The rest of the way
So long, summer movies—hello, fall films
Summer’s finally over. Goodbye, Iron Man. Hit the road, Speed Racer. Don’t let the door hit your ancient archeologist ass on the way out, Indiana Jones. Yep, fall is the best time of year for film critics, because the award-oriented prestige films finally get trotted out for judgment. Of course, they won’t all be masterpieces—for every There Will be Blood, there’s plenty of pretentious crap. So, here’s a handy clip ’n’ save list of movies I’m personally looking forward to. Release dates are current as of press time, but don’t be shocked if things move around.
Burn After Reading: Two gym employees blackmail an ousted CIA agent when he drops his memoirs after a workout. The latest one from the Coen Brothers stars George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Francis McDormand, John Malkovich and Tilda Swinton—so it’s like Ocean’s Eleven, only awesome. (Sept. 12)
Ghost Town: Ricky Gervais sees dead people. Sign me up. (Sept. 19)
Choke: Adapting Chuck Palahniuk’s novel about a sex addict who trolls 12-step meetings for quickies and fakes choking in restaurants to collect money from his saviors is a tall order. There’s only one actor I’d trust with the lead: Sam Rockwell. Luckily, he got the part. (Sept. 26)
Towelhead: Alan Ball’s feature film debut. He also wrote this one, about Jasira (Summer Bishill), a 13-year-old Lebanese girl in Houston dealing with puberty, an overly interested pregnant neighbor (Toni Collette) and her obsession with the bigoted Army reservist (Aaron Eckhart) down the street. (Sept. 26)
How to Lose Friends and Alienate People: Toby Young’s memoir about an Englishman out of water at Vanity Fair is a sinful, guilty pleasure. Let’s hope the film version, with Simon Pegg as the Englishman, is too. Jeff Bridges is his editorial nemesis. (Oct. 3)
Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist: Just the trailer gives you that Pretty in Pink feeling. Michael Cera is a straight teen in a queercore band. Kat Denning is too straight-laced for her own good. They spend a night kicking around NYC, listening to music and (hopefully) falling for each other. (Oct. 3)
Religulous: Bill Maher kicks God’s ass. (Oct. 3)
Trouble the Water: Aspiring rapper Kimberly River Roberts documented her experiences before, during and after Katrina—especially during. The resulting film won the Grand Jury documentary prize at Sundance. (Oct. 10)
W: The tagline for Oliver Stone’s film about our fearless leader is “A life misunderestimated.” Josh Brolin is the Prez, lifelong hardcore-lib Richard Dreyfuss is sociopath Cheney. Dunno if it’ll be good, but I can’t wait to see it. (Oct. 17)
The Brothers Bloom: Con men Mark Ruffalo and Adrien Brody aim for rich girl Rachel Weisz’s money. (Oct. 24)
Zack and Miri Make a Porno: Sure, not everyone loves Kevin Smith. But everyone loves porn. And Seth Rogen. (Oct. 31)
Synecdoche, New York: Be still my heart. Charlie Kaufman finally directs a film that stars Phillip Seymour Hoffman as a theater director who thinks he’s dying, so he puts on a show that involves building a life-size replica of New York. (Nov. 7)
Quantum of Solace: Daniel Craig and Casino Royale, the James Bond reboot, was gritty and great and ended with 007 shaken like his favorite drink. This one picks up right where that one ended. (Nov. 14)
The Road: Could be called No Country for Men. Cormac McCarthy won a Pulitzer for his bleak novel about an unnamed man (Viggo Mortensen) and his son (Kodi Smit-McPhee) walking the scorched earth of a post-apocalyptic America. (Nov. 14)
Milk: Gus Van Sant directs Sean Penn as Harvey Milk, California’s first elected openly gay official. Josh Brolin is Dan White, who assassinated Milk and San Francisco Mayor George Moscone in 1978. (Dec. 5)
Doubt: Playwright John Patrick Shanley wrote and directed this adaptation of his own Pulitzer-winning work. It’s 1964, and Meryl Streep is a nun who confronts a Catholic priest (Phillip Seymour Hoffman) she suspects is abusing an African-American student. (Dec. 19)
Published: 08/26/2008
DIGG | del.icio.us | REDDIT