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It is the best of times, it is the worst of times. The first months of the year
are always an odd mix at the multiplex: while cold weather and a fresh wave
of homework keep many audience members away, the studios tend to dump some
of their lamer efforts on unsuspecting movie goers, but they also tend to
roll out some of their better films as they carefully build up buzz during
the awards season.
Here are a handful of the more interesting films on
the horizon during the wintry months ahead. As always, the release dates
are subject to change.
Wendy and Lucy (December
10) stars Michelle Williams as a woman with
virtually no money whose plans to find a job in Alaska are derailed when,
among other things, her car gets stalled in Portland, Oregon, and her dog
is taken to the pound. Kelly Reichardt (Old Joy) co-wrote and directed the film in what could be called a
‘lo-fi’ style: low budget, realistic locations and simple but
moving performances.
Doubt (December 12). John Patrick Shanley directs this adaptation of his own
Tony- and Pulitzer-winning play about a nun (Meryl Streep) at a Catholic
school who accuses the local priest (Philip Seymour Hoffman) of
“interfering” with a boy who happens to be the school’s
first black student. The script addresses questions of doubt and certainty,
and Amy Adams (Enchanted ) co-stars as another nun.
Valkyrie (December 26) stars Tom Cruise as real-life Nazi officer Colonel Claus von
Stauffenberg, who led a plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler – and was
executed when the plot failed. The film is directed by Bryan Singer (Superman Returns, the first two X-Men movies) and co-written by
Christopher McQuarrie, who last worked with Singer on the Oscar-winning
crime story The Usual Suspects.
I Love You Man (January
16). One of the more interesting developments
over the last few years has been the rise of the ‘bromance’:
movies like Wedding Crashers and Superbad, in which the friendship between two straight men is a stronger
bond than the relationship between the men and their girlfriends. The new
film from writer-director John Hamburg (Along
Came Polly) sounds like it will be another entry
in this burgeoning mini-genre, as it stars Paul Rudd as a newly-engaged man
who needs to find a male friend who can be the best man at his wedding.
Fanboys (February 6) takes place in 1998 and concerns a bunch of Star Wars fans who try to break
into Skywalker Ranch to get an early version of The
Phantom Menace for a friend who is dying of
cancer – or at least, that's what the story used to be about. The
film, which reportedly features cameos by William Shatner, Kevin Smith and
a few actual Star Wars cast members, was originally supposed to come out in 2007,
but its release has been delayed a few times, while rumours have spread
that the studio might have tried to re-edit it. We'll find out soon.
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Confessions of a Shopaholic (February 13) stars Isla Fisher (Definitely Maybe) as a college
grad with a shopping addiction who moves to New York and lands an unlikely
job, as a financial-advice columnist. Along the way she falls for a wealthy
entrepreneur played by Hugh Dancy (The Jane
Austen Book Club). Directed by Aussie filmmaker
P.J. Hogan (Muriel’s Wedding, My Best
Friend’s Wedding).
Watchmen (March 6). It took more than 20 years, but at last, the very popular
but supposedly unfilmable graphic novel by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons
– the only comic book to make Time magazine's list of the Top 100 novels of all time – is
coming to the big screen. The original story, about two generations of
dysfunctional superheroes, is a visceral and philosophically challenging
look at the nature of fate and chance, love and war, and the quest for
meaning in a seemingly meaningless world. Directed by Zack Snyder, who
previously adapted Frank Miller’s 300.
The Soloist (March 13). From the superheroics of Iron
Man to his supporting role in Tropic Thunder as an actor who is very,
very serious about his craft, Robert Downey Jr. has had a very good year.
Now he stars in this true story, about a Los
Angeles Times columnist named Steve Lopez who
discovers a homeless, schizophrenic cellist named Nathaniel Ayers (Jamie Foxx). Directed by Joe
Wright, who previously made the Oscar-nominated period pics Atonement and Pride and Prejudice.
Knowing (March 20) stars Nicolas Cage as a teacher who becomes obsessed with
the alarmingly accurate predictions of doom that are found in a time
capsule dug up at his son’s elementary school. Directed by Alex
Proyas (Dark City, I Robot ) from a screenplay written by, among others, Christian writer
Stuart Hazeldine.
Options Winter 2009
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