Columbia's fall-holiday slate
Between 9.22 and 12.15, or in less than twelve weeks' time, Columbia will open six films with high-pedigree profiles that could figure in the year-end award cycle -- a high-powered political melodrama, a bloodless period costume drama, and three-and-a-half heart/relationship movies of an upscale bent. And although it's not currently discussable, the studio may release still another relationship flick (a good one) before the year's end. That's a lotta refinement.
Steven Zallian's All The King's Men, a reputedly feisty political melodrama with Sean Penn in the lead role, will be first out of the gate on 9.22.
Sofia Coppola's Marie-Antoinette, which I hated after seeing in Cannes (although I respected the craft and discipline that went into making it) opens on 10.20. It's probably a lock to land the same kind of tech Oscars that Memoirs of a Geisha wound up with last March.
The heart/relationship flick of uncertain strength (i.e., the halfer) is Ryan Murphy's R-rated Running with Scissors (10.11), about a young man's tumultuous relationship with his self-centered, bipolar mom (Annette Bening).
The first full-on relationship flick (i.e., one with a clever-cat stylistic approach) is Mark Forster's Stranger Than Fiction (11.10). I tried reading Zach Helm 's script last year and found it clever (maybe too clever), but I've been told by someone who's seen it that it plays quite nicely. The cast includes Will Ferrell, Emma Thompson, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Queen Latifah and Dustin Hoffman.
On 11.24 The Holiday , a relationship drama written and directed by Something's Got to Give's Nancy Meyers, will open with a cool-sounding cast (Cameron Diaz, Kate Winslet, Jude Law, Jack Black, Ed Burns) and a story about a kind of swap deal -- an American girl (Diaz) with relationship woes and a British woman (Winslet) going through the same shit.
The last entry in the heart-relationship cavalcade is Gabriele Muccino's The Pursuit of Happyness (12.15), a father-son relationship drama with Will Smith as a beleagured dad.
Posted by Jeffrey Wells on July 7, 2006 at 5:42 PM
comment #1
Goulet says ...
What the hell is Kevin Smith doing in the "not currently discussable relationship flick".
It does look good, though.
Posted by Goulet at July 7, 2006 11:52 PM
comment #2
Nick says ...
Jeff, could I borrow your Wayback Machine to the mid-1990s, aka the last time Edward Burns could possibly have been considered cool? He's right up there for me with Jeff Goldblum, Bill Pullman and Michael Rapaport in the annoying-voice actor club. He whines like a wheezy knock-off watch salesman shelling his crap in an alley somewhere.
As to "The Holiday," watch the trailer, and then you'll understand that it looks like unwatchable garbage - pretty much like everything else Nancy Meyers has done. "Something's Gotta Give" was one of the poorest excuses for classy romantic comedy I've seen in some time. I now approach Diane Keaton films with trepidation because if I have to hear her crying anymore - as she did in an execrable montage from "Give" - my brain might explode. I could be proven wrong, of course, when "The Holiday" opens, but it looks like a paycheck movie for all involved, not a nuanced thing like "In Her Shoes."
Posted by Nick at July 8, 2006 7:10 AM
comment #3
Steve C. says ...
Perhaps the film will be much better, but the ALL THE KINGS MEN trailer left me cold. The problem is Penn, who is a great actor but just doesn't that much range. He pretty much plays variations on the Taciturn Man these days. 21 GRAMS, MYSTIC RIVER, THE INTERPRETER were all mopey, hang-dog types. Even the relatively happy-go-lucky brother he played in THE GAME was in a low-key manner of such.
Here, he is supposed to be a supremely charismatic man of the people directly patterned after the old Kingfish himself, Huey Long (was casting John Goodman too on-the-nose for Zallian? Yes, he has actually played Long - and even plays a "Congressman Long" in the upcoming EVAN ALMIGHTY), but that level of energy is wholly lacking in the clips I saw.
When was the last time Penn divorced himself from a role to the degree that he could play "exuberance" in a complete and natural way? Do we have to go all the way back to Spicoli in FAST TIMES or Daulton Lee in FALCON/SNOWMAN?
Posted by Steve C. at July 8, 2006 7:30 AM
comment #4
Chris says ...
Mark my words - all of these movies will bomb. The critics will either be kind to them or not, but they aren't going to make diddly squat box office or clean up at awards time. Reading the list of them almost put me to sleep, and not because of any writing problems on Wells part - these all sound like watching paint dry.
Posted by Chris at July 8, 2006 9:15 AM