After season of blockbusters, movie critics looks to autumn with some trepidation

By ROBERT W. BUTLER
McClatchy Newspapers

It’s the season of sunny contentment in Hollywood.

Moviedom has been basking in the warm glow of mostly rave reviews and beaucoup ticket sales for “Iron Man,” “Sex and the City,” “WALL-E” and especially the record-smashing “Dark Knight,” now poised to become the top movie earner ever (displacing “Titanic”).

Heck, even the art scene has enjoyed long-running hits like “The Visitor” and “Young @ Heart” that moved in and refused to leave.

If only this cinematic summer could go on endlessly.

But no, after summer comes a time of falling leaves and shortened days, of creeping shadows and premonitions of mortality.

In short, the fall movie season is upon us.

Looking over the titles that will be hitting the multiplex between now and Thanksgiving (officially the beginning of the holiday movie season) it’s hard to work up much enthusiasm.

So is there anything out there to get a movie geek’s pulse racing? Maybe. What follows is a list of 10 fall films that pique my curiosity.

But something about them — the cast, the premise, the director — grabbed my interest.

“Hamlet 2” (Friday ): Shades of “Waiting for Guffman”! Funnyman Steve Coogan plays a failed actor now teaching high school drama. His brainstorm: a musical version of “Hamlet.”

“Burn After Reading” (Sept. 12): Ethan and Joel Coen lighten up after their unrelentingly pessimistic “No Country for Old Men.” In this comedy, a CIA agent’s memoir ends up in the hands of a couple of loser gym employees, who think they’ll get rich by selling it. Great cast: Brad Pitt, George Clooney, John Malkovich, Tilda Swinton, Frances McDormand.

“Lakeview Terrace” (Sept. 19): Might be rank melodrama ... or it could be fascinating. We’re familiar with white bigots picking on interracial couples, but what if the malevolent one is a black man ... and a cop to boot? Samuel L. Jackson plays an LAPD officer who’ll do anything to get rid of the couple (Patrick Wilson, Kerry Washington) who’ve moved in next door.

“Miracle at St. Anna” (Sept. 26): Spike Lee tackles World War II. Four black GIs (Derek Luke, Michael Ealy, Laz Alonso, Omar Benson Miller) find themselves trapped behind enemy lines in a Tuscan village when one of them risks his life to save an Italian boy. It’s a rare venture into period drama for Lee.

“Appaloosa” (Oct. 3): It’s not a remake of the old Marlon Brando flick, but it is a Western. Ed Harris, directing for the second time (after “Pollock”), has cast Viggo Mortensen, Jeremy Irons, Renee Zellweger and himself in an oater about two pals hired to keep the law in a small town dominated by a wealthy and ruthless rancher. The arrival of a young widow complicates things. Could go either way (and Westerns are a hard sell), but we already know that Viggo looks good on a horse.

“Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist” (Oct. 3): Dumped by their respective squeezes, a teenage boy and girl hook up to defy their exes. This leads to a memorable night on the town. Why should we care about another teen comedy? Because the boy is played by Michael Cera, the lovable dweeb of “Juno” and “Superbad.”

“Religulous” (Oct.3): Comic Bill Maher takes on organized religion in this Michael Moore-ish documentary directed by Larry Charles of “Seinfeld” and “Curb Your Enthusiasm.” Guaranteed to have tongues wagging.

“Body of Lies” (Oct. 10): Ridley Scott directs Leonardo DiCaprio and Russell Crowe. What else do you need to know? Oh, OK. The movie is about a former journalist hired by the CIA to track down an al-Qaida leader in the Middle East. Sounds intriguing.

“City of Ember” (Oct. 10): The generators that for 200 years have powered an underground city are breaking down. With the lights flickering, two children (Oscar-nominated Saoirse Ronan of “Atonement” and Harry Treadaway) seek the origins of their civilization and a means of escape.

“W.” (Oct. 17): Oliver Stone takes on the legend of George W. Bush. How will Stone, never the most subtle (or conservative) of filmmakers, handle this political hot potato? Will “W.” be a hatchet job? Or, as Stone claims, will it actually be sympathetic? And has there ever been a major motion picture about a president while he was still in office?