G
JAMES GANDOLFINI
THE
TAKING OF PELHAM 123: Denzel
Washington, John Travolta, James Gandolfini, Gbenga Akinnagbe, Alex
Kaluzhsky (Directed by Tony Scott; Written by David Koepp; Columbia)
One of the most entertaining and terrifying thrillers of 1974 was
Joseph Sargent’s “The Taking of Pelham 123,” which
was adapted by Peter Stone from John Godey’s novel. Here’s
how New York Times critic Nora Sayre described the story line in
her rave review: “Four highly efficient hoods hijack an IRT
subway car and hold eighteen people hostage for a million dollars;
if the city doesn't pay within an hour, one hostage will be shot
a minute. The Transit Authority, the Police Department, the Mayor
and his colleagues all go into frenzied but coordinated action,
while the film cuts most expertly between the stalled car and its
passengers, the T.A. Command Center, Gracie Mansion, and the city
streets.” With director Tony Scott and screenwriter David
Koepp in charge, we will once again be hurried along on a harrowing
trip through the jangly streets and dark tunnels of the Big Apple.
Denzel Washington will try on the role of the cool transit cop played
by Walter Matthau in the original, John Travolta inherits Robert
Shaw’s role of a sadistic hijacker, and James Gandolfini--on
leave from Jersey--is the panicky Mayor of New York. Opening
date to be announced
ANDY GARCIA
THE
AIR I BREATHE: Forest Whitaker,
Brendan Fraser, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Kevin Bacon, Andy Garcia,
Julie Delpy, Emile Hirsch (Directed by Jieho Lee; Written by Jieho
Lee and Bob DeRosa) According to a Chinese proverb, the key components
of human existence are happiness, pleasure, sorrow and love. Or
so say the makers of this film. To hammer home the point, writer-director
Jieho Lee and co-author Bob DeRosa explore the emotionally charged
stories of a banker (Forest “happiness” Whitaker), a
gangster (Brendan “pleasure” Fraser), a pop performer
(Sarah Michelle “sorrow” Gellar) and a doctor (Kevin
“love” Bacon). The members of this quartet tangle and
untangle with one another on their life-and-death trudge to spiritual
fulfillment, helped and possibly hindered by their close encounters
with a criminal mastermind played by Andy Garcia. Now
Playing
RICHARD GERE
NIGHTS
IN RODANTHE: Diane Lane, Richard
Gere, James Franco, Scott Glenn, Christopher Meloni, Mae Whitman,
Viola Davis (Warner Bros.) In “Unfaithful,” Adrian Lyne’s
tense, sexy 2002 thriller, Diane Lane and Richard Gere were suitably
shocking as a cheating wife and her murderously vengeful husband.
Now, in an adaptation of Nicholas Sparks’ novel, they’re
reteamed as a straying wife and a brooding stranger who meet and
mate at a quaint Southern inn. She cheats because her loser of a
husband doesn’t seem to want her to stick around; he broods
because his estranged son--with whom he hopes to reconnect--considers
him a jerk. Will this couple ever make it out of the inn? Opens
10/3/08
AMELIA:
Hilary Swank, Richard Gere, Ewan McGregor,
Virginia Madsen, Christopher Eccleston, Cherry Jones, Joe Anderson,
Aaron Abrams, Mia Wasikowska (Directed by Mira Nair; Written by
Ronald Bass; Fox Searchlight) Did you know that Amelia Earhart,
who was the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic and eventually
went missing over the Pacific in 1937, had a torrid affair with
Gene Vidal, the father of writer Gore Vidal? And that was while
the ace aviatrix was said to be blissfully married to publisher
George Putnam! But as director Mira Nair (“Monsoon Wedding”)
will undoubtedly make clear to us, this pioneer feminist was never
one to let stuffy rules get in her way. In a bit of inspired casting,
Hilary Swank is Amelia; Richard Gere and Ewan McGregor are her husband
and her lover, respectively; and Virginia Madsen is her husband’s
first wife. To
read about more new biopics, click here.
Opening date to be announced
EMPEROR ZEHNDER:
Richard Gere, Timilee Romolini (Directed by
Gregory Hoblit; Disney) In one of his top performances, Richard
Gere played a cool but unscrupulous lawyer who defended an altar
boy accused of murdering a predatory bishop. The psychological thriller
was called "Primal Fear" and it was released in 1996.
Now Gere is reteaming with that film's director, Gregory Hoblit,
on what sounds like a less chilling but possibly more inspiring
project. For once, the actor will play a pure, real-life hero--Bruno
P. Zehnder. The "P" stands for penguin, as well it should,
for Zehnder, an uncompromising photographer, spent a great deal
of his life photographing the surprisingly complex creatures in
Antarctica--which is precisely what he was doing just before his
death in a blizzard. Opening date to be announced
PAUL GIAMATTI
DUPLICITY:
Julia Roberts, Clive Owen, Paul Giamatti,
Tom Wilkinson, Tom McCarthy, Oleg Stefan, Rick Worthy, Denise O’Hare,
Kathleen Chalfant, Khan Baykal, Wayne Duvall (Written and directed
by Tony Gilroy; Universal) Julia Roberts and Clive Owen, who sizzled
memorably as an oversexed couple in Mike Nichols’ “Closer,”
will turn up the heat again, this time in Tony Gilroy’s “Duplicity.”
Gilroy, the classy screenwriter who made a smashing directorial
debut with “Michael Clayton,” gives Roberts and Owen
a chance to spar in the boardroom and snuggle in the bedroom as
a pair of corporate competitors who are having a hot top-secret
affair. Just wait till Paul Giamatti and Tom Wilkinson, the industrialists
who’ve been paying them big bucks to make war, not love, find
out. Opens 3/20/09
THE LAST
STATION: Christopher Plummer,
Helen Mirren, Paul Giamatti, James McAvoy, Anne-Marie Duff (Directed
by Michael Hoffman; Written by Jay Parini; Notro Films) Anthony
Hopkins was set to play Count Leo Tolstoy, the author of "War
and Peace" who was strugglig to live out his final days with
dignity and grace. But somewhere along the line Hopkins dropped
out and Christopher Plummer dropped in. Getting back to Leo--who
on earth was making it difficult for him to travel a peaceful path
into the hereafter? It was none other than Sofya Andreyevna, his
luxury-loving, more warring than peaceful, wife. And--like Anthony
Hopkins--Meryl Streep, cast as Sofya, made an exit, leaving her
role to Helen Mirren. Paul Giamatti plays a loyal friend of Tolstoy's
who does his best to rein in Sofya, James McAvoy plays Tolstoy's
secretary, and Anne-Marie Duff--McAvoy's real-life wife--plays the
tormented literary lion's daughter. Jay Parini's screenplay for
"The Last Station" is based on his 1990 novel, which in
turn was based on the actual diaries of the contentious Tolstoys
and their piles of relatives and friends. The director here is Michael
Hoffman, whose eclectic oeuvre includes “Soapdish”
(Robert Downey Jr. & Sally Field), “Restoration”
(Hugh Grant & Meg Ryan), and “One Fine Day" (George
Clooney & Michelle Pfeiffer). To
read about more movies based on books, click
here; for more biopics, click here.
MATTHEW GOODE
BRIDESHEAD
REVISITED: Matthew Goode, Ben
Whishaw, Hayley Atwell, Emma Thompson, Michael Gambon (Directed
by Julian Jarrold; Written by Jeremy Brock and Andrew Davies; Miramax)
This is as good a time as any to revisit Captain Charles Ryder,
the stylishly disenchanted protagonist of Evelyn Waugh’s 1946
classic seriocomic novel. Toward the end of World War II, Ryder
(played by Jeremy Irons in a memorable 1981 British TV miniseries
and now played by Matthew Goode) is stationed at Brideshead, a sprawling
castle that was once home to the Flytes, an aristocratic Catholic--and
exceedingly sinful--family. Ryder’s wartime assignment stirs
memories of a long-ago time spent with the mad, mad residents of
the castle, including Lord and Lady Marchmain (Michael Gambon and
Emma Thompson) and particularly siblings Sebastian and Julia (Ben
Whishaw and Hayley Atwell), one an eccentric who became Ryder’s
good drinking buddy and the other a beautiful, married neurotic
who became his illicit lover. Ryder, by the way, never felt guilty
about cheating on his own wife, since he knew that she was caught
up in her own little world of sexual deceit. Opens
7/25/08
RYAN GOSLING
ALL
GOOD THINGS: Ryan Gosling, Kirsten
Dunst, Frank Langella, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Kristin Wiig, Trini
Alvarado, Philip Baker Hall, Diane Venora, Lily Rabe, John Cullum,
Nick Offerman (Directed by Andrew Jarecki; Written by Andrew Jarecki,
Marc Smerling and Marcus Hinchey; The Weinstein Co.) Real estate
is almost always a profitable game to play in Manhattan, but sometimes
it can be murder. Literally, as it turns out in this thriller about
a wealthy family that plays--and perhaps slays--together. The movie
marks the fictional-feature debut of Andrew Jarecki, who directed
“Capturing the Friedmans,” the chilling documentary
about a very different sort of family. Opening
date to be announced
JAKE GYLLENHAAL
BROTHERS:
Tobey Maguire, Jake Gyllenhaal, Natalie Portman
(Directed by Jim Sheridan; Written by David Benioff; Relativity
Media) There was a time when some moviegoers had difficulty telling
the difference between Tobey Maguire and Jake Gyllenhaal. Finally,
we got the picture: Tobey was a climber of skyscrapers; Jake was
a herder of sheep. More than ever, it will be important to tell
the stars of “Spider-Man” and “Brokeback Mountain”
apart in “Brothers,” a drama in which a dutiful young
man goes off to combat in Afghanistan, leaving his wife and child
in the care of a younger brother not known for his dependability.
The four-square sibling is played by Maguire, and Gyllenhaal plays
the rebel without a conspicuous cause. The role of the woman responsible
for expanding their fraternal relationship into a love triangle
has gone to Natalie Portman. “Brothers” is a remake,
so if you’re eager for more details, check out Susanne Bier’s
2004 Danish-language film starring Ulrich Thomsen, Nikolaj Lie Kaas
and Connie Nielsen. Opening date to
be announced
MAGGIE
GYLLENHAAL
THE
DARK KNIGHT: Christian Bale,
Gary Oldman, Heath Ledger, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Cillian Murphy, Morgan
Freeman, Aaron Eckhart, Anthony Michael Hall, Michael Caine, William
Fichtner, Eric Roberts (Written and directed by Christopher Nolan;
Warner Bros.) Batman (Christian Bale) and good-guy lawman James
Gordon (Gary Oldman) have got trouble, BIG trouble, right here in
Gotham city. This time, the sicko is played by Heath Ledger, the
charismatic actor who recently died of an accidental overdose of
prescription drugs. If you flipped for “Batman Begins”
(2005), chances are that “The Dark Knight” will please
you, since it too has been helmed by that film's director, Christopher
Nolan, and many cast members are doing encores. Katie Holmes, however,
does not return as delectable Rachel Dawes. That role, we’re
pleased to say, has been inherited by Maggie Gyllenhaal. Opens
7/18/08
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