In Theatres
Your monthly guide to new releases
By Ingrid Randoja
NOVEMBER 7
MADAGASCAR: ESCAPE 2 AFRICA
In this sequel to Madagascar, New York City zoo critters Alex the lion (Ben Stiller), Marty the Zebra (Chris Rock), Melman the giraffe (David Schwimmer) and Gloria the hippo (Jada Pinkett Smith) find themselves stranded once again, this time on the African continent where they come face-to-face with untamed animals of their own kind.
JCVD
The Muscles from Brussels satirizes himself in this comedy that was a surprise hit at the Toronto International Film Fest. Depressed and humiliated after losing custody of his daughter, Jean-Claude Van Damme stumbles upon a heist at a Belgian bank...and must spring into action to avoid being fingered as the robber.
SOUL MEN
The late Bernie Mac and Samuel L. Jackson team up to play R&B backup singers who haven’t spoken to one another in 20 years but reluctantly agree to travel cross-country together to perform in a tribute concert for their late bandleader. You’ll see a much slimmer Bernie Mac here as the comedian was ill during filming and died earlier this year at age 50. Soul Men isn’t Mac’s final film, the comedy Old Dogs, co-starring Robin Williams and John Travolta, will be released next April.
ROLE MODELS
When energy drink reps Danny (Paul Rudd) and Wheeler (Seann William Scott) get into legal trouble, Danny’s girlfriend (Elizabeth Banks) manages to get their sentence reduced to community service, meaning the screw-ups become big brothers to two needy kids (Christopher Mintz-Plasse and Bobb’e J. Thompson).
SYNECDOCHE, NEW YORK
Writer Charlie Kaufman’s (Adaptation) directorial debut mines comfortable territory for the self-referential storyteller as Philip Seymour Hoffman plays a navel-gazing playwright who stages a reproduction of his own life.
IL Y A LONGTEMPS QUE JE T’AIME (I’VE LOVED YOU SO LONG)
Brit Kristin Scott Thomas (who lives in France and speaks French fluently) stars in this French drama about a woman who moves in with her sister’s family after spending 15 years in prison. See Kristin Scott Thomas interview.
NOVEMBER 12
SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE
Director Danny Boyle (Trainspotting) examines the foibles of modern-day Indian society with this crowd-pleasing dramedy about the teenage Jamal (Dev Patel), who’s got a crush on Latiko (Freida Pinto), so appears on her favourite TV show, the Hindi version of Who Wants To Be a Millionaire, to get her attention.
NOVEMBER 14
QUANTUM OF SOLACE
James Bond (Daniel Craig) is very, very, upset, and you don’t want to upset a superspy with lethal skills. In this sequel to Casino Royale, Bond is reeling after the death of his true love Vesper Lynd. He enlists the help of MI6’s Agent Fields (Gemma Arterton) and the mysterious Camille (Olga Kurylenko) to help him enact revenge on those responsible. See Gemma Arterton and Olga Kurylenko interview.
Twilight |
NOVEMBER 21
BOLT
Walt Disney’s Animation Studio (Meet the Robinsons, Chicken Little)
has long been overshadowed by the tremendous success of
rival-turned-associate Pixar Animation. However, it hopes to reverse
that trend with this 3D movie about canine Bolt (voiced by John Travolta),
who plays a TV superdog. Bolt believes he really does possess
superpowers, but the truth comes out when he’s stranded and desperately
needs the help of an abandoned housecat (Susie Essman) and a hamster (Mark Walton) to make his way back to Hollywood.
TWILIGHT
Based on the first book of author Stephenie Meyer’s mega-successful series for teens, Twilight focuses on the forbidden love between bloodsucker Edward (Robert Pattinson) and regular old human gal Bella (Kristen Stewart).
They fight their desire for one another while a clan of less loving
vampires, which includes the nasty Victoria (Canadian actor Rachelle Lefevre), want Bella dead. Catherine Hardwicke (Thirteen) directs. See Rachelle Lefevre interview.
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NOVEMBER 26
AUSTRALIA
Aussie director Baz Luhrmann reportedly pitched this sweeping romance as “Titanic on land,” and it worked as Fox Studios provided him a budget of $130-million (which was gobbled up before he finished shooting, leaving him to ask for more money). The film focuses on British aristocrat Lady Ashley (Nicole Kidman), who inherits a sprawling Australian cattle ranch when her husband dies. Left alone and forced to move a huge herd of cattle across the country during WWII, she asks a gruff cattleman (Hugh Jackman) to accompany her on the perilous journey.
FOUR CHRISTMASES
Brad (Vince Vaughn) and Kate (Reese Witherspoon) plan to escape Christmas at home in San Francisco, but those plans are scuttled when their flight is fogged in, meaning they must endure visits to all four of their divorced parents, and their annoying families.
FANBOYS
Who can say no to a dying friend, especially when his final wish is that you drive cross-country with your pals and sneak into George Lucas’ Skywalker Ranch to steal an early copy of Star Wars: Episode I — The Phantom Menace? The Weinstein Company planned to release the nerdy comedy minus the whole “dying friend” subplot. But Star Wars fans put up a stink and Weinstein relented, agreeing to release director Kyle Newman’s original version.
MILK
The buzz is building around director Gus Van Sant’s bio-pic of real-life politician Harvey Milk, and in particular for Sean Penn’s performance as Milk, who in 1977 became the first openly gay man to be elected to office in the U.S. when he won a seat on San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors. Unfortunately, homophobia and hatred prevailed and Milk was gunned down by fellow supervisor Dan White (Josh Brolin).
TRANSPORTER 3
Frank Martin (Jason Statham) doesn’t know how to smile, but he does know how to drive cars and knock heads. In this third installment of the action-packed franchise, Martin has relocated to Paris where he continues to be hired by not-so-nice people to deliver questionable “packages.”
SPECIAL EVENTS ON THE BIG SCREEN
WWE-Pay-Per-View
Survivor Series
Sun., Nov. 23, 8 p.m. ET
It’s mayhem on the mat when wrestlers from Raw, SmackDown and ECW collide at Boston’s TD Banknorth Garden.
Metropolitan Opera
Dr. Atomic (Adams)
Live: Sat., Nov. 8, 1 p.m. ET
Salome (Strauss)
Encore: Sat., Nov. 15, 1 p.m. ET
La Damnation de Faust (Berlioz)
Live: Sat., Nov. 22, 1 p.m. ET