the big picture
Now in Theatres
By Ingrid Randoja
September 7
3:10 TO YUMA (pictured above)
Who’s In It? Russell Crowe, Christian Bale
Who Directed? James Mangold (Walk the Line)
What’s It About? This remake of the 1957 western stars Bale as a cash-strapped rancher who, along with his son, agrees to escort a captured outlaw (Crowe) to the train that’ll take him to the town of Yuma. But the wily outlaw has a way with words, and his chit-chat unnerves his escorts, who are already on edge expecting the bad guy’s gang to make a daring rescue attempt.
SHOOT 'EM UP
Who’s In It? Clive Owen, Monica Bellucci
Who Directed? Michael Davis (Monster Man)
What’s It About? Why would a whole squad of hitmen (led by a maniacal Paul Giamatti) be gunning for a newborn baby? That’s the question Mr. Smith (Owen) — a down-and-out former Black Ops agent — asks while busily protecting the tiny tot from flying bullets. Bellucci joins this operatic gun ballet as a prostitute who provides on-the-run babysitting.
THE BROTHERS SOLOMON
Who’s In It? Will Arnett, Will Forte
Who Directed? Bob Odenkirk (Let’s Go to Prison)
What’s It About? While Knocked Up gave us one clueless guy facing the perils of parenthood, The Brothers Solomon presents us with two idiots contemplating fatherhood. Brothers John (Arnett) and Dean (Forte) Solomon were home-schooled by a protective father, which means their social skills really, really suck. When dying daddy wants a grandchild, the two nincompoops set out to find a woman to bear their heir.
September 14
MR. WOODCOCK
Who’s In It? Billy Bob Thornton, Seann William Scott
Who Directed? Craig Gillespie (debut)
What’s It About? When it comes to despised characters from childhood there’s the lady who handed out dental floss on Halloween, and there’s your gym teacher. This comedy stars Scott as a self-help author who returns home to stop his mom (Susan Sarandon) from marrying Mr. Woodcock (Thornton), the sadistic middle school gym teacher who made his childhood a living hell.
THE BRAVE ONE
Who’s In It? Jodie Foster, Terrence Howard
Who Directed? Neil Jordan (Breakfast on Pluto)
What’s It About? Foster may be slight in stature but that doesn’t stop her from taking on weighty roles. Here she plays a National Public Radio host who copes with a brutal physical assault and the murder of her fiancé (Naveen Andrews) by becoming a celebrated vigilante, taking to the streets and killing thugs. Howard checks in as the sympathetic cop looking for the notorious killer. See the Jodie Foster interview in this month's Famous.
IN THE VALLEY OF ELAH
Who’s In It? Tommy Lee Jones, Charlize Theron
Who Directed? Paul Haggis (Crash)
What’s It About? An Army officer (Jones) teams with a homicide detective (Theron) to investigate the murder of his son, a soldier who had just returned from a tour in Iraq.
EASTERN PROMISES
Who’s In It? Naomi Watts, Viggo Mortensen
Who Directed? David Cronenberg (A History of Violence)
What’s It About? When a 14-year-old Russian girl dies during childbirth, Anna (Watts) — the midwife attending to her — finds her diary and searches for her next of kin, which makes members of London’s Russian Mafia very nervous, especially the charismatic Nikolai (Mortensen).
See the Naomi Watts interview in this month's Famous.
September 16
WWE-Pay-Per-View
Unforgiven
An action-packed evening featuring WWE Champion John Cena, Triple H, Bobby Lashley, Batista, Rey Mysterio and all your favorite WWE Superstars — plus the return of the Undertaker! Countdown show begins at 7:30 ET. Check www.cineplex.com for a list of theatres where you can watch it live, and to buy tickets.
September 21
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Brad Pitt in The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
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THE ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES BY THE COWARD ROBERT FORD
Who’s In It? Brad Pitt, Casey Affleck
Who Directed? Andrew Dominik (Chopper)
What’s It About? This long-awaited western chronicles the exploits of notorious bank robber and outlaw Jesse James (Pitt) and his gang member Robert Ford (Affleck), who believes killing James will make him a legend.
THE HUNTING PARTY
Who’s In It? Richard Gere, Terrence Howard
Who Directed? Richard Shepard (The Matador)
What’s It About? A veteran reporter (Gere), cameraman (Howard) and newbie journalist (Jesse Eisenberg) team up to try and score an interview with The Fox, Bosnia’s most elusive — and dangerous — war criminal. Based on a true story featured in Esquire magazine.
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SILK
Who’s In It? Michael Pitt, Keira Knightley
Who Directed? François Girard (The Red Violin)
What’s It About? Herve Joncour (Pitt), a 19th-century French silk merchant, waves goodbye to his wife (Knightley) and travels to Japan to buy highly prized silkworms. While closing the deal he falls in love with the concubine (Sei Ashina) of a wealthy land baron (Alfred Molina).
SHINE A LIGHT
Who’s In It? The Rolling Stones
Who Directed? Martin Scorsese (The Departed)
What’s It About? Rock ’n’ roll aficionado Scorsese looks for satisfaction with this documentary about the Rolling Stones. Scorsese chronicles their early days right up until the present, and includes concert footage from the band’s 2006 “A Bigger Bang” tour.
INTO THE WILD
Who’s In It? Emile Hirsch, Vince Vaughn
Who Directed? Sean Penn (The Pledge)
What’s It About? In 1992 college grad Chris McCandless (Hirsch) donated his life savings to charity and hitchhiked to Alaska to try living alone in the wild. If you’ve read Jon Krakauer’s best-selling book based on McCandless’ life (this is a true story) then you know his naiveté, inexperience and poor decision-making cost him dearly.
RESIDENT EVIL: EXTINCTION
Who’s In It? Milla Jovovich, Oded Fehr
Who Directed? Russell Mulcahy (Swimming Upstream)
What’s It About? With The Fifth Element, Ultraviolet and the Resident Evil films under her belt, Jovovich has quietly established herself as film’s leading kick-ass female action star. This third Resident Evil flick finds Alice (Jovovich) leading the few human survivors of the Raccoon City viral outbreak across the Nevada desert to Alaska, which they believe is virus-free. However, hordes of zombies and nasty Umbrella Corporation scientists want to stop the human cavalcade.
SYDNEY WHITE
Who’s In It? Amanda Bynes, Matt Long
Who Directed? Joe Nussbaum (Sleepover)
What’s It About? Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs gets a teen-comedy reworking with Bynes starring as Sydney White, a college freshman who pledges to a sorority made up of seven social misfits. It’s up to White to give these girls a popularity makeover.
GOOD LUCK CHUCK
Who’s In It? Dane Cook, Jessica Alba
Who Directed? Mark Helfrich (debut)
What’s It About? Chuck (Cook) really is God’s gift to women — it seems that after a woman has sex with him she meets and weds her soul mate. With his phone ringing off the hook and his sex life sizzling Chuck is in heaven, that is until he meets the girl of his dreams (Alba) and realizes that if he sleeps with her, he’ll lose her. What’s a guy to do? See the interview with Dane Cook and Jessica Alba in this month's Famous.
September 28
RUN, FAT BOY, RUN
Who’s In It? Simon Pegg, Thandie Newton
Who Directed? David Schwimmer (debut)
What’s It About? Friends alumnus Schwimmer makes his big-screen directing debut with this comedy about chunky English bloke Dennis (Pegg), who leaves his fiancée at the altar. Years later he realizes his mistake, and in order to impress her, vows to get in shape and run the New York City Marathon.
LUST, CAUTION
Who’s In It? Tony Leung, Tang Wei
Who Directed? Ang Lee (Brokeback Mountain)
What’s It About? Set in Japanese-occupied Shanghai, this WWII spy drama stars rising Chinese star Tang Wei as a young woman who is assigned the task of seducing — and then killing — a powerful Chinese businessman (Leung).
THE GAME PLAN
Who’s In It? Dwayne Johnson, Madison Pettis
Who Directed? Andy Fickman (She’s the Man)
What’s It About? Pro football quarterback Joe Kingman (Johnson) feels as if he’s been sacked when the seven-year-old daughter (Pettis) he never knew he had appears at his door. Can this macho man keep his competitive edge while caring for his girly-girl daughter?
ACROSS THE UNIVERSE
Who’s In It? Jim Sturgess, Evan Rachel Wood
Who Directed? Julie Taymor (Frida)
What’s It About? Using Beatles tunes sung by the characters, director Taymor recounts the love affair between Liverpool dock worker Jude (Sturgess) and American gal Lucy (Wood) during the turbulent ’60s. The New York Times reported that Revolution Studio’s head honcho Joe Roth was unhappy with the film and re-cut a version himself, which did not sit well with the director. It’ll be interesting to see which version hits screens this month.
THE KINGDOM
Who’s In It? Jamie Foxx, Jennifer Garner
Who Directed? Peter Berg (Friday Night Lights)
What’s It About? When a terrorist blast destroys an American housing compound in Saudi Arabia, the FBI sends an Evidence Response Team, led by agent Ronald Fleury (Foxx), to identify those responsible for the attack. However, their job becomes a lot more complicated when one of the team members (Jason Bateman) is kidnapped. See the Jamie Foxx interview in this month's Famous.
DECEMBER BOYS
Who’s In It? Daniel Radcliffe, Teresa Palmer
Who Directed? Rod Hardy (Route 52)
What’s It About? Credit Radcliffe for working hard to divest himself of his Harry Potter image. First, he accepted a controversial role (nudity!) in the London stage version of Equus, and now he stars in this Australian coming-of-age drama about four orphan boys who spend the summer with a young couple who may adopt one of them.
FEAST OF LOVE
Who’s In It? Morgan Freeman, Greg Kinnear
Who Directed? Robert Benton (The Human Stain)
What’s It About? While Hollywood may worship at the altar of youth, it still has a place for respected filmmakers like Benton (Kramer vs. Kramer, Places in the Heart), who turns 75 this month. Based on the novel by Charles Baxter, this ensemble drama stars Freeman, Kinnear, Selma Blair, Radha Mitchell, Jane Alexander and Toby Hemingway as a group of friends and colleagues coping with their complicated and ever-changing love lives.
SHAKE HANDS WITH THE DEVIL
Who’s In It? Roy Dupuis, Deborah Kara Unger
Who Directed? Roger Spottiswoode (The 6th Day)
What’s It About? Lt. Gen. Roméo Dallaire’s gripping autobiography comes to the big screen with Dupuis playing the Canadian officer who was put in charge of the United Nations’ peacekeeping force in Rwanda in 1993. The film focuses on Dallaire’s valiant effort to draw attention to the 1994 genocide of Tutsi tribe members at the hands of Hutu extremists. Although he was handcuffed by his mission mandate, and by a painstakingly slow international response, Dallaire is credited with saving 30,000 lives.