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The 2003 Fall and Winter Film Preview

© Jason O'Brien

September has arrived already. Summer 2003 is now history, and I must say I'm not too disappointed to see it go. As I briefly discussed in my last article, Summer 2003 was mostly a lot of disappointments, way too much of unbelievable action set pieces in so many bad action movies, and too few quality films. So I'm anxiously awaiting the fall and winter movie season, which will undoubtedly once again represent the majority of the Oscar contenders for the 76th Annual Academy Awards. Besides technical nominations for some of the summer films, I only see other major Oscar nominations coming for Finding Nemo, which I think far and away has the Best Animated Feature Oscar in the bag, and Seabiscuit, the inspirational true story. Open Range has an outside chance of getting a Best Supporting Actor nomination for Robert Duvall, which I think would be well deserved.

But that was summer ... now that it's September, it's time to present my annual preview of the Fall and Winter films to come in the final four months of the year. As usual, we'll do this in two parts ... this week, I'll preview the films to come out this month and October, followed by the final article discussing the films of November and December. As always, keep in mind that these release dates are subject to change.

So let's begin with a look at the films to come out in September.

One of the most anticipated films of the fall will no doubt be The Human Stain, a mystery/drama starring a promising cast of Oscar winners and nominees, namely Anthony Hopkins, Nicole Kidman, and Ed Harris. The film is directed by Oscar winning director Robert Benton, whose most well known work was the 1979 Best Picture winner, Kramer vs. Kramer. Here, he's returning to another human drama, in the story of a tragic love affair between Hopkins and Kidman. The previews look incredibly promising for this to be a wonderful and unique film, but for me, it's not really screaming Oscar attention. You certainly have possible contenders in the cast, especially Anthony Hopkins, and the screenplay certainly has a shot at receiving a nomination.

We do have some major film directors releasing new films in September. Ridley Scott's film Matchstick Men, which was originally supposed to be a late summer release, arrives in September, starring Nicolas Cage in what has already been reviewed as another accomplished performance as a con man who discovers he has a daughter. Mike Figgis, one of our most experimental film directors, finally returns to a more straight laced drama/thriller with Cold Creek Manor, a psychological drama starring Dennis Quaid and Sharon Stone as a couple who end up having to dig up the mysterious past of the new house they have bought. Woody Allen continues his profilic output, even though some of his latest films have not lived up to the Woody Allen we know from the past. He tries again in September with Anything Else, starring Jason Biggs and Christina Ricci. And independent film director John Sayles will be releasing Casa De Los Babys, the story of South American women all wanting to adopt a child starring Daryl Hannah and Maggie Gyllenhaal.

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