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Fall out

Autumn holds promise as the season for some of the year's best movies

Don't think twice, it's all right.

Those discomfited by the news that six actors had signed on to play rock icon Bob Dylan, and that indie filmmaking icon Todd Haynes would direct them, probably can put their qualms to rest. With the likes of Cate Blanchett and Christian Bale aboard, "I'm Not There," a rumination on Dylan's life and times, figures to be one of the fall film season's most intriguing offerings.

Writer-director Haynes, best known for edgy fare such as "Poison" and "Safe," but who also dabbles in retro-melodrama ("Far From Heaven"), follows the fabled singer-songwriter through six stages of his life and work, embodied by Bale, Blanchett, Richard Gere, Heath Ledger, Marcus Carl Franklin and Ben Whishaw. Rounding out a starry cast are Julianne Moore, Michelle Williams and Charlotte Gainsbourg.

Set for a Nov. 21 release in select markets, the unconventional movie called for nontraditional techniques — not unlike the narrative style of Dylan's songwriting — while celebrating an ability to re-create and reimagine himself that even Madonna would envy.

The title "I'm Not There" refers to a Dylan recording outtake from "The Basement Tapes" sessions that could be found only on bootleg CDs ("The Genuine Basement Tapes" and "A Tree With Roots"). But sources say Haynes has secured this prized recording for the film's soundtrack.

Kicking off

That pint-size Monster of the Midway, Jodie Foster, gets the fall season off the line of scrimmage with "The Brave One" (Sept. 14), another lady-in-distress thriller, though with a difference: She treads Charles Bronson territory as a Manhattanite woman who becomes a gun-toting vigilante after recovering from an attack that killed her fiance.

But getting a jump on Friday are a pair of heavyweights. The thriller "Shoot 'Em Up" stars Clive Owen as a loner who finds himself protecting a newborn baby from a nefarious criminal (Paul Giamatti gleefully chewing scenery), while "3:10 to Yuma," a remake of the fine old Glenn Ford-Van Heflin Western, casts Christian Bale and Russell Crowe in the tale of a poor rancher hired to help escort a captured gang leader to the slammer. Likewise tall in the saddle is "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford" (Sept. 21), starring Brad Pitt as James in the latter part of his life. Billed as a thinking man's action-Western, it co-stars Sam Shepard and Mary-Louise Parker.

One of two films dealing with Iraq to debut at the just-completed Venice Film Festival (the other being Brian De Palma's "Redacted") is Paul Haggis' "In the Valley of Elah" (Sept. 21), the story of the search for an Iraq war veteran who goes missing after his return from a tour of duty. Tommy Lee Jones, Susan Sarandon and Charlize Theron lead the cast. In a decidedly lighter vein, Sarandon returns as a wicked queen who banishes a fairy-tale princess (Amy Adams) to modern New York in "Enchanted" (Nov. 21).

Luminous lit

Lending literary weight to the season are two long-awaited adaptations, both starring Spanish character actor Javier Bardem. "Love in the Time of Cholera" (November), drawn from the novel by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, is the story of lovers forced to wait half a century to reunite. And the Coen brothers employ Bardem's imposing countenance to compelling effect in "No Country for Old Men" (Nov. 21), the film version of the novel by Cormac McCarthy set in West Texas and co-starring Tommy Lee Jones, Josh Brolin and Beth Grant.

Meanwhile, on the heels of "Becoming Jane" comes the adaptation of Karen Joy Fowler's novel, "The Jane Austen Book Club" (Sept. 21), with the ascendant Hugh Dancy co-starring with Maria Bello, Kathy Baker, Emily Blunt, Amy Brennaman, Jimmy Smits and Lynn Redgrave.

The story involves six contemporary Californians, five women and one man, who meet monthly to discuss Austen's classic novels and find their lives mirrored in them.

Eileen Chang's short story provides the fodder for "Lust, Caution" (Sept. 28), the latest from the great Ang Lee, a thriller (with depth) set in Shanghai in 1942 during Japanese occupation. Tony Leung Chiu-wai, Joan Chen and Tang Wei lead a fine cast.

Director Frank Darabont ("The Shawshank Redemption") is back with another (above average) Stephen King short-story adaptation, "The Mist" (Nov. 21), a movie sporting a group of outstanding character actors in Marcia Gay Harden, Andre Braugher, Toby Jones, William Sadler and Frances Sternhagen.

Star power

Harrison Ford won't have to carry "Crossing Over" (November) on his shoulders. Sharing the load are Sean Penn, Ashley Judd, Cliff Curtis and Ray Liotta for writer-director Wayne ("The Cooler") Kramer's "Crash"-like series of intersecting stories on the influx of immigrants into Los Angeles, the allure of the American dream and adjustments that must be made to the American reality.

Russell Crowe and director Ridley Scott reunite for the first time since "Gladiator" for "American Gangster" (Nov. 2), wherein the former plays a New York cop to Denzel Washington's Harlem crime lord.

Just as busy as Crowe is Cate Blanchett, also enjoying a reunion with "Elizabeth" director Shekhar Kapur for the sequel "Elizabeth: The Golden Age" (Oct. 12). The new picture takes place nine years after the events of the first film and hopefully takes more pains to get the history right. Geoffrey Rush returns to the cast, with the addition of Clive Owen as Sir Walter Raleigh and Samatha Morton as Liz's nemesis, Mary Queen of Scots. There's also this minor business about Spain and an armada.

Cultures clash violently in "The Kingdom" (Sept. 28), featuring Jamie Foxx, Jennifer Garner and Chris Cooper as members of a U.S. counterterrorism team in pursuit of the mastermind of a bombing in Saudi Arabia.

Joaquin Phoenix shows up in back-to-back weeks, first with Mark Wahlberg and Robert Duvall in "We Own the Night" (Oct. 12), a crime story set in 1980s New York, then with Jennifer Connelly as a couple in grief after their son is killed by a hit-and-run driver (Mark Ruffalo) in Terry ("Hotel Rwanda") George's "Reservation Road" (Oct. 19).

In "The Good Night" (October), a musician enduring a faltering relationship chances to meet the perfect woman, albeit in his dreams. Gwyneth Paltrow, Penelope Cruz and Martin Freeman have the leads. Experiencing a similar fate in "Lars and the Real Girl" (October) is a shy fellow (Ryan Gosling) who finally meets the woman of his dreams — and she's a life-size doll.

"Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium" (Nov. 16) may be one of the season's most colorful (and bizarre) affairs, set in a magic toy store where everything in it comes to life, not least the store itself. Dustin Hoffman, Natalie Portman and Jason Bateman do the cavorting.

Friends and foes

Grim memories of having the tale force-fed to us in school should be set aside when Ray Winstone ("Sexy Beast," "The Proposition") tackles the title role in Robert Zemeckis' high-tech retelling of the legend "Beowulf" (Nov. 16). Anthony Hopkins, John Malkovich, Robin Wright Penn, Brendan Gleeson and Angelina Jolie also star in this new take on an Old English epic, written by Neil Gaiman (the graphic novel "Sandman") and Oscar winner Roger Avary ("Pulp Fiction").

Writer-director Woody Allen, still enchanted by London and its environs, stays in Old Blighty for the crime drama "Cassandra's Dream" (Nov. 30), a story of two brothers (Ewan McGregor, Colin Farrell) who, desperate to improve their troubled lives, fall in with sinister forces. Tom Wilkinson, who seems to be in about every third film this fall, offers class-act support.

Michael Caine is back for a remake of the superb 1972 romp "Sleuth" (October), this time in the role of the antagonist (played by Laurence Olivier in the original). Jude Law co-stars in the two-character piece, with Kenneth Branagh at the helm.

Oscar-nominated screenwriter Steven Knight ("Dirty Pretty Things") returns with "Eastern Promises" (Sept. 21), a thriller reuniting offbeat Canadian director David Cronenberg and "A History of Violence" leading man Viggo Mortensen. It co-stars Naomi Watts, Vincent Cassel and Armin Mueller-Stahl ("Shine").

George Clooney has the title role in "Michael Clayton" (Oct. 5), playing a D.A.-turned-in-house "fixer" at a Manhattan law firm who takes on the dirtiest of dirty jobs. Tom Wilkinson, Tilda Swinton and Sydney Pollack also star for director Tony Gilroy.

Coming to terms with family and personal malaise are the linchpins of the comedy-drama "Margot at the Wedding" (Nov. 16), starring Nicole Kidman, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Jack Black and John Turturro.

Furthermore ...

Kevin Bacon and Marcia Gay Harden have top billing for "Rails and Ties" (October), a drama joining a train conductor, his ailing wife and an orphaned boy. ... "Things We Lost in the Fire" (October) concerns a widow (Halle Berry) who finds comfort in one of her husband's old friends (Benicio Del Toro). ... John Turturro directs and plays a featured role in the working-class musical fantasy "Romance and Cigarettes" (September) with Kate Winslet, James Gandolfini and Susan Sarandon. ... Reese Witherspoon is a woman searching for her missing husband, an Egyptian who vanishes on a flight to Washington, in "Rendition" (Oct. 12). ... Steve Carell plays a widower who falls for his brother's girlfriend (Juliette Binoche) in "Dan in Real Life" (Oct. 26). ... "This Christmas" (November) warms the cockles with its family-reunion theme. Delroy Lindo, Regina King and Mekhi Phifer star. ... A ruined TV journalist (Richard Gere) leads a former colleague (Terrence Howard) on the trail of a Bosnian war criminal in "The Hunting Party" (Sept. 21). ... Ben Stiller rejoins the Farrelly brothers for a remake of "The Heartbreak Kid" (October), another classic comedy that's likely to get butchered. ... "Before the Devil Knows You're Dead" (October) finds two brothers (Philip Seymour Hoffman, Ethan Hawke) plotting a robbery, with Albert Finney and Marisa Tomei along for the ride. ... "Fred Claus" (November) is a North Pole lark about Santa (Paul Giamatti) and his black-sheep brother, Fred (Vince Vaughn). ... In "Dedication" (September), a New York children's book author (Billy Crudup) not wild about kids is forced to team with a beautiful illustrator (Mandy Moore) after his creative collaborator (Tom Wilkinson) dies.

Remember, all release dates are major market, fluid and can change at a moment's notice.

Enjoy.

Reach Bill Thompson at bthompson@postandcourier.com or 937-5707.