Sep 25, 2007

Seeing the future

Nicolas Cage (Ghostrider, The Rock) can see into the future, but only a few minutes into the future, in Next, an action/thriller about changing events that may or may not be preordained, which also stars Julianne Moore (Boogie Nights, Laws of Attraction) and Jessica Biel (Cellular, The Illusionist.) Time is lost instead of gained in 11:59, where a newsman cannot remember the previous 24 hours, and has to unravel the mystery of his missing day.

The biggest comedy this week is Judd Apatow's (The 40 Year Old Virgin, Freaks and Geeks) Knocked Up, where the consequences of a one night stand make an unlikely couple of slacker website designer Ben (Seth Rogen: You, Me, & Dupree) and career-minded TV personality Alison (Katherine Heigl: Bride of Chucky, Grey's Anatomy). After exploding his family-friendly image in The Aristocrats, Bob Saget has released a stand-up comedy film, That Ain't Right.

William Friedkin (The Exorcist, The French Connection) brings us his newest thriller, Bug, starring Ashley Judd (Double Jeopardy, Come Early Morning) as a woman descending into paranoia, and Paul Verhoeven (Starship Troopers, Basic Instinct) releases his first Dutch film since 1983's The 4th Man: Black Book, a story of resistance against the Nazi invasion. Steel Toes is a drama about a Jewish humanist (David Strathairn: Good Night and Good Luck, LA Confidential) appointed to defend a Neo-Nazi on trial for murder.

Claire Danes (Romeo+Juliet, Stage Beauty) stars in the romance Evening as the youthful version of Vanessa Redgrave (Venus, Girl Interrupted) as she recounts the passionate weekend with the one great love of her life. A glimpse into aboriginal life in pre-colonized Australia, Ten Canoes is a parable of forbidden love.

A pair of Shakespeare films are new this week: Kenneth Branagh's As You Like It, with Kevin Kline (A Fish Called Wanda, The Pink Panther) and Alfred Molina (Frieda, Magnolia), and the Australian gothic, stylized version of MacBeth.

Jason Lee (Mallrats, Almost Famous) is back in the second season of My Name Is Earl, and a new chapter of Cracker is out this week, as Robbie Coltrane (Harry Potter, Ocean's Twelve) reprises his role in Cracker: A New Terror. A movie about TV shows, The TV Set stars David Duchovny (The X-FIles, Full Frontal) as a writer trying to launch a new show, and Sigourney Weaver (Holes, Alien) as the executive who convinces him to compromise at every turn.