September Movies That Look Promising

I've only seen a couple of these ahead of release, but here's my premature opinion on what we've got to look forward to in September:

9/5 Everybody Wants to Be Italian (Jason Todd Ipson)
Indie romantic comedy with actors who've spent most of their time on TV hinges on a Bostonian pretending to be Italian to win over a girl. Verdict: Will probably wait for Netflix.

9/12 Burn After Reading (Coen Brothers)
Pitt, Clooney and Frances McDormand goof around in a Coen Brothers spy caper. Tilda Swinton and John Malkovich appear, hopefully making up for the absence of cinematographer Roger Deakins. Verdict: I'll be there opening night.

9/12 Towelhead (Alan Ball)
Writer Alan Ball, who gave us both American Beauty and Six Feet Under, steps into the director's chair for this adaptation of Alicia Erian's novel about an Arab-American teenage girl navigating a clash of cultures in small-town Texas. I saw this at Sundance earlier this year, and it's a brutally frank look at the difficulties of teenage sexual awakening in an oppressive environment. It's a perspective that's unusual to see in film, but the it's crafted with heavier hands than Ball's other projects. Verdict: I'd hold out for Ball's new TV series this fall instead.

9/12 Righteous Kill (Jon Avnet)
Robert DeNiro and Al Pacino try to rekindle the awesomeness of the diner scene in Heat as they play a pair of cops trying to solve what they thought was the closed case of a serial killer. Verdict: Theater-worthy.

9/18 Blindness (Fernando Meirelles)
The director of City of God and The Constant Gardener helms this thriller with an excellent cast—Julianne Moore, Mark Ruffalo and Gael García Bernal—about an epidemic of blindness and the one person who can still see. Verdict: Meirelles is one of my favorite modern directors. I can't wait for this one.



9/18 Appaloosa (Ed Harris)
Harris directs and stars alongside Viggo Mortensen in what appears to be a pretty straightforward epic Western, where a rich rancher (Jeremy Irons) threatens the town and a lovely widow (Renée Zellweger) needs protecting. Limited release with a wider opening in October. Verdict: Looks like a fun way to spend a couple of hours to me.



9/18 Igor (Anthony Leondis)
John Cusack voices the hunchbacked icon who longs to escape the shadow of his master and win the Evil Science Fair on his own. The animation looks like it was inspired by Tim Burton and the voice talent includes John Cleese, Eddie Izzard and Steve Buscemi. Verdict: I have three kids. I hope it's good because I won't be able to avoid it.

9/18 Ghost Town (David Koepp)
Ricky Gervais takes the lead in what could be a terrible film about a misanthrope who dies for a few minutes on the operating table and reawakens with the ability to talk to ghosts, particularly one acted by Greg Kinnear. I'm guessing at some point he also falls in love with Tea Leoni. Verdict: I love Gervais, but have doubts about this one.



9/26 Miracle at St. Anna (Spike Lee)
Spike Lee toggles between a 1984 murder and World War II in this film about a black battallion of soldiers pinned down in an Italian village. Biggest surprise? It's a Disney release. Verdict: I'm intrigued.

9/26 Choke (Clark Gregg)
Gregg's take on Chuck Palahniuk's novel by the same name is surprisingly sweet for a film about a sex-addicted con-man (Sam Rockwell). I saw this at Sundance, too, and got to talk to Palahniuk about the film. "Fight Club was kind of flashy, but nostalgic," he said, "but Choke was just heartbreaking. It really makes a transition from comedy to tragedy at the end and it has that kind of romantic fatalism that I'm just in love with." Verdict: Chuck's assessment is actually pretty dead-on. Definitely worth watching.

9/26 The Lucky Ones (Neil Burger)
Rachel McAdams, Tim Robbins and Michael Peña star in this post-Iraq buddy travel film about looking for oneself and finding that one has changed/the world has changed around oneself. Or something like that. Verdict: Could be ponderous, but I'll hold out hope that the director of The Illusionist has pulled it off.