We hate to discourage you from curling up with a good book on a crisp autumn evening, a tinge of wood smoke in the air and leaves dancing across the lawn. But some great movies await. Venturing to the multiplex through a fall breeze could be the perfect way to blow out the lingering smell of disappointing summer films.
Here are a few we’re looking forward to sampling.
Yes, we already saw that Jodie Foster look, “Don’t touch my precious daughter,” for “Panic Room.” And yes, we already saw a beautiful, tortured woman trying to convince skeptical authorities she had a son, with Julianne Moore in the forgettable “The Forgotten.” But we like Jodie Foster in just about anything. “Flightplan” in late September confirms that audiences are ready for airplane-based thrillers, after the success of “Red Eye.” And we like Peter Sarsgaard in just about everything too, clearing “Flightplan” for a welcome landing.
Tim Burton renews his lifelong journey from the slightly macabre to the really, really macabre with the release Sept. 23 of his stop-motion “Corpse Bride.” Burton already creeped us out with that Johnny Depp haircut and the menacing candy machinery in “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.” Now he returns to the meticulous puppeteering he last tried in 1993’s “The Nightmare Before Christmas.”
It’s a flat-out terrific movie, since Burton is better when he doesn’t try to warm up his chilly worldview for little children. Here, Johnny Depp gives voice to a nervous groom who walks outside to practice his wedding vows, only to marry himself out loud to a jilted, murdered bride ghost (Helena Bonham Carter).
It might seem the last thing we need is another adorable urchin pleading, “Please sir, may I have some more?” How many more ways can poor Oliver be twisted into post-Victorian entertainment? But hey, this is Roman Polanski we’re talking about this time, and the last movie he did was only the Oscar-winning “The Pianist.” So we’ll see “Oliver Twist” with an open mind on Sept. 30, even if there is no more porridge.
George Clooney is proving as dashing a presence behind the cameras as he is a high-wattage star in front of the lens. He produced an adventurous live, black- and-white TV version of “Failsafe,” and took on a Charlie Kaufman script, “Confessions of a Dangerous Mind,” for his first directing effort. Now he shoots for Oscar-worthy material with the Edward R. Murrow story in “Good Night, and Good Luck,” scheduled for late October. Clooney’s openly left-wing politics may come to bear on the story of a heroic journalist fighting government oppression in the McCarthy Era. David Straithairn, a longtime character actor and a great one at that, is winning terrific reviews for his stint as Murrow.
Biopics hit it big last year when “Ray” swept hearts, awards and box office by acclamation, and deeper movies like “Kinsey” won critical raves. Get ready for a large dose of me-too biopics, many of them worthy of a close look. “Capote,” in late September, is a showcase for underappreciated actor Philip Seymour Hoffman.
For “Walk the Line,” in mid-November, Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon have tough shoes to fill in playing Johnny and June Carter Cash. But previews have left audiences stunned at the actors’ ability to use their own singing voices instead of dubbing. And there’s plenty of rich material, with Johnny’s troubled life and the musical history of the Carter family mountain singers. Book the soundtrack as an early holiday gift.
Camembert? Wensleydale? Try another slice of comfort cheese when Wallace and Gromit take on a full-length feature movie for the first time, in “Curse of the Were-Rabbit,” early October. Wallace is the doddy, middle-aged British inventor, made of clay and filmed in painstaking stop-motion; Gromit is his long-suffering and much smarter dog. Their first three shorts are now available on DVD, the comic masterpieces “The Wrong Trousers,” “A Close Shave” and “Grand Day Out.” Aardman studios in the meantime had given us “Chicken Run,” but we can’t wait for a full-on treatment of W. and G., two of the funniest and, yes, lovable characters in recent memory.
Multiple script changes and delays haunt the anticipation of Steve Martin’s “Shopgirl,” for Nov. 4, though it’s not quite enough to banish all hope. Martin, transforming himself into a sharp novelist of the melancholy with “Shopgirl” and “The Pleasure of My Company,” stars with Claire Danes in the story of an aimless young woman deciding between two flawed lovers.
Writer and director David Cronenberg, who never quite achieved the commercial promise offered in weirdly beautiful movies like “Dead Ringers” (1988), has a new shot with “History of Violence” (Sept. 30).” Viggo Mortensen stars as a small-town family man who may have some explaining to do when mobsters arrive seeking vengeance for alleged past transgressions. Audiences at Cannes last May loved the story, and Mortensen.
Doesn’t seem to be much serious contemplation of contemporary events, does there? Those seeking relevance can wait for Nov. 4 and “Jarhead,” the Sam Mendes adaptation of the best-selling Iraq war account by former Marine Anthony Swofford. It’s not true Jake Gyllenhaal is in every movie this autumn, but he does star in this one, and Mendes is a good bet to give thoughtful treatment to the touchy subject of organized violence.
There’s at least one other big movie scheduled for the pre-Thanksgiving blitz. Some of you might be interested, a bit of bother about a boy named Potter. He’ll be reaching for the goblet as one of the major holiday openings, so save him some spiced cider.
Staff writer Michael Booth can be reached at 303-820-1686 or mbooth@denverpost.com.
