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VANESSA REDGRAVE

HOW ABOUT YOU: Vanessa Redgrave, Hayley Atwell, Imelda Staunton, Brenda Fricker, Joss Ackland, Orla Brady, Joan O’Hara (Directed by Anthony Byrne; Written by Jean Pasley; Ferndale Films) Who does Vanessa Redgrave think she is, anyway--some kind of movie star? Well, that’s just who she is--or, rather, who she plays--in this comedy-drama. As for the kind of movie star she is, she’s the kind who was far from a superstar during her lackluster career in Irish films. And now she’s taken on the off-screen role of superbitch, the leader of a cantankerous quartet of seniors who’ve been left behind in a County Wicklow retirement home while their fellow residents are spending the Christmas holiday with their families. Redgrave and her cronies--Imelda Staunton and Brenda Fricker as erstwhile high-society sisters and Joss Ackland as a former judge (and repudedly former alcoholic)--are not about to budge an inch when the determined young manager of the residence (Hayley Atwell) makes a stab at turning them into good, cooperative scouts. May the best generation win. If “How About You” sounds familiar to you, you’ve probably had the pleasure of reading “Hardcore,” the Maeve Binchy short story upon which it is based. Now Playing

KEANU REEVES

THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL: Keanu Reeves, Jennifer Connelly, Jon Hamm, Kathy Bates, John Cleese, Jaden Smith, Aaron Douglas (Directed by Scott Derrickson; Written by David Scarpa; Fox) Sometimes an alien’s best friend on earth is the robot he brought along for the ride from outer space, a fact that was impressively illustrated in “The Day the Earth Stood Still,” Robert Wise’s stylish 1951 sci-fi flick. Now Keanu Reeves takes on Michael Rennie’s role of a gentle visitor from another planet who strives to make the world a safe place for Jennifer Connelly, who follows in Patricia Neal’s footsteps as a frantic young mom. Click here to read about more new remakes. Now Playing

CHRISTINA RICCI

PENELOPE: Christina Ricci, James McAvoy, Catherine O'Hara, Reese Witherspoon, Richard E. Grant, Peter Dinklage, Simon Woods, Ronni Ancona, Nick Frost, Lenny Henry (Directed by Mark Palansky; Written by Leslie Caveny; Type A Films) What’s a girl to do when she is literally born with the face of a pig? With a little luck and a lot of pluck, she could follow the example of Miss Piggy and become a superstar. But that’s not what the heroine of this cheeky flick, produced by Reese Witherspoon’s Type A Films, does. She finds another path to a happy fairy-tale ending. Somewhat surprisingly, the red-hot Witherspoon does not play porcine Penelope. That plum goes instead to the equally talented Ricci, whose career has turned lukewarm of late. Now Playing

JULIA ROBERTS

FIREFLIES IN THE GARDEN: Julia Roberts, Ryan Reynolds, Willem Dafoe, Emily Watson, Carrie-Anne Moss, Ioan Gruffudd, Hayden Panettiere, Cayden Boyd, Shannon Lucio, George Newbern (Written and directed by Dennis Lee; Senator International) Need proof that midwestern American families can be every bit as dysfunctional as the East Coast variety? You’re apt to find it in this semi-autobiographical drama by Dennis Lee, auteur of the well-received short, “Jesus Henry Christ.” The troubled, accident-prone Taylor clan--headed by dictatorial professor/wannabe writer Charles (Willem Dafoe) and relentlessly sacrificing mom Lisa (Julia Roberts)--suffer profusely, as do their kids, in the grim present, as well as in a string of painful incidents shown in flashback. Among the family’s favorite diversions: tormenting the titular fireflies in the garden and exploding fish on the Fourth of July. In charge of photographing all this tragic frivolity: Danny Moder, A.K.A. Julia Roberts’ husband. Click here to read the Variety review of "Fireflies in the Garden." Opening date to be announced

EAT, PRAY, LOVE: Julia Roberts, Javier Bardem, Dan Jenkins (Written and directed by Ryan Murphy; Paramount) Depressed, nearly suicidal, Elizabeth Gilbert (author of the memoir upon which this film is based) decides to take a year off from her successful literary career in an attempt to get over her divorce from a seemingly ideal husband and her stressful love affair with a man who was definitely not ideal. Her plan is to flee Manhattan and spend one third of the year seeking pleasure in Italy, another third searching for spiritual serenity in India, and the final third striking a balance between the two extremes in Indonesia. And, yes, Elizabeth, portrayed by Julia Roberts, will not say no if a suitable bachelor pops up somewhere along the way and pops the right question. Two of the presumably available gents encountered by the adventurous Elizabeth are a somewhat elderly mystic played by Richard Jenkins, who was Oscar-nominated last year for his performance in "The Visitor," and a red-hot man of mystery played by the ever-romantic Javier Bardem. Opening date to be announced

THE FRIDAY NIGHT KNITTING CLUB: Julia Roberts (Universal) How many single mothers who manage colorful Manhattan knitting shops and look like Julia Roberts do you know? Probably none, and probably the mom played by Julia Roberts in this adaptation of the novel by Kate Jacobs is truly one-of-a-kind. To lessen the pressure of her fabulous but demanding job, mother Julia meets with her favorite customers every Friday evening for the purpose of sharing the details of their various careers and indulging in what used to be called girl talk or just plain gossip. Then tragedy strikes and their knitting club becomes much more than a frivolous diversion. We only hope that tragedy does not involve Julia’s high-spirited teenage daughter (a role not yet cast). Opening date to be announced

SAM ROCKWELL

FROST/NIXON: Frank Langella, Michael Sheen, Sam Rockwell, Kevin Bacon, Matthew Macfadyen, Oliver Platt, Patty McCormack, Toby Jones, Jenn Gotzon, Rebecca Hall (Directed by Ron Howard; Written by Peter Morgan; Universal) Richard Nixon may be the second worst president the American public ever had to endure. In 1977--three years after bidding a mortifying adieu to the White House, thereby avoiding impeachment because of the Watergate scandal--he agreed to appear in a series of televised conversations with British media giant David Frost. Nixon learned too late that he should have played harder to get; as it turned out, Frost stripped him bare, exposing his soul for anyone who owned a television set to see. Fortunately, Peter Morgan, author of the screenplay for “The Queen,” decided to explore the confrontation between these two strong-willed men in dramatic terms. The resulting play was a triumph in London and on Broadway. Best of all, director Ron Howard had the smarts to nail Frank Langella and Michael Sheen, the duo who brought Nixon and Frost to riveting life on stage (Langella won a Best Actor Tony for his take on Tricky Dicky). An unexpected bonus: Patty McCormack, the kid who received an Oscar nomination for her playing of the title role in the 1956 flick "The Bad Seed," plays the long-suffering Pat Nixon this time out. Click here to read about more new biopics. Now Playing

EVERYBODY’S FINE: Robert De Niro, Drew Barrymore, Kate Beckinsale, Sam Rockwell (Written and directed by Kirk Jones; Miramax) A lonely, no-longer-young widower just doesn’t know what to do with himself. Then, one day, it strikes him that what he really needs to make his life meaningful is to hook up with each of his geographically scattered kids again. He could be dead wrong about that. De Niro is the wandering dad in this remake of "Stanno Tuti Bene," Giuseppe Tornatore’s 1990 Italian comedy-tearjerker starring Marcello Mastroianni. Barrymore, Beckinsale and Rockwell play his grown-up brats. Click here for Vincent Canby's 1991 review of the original "Everybody's Fine" in The New York Times; to read about more new movie remakes, click here; for Guy Flatley's 1973 New York Times interview with Robert De Niro, click here. Opening date to be announced

MICKEY ROURKE

THE WRESTLER: Mickey Rourke, Marisa Tomei, Evan Rachel Wood (Directed by Darren Aronofsky; Written by Robert Siegel; Fox Searchlight) Washed-up, impoverished and demoralized, Ram is so down on his luck that he can’t gain admission to his trailer-camp home until he comes up with his back rent. Which is why it is imperative that this former wrestling champ pull himself together and stage a comeback. Ram is played by former promising movie star Mickey Rourke, and people who caught this Golden Lion winner at the 2008 Venice Film Festival say the actor has staged a comeback worthy of an Oscar. Marisa Tomei, playing a hooker who has seen better days and nights, soothes Ram’s physical and emotional wounds, and Evan Rachel Wood is the estranged daughter with whom Ram struggles to reconnect. The big question is, can Ram reconnect with--and demolish--the big bad Ayatollah in a contest celebrating the 20th anniversary of their memorably brutal face-to-battered-face encounter in the ring? Now Playing

13: Mickey Rourke, Ray Winstone, Jason Statham, Emmanuelle Chriqui, Ray Liotta, 50 Cent, Michael Shannon, David Zayas, Ben Gazzara, Sam Riley (Written and directed by Gela Babluani; Endeavor) The spoiled-rotten wealthy class--is there no limit to their sense of entitlement? Evidently not, if we are to judge by the privileged specimens on display in this Americanization of “13 Tzameti,” the hardboiled 2005 French thriller that won the grand jury prize for world cinema at the Sundance Film Festival. Here’s what the scoundrels do: they gamble bits and pieces of their wealth on a life-and-death sport played in secrecy, a Russian Roulette-inspired competition between desperate men who’ve been sneaked out of prison--as in the case of the character played by Mickey Rourke--or an insane asylum--as in the psycho played by Ray Winstone. The English-language adaptation is by Gela Babluani, the writer-director responsible for the original. So you can’t say he doesn’t have a feel for this sort of thing. Opening date to be announced

MARK RUFFALO

SHUTTER ISLAND: Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Ruffalo, Ben Kingsley, Michelle Williams, Max Von Sydow, Emily Mortimer, Elias Koteas, Patricia Clarkson, John Carroll Lynch, Jackie Earle Haley (Directed by Martin Scorsese; Written by Laeta Kalogridis; Paramount) Based on the frenzied 2003 novel by Dennis Lehane, author of “Mystic River” and “Gone Baby Gone,” “Shutter Island” spins a dark, dizzy tale. Set in 1954, it revolves around the efforts of U.S. Marshall Teddy Daniels (Leonardo DiCaprio), a crazed war vet and recent widower, and his gullible partner Chuck Aule (Mark Ruffalo) to capture a murderess who has escaped from Ashecliffe Hospital, a home away from home for the criminally insane. As it turns out, this funny farm, located on a rocky island off Boston Harbor, is no laughing matter. The warden himself boasts, “We take only the most damaged patients...we take the ones no other facility can manage.” And it’s clear that some of the doctors and nurses are even more damaged than the patients and may be on the verge of hatching a horrific scheme. All that the increasingly edgy Teddy and the seriously deranged occupants of Ashecliffe need are a raging hurricane, hordes of rampaging rodents, and the sudden return of the slippery, blood-thirsty femme fatale. Which is undoubtedly what director Martin Scorsese will give them in his bid to top the unblushing Grand Guignol of “Cape Fear” and “The Departed.” Opens 10/2/09

MARGARET: Anna Paquin, Matt Damon, Mark Ruffalo, J. Smith-Cameron, Jeannie Berlin, Matthew Broderick (Written and directed by Kenneth Lonergan; Fox Searchlight) One of the funniest and most moving films of 2000 was “You Can Count on Me,” written and directed by Kenneth Lonergan, whose biggest prior claim to movie fame was his screenwriting contribution to “Analyze This,” the Robert De Niro-Billy Crystal comedy released the year before. If you saw “You Can Count on Me,” you know that the tyro director drew astonishing performances from Laura Linney as a single mother, Mark Ruffalo as her screwed-up brother, and Matthew Broderick as the petty, despotic boss who unexpectedly becomes her red-hot lover, even though he is already married to a conspicuously pregnant bore. Now Lonergan has gone behind the camera again, this time as the director of his own screenplay about a Manhattan teenager with plenty of problems, not the least of which is her mom, a neurotic actress. Plus she is a bit unhinged about a bus accident she recently witnessed--an accident that may not have been an accident. The troubled teen is being played by Anna Paquin, who won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for “The Piano” when she was a mere tot. Maybe this time it will simply be a Best Actress Oscar. To read Guy Flatley's 1998 interview with Anna Paquin, click here. Opening date to be announced

MEG RYAN

THE WOMEN: Meg Ryan, Annette Bening, Eva Mendes, Debra Messing, Jada Pinkett Smith, Bette Midler, Candice Bergen, Carrie Fisher, Cloris Leachman, Debi Mazar (Written and directed by Diane English; Picturehouse) Women--when they bond with one another and struggle to make the world a better place in which to live and love and wage peace--are adorable creatures. But at least one of the women in Clare Boothe Luce’s 1936 Broadway hit shrugged her shoulder at sisterhood and coolly sized up every available--and unavailable--male who crossed her path. Her name was Crystal, she was a gold-digging shopgirl, and she was played with predatory precision by Joan Crawford in George Cukor’s 1939 film adaptation. Sixty-nine years later, in an update by writer-director Diane Enlish, the blissfully cruel Crystal is being played by Eva Mendes, a Cuban-American seductress who may finally have landed her breakout role. Meg Ryan, an actress in urgent need of a comeback role, plays the achingly noble Mary Haines, a lady whose wealthy husband is the besotted victim of Crystal’s wiles. Playing Meg Ryan's mom is the always reliable Candice Bergen, who also played Meg's mom in "Rich and Famous," George Cukor's 1981 comedy-drama. Click here to read Guy Flatley's 1977 New York Times interview with Candice Bergen; for Guy's 1977 Times interview with Carrie Fisher, click here. Opens 9/12/08

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