October Movie Previews

So we possibly forgot to do a September movie preview. But, uh, forget that, and embrace the month of October--just think, one month to go before the barrage of Oscar bait and holiday fare begins to aim for your heart- and your purse-strings.

October 1: I Heart Huckabees. One of the few movies opening this month that I truly want to see, Huckabees seems to be at once a delight of slapstick comedy and a mess of psycho-drama. And come now, it's directed by brilliant Three Kings director David O. Russell, has Dustin Hoffman, Lily Tomlin, Jude Law, Naomi Watts, Mark Wahlberg, and Max Fischer, uh, Jason Schwartzman--what more could you ask for? Perhaps that it open in more than limited release, but, as the good Mr. Jagger once told us, you can't always get what you want.

October 5: Tanner '88. This isn't a theatrical release. In fact, it's a Criterion one. But that's irrelevant. In 1988, Robert Altman and Gary Trudeau teamed up to make a television mockumentary miniseries focusing on an imaginary Senator running in the election of that year. Head to the video store, rent it, and then ruminate on the American electoral process and the dread of November 2.

October 8: Taxi. Just think. Someone thought this movie was a good idea. Someone looked at a script, cast Jimmy Fallon and Queen Latifah as the leads, put model Gisele Bundchen as a criminal, and then gave an entire team of people millions of dollars to make this. Just stop and think about the travesty. Thought about it? Okay, good, now wait til it comes out on video and we'll mock it together while secretly enjoying the car chases.

October 15: P.S.. I think that some part of Laura Linney thinks that so long as a movie is moderately small, it will be good, and thus, she will maintain "serious actress" integrity. Problem being, what was the last good movie you saw Laura Linney in? The romantic weepy of the month seems to be this film, where she finds her high school love reincarnated as Topher Grace. The Lifetime channel is calling.

October 22: Alfie. Jude Law fall movie #3. Clearly the man is on some sort of quest to be in every single release ever. But, hey, if you looked like Jude Law, you'd be trying the same thing. It's a remake of the Michael Caine fluffy classic, it's probably not very good (just because he's ubiquitous, doesn't make dear Jude that great), but you know you wanna watch a good sex farce about now.