Nine
Director: Rob Marshall
Cast: Daniel Day-Lewis, Marion Cottilard, Penelope Cruz, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Kate Hudson, Nicole Kidman, Sophia Loren, Judi Dench, Fergie
Opening: 25 November 2009
Distributor: The Weinstein Company

Leave it to Daniel Day-Lewis to flummox fans. After winning the Oscar for his bravura performance as a wily turn of the century oil baron in There Will Be Blood, the unconventional actor has now jumped headlong into Rob Marshall’s big screen adaptation of the Broadway musical take on Fellini’s 8 1/2. That’s right, it’s a singing and dancing Day-Lewis who’ll be helping the Chicago helmer bring this baffling tuner into obvious Academy attention. And as the ladies in the fictional filmmaker Guido Contini’s life? Well, we have none other than Marion Cotillard, Nicole Kidman, Penelope Cruz, Judi Dench, Kate Hudson, Stacy Ferguson, and Sophia Loren. There’s over seven little gold statues among the cast alone. While some fear that Marshall is a one hit wonder (the Chicago follow-up, Memoirs of a Geisha, was less than successful at the box office), the talent involved should pull him through. Should.

—Bill Gibron

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Smallville: The Complete Eighth Season
(Warner Home Video)
Releasing: 25 August

There’s a new reporter at the Daily Planet: Clark Kent, who shares a workspace with Lois Lane. There’s a new hero in Metropolis, too. No one knows who he is. But Jimmy Olsen was on the scene of one of the do-gooder’s exploits, and he snapped a blurred photo of the hero in superspeed action—a hero everyone now calls the Red-Blue Blur. Red-jacketed, blue-shirted Clark Kent draws closer to his Superman destiny in the exciting 22-episode, six-disc Season 8 of Smallville. Another Kryptonian destiny also takes shape. Davis Bloome begins to realize he is Doomsday. His mission on Earth: kill Clark Kent. So many new events (will Jimmy and Chloe’s marriage last?), so many new faces (Tess Mercer, Saturn Girl and Cosmic Boy among them!), so many state-of-the-art effects—so don’t miss a single thrill-packed moment!

—PopMatters Staff

Me and Orson Welles
Director: Richard Linklater
Cast: Zac Efron, Claire Danes
Opening: 25 November

Let’s get this out of the way right off the bat—Zac Efron is not, I repeat not playing Orson Welles in the upcoming film by Richard Linklater (Before Sunrise, School of Rock). Let’s pause for a moment so that we may collectively let out an enormous sigh of relief before continuing on to the task at hand.

Ready? The good news is apart from that, Me and Orson Welles looks to be an engaging and entertaining view of Welles’ Mercury Theater and its 1937 staging of Julius Caesar. Despite having recieved excellent reviews since its first screening at the 2008 Toronto Film Festival, the film has had trouble finding a distributor here in the United States. The fault for this, however, would seem to lie more in the limited appeal of its subject matter (with nary a crime-fighting guinea pig or wisecracking robot to be found!) rather than in its level of quality. We’ll find out for ourselves on November 25th when it is scheduled for release.

—Brian Parks

“Impossible Germany”

—PopMatters Staff

—PopMatters Staff

—PopMatters Staff