The Weekly’s Annual Autumnal Equinox A&E Preview Guide

This fall offers off-kilter movies sure to entertain

Josh Bell


Ahh, autumn in Las Vegas. As the air begins to turn crisp (well, drops from 2,000 degrees to a more reasonable 1,250) and the leaves on the trees begin changing color (do palm fronds change color?), thoughts begin to turn toward what the world of arts and entertainment has in store. Summer is behind us, and with it bubblegum movies, beach reading and raucous concerts. Ahead of is fall, with its serious movies, adult reading ... and raucous concerts. Here, then, are our picks for the best of the harvest season. (Are there any crops at all out here?)


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Sure, you've got Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio taking on Howard Hughes in The Aviator (December 17), and Oliver Stone and Colin Farrell taking on Alexander the Great in Alexander (November 5). But who cares? Those big-budget, Oscar-baiting historical epics may very well be excellent, but they're not going to be daring, innovative or exhilarating. Here's some more offbeat and more promising fare to look for this fall.


Writer-director Kerry Conran not only makes his feature film debut with the $60 million Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (September 17), starring Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow and Angelina Jolie, but he also essentially invented the special effects process that allowed it to be shot almost entirely in front of a green screen, without any actual sets. The movie itself, a pastiche of the pulp serials of the 1930s and '40s, has been delayed since the summer, usually a bad sign, but remains one of the most anticipated films of the year. At the very least, it will look like nothing else in theaters this year.


David O. Russell, who directed the brilliant 1999 war-time satire Three Kings, returns with I Heart Huckabees (limited release October 1, Las Vegas TBA), a quirky comedy about an existential detective agency, with a cast including Dustin Hoffman, Lily Tomlin, Jason Schwartzman and Jude Law (who has a staggering six movies opening this fall). The plot seems—to put it mildly—obtuse, but previews show a fun sense of absurdity, and Russell knows well how to balance intellectual pretension with goofy entertainment.


Trying to achieve the same balance, but more likely erring on the side of the goofy will be South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone, whose Team America: World Police (October 15) is a politically charged action movie starring marionettes. Although some of the political commentary on South Park has gotten heavy-handed of late, the pair, like David O. Russell, made a brilliant war-time satire in 1999 with South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut, and have fertile ground to mine for another one.


Alexander Payne made 2002's best film in About Schmidt, and he's set to return with Sideways (limited release October 20, Las Vegas TBA), another mature film about the complexity of adult relationships, starring American Splendor's Paul Giamatti, alongside underrated character actors like Thomas Haden Church and Sandra Oh. Giamatti and Church play buddies taking one final road trip before one gets married, meeting two women along the way who change their lives.


Animation studio Pixar is in the process of parting ways with Disney, but its next release is still under the studio's banner. The Incredibles (November 5) is the first Pixar release to focus on human characters, and its gentle parody of superheroes has the potential to be clever and funny, if not as touching as Finding Nemo.


Finally, two movies that are disturbing in very different ways: Nicole Kidman stars as a woman who falls in love with a 10-year-old reincarnation of her husband in Birth (November 5). The kid is played by uber-creepy Canadian child actor Cameron Bright, who was the only good thing about both Godsend and The Butterfly Effect. Reportedly, there is a scene in which the couple bathes together. Nude. It'll either be the most compelling film of the season, or the most repellent. More reliable will be Seed of Chucky (November 24), the fifth in the increasingly campy horror series based on 1988's Child's Play. Series creator Don Mancini, who's written every installment, makes his directorial debut with the film that follows the offspring of demonic dolls Chucky and Tiffany. Sure to be a hit at the Academy Awards.

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