Movies Preview

Josh Hartnett and Scarlett Johansson star in Bryan De Palma's The Black Dahlia.Photo: Courtesy of Merrick Morton/Universal

You Don’t Know Jack
Nicholson’s first collaboration with Scorsese helps him get in touch with his inner godfather.
The Departed, Directed by Martin Scorsese, Warner Bros.; opens October 6 (R).

Not a Pretty Picture
Director Steven Shainberg zooms in on Diane Arbus in an unconventional biopic.
Fur, Directed by Steven Shainberg, Picturehouse; opens November 10 (R).

Previews of Shortbus, Marie Antoinette, and More

Maggie Gyllenhaal Talks Smack
The indie sweetheart discusses her new heroin flick, her 9/11 remarks, and the appeal of big-budget films.
Sherrybaby, Directed by Laurie Collyer, IFC Films, opens September 8 (R).

De Palma Does Dahlia
The master of the smart thriller takes on Ellroy’s tale of Hollywood brutality.
The Black Dahlia, Directed by Brian De Palma, Universal Pictures; opens September 15 (R).

Cate Blanchett: Highbrow Brilliant
A Q&A with the actress.
The Good German, Directed by Steven Soderbergh, Warner Bros.; opens December 8 (R).

Truman, Take Two
Another exploration of In Cold Blood—this time with humor.
Infamous, Directed by Douglas McGrath, Warner Independent; opens October 13 (R).

The Best of the Rest
Jealous magicians, a new Bond, one crazy Kazakh, and more.

The Best of the Rest
Jealous magicians, a new Bond, one crazy Kazakh, and more.

Andy Warhol
Ric Burns’s four-hour doc is still shorter than Warhol’s first film, Sleep.
September 1.

Man Push Cart
Ramin Bahrani’s stylish, assured debut about a midtown street-cart vendor.
September 8.

Everyone’s Hero
A Yankees-obsessed boy chases Babe Ruth’s magical talking bat.
September 15.

The Last Kiss
Emo, onscreen: Zach Braff has another early midlife crisis.
September 15.

All the King’s Men
Sean Penn plays the firebrand southern populist of Robert Penn Warren’s classic novel.
September 22.

Jesus Camp
A powerful doc about an Evangelical kids’ camp.
September 22.

Photo: Courtesy of Etienne George/Warner Independent Pictures

The Science of Sleep
Gael García Bernal stars in Michel Gondry’s wonderfully weird semi-autobiographical film about his days as a daydreaming, narcoleptic nobody in Paris.
September 22.

The Last King of Scotland
Forest Whitaker plays the brutal Ugandan dictator Idi Amin.
September 27.

A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints
Dito Montiel adapts his memoir about growing up in Queens.
September 29.

49 Up
A landmark film, squared: The seventh installment of Michael Apted’s every-seven-years documentary series.
October 6.

Little Children
Jennifer Connelly, Kate Winslet, and Patrick Wilson star in Tom Perrotta’s novel of suburban discord, adapted by suburban-discord specialist Todd Field (In the Bedroom).
October 6.

The Host
The New York Film Festival screens Bong Joon-ho’s South Korean box-office smash about a monster spawned on an American military base.
October 7.

The Inland Empire
Also at the NYFF, David Lynch makes his digital-video premiere with Laura Dern, a rabbit-headed family, and other beautiful creatures.
October 8.

Running With Scissors
Annette Bening plays Augusten Burroughs’s nutso mother in the adaptation of his memoir. Alec Baldwin plays his less-crazy father.
October 11.

Driving Lessons
Redheaded Rupert Grint steps out of Harry Potter’s shadow in this Harold and Maude–ish romp about a shy teen and a grande dame.
October 13.

Man of the Year
In Barry Levinson’s satire, Robin Williams plays a talk-show host who is elected president but is not Bill O’Reilly.
October 13.

Flags of Our Fathers
Clint Eastwood directs the first of two Iwo Jima films. This one follows the Yanks; the Japanese spin is due next year.
October 20.

Killshot
Thomas Jane and Diane Lane get stalked by Mickey Rourke in another thriller premised on the failings of the witness-protection program.
October 20.

The Prestige
Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale play feuding magicians; Christopher Nolan (Batman Begins) directs.
October 20.

Photo: Courtesy of Murray Close/Paramount Classics

Babel
Globalization never looked so hot: Gael García Bernal, Cate Blanchett, and Brad Pitt star in Alejandro González Iñárritu’s crossed-wires parable connecting Mexico, Tunisia, Japan, and Morocco.
October 27.

Catch a Fire
Syriana in South Africa: Big oil gets it in Phillip Noyce’s drama about a victimized employee (Derek Luke) and a gun-toting investigator (Tim Robbins).
October 27.

Photo: Courtesy of Teresa Isasi/Picturehouse

Borat
Sacha Baron Cohen’s Kazakh reporter goes all Bernard-Henri Lévy across the U.S.
November 3.

Flushed Away
A bathroom-humor cartoon from the Wallace & Gromit animators.
November 3.

Photo: Courtesy of Emilio Pereda & Paola Ardizzoni/El Deseo/Sony Pictures Classics

Volver
Penélope Cruz reunites with Pedro Almodóvar.
November 3.

Iraq in Fragments
A beautifully shot Iraq documentary by James Longley that subtly predicts civil war.
November 8.

Photo: Courtesy of Rico Torres/Twentieth Century Fox

A Good Year
Russell Crowe plays a stressed-out money manager who escapes to sunny Provence, where there are no concierges to provoke his phone-hurling anger. Ridley Scott directs.
November 10.

Stranger Than Fiction
In Marc Forster’s mind-bender, Will Ferrell plays an IRS auditor who hears voices.
November 10.

Bobby
Emilio Estevez depicts Bobby Kennedy’s assassination, starring Anthony Hopkins.
November 17.

Candy
Abbie Cornish and Heath Ledger get hooked on heroin and each other.
November 17.

Casino Royale
Craig, Daniel Craig.
November 17.

Come Early Morning
Ashley Judd scores in a drama about a messed-up southern woman.
November 17.

Fast Food Nation
Richard Linklater directs a fictional adaptation of Eric Schlosser’s screed.
November 17.

For Your Consideration
Christopher Guest spoofs the award season.
November 17.

The Hoax
Richard Gere plays a con artist who sells a bogus biography of Howard Hughes.
November 17.

The Piano Tuner of Earthquakes
Animation mavericks the brothers Quay compose a perverse fairy tale.
November 17.

Tenacious D in the Pick of Destiny
Jack Black rocks.
November 17.

The Fountain
Indie icon Darren Aronofsky returns with his philosophical science-fiction meditation on death. Hugh Jackman and Rachel Weisz star.
November 22.

Bug
An adaptation of the Tracy Letts play about a kooky war vet (Harry Connick Jr.), co-starring Ashley Judd.
December 1.

The Good German
Steven Soderbergh directs George Clooney, Cate Blanchett, Beau Bridges, and Tobey Maguire in a post-WWII Berlin murder mystery.
December 8. More Best of the Rest in Movies

The Holiday
Cameron Diaz, Kate Winslet, Jude Law, and Jack Black pair off in a melodrama about women who swap homes and fall in love.
December 8.

Blood Diamond
Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Connelly star in Ed Zwick’s film about the dark side of bling. December 15.

Eragon
An adaptation of the best-selling fantasy (ask your kids), starring, well, a CGI dragon.
December 15.

The Painted Veil
In John Curran’s take on the W. Somerset Maugham novel, set in China, Naomi Watts will savor, or suffer, comparisons to Greta Garbo, who originated the role.
December 15.

The Pursuit of Happiness
Will Smith aims to inspire as a single dad who struggles to support his son.
December 15.

Dreamgirls
Beyoncé, Jennifer Hudson, Jamie Foxx, Eddie Murphy, and others belt out tunes; Bill Condon directs.
December 21.

Night at the Museum
Exhibits in the Museum of Natural History attack Ben Stiller.
December 22.

Curse of the Golden Flower
Zhang Yimou delivers another artful chop-socky spectacle. Gong Li and Chow Yun Fat star.
December 22.

The Good Shepherd
Robert De Niro directs a CIA thriller starring Matt Damon and Angelina Jolie. • December 22.

Notes on a Scandal
Cate Blanchett plays a teacher who has an affair with her student in a film based on the Zoë Heller novel, scripted by Patrick Marber.
• December 22.

Children of Men
Alfonso Cuarón films a dystopic sci-fi thriller in which Clive Owen and Julianne Moore attempt to protect Earth’s last pregnant woman.
December 25.

Miss Potter
Renée Zellweger plays Beatrix Potter.
December 29.

Pan’s Labyrinth
A girl imagines a fantasy world to escape the reality of 1944 Spain, in Guillermo del Toro’s Cannes hit.
December 29. Back to Movies Preview

Movies Preview