Moviecrazed

Star Turns--What You Should Know About The Current And Upcoming Projects Of Your Favorite Players

By Guy Flatley

SHIA LaBEOUF

WALL STREET: MONEY NEVER SLEEPS

Michael Douglas, Shia LaBeouf, Josh Brolin, Carey Mulligan, Susan Sarandon, Eli Wallach, Frank Langella, Charlie Sheen, Banessa Ferlito, Donald Trump (Directed by Oliver Stone; Written by Allan Loeb and Stephen Schiff)

The fact that greedy Gordon Gekko—played here again by Michael Douglas--is finally out from behind bars doesn’t mean he’s a reformed man. Nor do his new pals, played by Shia LaBeouf and Josh Brolin, walk a straight and narrow line in their rabid quest for big bucks. Ditto for Gekko’s former colleague Bud Fox, acted once more by Charlie Sheen. Any similarity between the scheming depicted here and the recent real-life theft and deceit practiced on Wall Street is strictly intentional on the part of director Oliver Stone, the man responsible for the 1989 original. Click here for a Critics Roundup on "Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps." Now Playing

DIANE LANE

NIGHTS IN RODANTHE

Diane Lane, Richard Gere, James Franco, Scott Glenn, Christopher Meloni, Mae Whitman, Viola Davis, Pablo Schreiber, Charlie Tahan, Austin James (Directed by George C. Wolfe; Written by Ann Peacock and John Romano; 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? Now Playing

JESSICA LANGE

GREY GARDENS

Drew Barrymore, Jessica Lange, Olivia Waldriff (Directed by Michael Sucsy; Written by Patricia Rozema and Michael Sucsy; HBO Films)

Little Edith Bouvier Beale was Jacqueline Kennedy's cousin, and her mother, Big Edith Bouvier Beale, was the First Lady’s aunt. At one time, the two Edies lived sumptuously on Manhattan’s Park Avenue, but they ended up in a squalid, raccoon-infested estate on Long Island. Thanks to the intervention of Jackie, the East Hampton health department did not carry through with its plan to raid the dump. But that didn’t keep the messy eccentrics out of the headlines, and eventually they became the subjects of “Grey Gardens,” a memorable 1976 documentary made by David and Albert Maysles.

Now an expanded version of their story that includes material on the young Jackie Bouvier (portrayed by 8-year-old Olivia Waldriff) and covers Little Edie’s late-blooming career as a nightclub chanteuse is headed your way. Let us hope that Jessica Lange has more luck playing Drew Barrymore’s mom than she did playing Christina Ricci’s in the wretched “Prozac Nation.” "Grey Gardens" finally made its bow on HBO cable, where it was greeted with enthusiasm by most critics.

FRANK LANGELLA

WALL STREET: MONEY NEVER SLEEPS

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. Now Playing

QUEEN LATIFAH

THE DILEMMA

Vince Vaughn, Kevin James, Jennifer Connelly, Winona Ryder, Channing Tatum, Queen Latifah (Directed by Ron Howard; Written by Allan Loeb; Universal)

They are so close that they could be mistaken for Siamese twins. Ronny and Nick, played by Vince Vaughn and Kevin James, certainly look alike, though one is chubbier than the other. Clearly, they act and think alike, which is to say they are both addicted to rough-housing, beer swilling, fistfighting and making gross jokes at the expense of one another. Down deep, however, these long-time buddies and business partners are as tender and protective as lovers can possibly be.

So, are Ronny and Nick literally lovers? No way! When not zanily engaged in punching and maiming each other, they have a whole other agenda. Ronny concentrates on wooing and summoning up the nerve to propose to sexy Beth (Jennifer Connelly), and Nick marvels at the fact that he’s been lucky enough to bed and wed the classy, if complicated, Geneva (Winona Ryder). Since this situation merely proves that even though boys will be boys, they still need girls to complete the picture, what is the problem here?

Well, the catastrophic truth is that Ronny has accidentally glimpsed Geneva kissing a musclebound male (Channing Tatum), a guy who bears no resemblance whatsoever to his pal Nick. So what is Ronny to do? Be honest and break the bad news to his best friend? Or remain selfishly mum so his business partner doesn’t go berserk and screw up a major deal they're on the verge of sealing with Chrysler? That is the problem—and the crucial dilemma--in this sad-at-heart comedy. For the record, Queen Latifah is on hand to serve up strictly upbeat laughs. Now Playing

JUDE LAW

REPO MEN

Jude Law, Liev Schreiber, Forest Whitaker, Alice Braga (Directed by Miguel Sapochnik; Written by Eric Garcia and Garret Lerner; Universal)

Would you buy an artificial organ on an installment plan from a company that reserved the right to terminate you if you default on payment? That’s the decision facing somebody--perhaps Jude Law and/or Forest Whitaker--in this sci-fi thriller set in the near future. If things go as planned, “Repo Men" will make us forget “Repo! The Genetic Opera,” a similarly themed 2008 musical directed by Darren Lynn Bousman, whose previous assaults on our sanity include "Saw II," "Saw III" and "Saw IV." Now Playing

JENNIFER JASON LEIGH

MARGOT AT THE WEDDING

Nicole Kidman, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Jack Black, Zane Pais, John Turturro, Ciaran Hinds, Halley Feiffer (Written and directed by Noah Baumbach; Paramount Classics)

“The Squid and the Whale” was one of the sharpest, funniest and most moving films of 2005, and it should have won at least one Oscar--maybe the Best Original Screenplay award, for which writer/director Noah Baumbach was nominated. In Baumbach's follow-up film, the Margot who goes to the wedding of her pregnant sister Pauline is played by Nicole Kidman; Jennifer Jason Leigh plays Pauline, and Jack Black is Malcolm, the blushing, bungling groom-to-be. Now Playing

MELISSA LEO

THE FIGHTER

Mark Wahlberg, Christian Bale, Amy Adams, Melissa Leo (Directed by David O. Russell; Written by Paul Attanasio and Lewis Colick; Paramount)

Here come Micky and Dickie. And we do mean Micky Ward and Dickie Eklund. As an avid sports fan, you undoubtedly know that hard-punching “Irish” Micky Ward from Lowell, Massachusetts, played here by Mark Wahlberg, was a wow in the ring during the 1990s, thanks largely to the wise coaching of his half-brother Dickie, a former boxer who lost a battle with drugs, did time in the pen, and became an exemplary inmate before his release. The role of this tricky Dickie, originally assigned to Matt Damon and then to Brad Pitt, was eventually entrusted to Christian Bale. Amy Adams portrays a spirited bartender who serves Irish Micky much more than a brew or two, and Melissa Leo plays the fiercely domineering boss of a tangled brood. Click here to read Diane Baroni's 2002 interview with Amy Adams. Now Playing

LAURA LINNEY

THE SAVAGES

Laura Linney, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Philip Bosco, Peter Friedman, Gbenga Akinnagbe, Cara Seymour, Debra Monk, Margo Martindale, Salem Ludwig (Written and directed by Tamara Jenkins; Fox Searchlight)

Wendy and Jon Savage (Laura Linney and Philip Seymour Hoffman) are siblings who loathe one another with an intensity that does indeed border on the savage. Fortunately, they now live in different cities and are never ever tempted to turn back the clock and replay traumatic scenes from their dysfunctional-family past.

Wendy, a wannabe playwright who dabbles in meds and steady-dates a guy she hopes to marry (the chief obstacle being his claim that he is madly in love with his current wife), resides in New York’s East Village. Brother Jon, on the other hand, has shuffled off to Buffalo, where his twin obsessions are the writing of perversely esoteric books and dodging conversations about commitment and marriage with his natural-born-homemaker girlfriend.

What could possibly derail Wendy and Jon from their individual pursuits of non-familial happiness? Phone calls informing them that their dear old dad (Philip Bosco) is more demented than usual and in urgent need of hands-on caretaking. It will no doubt be a family reunion to remember. Now Playing

BLAKE LIVELY

THE TOWN

Ben Affleck, Jon Hamm, Rebecca Hall, Blake Lively, Jeremy Renner, Pete Postlethwaite, Chris Cooper (Directed by Ben Affleck; Written by Ben Affleck, Peter Craig and Aaron Stockard; Warner Bros. Pictures)

Having made a striking directorial debut with “Gone Baby Gone,” the harrowing 2007 thriller starring his kid brother Casey, Ben Affleck recently decided he was ready for his own close-up. So he took on the weighty challenge of directing, co-writing and starring in “The Town,” an adaptation of Chuck Hogan’s tension-packed crime novel “Prince of Thieves.“ In the film, Affleck plays Doug MacRay, a tough dude who, like his best buddies in Charleston, a blue-collar section of Boston, grooves on robbing banks and armored cars, routinely terrorizing innocent bystanders in the process.

Yet MacRay is not all thug. More and more, his daydreams revolve around life in the slow lane of 9-to-5 employment and connubial cuddling with Claire (Rebecca Hall), a potentially dangerous witness to one of his uglier assaults. Sometimes people decide to make their daydreams come true, but that is not likely to be the real deal for MacRay, whose sense of loyalty to old friends is strong and seemingly unwavering. Besides, if he decides to go legit, he has reason to believe his trigger-happy colleagues in crime--especially "Hurt Locker's" Jeremy Renner as an itchy-fingered gun lover--will brand him a traitor and show him no mercy.

So will it be a case of “Stick to Your Own Kind”? Or “Gone MacRay Gone”? Click here for a Critics Roundup on "The Town." Now Playing

JUSTIN LONG

GOING THE DISTANCE

Drew Barrymore, Justin Long, Christina Applegate, Ron Livingston, Charlie Day, Jim Gaffigan, Kelli Garner, Rob Riggle, Jason Sudeikis (Directed by Nanette Burstein; Written by Geoff LaTulippe; Warner Bros.)

They’ve got looks, youth, brains, ambition and lots of sex appeal. It’s no wonder they can’t get enough of each other. Literally, they can't. That’s because each has landed a job in a different city. One is now tied to San Francisco; the other is stuck in New York. So how can they hope to find the time, not to mention the city, to keep their red-hot affair sizzling? And, by the way, exactly who are they?

They are Erin and Garrett, the crazy-in-love characters played by Drew Barrymore and Justin Long, who, as you probably learned from Extra or Access Hollywood, are a former crazy-in-love couple in real life. And unless screenwriter Geoff LaTulippe has dreamed up a downbeat ending for his feel-good romantic comedy, Erin and Garrett will surely arrive at a blissful solution to their reel-life problem.

So where does that leave Drew and Justin? Who knows? Perhaps this glam duo should give long-distance love a shot. Now Playing

JENNIFER LOPEZ

THE GOVERNESS

Jennifer Lopez (Directed by Nigel Cole; Written by Kevin Wade and Wendy Braff; Yari Film Group)

Would Jennifer Lopez make a nifty nanny? We’ll find out when we see this comedy in which she watches over the three bratty kids of a wealthy, presumably marriageable widower. Not that J. Lo has plans for becoming a mom with a ready-made family--the only reason she signed on for this gig is that being employed by big-bucks daddy puts her on the path to the perfect bank heist. Did we forget to mention that this versatile lady is a wildly successful thief?

It should be noted that co-screenwriter Kevin Wade also supplied the script for “Maid in Manhattan,” Lopez’s popular, if pathetic, romantic comedy. Ralph Fiennes, her leading man on that occasion, is not planning an encore. Opening date to be announced

SOPHIA LOREN

NINE

Daniel Day-Lewis, Penelope Cruz, Marion Cotillard, Nicole Kidman, Judi Dench, Kate Hudson, Sophia Loren, Stacy Ferguson (Directed by Rob Marshall; Written by Anthony Minghella and 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. Now Playing