Alright, you were here yesterday to read The Playlist’s picks for the first half of the fall season (Sept-Oct), you don’t need much of a refresher. The fall line-up are the films that generally matter (at least from North American films) and the Oscar race is officially on. Many trailers here are not available, fyi, but links in the titles where applicable and or sometimes just contextual.
NOVEMBER 7
“Role Models”
David Wain of “Wet Hot American Summer” and “The Ten” fame directs this comedy about two energy drink reps (Sean William Scott and Paul Rudd) forced to enroll in a community service program where they mentor two young boys. Starring a cluster of Judd Apatow secondaries including Elizabeth Banks, Ken Jeong, and ‘McLovin,’ himself, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, it looks like a tame PG-13 film when actually it’s a profane R-rated comedy. This time Wain wrote the film with Rudd, cast member Ken Marino, and Timothy Dowling, who most notably wrote the short film, “George Lucas in Love.” The trailer is filled with cheap laughs, but don’t be fooled. Rudd also notes that improvising f-bombs around children proved difficult with child services standing nearby.
NOVEMBER 14
“Australia“
Baz Luhrmann hasn’t made a film in seven years, but when he goes big he goes all the way. The reported $130 million dollar epic is a David Lean-like saga and a massively ambitious romantic adventure that looks beautiful and photographically lush. Luhrmann muse Nicole Kidman plays an refined English aristocrat who travels to Australia on the eve of WWII to sell the cattle farm her adulterous husband has screwed the pooch with, but she ends up falling for a rugged, loner cowboy (Hugh Jackman) instead and the wild terrain of the countryside. The film is grandiose to a level that will probably never be repeated. “There’ll never be an Australian movie like this again,” Kidman told Vogue magazine. This sweeping “Lawrence of Arabia”-esque drama has Oscar written all over it, but if it fails there, the film could end up a financial disaster in North America. Then again, the Aussie dollar is good and knowing those crazy patriots, they’ll all go see it like ten times and bring their pet dingos with them too.
“The Road“
The bleakest movie of the fall season also might be the one with the strongest glimmer of hope. Viggo Mortensen and newcomer Kodi Smit-McPhee play a father and son desperately trying to survive in a post-apocalyptic world from an unnamed disaster. It’s two emaciated and starving souls against the world in a grim climate of road dog congregations that survive by theft, brute force and gruesome cannibalism. Charlize Theron, Michael K. Williams (Omar from “The Wire”) and Robert Duvall make appearances, but mostly it’s a two-man show about father and son. Australian director John Hillcoat, directs (he helmed “The Proposition”) and Nick Cave and Warren Ellis (“The Assassination of Jesse James“) compose what’s sure to be the elegiacal and haunting score.
“Quantum Of Solace“
Daniel Craig returns as the most famous spy in film history, ‘James Bond’, and he’s the best since Sean Connery. This time the plot will most likely be as confusing as the title, but that isn’t an issue considering you probably couldn’t recite a ‘Bond’ plotline if you were held at gunpoint (it’s actually a revenge story). After a string of terrible, but successful films starring Pierce Brosnan, the producers behind the projects decided to rip off ‘The Bourne Identity’ series, hire real actors and get real and the reboot is exactly what the lame franchise needed. Mathieu Almaric (“The Diving Bell and the Butterfly” ) plays the new ‘007’ villain and a whole new slew of ‘Bond’ girls played by relatively unknown, Gemma Arterton, and the femme fatale, Olga Kurylenko join the fray. Directed by Marc Forster (“Monster’s Ball” and “Finding Neverland”), this “Hitman” look-alike can actually make a mean film. Jack White and Alicia Keys will perform the theme song, “Another Way to Die.” A perfect way to sum up the film can be seen here.
NOVEMBER 21
“Twilight”
Apparently the “Twilight” book series by Stephenie Meyer is a phenomenon, but if this film hadn’t been released, we at The Playlist, wouldn’t have a fucking clue about it. We still refuse to believe it is as popular as it claims to be, because of the complete lack of talk about it in the social circles of our surrounding lives. The movie is a Romeo & Juliet-like teen love story about a normal human girl and an immortal and extremely charming vampire who conveniently looks like a Calvin Klein model and a teenager. Trouble ensues when a group of evil teenage vampires thinks the high school girl is “on to them.” We don’t really care about this movie, so we aren’t going to look too far into it, but it’s probably going to go boffo at the box-office and spawn some crazy coiffed hairdos.
“The Soloist”
Jamie Fox and Robert Downey Jr. star as a schizophrenic homeless street musician and the journalist who has covered him, respectively. Based off the real-life events of an L.A. journalist’s coverage of the struggling musician, even with the strong cast, this project is walking a fine line between critically acclaimed and ABC movie of the week. Perhaps Downey can keep his wild acting proclivities in check and not play Robert Downey Jr. for a change.
NOVEMBER 26
“Milk”
The best way to trick someone into playing a ‘mo? Add the love scenes later. “In the first script I read there was one love scene. As soon as I signed on, there were three more love scenes. On page five, we’re going at it!” James Franco told EW. Directed by indie auteur Gus Van Sant, “Milk” chronicles the life and death of Harvey Milk, the first openly gay mayor in U.S. history who was slain in 1978 in his San Franciscan city. Sean Penn plays Milk, Franco plays his lover and other men in the film are played by Emile Hirsch, Diego Luna and Josh Brolin. Expect a lot of dangling wangs and Academy Award talk.
“Four Christmases”
This romantic comedy for the holiday season pairs motormouth improv-happy Vincent Vaughn and Reese Witherspoon plays a couple who each have a pair of divorced parents and when Christmas arrives, the duo has to spend the sacred holiday with each of the four parents, hence the extremely deep and thought out title. Witherspoon’s production company is called Type-A production for a reason: in real life she’s anal as fuck and her and “hey baby, I’ll show up on set and sorta learn my lines,” Vaughn and her were apparently like oil and water on the set.Mary Steenburgen plays Reese’ mom and Robert Duvall and Sissy Spacek also make appearances. If this film weren’t directed by Seth Gordon, the director of ‘The King of Kong,’ (one the best film of 2007 bar none) we wouldn’t give this formulaic-looking dragon fart the time of day.
DECEMBER 5
“Frost/Nixon”
Thankfully for all of us, this is not a story about a politician reciting rural poetry. Ron Howard’s most recent effort of safe-as-milk cinema focuses on the post-Watergate television interviews between British talk-show host David Frost (British actor Michael Sheen) and former president Richard Nixon (the fabulous thespian Frank Langella). Howard’s treacly, on-the-nose “dramas” usually bores us to tears, but Langella can act like a motherfucker. At the very least it has to be better than “Secret Honor,” the one-man Nixon play that turned out to be one of the worst movies Robert Altman ever made (sucker punch anyone who argues against that point immediately, btw).
DECEMBER 10
“Wendy and Lucy“
“Old Joy” director, Kelly Reichardt returns with screenwriting partner Jonathan Raymond for a story set around a young woman (Michelle Williams) on her way to Alaska looking to start a new life. When her car breaks down, her dog is placed in the pound and her financial situations quickly becomes dire. This simple synopsis sounds depressing, so you can imagine how grim this film has the potential to be the downer of the year, but Reichardt has apparently not strayed from from the wondrous poetry and humanism that was “Old Joy.” According to the New York Times, the film is “political to the bone but without any of the usual grandstanding,” but unless they mean the politics of struggling with the economic abyss of poverty, we have no fucking clue what they’re talking about. Even with the possibility of this thing being truly and utterly bleak, it’s most likely going to be worth the cycle of Prozac and dim small talk of Oscar praise has already circled around Williams.
DECEMBER 12
“The Class” (“Entre les Murs“)
Umm, hello it won the Palme d’Or at Cannes? Does that not tell you enough? The translation for you ham and eggers is that it’s a major award (kind of like that leg lamp). Directed by Laurent Cantet, the film is set in a tough Parisian high school and was praised for its naturalistic portrayal of race, tension and volatile energy in modern day classrooms. The film landed smackdab in the middle of concerns of overcrowded schools and youth violence in France which has been a hot-topic political issue in the country. They may took it up the ass in WWII, but have you seen “La Haine“? French youth thugs are not to be fucked with.
“Defiance”
Daniel Craig, Live Schreiber and Jamie Bell play three brothers in this true WWII-set story about a group of Jews that fled into the woods of Nazi-occupied Poland in 1942, and recruited other exiles to build a village in a violent campaign of resistance. Directed by Edward Zwick who should get a varsity letter in the sport of epic war movies (“Glory”, “The Last Samurai”, “About Last Night…”), you’d think Tarantino makes a violent WWII film, but these brothers were nothing to sniff at either. “They decapitated a guy who ratted them out, and left his head in the center of the town,” Schreiber told EW.
“Seven Pounds”
Will Smith is presumably going to attempt to wow us with his dramatic acting skills this winter by channeling the emotion of a tortured soul in Gabriele Muccino’s “Seven Pounds.” The Italian director already worked with Smith on the suprisingly touching ’06 film, “The Pursuit of Happyness” and Smith plays a suicidal IRS agent who by chance falls in love prompting him to reasses life. Penned by rookie screenwriter Grant Nieporte, it remains to be seen if they can recapture the drama and geniune upliftingness of ‘Happyness’ or devolve into the trappings of sentimentality. It is afterall, a very thin line. The film co-stars Rosario Dawson.
DECEMBER 19
“Revolutionary Road”
This dangling carrot of Oscar-bait piece stars Leonardo Dicaprio and Kate Winslet in an adaptation of the novel by Richard Yates, and follows a Connecticut couple as they long for very different lifestyles. Ultimately, however, their dreams end up unraveling their stepford-esque lives. Director Sam Mendes, has done great work before (“American Beauty” and “Road to Perdition” ) and the peerless cinematographer, Roger Deakins – usually the Coens Brothers first choice for photog – is shooting the film. Acclaimed composer Thomas Newman, who has authored just about every indie film score since 1980 (some including “Less Than Zero,” “The Player,” “Scent of a Woman,” “The Green Mile”), will provide the emotional cues. Oh, and it to top it off, just remember that Winslet and Dicaprio’s sex-scenes will be second nature due to their experience in the sack on the “Titanic” set.
DECEMBER 25 & 26
“The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button“
Normally we’d have to wait four-five years between David Fincher films, at least, but luckily after the tedium that was “Zodiac,” the notoriously fastidious and meticulous decided to get right back on the horse and shoot the adaptation of a 1920’s Scott Fitzgerald’s short story about a dude (Brad Pitt) born with a strange condtition that forces him to age backwards. The sweeping epic look lush and majestic and also co-stars Cate Blanchett, the always odd Tilda Swinton, Julia Ormond and Elias Koteas. Through the use of cutting-edge motion capture technology, we’ll get to see an 80-year-old Brad Pitt, an 8-year-old version and everything in between. The film is one of the most eagerly-anticipated of the year and also boasts Oscar-winning screenwriter Eric Roth and the magically eerie music of composer Andre Desplat.
“Valkyrie“
After enormous delays and continued controversy over the casting of scientologist crazed Tom Cruise as the role of real-life German Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg, “Valkyrie” is finally getting its long-awaited release this winte (though originally it was scheduled in dumping ground season). The historical thriller centers around the severely wounded Stauffenberg as he and other officers enter into a conspiracy to assassinate Hilter and declare peace with the Allies. With Cruises hilarious portrayal of Hollywood power agent, Less Grossman, in this summers “Tropic Thunder,” one has to wonder if the tables may be turning for the unpopular actor. But although the film has a Thespian filled cast, including Kenneth Branagh, Bill Nighy, Eddie Izzard and Tom Wilkinson they are all playing Germans whilst speaking their native tongue of English, which is very…meh.
Also coming out November-through December.
“Soul Men” (Nov 14) will a two for one. It”ll be the last time you get to see both Issac Hayes and Bernie Mac on screen; “Repo! The Genetic Opera” with Paris Hilton and songs about a world filled with organ repossesion men might be so awful it could become a modern day cult-camp classic; Jason Statham will appear in “Transporter 3” (god, who cares…) and geeks will catch two more breaks from all the great acting and genunine storytelling when “Punisher: War Zone” (December 5) and “The Day the Earth Stood Still” (Dec 12) finally arrive and not a moment too soon; they’re probably going nuts by that point; grim and grey as fuck looks to be “Doubt” starring Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Meryl Streep, Amy Adams about a pedo priest in a 1964 Bronx catholic church; “The Spirit” will crash and burn Frank Miller’s career as a director come December 25 (if it doesn’t get pushed back into the Jan-Feb dumping ground season); Zooey Deschanel will try and make Jim Carrey tolerable in “Yes Man” (Dec 19); he first film post-suicide attempt, Owen Wilson will once again go back to playing Owen Wilson, his romcom stand-in, this time Jennfier Aniston for “Marley & Me” (Dec 25); Tim Story, the hack behind the “Fantastic Four” films, wisely attempts something more honest with the Katrina drama, “Hurricane Season” starring Forest Whitaker and Isaiah Washington; rocker Dave Matthews will appear in “Lake City”; French drama “I’ve Loved You So Long,” and its lead Kristin Scott Thomas are apparently amazing; and lastly, the animated “Waltz With Bashir” is a powerful look at the Beirut massacre in 1983 and it should not be missed. It’s score by Max Richter is majestically powerful.
Written by Spencer Martin, Mickey Pagels and The Playlist
