Moviecrazed
  Web www.moviecrazed.com   

 



K

DIANE KEATON

ONE BIG HAPPY: Steve Martin, Diane Keaton (Paramount) What we have here is a comedy about a family that is far from happy and has been that way for a long while. But you can bet that Ma and Pa, played by Keaton and Martin, will patch everything up in time for a big happy ending--just as they did in “Father of the Bride” and "Father of the Bride Part II." Opening date to be announced

 

 

 

 

FOR GUY FLATLEY'S 1974 LOS ANGELES TIMES INTERVIEW WITH DIANE KEATON, click here.

NICOLE KIDMAN

RABBIT HOLE: Nicole Kidman (Written by David Lindsay-Abaire; Fox Searchlight) The serenity of a suburban family is shattered when a four-year-old boy is killed by the driver of a speeding car. Will a visit from the teen-ager who was behind the wheel bring solace to the boy’s mother, or will it fill her with rage? David Lindsay-Abaire's play won the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, and Cynthia Nixon was awarded a Tony for her performance as the grief-ravaged woman. Does that mean Nicole Kidman, who received an Oscar for "The Hours," will be nabbing another statuette? Opening date to be announced

AUSTRALIA: Nicole Kidman, Hugh Jackman, David Wenham, Bryan Brown, Jack Thompson, Barry Otto (Directed by Baz Luhrmann; Written by Ronald Harwood; Fox) Hugh Jackman, who made a hasty entrance when Russell Crowe made an even hastier exit over a salary squabble, plays an enigmatic Australian who comes to the aid of a British damsel in distress (Kidman). In danger of losing her recently inherited ranch to villainous robber barons, the determined Brit allows the take-charge Aussie to escort her and her 2,000 head of cattle to the presumed safety of Darwin, an Australian site the scurrying couple could scarcely know would soon become the target of the very Japanese forces that had just bombed Pearl Harbor. Opening date to be announced

EMMA’S WAR: Nicole Kidman (Directed by Tony Scott; Fox) Darn! Nicole’s paddling in hot political (maybe even terrorist) water again, topping the trouble she encountered at the U.N. in "The Interpreter." This time, she’s a British do-gooder who falls hard for a Sudanese warlord, marries the bloke and then eggs him on in his effort to seize a sizable chunk of his homeland. Here's proof that behind every great warlord there is a great warlady. Opening date to be announced

HEADHUNTERS: Nicole Kidman (Written by Jez and John Henry Butterworth; Fox 2000) Four not-quite-destitute women from New Jersey have a brainstorm--they’ll trek to Monte Carlo, pretend to be tres wealthy, and land four wealthy-for-real husbands. As it turns out, the lads they land are just silly gold-digging gigolos. Is this how to marry a millionaire? Based on what sounds like a wildly original novel by Jules Bass, the movie will be produced by Nicole Kidman, and it should be noted that Jez Butterworth, author of Kidman’s un-festive “Birthday Girl,” is writing the screenplay. His brother, John Henry Butterworth, is collaborating with him, so maybe Jez will be luckier this time out. Opening date to be announced

THE LADY FROM SHANGHAI: Nicole Kidman (Written and directed by Wong Kar-Wai) Wong Kar-Wai, the Chinese auteur responsible for numerous stylistic gems, may do for Kidman what he did for Maggie Cheung in 2002’s haunting, exquisitely sensual “In the Mood for Love”--which would be a great deal indeed. It’s said that the writer/director generally remains mum about his scenarios, sometimes keeping secrets even from his leading players--a practice that will probably seem perfectly natural to the actress who spent eons in the dark with Stanley Kubrick on “Eyes Wide Shut.” (Don't hold your breath waiting for this "Lady" to arrive at your local multiplex--it's been rumored that Kidman is having second thoughts about the project.) Opening date to be announced

BEN KINGSLEY

WAR, INC.: John Cusack, Hilary Duff, Marisa Tomei, Joan Cusack, Dan Aykroyd, Ben Kingsley, Ben Cross, Montel Williams (Directed by Joshua Seftel; Written by John Cusack, Mark Leyner and Jeremy Pikser; First Look International) Something’s rotten in Turaqistan, and that something is Brand Hauser (John Cusack), the hit man dispatched to the war-ravaged Middle East nation by the former U.S. vice president. What is Brand’s mission? To bump off the CEO of a company that’s competing with the VP’s company for a spectacular outsourcing military contract. Cusack, in a twist on his memorable portrait of a professional terminator in “Grosse Pointe Blank” (1997), is joined by sibling Joan Cusack, also doing a “Pointe Blank” encore, this time playing the assassin’s nutty assistant. Marisa Tomei is a relentlessly snoopy journalist and Hilary Duff’s a shallow celeb who plans to wed it wealthily in Turaqistan. Opens 5/23/08

GREG KINNEAR

GREEN ZONE: Matt Damon, Greg Kinnear, Amy Ryan, Brandan Gleeson, Jason Isaacs, Antoni Corone (Directed by Paul Greengrass; Written by Paul Helgeland; Universal) The army officer played by Matt Damon is assigned to work with a CIA official on a mission to track down Saddam Hussein’s vanished weapons of mass destruction. One of the problems is that the duo spend most of their time in the Green Zone, the turf that is as safe as it gets in Iraq but also so sheltered that it is difficult to get a of view of what’s truly going on in the rest of the country. The thriller, based on Rajiv Chandrasekaran’s “Imperial Life in the Emerald City,” also stars Amy Ryan (“Gone Baby Gone”) as a New York Times reporter investigating the mystery of the missing weapons. To read about more war movies, click here. Opening date to be announced

SHAME ON YOU: Dennis Quaid, Greg Kinnear (Written and directed by Dennis Quaid) Good old boy Spade Cooley was sometimes a bad old boy, most notably on the day in 1961 when he stomped, strangled and burned his wife Ella Mae to death in the presence of their daughter Melody. What madness drove the famed Western Swing fiddler to murder? You’ll find out a while after Quaid starts his cameras rolling on what he hopes will be a New Orleans location. Katie Holmes was set to play Ella Mae, but she dropped out due to a dizzying schedule. Greg Kinnear will be on hand, however, as warbling cowboy Roy Rogers. To read about more new biopics, click here. Opening date to be announced

KEVIN KLINE

AS YOU LIKE IT: Kevin Kline, Bryce Dallas Howard, David Oyelowo, Adrian Lester, Brian Blessed, Janet McTeer, Alfred Molina, Romola Garai, Justin Hoong-Fai Chan, Sacha Bennett, Yee Tsou, Paul Chan (Directed by Kenneth Branagh; Picturehouse) Kenneth Branagh, who brushed up his Shakespeare impressively in filmed adaptations of “Henry V,” “Much Ado About Nothing,” “Hamlet” and “Love’s Labour’s Lost,” is at it again. But this time, with the complexly comic, gender-bending romance of “As You Like It,” he’s decided to stay behind the camera, and he’s taken the liberty of moving the magical Forest of Arden to 18th-century Japan. Bryce Dallas Howard and David Oyelowo play the love-struck Rosalind and Orlando. And if Kevin Kline, as mercurial courier Jacques, is even remotely as funny as he was playing Guy Noir in Robert Altman’s “A Prairie Home Companion,” we’re in for a rollicking time. Oooops! This one went directly to HBO/Cable.

KEIRA KNIGHTLEY

ATONEMENT: Keira Knightley, James McAvoy, Vanessa Redgrave, Romolo Garai, Saoirse Ronan, Brenda Blethyn, Juno Temple (Directed by Joe Wright; Written by Christopher Hampton; Focus Features) In the wake of her frantic yet flimsy contributions to the achingly trivial “Pirates of the Caribbean” trilogy, Keira Knightley apparently decided it was time to get serious. So she took on the challenge of playing the tormented Cecilia Tallis in “Atonement,” Christopher Hampton’s adaptation of the Ian McEwan novel. This heavy-duty drama has been directed by Joe Wright, who, in 2005’s “Pride & Prejudice,” helped Knightley reveal the wit and vulnerability beneath her glossy, high-fashion façade. Her spirited portrait of Emma Bennet earned an Oscar nomination, and the fact that “Atonement” was selected to open the 2007 Venice Film Festival suggests she may well be among the Best Actress nominees when the next batch of Oscars are handed out on the night of February 24, 2008. Keira--or, rather, Cecilia Tallis, the heroine of McEwan’s 2002 Booker Prize winner--is a privileged member of a prominent 1930s British family who is home from Cambridge in the summer of 1935 with handsome classmate Robbie Turner (James McAvoy), the son of the Tallis’ cleaning woman who has risen to the enviable position of Cecilia’s lover. Witnessing an intimate exchange between the two, Cecilia’s dangerously imaginative 13-year-old sister Briony contrives a story so shocking that it results in the imprisonment of Robbie. Life soon becomes a nightmare for the Tallis clan and for those unfortunate enough to have been part of their not-so-charmed circle. Their anguish endures through many stages and does not end until the dawning of the 21st century. So who plays the deceitful Briony? Saoirse Ronan, at the time of the big lie; Romola Garai, at the age of 18; and , blessing of blessings, Vanessa Redgrave as the older, presumably wiser, Briony. Now Playing

BEYONCE KNOWLES

DREAMGIRLS: Jamie Foxx, Beyonce Knowles, Eddie Murphy, Jennifer Hudson, Keith Robinson, Hinton Battle, Sharon Leal, Anika Noni Rose, Danny Glover, Loretta Devine, John Lithgow (Written and directed by Bill Condon; DreamWorks/Paramount) A trio of R&B singers from Chicago enter a competition at Harlem’s Apollo Theater and eventually achieve fame as mainstream pop artists--but at a high emotional price. Though he does not play a member of the trio, Oscar-winner Jamie Foxx is top-billed as the girls’ fast-talking, not-totally-trustworthy manager. Written and directed by Bill Condon, who last gave us “Kinsey,” this adaptation of the 1981 Broadway blockbuster will also treat us to the sight and sound of Eddie Murphy as James “Thunder” Jones, a red-hot king of pop. Now Playing

KRIS KRISTOFFERSON

HE’S JUST NOT THAT INTO YOU: Ben Affleck, Jennifer Aniston, Drew Barrymore, Jennifer Connelly, Kevin Connolly, Bradley Cooper, Ginnifer Goodwin, Scarlett Johansson, Kris Kristofferson, Justin Long (Directed by Ken Kwapis; Written by Marc Silverstein and Abby Kohn; New Line Cinema) Smart, attractive and variously driven men and women meet, mix, meld and sometimes split in exotic, erotic Baltimore. The star-studded story is based on the self-help book by “Sex and the City” writers Greg Behrendt and Liz Tucillo and is being directed by Ken Kwapis, who deserves credit for his contributions to television’s “The Office,” “The Larry Sanders Show,” “The Bernie Mac Show” and “Malcolm in the Middle.” Mention should be made, too, of Kwapis’ big-screen, big-flop “License to Wed,” starring a spectacularly unfunny Robin Williams as a man of the cloth who's determined to put Mandy Moore and John Krasinski through holy hell before deigning to marry them. To read about more new comedies, click here; for Diane Baroni's 1998 interview with Kris Kristofferson, click here. Opens 8/1/08

FOR A COMPLETE ALPHABETICAL LISTING OF STAR TURNS, CLICK HERE.