H
TOM HANKS
 CHARLIE
WILSON’S WAR: Tom Hanks,
Julia Roberts, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams, Emily Blunt, Rachel
Nichols, John Slattery, Om Puri (Directed by Mike Nichols; Written
by Aaron Sorkin; Universal) Sometimes Texas politicians misbehave
on a lavish scale--no, we’re not talking about Tom DeLay or
Alberto Gonzales. The congressman in question here is Representative
Charles Wilson, a boozer who was caught not only in his cups, but
also in a Las Vegas hot tub with a couple of coke-sniffing party
girls. That was early in the eighties, and for a while it looked
like a long goodbye for the man once known as Good Time Charlie.
But eventually Wilson staged a comeback as a crackerjack CIA agent,
a major player in the expulsion of the Russians from Afghanistan.
And now the guy’s a D.C. lobbyist! Tom Hanks hasn’t
had this much fun since playing with all those wonderful toys in
“Big.” And Julia Roberts, who had fun of a darker kind
under Mike Nichols' direction in "Closer," plays Joanne
Herring, the powerhouse Texas socialite who persuades Charlie Wilson
to turn over a new leaf. Hoffman
plays a CIA honcho. Now
Playing
WOODY
HARRELSON
 THE
WALKER: Woody Harrelson, Kristin
Scott Thomas, Lauren Bacall, Lily Tomlin, Ned Beatty, Moritz Bleibtreu,
Willem Dafoe, William Hope, Geff Francis, Steven Hartley, Mary Beth
Hurt (Written and directed by Paul Schrader; Kintop Pictures) Woody
is walking his baby back home. That’s right--Woody Harrelson
plays Lauren Bacall's gay escort in Paul Schrader’s new thriller,
"The Walker," and he also frequently “walks”
two other prominent Washington socialites, played by Lily Tomlin
and Kristin Scott Thomas. When he’s not squiring these wives
of wealthy politicians to social events, this son of a legendary
senator is apt to be lunching and dishing with them, or perhaps
joining them in a wicked game of canasta. Or he may have slipped
off for a tryst with his main man, an intense German-Turkish paparazzo,
(Moritz Bleibtreu, best known for “Run, Lola, Run”).
But suddenly there is trouble in the walker’s paradise, and
it involves the murder of a man having a hot affair with one of
the wives (Scott Thomas). In an attempt to shield the adulteress
from scandal, he makes the serious mistake of telling the police
that it was he--not his gal pal-- who discovered the dead man’s
body. Writer-director Paul Schrader, who gave us “American
Gigolo” in 1980, has said that the central character in “The
Walker” might be viewed as a speculation on how the sexual
adventurer played by Richard Gere in that film might have aged.
To read the Variety
review of “The Walker,” click
here. Now Playing
JOSH HARTNETT
 TEXAS
LULLABY: Josh Hartnett, Ellen
Barkin, John Malkovich, Alison Lohman, Tom Waits (Directed by Malcolm
Venville; Written by Steve Allison; Alturus Films) Something is
rotten in the state of Texas. A young man (Josh Hartnett) is distraught
because his father died mysteriously and his widowed mother (Ellen
Barkin) has wed her late husband’s brother (John Malkovich),
who happens to be the local sheriff. The son is so upset that he
is now considering suicide. To be or not to be--that is the question
to which we’re pretty sure we know the answer. Opening
date to be announced
THE RUM DIARY:
Johnny Depp, Josh Hartnett, Benicio del Toro,
Nick Nolte (Written and directed by Bruce Robinson; FilmEngine)
It’s been nearly 10 years since Johnny Depp played Raoul Duke,
a hell-raising journalist, in the film version of Hunter S. Thompson’s
“Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.” Nobody, including
the author, believed that Duke was anyone other than Thompson himself.
Now Depp is playing Paul Kemp, an eccentric reporter in “The
Rum Diary,” the autobiographical novel the late Hunter published
when he was 22. Set in San Juan, Puerto Rico, during the fifties,
“Diary” depicts the chaotic, booze-and-drugs fueled
adventures of a brawling Hunteresque freelancer from New York who
tries to twist himself into a latter-day Hemingway. Playing his
unruly expatriate pals: Nick Nolte, Benicio del Toro and Josh Hartnett.
Sounds like a high time will be had by all. To
read Guy Flatley's 1979 interview with Nick Nolte, click
here. Opening
date to be announced
ANNE HATHAWAY
 DANCING
WITH SHIVA: Anne Hathaway, Debra
Winger, Bill Irwin, Rosemarie DeWitt, Anna Deavere Smith, Dorian
Missick, Tamyra Gray, Daphne Rubin-Vega (Directed by Jonathan Demme;
Written by Jenny Lumet; Sony Pictures Classics) In 1983, director
James Brooks skillfully explored the complicated relationship between
an impetuous, disorderly rebel and her sweet, impeccably behaved
daughter. Both Shirley MacLaine and Debra Winger received Academy
Award nominations for Best Actress of 1983, and mama MacLaine took
home the Oscar. Now, 25 years later, esteemed director Jonathan
Demme is focusing on another intriguing mother-daughter combo in
“Dancing With Shiva.” This time, it’s Debra Winger
who plays mom, a divorcee who is not at all happy when her estranged
daughter, a neurotic ex-model recently released from rehab, decides
to come home for her sister’s wedding. Perhaps Winger, whose
career could stand a little rehabilitation, will nab an Oscar as
Best Actress of 2008--though it’s possible that the winner
could be Anne Hathaway, who no doubt welcomes the chance to soil
her squeaky clean image in the role of Winger’s wayward sprout.
And speaking of daughters, “Shiva’s” screenwriter
is Jenny Lumet, whose father is 83-year-old director Sidney Lumet.
Maybe Demme will make this a truly family affair by giving Lumet,
a former child actor, a cameo in his grown-up little girl's flick.
Opening date to be announced
ETHAN HAWKE
 BEFORE
THE DEVIL KNOWS YOU’RE DEAD: Philip
Seymour Hoffman, Ethan Hawke, Albert Finney, Marisa Tomei, Rosemary
Harris, Brian F. O’Byrne, Marcia Jean Kurtz, Michael Shannon
(Directed by Sidney Lumet; Written by Kelly Masterson; ThinkFilm)
If you’re so strapped for cash that masterminding a robbery
seems your best solution, doesn’t it make perfect sense to
target your Mom and Pop’s jewelry shop, thereby keeping things
more or less in the family? That’s the shaky rationale of
Andy (Philip Seymour Hoffman) and Hank (Ethan Hawke), the desperate
brothers in this thriller from Sidney Lumet. If “Devil”
turns out to be classier and more complex than it sounds, it will
probably be because the 83-year-old Lumet--whose meticulous studies
of people accussed of breaking the law include “12 Angry Men,”
“Fail Safe,” “The Anderson Tapes,” “The
Offence,” “Serpico,” “Murder on the Orient
Express,” “Dog Day Afternoon,” “Prince of
the City,” “The Verdict,” “Gloria”
and “Find Me Guilty”--has not lost the knack for making
celluloid crime pay. Now Playing
SALMA HAYEK
 LONELY
HEARTS: John
Travolta, James Gandolfini, Salma Hayek, Jared Leto, Laura Dern,
Scott Caan, Alice Krige, Marc Macaulay, Dagmara Dmincyzk, Michael
Gaston, Jay Amor (Written and directed by Todd Robinson; Lonely
Hearts Productions) This tale sounds repulsive enough to be true.
And it is true. Based on actual grotesque characters and events
(and “The Honeymoon Killers,” Leonard Kastle’s
1970 cult movie starring Shirley Stoler and Tony Lo Bianco), it
tracks sickos Martha Beck and Raymond Martinez Fernandez on a serial-killing
journey through the U.S. during the late forties. The film also
follows the two crazed cops who are hot--but not always hot enough--on
the crackpots’ trail. Fernandez--who began his shameful scam
by writing to war widows, boasting of the steamy sex he can supply
them, and then visiting and murdering them for their money--will
be played by Jared Leto. Martha Beck was targeted as his victim
but instead became his sexually voracious partner in slaughter and
was making goo-goo eyes at him right up to the day in 1951 when
they were executed, side by side, at Sing Sing. John Travolta and
James Gandolfini, who have done their most striking film work as
remorseless hit men in “Pulp Fiction” and “The
Mexican,” respectively, play the tunnel-visioned lawmen. To
read Variety's review of "Lonely Hearts," click
here; for more new murderpix, click
here.
Now Playing
EMILE HIRSCH
 MILK:
Sean Penn, Josh Brolin, Emile Hirsch, James
Franco, Diego Luna, Lucas Grabeel, Howard Rosenman, Stephen Spinella,
Victor Garber (Directed by Gus Van Sant; Written by Dustin Lance
Black; Focus Features) On November 27, 1978, Harvey Milk, a militant
gay activist and enormously charismatic San Francisco supervisor,
was shot dead, along with his boss, Mayor George Moscone, by Dan
White, a vengeful ex-supervisor. The light sentence given to the
assassin led to San Francisco’s historic White Night Riots.
Under the masterful direction of openly gay Gus Van Sant, Sean Penn
plays Harvey Milk and Josh Brolin is Dan White. Opens
11/26/08
DUSTIN HOFFMAN
 LITTLE
FOCKERS: Robert De Niro, Ben
Stiller, Dustin Hoffman, Barbra Streisand, Teri Polo, Blythe Danner
(Directed by Jay Roach; Written by Larry Stuckey; Universal) They’re
baaaack! We’re talking about the unstoppable Fockers--horny,
long-in-the-tooth hippies Bernie and Roz (Dustin Hoffman and Barbra
Streisand) and their terminally nerdy son (Ben Stiller). We’re
also talking about the Byrnes clan, former CIA operative Bernie
and his uptight wife (Robert De Niro and Blythe Danner) and their
flaky daughter (Teri Polo), who has more or less glued the family
to the Fockers. Who knows what the future holds for members of this
lucrative franchise, but the title does give one the sinking feeling
that we’ll be present at the birth of a whole flock of Fockerettes.
To read Guy Flatley's
1973 interview with Robert De Niro, click
here; for Guy's 1973 interview with Barbra Streisand, click
here; and for Diane Baroni's 2000 interview with Teri Polo,
click here.
Opens in February 2008
FOR
GUY FLATLEY'S 1979 INTERVIEW WITH DUSTIN HOFFMAN, click
here.
PHILIP SEYMOUR HOFFMAN
 DOUBT:
Meryl Streep, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy
Adams, Viola Davis, Lloyd Clay Brown, Joseph Foster (Written and
directed by John Patrick Stanley; Miramax Films) We’ve come
a long way since Father Bing Crosby and Sister Ingrid Bergman radiated
respect and sexless affection for one another in “The Bells
of St. Mary’s.” In “Doubt,” Meryl Streep
plays Sister Aloysius, a probing, dictatorial nun who strikes a
shattering blow to affable Father Flynn (Philip Seymour Hoffman),
her popular colleague at a parochial grade school in the Bronx,
circa 1964. If you’ve seen John Patrick Stanley’s 2004
Pulitzer Prize-winning drama, you know that the oppressively vigilant
Sister Aloysius, troubled by what she considers Father Flynn’s
dangerously close relationship with a black male student, accuses
him of sexual molestation. Before long, life becomes holy hell for
Father and Sister alike. By the way, Crosby and Bergman both received
Oscar nominations for their performances in "The Bells of St.
Mary's." Can you possibly doubt that "Doubt" will
provide a similar springboard for Streep and Hoffman? To
read Diane Baroni's 2002 interview with Amy Adams, click
here. Opens 12/12/08
KATE HUDSON
 NINE:
Daniel Day-Lewis, Penelope Cruz, Marion Cotillard,
Nicole Kidman, Kate Hudson, Sophia Loren, Judi Dench (Directed by
Rob Marshall; Written by Michael Tolkin; Weinstein Company) Who
could forget “8 1⁄2,” the stunning 1963 film in
which Marcello Mastroianni, under the direction of Federico Fellini,
played a Felliniesque director who made more women than movies?
Certainly, composer Maury Yeston and dramatist Arthur Kopit could
not erase this classic from their memories. That’s why, in
1982, they came up with a Broadway musicalization of it starring
the late, great Raul Julia as the womanizing auteur on
the verge of a nervous breakdown. The show, called “Nine,”
was successfully revived in 2003, showcasing the song-and-dance
skills of Antonio Banderas. And now, here comes the movie version
of the hit musical, directed by Rob Marshall, who gave us “Chicago,”
and starring Daniel Day Lewis, one of the few actors now working
who could be ranked alongside Marcello Mastroianni. Penelope Cruz
plays his mistress, Marion Cotillard, who triumphed as Edith Piaf
in “La Vie en Rose,” is his shortchanged wife, Nicole
Kidman is an actress who greatly inspires him, Kate Hudson is a
fashion reporter who intrigues him, and Sophia Loren will presumably
haunt him and us as the ghost of his Mama. Opening
date to be announced
HELEN
HUNT
 THEN
SHE FOUND ME: Helen Hunt, Bette
Midler, Colin Firth, Matthew Broderick (Written and directed by
Helen Hunt; Killer Films) Bet you didn’t know that Oscar-winning
actress Helen Hunt is also a writer and director. At least, she’s
written this adaptation of Elinor Lipman’s comic novel, and
she plays the central role of a schoolteacher whose husband (Matthew
Broderick) decides to drop out of their marriage. But the really
sad thing that happens is that her mom dies. And perhaps saddest
of all is the decision of her birth mother, who abandoned her 36
years ago, to move in with--and perform a makeover on--Helen. Unlike
the prim lady who raised Helen, this TV talk-show hostess, played
by Bette Midler, is a total flake, a woman who doesn’t hesitate
to put the moves on a charmer (Colin Firth) to whom her daughter
has recently been introduced by a thoughtful student. Now
Playing
ANJELICA HUSTON
 CHOKE:
Sam Rockwell, Anjelica Huston, Kelly Macdonald,
Brad William Henke, Clark Gregg, Joel Grey, Bijou Phillips, Willi
Burke (Written and directed by Clark Gregg; Fox Searchlight) A boy’s
best friend is not always his mother, and that’s very much
the case in this adaptation of "Choke," the novel by Chuck
Palahniuk, cult author of "Fight Club." Yet, even though
sicko lawbreaker Ida Mancini (Anjelica Huston) has always been cruel
in her treatment of her son Victor (Sam Rockwell), the loyal lad
foots the bill for her stay in a bizarre institution for women suffering
from dementia. But how does he come up with the money, considering
the fact that he is paid a mere pittance for his labors in a Colonial
American theme park? Easy--he dines in elegant restaurants, pretends
to be choking to death on his gourmet meal and then fleeces the
sap who steps in to perform the Heimlich Maneuver. And, in his spare
time, the orgasm-obsessed Victor attends 12-step meetings for sex
addicts with Denny (Brad William Henke), his masturbation-crazed
best friend. Meanwhile, mom's nurse (Kelly Macdonald) is hatching
a scheme whereby an unsuspecting Victor will sire her child.
Click
here to read about more new movies based on books. Opens
9/26/08
FOR A COMPLETE ALPHABETICAL LISTING OF STAR
TURNS, CLICK HERE.
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