Fall Preview '10, Pt. 2

Check it out, Part Two of our look at some of the promising films coming out before the end of the year. Be sure to scroll down and check out Part One of the list. And definitely be sure to check back in a couple of months for info about even more great movies coming before the clock strikes 2011. For now, here we go, Part Two of our list … 

Fair Game - Wait a second, isn’t Fair Game a shitty 90s action/romance/comedy starring one of the Baldwin Bros and Cindy Crawford!? WTF, man?! But for reals, Doug Liman (Swingers, The Bourne Identity, Go) makes good movies. Not always, but sometimes - and this looks like his best in a good while. Starring Naomi Watts as the famous Covert CIA agent, Valerie Plame, whose cover was blown by her New York Times-writing husband, played by Sean Penn, Fair Game looks like the solid drama/thriller of late 2010. (November 5)

The Next Three Days - Paul Haggis’ new movie is a remake of 2008 French thriller Anthing For Her. The movie, about a man trying to break his wife out of prison, stars Russell Crowe, Liam Neeson and Elizabeth Banks. Zzz. (November 19)

Love and Other Drugs - Director Ed Zwick teams with Jake Gyllenhaal and Anne Hathaway in what looks to be an attempt to get some Oscar nominations. The new trailer just hit the ‘net, and it doesn’t look like anything remotely special. I wonder if this movie will even be able to find an audience? A romantic comedy with a weird sense of humor, semi-dark characters and not-so-obvious laughs? Good luck, Zwick. (November 24)

Black Swan - Director Darren Aronofsky (The Wrestler, Requiem For a Dream) attempts to keep up his winning streak with this psychological thriller set in the world of ballet and staring Natalie Portman in WAY too much makeup. It also stars eye candy like Mila Kunis and Winona Ryder, which doesn’t hurt. (December 1)

Miral - Finally, Julian Schnabel has a new movie! Yay!! About time, Jules! Starring Slumdog Millionaire’s Freida Pinto in her first US leading role, Schnabel’s first film since the great Diving Bel and the Butterfly should be a visual and stylistic treat. Mark your calendars, art house kiddos. (December 3)

The Fighter - This long delayed David O. Russell film has been so long in the works that we at the Ze Cat forgot it was even in production. Russell’s extreme personality chased away both Brad Pitt and Matt Damon, thus dooming the film for industry types. No worry, Christian Bale ended up signing on to play the role of the junkie brother to Mark Wahlberg’s Irish Micky Ward, a boxer who made a grand comeback in the mid 90s. Said to be a friend and hero of Wahlberg’s, Ward was promised that the film would someday be made … and thus Wahlberg willed it to happen, training as a boxer for over two years while actors came and went and David O. Russell threw all kinds of childish fits. (December 10)

How Do You Know - Don’t kid yourself, Reese Witherspoon has something that just works. Not always, but sometimes. Rachel McAdams is the same way. These way-too-pretty airheads can, from time to time, make a movie click. Witherspoon, here paired with Paul Rudd and under the direction of James L. Brooks, stars as a woman on a blind date that just happens to take place on the worst day of her life. Co-starring Jack Nicholson and Owen Wilson, How Do You Know looks like the best Brooks flick since As good As It Gets. We’re surprisingly stoked for this one. Should be fun to see Reese play an adult. (December 17)

TRON: Legacy - We at the Ze Cat offices couldn’t care less about this movie, but figure some of our readers might. It looks visually interesting and stars Jeff Bridges and Olivia Wilde, so, who knows, it might be this year’s Where the Wild Things Are. Meh. TRON: Legacy looks like this year’s Speed Racer to us. (December 17)

Little Fockers - So here it is, the movie a whole lot of people are going to be talking about this Chritmastime. We’d be lying if we said we didn’t kind of enjoy the first Fockers flick. This, the third installment of the already way-overdone franchise is directed by Paul Weitz (who used to make good films) and stars all the Focker regulars, as well as Jessica Alba. (December 22)

Somewhere - Or, who knows, maybe the long-in-the-works fourth Sofia Coppola film, about a fast-living Hollywood hunk whose daughter shows up for some QT, will be the talk of the town come Christmas. It’ll have style and atmosphere, we know that. Looks like Coppola’s most simple and straight production since The Virgin Suicides. Stars Stephen Dorff and Elle Fanning. Wait, Elle Fanning? Oh crap … was Hit Girl really THAT busy? Hopefully it at least has an R rating.(December 22)

True Grit - The Coen Brothers’ update of the John Wayne classic is said to be a far superior film. Who are we do doubt the Coen Brothers? Featuring an amazing cast (Josh Brolin, Matt Damon, Barry Pepper) led by The Dude Jeff Bridges, True Grit is easily one of our most anticipated films of 2010. (December 25)

Blue Valentine - Starring the royalty of hipster cinema, Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams, this festival hit tells the story of a couple who fall madly in love, then madly out of love. It’s supposedly great, which we believe, considering it stars the best young US actor alive, Gosling, and the every-growing Williams. Word is that Blue Valentine might be a Love Story-sort of Oscar surprise. We’ll see about that. (December 31)

Written by G. William Locke