In Theaters Now September 14

by Brian Hickey | Published September 14, 2007

The Brave One
directed by Neil Jordan
The Brave One officially begins the promising Fall movie season. It’s the story of New York City talk show host Erica Bain (Jodie Foster) who, after a random attack that leaves her wounded and her fiancé dead, starts seeking vigilante justice. Terrence Howard stars as the police officer circling Foster, as he gets closer to finding out the identity of the vigilante killer. Neil Jordan, much like Spike Lee and David Cronenberg, is one of many indie directors who have recently taken the reigns on bigger, more commercial projects. The previews look good enough to convince us that Jordan will come through on luckily The Brave One.

Eastern Promises
directed by David Cronenberg
If A History of Violence was David Cronenberg going mainstream, then Eastern Promises is David Cronenberg continuing his forward momentum into the mainstream while secretly smuggling in elements of “old” Cronenberg. For example, Viggo Mortensen gets into a fight at a bathhouse, and for the entirety of the fight, he’s naked and exposed. One reviewer said of the scene, “Mortensen’s wang is out for so long I naturally assumed that it would be listed in the credits.” Nudity aside, combining Naomi Watts with Cronenberg and Mortensen will assure this movie a busy awards season.

Mr. Woodcock
directed by Craig Gillespie
The studio apparently came up with this movie’s title by looking out into the sea of bottom-of-the-barrel comedies, seeing Dodgeball and Balls of Fury and assuming that all male genitalia-themed titles were awesome. Then they took a look at Bad Santa and thought that Billy Bob Thornton as another crusty old man would be fantastic. Then came Sean William Scott, who failed to mention that he has been doing his same tired shtick for eight years. In reality, they had to re-shoot half the movie with a different director after the awful responses from test screenings. People who pay to see this movie should be able to write it off on their taxes as charity.

In the Valley of Elah
directed by Paul Haggis
After the gigantic mistake that was the Best Picture Oscar for Crash, Haggis has kept this movie relatively low profile, to avoid any backlash or Crash comparisons. But unless he has seriously learned his lesson, this movie will be an exercise in tell-not-show writing, sure to be “deep” only to those that said the same about Crash because they didn’t know about racism. This is one of four war-themed movies slated for this Fall; so unless it gets stellar reviews, just wait for The Kingdom or Charlie Wilson’s War.

Across the Universe
directed by Julie Taymor
This movie is the story of Jude (Jim Sturgess), who comes to this country in the 1960’s and falls for a girl named Lucy (Evan Rachel Wood). Influenced by the music of the Beatles, the movie combines live action and animation to show this love story, as well as some of the more prevalent themes of the 60’s. It isn’t so much a love story about two people, but a love story about a whole decade and the generation that fueled that decade. There’s been some controversy as Revolution Studios boss Joe Roth cut his own version of the film without director Julie Taymor’s approval or knowledge. No one knows which version will hit theaters, or even if Taymor will keep her name on the project.

By Brian Hickey