Big Picture Big Sound

It's the most wonderful time of the year again - the end of the summer with all its dreadful humidity and the beginning of the fall with all its cinematic promise. Just like with dating, there will be surprises that tug at your heart, and, naturally, a series of crushing disappointments. Here's hoping there's a minimal helping of the latter.

To see what's in store, for better or worse, Joe and I have studied the Fall film schedule and conjured up respective lists of what has us the most giddy. Some are prestigious entries likely to send the Academy swooning, others won us over for less obvious reasons.

So without further ado, here they are in order of release date (click here for Joe's ten choices):

"Across The Universe"
Full disclosure: I am a full-blown, raving Beatles fanatic - so much so that this film, loaded with Fab Four tunes and helmed by Julie Taymor of "Frida" and Broadway's "Lion King" fame, has my curiosity doing cartwheels. That said, I am fully aware that it could be a massive "style-over-substance" bust without a pulse, and, of course, the obligatory scene of Evan Rachel Wood sobbing. But it's one of the riskiest, most bizarre films of the fall season (there's only about 30 minutes of dialogue) and that alone makes it a worthy crapshoot.
Prediction:
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0445922/
Trailer: http://www.apple.com/trailers/sony_pictures/acrosstheuniverse/
Release Date: 9/14

"Lust, Caution"
Ang Lee's beautiful, poetic "Brokeback Mountain" was my favorite film of 2005, and his genre-defying talent is enough to make me forgive and forget his horrendous attempt at "The Hulk." With "Lust, Caution," he turns up the thrills and the heat - enough to leave the MPAA so squeamish that they slapped it with an NC-17 rating - and tells the story of a young woman in WWII-era Shanghai who gets tangled up with a politician. The trailer is gorgeous, haunting and surprisingly Wong Kar-Wai-esque. Where do I sign up?
Prediction:
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0808357/
Trailer: http://www.apple.com/trailers/focus_features/lustcaution/
Release Date: 9/28

"Lars and the Real Girl"
Everyone needs a little quirk in their diet, and last year's "Stranger Than Fiction" and "Little Miss Sunshine" provided a satisfying supply of it. This year, we have über-gifted Ryan Gosling playing a screwed-up guy who, having failed at real-life relationships, tries to make one work with a life-size doll he buys on the Internet - and he'd appreciate the open-armed support of his family and friends. Yep, this heartfelt dark comedy looks like it will deliver the eccentrically delicious goods.
Prediction:
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0805564/
Trailer: http://www.apple.com/trailers/mgm/larsandtherealgirl/
Release Date: 10/12

"Reservation Road"
I love a good revenge flick, and there's just so few of them (look at this year's critically maimed "Perfect Stranger" and "Death Sentence" for evidence). "The Brave One" is mostly earning praise for a whoop-ass performance by the ridiculously talented Jodie Foster, so I'm hoping that "Reservation Road," the story of two dads (Joaquin Phoenix, Mark Ruffalo) who duke it out after one of them kills the other's son in a hit-and run accident, will leave my already-bitten nails further chomped.
Prediction:
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0831884/
Trailer: http://www.apple.com/trailers/focus_features/reservationroad/
Release Date: 10/19

"American Gangster"
Simply put, this film looks awesome - just watch the trailer for confirmation. The Ridley Scott-directed film, starring Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe, is about a Harlem drug lord-turned-informant in the 1970s who did a bad, bad thing, and followed it up with other bad, bad things. It looks like an action-packed crime drama that, if done correctly, could be this year's "The Departed." Fingers crossed.
Prediction:
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0765429/
Trailer: http://www.apple.com/trailers/universal/americangangster/
Release Date: 11/2

"Lions for Lambs"
What do you get when you combine a gripping three-tiered political film with the directorial skills of Robert Redford and the unstoppable acting prowess of Meryl Streep? Well, with any luck, a so-good-it-hurts triumph. "Lions for Lambs" may have "Oscar bait" written all over it, but my money's on it being rightfully earned. Plus, it will be nice to see Tom Cruise take a break from acting like a fool and actually try acting again.
Prediction:
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0891527/
Trailer: http://www.apple.com/trailers/mgm/lionsforlambs/
Release Date: 11/9

"Margot at the Wedding"
I didn't think "Squid and the Whale" was all that great when I first saw it in 2005, and, to put it mildly, I was completely what-was-I-thinking? wrong. Writer/Director Noah Baumbach follows that solid, uncomfortably realistic film with another seemingly solid, uncomfortably realistic film about Margot (Nicole Kidman), a woman who shows up at her sister's (Jennifer Jason Leigh) wedding and expresses her disapproval of the groom (Jack Black). It's Nicole Kidman bringing back the edge she flaunted in "To Die For" and, god willing, making us mentally flush her past four years of cinematic sewage.
Prediction:
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0757361/
Trailer: http://www.apple.com/trailers/paramount_vantage/margotatthewedding/
Release Date: 11/16

"Sweeney Todd"
The last Tim Burton/Johnny Depp collaboration ("Charlie and the Chocolate Factory") made me weep for my raped-and-pillaged childhood, but I'm overlooking that abomination, thinking happy thoughts (like "Edward Scissorhands") and getting pumped for "Sweeney Todd." This dark and demented film, based on the hit Broadway musical, tackles evil barbers, unlawful vengeance and pies that taste an awful lot like human flesh - in other words, a custom-made venture for Tim and Johnny. Just four words of advice: Don't screw it up.
Prediction:
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0408236/
Release Date: 12/21

"The Savages"
Philip Seymour Hoffman and Laura Linney are two phenomenal talents who pair up for an outright act-a-thon in Tamara Jenkins' dysfunctional family comedy/drama. In the film, they play siblings (despite, you know, looking nothing alike) who have to take care of their father when death comes a-knocking. While some - okay, many - of their films disappoint, Hoffman and Linney are always good and this finally looks like a project that just might deserve their efforts.
Prediction:
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0775529/
Trailer: http://www.apple.com/trailers/fox_searchlight/thesavages/
Release Date: 12/26

"There Will Be Blood"
Yes, it's last on my list (since it's ordered by release date and all), but this is easily the film that has me most wishing I could speed past autumn and say hello to winter. Writer/Director Paul Thomas Anderson, the genius behind "Boogie Nights" and "Magnolia," shifts gears and takes on a turn-of-the-century period drama, with a little help from Daniel Day-Lewis. "There Will Be Blood" is loosely based on Upton Sinclair's 1927 novel "Oil!," and I have every faith that Anderson will turn this flick into yet another polarizing masterpiece . No pressure or anything, pal.
Prediction:
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0469494/
Trailer: http://www.aintitcool.com/?q=node/33027
Release Date: 12/26