Our critic previews the big fall films
By ROBERT W. BUTLER
The Kansas City Star
It’s the season of sunny contentment in Hollywood.
Moviedom has been basking in the warm glow of mostly rave reviews and beaucoup ticket sales for “Iron Man,” “Sex and the City,” “WALL-E” and especially the record-smashing “Dark Knight,” now poised to become the top movie earner ever (displacing “Titanic”).
Heck, even the art scene has enjoyed long-running hits like “The Visitor” and “Young@Heart” that moved in and refused to leave.
If only this cinematic summer could go on endlessly.
But no, after summer comes a time of falling leaves and shortened days, of creeping shadows and premonitions of mortality.
In short, the fall movie season is upon us.
Some of us question whether there actually is such a thing as the fall movie season. Summer is known for big popcorn pictures and the holidays for Oscar-bound fare. But autumn defies categorization — except, perhaps as “movies we didn’t know what else to do with.”
Looking over the titles that will be hitting the multiplex between now and Thanksgiving (officially the beginning of the holiday movie season) it’s hard to work up much enthusiasm.
Even some interesting titles have big question marks attached. For instance there’s “Righteous Kill,” a police thriller reuniting Robert De Niro and Al Pacino for the first time since “Heat.” Sounds promising … but it’s directed by Jon Avnet, whose last outing was the hopelessly dumb “88 Minutes.”
It’s difficult to get worked up over sequels and remakes like “Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa,” “Saw V,” “Death Race” and “High School Musical 3.”
So is there anything out there to get a movie geek’s pulse racing?
Maybe. What follows is a list of 15 fall films that pique my curiosity. I cannot say whether they will live up to my expectations.
But something about them — the cast, the premise, the director — grabbed my interest.
“Hamlet 2” (Friday): Shades of “Waiting for Guffman”! Funnyman Steve Coogan plays a failed actor now teaching high school drama. His brainstorm: a musical version of “Hamlet.”
“Burn After Reading” (Sept. 12): Ethan and Joel Coen lighten up after their unrelentingly pessimistic “No Country for Old Men.” In this comedy, a CIA agent’s memoir ends up in the hands of a couple of loser gym employees, who think they’ll get rich by selling it. Great cast: Brad Pitt, George Clooney, John Malkovich, Tilda Swinton, Frances McDormand.
“Lakeview Terrace” (Sept. 19): Might be rank melodrama … or it could be fascinating. We’re familiar with white bigots picking on interracial couples, but what if the malevolent one is a black man … and a cop to boot? Samuel L. Jackson plays an LAPD officer who’ll do anything to get rid of the couple (Patrick Wilson, Kerry Washington) who’ve moved in next door. Behind the camera is that seething social observer Neil LaBute … let’s hope this more resembles his “In the Company of Men” than his disastrous “Wicker Man” remake.
“Miracle at St. Anna” (Sept. 26): Spike Lee tackles World War II. Four black GIs (Derek Luke, Michael Ealy, Laz Alonso, Omar Benson Miller) find themselves trapped behind enemy lines in a Tuscan village when one of them risks his life to save an Italian boy. It’s a rare venture into period drama for Lee.
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