PHOTOS
Jeff Boam
Down in the gaudy bowels of Beverly Hills, stuck indiscriminately on a sun-soaked but still amazingly battleship-gray stretch of Robertson Boulevard between Wilshire and Santa Monica Boulevards, there sat the offices of New Line Cinema. This was, of course, the summer of 2003 when the production house famous for birthing Freddy Kruger had become a bona-fide movie studio, laying claim to the gi-normous gazillion dollar success of
The Lord of the Rings trilogy.
Your reviewer had wrangled a meeting with one of the company's production heads with the further hopes of finagling a pitch session. A pitch session is a meeting wherein a starving writer tries to sell one of his weather-beaten screenplays like a well-oiled encyclopedia salesman. After asking said reviewer what the Amish were like (because, in the minds of anybody west of the Mississippi River, the Amish apparently comprise the consensus of Pennsylvanians), the meeting with management got moved to the HR department where your reviewer was pitched a job in the mailroom.
On the way out of this tte-ˆ-tte, however, an executive-type mentioned having overheard this desire to pitch some properties. So your reviewer pitched his wares right there in the elevator. As the elevator opened and this slick suit handed out his card, however, there was a bona fide sense of accomplishment - no small feat in such a tinhorn town. But then, standing amid these Hollywood elite, a rumbling hullabaloo arose from the depths of the parking garage ... it was an Oldsmobile '88 choking black smoke and making a deafening ruckus. The attendant motored up to its owner, your reviewer, who promptly slipped him his last fin as if five bucks would somehow mask the din of dreams breaking.
But this was back in the day, of course, before a series of flops pulled the rug out from under these suits and New Line's holdings were acquired by Warner Brothers. Not a day goes by, however, that your reviewer does not think of what would have become of pushing that mailcart. Would he have directed the new
A Nightmare on Elm Street? Would he have starred as Bilbo in
The Hobbit? Would he have made an award-winning Cannes-screened short film? Well, in truth, he did accomplish this last feat without the help of New Line, thank you very much. But the moral of this H'wood fable is this: Life is all about the paths we choose ... like deciding between blockbusters and potential award winners. Autumn is the time when Hollywood traditionally puts away its childish things and REALLY gets to chumming the award waters. There are, of course, some notable exceptions, which is why
ec/dc has labeled some films with a "Statuette" and the rest with a "Popcorn Bucket." What's your road, dear readers? Read on and find out.
Babylon A.D. (August 29)
Vin Diesel, Vincent Cassel
So far as comebacks go, Diesel has certainly paid his dues. After parlaying supporting turns in
Saving Private Ryan and
Boiler Room into starring roles in the blockbusters
The Fast and the Furious and
XXX, Diesel fell back down the H'wood ladder after a string of lackluster duds (
Knockaround Guys, A Man Apart, The Chronicles of Riddick). Taking the lead under legendary director Sidney Lumet in
Find Me Guilty certainly put him back into the industry's graces, but what about a follow-up? Enter
Babylon A.D. Based on the novel
Babylon Babies by Maurice Dantec, this PG-13-rated sci-fi thriller stars Diesel as a mercenary charged with transporting a young woman who may have been induced with a synthetic virus capable of destroying humankind.
The Plus: Mathieu Kassovitz. The creative misfire
Gothika (his only previous directing effort outside of France) only hinted at the potential of this provocative French director and sometime actor (
Amelie). With
Babylon A.D., Americans may finally get to see what the fuss overseas is all about.
The Minus: The unknown. Even if the roster of summer hits has cleared out of the box office by late August to make way for
Babylon, there is the matter of
The Fast and the Furious 4. Diesel has just signed on for the fourth installment of this franchise which, let's face it, will probably be his true comeback.
Bangkok Dangerous (September 5)
Nicolas Cage, Steve Baldocchi
Whether you love or hate his career choices, Cage has cut quite a swath through Hollywood. From his days as a supporting player in cousin Francis Ford Coppola's films (
The Cotton Club, Peggy Sue Got Married) to his Oscar triumph (
Leaving Las Vegas) to his time as a bona fide superhero (
Ghost Rider), Cage has pretty much run the gamut from class to crass. In his latest, the R-rated action thriller
Bangkok Dangerous, Cage plays a cold-blooded hitman who unwittingly falls in love while in Thailand performing four contract killings.
The Plus: The players. Let's face it, Cage can pull off this genre in spades (
Face/Off, National Treasure). Cage aside, however, this actioner boasts the likes of the Pang Brothers, Danny and Oxide. This directing duo crafted a respectable amount of chills out of their Asian import
The Eye (the original, not the Jessica Alba hatchet job).
The Minus: Cage. Let's face it, the man has had more missteps than high-steps lately (
The Weather Man, The Wicker Man, Next).
Burn After Reading (September 12)
George Clooney, Brad Pitt
Though
Burn After Reading makes Clooney a veteran of three Coen Brothers films (lest filmgoers forget
O Brother, Where Art Thou? and
Intolerable Cruelty), readers might be interested to know that one of his latest co-stars has actually logged more Coen films. Frances McDormand can lay claim to four such films -
Blood Simple, Raising Arizona, and
Fargo being the others (five if you include an uncredited role in
Miller's Crossing). Call it nepotism. McDormand is married to co-director/screenwriter/producer/brother Joel Coen. In the Coens' latest, the R-rated comedy
Burn After Reading, two dim-witted gym employees (Pitt, McDormand) cook up a plan for extortion after the memoirs of a fired CIA executive (John Malcovich) fall into their hands.
The Plus: The Coens. Following the Oscar-winning triumph of
No Country for Old Men, John Q. Filmgoer will be hot to see what these highly regarded filmmakers do for a follow-up.
The Minus: The genre. Sure, everybody loves a good comedy ... but the Coens have more often than not faltered in this arena as of late (
Intolerable Cruelty, The Ladykillers).
Righteous Kill (September 12)
Robert DeNiro, Al Pacino
The last time that acting legends DeNiro and Pacino shared a scene together,
Heat resulted. And your reviewer is not JUST talking about white-hot intensity, he is referring to Michael Mann's now-classic LA noir cops n' crooks caper. In his article on
Heat in
Vanity Fair's 2003 "Hollywood Issue," columnist James Wolcott describes the project as one of the most underrated films of the '90s and the first few years that followed. Thirteen years after the film bowed, DeNiro and Pacino have chosen a property they feel was worthy enough to bring them together again. In the R-rated crime-thriller
Righteous Kill, two NYPD cops, partners for 30 years on the verge of retirement (DeNiro, Pacino), are called up to investigate a case possibly tied to a murder they solved years before.
The Plus: The talent. As if Bobby D. and The Pac-Man were not enough wattage, the film also features the likes of 50 Cent, Donnie Wahlberg, Brian Dennehy, Carla Gugino, and John Leguizamo.
The Minus: Director Jon Avnet. He also clocked in
88 Minutes earlier this year ... and that crime-thriller turned out to be possibly the worst film of Pacino's career. The fact that DeNiro has not been able to say "no" to clunkers lately (
Godsend, Hide and Seek, Stardust) does not exactly speak well for the material either.
Eagle Eye (September 19)
Shia LaBeouf, Michelle Monaghan
After the one-two punch of
Transformers and
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, actor LeBeouf is one hot property. A far cry from his days on the Disney Channel's
Even Stevens, LeBeouf is now at work on
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. But can another
Indiana Jones be in the offing? George Lucas has recently spoken to The Associated Press about a fifth such film - only director Steven Spielberg reportedly wants to delve more into the Jones' past, a move that would not include LeBeouf's character. In LeBeouf's latest, the not-yet-rated thriller
Eagle Eye, two strangers (LaBeouf, Monaghan) race against time after they become unwitting pawns in a mysterious woman's diabolical plot.
The Plus: The players. Besides LeBeouf, the cast also includes Monaghan (hot off of her critically lauded turn in
Gone Baby Gone), Rosario Dawson, and Billy Bob Thorton. Also, the story idea for
Eagle Eye came from the mind of Spielberg.
The Minus: Bad press. Though the media seems to be making a mountain out of a molehill, there has been much attention given to LeBeouf's minor scrapes with the law. Besides a loitering charge in a Chicago Walgreen's and a smoking charge in LA, the young actor was also involved in a July car accident that caused major damage to his hand, halting production on the
Transformers sequel. And though another driver was charged with causing the accident, LeBeouf was cited for driving under the influence.
Miracle at St. Anna (September 19)
Derek Luke, Michael Ealy
With
Inside Man, his blockbusting bank-robbing caper, and
When the Levee Breaks, the critically acclaimed documentary about hurricane-ravaged New Orleans, director Spike Lee certainly scaled some creative heights in 2006. With the clout acquired from his combo, he has turned his attention to adapting a best-selling novel by James McBride. In this R-rated World War II drama, four soldiers from the army's Negro 92nd Division (Luke, Ealy, et al) get separated from their unit and find humanity in a small Tuscan village.
The Plus: Lee. When the man is good (
Clockers, The 25th Hour), the man is REALLY good (
Do the Right Thing, Malcolm X).
The Minus: Bad press. At the Cannes International Film Festival, Lee took some shots at Hollywood icon Clint Eastwood, whose WWII Iwo Jima twofer bowed in 2006. Even though Eastwood's
Flags of Our Fathers featured African-Americans as extras and
Letters from Iwo Jima concerned the Japanese perspective of the conflict, Lee attacked Eastwood for not fairly depicting the involvement of African-Americans in the war.
RocknRolla (October 3)
Gerald Butler, Tom Wilkinson
After he came out guns a-blazing with the double-barrel success of
Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels and
Snatch, writer/director Guy Ritchie admittedly made a bad career misfire - working with his wife Madonna on the romantic dud
Swept Away and following it with the pseudo-psychoanalytical caper
Revolver. Now, with his return to London gangster noir set to bow this October, audiences are hoping that
RocknRolla will be Ritchie's return to form. In this R-rated crime dramedy, London's criminal underworld (Butler, Wilkinson, et al) takes an interest in a crooked land deal orchestrated by a Russian mobster.
The Plus: The players. Surely,
Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels and
Snatch have amassed a fanbase in spades. Ritchie, however, was smart enough to stack this deck with Butler (
300), Wilkinson (
Michael Clayton), Thandie Newton (
The Pursuit of Happyness), Jeremy Piven (HBO's
Entourage), and Chris "Ludacris" Bridges (
Crash).
The Minus: Politics. Executives at Warner Brothers,
RocknRolla's U.S. distributor, have publicly aired their doubts regarding the British film's appeal to the mass American audiences.
Appaloosa (October 3, limited)
Viggo Mortensen, Ed Harris
Following the critical acclaim of his writing/directing debut
Pollock, Oscar-winning actor Ed Harris has taken a little while to decide upon a follow-up ... about, say, eight years. It is certainly not due to laziness (
A Beautiful Mind, A History of Violence, Gone Baby Gone). But alas, dear readers, a decision has finally been made: Harris has adapted crime writer Robert B. Parker's 2005 Western novel
Appaloosa. In this R-rated western, two gunmen (Mortensen, Harris) arrive in a dusty town to find its sheriff dead and its citizens under siege by a ruthless renegade rancher (Jeremy Irons).
The Plus: The players. Harris is one matter entirely. Mortensen, however, is another matter altogether. This actor has built upon his
Lord of the Rings clout with increasingly brave choices that have paid off in spades (
A History of Violence, Eastern Promises). Rounding out the cast with Oscar winners Renee Zellweger (
Cold Mountain) and Irons (
Reversal of Fortune) can only help matters.
The Minus: The genre. Aside from
3:10 to Yuma's respectable (but not great) take, westerns have not performed well at the box office in recent years.
Body of Lies (October 10)
Leonardo DiCaprio, Russell Crowe
Actor Crowe must really enjoy working with director Ridley Scott. Following their Oscar-winning triumph
Gladiator in 2000, this twosome reunited five years later with the romantic comedy
A Good Year and never looked back. They made another splash last year with the crime epic
American Gangster and then set their sights on this film, an adaptation of David Ignatious's novel
Body of Lies. In this R-rated thriller, a CIA operative (DiCaprio) uncovers a major terrorist undertaking in Jordan, but worries that he cannot trust his chief ally, a callous spymaster (Crowe).
The Plus: The players. Crowe has one Oscar under his belt (
Gladiator), but there have been some noteworthy nominations (
The Insider, A Beautiful Mind). DiCaprio, however, has a host of nods (
What's Eating Gilbert Grape?, The Aviator, Blood Diamond), but no Oscar. Put them together with Scott and screenwriter William Monahan (Oscar winner for
The Departed) and filmgoers have themselves 2008's first real award contender. The Minus: The material. Films concerning the timely subject of terrorism and/or tensions in the Middle East have not bowled over the box office - even WITH critical acclaim (
Rendition, The Kingdom).
Max Payne (October 17)
Mark Wahlberg, Mila Kunis
Another Summer, another video game adaptation ... only we have stumbled into the Fall, dear readers, and this property promises to be more along the lines of
Lara Croft Tomb Raider than, say,
Super Mario Brothers. It proves to be based on the hard-hitting interactive game about a maverick cop - and who better to play this rogue than Mark Wahlberg, the man who was Oscar nominated for playing a maverick cop in 2006's
The Departed. In this not-yet-rated thriller, an undercover DEA agent (Wahlberg) is framed for the murder of a fellow agent and seeks revenge for the mob slayings of his wife and child.
The Plus: The players.
The Happening aside, Wahlberg is on a bit of a hot streak. Rumor is that there is a
Departed sequel in the works with his, Martin Scorcese's, and Robert DeNiro's names reportedly all over it. Also, director John Moore (the remakes of
Behind Enemy Lines and
The Omen) has given filmgoers quite a visually impressive trailer.
The Minus: The odds. Audiences have seen shoot-'em-up video game-based actioners before and been hugely disappointed (Doom, Hitman).
W. (October 17)
Josh Brolin, Elizabeth Banks
When Oliver Stone tackled 9/11 with the surprisingly non-polarizing World Trade Center in 2006, film critics thought that this former controversy magnet might have mellowed. The director, who got his start as a screenwriter (Scarface), had already taken on our government in regards to the Kennedy assassination (JFK), the media (Natural Born Killers), and the Vietnam War (Platoon, Born on the Fourth of July, Heaven and Hell). And he had even taken aim at U.S. Presidents before (the indulgent but fascinating Nixon, for example), but never while they were STILL in office. Nothing, however, could prepare John Q. Filmgoer for this shoestring budget biopic set to bow before this November's presidential election. In this political satire, viewers are treated to a loose interpretation of the struggles and triumphs of President George W. Bush (Brolin) leading up to his decision to invade Iraq. The Plus: The players. Besides Brolin (American Gangster, No Country for Old Men) as Bush, Jr., and Banks (Invincible; Definitely, Maybe) as his wife Laura, the cast also includes James Cromwell (Babe, LA Confidential) as Bush, Sr., Ellen Burstyn (The Exorcist, Requiem for a Dream) as his mother Barbara, Thandie Newton (Mission: Impossible II, RocknRolla) as Condoleezza Rice, and Jeffrey Wright (Syriana, Casino Royale) as Colin Powell. The Minus: Stone. His politics aide, the man's work has not been as sharp as it once was. It took him three separate cuts to release HIS version of Alexander ... and it still stunk.
High School Musical 3: Senior Year (October 24)
Zac Efron, Vanessa Hudgens
Your reviewer has not been living under a rock, dear readers. It is just that this childless terminally cynical man has never laid eyes on Disney Channel programming let alone the phenomenally successful High School Musical series that has teens singing its syrupy songs and parents pulling their every last hair out. In this go-round, the first installment released theatrically, a group of high school seniors (Efron, Hudgens, Ashley Tisdale, Corbin Bleu) find themselves staging an elaborate Spring musical and faced with going in different directions as college closes in. The Plus: The franchise, duh. In 2006, the Emmy Award-winning High School Musical became the Disney Channel's most watched film of all time, sold a gazillion copies on DVD, and spawned a platinum-selling soundtrack. In 2005, the High School Musical 2 racked up pretty much the same honors. Also, Efron has already developed some film cred with Hairspray. The Minus: Well, there's ... and then there's the matter of ... ah hell, let's face it, millions of screaming teens with oodles of disposable income are going to descend on multiplexes come October 24. And Disney has already been announced that there is a fourth installment already in development.
The Changeling (October 24, limited)
Angelina Jolie, Amy Ryan
Ever since Hollywood legend Clint Eastwood tackled Mystic River, a searing tale of murder in South Boston, his directing career has been on one hell of a roll. The Oscar-winning Million Dollar Baby came next, followed by the critically hailed companion World War II films Flags of Our Fathers and Letters from Iwo Jima. Reaching back to his 1971 directorial debut Play Misty for Me, it is good to see that the 78-year-old is hitting another career high some 37 years later. In his latest, an R-rated drama based on true events in the 1920s, a mother (Jolie) prays for the return of her kidnapped son only to suspect his identity when the child comes back to her. The Plus: The players. Jolie is still burning hot after the smash back-to-back success of Wanted and Kung Fu Panda. And even though she won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress in Girl, Interrupted back in 1999, she reminded filmgoers that this was no fluke with her amazing portrayal of Mariane Pearl in 2007's A Mighty Heart. Also, Ryan garnered a lot of acclaim (and an Oscar nomination) for her performance in Gone Baby Gone, so audiences will be game for her follow-up. The Minus: The odds. After the success of Unforgiven, Eastwood had churned out his share of duds before giving audiences Mystic River (Absolute Power, True Crime, Bloodwork).
Zack & Miri Make a Porno (October 31)
Seth Rogen, Elizabeth Banks
Fourteen years ago, Kevin Smith established himself as one of the young lions of independent film with Clerks, an anti-everything riff about 20-something slackers trying to carve a niche in the generic '90s. The film spawned an endless amount of Jay & Silent Bob flicks in what was supposed to just be a trilogy. One was great (Chasing Amy), one was good (Dogma), and the other two are really not worth mentioning (Mallrats, Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back). In his latest comedy, thankfully a Jay & Silent Bob-free affair, two financially desperate friends (Rogen, Banks) decide to make an adult film, but soon uncover their own affection for each other. The Plus: Smith. Clerks ranks with Sex, Lies and Videotape and Reservoir Dogs as one of the tent-poles of the indie film movement. And the sequel, 2006's Clerks II, was a surprisingly decent follow-up. The Minus: Familiarity. In 2004, Jersey Girl, Smith's first trip off of the Jay & Silent Bob reservation, did not fare well with filmgoers or critics. Also, the filmmaker has reportedly had to work hard to secure an R rating as opposed to NC-17, which means that it would not be released in most theaters around the country.
Quantum of Solace (November 7)
Daniel Craig, Judi Dench
With Casino Royale, superspy 007 was reinvented for the post-9/11 era with bone-crunching realism. Universally lauded by both critics and filmgoers, the film made it quite aware that this was not your father's Bond franchise, laden with cheesy villains (Jaws, Moonraker), even cheesier gadgets (invisible car, Die Another Day), and the cheesiest vixens (Denise Richards as nuclear scientist Dr. Christmas Jones, The World is Not Enough). In the 22nd James Bond film, a direct follow-up to Casino Royale, Bond (Craig) seeks to uncover his late girlfriend's blackmailers and uncovers a complex and dangerous organization with ties to a ruthless businessman (Mathieu Amalric). The Plus: The players. Not only are Craig and Dench back, so is Jeffrey Wright as CIA operative Felix Leiter, and Giancarlo Giannini as slippery MI6 field agent Rene Mathis. Also, director Marc Forster (Monster's Ball, Finding Neverland, The Kite Runner) may have seemed like an unlikely choice to helm an intelligent actioner, but the kick-ass trailer is telling audiences a whole other story. The Minus: Sophomore slump. Besides having a dodgy title, Quantum of Solace has a lot of ground to cover in order to live up to its predecessor.
Australia (November 14)
Nicole Kidman, Hugh Jackman
Following the success of the visually and musically striking Moulin Rouge, director Baz Luhrmann could have set his sights on pretty much any property. Soon after, he announced that his next project was going to be a biopic of Alexander the Great starring Leonardo DiCaprio ... only Oliver Stone had just put HIS Alexander biopic starring Colin Farrell into production. The critical and financial lashes taken by 2004's Alexander, however, spoke well for Luhrmann, who wisely decided to park his project in the docks once Stone had already begun production. In Luhrmann's latest film, the 1930s-spanning epic Australia, a widowed Aussie rancher (Kidman) drives her herd of cattle through the Outback on the eve of the bombing of Darwin in World War II. The Plus: Luhrmann. The man made his mark with Romeo & Juliet and then captivated audiences with Moulin Rouge. It is time to dazzle them again with an Oscar-worthy follow-up. The Minus: Luhrmann. He has recently announced plans to revisit his Alexander project, which does not speak well for his choice of material these days.
The Road (November 14)
Viggo Mortensen, Kodi Smit-McPhee
Recently, in its 1000th issue, Entertainment Weekly listed its tops of the pops across all of the media-related categories - film, television, music, and books. A surprise to no one who read it, Cormac McCarthy's The Road topped that particular magazine's book list. In 2007, the novel went on to win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and earned an esteemed spot on the reading list of Oprah's Book Club. In the R-rated adaptation of the novel, a nameless father (Morternsen) and son (Smit-McPhee) traverse a post-apocalyptic landscape in search of life and purpose. The Plus: The talent. McCarthy's last novel to be adapted to film, No Country for Old Men, went on to win the Academy Award last year. Mortensen walked away with an acting nomination for The History of Violence last year. Also, in 2006, director John Hillcoat gave audiences the brilliant and blistering western The Proposition. His follow-up should fare no different. The Minus: The tone. Post-apocalypse ... nameless characters ... bleak storytelling ... sounds like a REAL pick-me-up for filmgoers.
Also, keep your eyes out for: College (8/29), The Women (9/12), Ghost Town (9/19), Lakeview Terrace (9/19), Blindness (9/26), Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist (10/3), What Just Happened (10/3), How to Lose Friends and Alienate People (10/3), The Express (10/10), Quarantine (10/10), The Secret Life of Bees (10/17), Saw V (10/24), Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa (11/7), Role Models (11/14), and Soul Men (11/14).