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By Kat Giantis
MSN Entertainment
Phew! We've finally made it through the dog days of summer. And speaking of dogs, the last half of the season has been filled with them, as studios, per tradition, have unloaded their less-worthy films in theaters. But the dark times are over and a new season has arrived, bringing with it a multitude of movies we're just itching to see.
The coming months are jam-packed with A-list talents such as Russell Crowe, Nicole Kidman, George Clooney, Bill Murray, Halle Berry, Meg Ryan, Hugh Grant and a long-lost fella by the name of Quentin Tarantino, who has murder and mayhem on his mind with the first installment of his martial-arts opus "Kill Bill." So pack up those Bermuda shorts and start marking off your calendar, 'cause with all this good stuff coming out of Hollywood, you won't want to miss a thing ... OK, maybe a few things.
SEPTEMBER
"Once Upon a Time in Mexico" (now playing)
The Story: The gun-slinging, guitar-toting El Mariachi (Antonio Banderas) is back for the third installment of writer-director Robert Rodriguez's Western-style saga. This time out, the Mariachi is lured out of hiding by a corrupt CIA agent (Johnny Depp) to gun down a drug lord (Willem Dafoe). Salma Hayek returns as eye candy Carolina, with Enrique Iglesias in his big-screen debut as a ruthless up-and-coming mariachi.
Major Selling Point: The always surprising Depp, riding high off the success of "Pirates of the Caribbean," plays a character he describes as "a real slime ball." We're oddly excited.
Bottom Line: Fans of the series can thank Quentin Tarantino for its return. The auteur, who made a cameo in "Desperado," likened the series to Sergio Leone's "Man with No Name" trilogy ("A Fistful of Dollars," "For a Few Dollars More" and "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly") and encouraged Rodriguez to make an epic third film (he even suggested the Leone-inspired title). Rodriguez has produced a testosterone-packed pic with macho men Banderas and Depp causing major carnage, which might be just what the end-of-summer crowd is looking for.
"The Rundown" (now playing)
The Story: A bounty hunter (Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson) nearing retirement accepts one last job: track down an archeologist (Seann William Scott) in the Brazilian jungle.
Major Selling Point: Scott, a.k.a. Stifler, gets the American pie kicked out of him by The Rock.
Bottom Line: It's "Romancing the Stone" meets "Midnight Run" meets "Raiders of the Lost Ark" with some martial arts, one-liners, howler monkeys, and crime lord Christopher Walken in a very dirty wife-beater T-shirt thrown in. During the pic's gestation, the title changed from "Helldorado" to "Welcome to the Jungle" to the current "The Rundown." Here's hoping the movie, which marks Johnson's first starring role without oiled-up pecs (see "Scorpion King" and "The Mummy Returns"), isn't as blah as its name.
"Under the Tuscan Sun" (now playing)
The Story: A writer (Diane Lane) hopes to lift her post-divorce doldrums (and writer's block) with a trip to Italy, where she renovates a villa and rehabs her love life courtesy of a studly local (Raoul Bova).
Major Selling Point: "Unfaithful" proved that Lane is no prude when it comes to romantic scenes, and she gets plenty of opportunities to get her, um, gelato scooped with Bova around.
Bottom Line: Writer-director Audrey Wells ("Guinevere") helms this very loose adaptation of Frances Mayes' eponymous best-selling book. The luscious Italian backdrops (it was filmed in Cortona, Positano, Rome and Florence) -- and men -- could entice the 25-and-over female moviegoer demographic, who have very little to choose from this season.
"Underworld" (now playing)
The Story: The thousand-year-old blood war between sophisticated vampires and thuggish werewolves reaches a fever pitch when a neck-biting warrior (Kate Beckinsale) falls for a werewolf (Scott Speedman, a.k.a. Ben from "Felicity") who unwittingly holds the key to lycanthropic survival.
Major Selling Point: Beckinsale is sheathed in the tightest leather outfits this side of Trinity.
Bottom Line: Directed by first-timer Len Wiseman, the darkly atmospheric (and bullet-riddled) "Underworld" has invited comparisons to everything from "The Matrix" to "Blade" to "X-Men." Sony is apparently hoping for a big old monster smash: The studio is releasing a line of action figures and video game in conjunction with the film.
"Anything Else" (now playing)
The Story: Comedian Jerry Falk (Jason Biggs) falls in love with neurotic actress Amanda (Christina Ricci). Woody Allen, who wrote and directed the flick, plays Jerry's mentor, who offers him dating advice. Uh-oh.
Major Selling Point: Woody, to the relief of many, doesn't romance his dewy leading lady.
Bottom Line: Allen needs a hit (see "Hollywood Ending," "Curse of the Jade Scorpion" and pretty much every other movie he's made in the last five years), and judging from the audience-pleasing trailer (set to the Four Seasons' toe-tapping "Sugar Pie Honeybunch") it looks like he was willing to do "Anything" to appeal to a wider (i.e. not just French) demographic. The utterly forgettable title is a bad sign, although Allen insists this film is reminiscent of "Manhattan" and "Annie Hall." Plus, Ricci is oh-so-appealing in the trailer.
"The
Order" (now playing)
The Story: Hunky Heath Ledger finds religion as a Catholic priest investigating a murder that may have ties to the Vatican ... and the supernatural. Shannyn Sossamon is a female detective who has Heath rethinking that whole celibacy thing.
Major Selling Point: Heath looks damn fine in his priestly garb. (We are so going to hell.)
Bottom Line: Writer-director Brian Helgeland recruits three of his actors from "A Knight's Tale" (Ledger, Sossamon and Mark Addy) for this long-in-the-works film, which was originally saddled with the snicker-inducing moniker "The Sin Eater." So if you like your religion freaky and your priests divine, "The Order" might be your calling.
"Matchstick Men" (now playing)
The Story: Roy (Nicolas Cage) is a phobia-plagued grifter on the verge of a nervous breakdown who's shocked to learn he has a 14-year-old daughter (Alison Lohman) ... and that she's inherited her daddy's scamming talents.
Major Selling Point: Cage usually shines in challenging, character-driven stories ("Adaptation," "Leaving Las Vegas"), and the casting of Lohman and Sam Rockwell, who plays Roy's partner in crime, could generate real sparkage on screen.
Bottom Line: Director Ridley Scott scales down from his recent big-budget fare ("Gladiator," "Black Hawk Down") for a smaller, quieter film. Early reviews have been mostly positive, so here's hoping the Cage-Scott combo doesn't con us out of our $8.
"Cold Creek Manor" (now playing)
The Story: City folk (Dennis Quaid and Sharon Stone) move their family to a quaint home in the country, where they're terrorized by the crib's previous owner, a recent parolee (Stephen Dorff) who wants to call their house home again.
Major Selling Point: Stone unwillingly shares her bed with several slithering snakes.
Bottom Line: Once known as "The Devil's Throat," this suburban horror tale is crucial to the skidding careers of the newly single Stone and director Mike Figgis, both of whom had their last big successes in 1995 ("Casino" and "Leaving Las Vegas," respectively). But the box-office Bermuda triangle of Stone, Figgis and Dorff could leave audiences very "Cold" indeed.
"Lost in Translation" (now playing)
The Story: Discontented Hollywood star Bob (Bill Murray) meets an unhappy newlywed, Charlotte (Scarlett Johansson), late one night in a hotel bar in Tokyo. The two lost souls form an unlikely bond as they paint the town red.
Major Selling Point: Murray singing a karaoke version of "(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding)."
Bottom Line: Sofia Coppola wrote and directed the buzz-heavy "Translation," the follow-up to her critical darling debut "The Virgin Suicides" and the film that could get her out of the directorial shadow of dad Francis Ford Coppola and hubby Spike Jonze. As for Murray, he essayed some of his finest work in the small-scale "Rushmore," and "Translation" looks to be another indie-style tour de force performance from the criminally underappreciated actor.
Also opening in September:
"Party Monster" (now playing in selected cities) -- Macaulay Culkin leaves "Home Alone" in the past -- and how -- in this low-budget drama, in which he plucks his eyebrows and dons platform shoes to play Michael Alig, the infamous New York "club kid" who murdered and dismembered his dealer.
"Home Room" (now playing in selected cities) -- Erika Christensen is Deanna Cartwright, a survivor of a high school shooting that left nine of her classmates dead. As Deanna recovers, she befriends the troubled Alicia Browning (Busy Phillips), who may know more about the murders than she's letting on.
"Cabin Fever" (now playing) -- In this film festival fave, five recent college grads find their vacation in the woods has turned into a fight for survival when one is infected by a flesh-eating virus.
"Casa de Los Babys" (now playing in selected cities) -- John Sayles wrote and directed this ensemble drama, which he shot for a thrifty $1 million. It centers on six American women (Maggie Gyllenhall, Lili Taylor, Marcia Gay Harden, Mary Steenburgen, Daryl Hannah, Susan Lynch) who travel to South America to retrieve their adopted babies but are forced to stay a good long while.
"Secondhand Lions" (now playing) -- Haley Joel Osment, who's hitting puberty with a vengeance (his cracking voice could out squeak Peter Brady), is sent to live on a farm with his two curmudgeonly uncles (Michael Caine and Robert Duvall) in this coming-of-age drama.
"The Fighting Temptations" (now playing) -- Cuba Gooding, Jr. attempts to resuscitate his career as a New York ad executive who must help a church choir win a gospel competition in order to collect a family inheritance. Beyonce Knowles co-stars.
"Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star" (now playing) -- David Spade is a washed-up celeb eyeing a comeback who rents a family to teach him what a normal life is all about. Former child stars Barry Williams, Corey Feldman, Emmanuel Lewis and Dustin "Screech" Diamond put in cameos.
"My Life Without Me" (now playing, in selected cities) -- Sarah Polley stars as a trailer-living wife and mother who learns she has just two months to live. In the time she has left, she tries to experience every moment to its fullest (and yes, there's an affair involved).
September | October | November
