NOVEMBER 2008

QUANTUM OF SOLACE: Daniel Craig, Mathieu Amalric, Olga Kurylenko, Judi Dench, Jeffrey Wright, Gemma Arterton, Giancarlo Giannini, Oona Chaplin (Directed by Marc Forster; Written by Paul Haggis, Neal Purvis and Robert Wade; Sony Pictures) Daniel Craig, arguably the best of all James Bonds, is still where we left him in “Casino Royale”--deep in the dumps over the death of Vesper Lynd, the steely but vulnerable beauty who discovered the passion beneath his British cool. Pulling himself together, with the help of the ever-resourceful M (Judi Dench), he vows to solve the mystery of Vesper’s murder. On his globe-trotting trip toward the awful truth, 007 encounters another femme fatale (Olga Kurylenko) and a Mr. Greene, a maniacal businessman whose goal is to take control of the entire world (this modest chap is played by Mathieu Amalric, the astonishing star of “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly.”) Besides the mean Mr. Greene, all Bond has to worry about are the British government, an international assortment of terrorists and, of course, the CIA. Opens 11/7

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. Opens 11/14

A CHRISTMAS TALE: Catherine Deneuve, Mathieu Amalric, Jean-Paul Russillon, Chiara Mastroianni, Emmanuelle Devos, Emile Berling, Anne Consigny, Laurent Capelluto, Hippolyte Girardot, Melvil Poupaud (Written and directed by Arnaud Desplechin; IFC Films) Christmas is a time when scattered family members reunite, rejoice and count their numerous blessings. Well, that’s the way it goes with some families, but certainly not with the volatile clan that scrambles through Arnaud Desplechin’s thickly textured comedy-drama. For starters, the elegant, demanding matriarch played by Catherine Deneuve has just received a grim diagnosis from her doctor, and it looks as if someone in the family will have to fork over an organ. The donor could even be her rottenly behaved son (Mathieu Amalric), who has been allowed on the premises for the first time in five years. Or maybe Maman’s life will be saved by her youngest son (Melvil Poupaud), a man who has been blessed--or is it cursed?--with a gorgeous wife (played by Chiara Mastroianni, Catherine Deneuve’s real-life daughter). “A Christmas Tale” was warmly received at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival and will be screened at the Toronto festival in September. To read Guy Flatley's 2000 interview with Catherine Deneuve, click here. Opens 11/14

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 disgruntled 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