Fall movie preview: something for everyone

This year’s fall movie season has something for everyone: sequels, Oscar-worthy performances and at least one NC-17-rated film. Two of these films include Team America: World Police by South Park creators Matt Stone and Trey

This year’s fall movie season has something for everyone: sequels, Oscar-worthy performances and at least one NC-17-rated film.

Two of these films include Team America: World Police by South Park creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker, and director John Waters’ A Dirty Shame. While Waters’ film deals with a family of sex addicts living in Baltimore, Stone and Parker’s Team America takes shots at a range of famous people, from President George W. Bush to actress Susan Sarandon. Waters has already received the NC-17 rating for A Dirty Shame, while the Motion Picture Association of America continues to review Team America, which was rushed into production in time for a release before Election Day.

On the sequels front, there is Seed of Chucky, the fifth installment of the horrifically campy Child’s Play, series and Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason. This time around, Glen, the son of killer dolls Chucky and Tiffany, decides to crash the Los Angeles set of the film inspired by his parents’ murderous escapades. In The Edge of Reason, the follow-up to the highly successful Bridget Jones’ Diary, Renee Zellweger returns as the spunky, overweight Brit who finds herself becoming more and more dissatisfied in her relationship with her current boyfriend, Marc Darcy. Rumor has it yet another sequel in the Bridget Jones series is already in the works.

Sequels and ratings aside, some of the most interesting fall offerings come from the realm of children’s movies. The month of November will see the release of three highly anticipated films, including The Spongebob Squarepants Movie, The Incredibles, and The Polar Express. The Spongebob Squarepants Movie follows the adventures of the ever-popular title character in a feature-length film, while Pixar’s The Incredibles humorously depicts the antics of a dysfunctional family of superheroes.

Perhaps the most visually stunning of the three animated November releases is director Robert Zemeckis’ The Polar Express, based on the popular children’s book of the same title. It follows the story of a young boy who gets the chance of a lifetime when he rides a train called the Polar Express to the North Pole on Christmas Eve.

The season also marks the return of some of the film industry’s finest directors, including Jean-Luc Godard, James L. Brooks, Oliver Stone and Martin Scorsese. Godard is directing Our Music a deeply poetic piece that is divided into the three parts of the Christian afterlife: heaven, hell, and purgatory.

Spanglish, directed by James L. Brooks, will also be in theatres this fall, his first film since 1997’s As Good As It Gets. Spanglish stars Adam Sandler and Tea Leoni tells a dramatic story of a Mexican family looking for a better life in Los Angeles.

Meanwhile, the two most expensive films of the season come from directors Oliver Stone and Martin Scorsese. Stone’s Alexander, depicts the epic life and loves of Alexander the Great. The film boasts an all-star cast, including Colin Farrell, Angelina Jolie, Anthony Hopkins and Val Kilmer. Scorsese’s The Aviator follows the life and loves of legendary Hollywood director Howard Hughes. Leonardo DiCaprio leads as Hughes and No Doubt front woman Gwen Stefani will appear as actress Jean Harlow.

Hopefully they’ll all live happily ever after.

Marta Rusek can be reached at mruske@temple.edu.

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