Honour-roll contenders
The best films of the year finally come to the multiplex and, if they're lucky, go on to win awards early next year. A track record is no guarantee (Who had heard of the directors of Little Miss Sunshine?) but it's a good indicator.
Motto
"Everyone is a genius at least once a year" -18th-century aphorist Georg Christoph Lichtenberg
Sept. 14
Eastern Promises, from David Cronenberg, follows his double Oscar-nominated A History of Violence. Once again, Viggo Mortensen stars as an ambiguous man of mayhem - this time, a Russian mobster working in London. He crosses paths with a midwife (Naomi Watts) who has discovered an incriminating diary.
Across the Universe
This Beatles-themed musical from Julie Taymor, the visually inventive director of Titus and Frida (and the stage version of The Lion King) is set in the late sixties, when an English student arrives for schooling in the United States at the peak of antiwar protests. With less than 30 minutes of dialogue, and 33 Beatles songs, the film looks like a canvas for Taymor's dazzling production numbers. With Jim Sturgess, Evan Rachel Wood and Joe Anderson.
Sept. 21
In the Valley of Elah
Canadian screenwriter-director Paul ( Crash) Haggis has become a perennial Oscar nominee. This Iraq-themed drama stars Charlize Theron as a detective and Tommy Lee Jones as the father of an American soldier who goes AWOL after returning home from the war.
Oct. 5
Michael Clayton
George Clooney stars in this seventies-style paranoia drama about a lawyer who discovers a conspiracy involving an apparently psychotic senior partner (Tom Wilkinson). With Tilda Swinton and Sydney Pollack.
Oct. 12
Sleuth
Kenneth Branagh directs Michael Caine and Jude Law in this remake of Anthony Schaffer's clever psychological drama, first filmed 35 years ago. Harold Pinter wrote the updated version.
Nov. 2
The Kite Runner
Director Marc Forster ( Finding Neverland) takes on Khaled Hosseini's acclaimed novel about a man who returns to his Afghan homeland from California in an attempt to make amends for the past.
Nov. 9
Lions for Lambs
Robert Redford directs and stars as a liberal college professor who is trying to dissuade two students (Derek Luke and Michael Pena) from going to Afghanistan. With Tom Cruise and Meryl Streep.
Nov. 16
No Country for Old Men
After its debut at Cannes this spring, this film has been generally rated the Coen brothers' best since Fargo, both meditative and startlingly violent. No Country stars Tommy Lee Jones as a Texas sheriff who witnesses a new kind of killer, played by Javier Bardem.
Nov. 21
Margot at the Wedding
Noah Baumbach, who made the acerbic coming-of-age / divorce comedy The Squid and the Whale, once again takes on domestic upsets. Margot (Nicole Kidman) worries that her sister, played by Jennifer Jason Leigh, may be making a poor marriage to a man played by Jack Black.
I'm Not There
Todd Haynes ( Far From Heaven) directs this unorthodox biopic of Bob Dylan, who is played by seven different actors, including Cate Blanchett, Richard Gere, Heath Ledger and Christian Bale.
Nov. 30
Cassandra's Dream
Woody Allen's latest London-set movie features Colin Farrell and Ewan McGregor as brothers who are led by a woman (Hayley Atwell) into a life of crime.
Dec. 7
Atonement
Joe Wright (2005's Pride & Prejudice) directs Keira Knightley, James McAvoy and Vanessa Redgrave in an adaptation of Ian McEwan's novel, in a story that spans six decades.
Dec. 14
Youth Without Youth
Frances Ford Coppola's first film in a decade is a romantic thriller about a professor (Tim Roth) who mysteriously becomes young again. With Swiss star Bruno Ganz.
Dec. 19
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly Painter Julian Schnabel ( Before Night Falls, Basquiat) directs this reality-based story about a French fashion-magazine editor (Mathieu Amalric) who, after a stroke that left him paralyzed, wrote his life story by blinking one eyelid.
Dec. 21
Sweeney Todd: The Demon
Barber of Fleet Street
Director Tim Burton is back with Johnny Depp in the adaptation of Stephen Sondheim's musical about the barber who made meat pies of his customers.
Dec. 25
Charlie Wilson's War
Mike Nichols directs Tom Hanks, with Aaron Sorkin writing the screenplay about a Texas congressman's covert efforts in the eighties to finance and arm Afghan fighters against the Soviet invasion, setting the stage for future calamities.
There will be Blood
After the impressive triple-play of Boogie Nights, Magnolia and Punch-Drunk Love, director Paul Thomas Anderson offers a period drama based on Upton Sinclair's novel about the oil industry. Daniel Day-Lewis stars.
The class clowns
Put away the whoopee cushion. Now's the season for classy comedies, at least in theory.
Motto
"It's all fun and games until someone gets hurt. Then it's a sport"
Sept. 7
The Brothers Solomon
Doofus sibling brothers (Will Arnett and Will Forte) want to provide their father with a grandchild before he dies.
Sept. 14
Mr. Woodcock
A young man (Seann William Scott) returns home to stop his mother (Susan Sarandon) from marrying his phallicly-named gym teacher, Mr. Woodcock (Billy Bob Thornton).
Sept. 21
Good Luck Chuck
Single women have sex with Chuck (Dane Cook) because he's a good-luck charm that allows them to marry other men. Then he falls in love with Jessica Alba.
Sept. 29
The Darjeeling Limited
Critics' darling Wes Anderson returns with this comedy about three brothers (Owen Wilson, Adrien Brody and Jason Schwartzman) on a spiritual journey by train in India.
The Heartbreak Kid
Ben Stiller reprises Charles Grodin's role in Elaine May's caustic classic about a newly married man who falls for another woman on his honeymoon. The Farrelly brothers have promised to make this kinder than the original. Too bad.
Nov. 2
Bee Movie
Jerry Seinfeld developed this animated movie about a legal-minded bee who decides to sue humanity for reparations for years of honey theft. With Seinfeld and Renée Zellweger.
Nov. 9
Fred Claus
Vince Vaughn plays Santa Claus's slacker brother, with Paul Giamatti as St. Nick.
Nov. 9
I Could Never Be Your Woman
Director/writer Amy Heckerling ( Fast Times at Ridgemount High, Clueless) is back with this comedy starring Michelle Pfeiffer as an attractive cougar involved with a younger man (Paul Rudd). Tracey Ullman plays Mother Nature.
Prom queens and women warriors
Damsels used to be tied to the railway track waiting to be rescued. Now they smack people with railway ties.
Motto
"A little kick-ass beauty before we die" - novelist Anne Lamott
Sept. 14
The Brave One
Neil Jordan directs Jodie Foster in this story of a radio personality who goes on a revenge kick through New York City. Echoes of Taxi Driver seem inevitable.
Oct. 5 Nina's Heavenly Delights A young Indian woman returns to Glasgow to run her father's curry house, against a background of gender-bending affairs and a TV cooking competition.
Oct. 12
Elizabeth: The Golden Age
Cate Blanchett returns as the Virgin Queen in this sequel to Shekhar Kapur's Elizabeth, with Clive Owen as her heartthrob, Sir Walter Raleigh.
Nov. 2
Enchanted
In the latest version of the Disney princess, Amy Adams is a cartoon princess who comes to life in Manhattan and falls for a divorce lawyer (Patrick Dempsey).
The emo brigade
There's a fine line between sensitive and maudlin, and with awards season looming, Hollywood stomps all over it.
Motto
"Everybody hurts" - R.E.M.
Oct. 5
Grace is Gone
John Cusack, looking heavier and older, plays a strait-laced dad who takes his daughters on a holiday rather than face telling them their soldier mother has been killed in Iraq.
Oct. 12
Lars and the Real Girl
Ryan Gosling plays a loner in love with Bianca, his plastic blow-up girlfriend, which tests his family and psychiatrist. With Emily Mortimer and Patricia Clarkson.
Oct. 19
Reservation Road
A couple (Mark Ruffalo and Mira Sorvino) are going through a divorce when they meet another couple (Joaquin Phoenix and Jennifer Connolly) who lose their son in a hit-and-run accident. Lots of raw emotion all around.
Wristcutters: A Love Story
Patrick Fugit plays a man who commits suicide and finds himself in a drab alternate reality.
Oct. 26
Rails & Ties
Kevin Bacon is a railroad engineer who befriends the child of a woman who kills herself on the train tracks. Directed by Clint Eastwood's daughter, Alison.
Things We Lost in the Fire
Denmark's Susanne Bier directs this story about a woman (Halle Berry) whose husband (David Duchovny) dies and his drug-addict best friend comes to live with her.
Dec. 21
P.S. I Love You
Two-time Oscar winner Hilary Swank plays a young widow in this sentimental comedy who deals with her grief by reading letters left by her late husband encouraging her to begin a new life.
Dec. 25
The Bucket List
Rob Reiner directs this one, starring Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman as a couple of terminally ill cancer patients who go on the lam from the hospital to finish a to-do list before they die.
The jocks
Inspirational messages and slapstick collide on the playing field.
Motto "Suck it up"
Sept. 28
Run, Fatboy, Run
David Schwimmer ( Friends) directs Shaun of the Dead's Simon Pegg in this comic underdog tale of a guy who wants to win back his fiancée (Thandie Newton) by running a marathon.
The Game Plan
Dwayne (The Rock) Johnson is a pro quarterback who has to adjust to life with a seven-year-old daughter.
Oct. 26
The Comebacks
Satire of the inspirational coach story, in which a drillmaster takes a ragtag football team to glory. Starring David Koechner of Anchorman and Carl Weathers. The director is Tom Brady, presumably no relation to the New England Patriots quarterback.
Dec. 7
Leatherheads
George Clooney wrote, directed and stars in this comedy about pro footballers in the 1920s, with John Krasinski and Renée Zellweger.
Rebels and heroes
Bad boys and lonesome cowboys crossing the big-screen range.
Motto "A hero is someone who rebels, or seems to rebel, against the facts of existence, and seems to conquer them" - Jim Morrison
Sept. 7
3:10 to Yuma
James Mangold ( Walk the Line) directs Russell Crowe and Christian Bale in this remake of the Elmore Leonard-penned 1957 movie about a small-town rancher (Bale) trying to get a killer (Crowe) on the train to prison before the bad guy's cronies strike.
Sept. 21
The Assassination
of Jesse James
by the Coward Robert Ford
Writer-director Andrew Dominik directs Brad Pitt (as James), Casey Affleck (as Ford) and Sam Rockwell in this long-brewing, much-delayed western, in which James is in the in-crowd, and Ford the resentful outsider who wants recognition.
Sept. 21
Into the Wild
Sean Penn wrote and directed this film, following the real-life saga of 22-year-old Christopher McCandless (Emile Hirsch), who left his home to live in the Alaskan wilderness. Based on Jon Krakauer's bestselling biography.
Nov. 2
American Gangster
Ridley Scott directs Denzel Washington in what looks like the African-American version of Scarface, with Washington as real-life drug lord Frank Lucas, and Russell Crowe as the cop determined to bring him down.
Dec. 14 I am Legend In this $100-million winter blockbuster, Will Smith takes another attempt at an Academy Award as the last man on Earth after a plague has wiped out most of humanity and turned the rest into violent mutants.
The gothic invasion
A couple goes off into the wood and ... Hollywood's perennial cash-cow genre, payable on Halloween.
Motto
"Blood is the new black"
Sept. 7
Hatchet
Tourists in the Louisiana swamp get chopped up.
Sept. 19
The Last Winter
Something scary is hiding under the Alaskan tundra menacing a turn-of-the-last-century oil-drilling expedition.
Sept. 21
Resident Evil: Extinction
Hot babe (Milla Jovovich) offs zombies in this latest iteration of the adapted video game.
Oct. 5
The Seeker: The Dark Is Rising
A young man (Alexander Ludwig) who discovers he is the last of his line dedicated to fighting the forces of darkness, travels back and forth in time before the big confrontation.
Trick 'r Treat
Superman Returns screenwriter Michael Dougherty wrote and directed these four interwoven stories set on Halloween night.
Oct. 10
House
A serial killer called The Tin Man traps two couples in a house in rural Alabama.
Oct. 19
30 Days of Night
Josh Hartnett shows his acting range: In the comedy, 40 Days and 40 Nights, he tried to avoid sex with a vamp; in 30 Days of Night, he's stuck in Alaska, trying to avoid getting bitten by a vampire.
Oct. 26
Tim Burton's The Nightmare
before Christmas in 3D
Yes, this was out last year as well. It's gruesomely perennial.
Oct. 26
Saw IV
If you saw Saw I through Saw III, you'll probably see Saw IV.
Nov. 16
Beowulf
And now, the monster who terrorized the Anglo-Saxons and generations of English majors. Judging by the trailers, writer Neil Gaiman and director Robert Zemeckis have improved on the original legend by making Grendel's mom (Angelina Jolie) a sexpot with a funny accent. With Ray Winstone as the warrior Beowulf, Crispen Glover as Grendel and Anthony Hopkins as the king.
Nov. 21
The Mist
Written by Stephen King. A freak storm blows in mutants, and the townspeople hole up in the supermarket.
Dec. 7
The Golden Compass
Twelve-year-old Lyra (Dakota Blue Richards) journeys into an alternate reality of stolen children, witch clans and armed polar bears in Philip Pullman's novel, the first of the His Dark Materials trilogy. The $150-million film also stars Daniel Craig and Nicole Kidman.
Dec. 25
Aliens vs. Predator
The hard part is deciding who to root for.
Dec. 28
The Orphanage
Guillermo del Toro ( Pan's Labyrinth) produced this Spanish ghost story set in 1940, about a mother who moves back to the orphanage in which she was raised, where her son develops a ghostly group of friends.
The nerds
EARLY SEPT.
I Want Someone
to Eat Cheese With
Jeff Garlin ( Curb Your Enthusiasm) wrote and directed this comedy about sex and food, with Dan Castellaneta, Bonnie Hunt and Sarah Silverman.
Independent studies
Sept. 7
The Hunting Party
A comedy with Richard Gere, set in Bosnia by Matador director-writer Richard Shepard.
In the Shadow of the Moon Handsome documentary about men who visited the moon.
Shoot 'Em Up
Clive Owen as a gunman who saves a baby; Paul Giamatti as the bad guy who wants to kill the baby and Monica Belluci as the femme-fatale mom.
Sept. 14
King of California
Michael Douglas as a crazy guy who wants to dig for gold under Costco.
Silk
François Girard directs Keira Knightley in a drama about love and betrayal set in 19th-century Japan.
December Boys
Harry Potter's Daniel Radcliffe in an Austrian drama about foster children during the Second World War.
Sept 21
The Jane Austen Book Club
A group of women and one man read Jane Austen's six-pack of novels and start to resemble the characters.
Sept. 28
Feast of Love
Robert Benton ( Kramer vs. Kramer) directs this kaleidoscopic adaptation of Charles Baxter's novel, a reworking of A Midsummer Night's Dream. With Morgan Freeman, Greg Kinnear, Radha Mitchell and Selma Blair.
Lust, Caution
Ang Lee's espionage thriller, set in Japanese-occupied Nanking in 1940, with Joan Chen and Tony Leung.
The Kingdom
Jamie Foxx and Jennifer Garner star in this politically topical action film about FBI agents trying to hunt down a terrorist in Saudi Arabia.
Oct. 5
The Good Night
Jake Paltrow directs Martin Freeman ( Shaun of the Dead) in a comedy about a musician with a depressed girlfriend (Jake's sister, Gwyneth) and a dream lover.
Oct. 12
Dan in Real Life
Steve Carrell is a widower in love with his brother's girlfriend (Juliette Binoche).
We Own the Night
James Gray's urban drama about a cop (Mark Wahlberg) and his brother (Joaquin Phoenix) on the wrong sides of a battle with the Russian mob in late-eighties New York.
Rendition
Reese Witherspoon as the wife of an Egyptian terrorist suspect who disappears mysteriously, with Jake Gyllenhaal as a CIA agent who questions his agency's interrogation methods.
Oct. 19
Gone Baby Gone
Casey Affleck hunts for a missing child in a script adapted from a Dennis Lehane mystery.
Before the Devil Knows
You're Dead
Octogenarian Sidney Lumet directs this drama about two brothers (Ethan Hawke and Philip Seymour Hoffman) who try to rob their parents jewellery store. With Marisa Tomei and Albert Finney.
Oct. 26
Martian Child
John Cusack adopts an unusual kid.
Fugitive Pieces
Jeremy Podeswa ( The Five Senses) adapts Anne Michaels's novel about Jakob Beer (Stephen Dillane), a Polish war orphan who becomes a writer trying to deal with his past.
Nov. 2
J 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days Romanian director Cristian Mungiu's Palme d'or-winning drama about a young woman seeking an illegal abortion during the Communist era.
Nov. 16
Love in the Time of Cholera
Mike Newell directs Gabriel Garcia Marquez's novel.
Mr. Magorium's
Wonder Emporium
Dustin Hoffman plays the eccentric owner of a magical toy store. Also starring Natalie Portman.
Dec. 7
The Walker
Paul Schrader revisits American Gigolo-type territory, with Woody Harrelson as an escort involved in a murder case.
Dec. 12
The Age of Darkness
Set slightly in the future, Denys Arcand's latest film follows a put-upon civil servant (Marc Labrèche) who retreats from the world that's collapsing around him into an erotic fantasy life.
CLARIFICATION
In Globe Review's fall movie preview on Saturday, two Canadian releases were inadvertently omitted. Shake Hands with the Devil, a dramatic feature on the experiences of General Roméo Dallaire in Rwanda, starring Roy Dupuis and directed by Roger Spottiswoode, opens Sept. 28. Poor Boy's Game, directed by Clement Virgo, follows a young tough (Rossif Sutherland) who beats a black man and later has to face the anger of his victim's community. Danny Glover also stars. It opens Oct. 5.
CORRECTIONTuesday, September 04, 2007
The latest release dates for three fall Disney movies are Nightmare Before Christmas 3D (Oct. 19), Dan in Real Life (Oct. 26) and Enchanted (Nov. 21). Different release dates appeared in the fall preview article published on Aug. 25.
Liam Lacey