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Fall movie preview: November
The month of Thanksgiving offers us a few movies to be grateful for, but there are a few helpings of stale leftovers too. Look back at September and October here.
November 3
Borat: Sacha Baron Cohen is nothing if not a committed (pun intended) performer, but a little of him goes a very long way. Here he plays a Kazakhstani TV personality who makes a documentary about the U.S. I’m not convinced a movie with him front and center will be anything beyond a cult hit.
Flushed Away: The masters of claymation at Aardman Animation make their first foray into CGI. Ewan McGregor plays an upper class rat who gets flushed into the sewers, but life’s not all bad. Kate Winslet’s down there too.
The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause: Tim Allen’s Santa tangles with a (s)nippy Jack Frost (Martin Short.) Call me Grinchy, but I didn’t see the need for two of these, let alone 3. Ho-ho-hum.
November 10
Babel: Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett join forces with the writer-director team behind Amores Perros and 21 Grams. I found both those movies to be somewhat overrated, but there’s no denying the intrigue here. Pitt and Blanchett play a married couple touched by tragedy on their vacation.
A Good Year: Director Ridley Scott puts away his epic sweep to make one of his rare light movies, and this time Maximus himself (that’s Russell Crowe to you) joins him, playing a banker who takes a liking to life in the country. This looks like a Y chromosome away from Under the Tuscan Sun with Diane Lane, but with Scott and Crowe, attention must be paid.
Harsh Times: Christian Bale and Freddy Rodriguez star in this thriller in which Bale plays an Iraq war vet who goes on a foreboding joyride with his best buddy. David Ayer (the writer of Training Day) directs, but the buzz is questionable considering this was supposed to come out last summer.
The Return: Having handed over the Grudge sequel’s starring role to Amber Tamblyn, Sarah Michelle Gellar makes another foray into horror-lite, playing a woman troubled by visions of the murder of a woman she hasn’t met. I like Gellar, but there are so many of these movies now, she’ll have to work hard to separate this from the pack.
Stranger than Fiction: Me oh my. I am so torn. I love the premise of a man hearing his life narrated by an unseen woman, and it turns out the narrator is an author steering her character to his demise. Emma Thompson plays the author and Dustin Hoffman is in the cast, but Will Ferrell is in the lead. I’ve had more than enough of him and Ricky Bobby, but history has shown that if Ferrell stays away from the script, as he has here, he can be funny. (See Elf for proof.)
November 17
Casino Royale: I have every single Bond movie on DVD — even the crummy ones (The Man with the Golden Gun, A View to a Kill, etc.). So yeah, you might say I’m interested.
Fast Food Nation: Since the documentary Super Size Me pretty effectively slammed the fast food industry, writer-director Richard Linklater fictionalizes Eric Schlosser’s expose. One look at this may put you off the Golden Arches forever.
Happy Feet: Penguin-mania rears its flipper again with this CGI movie directed by, of all people, George Miller of Road Warrior fame. All I ask is that it be funnier than the tepid Madagascar.
Tenacious D in the Pick of Destiny: Jack Black’s duo with Kyle Gass takes a break from making silly music to make a silly movie.
November 22
Bobby: An all-star cast, including Anthony Hopkins, Sharon Stone, Lindsay Lohan and Helen Hunt, revisits the last days of RFK. One giant red flag: the film is written and directed by Emilio Estevez, whose masterworks include Wisdom and Dirty Work. Even with that cast, I can’t help but be skeptical.
Deck the Halls: With boughs of holly, fa la la … oh, sorry. Two neighbors (Matthew Broderick and Danny DeVito) go to war after one of them decorates his house for the holidays so brightly that it can be seen from space. Didn’t a similar concept already fail miserably when it was called Christmas with the Kranks? I’d rather eat a 10-year-old fruitcake with mold on it.
Déjà vu: An ATF agent (Washington) travels back in time to save a woman from being murdered, falling in love with her during the process. Tony Scott directs, but I hope it brings back memories of Crimson Tide instead of Domino.
The Fountain: More romantic time traveling ensues when Hugh Jackman spends 1,000 years trying to save the love of his life, Rachel Weisz. Sounds trippy, and few people do trippy better than director Darren Aronofksy, who made the brilliant Requiem for a Dream.
Let’s Go to Prison: … and see Deck the Halls! Actually, in this one a criminal (Dax Shepard) and a rich snob (Will Arnett) become cell-mates. Where’s that “get out of jail free” card when ya need it?
Permalink | Comments (1) | Categories: Coming Attractions
Comments
By Allie D.
August 30, 2006 4:51 PM | Link to this
I for one am really looking forward to the Borat movie. I laughed out loud almost all the way through both of the trailers I’ve seen. I’m also looking forward to Casino Royale. I think that a lot of more uppity Bond fans will end up eating crow over this one.