedy from director Randall Miller ("Bottle Shock"). Mary Steenburgen, Danny DeVito, Eliza Dushku, Bill Pullman, and Ernie Hudson costar; electronica guru Paul Oakenfield did the music.
"Quantum of Solace" Yes, it's the new James Bond movie. Yes, the title is extremely silly. But Daniel Craig is back as 007, and he's still the best thing that has happened to the role since Connery. Mathieu Amalric, that nice paralytic from "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly," plays a dastardly villain planning to control the world's water supply. Expect gadgets, brutality, and an Amalric performance that intentionally channels French president Nicolas Sarkozy.
"Stranded: I've Come From a Plane that Crashed the Mountains" A documentary about the rugby players who survived that 1972 plane crash in the Andes, and the notorious things the men resorted to in order to stay alive. Directed by Gonzalo Arijón, a friend of some of the survivors.
Also opening: "Boy in Striped Pajamas."
NOVEMBER 19
"Harvard Beats Yale 29-29" The year was 1968. The occasion: The first time since 1909 that Harvard and Yale met on the football field for their final game of the season. And playing lineman for Harvard? Tommy Lee Jones - Al Gore's roommate, natch.
NOVEMBER 21
"A Christmas Tale" Arnaud Desplechin's star-packed epic family drama stars Catherine Deneuve, Mathieu Amalric, Emmanuelle Devos, Chiara Mastroianni, Anne Consigny, Melvil Poupaud, and Jean-Paul Roussillon. Fistfights, put-downs, and other dysfunction are wrapped in grand cinematic wrapping. A hit this spring at Cannes.
"Nerakhoon" ("The Betrayal") The effects of America's Vietnam-era policies on one family are traced from Laos to Brooklyn in a documentary that plays like gritty melodrama. Cinematographer Ellen Kuras has worked with some of Hollywood's finest filmmakers but she steps into the director's seat for this labor of love, 20 years in the making.
"Nothing Like the Holidays" It wouldn't be the holidays without a movie about getting together for the holidays. Alfredo de Villa ("Washington Heights") directs a comedy-drama about a Chicago Hispanic clan airing their secrets and lies over Christmas. John Leguizamo, Freddy Rodriguez, Mercedes Ruehl, and Alfred Molina play family members, and Sundance fixture Melonie Diaz ("Hamlet 2") stirs the pot as an ex-lover.
"The Road" This year's Cormac McCarthy adaptation promises to be grimmer than "No Country for Old Men" but probably less popular. Viggo Mortensen plays a man trekking for months with his son across an American landscape ravaged by an unspecified cataclysm. Directed by John Hillcoat, whose blistering 2005 western, "The Proposition," was a critical hit. The book won a Pulitzer Prize. Maybe the movie will win some Oscars.
"The Soloist" Before you shake your head in disbelief after you find out that Jamie Foxx is playing a homeless schizophrenic pianist in Los Angeles who dreams of playing at the Walt Disney Concert Hall, just know: It's based on a true story. And Robert Downey Jr. plays Steve Lopez, the Los Angeles Times columnist who follows him around town. Expect acting! Expect Oscars! And since the director is Joe Wright ("Atonement"), expect at least one 8-minute tracking shot of Downey chasing Foxx around the La Brea Tar Pits
"Twilight" The hugely popular fantasy books become a movie starring Kristen Stewart as a child of divorce who falls in love with an aberrant vampire named Edward (Robert Pattinson) - he's superstrong, is OK with daylight, and doesn't like blood. But her scent threatens to drive him wild. Things gets busy when Edward's mortal vampire enemies drop in on her and her small town. Directed by Catherine Hardwicke ("Thirteen," "Lords of Dogtown"), whose ease with young people should bring the book to life.
Also opening: "Eden."
NOVEMBER 26
"Australia" Baz Luhrmann's first extravaganza since "Moulin Rouge" gives us Nicole Kidman as a rich English lady who moves to Northern Australia in the 1930s to sell a lot of cattle. Hugh Jackman plays her herder. And together they push cows across the continent, get caught in the bombing of Darwin during WWII, and, of course, fall in love. But the lack of songs and exclamation points are worrying. Otherwise, it sounds like the serious epic Sydney Pollack never got to make.
"Bolt" Sadly, not the story of the Jamaican track star, but the animated story of a famous German shepherd who discovers that he's not actually a superhero. He just plays one on TV. The dog's voice is by John Travolta. With support from Miley Cyrus.
"Fanboys" A group of friends, including Jay Baruchel of "Tropic Thunder," are so excited to see George Lucas's "Star Wars Episode 1:The Phantom Menace" that they break into the Skywalker Ranch and steal an advanced print. One of them is dying and wants to see the movie before he dies. Should we offer our condolences now?
"Four Christmases" Reese Witherspoon and Vince Vaughn play a couple who try to visit all four of their divorced parents for the holidays. Sounds promising; please, please, please let her get to be funny, too. Also interesting is the idea that Vaughn appears to be the size of at least three Witherspoons.
"Milk" As in Harvey Milk, the openly gay San Francisco supervisor and "Mayor of Castro Street" who was assassinated in 1978. Sean Penn plays Milk, Josh Brolin (fresh off his role as the president in Oliver Stone's "W.") plays gunman and ex-city employee Dan White. Director Gus Van Sant, playing conventional for a change, will try to take us back to the days when the Twinkie defense could spur riots in the street.
Also opening: "Transporter 3"
NOVEMBER 28
"Slumdog Millionaire" From the slums of modern-day India comes a boy on a mission: to make his way up and out of misery via a television game show.
DECEMBER 5
"Punisher: War Zone" A superhero movie that somehow got lost on its way to summer and ended up here, this Marvel-produced sequel puts Ray Stevenson ("King Arthur") in the vigilante costume and pits him against the villainous Jigsaw. No, not the guy from "Saw."
DECEMBER 12
"The Class" A highly acclaimed "docu-fiction" look at high school kids in a French classroom, the latest from Laurent Cantet ("Time Out") has had a very good year, winning the Golden Palm at Cannes and opening the New York Film Festival. Now it's our turn to see a movie that wonders how kids ever learn anything and how teachers ever teach them anything.
"The Day the Earth Stood Still" This remake of the 1951 sci-fi classic appears to be playing it straight, roping in Keanu Reeves as Klaatu, the space alien who comes to Earth with a warning. That's casting that could explain an entire career. With Jennifer Connelly, Jon Hamm, John Cleese, and Kathy Bates. Directed, unpromisingly, by Scott Derrickson, whose previous movie was 2005's "The Exorcism of Emily Rose."
Also opening: "Tokyo"; and on Dec. 18, "A Secret."
DECEMBER 19
"Seven Pounds" Will Smith rejoins his "Pursuit of Happyness" director Gabriele Muccino for what sounds like another intense human drama, this one about a suicidal IRS agent who assumes the identity of his younger brother (Michael Ealy of "Miracle at St. Anna"). Woody Harrelson and Rosario Dawson costar.
"The Tale of Despereaux" Matthew Broderick lends his voice to the title character, the heroic mouse of Kate DiCamillo's Newbery Medal-winning children's book. Dustin Hoffman, who once played Ratso Rizzo, now takes the role of Roscuro the rat in the CGI fantasy, and the rest of the voice talent is pretty impressive, too: Sigourney Weaver, Kevin Kline, Tracey Ullman, William H. Macy. Sounds great - literally.
"Yes Man" Jim Carrey is back in "Liar Liar" mode as a nay-saying stiff who suddenly starts saying yes to everything. It looks like "The Bucket List" without the bucket. With Zooey Deschanel, John Michael Higgins, Bradley Cooper, and Terence Stamp.
Also opening: "Angel."
DECEMBER 25
"Bedtime Stories" In this Disney comedy, Adam Sandler plays a handyman who discovers that the fairy tales he tells his niece are coming true around him. It doesn't sound like "You Don't Mess With the Zohan," but, honestly, what does?
"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" Based on an F. Scott Fitzgerald short story about a man who ages in reverse - he's born as an 80-year-old man and goes backward from there - this long-gestating project once had director Spike Jonze, writer Charlie Kaufman, and star John Travolta attached. The final lineup: director David Fincher ("Fight Club," "Zodiac"), writer Eric Roth ("The Insider," "Munich"), stars Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett. We're in.
"Doubt" Is Father Flynn (Philip Seymour Hoffman) trying to help a young student (Joseph Foster) or is he abusing him? That's what Sister Aloysius (Meryl Streep) wants to find out in this big-screen version of the Pulitzer Prize-winning play by John Patrick Shanley, directed by the writer in his first trip behind the camera since 1990's "Joe Versus the Volcano." Amy Adams costars in this 1964-set inquisition into faith, memory, and morality.
"Frost/Nixon" Ron Howard directs Peter Morgan's Tony-winning play about the post-Watergate TV interviews between David Frost (Michael Sheen) and Richard Nixon (Frank Langella). It will be interesting to see whether Howard can bring the right balance of seriousness and levity to the material, the way Stephen Frears did with Morgan's script for "The Queen."
"Hurricane Season" Because no fall-holiday movie season is complete without one, here is our feel-good sports drama. A year after Hurricane Katrina, a Louisiana basketball coach (Forest Whitaker) recruits kids for a new team. With Isaiah Washington, Bow Wow, Lil' Wayne (Lil' Wayne?), and - bless you, Hollywood - Taraji P. Henson.
"Marley & Me" It's based on the best-selling John Grogan memoir about "life and love with the world's worst dog," so if you hate animal movies, you may want to start drinking heavily now. If you like them, be prepared to weep buckets. Owen Wilson (in his first role since last year's offscreen breakdown) plays Grogan and Jennifer Aniston his wife. The usual litter of adorable yellow labs plays the title pooch.
"The Spirit" The graphic novelist Frank Miller - "Sin City" and "300" were based on his work - takes on Will Eisner's 1940s comic strip noir, which featured a masked crime-fighter. Miller appears to be smitten with the intense visual overproduction of those movies, having styled his directorial debut to the hilt. Gabriel Macht has the title role while Samuel L. Jackson plays the Octopus, who wants to destroy the movie's Central City. With Scarlett Johansson, Eva Mendes, Sarah Paulson, and Jaime King as assorted titillations.
Also opening: "Last Chance Harvey"
DECEMBER 26
"Valkyrie" Tom Cruise plays Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg, an army officer so sick of Hitler he decides to join a posse of renegades and assassinate him himself. It sounds like a hoot, albeit a very grave one. The gang includes Kenneth Branagh. The director is Bryan Singer, one of the writers is Christopher McQuarrie, and if they hadn't already made a movie together called "The Usual Suspects," this could easily be it.
Also opening: "The Human Condition," "The Secret of the Grain," and "Waltz With Bashir"
DECEMBER TBA
"Defiance" Ed Zwick ("Glory," "The Last Samurai") gets to make another war movie. This one is about three Jewish brothers (Liev Schreiber, Daniel Craig, and Jamie Bell) who escape Nazi-occupied Poland. They train dozens of Russian villagers and lead them into battle. Sounds crazy, but apparently it - or something like it - happened. The budget, by the way, is alleged to be $150 million. For rags and cannons?
"Wendy and Lucy" Indie auteur Kelly Reichardt (whose "Old Joy" landed on a lot of critics' year-end lists in 2006) returns with another deceptively small slice of life, about a young woman (Michelle Williams) stranded in an Oregon town on her way to Alaska.
Also opening: "Crossing Over," "Gran Torino," and "The Reader." 