Up and Autumn

To quote the film “Jarhead,” “Welcome to the suck.”
This time of year is that little window between summer and fall in which studios purge their shelves. So, instead of sifting through the cinematic discount bins this week, I will try to get you amped for the coming season of more prestigious pictures.
Mind you, not all of the releases are jockeying for trophies during the seemingly endless award season, but they do carry with them the promise of cinematic escape beyond the latest crop of films that is springing up like ragweed at the multiplex.

Sept. 7

The Brothers Solomon
Starring: Will Arnett, Will Forte, Lee Majors
Two socially stunted men try to impregnate a woman to fulfill a dying father’s request.
Prognosis: The big screen has yet to provide TV funnyman Arnett (“Arrested Development”) with something suitable to his talents (“Let’s Go to Prison,” anyone?). This Farrelly Brothers-style clone does not appear to be that picture, either.

Shoot ‘Em Up
Starring: Clive Owen, Paul GiamattiA mysterious gunman appears out of nowhere to rescue a woman and child from a hired hit.
Prognosis: Heavily styled Matrix-y gunplay is buoyed by its strong leads.
3:10 to Yuma
Starring: Christian Bale, Russell Crowe
A down-on-his-luck rancher volunteers to escort a criminal across rugged terrain to make the titular train.
Prognosis: While critics have been eulogizing the Western genre for years, Bale (as the rancher) and Crowe (as the criminal) just might prove otherwise.

Sept. 14

Mr. Woodcock
Starring: Billy Bob Thorton, Sean Williams Scott, Susan Sarandon
A bullying gym coach re-enters the life of his former tormentee as he tries to woo the young man’s mommy.
Prognosis: If you have a sense of déjà vu, it’s because this one has been threatening to be released for a couple of years now. Never a good sign.

Sept. 21


Across the Universe
Starring: Jim Sturgess, Evan Rachel Wood
The always-engaging director Julie Taymor envisions a pair of lovers in the ‘60s in a film set entirely to Beatles’ songs.
Prognosis: If it fails, you can bet it will be one beautiful disaster.

Resident Evil: Apocalypse
Starring: Milla Jovovich, Oded Fehr, Mike Epps.
In the third film based on the video game, our hero Alice is planted in the Nevada desert when trying to annihilate ferocious zombie scum.
Prognosis: The first two films were as fun as watching someone play Pac-Man for 90 minutes, but the trailers for “Apocalypse” look compelling enough to at least consider the adage “The third time’s the charm.”

Good Luck Chuck
Starring: Dane Cook, Jessica Alba
Not a sequel to the summer’s loathsome Adam Sandler “comedy,” this film stars yet another inexplicably popular comedian as Chuck, a man whose reputation as a good luck charm has women lining up to lie down with him.
Prognosis: Perhaps the neediest comic working today, Cook reeks of desperation in every role he takes.

The Assassination of Jesse James by That Coward Robert Ford
Starring: Brad Pitt, Sam Rockwell, Casey Affleck, Zooey Deschanel, Mary-Louise Parker
As fabled gunslinger Jesse James plans his next train robbery, his life may be threatened by someone close to his camp – can you guess his name?
Prognosis: Another shelf squatter, “Jesse” was supposed to be released last year, but the star power and director Andrew Dominik (who last made the intense “Chopper” with Eric Bana) cannot be denied (or maybe it can, if you consider last year’s overstuffed turkey “All the King’s Men”).

Sept. 28
Run, Fat Boy, Run
Starring: Simon Pegg, Hank Azaria, Thandie Newton
After leaving his pregnant girlfriend at the altar, a chubby schmuck vows to complete a marathon to prove he’s a changed man.
Prognosis: It’s a sitcom-worthy plot that just may work, considering it is being directed by “Friends’” David Schwimmer.

Lust, Caution
Starring: Tony Leung, Joan Chen
Director Ang Lee comes down from “Brokeback Mountain” to tell this more intimate World War II-era tale of a powerful politician and a woman who just can’t seem to quit him.
Prognosis: Not the hot-button topic of his previous, and shot in the Mandarin tongue, “Lust” will have much smaller fanfare, but may contain the same intensity for which the director is best known.

Oct. 5
The Heartbreak Kid
Starring: Ben Stiller, Michelle Monoghan
A man meets the woman of his dreams – to bad it’s while he is on his honeymoon with his loopy new wife.
Prognosis: Stiller reunites with his cinematic catapult – The Farrelly Brothers – in this remake of the Neil Simon flick.

Oct. 12
30 Days of Night
Starring: Josh Hartnett, Ben Foster, Melissa George
Alaska is known for its long stretches sans daylight, so what better place for vampires to chill their fangs?
Prognosis: Based on the popular comic (sorry, fanboys, you can call it a “graphic novel” just as you refer to your dolls as “action figures”), this film looks to keep the same creepy aesthetic that made it such a smash.

Hitman
Starring: Timothy Olyphant, Dougray Scott
A bar-coded assassin kicks some assassin ass in this big screen treatment of the violently popular (or is that popularly violent?) video game.
Prognosis: Olyphant attempts to parlay his summer hit as the heavy in the latest “Die Hard” flick into leading man turf. But it may suffer from the similar (and more stylish) “Shoot ‘Em Up” a month prior.

Oct. 19
Rendition
Starring: Reese Witehrsppon, Jake Gyllenhaal, Meryl Streep, Alan Arkin and Peter Saarsgard
Reese Witherspoon stars as the wife of an Egypt-born chemical engineer who's kidnapped by the Feds and stashed in a secret detention facility, where a compassionate CIA analyst (Jake Gyllenhaal) has doubts about the tactics of interrogation.
Prognosis: Hmmm, how do you think we can get our point across that torture is bad? I know, let's get our most wholesome-looking actress and former Oscar winner, Reese Witherspoon, and set her up for ol' fashioned Cheney-style waterboarding. While the film's stance is clear, let's hope they don't – pardon the expression – hit us over the head with it.

Oct. 26
Martian Child
Starring: John Cusak, Joan CusakJohn Cusack stars once again as a writer (after this summer's hit “1408”) who adopts an outcast child who claims he is from another planet.
Prognosis: Bumped from its original release this summer, the trailer for this one seems a tad gooey, but a flick full of Cusak's can turn that around into something much more.

Things We Lost in the Fire
Starring: Halle Berry, Benicio Del ToroTwo troubled childhood friends attempt to help one another out in order to save each other and themselves.
Prognosis: with the help of a gifted director (Susanne Bier, “After the Wedding”) and a talented co-star, Berry looks to turn her post-Oscar slump around to prove that she really did earn that statuette, despite “Catwoman”... and “Gothika” and “X-Men 3”... and “Perfect Stranger” and... you get the picture.

Saw IV
Starring: Tobin Bell
The Rube Goldberg of death, Jigsaw and his accomplice took a dirt nap in the last entry of the franchise, but when more victims start turning up under mysteriously similar circumstances, the FBI uncovers the truth to his origins.
Prognosis: Despite having the dubious distinction of helping to create the whole “torture porn” genre, “Saw” has managed to keep audiences coming back for more. And as long as the cash keeps rolling in, it seems that Jigsaw is more than willing to figure out creative ways to kill unsuspecting people.

Nov. 2
Bee Movie
Starring: (the voices of) Jerry Seinfeld, Chris Rock,
A stinging insect looks to escape the drone of the honeycomb and seek more out of life.
Prognosis: Though the animation looks pretty pathetic and the trailer's jokes have as much sting as a moth, if anyone can create something out of nothing, it's Seinfeld.

American Gangster
Starring: Denzel Washington, Russell Crowe
“Gangster” follows the true tale of a Harlem drug lord who became one of the most powerful crime figures in the country and a cop hell-bent on bringing him to justice.
Prognosis: Here’s wishing Washington is in full “Training Day” mode and Crowe and director Ridley Scott give us more “Gladiator” than “A Good Year.”

Nov. 9
No Country for Old Men
Starring: Tommy Lee Jones, Javier Bardem, Josh Brolin, Woody Harrelson
A hunter in the wilderness happens upon a stash of cash, drugs and a couple of dead bodies.
Prognosis: The Coen Brothers look poised to return to their “Blood Simple” roots in “Men,” which was nominated for top honors at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.

Nov. 16
Beowulf
Starring: (the voices of) Angelina Jolie, Anthony Hopkins, Robin Wrigth Penn, Ray Winstone.
See people, this is what we need to get our high school students to read the classics – more Angelina Jolie nudity! Actually, only a CGI version of the bombshell makes an in-the-buff appearance, but that’s better than nothing.
Prognosis: Like saying you admire “Playboy” for the articles, you can pretend to be awed by the special effects of this motion-capture movie.

Margot at the Wedding
Starring: Nicole Kidman, Jack Black, Jennifer Jason Leigh
Margot is a caustic gal who arrives on the eve of her sister’s wedding and attempts to sever the impeding ties to her Boho beau.
Prognosis: A cantankerous Kidman is an interesting choice for director Noah Baumbach (“The Squid and the Whale”), and Black looks as though he’s toned down his mania to let others actually share the screen with him.

Nov. 21
Enchanted
Starring: Amy Adams, Patrick Dempsey
A cartoon princess forced to leave her world for modern-day New York, falls in love with her Prince McDreamy.
Prognosis: Cute premise, but man does it look like one big commercial for Disney.

Nov. 30
Cassandra's Dream
Starring: Colin Farrell, Ewan McGregor, Haley Atwell
Woody Allen directs a tale of two brothers and a dangerous woman who enters their lives and threatens to sever their bond.
Prognosis: Sounds like a more meditative Woody (which usually provides more interesting results).

Dec. 7
The Golden Compass
Starring: Nicole Kidman, Daniel Craig, Dakota Blue Richards
Based on the “His Dark Materials” series of books, “Compass” follows 12-year-old Lyra as she sets out for adventure across the globe in an effort to save it.
Prognosis: It’s cast is top notch with Kidman and Craig, until you consider the last time they teamed up was this summer’s biggest flop “The Invasion.” Plus, can the movie world handle more than one precocious pre-teen named Dakota?

Dec. 14
I am Legend
Starring: Will Smith, a dog
A brilliant scientist somehow escapes a plague that he believes wipes out the entire human race – or does it?
Prognosis: This screenplay has been tossed around more than a soccer ball, the director has little impressive history (videos for Britney, Janet Jackson and the overheated Keanu Reeves flick “Constantine”), and star Smith may be out of his element from saving the world during the summer months (“Independence Day,” “Men in Black,” “I Robot”). But it may provide the perfect antidote for some of the season’s stuffier releases.

Alvin and the Chipmunks
Starring: Jason Lee, David Cross, animated rodentia
A combination of CGI and live action is mixed for this update on the novelty cartoon.
Prognosis: One word – “Garfield.” This is not going to end well.

Dec. 21
National Treasure: Book of Secrets
Starring: Nicolas Cage, Helen Mirren, John Voight, Ed Harris
Cage returns as modern-day Indiana Jones Ben Gates as he searches for stolen pages from John Wilkes Booth diary.
Prognosis: Taking a page from “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade,” “Treasure” casts Mirren as Cage's mommy who joins the hunt.

Sweeney Todd
Starring: Johnny Depp, Helen Bonham Carter, Alan Rickman, Sacha Baron Cohen
Depp once again teams with director Tim Burton in this musical tale of a demented barber.
Prognosis: Jack Sparrow, Borat and two Harry Potter heavies? Directed by the guy from “Edward Scissorhands?” Are your tickets purchased now, or are you waiting another five minutes?

Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story
Starring: John C. Reilly, Jenna Fischer, Kristen Wiig, Tim Meadows
Spoofing on musical bio-pics (are you listening, “Walk the Line?”), the film follows this drugged-up musical sex machine through his various incarnations in a the musical landscape.
Prognosis: Could this be the trifecta for Judd Apatow, who scored with this summer's “Knocked Up” and “Superbad?” This can't-miss cast of clowns is almost a guarantee to run rings of fire around the competition.


Dec. 25
Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem
Starring: John Ortiz, Steven Pasquale, Johnny Lewis
Two warring intergalactic tribes of monsters pick a small town to lay the smackdown on one another.Prognosis: Sure, the first one was excruciating, but the directorial responsibilities have been handed over from a hack to a pair who have been responsible for some of the coolest special effects in recent cinema.

Charlie Wilson’s War
Starring: Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts, Philip Seymour Hoffman
Texas Republican congressman Charlie Wilson is a bad man. His shady dealings with Afghan rebels took a heavy toll on human lives.
Prognosis: Director Mike Nichols gave Roberts her best part in ages is 2005's “Closer,” and may perhaps do the same for Hanks, who could use a boost after flops such as “The Ladykillers,” “The Terminal” and “DaVinci Code.”

The Bucket List
Starring: Jack Nicholson, Morgan Freeman, Sean Hayes
Two terminally-ill cancer patients set out to check off a to-do list before they die.
Prognosis: How come nobody thought to cast Freeman with Nicholson before this? Unfortunately director Rob Reiner (“Rumor Has It...,” “Alex and Emma,” “The Story of Us” ) may ultimately decide their fate.

Dec. 26
There Will Be Blood
Starring: Daniel Day-Lewis, Paul Dano
Family, greed, religion and oil are all stirred together in this tale following a Texas prospector and the turn of the century.
Prognosis: In perhaps the best trailer since last year's “Little Children,” P.T. Anderson's complex tale looks as though it may strike more than black gold come Oscar time.