YOUR GUIDE FROM `ALFIE' TO `ZAMAN'.Byline: Glenn Whipp Film Writer Here are the release dates and our descriptions of the fall films. Be assured that the information is up to the minute, which means by the time the ink dries on this paper, the studios and indie companies will have shifted a couple around, dumped some others and added one or two. This caveat applies mostly to the smaller films, however. You can bet that the big ones - those already being heavily promoted - will likely land on time (a few with a thud). But in the meantime Adv. 1. in the meantime - during the intervening time; "meanwhile I will not think about the problem"; "meantime he was attentive to his other interests"; "in the meantime the police were notified" meantime, meanwhile , you can peruse this list like a holiday catalog full of shiny toys and dreams ... SEPT. 24 ANATOMY OF HELL: Gay man, straight woman talk sex for four days. (Tartan) A DIRTY SHAME: John Waters' latest follows a woman who turns into a sex addict after suffering a concussion. Tracey Ullman, Johnny Knoxville and Chris Isaak star. (Fine Line) DISTANT: Lonely Turkish photographer gets company in this festival favorite. (New Yorker) THE FIRST DAUGHTER: President's girl (Katie Holmes) falls in love with the wrong boy. (20th Century Fox) THE FORGOTTEN: Single mother (Julianne Moore) loses her son, only to discover he was only a figment fig·ment n. Something invented, made up, or fabricated: just a figment of the imagination. [Middle English, from Latin figmentum, from fingere, of her imagination. (Sony) HOLLYWOOD BUDDHA: Movie producer tries to turn his latest dog into a winner. (Artistic License) THE LAST SHOT: Struggling director finally gets to make his dream indie project, but his producer is an undercover FBI agent trying to connect union members to the Mafia. Don't you just hate it when that happens? (Touchstone) THE MOTORCYCLE DIARIES: The young Che Guevara (Gael Garcia Bernal) takes a bike trip around South America with a pal and discovers his revolutionary ideals. THE RASPBERRY REICH: German lefties have gay sex to prove they're true revolutionaries. (Strand) SHAUN OF THE DEAD Shaun of the Dead is a zombie-themed romantic comedy (or "rom zom com" as it dubs itself), released in 2004. It was written by Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright, directed by Edgar Wright, and stars Simon Pegg and Nick Frost. : English zombie comedy ... so it's got a dry sensibility, kind of. (Rogue) THE YES MEN: Prankster-activists impersonate im·per·son·ate tr.v. im·per·son·at·ed, im·per·son·at·ing, im·per·son·ates 1. To assume the character or appearance of, especially fraudulently: impersonate a police officer. 2. members of the World Trade Organization in this documentary from the filmmaking team behind ``American Movie.'' OCT OCT ornithine carbamoyltransferase; oxytocin challenge test. OCT ornithine carbamoyl transferase, a liver specific enzyme. OCT Oxytocin stress test, see there . 1 ALMOST PEACEFUL: Parisian Jews start all over again after World War II. (Empire Pictures) DIG! Sundance documentary favorite about indie musicians Anton Newcombe (Brian Jonestown Massacre) and Courtney Taylor (Dandy Warhols) and their complicated friendship/rivalry. (Palm) GOING UPRIVER: THE LONG WAR OF JOHN KERRY: Pro-Kerry documentary about how his tour in Vietnam shaped his political career. Don't expect to see any members of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. (ThinkFilm) I (HEART) HUCKABEES: Five years after ``Three Kings,'' filmmaker David O. Russell returns with a hard-to-describe comedy about existential detectives who help their clients understand life's Big Questions. With Dustin Hoffman, Jude Law, Mark Wahlberg, Lily Tomlin and Jason Schwartzman. (Fox Searchlight) THE INHERITANCE: After his father commits suicide, a man must choose between the family business and the woman he loves. (Ergmont) LADDER 49: Fireman (Joaquin Phoenix) looks back over his life as he waits for his buddies to rescue him. (Touchstone) SHARK TALE: Or ``It's Not 'Nemo.' '' A bunch of big names - De Niro, Scorsese, Will Smith, Renee Zellweger, etc. - lend their voices to this tale of a lowly fish who gets a big reputation when a shark turns up dead on his doorstep. (DreamWorks) THERESE: As in Saint Therese, the modern Roman Catholic saint. TYING THE KNOT: Gay marriage debate documentary. (Roadside) WOMAN THOU ART LOOSED: Abuse victim comes to terms with her past. (Magnolia) OCT. 8 AROUND THE BEND: Four generations of men search for the truth in their family's past. With Michael Caine, Christopher Walken and Josh Lucas. (Warner Independent) FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS: High-school football and its religious hold on the Lone Star state is examined in this movie from Peter Berg (``The Rundown''). With Billy Bob Thornton and Tim McGraw. (Touchstone) GO FURTHER: Woody Harrelson and friends travel Pacific Coast Highway Pacific Coast Highway may refer to:
I AM DAVID: Boy escapes 1950s Eastern European prison camp. ``Freaks and Geeks'' creator Paul Feig directs. (Lions Gate) RAISE YOUR VOICE: Another Hilary Duff movie, just in time for year-end top 10 lists and awards consideration. (New Line) RICK: ``Rigoletto'' takeoff about a corporate flunkie (Bill Pullman) who decides to bump off his boss. (Vitagraph) STEPHEN KING'S RIDING THE BULLET: Hitchhiker has a bad Halloween. Since King lent his name to this, we'll assume it's bad. (Innovation) TAXI: Undercover cop and cab driver cab·driv·er also cab driver n. One who drives a taxicab for hire. cab driver n → taxista m/f cab driver n → team up to catch bank robbers. Queen Latifah stars. (20th Century Fox) YES NURSE! NO NURSE! Nursing-home denizens battle eviction. (Regent) OCT. 15 BEING JULIA: Actress discovers her lover is using her, the latest lie in her disintegrating life. Annette Bening stars in this period piece set in 1938 London. (Sony Pictures Classics) THE DUST FACTORY: Mute teen falls from bridge, lands in fantasy world. (MGM MGM in full Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Inc. U.S. corporation and film studio. It was formed when the film distributor Marcus Loew, who bought Metro Pictures in 1920, merged it with the Goldwyn production company in 1924 and with Louis B. Mayer Pictures in 1925. ) EULOGY: Oddball family comes together to remember patriarch. Closets are opened, skeletons come crashing out. With Zooey Deschanel, Ray Romano, Debra Winger. (Lions Gate) FACE: Multigenerational story of Chinese-American mothers and daughters. (Indican indican /in·di·can/ (in´di-kan) potassium indoxyl sulfate, formed by decomposition of tryptophan in the intestines and excreted in the urine. in·di·can n. ) THE FINAL CUT: In the future, kids have chips prenatally implanted in their heads to record their activities for postmortem postmortem /post·mor·tem/ (post-mort´im) performed or occurring after death. post·mor·tem adj. Relating to or occurring during the period after death. n. See autopsy. movies. Robin Williams plays a guy who edits the footage. It's not a comedy. (Lions Gate) HAIR SHOW: Hairstylist sisters reunite. (Urbanworks) HOWARD ZINN: YOU CAN'T BE NEUTRAL ON A MOVING TRAIN: But you can release one too many lefty documentaries in the space of a couple of months. (First Run) HILLSIDE STRANGLER: Serial killer terrorizes L.A. in the '70. Makes a great double-bill with ``The Manson Family.'' (Tartan) LIGHTNING IN A BOTTLE: Blues concert documentary with Buddy Guy, B.B. King, India.Arie and Bonnie Raitt, among others. (Sony Pictures Classics) SHALL WE DANCE?: J.Lo teaches Richard Gere to dance in this unnecessary remake of the 1996 Japanese film of the same name. (Miramax) STAGE BEAUTY: Actor (Billy Crudup) has a good gig playing women's roles, and then King Charles II goes and blows it by decreeing that it's OK for women to act on stage. (Lions Gate) TARNATION tar·na·tion New England & Southern U.S. n. The act of damning or the condition of being damned. interj. Used to express anger or annoyance. [tarn(al) + (damn)ation. : Festival favorite documentary chronicles filmmaker Jonathan Caoette's formative years with his schizophrenic mom. (Wellspring well·spring n. 1. The source of a stream or spring. 2. A source: a wellspring of ideas. wellspring Noun ) TEAM AMERICA: WORLD POLICE: The ``South Park'' guys make fun of flag-waving conservatives and bleeding-heart liberals in this R-rated puppet extravaganza. (Paramount) Z CHANNEL: Documentary about the early pay-cable channel beloved by movie fans. (IFC (Internet Foundation Classes) A class library from Netscape that provides an application framework and graphical user interface (GUI) routines for Java programmers. IFC was later made part of the Java Foundation Classes (JFC). See JFC, AFC and AWT. See also ICF. ) OCT. 20 SIDEWAYS: Wine, women and midlife depression are among the elements of the latest from filmmaker Alexander Payne (``About Schmidt''). Paul Giamatti and Thomas Haden Church star. (Fox Searchlight) OCT. 22 ALFIE: What's it all about? Well, it's a sequel to the classic Michael Caine film starring Jude Law as a misogynist mi·sog·y·nist n. One who hates women. adj. Of or characterized by a hatred of women. Noun 1. misogynist - a misanthrope who dislikes women in particular woman hater making his way through a string of women (or ``birds,'' as Caine liked to call 'em). (Paramount) FISH WITHOUT A BICYCLE: Struggling actress sleeps around. (New Wave) THE GRUDGE: Remake of Japanese film ``Ju-On: The Grudge'' follows a horrific curse passed from one murder victim to another. Sarah Michelle Gellar Sarah Michelle Gellar (born April 14, 1977) is an American actress. She is perhaps best known for her role as the fictional character Buffy Summers in the acclaimed television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, for which she received a Golden Globe Award nomination. stars. (Columbia) THE MACHINIST: Christian Bale lost 60 pounds to play a sleep-deprived factory worker haunted by nightmares, visions and (maybe) a guilty conscience. (Paramount Classics) P.S.: College administrator (Laura Linney) is spooked by a student (Topher Grace) who bears an uncanny resemblance to her high-school sweetheart. Dylan Kidd (``Roger Dodger'') directs. (NewMarket) PEOPLE SAY I'M CRAZY: Family records a man's schizophrenia. (HBO Hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBO) A form of oxygen therapy in which the patient breathes oxygen in a pressurized chamber. Mentioned in: Ozone Therapy ) PRIMER: Amateur inventors have a ``eureka'' moment that may just change the world in this drama that won the top prize at Sundance this year. (ThinkFilm) A SILENT LOVE: Montreal professor orders Mexican bride. (Atopia) STELLA STREET: Two British comics play Michael Caine, Jack Nicholson, Al Pacino, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, David Bowie, Joe Pesci and, briefly, Dustin Hoffman, as the celebrities decide to escape the pressures of stardom and move to suburban London. Film version of the BBC BBC in full British Broadcasting Corp. Publicly financed broadcasting system in Britain. A private company at its founding in 1922, it was replaced by a public corporation under royal charter in 1927. cult TV series. (Strand) SURVIVING CHRISTMAS: Rich record executive (Ben Affleck) has no place to go for Christmas, so he drifts back to his childhood home, only to discover that the family living there now is crazier than his own clan. (DreamWorks) THIS GIRL'S LIFE: International porn star muses about love and loss. With James Woods as ``Pops.'' (TGL TGL Taeglich (German: daily) TGL Touch and Go Landing (aircraft flight training) TGL Temporary Guidance Leaflets TGL Technische Güte und Lieferbedingungen (German) ) UNDERTOW: Two brothers flee from the convict uncle who's after their loot. David Gordon Green (``All the Real Girls'') directs. (United Artists) VERA VERA Virtual Entity of Relevant Acronyms VERA Virtual Electronic Resource Access VERA Vienna Environmental Research Accelerator VERA Verzeichnis Edv-Relevanter Akronyme (German: Virtual Entity of Relevant Acronyms; website) DRAKE: Mike Leigh mines working-class heroes again for this story of a doting dote intr.v. dot·ed, dot·ing, dotes To show excessive fondness or love: parents who dote on their only child. [Middle English doten. mother in 1950s England who, on the sly, helps induce miscarriages. (Fine Line) OCT. 29 CARLOS CASTENEDA: ENIGMA OF A SORCERER: A voyage into non-ordinary reality with everyone's favorite peyote peyote (pāō`tē), spineless cactus (Lophophora williamsii), ingested by indigenous people in Mexico and the United States to produce visions. prophet. (Indican) THE CHILD I NEVER WAS: German man who raped, tortured and who murdered schoolboys is profiled 40 years after his crimes. (Strand) ENDURING LOVE: Balloon accident prompts rescuer to re-examine re·ex·am·ine also re-ex·am·ine tr.v. re·ex·am·ined, re·ex·am·in·ing, re·ex·am·ines 1. To examine again or anew; review. 2. Law To question (a witness) again after cross-examination. his life. There's also a gay stalker in the mix. With Daniel Craig, Samantha Morton and Rhys Ifans. (Paramount Classics) INCANTATO: Shy Italian teacher takes up with blind woman in Bologna. (Artistic License) IT'S ALL ABOUT LOVE: Married couple (Joaquin Phoenix, Claire Danes) decide to call it quits, but strange circumstances complicate things. Sean Penn co-stars in this thriller from Thomas Vinterberg (``The Celebration''). (Strand) THE MANSON FAMILY: Documentary-style dramatization dram·a·ti·za·tion n. 1. The act or art of dramatizing: the dramatization of a novel. 2. A work adapted for dramatic presentation: of the exploits of L.A.'s most infamous band of psychotics. (Dinsdale) RAY: First the good news: Jamie Foxx is Ray Charles. Now the bad: Taylor Hackford is the director. (Universal) SAW: In time for Halloween comes this bloody serial-killer thriller with Cary Elwes and Danny Glover. (Lions Gate) SHEM: Bisexual playboy looks for his Jewish heritage. (Hollywood Independents) ZAMAN, THE MAN FROM THE REEDS: Iraqi man travels to Baghdad to find a cure for his wife's cancer. This Iraqi-French production is set just before the 2003 U.S. invasion. (Pathfinder) OCTOBER UNSCHEDULED CONSPIRACY OF SILENCE Noun 1. conspiracy of silence - a conspiracy not to talk about some situation or event; "there was a conspiracy of silence about police brutality" conspiracy, confederacy - a secret agreement between two or more people to perform an unlawful act : Irish journalist investigates the ties between a priest's suicide and the expulsion of a seminarian sem·i·nar·i·an also sem·i·nar·ist n. A student at a seminary. Noun 1. seminarian - a student at a seminary (especially a Roman Catholic seminary) seminarist . (Watch) INFERNAL AFFAIRS: Hong Kong cops wind up on opposite ends of a case. (Miramax) PAPER CLIPS: Middle-school kids collect 6 million paper clips so they can understand the Holocaust. (Miramax) SEX IS COMEDY: Film director tries to get sex scene right. (IFC) A TALE OF TWO SISTERS: Siblings get out of mental institution, only to run into their cruel stepmother and a meddling ghost. (Tartan) NOV judgment notwithstanding the verdict (N.O.V.) n. reversal of a jury's verdict by the trial judge when the judge believes there was no factual basis for the verdict or it was contrary to law. The judge will then enter a different verdict as "a matter of law. . 5 ALEXANDER: As in the Great. Oliver Stone returns from oblivion with this epic about the Macedonian conqueror who ruled the world at 30. Colin Farrell stars. (Warner Bros.) BIRTH: Widow (Nicole Kidman) meets 10-year-old boy who claims to be the reincarnation of her dead husband. (New Line) CALLAS Cal·las , Maria Originally Maria Anna Sophia Cecilia Kalogeropoulos. 1923-1977. American soprano known for her technical capacity and dramatic intensity. Among her notable operatic roles was the title role in Bellini's Norma. FOREVER: Fictionalized account of the last days of opera star Maria Callas from director Franco Zeffirelli. (Regent) FABLED: Man breaks up with girlfriend, goes crazy. (Indican) HAPPY HOUR: Alcoholic New Yorker tries to climb out of the bottle and finish his book. Anthony LaPaglia stars. (Entertainment Film Works) THE INCREDIBLES: The latest from the always reliable Pixar animators follows a family of retired superheroes pressed back into service. Brad Bird (``The Iron Giant'') directs. (Disney) POSTMEN IN THE MOUNTAINS Postmen in the Mountains (Chinese: 那山那人那狗; Pinyin: Nàshān nàrén nàgǒu : Chinese postman decides he has delivered enough mail and trains son to take over. SCUMROCK: A John Waters-influenced ``cultural burlesque.'' UNTOLD STORY: ``Dangerous Liaisons'' in 18th century Korea. (Kino kino the juice of certain plants, some tropical and some Australian eucalypts, used in medicine as an astringent. ) WORD WARS: Scrabble documentary. (Seventh Art) NOV. 10 SEED OF CHUCKY: Chucky's offspring, Glen, picks up where his old man left off. (Rogue) NOV. 12 AFTER THE SUNSET: FBI agent follows retired thief to island to make sure he's staying retired. Pierce Brosnan, Salma Hayek star. (New Line) BRIGHT LEAVES: Documentary about the North Carolina family behind Bull Durham tobacco. (First Run) BROTHER TO BROTHER: Black gay art student strikes up a friendship with a homeless man who was a literary legend of the 1920s Harlem renaissance. (Wolfe) CONTADORA IS FOR LOVERS: Newlywed bliss complicated by island hunk. (Hollywood Independents) FINDING NEVERLAND: Writer J.M. Barrie brings ``Peter Pan'' to life. Johnny Depp brings Barrie to life; Marc Forster (``Monster's Ball'') directs. (Miramax) KINSEY: As in Alfred Kinsey, the sex researcher. Liam Neeson plays him in this movie that director Bill Condon (``Gods and Monsters'') calls the ``least sexual movie about sex ever.'' (Fox Searchlight) THE POLAR EXPRESS: Chris Van Allsburg's 1985 storybook classic comes to the screen in this lavish CG-animation adaptation. Bob Zemeckis directs; Tom Hanks - through the magic of ``performance capture'' (think Gollum from ``Lord of the Rings,'' only more elaborate) - plays five roles. (Warner Bros.) WHO KILLED BAMBI Bambi adorable deer grows rhapsodically in beautiful forest. [Am. Cinema: Bambi in Disney Films, 53–56] See : Cuteness ?: Student nurse keeps fainting at the feet of a mysterious doctor. (Strand) NOV. 19 BAD EDUCATION: Gael Garcia Bernal plays multiple roles in this film noir from Pedro Almodovar. Expect the audacious - and controversy, given a plot line involving pedophile pedophile Forensic psychiatry A person with pedophilia; there are an estimated 500,000 pedophiles in the world. See Child prostitution, Megan's law, Pedophilia. priests. (Sony Pictures Classics) BONG BAK Bak Bak A member of the bcl-2 family expressed in a wide range of cells which, when overexpressed in NGF-deprived sympathetic neurons accelerates apoptosis, and counteracts Bcl-2's apoptosis-protecting effects. See Bcl-2. : THE THAI WARRIOR: Thai village tries to get its Buddha back. Martial-arts violence ensues. (Magnolia) BRIDGET JONES: THE EDGE OF REASON: Renee Zellweger loads up on carbs to play the neurotic Ms. Jones, who's no less fretful now that she's got a man in her life. Colin Firth and Hugh Grant return as well. (Universal) EASY: Self-described ``jerk magnet'' must choose between two seemingly decent men. (Over Easy) MIND THE GAP: Five seemingly unrelated people take risks to find happiness. NATIONAL TREASURE: Nicolas Cage makes like Indiana Jones, looking for hidden riches our Founding Fathers left behind. Jon Turtletaub directs this Jerry Bruckheimer production. (Touchstone) OVERNIGHT: Documentary about a writer whose life goes to hell in a handbasket Going to Hell in a handbasket is an American expression of unclear origin describing something or a situation taking a turn for the worse or towards disaster without effort or in great haste. after he sells a screenplay to Harvey Weinstein. (ThinkFilm) THE SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS MOVIE: He lives in a pineapple under the sea; absorbent and yellow and porous is he. Anything else you need to know? (Paramount) NOV. 24 BEAUTY SHOP: Like ``Barbershop,'' only with chicks. Queen Latifah stars. (MGM) BEYOND THE SEA: Kevin Spacey spac·ey adj. Slang Variant of spacy. Adj. 1. spacey - stupefied by (or as if by) some narcotic drug spaced-out, spacy unconventional - not conventional or conformist; "unconventional life styles" plays Bobby Darin in this long-gestating, ambitious biopic of the complicated singer. Spacey also directs. (Lions Gate) CHRISTMAS WITH THE KRANKS: Christmas fanatics decide to take the year off when their only child can't make it home for the holidays. Neighbors - who are accustomed to all the fun and frenzy - do not take the news well. Tim Allen and Jamie Lee Curtis  Editing of this page by unregistered or newly registered users is currently disabled due to vandalism. star; Joe Roth directs based on the John Grisham novel. (Columbia) MILLIONS: Two young boys find cash from a bank robbery but have only a week to spend it before the UK switches to the Euro. Danny Boyle directs. (Fox Searchlight) THE FLIGHT OF THE PHOENIX: The Jimmy Stewart classic gets updated in this tale of a group of survivors who try to build a new plane after their aircraft crashes in the desert. (20th Century Fox) NOV. 26 A VERY LONG ENGAGEMENT: Wheelchair-dependent woman (Audrey Tautou) looks for WWI WWI abbr. World War I WWI World War One soldier fiance who was last seen in no-man's land. Jean Pierre-Jeunet (``Amelie'') directs. GUERILLA: THE TAKING OF PATTY HEARST: Remembering the heyday of the Symbionese Liberation Army Symbionese Liberation Army small terrorist group that kid-napped Patty Hearst (1974–1975). [Am. Hist.: Facts (1974), 105] See : Terrorism . (Magnolia) STRAIGHT-JACKET: Gay 1950s movie star marries his secretary, who doesn't know he's in the closet. Get ready for a little pillow talk, honey. (Regent) CAPTION(S): 6 photos Photo: (1 -- cover -- color) ALL ABOARD FOR OUR FALL FILM PREVIEW (2 -- cover -- color) Tom Hanks on ``Polar Express'' (3 -- cover -- color) Johnny Depp on ``Finding Neverland'' (4 -- cover -- color) Jamie Lee Curtis on ``Christmas With the Kranks'' (5 -- cover -- color) Colin Farrell on ``Alexander'' (6 -- cover -- color) Will Smith on ``Shark Tale'' |
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