The days get shorter and the flicks get better.
SEPTEMBER
1
The Wicker Man
In this revamped version of the 1973 horror film, a mainland detective (Nicholas Cage) travels to a strange island community when a young girl (Leelee Sobieski) is reported missing.
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There he encounters a society dominated by a scary matriarch (Ellen Burstyn) and a foreboding mystery. This looks like the classic tale of a wholesome outsider being sucked into an über-creepy, terrifyingly possible neo-pagan society a la
The Village
but with some interesting gender constructs a la director Neil LaBute.
Crossover
As if the world weren't already oversaturated with follow-your-dreams sports movies, director Preston A Whitmore II has decided to bestow upon us another. Two bestest friends play basketball. Their names are Noah and Tech. Noah has a scholarship to UCLA, while Tech's dream is to succeed in an underground street ball championship. This film tells the story of a fateful trip to LA that has something exciting and surprising in store for both of them. Somewhere in there, there's also a character named Jewelz, and if that ain't street, what is? Ready for the clinch? Wayne Brady-as in
Geppetto
and
Whose Line Is It Anyway?
-plays a
dramatic role
.
8
Hollywoodland
Unlike the
Superman
films from which it gets its premise, HBO director Allen Coulter's
Hollywoodland
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may actually appeal to audiences that have never picked up a comic book. Based on the true story of
Superman
actor George Reeves (Ben Affleck), a fictional private detective (Adrien Body) investigates Reeves' mysterious death when he stumbles across Reeves' affair with the beautiful wife (Diane Lane) of an old and grumpy studio exec (Bob Hoskins). The trailer promises a film that focuses on the dirty dealings and coverings-up in Hollywood, the fear of what a murder charge on an exec's head could do to ticket sales and the filthy obsessions people develop for onscreen characters.
13
Al Franken: God Spoke
Although slated for limited release, we're gonna bet that
Al Franken: God Spoke
gets some time in Santa Fe theaters. This documentary goes behind the media scenes of the 2004 election and its cast includes Ann Coulter, Michael Moore, William Safire and many other political "celebrities."
15
Black Dahlia
Brian DePalma's
Black Dahlia
is based on the true story of a murdered startlet in Hollywood in the late 1940s, whose murder became a topic of dark obsession. Mia Kirshner plays the startlet, and the cast also includes the ubiquitous Scarlett Johansson, Hilary Swank, Josh Hartnett and Aaron Eckhart.
Gridiron Gang
If
Crossover
didn't give you your fill of fraternal sports movies, The Rock's been cooking something especially for you. Like
The Longest Yard
, but serious, this is the mostly true story of a counselor (Rock) at a Los Angeles juvenile detention center who starts up a football program to rehabilitate the whippersnappers. Only problem is, once they reach ready-to-rumble status, coaches at area high schools are-unjustifiably?-wary of letting their non-incarcerated high schoolers play a full-contact sport with a team of big, charging juvies. What makes this film stand out from others is it is based on a true story, and the story it's based on is a worthwhile one-kids who were locked up, and whose existence was based on what they did and how bad it was, are now given a chance to make something of themselves.
The Last Kiss
Zach Braff is back, ready to give late-adolescent girls another film to list in their MySpace profile as one of their
favorites. Braff, mastermind behind emo-ohmigodlifeissobeautiful cult-classic-in-the-making
Garden State
, stars in this
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remake of Italian version
L'Ultimo Bacio
, playing a 30-year-old overly sensitive half of a failing relationship. Everything seems perfect-great friends, a great girlfriend, happiness and prosperity abound-but then, for whatever reason, he begins to question whether or not he's living it right.
The US vs. John Lennon
This documentary, written and directed by John Scheinfeld and David Leaf, looks at the late '60s, early '70s transformation of Lennon from musician to anti-war activist. It's slated for limited release, so all we are saaaaying is: Bring it here!
22
Jackass: Number Two
For those who are fans of self-induced paper cuts, crashing into two-story-tall stacks of garbage cans and getting blasted away with a water hose, you're in luck. Johnny Knoxville and his
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friends are back for a second cinematic dose of sheer stupidity. There really isn't much that needs to be said-if you think Steve-O is a comic genius, Bam Margera is a dreamboat and Ryan Dunn deserves his own TV show, you're going to see it. If you think these guys are morons who are going to be dead by the age of 30 and don't deserve 1½ hours of anyone's time, then there's no way anyone can convince you otherwise.
All the King's Men
There's a whole lot of buzz preceding this remake of the 1949 classic, based on the novel by Robert Penn Warren. It has a powercast: Jude Law, Sean Penn, Kate Winslet, James Gandolfini, Anthony Hopkins and Patricia Clarkson. Director Steven Zaillian (
Searching for Bobby Fischer
,
A Civil Action
) takes on the story of journalist Jack Burden (Law) as he gets down and dirty in Deep South politics with thrashing, pontificating governor Willie Stark (Penn), a man willing to do just about anything to get his way (a character loosely or not-so-loosely based on Louisiana Gov.
Huey Long). It's shaping up to be a tour de force of dangerously charismatic characters and impressively filthy dealings.
29
Open Season
Thanks to a decidedly rabid run of advertising everywhere, from the sides of buses to MySpace tickers, just about everyone and their mother knows about the latest computer-animated flick about lost animals. A one-antlered deer ("I'm half doe, half buck-I'm a duck!") convinces a domesticated grizzly bear to leave his comfy garage home, and they
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team up with other woodland creatures to beat The Man during hunting season. Not a movie to be satisfied with only one plot, there is also the forest ranger who raised the bear, on a search to find her friend. Think
Homeward Bound
meets
Finding Nemo
. Director Roger Allers also had a finger in the pie that was
The Lion King
; celebrity voices include Ashton Kutcher, Debra Messing and Martin Lawrence.
Children of Men
The year is 2027 and the fate is bleak. For an unknown reason, the entire world has become sterile and, apparently, this makes people want to firebomb cars and shoot each other. When a girl somehow manages to become pregnant, Clive Owen must transport her safely to an island sanctuary where she can be probed and studied by physicians and scientists, or else mankind may never be able to conceive again. Cuarón's projects always are guaranteed to be varied, if nothing else, from
Y Tú Mama También
to
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
.
The Last King of Scotland
When Scottish doctor Nicholas Garrigan becomes the personal physician to the president of Uganda, it's all parties and beautiful women for a while. Soon, however, doc realizes the horrible atrocities
committed by President Idi Amin's administration, and that he himself is guilty by association. When Garrigan tries to escape the country, he is told he cannot; he's held by a mix of strange loyalty to the tyrant and fear for his life. James McAvoy plays the fictional physician to the real-life Ugandan leader, portrayed by Forest Whitaker. It's quite possible that this politically heavy story with a celebrity-light cast could pull a
Hotel Rwanda
: virtually no returns at the box office, yet hugely successful critical acclaim and award nominations.
OCTOBER
6
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning
When four young people get stranded in a house in the middle of nowhere with a creepy dude who will
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eventually become Leatherface, you've got a Grade-B prequel on your hands. There are girls running through fields screaming, old ladies singing wacked-out
lullabies and a sheriff with big black boots-uh-oh is right.
The Departed
Maybe it's all those Teen People covers talking, but it's still really hard to picture Leonardo DiCaprio playing a big-kid role. In Martin Scorcese's latest film, he does just that, along with fellow former heartthrob Matt Damon. DiCaprio is a Boston police officer who infiltrates the mafia, while Damon is a mobster who manages to weasel his way into the force. Once
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they each figure out that they've been double-timed while double-timing, chaos ensues as they try to find each other out.
Employee of the Month
When the likes of Jessica Simpson is found working at a Costco, you know you've entered the wonderful world of Hollywood. Simpson plays the smokin'-hot Amy, who has a tendency to date the Employee of the Month. Dane Cook and Dax Shepard, portraying two slacker employees, compete to win her affections. Brainless, amusing and a little stupid, much of it was filmed here so you know we've got to go see it.
13
The Grudge 2
Sarah Michelle Gellar (also known as Buffy the Vampire Slayer) returns as Karen. In part one, she stumbled across a bizarre supernatural curse in a surprisingly terrifying movie. In part two, her sister is exposed to the same horrors. Once again, set in Tokyo and directed by Takashi Shimizu (who apparently has already written
The Grudge 3
).
Shortbus
Hedwig fans, take heart. Director John Cameron Mitchell finally returns with a tale of New Yorkers caught up in an underground of music, politics, art and, of course, romance.
20
Flicka
Based on the '40s novel and '50s TV series, this revival of a perennial classic is sure to get 8-year-old girls flocking to the theater and rekindle pleas for their own ponies. When corn-fed little Katie
(Alison Lohman) decides to tame a wild horse, she can
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only hope that her father (Tim McGraw) will, as a result, see her fit to take over the family ranch.
The Nightmare Before Christmas
Was it seriously 13 years ago that the original was released? And is 13 years seriously long enough for a film to become a "classic?" Apparently, yes. The digitally remastered claymation adventures of Jack Skellington hits theaters so little punks in size 2 Reeboks can enjoy it right next to their Hot Topic-clad parents. Skellington is the pumpkin king of Halloween Town, and when he gets bored with the same scary Halloween festivities year after year, he decides that perhaps Christmas would be a better holiday to try out.
