This winter is perhaps marked most by what movie ISN'T opening. Harry Potter
and the Half-Blood Prince was pushed back to next summer. The move was
unwisely timed, following only a couple of weeks after the release of the
teaser trailer. Still, many of the outraged ranks of Potter fans need to be
slapped. "I can't breath amymore [sic] because you just ripped out my heart,"
says one angry fan to Warner Bros. It conjures images of Warner Bros.
stockholder meetings, presided over by the villain in Indiana Jones and the
Temple of Doom.

October 24 - High School Musical 3: Senior Year

Silly movies. Everybody knows senior year is year 4.

October 24 - Saw V

As a teenager, I was sickened by the perverse appeal of my generation's
slasher movies. But the Halloween was psychological rather than gory, and
Nightmare On Elm Street was devilishly creative. Jason...was always garbage.
But even that series had a sense of humor about itself. The new wave of
slashers exist only to glory in human suffering. Certainly there are great
things movies can do with the portrayal of suffering and pain, but as
entertainment in and of itself? These movies are horrifying, yes, but mostly
because they exist at all.

October 28 - Tinker Bell (Direct-To-DVD)

After Pixar took over the Disney animation unit, one of John Lasseter's first
moves was to can the whole cheap-sequel-to-DVD plague that has stained Disney
animation since The Return of Jafar nearly 15 years ago. I expect the company
to continue to produce direct-to-DVD fare, and even that it won't measure up
to theatrical standards. But there may well be hope that it won't remain so
singularly worthless.

October 31 - Ninjas vs. Zombies

In its entry on the IMDb, the "keywords" for the movie are hidden by a spoiler
alert. If you roll your mouse over the spoiler alert, the keywords are
revealed: (1) Ninja, and (2) Zombie. Oops, I should have warned you.

October 31 - Changeling

No, it's not a remake of "The Changeling," one of the greatest of all haunted
house movies. This is a film directed by Clint Eastwood about a woman whose
kidnapped son is returned to her. But her relief is short-lived, as she soon
suspects the returned child isn't hers. The early word on this movie is
excellent, both in terms of Eastwood's directing and Angelina Jolie's
performance. Jolie is still perceived as a tabloid star, rather than a
series actress, despite winning an Academy Award two years before her first
stint as Lara Croft. Last year's "A Mighty Heart," in which she delivered a
powerfully emotional performance, was a return to form, the only problem being
that no one saw it. People will see "Changeling," though, and I expect the
film to do well in awards season. Here's hoping for another Eastwood home run.

October 31 - RocknRolla

Speaking of returns to form, Guy Ritchie, after a couple of agonizingly
horrible films, has apparently made a movie more in keeping with the cult
favorites "Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels" and "Snatch." I didn't think
either were great films, but they were certainly entertaining. If he can match
or exceed those efforts, RocknRolla will be one to see. But can I just say
that the title is irredeemably awful?

November 4 - Return to Sleepaway Camp (Direct-To-DVD)

For those not keeping count, this movie is fifth in the series, which started
in 1983. For those who *are* keeping count, professional counselling is only
a phone call away.

Sadly, this film will be noteworthy as Isaac Hayes' last film.

November 7 - Killshot

Diane Lane and Mickey Rourke star in this action thriller, adapted from an
Elmore Leonard novel. Rourke was a big star in the 1980s that quickly fell
from grace and visibility, despite continuing to make movies. This year, he's
back in the spotlight again, both for this film and moreso for "The Wrestler."
More on that later.

The director is John Madden, a very good director who specializes in period
Oscar bait. (His last four films were Proof, Captain Corelli's Mandolin,
Shakespeare In Love, and Mrs. Brown.) Elmore Leonard is a departure for him,
but I'm interested in how he handles it and optimistic that he'll do a good
job.

November 14 - Quantum of Solace

A lot of electronic ink has been spilled over how ungainly the title of the
next James Bond movie is. True, it doesn't exactly roll off the tongue. But
unlike "RocknRolla," which is a pathetic attempt to sound cool, "Quantum of
Solace" is actually *about* something. It's evocative, beautiful, and neatly
sums up what the film is about: James Bond, in a rare moment of continuity
between films, trying to find a quantum of solace following the death of the
first woman he ever loved. For a series that previously canned the title
"Licence Revoked" in favor of "Licence To Kill" for fear audiences wouldn't
know what "revoked" meant (hint: anybody with a driver's license), this is a
step in a good direction.

But I understand that there are people that don't know what "quantum" or
"solace" mean, and I sympathize with their plight. Clearly the James Bond
series is disenfranchising many of its most faithful patrons. In view of this,
I have prepared a brief step-by-step guide to making this difficult transition
in such desperate times.

Samuel Stoddard's Guide To Understanding What "Quantum of Solace" Means

Step 1: Look up the word "quantum" in a dictionary.
Step 2: Look up the word "solace" in a dictionary.

Now that we're all on the same page, let's move on. Hey, it's James Bond.
Moreover, it's James Bond continuing the path laid out by its outstanding
revitalization in the previous film, Casino Royale. Obviously I'm anticipating
this movie more than any other this holiday season.

Besides that, the film will be directed by Marc Forster, whose "Finding
Neverland" and "Stranger Than Fiction" were two of my favorite films from their
respective years. He's never done an action thriller before, but most of that
will come down to the second unit, an outstanding team that's been part of the
Bond machine all along. I'm fascinated to see what Forster, who specializes
in films about brilliant outsiders persevering in the face of grief and loss,
can bring to this table.

November 21 - Bolt

A dog plays a superhero on a TV show, but he thinks the show is real. Then
he gets lost out in the real world and gradually realizes he doesn't have
superpowers after all. The premise is kind of neat, even though it sets up
one of the most cliched character arcs imaginable. Gosh, do you think he'll
be depressed when he finally realizes the truth, but then ultimately discovers
it's not superpowers that make a hero but courage and honor?

No matter. The trailers play this up as a comedy of chaos, and the question
is whether the movie will be confined by its genre or rise above it.

November 21 - Twilight

Unless you compare it to Harry Potter, the Twilight series of vampire novels
for girls is a bookselling phenomenon. No doubt the movie will easily draw
the crowds it needs to be a financial success, although I'm sure the ceiling
on that number is pretty close to the floor. Vampires are hugely popular
with this demographic right now, enough that you'd think people outside the
demographic would be more aware of it. Honestly, I'm surprised it's taken
this long for the movies to cash in.

November 26 - Transporter 3

Jason Statham has carved out a bizarre niche for himself as the star of cheap,
flashy, and laughably improbable action flicks. Generally I like my action
movies to be grounded in reality, but if you're going to go over the top, you
gotta go all the way. The earlier Transporter movies do this and are more fun
than they have any right to be. The problem is that they're completely
disposable. You won't remember a thing the next morning.

November 26 - Australia

Way back in 2001, Baz Luhrmann made one of my all-time favorite movies, "Moulin
Rouge." It took him a long time to get his next project off the ground. His
biography of Howard Hughes was aborted when Martin Scorsese came out with his
own. This movie, Australia, suffered a setback when Russell Crowe pulled out
of it. It got back on track with Hugh Jackman. Nicole Kidman plays the other
leading role.

It kind of seems like this is one of those old-fashioned historical epics
crossed with an American western. It's set in northern Australia, just prior
to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. There's an echo of Red River (2000
head of cattle need to be driven over Australia's brutally harsh landscape)
and Titanic (a love story set against a tragic historical backdrop), but I
hesitate to commit to these comparisons. Luhrmann is a visionary director.
His "Moulin Rouge" is a true original. Even his take on "Romeo and Juliet,"
cool as I was toward it, refuses comparisons with other work.

All I'm willing to predict at this point is that if nothing else the movie will
look beautiful. Even the poster looks beautiful.

November 26 - Four Christmases

Truly a Christmas comedy for modern times. This movie is about a couple who
struggle to visit all four of their parents (both sets of parents are divorced)
on Christmas Day. Slapstick and "comic" misunderstandings surely ensue.

It's tricky enough for married couples to make the rounds at Christmas even
when their parents are still together. Here's how you do it: alternate years,
not hours. If a family member can't handle celebrating Christmas at New Years
with you every other year, that's his problem.

But I digress. Will the movie be good? The subject matter doesn't suggest it
will be, but a good movie can be made on any subject. Certainly there is
enough talent in front of the camera: Reese Witherspoon, Vince Vaughn, Jon
Favreau, Jon Voight, Robert Duvall, Mary Steenburgen, Sissy Spacek, Dwight
Yoakam, Tim McGraw, Carol Kane.... But I've seen casts like this go down in
flames before.

Bizarrely, the director's previous and best known film was "The King of Kong,"
a documentary about rival Donkey Kong champions.

November 26 - Fanboys

The year is 1999. Star Wars fans journey to Skywalker Ranch to steal an early
copy of The Phantom Menace. Sounds fun but hardly earthshattering, right?
Bizarrely, the early response on this is incredible. Signs point to an
improbably good movie. Though it's an indie production, the connection to Star
Wars is already giving it exposure it wouldn't normally get.

December 5 - Frost/Nixon

The word "biography" implies something very much more expansive than this
film is. Frost/Nixon, based on the play, is the dramatic retelling of the
post-Watergate television interviews between Richard Nixon and David Frost.
It sounds very limited, but this is the sort of thing that movies can do really
really well: zeroing in on nuance in the details. The film is directed by Ron
Howard, whose career has both hits and misses. Purportedly Frank Langella's
portrayal of Richard Nixon is likely to result in an Oscar nomination.

December 5 - Punisher: War Zone

Sequel to the 2004 comic book film "The Punisher," with a new actor in the
lead role.

December 12 - Defiance

The IMDb summary: "Three Jewish brothers escape from Nazi-occupied Poland into
the Belarussian forest, where they join Russian resistance fighters and
endeavor to build a village in order to protect themselves and others in
danger." One of the brothers is Daniel Craig, who has clearly had no trouble
squeezing in all sorts of different kinds of projects in between Bond flicks.
The director is Edward Zwick, who specializes in gritty epics and hostile
wilderness. His prior films include Blood Diamond, The Last Samurai, The
Siege, Courage Under Fire, Legends of the Fall, and Glory. Large standard
deviation there, but Zwick usually pulls through.

December 12 - While She Was Out

Kim Basinger takes a trip to the mall and finds herself hunted by "four
murderous thugs" in the woods. I'm not sure how that happens, but I love the
thriller genre, and Basinger has become a much better actress than her higher
profile work in the 80s suggests. The IMDb summary has a great line: "All
she has is a toolbox and her will to survive."

December 12 - The Day the Earth Stood Still

You're not supposed to remake movies like this. Just because a lot of geeks
love it doesn't mean they're crying out for a remake.

On the other hand, Keanu Reeves as a robot is an inspired piece of casting.

December 15 - Reclaiming the Blade

A documentary about swords. The tagline: "In a confusing and ambiguous world,
nothing makes more sense than a good, old-fashioned sword fight."

December 19 - Yes Man

Jim Carrey plays a guy who says "no" to everything and misses out on many of
life's opportunities. He challenges himself to say "yes" to everything for an
entire year, which is surely not any wiser. Wacky hijinks ensue. The trailers
give off loud echoes of "Liar Liar," which, while surprisingly funny, doesn't
need a retread. Is this a return to form for Jim Carrey, who hasn't made a
good Carrey-esque comedy since...well, Liar Liar (though he's turned in several
brilliant performances, both comedic and dramatic, in higher-brow fare)? Or
will this be another disappointment in the filmography of director Peyton Reed,
who, in my book, has never made a good movie?

December 19 - Seven Pounds

A guilt-ridden man sets out to improve the lives of seven strangers. The
struggle for redemption is a powerful one and virtually omnipresent in human
endeavors across times and cultures. Humanists and most religions believe
redemption is something we can achieve, yet we still wrestle, in our art and
our philosophy and our moral codes, to find a convincing way to get it.
Christianity teaches that it is not at all within our grasp, that it takes
divine intervention to be redeemed from our wrongs.

I digress -- but I credit this movie already for inspiring thought. The best
movies aren't just disposable entertainments, though ideally they are as or
more entertaining as disposable entertainments. Movies that are *about*
something at their cores are the ones that stick with us, and surely that's
why The Dark Knight is the giant among giants at this year's box office.

Did I mention this movie stars Will Smith? That was the salient point, really.
Will Smith is the single most bankable star in the world today, and what's
remarkable about him is that he can pull in the numbers for more serious fare
like The Pursuit of Happyness, not just the blockbusters like I Am Legend.
Keep your eye on this one.

December 19 - The Wrestler

There has been a lot of press already about Mickey Rourke's comeback in The
Wrestler, where apparently he turns in a surprisingly affecting performance.
It's directed by Darren Arofonsky, whose Pi, Requiem for a Dream, and
The Fountain are hard-hitting, weird, and unconventional. Pretentious,
ingenious, or both?

December 19 - The Tale of Despereaux

An animated film from directors Sam Fell (Flushed Away) and Robert
Stevenhagen (a veteran feature film animator making a jump to directing).
It's based on a novel, and here's the IMDb summary: "The tale of three
unlikely heroes - a misfit mouse who prefers reading books to eating them,
an unhappy rat who schemes to leave the darkness of the dungeon, and a
bumbling servant girl with cauliflower ears - whose fates are intertwined
with that of the castle's princess."

This one intrigues me. The people who like the book really seem to *love* it,
and the animation has a stark, dark look to it that could play really well
with the material.

December 25 - Bedtime Stories

Adam Sandler starts telling his niece and nephew a bedtime story, who assist
in the storytelling. Come to find out, the events in the story actually
happen to him the next day.

I'm not the world's biggest Adam Sandler fan. 50 First Dates was pretty good,
and I run against both sides by liking yet not loving Punch-Drunk Love. But
the trailer to this looks hilarious and very promising.

But maybe my good feelings are simply because it evokes memories of Stranger
Than Fiction, a more serious take on a similar premise that is funny and
moving and creative and wonderful? Certainly the director, veteran of such
comedy masterpieces as Cheaper By the Dozen 2, The Wedding Planner, and The
Pacifier, does not inspire confidence.

December 25 - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Benjamin Button is born an old man and gradually becomes younger as he ages.
The trailer gives away a tragically romantic moment when he and the love of his
life reunite at the moment when they are approximately the same apparent age.

Am I pessimistic about this movie for the same reason I'm optimistic about
Bedtime Stories, namely that it reminds me of another movie? This one reminds
me of Jack, a terrible movie about a guy who ages much faster than is normal.
But that *should* have been good. Both premises provide great springboards for
exploring the depth and fragility of human relationships. Once again, the
man behind the camera tempers my first instincts. Here, it's David Fincher.
In spite of hating his most notorious movies (Seven and Fight Club), Fincher
is an amazing artist, storyteller, and technician.

December 25 - Hurricane Season

Tim Story (of the Fantastic Four movies, blech) directs this basketball movie
about a Louisiana high school basketball coach, post-Katrina. Said coach is
played by Forest Whitaker, an absolutely wonderful actor.

December 25 - Shanghai

The word "Shanghai" alone is evocative and mysterious and colorful and exotic.
Screenshots of the movie look fantastic. Even if it's not such a great movie,
it's sure to be a pleasure to look at. The IMDb summary: "A '40s period piece
which revolves around an American expat who returns to Shanghai in the months
before Pearl Harbor due to the death of his friend." The international cast
includes John Cusack, Chow Yun-Fat, Gong Li, Ken Watanabe, and Rinko Kikuchi.
Rinko, despite having the world's most awesome name, was the lead in the only
good part of Babel.

December 25 - Marley & Me

LOOK AT THE CUTE LITTLE PUPPYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY.

December 25 - The Spirit

Frank Miller directs this adaptation of one of his comic books, about one
of his super-anti-heroes. The movie and even the poster look strongly
reminiscent of Sin City, though the PG-13 rating means the comparison will
only extend so far. My take on the trailer was that it looked stunning but
hollow. I hope I'm wrong about the second part.

December 25 - The Other Man

Antonio Banderas plays a guy who thinks his wife is cheating on him and tries
to track the other man down. That's a pretty vague synopsis -- hard to know
what the movie is ultimately going to be like. The director is the Oscar-baity
Richard Eyre, whose previous work includes Notes On a Scandal, Stage Beauty,
and Iris.

December 30 - Beethoven's Big Break (Direct-To-DVD)

They did it. They broke the very consistent and ordered sequel naming scheme
and called this movie "Beethoven's Big Break" instead of "Beethoven's 6th."
Geez.