JAGeExtant4Now
11-09-2005, 09:50 AM
Here is a list of films that are coming to the big screen this winter.
ACTION:
(NOVEMBER)
'DERAILED' (Nov. 11)
Blessed with a lovely wife (Melissa George), an only slightly diabetic daughter and a fine job as an advertising exec, Charles Schine's (Clive Owen) life is set on the straight and narrow. But after an impulsive quickie with an alluring (married) woman (Jennifer Aniston) he meets on his commuter train, Schine gets beaten to a pulp by a thug who then brutally rapes his bedmate. Naturally, blackmail follows, one bad thing leads to another, and soon Schine's perfect life has gone off the tracks big time. Smells like Hitchcock -- one little mistake and you're "guilty" of everything. Dark-gazed Clive Owen's a dab hand at conveying ordinary decency slowly decaying into rage and violence, and the stellar cast also features Vincent Cassel, RZA, Tom Conti and the always mesmerizing Giancarlo Esposito.
'KISS KISS, BANG BANG' (Nov. 11)
Slick scriptmeister Shane Black ("Lethal Weapon") takes over the directorial reins for the first time. Here, he delivers a comic noir that begs, borrows and steals from Raymond Chandler, James Bond, Howard Hawks' "The Big Sleep," Roman Polanski's "Chinatown" and, of course, the bantering-buddies style of "Lethal Weapon." The film's Bogey and Bacall are ripely played by Robert Downey Jr., an accidental actor boning up for a gumshoe role, and Val Kilmer, camping it up as a private dick named Gay Perry. Cracking-wise and one-upping nonstop, this daft duo dips into La-La Land's sleaze and glamour, hot on the trail of a killer offing a string of lovelies (the movie's adapted from Brent Halliday's novel "Bodies Are Where You Find Them"). With Michelle Monaghan as a pulp-fiction hottie.
'SYRIANA' (Nov. 23, limited)
Fresh from playing legendary TV newsman Fred Friendly in "Good Night, and Good Luck.," George Clooney takes on another real-life role. He plays Robert Baer, the CIA veteran whose New York Times bestseller "See No Evil: The True Story of a Ground Soldier in the CIA's War on Terrorism" exposed how the agency devolved from "son of O.S.S." to toothless tiger. Oscar-winning screenwriter Stephen Gaghan ("Traffic") assumes the director's chair to weave a complex web of CIA case histories, foreign-policy politicking, and Big Oil, all under the looming cloud of 9/11. Matt Damon, Amanda Peet, Jeffrey Wright, and Greta Scacchi comprise the powerhouse supporting cast.
(DECEMBER)
'KING KONG' (Dec. 14)
The population is divided into two subspecies: those who snatch at every available advance glimpse of Peter Jackson's remake of the 1933 Big Guy classic, and those who want to remain pristine so as to meet the monster movie all-new, all at once. If anyone had to undertake a (second) remake of this beloved tale, surely Jackson -- who so masterfully marshaled the million-and-one odds to do right by "Lord of the Rings" -- is the man for the task. With Naomi Watts in for Fay Wray as the giant gorilla's love object, Jack Black inviting her along for "a long sea voyage" to a jungle island primeval, Adrien Brody as the hero, and most of Jackson's doughty New Zealand crew repeating their legend-making tasks from the "Ring" trilogy, there's every reason to hope they'll scale the heights.
'THE PROMISE' (Dec. 16, limited)
A beautiful concubine (Cecilia Cheung) is barred from true love until time flows backwards and the dead are resurrected. Adored by a king, a general and a nobleman, the cursed girl is saved by a slave's devotion. Awards-hungry Harvey Weinstein bought Chen Kaige's ("Farewell, My Concubine") epic love story after screening a 12-minute synopsis, convinced he had a sure-fire contender for a foreign-language Oscar. Chen promises "this story will touch people's hearts. That's the key. I don't use effects for the wrong reasons." Cinematography's by Peter Pau ("Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon") and stunts are coordinated by Dion Lam ("The Matrix"). At $35 million, "The Promise" is the most expensive film ever made in China. It's aiming for the international success of "House of Flying Daggers" and "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon."
(JANUARY)
'RUNNING SCARED' (Jan. 6)
Wayne Kramer, writer-director of the ultra-edgy "The Cooler," returns with a tale about a couple of little kids who find a gun recently used to kill a police officer. They don't know that -- or that the Mafia wants to recover the gun in order to eradicate any evidence of the crime. Paul Walker plays the father of one of the kids (Alex Neuberger); the other boy is played by Cameron Bright, the uncanny child suitor of Nicole Kidman in "Birth." The suspense comes from every direction in this tautly conceived thriller.
'THE WORLD'S FASTEST INDIAN' (Jan. 27)
Australian director Roger Donaldson had already released a loving documentary about Burt Munro, the 72-year-old New Zealander who made an eventful journey from his hometown to Utah's Bonneville Salt Flats, where his 1920 Indian motorcycle set a land-speed record. Now, he directs Anthony Hopkins (Captain Bligh in Donaldson's "The Bounty," 1984) as Munro who is unrelentingly genial, brimming with cracker-barrel philosophy -- every cute-ism punctuated by an endearing little chuckle. The old duffer, "Rocky" on Viagra, never meets a lady who doesn't want to bed him or a minority -- transvestite, Hispanic or Native American -- who doesn't want to give him a hand. Candy corn, and probable Oscar bait.
COMEDY:
(NOVEMBER)
'BREAKFAST ON PLUTO' (Nov. 16, LIMITED)
Neil Jordan's latest is his most playful and dazzling since 1997's "The Butcher Boy," and like that surreal skyrocket, it's based on a novel by the brilliant Irish author Pat McCabe. Cillian Murphy is a gender-switching knockout in direct line of descent from the enchanting Dil in "The Crying Game." He/she is an exquisitely featured girl/boy whose pilgrimage through an Ireland and England vulnerable to never-ending IRA bombings and other detonations verges on a modern day "Candide." Liam Neeson, Stephen Rea, Brendan Gleeson, Eamonn Owens, Gavin Friday as a hilarious Irish rocker, and exquisite girl/girl Ruth Negga all co-star.
'THE ICE HARVEST' (Nov. 23)
Reputations don't come much stronger than those of novelist Richard Russo and writer-director Robert Benton, who in the '90s teamed to give us "Nobody's Fool" and the lesser but very likable "Twilight." Benton and Russo's "Ice Harvest" screenplay (from the novel by Scott Phillips) has been directed by Harold Ramis ("Caddyshack," "Groundhog Day"). The film's twisty doings take place on Christmas Eve 1979, when a shady lawyer (John Cusack) and his shadier crony (Billy Bob Thornton) have just got away with embezzling upwards of $2 million from very-bad-man Randy Quaid -- or have they? Also implicated in the shenanigans are Connie Nielsen and Oliver Platt (what, there was a sleazy lawyer part and he didn't play it?!).
(DECEMBER)
'THE PRODUCERS' (Dec. 16, LIMITED; DEC. 25, WIDE)
This isn't so much a movie as a comedic juggernaut. Mel Brooks' mega-hit musical makeover of his classic 1968 film -- about a sleazy producer who needs to lose money by staging a pro-Nazi musical -- is moving from Broadway (where it's had two epic runs so far) to the big screen where it all started. Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick are right where they belong in the roles of Max Bialystock and Leo Bloom, respectively. Tony-winners Roger Bart and Gary Beach also return, with Uma Thurman to kick up the glam factor and Will Ferrell who heard somebody was making a comedy. Springtime may be for Hitler, but it's hard to imagine how the Christmas holidays can fail to belong to Mel Brooks.
'THE FAMILY STONE' (DEC. 16)
Five years after his indie filmmaking debut "Big Eden," Thomas Bezucha hits the big time. This feel-good comedy is about a family coping simultaneously with the Christmas holidays and a visit by a prospective new in-law (Sarah Jessica Parker), whom the eldest Stone son (Dermot Mulroney) hasn't quite got around to proposing to yet. It's loathing at first sight as far as the family is concerned, and things go downhill from there. The strong cast also includes Claire Danes (as Parker's sister), Luke Wilson, Diane Keaton, Craig T. Nelson, Rachel McAdams, and Paul Schneider (fantastic in "All the Real Girls" a few years back).
'FUN WITH DICK AND JANE' (Dec. 21)
Dean Parisot has directed episodes of some of TV's smartest comedies ("Curb Your Enthusiasm," "The Job," "The Tick") as well as the shamelessly funny movie "Galaxy Quest." Screenwriter Judd Apatow is a proud veteran of "The Larry Sanders Show," "The Ben Stiller Show," and "Freaks and Geeks," as well as the man behind "40 Year-Old Virgin." It's a good bet, then, that they can out-smart and out-funny the coarse 1977 comedy of this same name, about a comfortably set couple (George Segal and Jane Fonda back then) who suddenly find themselves out of work and deep in debt. What could they do but turn to crime? Apatow and Parisot have turned to Jim Carrey and Tea Leoni. So far, it's all good. Alec Baldwin, Angie Harmon and Carlos Jacott can't hurt.
'THE RINGER' (Dec. 23)
OK, with Johnny Knoxville starring, the Farrelly Brothers producing and the plot turning on a Special Olympics scam, can "The Ringer" inspire anything but projectile vomiting? Knoxville plots -- with his mentally challenged roommate (John Taylor, a Special Olympics athlete with Down's Syndrome) -- to pay off a debt by entering and winning the Special Olympics. The joke's tasteless and out of date: "South Park" did "Up the Down Steroid" featuring the sublimely amoral Eric Cartman entering the Special Olympics under the (mistaken) impression that he must surely beat the challenged kids.
'RUMOR HAS IT' (Dec. 25)
Sarah Huttinger (Jennifer Aniston) doesn't know who she is or where she's going -- so it's fodder for delicious romantic comedy when she stumbles into where she might have come from! Reluctantly engaged to her longtime boyfriend (Mark Ruffalo) and dead-ended career-wise, she ups her angst by making a visit to her dysfunctional family. While there, she learns a shockeroo of a secret: the classic film "The Graduate" (1967) may have been based, in part, on her mom (Shirley MacLaine)! Kevin Costner plays the guy who's slept with gram, mom and Sarah, too! George Clooney and Steven Soderbergh produced, with comedy veteran Rob Reiner taking over directing reins from Ted Griffin, who scripted "Ocean's 11" as well as "Rumor."
(JANUARY)
'LAST HOLIDAY' (Jan. 13)
Queen Latifah takes on the Alec Guinness part in this latest remake of the gentle story about a shy soul who, learning she has only a short time left to live, embarks on a transformative journey. The itinerary leads from (pre-Katrina) New Orleans to Austria, Czechoslovakia, and the Tryol. Some of the people met along the way are played by LL Cool J, Gerard Depardieu, Giancarlo Esposito, Timothy Hutton, and Alicia Witt. Wayne Wang ("The Joy Luck Club") directs.
'BIG MOMMA'S HOUSE 2' (JAN. 27)
After a run of cinematic bad luck, funnyman Martin Lawrence has strategically fallen back on his runaway 2000 success "Big Momma's House," in which he, as an FBI agent, had to take on the identity of a 70-year-old neighborhood matriarch in order to crack a case. Would you believe that the ex-tootsie (Nia Long) of the previous felon is part of the complications when "Momma" has to go undercover again? Do we hear "Bingo"?
DRAMA:
(NOVEMBER)
'JARHEAD' (Nov. 4)
Adapted from the irreverent best-seller published just as Bush II invaded Iraq, "Jarhead" (what a Marine calls himself) is the darkly funny saga of a third-generation Marine (the ever-hunkish Jake Gyllenhaal) and his buds (Jamie Foxx, Peter Sarsgaard), as they slog through Iraq during America's first invasion. Hellish heat, invisible enemies, mission-creep -- all the ingredients needed for adventures ranging from the absurd to the horrific. "I was enthralled by the mixture of machismo, comedy, surrealism and observation," gushes director Sam Mendes, of "American Beauty" fame. Chris Cooper and Dennis Haysbert co-star.
'GET RICH OR DIE TRYIN'' (Nov. 9)
Loosely based on Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson's evolution from drug dealer to hit rapper, "Get Rich" was written by "Sopranos" veteran Terence Winter and directed by Jim Sheridan, Oscar-nominated Irish helmer of "My Left Foot," "In the Name of the Father" and "In America." Will Sheridan strike gold with 50 Cent, following Curtis Hanson's lead with Eminem and "8 Mile"? Backed by a cast to die for, he surely has a head start: director/actor Bill Duke, Viola Davis, Terrence Howard, and "Oz's" never-to-be-forgotten Adebesi, British actor Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje.
'WALK THE LINE' (Nov. 18)
The bad-boy emperor from "Gladiator" morphs into country music outlaw: Joaquin Phoenix channels The Man in Black, singing and all. Born on an Arkansas cotton farm, Johnny Cash grew up to record, tour and party with fellow legends Jerry Lee Lewis, Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins, Waylon Jennings -- all too soon getting hooked on drugs, booze and nonstop good times. As no-nonsense June Carter, love of Cash's life, Reese Witherspoon reportedly acts up a storm and also gives great voice. "Walk the Line" hopes to be this year's "Ray," but some have complained that this worshipful biopic lacks grit.
'RENT' (Nov. 23)
Puccini's classic opera "La Bohème" is updated and transplanted from 19th-century Paris to contemporary New York, where AIDS, not consumption, is the disease du jour. A gaggle of young East Village artists celebrate Christmas Eve with festive drugs, (doomed) love affairs and empty-lot performance art. Christopher Columbus, director of "Home Alone" and "Harry Potter," pulls no punches in this musical tear-jerker. The tasty cast includes Rosario Dawson, Taye Diggs and Jesse L. Martin. Having swept every New York drama award there is, the long-running Broadway hit aims for the big-screen success of "Chicago."
(DECEMBER)
'MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA' (Dec. 9)
Adapted from Arthur Golden's best-selling 1997 novel, "Memoirs" taps into movie-goers' taste for Asian exotic. Settle in for the sexy life story of a Japanese courtesan, graced with a triad of the East's most gorgeous stars -- Zhang Ziyi ("Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon," "House of Flying Daggers"), Gong Li ("Farewell, My Concubine") and Michelle Yeoh ("Crouching Tiger"). Ken Watanabe -- charismatic enough to upstage Tom Cruise in "The Last Samurai" -- understandably turns the beautiful geisha's head. Let's hope helmer Rob Marshall doesn't muck up "Memoirs" with the kind of directorial razzmatazz -- all hustle, no heart -- he deployed in "Chicago."
'BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN' (Dec. 9, limited)
This cowboy love story (based on an E. Annie Proulx short story) busts up every bias or narrow-minded expectation movie-goers might bring to it. Director Ang Lee stretches every time he makes a film -- from "Sense and Sensibility" to "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" -- and he never sets a foot wrong in this character-driven movie, spanning the quietly desperate lives of surprising soul mates (Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal). The acting is uniformly superb -- who knew that Ledger could be this good? -- including a salty cameo by Randy Quaid and heartbreaking performances by Anne Hathaway and Michelle Williams as Western women aching with unrequited love. Oscar bait, if there's any justice.
'MUNICH' (Dec. 23, limited)
Will "Munich" prove to be Steven Spielberg's next "Schindler's List"? At the Germany-hosted Olympic Games in 1972, 11 athletes representing Israel were seized and held prisoner by eight terrorists from Black September, an arm of the Palestine Liberation Organization. Virtually the whole world watched spellbound as negotiations were conducted for the athletes' release, in exchange for the release of Palestinians imprisoned in Israel -- and two PLO assassins being held in Germany. Acclaimed playwright Tony Kushner ("Angels in America") and Oscar-winning screenwriter Eric Roth ("The Insider," "Forrest Gump") worked on the screenplay for this epic reconsideration of a terrible moment in modern history. The auspicious casting includes Eric Bana, Geoffrey Rush, Daniel Craig, Kurt Russell, Mathieu Kassovitz and Ciarán Hinds.
'CASANOVA' (Dec. 24)
Heath Ledger trades cowpoke gear ("Brokeback Mountain") for Casanova's velvet and lace in Lasse Hallström's handsome costume drama about the legendary lothario's romp with an 18th-century feminist who's not only a hottie but also rather handy with a sword (Sienna Miller). Oliver Platt, as inconvenient fiancé, and Jeremy Irons, as repressive Grand Inquisitor, dish up high-class ham in this Venetian banquet. Let's hope "Casanova" scores, after Hallström's recent setback with "An Unfinished Life."
'THE NEW WORLD' (Dec. 25, limited)
Reclusive Terrence Malick has made three visually stunning films -- "Badlands," "Days of Heaven" and "The Thin Red Line"-- in as many decades, each one illuminating America's mythic dreams/nightmares. No surprise, then, that his latest takes an epic look at the collision between 17th-century European explorers and Native Americans. Malick paints John Smith (Colin Farrell) and Pocahantas (exquisite Q'Orianka Kilcher, debuting) as innocents in paradise, their love a potential bridge between cultures. But his New World Adam and Eve are hard-pressed by progress, economic expansion and manifest destiny. Malick's world-class cast includes Christopher Plummer, Christian Bale, David Thewlis and Wes Studi.
'MATCH POINT' (Dec. 25, limited)
Festival-goers at Cannes last May reckoned this latest from Woody Allen is his best in years. Jonathan Rhys-Meyers plays a tennis instructor whose job provides entree to upper-class English society and soon leads to his becoming one corner of an increasingly fraught romantic triangle. Scarlett Johansson co-stars (no, not as a Brit), with the superb Emily Mortimer, Brian Cox and Penelope Wilton among the supporting cast. The Woodman's first-ever British production, it also pairs him for the first time with ace cinematographer Remi Adefarasin ("Elizabeth").
(JANUARY)
'GLORY ROAD' (Jan. 13)
'Tis the season for hoop dreams! As a basketball star, Don Haskins (Josh Lucas of "Sweet Home Alabama") won big and often. He means to do the same when he hires on as a college coach in the '60s -- but his first team turns out to be all African-Americans, so they're up against heavy-duty prejudice as well as ace hoopsters. Lucas's single-minded charm and aggressive coaching style drives this biopic. As the all-black squad learns how to play fast, modern basketball -- leaving white rivals in the dust -- there are thrills to spare on and off the court.
FAMILY:
(NOVEMBER)
'CHICKEN LITTLE' (Nov. 4)
Disney's putting its eggs in one basket with this all-CGI animation, since the grosses-hungry Mouse House has called it quits on hand-drawn cartoons. Flat-out adorable, with his over-sized head and bespectacled, perennially round-eyed look, the 'toon's titular hero (voiced by Zach Braff) tries hard to live down that famous, panic-spreading report about the sky falling. Unfortunately, Chicken Little and his band of misfit friends (Ugly Duckling, Fish Out of Water, Runt of the Litter) run smack into -- you guessed it! -- real foul play from the sky! Nifty voices include Garry Marshall, Joan Cusack, Amy Sedaris, Harry Shearer, Patrick Stewart, Fred Willard, Catherine O'Hara and Patrick Warburton.
'HARRY POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE' (Nov. 18)
The Harry Potter box-office juggernaut rolls on with the third and most action-packed sequel to "H.P. and the Sorcerer's Stone," the first movie to gross more than $75 million in its first three days of release. Mike Newell ("Four Weddings and a Funeral") helms, cramming J.K. Rowling's huge tome into 150 grand movie minutes. "The Goblet of Fire" taps young Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) to compete in the Triwizard Tournament ... Hogwarts has hired a weird new teacher named "Mad Eye" Moody (Brendan Gleeson) ... Lord Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes) is on the rise -- but most terrifying of all, adolescent hormones are running amok! Newell says he tackled his daunting directorial task by asking, "What would Hitchcock do?" Hitchcock at Hogwarts? Now that's just plain psycho!
'YOURS, MINE AND OURS' (Nov. 23)
A widower (Dennis Quaid) with a lot of kids and a widow (Rene Russo) with a lot of kids get married and realize they now have 18 kids. Can this household be saved? And can anyone explain why remaking a bad 1968 movie (which starred Henry Fonda and Lucille Ball) seemed like a good idea in 2005? Perhaps director Raja Gosnell, l'auteur de "Big Momma's House" and the "Scooby-Doo" movies, can explain. Then again, never mind. The supporting cast includes Amber Tamblyn, Rip Torn, Linda Hunt, George Lopez and David Koechner.
(DECEMBER)
'THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE' (Dec. 9)
During the London blitzkrieg in WWII, the four Pevensie kids (Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy) are sent for safety to an elderly professor's house in the country. Exploring, Lucy discovers a mysterious wardrobe through which she and her siblings enter Narnia, a land inhabited by mythical creatures. Once ruled by Aslan, a majestic lion (Liam Neeson), Narnia is now in the thrall of a beautiful White Witch (Tilda Swinton) who has locked the world in perpetual winter. The children -- like Tolkein's Hobbits -- become innocent heroes in a monumental battle against evil. The extensive CGI effects look terrific, and C.S. Lewis' beloved Narnian Chronicles possess a fan base that rivals that of "Lord of the Rings." Looks like an early Christmas present -- for Disney and moviegoers.
'CHEAPER BY THE DOZEN 2' (Dec. 21)
For those who dissed Steve Martin as an aging lothario in "Shopgirl," here he is as sweet super-dad, part two, herding a dozen kids along with harried spouse Bonnie Hunt. This time, the tribe's off on vacation to Lake Winnetka for some much-needed relaxation. Problems and hilarity arise when they have to compete with another family advertising over-population. Jimmy Murtaugh (Eugene Levy) and his trophy wife (Carmen Electra) only have eight offspring, but they make up for fewer numbers with a ruthless yen to win. Martin and Levy are among the smartest, funniest men in the movies. No doubt they'll score big at the box office with this comedic pap.
'HOODWINKED! THE TRUE STORY OF RED RIDING HOOD' (Dec. 25)
Remember "Rashomon"? Well, writer-directors Cory Edwards, Todd Edwards and Tony Leech have applied that "everybody saw it differently" approach to a fast-paced police investigation of the dust-up at Granny's cottage -- involving a karate-savvy chick named Red (Tara Strong), a wise-cracking wolf (Patrick Warburton) and an axe that just might be a concealed murder weapon. In this fractured, CGI-animated fairy tale, the cops are all furred and feathered, thrill-seeking Granny is no geriatric case and detective Nicky Flippers (Daniel Ogden Stiers) needs to be a Columbo to figure out this B&E in the 'hood. First-rate cast includes Sally Struthers and Andy Dick, as well as all three directors.
HORROR / SCI-FI
(NOVEMBER)
'ZATHURA' (Nov. 11)
Everybody knows it's bad karma to fool with a weird board game you discover in a dark corner of the basement -- remember the horrors another mysterious game let loose in "Jumanji"? But that didn't stop children's writer Chris Van Allsburg ("Polar Express") from dreaming up "Zathura" as a variation on "Jumanji." Two brothers (Josh Hutcherson, Jonah Bobo) "game" their house into outer space, where they're almost wiped out by meteor showers, lizard-like aliens, a berserk robot and intergalactic warfare. Tim Robbins plays Dad, hopefully not in his scary "War of the Worlds" persona; and Jon Favreau ("Elf") directs this "adult-friendly" fantasy.
(DECEMBER)
'AEON FLUX' (Dec. 2)
"Aeon Flux," born on MTV in the early '90s, attracted a cult that grooved on the animated sci-fi show's Japanese flavor and ultra-violent cool. Karen Kusama ("Girlfight") helms this live-action version, set some four centuries in the future. After disease has wiped out most of humanity, the survivors hide out in a walled city ruled by scientists -- and lots of soldiers. Assassin Aeon Flux (Charlize Theron) works for a rebel underground, led by the Handler (Frances McDormand). Good luck to Theron, who looks super-sexy in black spandex and martial arts. She follows Angelina Jolie ("Lara Croft: Tomb Raider") and Halle Barry ("Catwoman") into the dicey super-hero fold, apparently an unavoidable side-effect of Oscar wins.
(JANUARY)
'BLOODRAYNE' (Jan. 6)
Mucho dinero helped to morph this hot videogame into big-screen action, featuring the eternal battle against ravenous vampires in 18th-century Romania. Kristanna Loken, stone-cold sexy as the indestructible cyborg in "Terminator 3," plays Rayne, a Buffy-like dhampire (half-bloodsucker, half-human). Our leather-clad heroine's hot to off the King of the Vampires (Sir Ben Kingsley, slumming), since he raped her mother and made her what she is. The cast is crowded with quirky types, including Michael Madsen, Billy Zane, Udo Keir and Meat Loaf. Warning: Uwe Boll directs, and his previous two videogame adaptations -- "House of the Dead" and "Alone in the Dark" --
'WOLF CREEK' (Jan. 6)
They say Sundancers fled the screening of this hair-raising, stomach-turning Australian horror show. There are shades of "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" in this sick flick, where three backpackers stranded in the middle of nowhere are rescued by an amiable old man, who, as it turns out, has some extremely nasty habits. In this self-assured debut, writer-director Greg McLean mines eerie Down Under landscapes and atmosphere for authentic shivers -- and never stints on "realistic gore and nerve-wracking suspense." It delivers thrills without the tricks of last year's "Haute Tension."
'UNDERWORLD: EVOLUTION' (Jan. 20)
The box-office success of "Underworld" guaranteed a second chapter of strife and miscegenation between immortal vamps and werewolves. Kick-ass Kate Beckinsale, swathed in shiny black leather, and Scott Speedman, her half-breed Lycan boyfriend, return to track down the origins of the ancient feud between the aristocratic nosferatu and the lycanthopic proles. Naturally, it all leads to the proverbial Final Battle. Director Len Wiseman swears that he agreed to helm the sequel only if he could make a "completely different movie." Uh-huh.
ACTION:
(NOVEMBER)
'DERAILED' (Nov. 11)
Blessed with a lovely wife (Melissa George), an only slightly diabetic daughter and a fine job as an advertising exec, Charles Schine's (Clive Owen) life is set on the straight and narrow. But after an impulsive quickie with an alluring (married) woman (Jennifer Aniston) he meets on his commuter train, Schine gets beaten to a pulp by a thug who then brutally rapes his bedmate. Naturally, blackmail follows, one bad thing leads to another, and soon Schine's perfect life has gone off the tracks big time. Smells like Hitchcock -- one little mistake and you're "guilty" of everything. Dark-gazed Clive Owen's a dab hand at conveying ordinary decency slowly decaying into rage and violence, and the stellar cast also features Vincent Cassel, RZA, Tom Conti and the always mesmerizing Giancarlo Esposito.
'KISS KISS, BANG BANG' (Nov. 11)
Slick scriptmeister Shane Black ("Lethal Weapon") takes over the directorial reins for the first time. Here, he delivers a comic noir that begs, borrows and steals from Raymond Chandler, James Bond, Howard Hawks' "The Big Sleep," Roman Polanski's "Chinatown" and, of course, the bantering-buddies style of "Lethal Weapon." The film's Bogey and Bacall are ripely played by Robert Downey Jr., an accidental actor boning up for a gumshoe role, and Val Kilmer, camping it up as a private dick named Gay Perry. Cracking-wise and one-upping nonstop, this daft duo dips into La-La Land's sleaze and glamour, hot on the trail of a killer offing a string of lovelies (the movie's adapted from Brent Halliday's novel "Bodies Are Where You Find Them"). With Michelle Monaghan as a pulp-fiction hottie.
'SYRIANA' (Nov. 23, limited)
Fresh from playing legendary TV newsman Fred Friendly in "Good Night, and Good Luck.," George Clooney takes on another real-life role. He plays Robert Baer, the CIA veteran whose New York Times bestseller "See No Evil: The True Story of a Ground Soldier in the CIA's War on Terrorism" exposed how the agency devolved from "son of O.S.S." to toothless tiger. Oscar-winning screenwriter Stephen Gaghan ("Traffic") assumes the director's chair to weave a complex web of CIA case histories, foreign-policy politicking, and Big Oil, all under the looming cloud of 9/11. Matt Damon, Amanda Peet, Jeffrey Wright, and Greta Scacchi comprise the powerhouse supporting cast.
(DECEMBER)
'KING KONG' (Dec. 14)
The population is divided into two subspecies: those who snatch at every available advance glimpse of Peter Jackson's remake of the 1933 Big Guy classic, and those who want to remain pristine so as to meet the monster movie all-new, all at once. If anyone had to undertake a (second) remake of this beloved tale, surely Jackson -- who so masterfully marshaled the million-and-one odds to do right by "Lord of the Rings" -- is the man for the task. With Naomi Watts in for Fay Wray as the giant gorilla's love object, Jack Black inviting her along for "a long sea voyage" to a jungle island primeval, Adrien Brody as the hero, and most of Jackson's doughty New Zealand crew repeating their legend-making tasks from the "Ring" trilogy, there's every reason to hope they'll scale the heights.
'THE PROMISE' (Dec. 16, limited)
A beautiful concubine (Cecilia Cheung) is barred from true love until time flows backwards and the dead are resurrected. Adored by a king, a general and a nobleman, the cursed girl is saved by a slave's devotion. Awards-hungry Harvey Weinstein bought Chen Kaige's ("Farewell, My Concubine") epic love story after screening a 12-minute synopsis, convinced he had a sure-fire contender for a foreign-language Oscar. Chen promises "this story will touch people's hearts. That's the key. I don't use effects for the wrong reasons." Cinematography's by Peter Pau ("Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon") and stunts are coordinated by Dion Lam ("The Matrix"). At $35 million, "The Promise" is the most expensive film ever made in China. It's aiming for the international success of "House of Flying Daggers" and "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon."
(JANUARY)
'RUNNING SCARED' (Jan. 6)
Wayne Kramer, writer-director of the ultra-edgy "The Cooler," returns with a tale about a couple of little kids who find a gun recently used to kill a police officer. They don't know that -- or that the Mafia wants to recover the gun in order to eradicate any evidence of the crime. Paul Walker plays the father of one of the kids (Alex Neuberger); the other boy is played by Cameron Bright, the uncanny child suitor of Nicole Kidman in "Birth." The suspense comes from every direction in this tautly conceived thriller.
'THE WORLD'S FASTEST INDIAN' (Jan. 27)
Australian director Roger Donaldson had already released a loving documentary about Burt Munro, the 72-year-old New Zealander who made an eventful journey from his hometown to Utah's Bonneville Salt Flats, where his 1920 Indian motorcycle set a land-speed record. Now, he directs Anthony Hopkins (Captain Bligh in Donaldson's "The Bounty," 1984) as Munro who is unrelentingly genial, brimming with cracker-barrel philosophy -- every cute-ism punctuated by an endearing little chuckle. The old duffer, "Rocky" on Viagra, never meets a lady who doesn't want to bed him or a minority -- transvestite, Hispanic or Native American -- who doesn't want to give him a hand. Candy corn, and probable Oscar bait.
COMEDY:
(NOVEMBER)
'BREAKFAST ON PLUTO' (Nov. 16, LIMITED)
Neil Jordan's latest is his most playful and dazzling since 1997's "The Butcher Boy," and like that surreal skyrocket, it's based on a novel by the brilliant Irish author Pat McCabe. Cillian Murphy is a gender-switching knockout in direct line of descent from the enchanting Dil in "The Crying Game." He/she is an exquisitely featured girl/boy whose pilgrimage through an Ireland and England vulnerable to never-ending IRA bombings and other detonations verges on a modern day "Candide." Liam Neeson, Stephen Rea, Brendan Gleeson, Eamonn Owens, Gavin Friday as a hilarious Irish rocker, and exquisite girl/girl Ruth Negga all co-star.
'THE ICE HARVEST' (Nov. 23)
Reputations don't come much stronger than those of novelist Richard Russo and writer-director Robert Benton, who in the '90s teamed to give us "Nobody's Fool" and the lesser but very likable "Twilight." Benton and Russo's "Ice Harvest" screenplay (from the novel by Scott Phillips) has been directed by Harold Ramis ("Caddyshack," "Groundhog Day"). The film's twisty doings take place on Christmas Eve 1979, when a shady lawyer (John Cusack) and his shadier crony (Billy Bob Thornton) have just got away with embezzling upwards of $2 million from very-bad-man Randy Quaid -- or have they? Also implicated in the shenanigans are Connie Nielsen and Oliver Platt (what, there was a sleazy lawyer part and he didn't play it?!).
(DECEMBER)
'THE PRODUCERS' (Dec. 16, LIMITED; DEC. 25, WIDE)
This isn't so much a movie as a comedic juggernaut. Mel Brooks' mega-hit musical makeover of his classic 1968 film -- about a sleazy producer who needs to lose money by staging a pro-Nazi musical -- is moving from Broadway (where it's had two epic runs so far) to the big screen where it all started. Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick are right where they belong in the roles of Max Bialystock and Leo Bloom, respectively. Tony-winners Roger Bart and Gary Beach also return, with Uma Thurman to kick up the glam factor and Will Ferrell who heard somebody was making a comedy. Springtime may be for Hitler, but it's hard to imagine how the Christmas holidays can fail to belong to Mel Brooks.
'THE FAMILY STONE' (DEC. 16)
Five years after his indie filmmaking debut "Big Eden," Thomas Bezucha hits the big time. This feel-good comedy is about a family coping simultaneously with the Christmas holidays and a visit by a prospective new in-law (Sarah Jessica Parker), whom the eldest Stone son (Dermot Mulroney) hasn't quite got around to proposing to yet. It's loathing at first sight as far as the family is concerned, and things go downhill from there. The strong cast also includes Claire Danes (as Parker's sister), Luke Wilson, Diane Keaton, Craig T. Nelson, Rachel McAdams, and Paul Schneider (fantastic in "All the Real Girls" a few years back).
'FUN WITH DICK AND JANE' (Dec. 21)
Dean Parisot has directed episodes of some of TV's smartest comedies ("Curb Your Enthusiasm," "The Job," "The Tick") as well as the shamelessly funny movie "Galaxy Quest." Screenwriter Judd Apatow is a proud veteran of "The Larry Sanders Show," "The Ben Stiller Show," and "Freaks and Geeks," as well as the man behind "40 Year-Old Virgin." It's a good bet, then, that they can out-smart and out-funny the coarse 1977 comedy of this same name, about a comfortably set couple (George Segal and Jane Fonda back then) who suddenly find themselves out of work and deep in debt. What could they do but turn to crime? Apatow and Parisot have turned to Jim Carrey and Tea Leoni. So far, it's all good. Alec Baldwin, Angie Harmon and Carlos Jacott can't hurt.
'THE RINGER' (Dec. 23)
OK, with Johnny Knoxville starring, the Farrelly Brothers producing and the plot turning on a Special Olympics scam, can "The Ringer" inspire anything but projectile vomiting? Knoxville plots -- with his mentally challenged roommate (John Taylor, a Special Olympics athlete with Down's Syndrome) -- to pay off a debt by entering and winning the Special Olympics. The joke's tasteless and out of date: "South Park" did "Up the Down Steroid" featuring the sublimely amoral Eric Cartman entering the Special Olympics under the (mistaken) impression that he must surely beat the challenged kids.
'RUMOR HAS IT' (Dec. 25)
Sarah Huttinger (Jennifer Aniston) doesn't know who she is or where she's going -- so it's fodder for delicious romantic comedy when she stumbles into where she might have come from! Reluctantly engaged to her longtime boyfriend (Mark Ruffalo) and dead-ended career-wise, she ups her angst by making a visit to her dysfunctional family. While there, she learns a shockeroo of a secret: the classic film "The Graduate" (1967) may have been based, in part, on her mom (Shirley MacLaine)! Kevin Costner plays the guy who's slept with gram, mom and Sarah, too! George Clooney and Steven Soderbergh produced, with comedy veteran Rob Reiner taking over directing reins from Ted Griffin, who scripted "Ocean's 11" as well as "Rumor."
(JANUARY)
'LAST HOLIDAY' (Jan. 13)
Queen Latifah takes on the Alec Guinness part in this latest remake of the gentle story about a shy soul who, learning she has only a short time left to live, embarks on a transformative journey. The itinerary leads from (pre-Katrina) New Orleans to Austria, Czechoslovakia, and the Tryol. Some of the people met along the way are played by LL Cool J, Gerard Depardieu, Giancarlo Esposito, Timothy Hutton, and Alicia Witt. Wayne Wang ("The Joy Luck Club") directs.
'BIG MOMMA'S HOUSE 2' (JAN. 27)
After a run of cinematic bad luck, funnyman Martin Lawrence has strategically fallen back on his runaway 2000 success "Big Momma's House," in which he, as an FBI agent, had to take on the identity of a 70-year-old neighborhood matriarch in order to crack a case. Would you believe that the ex-tootsie (Nia Long) of the previous felon is part of the complications when "Momma" has to go undercover again? Do we hear "Bingo"?
DRAMA:
(NOVEMBER)
'JARHEAD' (Nov. 4)
Adapted from the irreverent best-seller published just as Bush II invaded Iraq, "Jarhead" (what a Marine calls himself) is the darkly funny saga of a third-generation Marine (the ever-hunkish Jake Gyllenhaal) and his buds (Jamie Foxx, Peter Sarsgaard), as they slog through Iraq during America's first invasion. Hellish heat, invisible enemies, mission-creep -- all the ingredients needed for adventures ranging from the absurd to the horrific. "I was enthralled by the mixture of machismo, comedy, surrealism and observation," gushes director Sam Mendes, of "American Beauty" fame. Chris Cooper and Dennis Haysbert co-star.
'GET RICH OR DIE TRYIN'' (Nov. 9)
Loosely based on Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson's evolution from drug dealer to hit rapper, "Get Rich" was written by "Sopranos" veteran Terence Winter and directed by Jim Sheridan, Oscar-nominated Irish helmer of "My Left Foot," "In the Name of the Father" and "In America." Will Sheridan strike gold with 50 Cent, following Curtis Hanson's lead with Eminem and "8 Mile"? Backed by a cast to die for, he surely has a head start: director/actor Bill Duke, Viola Davis, Terrence Howard, and "Oz's" never-to-be-forgotten Adebesi, British actor Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje.
'WALK THE LINE' (Nov. 18)
The bad-boy emperor from "Gladiator" morphs into country music outlaw: Joaquin Phoenix channels The Man in Black, singing and all. Born on an Arkansas cotton farm, Johnny Cash grew up to record, tour and party with fellow legends Jerry Lee Lewis, Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins, Waylon Jennings -- all too soon getting hooked on drugs, booze and nonstop good times. As no-nonsense June Carter, love of Cash's life, Reese Witherspoon reportedly acts up a storm and also gives great voice. "Walk the Line" hopes to be this year's "Ray," but some have complained that this worshipful biopic lacks grit.
'RENT' (Nov. 23)
Puccini's classic opera "La Bohème" is updated and transplanted from 19th-century Paris to contemporary New York, where AIDS, not consumption, is the disease du jour. A gaggle of young East Village artists celebrate Christmas Eve with festive drugs, (doomed) love affairs and empty-lot performance art. Christopher Columbus, director of "Home Alone" and "Harry Potter," pulls no punches in this musical tear-jerker. The tasty cast includes Rosario Dawson, Taye Diggs and Jesse L. Martin. Having swept every New York drama award there is, the long-running Broadway hit aims for the big-screen success of "Chicago."
(DECEMBER)
'MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA' (Dec. 9)
Adapted from Arthur Golden's best-selling 1997 novel, "Memoirs" taps into movie-goers' taste for Asian exotic. Settle in for the sexy life story of a Japanese courtesan, graced with a triad of the East's most gorgeous stars -- Zhang Ziyi ("Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon," "House of Flying Daggers"), Gong Li ("Farewell, My Concubine") and Michelle Yeoh ("Crouching Tiger"). Ken Watanabe -- charismatic enough to upstage Tom Cruise in "The Last Samurai" -- understandably turns the beautiful geisha's head. Let's hope helmer Rob Marshall doesn't muck up "Memoirs" with the kind of directorial razzmatazz -- all hustle, no heart -- he deployed in "Chicago."
'BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN' (Dec. 9, limited)
This cowboy love story (based on an E. Annie Proulx short story) busts up every bias or narrow-minded expectation movie-goers might bring to it. Director Ang Lee stretches every time he makes a film -- from "Sense and Sensibility" to "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" -- and he never sets a foot wrong in this character-driven movie, spanning the quietly desperate lives of surprising soul mates (Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal). The acting is uniformly superb -- who knew that Ledger could be this good? -- including a salty cameo by Randy Quaid and heartbreaking performances by Anne Hathaway and Michelle Williams as Western women aching with unrequited love. Oscar bait, if there's any justice.
'MUNICH' (Dec. 23, limited)
Will "Munich" prove to be Steven Spielberg's next "Schindler's List"? At the Germany-hosted Olympic Games in 1972, 11 athletes representing Israel were seized and held prisoner by eight terrorists from Black September, an arm of the Palestine Liberation Organization. Virtually the whole world watched spellbound as negotiations were conducted for the athletes' release, in exchange for the release of Palestinians imprisoned in Israel -- and two PLO assassins being held in Germany. Acclaimed playwright Tony Kushner ("Angels in America") and Oscar-winning screenwriter Eric Roth ("The Insider," "Forrest Gump") worked on the screenplay for this epic reconsideration of a terrible moment in modern history. The auspicious casting includes Eric Bana, Geoffrey Rush, Daniel Craig, Kurt Russell, Mathieu Kassovitz and Ciarán Hinds.
'CASANOVA' (Dec. 24)
Heath Ledger trades cowpoke gear ("Brokeback Mountain") for Casanova's velvet and lace in Lasse Hallström's handsome costume drama about the legendary lothario's romp with an 18th-century feminist who's not only a hottie but also rather handy with a sword (Sienna Miller). Oliver Platt, as inconvenient fiancé, and Jeremy Irons, as repressive Grand Inquisitor, dish up high-class ham in this Venetian banquet. Let's hope "Casanova" scores, after Hallström's recent setback with "An Unfinished Life."
'THE NEW WORLD' (Dec. 25, limited)
Reclusive Terrence Malick has made three visually stunning films -- "Badlands," "Days of Heaven" and "The Thin Red Line"-- in as many decades, each one illuminating America's mythic dreams/nightmares. No surprise, then, that his latest takes an epic look at the collision between 17th-century European explorers and Native Americans. Malick paints John Smith (Colin Farrell) and Pocahantas (exquisite Q'Orianka Kilcher, debuting) as innocents in paradise, their love a potential bridge between cultures. But his New World Adam and Eve are hard-pressed by progress, economic expansion and manifest destiny. Malick's world-class cast includes Christopher Plummer, Christian Bale, David Thewlis and Wes Studi.
'MATCH POINT' (Dec. 25, limited)
Festival-goers at Cannes last May reckoned this latest from Woody Allen is his best in years. Jonathan Rhys-Meyers plays a tennis instructor whose job provides entree to upper-class English society and soon leads to his becoming one corner of an increasingly fraught romantic triangle. Scarlett Johansson co-stars (no, not as a Brit), with the superb Emily Mortimer, Brian Cox and Penelope Wilton among the supporting cast. The Woodman's first-ever British production, it also pairs him for the first time with ace cinematographer Remi Adefarasin ("Elizabeth").
(JANUARY)
'GLORY ROAD' (Jan. 13)
'Tis the season for hoop dreams! As a basketball star, Don Haskins (Josh Lucas of "Sweet Home Alabama") won big and often. He means to do the same when he hires on as a college coach in the '60s -- but his first team turns out to be all African-Americans, so they're up against heavy-duty prejudice as well as ace hoopsters. Lucas's single-minded charm and aggressive coaching style drives this biopic. As the all-black squad learns how to play fast, modern basketball -- leaving white rivals in the dust -- there are thrills to spare on and off the court.
FAMILY:
(NOVEMBER)
'CHICKEN LITTLE' (Nov. 4)
Disney's putting its eggs in one basket with this all-CGI animation, since the grosses-hungry Mouse House has called it quits on hand-drawn cartoons. Flat-out adorable, with his over-sized head and bespectacled, perennially round-eyed look, the 'toon's titular hero (voiced by Zach Braff) tries hard to live down that famous, panic-spreading report about the sky falling. Unfortunately, Chicken Little and his band of misfit friends (Ugly Duckling, Fish Out of Water, Runt of the Litter) run smack into -- you guessed it! -- real foul play from the sky! Nifty voices include Garry Marshall, Joan Cusack, Amy Sedaris, Harry Shearer, Patrick Stewart, Fred Willard, Catherine O'Hara and Patrick Warburton.
'HARRY POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE' (Nov. 18)
The Harry Potter box-office juggernaut rolls on with the third and most action-packed sequel to "H.P. and the Sorcerer's Stone," the first movie to gross more than $75 million in its first three days of release. Mike Newell ("Four Weddings and a Funeral") helms, cramming J.K. Rowling's huge tome into 150 grand movie minutes. "The Goblet of Fire" taps young Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) to compete in the Triwizard Tournament ... Hogwarts has hired a weird new teacher named "Mad Eye" Moody (Brendan Gleeson) ... Lord Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes) is on the rise -- but most terrifying of all, adolescent hormones are running amok! Newell says he tackled his daunting directorial task by asking, "What would Hitchcock do?" Hitchcock at Hogwarts? Now that's just plain psycho!
'YOURS, MINE AND OURS' (Nov. 23)
A widower (Dennis Quaid) with a lot of kids and a widow (Rene Russo) with a lot of kids get married and realize they now have 18 kids. Can this household be saved? And can anyone explain why remaking a bad 1968 movie (which starred Henry Fonda and Lucille Ball) seemed like a good idea in 2005? Perhaps director Raja Gosnell, l'auteur de "Big Momma's House" and the "Scooby-Doo" movies, can explain. Then again, never mind. The supporting cast includes Amber Tamblyn, Rip Torn, Linda Hunt, George Lopez and David Koechner.
(DECEMBER)
'THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE' (Dec. 9)
During the London blitzkrieg in WWII, the four Pevensie kids (Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy) are sent for safety to an elderly professor's house in the country. Exploring, Lucy discovers a mysterious wardrobe through which she and her siblings enter Narnia, a land inhabited by mythical creatures. Once ruled by Aslan, a majestic lion (Liam Neeson), Narnia is now in the thrall of a beautiful White Witch (Tilda Swinton) who has locked the world in perpetual winter. The children -- like Tolkein's Hobbits -- become innocent heroes in a monumental battle against evil. The extensive CGI effects look terrific, and C.S. Lewis' beloved Narnian Chronicles possess a fan base that rivals that of "Lord of the Rings." Looks like an early Christmas present -- for Disney and moviegoers.
'CHEAPER BY THE DOZEN 2' (Dec. 21)
For those who dissed Steve Martin as an aging lothario in "Shopgirl," here he is as sweet super-dad, part two, herding a dozen kids along with harried spouse Bonnie Hunt. This time, the tribe's off on vacation to Lake Winnetka for some much-needed relaxation. Problems and hilarity arise when they have to compete with another family advertising over-population. Jimmy Murtaugh (Eugene Levy) and his trophy wife (Carmen Electra) only have eight offspring, but they make up for fewer numbers with a ruthless yen to win. Martin and Levy are among the smartest, funniest men in the movies. No doubt they'll score big at the box office with this comedic pap.
'HOODWINKED! THE TRUE STORY OF RED RIDING HOOD' (Dec. 25)
Remember "Rashomon"? Well, writer-directors Cory Edwards, Todd Edwards and Tony Leech have applied that "everybody saw it differently" approach to a fast-paced police investigation of the dust-up at Granny's cottage -- involving a karate-savvy chick named Red (Tara Strong), a wise-cracking wolf (Patrick Warburton) and an axe that just might be a concealed murder weapon. In this fractured, CGI-animated fairy tale, the cops are all furred and feathered, thrill-seeking Granny is no geriatric case and detective Nicky Flippers (Daniel Ogden Stiers) needs to be a Columbo to figure out this B&E in the 'hood. First-rate cast includes Sally Struthers and Andy Dick, as well as all three directors.
HORROR / SCI-FI
(NOVEMBER)
'ZATHURA' (Nov. 11)
Everybody knows it's bad karma to fool with a weird board game you discover in a dark corner of the basement -- remember the horrors another mysterious game let loose in "Jumanji"? But that didn't stop children's writer Chris Van Allsburg ("Polar Express") from dreaming up "Zathura" as a variation on "Jumanji." Two brothers (Josh Hutcherson, Jonah Bobo) "game" their house into outer space, where they're almost wiped out by meteor showers, lizard-like aliens, a berserk robot and intergalactic warfare. Tim Robbins plays Dad, hopefully not in his scary "War of the Worlds" persona; and Jon Favreau ("Elf") directs this "adult-friendly" fantasy.
(DECEMBER)
'AEON FLUX' (Dec. 2)
"Aeon Flux," born on MTV in the early '90s, attracted a cult that grooved on the animated sci-fi show's Japanese flavor and ultra-violent cool. Karen Kusama ("Girlfight") helms this live-action version, set some four centuries in the future. After disease has wiped out most of humanity, the survivors hide out in a walled city ruled by scientists -- and lots of soldiers. Assassin Aeon Flux (Charlize Theron) works for a rebel underground, led by the Handler (Frances McDormand). Good luck to Theron, who looks super-sexy in black spandex and martial arts. She follows Angelina Jolie ("Lara Croft: Tomb Raider") and Halle Barry ("Catwoman") into the dicey super-hero fold, apparently an unavoidable side-effect of Oscar wins.
(JANUARY)
'BLOODRAYNE' (Jan. 6)
Mucho dinero helped to morph this hot videogame into big-screen action, featuring the eternal battle against ravenous vampires in 18th-century Romania. Kristanna Loken, stone-cold sexy as the indestructible cyborg in "Terminator 3," plays Rayne, a Buffy-like dhampire (half-bloodsucker, half-human). Our leather-clad heroine's hot to off the King of the Vampires (Sir Ben Kingsley, slumming), since he raped her mother and made her what she is. The cast is crowded with quirky types, including Michael Madsen, Billy Zane, Udo Keir and Meat Loaf. Warning: Uwe Boll directs, and his previous two videogame adaptations -- "House of the Dead" and "Alone in the Dark" --
'WOLF CREEK' (Jan. 6)
They say Sundancers fled the screening of this hair-raising, stomach-turning Australian horror show. There are shades of "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" in this sick flick, where three backpackers stranded in the middle of nowhere are rescued by an amiable old man, who, as it turns out, has some extremely nasty habits. In this self-assured debut, writer-director Greg McLean mines eerie Down Under landscapes and atmosphere for authentic shivers -- and never stints on "realistic gore and nerve-wracking suspense." It delivers thrills without the tricks of last year's "Haute Tension."
'UNDERWORLD: EVOLUTION' (Jan. 20)
The box-office success of "Underworld" guaranteed a second chapter of strife and miscegenation between immortal vamps and werewolves. Kick-ass Kate Beckinsale, swathed in shiny black leather, and Scott Speedman, her half-breed Lycan boyfriend, return to track down the origins of the ancient feud between the aristocratic nosferatu and the lycanthopic proles. Naturally, it all leads to the proverbial Final Battle. Director Len Wiseman swears that he agreed to helm the sequel only if he could make a "completely different movie." Uh-huh.