Irish filmmaker Kirsten Sheridan spins another modern-day musical fairy tale in AUGUST RUSH, in which the title prodigy uses his gifts to track down his lost parents. Sounds a little like Once upon a time. Freddie Highmore, Keri Russell, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, and the inevitable Robin Williams feel the magic. And speaking of musical prodigies — what to make of I’M NOT THERE, the unpredictable Todd Haynes’s Cubist Bob Dylan bio-pic in which Cate Blanchett, Richard Gere, Heath Ledger, Christian Bale, and at least two other actors play different manifestations of the trickster poet demi-god? It may be awful, but it will be worth seeing.
November 30
Same goes for Woody Allen’s CASSANDRA’S DREAM, which has Woody in serious mode telling the story of two troubled brothers — Ewan McGregor and Colin Farrell — who darken London with their troubles. And when you come right down to it, that goes for THE CHRISTMAS COTTAGE as well. Inspired by the popular 1990 Thomas Kinkade painting, the film includes in its cast Marcia Gay Harden, whose taste in art seems to have changed since she played Lee Krasner in Pollock. Will she echo her line from that film, saying, “Kinkade, you’ve done it. You’ve cracked it wide open. You’re the world’s greatest painter”? I hope so. Regardless, after watching that, I wonder how I’ll ever be able to take movies seriously again.
Related:
Fall back, The Oscars go to Hell, Are we grading on a curve?, More 
- Fall back
If you cannot remember the past, so Santayana said, you’re condemned to repeat it. Watch trailers for this fall's new releases.
- The Oscars go to Hell
Maybe it’s just as well if the writers’ strike forces a cancellation of the Oscars show.
- Are we grading on a curve?
It’s a solid B, which isn’t bad considering the vagaries of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences.
- Apocalypse now and then
With Snakes on a Plane and World Trade Center opening on the same day, this summer won’t be offering the usual escapist fare.
- Hollywood gives Bush the finger - side
Our film editor's predictions
- Tropic Thunder
Despite a few soft spots along the way, Thunder combines the dark absurdity of Stiller’s underrated Cable Guy with the unrestrained dumbness of his Zoolander .
- Cheese Danish
Hamlet variations we'd like to see
- Autumn peeves
With pundits already reading political significance into summer blockbusters like The Dark Knight (“Is Batman a stand-in for George Bush? Discuss.”), the meatier movies of fall arrive not a moment too soon.
- The Women
Rewritten, directed, and produced by Diane English in a flat style that betrays both her TV roots and her status as a first-time director.
- What Just Happened
“There isn’t a film there,” Ben tells the screenwriter. Sounds like What Just Happened .
- Anti-depressant cinema
The screen offers relief from a world of woe
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Features
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