2004 Fall Movie Preview
August 31, 2004
There are many uncertainties leading up to the dawn of the fall movie season, that great time of year when the studios get serious about Oscar, count their summer intake, and gear up for what is usually the best time of the year to be a film lover. The biggest uncertainty is that, looking over the crop of prestige pictures, there seems to be no clear cut frontrunner for Best Picture, which leads me to think the almost unthinkable, that early season hits like “Fahrenheit 9/11”, “Spider-Man 2”, and, believe it or not, “The Passion of the Christ”, could possibly sneak in as a dark horse candidate, and steal votes away from other, better choices. I like to call it the Ralph Nader effect, where confused Oscar voters (5% anyway, but usually enough), are swayed away from the true, worthy films for high profile studio pictures. Last year we had the respectable “Seabiscuit” sneaking in over soon-to-be-cult-classics like “American Splendor” and “City of God”, but this year it’s anybodies game, and if there is only one true certainty this season, it’s that Peter Jackson doesn’t have a new ‘Lord of the Rings’ film to roll out, a bummer indeed, for no matter how weak the past three years were, we could always rely on big old New Zealand Zeke, Papa Peter to give us the gift of Middle Earth. Now, we can only look forward to the December DVD release of the extended cut of ‘Return of the King’, last years Oscar champ, but, enough about the past, here, in the present, is a quick rundown of what’s in store for the next four or so months, everything big, small, foreign, animated, and essential.
Potential Blockbusters:
If I had to choose three films this year that look like heavy hitters for the Oscars, I’d choose the three (of many) big bio-pics of the year. Martin Scorsese directs Leonardo DiCaprio in “The Aviator” (Dec. 17), a supposedly lavish and dark take on America’s first billionaire, Howard Hughes, and the many loves of his younger days, including Katherine Hepburn, Ava Gardner, and aviation. Recently re-watching the films collected in the new Scorsese DVD box set, I’ve yet again become amazed that the man has never won a directing Oscar (travesty of travesties: Kevin Costner’s “Dances With Wolves” over “Goodfellas”, an even worse sin than “Ordinary People” over “Raging Bull”), and if Miramax goes all out for this nearly three-hour epic, than he may have a shot, but I wouldn’t bet on it. More likely, given his past Oscar success, would be Oliver Stone, who adds on yet another swords-and-sandals epic to the film world with “Alexander” (Nov. 5), starring Colin Farrell as the famous “great”. If it’s as confused as “Troy”, than the best chance for a biography this year is probably Marc Forster’s long delayed “Finding Neverland” (Nov. 12), which finds white hot Johnny Depp playing Scottish playwright, and “Peter Pan” scribe J.M. Barrie, and Kate Winslet as the widowed mother who he befriends. In a season filled with high profile biographies (Jamie Foxx as Ray Charles in the appropriately titled “Ray”, Kevin Spacey as Bobby Darin in “Beyond the Sea”, and Liam Neeson as the sex guru Alfred Kinsey in, how convenient, “Kinsey”), my money is on Depp to deliver another sweet, slightly off balance portrait of a complex and gifted creator.
Based on the acclaimed children’s series by Daniel Handler, Jim Carrey could have a blockbuster on his hands with Brad Silberling’s “Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events” (Dec. 17), a big budget gamble that will give Carrey, ever the scene chewer, plenty of room to gnash as the nutty Count Olaf. Following the great footsteps of “Harry Potter and the Prison of Azkaban”, ‘Snicket’ better be mighty magical, or at least slightly magical, to warrant the comparisons the novelettes have already received. Other big American films to look out for are the inevitable sequels “Ocean’s Twelve” (Dec. 10), from Steven Soderbergh, and “Meet the Fockers” (Dec. 22), with Barbara Streisand and Dustin Hoffman joining the cast of “Meet the Parents” as Ben Stiller’s wacky parents, as well as new films from Mike Nichols (“Closer” Dec. 3), John Madden (“Proof” Dec. 24, with Gwyneth Paltrow, who Madden directed to an Oscar for “Shakespeare in Love”), and the sporadic James L. Brooks with the Adam Sandler dramedy “Spanglish” (Dec. 17). Strange name aside, the last time Sandler tried artistic comedy he scored with “Punch Drunk Love”, and Brooks is always capable of springing a romantic charmer (“As Good as it Gets”) on us, just in time for Oscar season.
Independents:
Even more than the big studio offerings, I look forward to the new films by independent directors who more often than not shoot directly from the unconventional hip. This year is filled with potential, what with new selections by such talents as John Sayles (the political, slightly anti-Bush parable “Silver City” Sept. 17), David O. Russell (“I Heart Huckabees” Oct. 1), and the always intriguing Wes Anderson, who goes below sea level with the Bill Murray comedy “The Life Aquatic” (Dec. 10). If it’s as good as the trailer promises, than look for Murray to possibly contend for Best Supporting Actor, after his close loss last year for “Lost in Translation”. Buzz worthy directors Alexander Payne and David Gordon Green return with “Sideways” (Oct. 20), and “Undertow” (Oct. 24), respectively, the former starring Paul Giamatti as an alcoholic writer, and the latter starring “Billy Elliot’s” Jamie Bell, grown up, as one of two brothers fleeing an evil uncle in Green’s favored, Malick-esque deep south. Finally, to cap off a groundbreaking year for Sundance Festival films, Nicole Kassell’s disturbing Kevin Bacon ex-pedophile drama “The Woodsman” bows on Dec. 24 (just in time for Christmas!), and the widely acclaimed, and very inexpensive “Tarnation”, a personal family documentary from newcomer Jonathan Caouette, hits arthouses on October 6th. As an alternative to the commercial prestige pictures, any of these films will be food for thought this year.
Foreign:
In a similar vein, there are a few noteworthy foreign entries this year that may contend strongly for the Foreign Film Oscar. Superstar director Pedro Almodovar returns, following his Oscar-winning soap “Talk to Her”, with “Bad Education” (Nov. 19), a pseudo-noir starring Gael Garcia Bernal as a transvestite with church issues. Bernal, one of the hottest young actors working today, also stars for Walter Salles in “The Motorcycle Diaries” (Sept. 24), as the young Che Guevara, biking through Latin America in search of himself, and possibly a little revolution. I’m a huge fan of Salles’ work, from “Central Station” to the starkly experimental “Foreign Land”, so my early bet is on ‘Diaries’ to challenge for the Oscar. But if recent box office means anything, than Zhang Yimou could follow his hit “Hero” with another gem, the beautiful martial-arts epic, “House of Flying Daggers” (Dec. 3), starring the ravishing knockout Zhang Ziyi. Yimou, whose films are usually popular with critics in the West, has been nominated three times, and is yet to win, so in fairness to the man, let’s call him the Chinese equivalent to Martin Scorsese, a master oft-nominated, yet never rewarded.
Animated:
A category that has little significance to the race for Best Picture (even “Finding Nemo” missed the cut last year), but with “Shrek 2” currently the year’s box office king, the animated genre has become a behemoth on the marketplace, and this fall is no exception. Pixar looks to go six for six with their new film, “The Incredibles” (Nov. 5), starring Craig T. Nelson as the patriarch of a retired family of superheroes, finding it hard living the button-down civilian life. From writer/director Brad Bird (“The Iron Giant”), a longtime contributor during the glory years of “The Simpsons”, “The Incredibles” will be a guaranteed hit, believe me. Less certain is the bankability of the Dreamworks comedy “Shark Tale” (Oct. 1), an underwater mafia spoof with the likes of Will Smith and Robert DeNiro lending their vocal talents. The trailer makes it look like a poor man’s “Finding Nemo”, but never count out the company that brought us both superb “Shrek” films. The third big computer animated film this fall is Robert Zemeckis’ “The Polar Express” (Nov. 10), a fantasy about a train en route to Santa’s North Pole, with Zemeckis regular Tom Hanks voicing five different characters. If you’re old fashioned, and like your animated movies hand drawn, than take the kids (as if you have a choice) to “The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie” (Nov. 19), but if that doesn’t appeal to you, than maybe Mamoru Oshii’s cyber punk “Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence”, a sequel to his ’95 anime classic, is a better choice. Whatever your tastes, this year will undoubtedly continue the growth of animated feature films as a serious form of filmmaking.
Grab Bag:
Not all of the movies to be released this fall will be potential blockbusters or Oscar winners, so here are a few off-the-map choices, both bad and good. From the remake department, the prolific Jude Law steps into Michael Caine’s shoes as “Alfie” (Oct. 22), and Jennifer Lopez and Richard Gere hack to death the charming Japanese dance classic “Shall We Dance” (Oct. 15). Joel Schumacher finally brings Andrew Lloyd Webber’s beloved hit “The Phantom of the Opera” (Dec. 25) to the big screen, with a little help from “Chicago”, and the recent popularity of musical adaptations. Jimmy Fallon drives around with Queen Latifah (huh?) in the potentially awful “Taxi” (Oct. 8), Takeshi Kitano’s two-years-old “Dolls” (November) finally finds American distribution, and lastly, in this bitter presidential election year, George Butler documents the democratic candidate in “Going Upriver: The Long War of John Kerry” (October). If Michael Moore can’t get Kerry elected, than I doubt Butler can either, but it’s nice to see the entertainment industry throwing its dollars around to support the greater good of the country, outside of op-ed columns and television advertising. As close as the election is going to be, so will the race for Oscar glory, and I for one will be watching, and anticipating, with full attention, as fall turns to winter, and the nations silver screens become, once again, cinematically stimulating, and hopefully, intellectually satisfying.
by Adam Suraf