2005 Fall Movie Preview
August 25, 2005
Make no mistake, I hate the general notion, and the all too familiar staleness of a modern day remake of a much loved classic, and the fact that the summer saw a few good retreads (“Bad News Bears”, “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”), doesn’t mean I’m softening my stance on unoriginality, but as I begin to contemplate how the Fall Movie Season is going to save this otherwise uneventful calendar year at the movies, I keep coming back to one behemoth at the end of the season, and believe it or not, it’s a remake, and the most anticipated film of the year. I’m talking, of course (notice the unconventional use of the word “behemoth” above), about “King Kong”, “Lord of the Rings” director Peter Jackson’s indulgent, very expensive, vanity project based more on the 1933 Merian C. Cooper, Ernest B. Schoedsack masterpiece than the 1976 first remake of the same name, a movie that nobody watches anymore, which in itself is reason enough to stay away from sacred film treasures, but Jackson is ambitious, to say the least, and if anybody can somehow bring a fresh, modern, effects heavy eye to the aging Beauty and the Beast classic, it’s probably him. At least we can hope so, since the secretive project, starring Naomi Watts in the Fay Wray role as the gorilla’s bait, and Jack Black and Adrian Brody as the ringmasters who capture the beast, has yet to be completed (Jackson is notorious for last minute edits), and the trailer footage, loaded with shots of computerized dinosaurs and the snarling titular star, is only a maddening tease. On the plus side, “King Kong” (Dec. 14) will likely be a pleasant surprise, and a flat out blockbuster, in the middle of prestige Oscar pictures and tired Christmas family comedies, but on the downside, it’s a long way away (remember the impossibly long summer and fall months waiting for the new ‘Rings’ films?), and there’s always that possibility that it’ll be a disaster, giving more weight to the argument against remakes, and towards a unified structure of chance taking and originality. Bomb or blockbuster, “King Kong” is my pick for the year’s most interesting big release, but as is always the case with this exciting time of year to be a film buff, the fall is packed with wide ranging releases, so here now, in three categories, is a run down of what to expect in the coming months, leading up to the Oscars in February.
Oscar Bait
It’s too early to tell which way the Oscar voting will go when the nominations are announced sometime in late January, whether early critical successes like “Cinderella Man”, “Crash”, or my favorite, “Hustle & Flow” will be rewarded, or if there will be as respected a film as “Sideways” was last year, garnering many noms, but only one screenwriting award, but there is already a short list of prestige pictures studios are banking on for Oscar glory. “Shakespeare in Love” winners Gwyneth Paltrow and director John Madden finally release the oft-delayed “Proof” (Sep. 16), about a mathematician (Anthony Hopkins) and his troubled daughter (Paltrow), based on an acclaimed London stage play, but the September release date could hurt its staying power, amidst the rush of November and December pictures. More likely to be noticed by the Academy is Steven Spielberg’s hush-hush dramatization of the 1972 Olympics terrorist massacre, “Munich” (Dec. 23), from a screenplay by “Angels in America” genius Tony Kushner, starring Eric Bana as an assassin. If it hits, this cold be 1993 all over again, with Spielberg’s huge summer popcorn success (“Jurassic Park” in ’93, “War of the Worlds” in ’05), leading up to an later Oscar triumph (“Schindler’s List” in ’93), and it’s been a while since he’s been rewarded by the Academy, so the odds look good, right now anyway.
But that doesn’t rule out other prestige pictures, like Rob Marshall’s diverse Asian cast in the much-anticipated adaptation of “Memoirs of a Geisha” (Dec. 9), starring Ziyi Zhang, one of the five most beautiful actresses on the planet. Reclusive master Terrence Malick is back (his fourth movie in 32 years) with “The New World” (Nov. 9), a likely mystical and moving drama about the love between John Smith and Pocahontas, starring Colin Farrell (“Alexander”), who apparently digs playing famous historical men for controlling and powerful directors. “All the Kings Men” (Dec. 16), a remake of an old Best Picture winner, doesn’t get more golden than Oscar winning writer Steve Zallian directing Oscar winner Sean Penn opposite Oscar nominee Jude Law, from a Pulitzer Prize winning novel by Robert Penn Warren. Likely as political, “American Beauty” director Sam Mendes returns with a study of war (the first Gulf War) in “Jarhead” (Nov. 4), and “Traffic” screenwriter Stephen Gaghan directs George Clooney, who gained 30 pounds for the role of a CIA agent in the Middle East, in the oil drama “Syriana” (Nov. 23). Personally, this heavy stuff is all well and good, but I look forward more to the cathartic comedy of Cameron Crowe’s funeral picture “Elizabethtown” (Oct. 14), starring the good looking tandem of Orlando Bloom and Kirsten Dunst (the studio sent me a free T-shirt, so the shill plug is necessary, and anything by the guy who did “Almost Famous” is worth watching in my book), and the chick lit emotional prospects of Curtis Hanson’s “In Her Shoes” (Oct. 7) than say, the gay western “Brokeback Mountain” (Dec. 9), or the Johnny Cash bio “Walk the Line” (Nov. 18). Any two of these film would serve you good in pre-nominations betting rings, if that’s your bag; I know it’s mine.
Potential Blockbusters
Honestly, this category fits better in a Summer Movie Preview, but there are a few action and interesting star-draws this fall that could be top box office winners. The fall’s best non-summer summer blockbuster is “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire” (Nov. 18), the fourth in the popular series, directed by British vet Mike Newell, from J. K. Rowling’s huge novel, the plot of which has been condensed by Steve Kloves to a workable two and a half hour time frame, the average length of the first three films. I doubt this one will be as good as Alfonso Cuaron’s 2003 “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban”, but it’ll be worthwhile just the same, and will likely take in 70 million dollars opening weekend, as parents take their kids out for one more pre-Thanksgiving movie, before it’s Grandma’s turn to spoil the little ones. Elsewhere, action director Tony Scott directs Keira Knightly in the schitzo model-turned-assassin drama “Domino” (Oct. 14), Antonio Bandares and Catherine Zeta-Jones return in “The Legend of Zorro” (Oct 28), Johnny Depp plays a perverted, syphilis riddled poet in “The Libertine” (Sept. 16), and lends his voice for Tim Burton’s stop-motion animated “The Corpse Bride” (Sept. 23), while on the complete opposite side of the film diversity map, 50 Cent stars for “In America” director Jim Sheridan in “Get Rich or Die Tryin’” (Nov. 11), a movie about a gang banger getting rich, or possibly dying while trying. I’d say your best bet in this category is going to be either the Burton film, Disney’s “Chicken Little” (Nov. 4), the much anticipated adaptation of C.S. Lewis’ fantasy “The Chronicles of Narnia” (Dec. 9), the return of Wallace and Gromit in Nick Park’s “The Curse of the Were-Rabbit” (Oct. 7), Matthew Broderick and Nathan Lane in the musical “The Producers” (Dec. 21), or, if it’s marketed right, and garners the reviews it did at Cannes, Woody Allen’s pseudo-noir “Match Point” (Dec. 25), with the luscious Scarlett Johansson. The return of Woody to old, good Woody is reason enough for celebration, and may be enough to forget “Hollywood Ending” and “The Curse of the Jade Scorpion”, but then again, I had already forgotten those, so there’s no worry there, just lots of hope.
Grab Bag
Finally, the category for the bigger question marks of the season, the films that sound like they might be decent, or look so on the trailer, but could very well be bogus and time consuming. “The Pianist” Oscar winning director Roman Polanski dusts off Charles Dickens’ “Oliver Twist” (Sept. 23), for some reason, and will likely draw unfavorable comparisons to David Lean’s 1948 masterpiece starring Alec Guinness as Fagin. Even if the Polanski film is good, check out the Criterion Collection DVD of the Lean classic anyway, it’s one of the director’s very best movies. Little Dakota Fanning channels little Elizabeth Taylor, while dad Jeff Bridges plays Donald Crisp in the “National Velvet”, “Black Beauty” esque horse drama “Dreamer” (Oct. 21), while, on the other side of the galaxy, one time Oscar winner Charlize Theron goes the Halle Berry route in the action pic “Aeon Flux” (Dec. 2), a story I vaguely remember from animated shorts on MTV 15 years ago. The Rock stars in a violent video game adaptation called “Doom” (Oct. 21)- those are always good! - and director Chris Columbus navigates famous Broadway tunes in the Taye Diggs musical “Rent” (Nov. 11). If there is still a taste for film musicals, three years after “Chicago” won Best Picture, than “The Producers” is likely the one to beat, but fans of “Rent”, the 1996 Tony winner about Aids in New York slums, could be a force in making Columbus’ picture a hit. Right now, like our big ape at the end of the tunnel, or, more appropriately, on the top of some big famous skyscraper, it’s too early to tell, which makes the coming months all the more exciting in a “Please be good” kind of way. Who ever said we film fanatics weren’t needy, idealistic, and impatient wasn’t paying enough attention, but now is the time to start, because, if you can fully grasp this closing cliché, I’ll be seeing you at the movies. And hopefully, some good films at that.
by Adam Suraf