As the summer's frivolous releases slowly give way in the multiplexes, the autumn movie schedule is shaping up to be a promising selection of star-driven dramas about serious issues - including several on the Iraq war, writes Michael Dwyer
SEPTEMBER 14
3:10 TO YUMA
James Mangold's remake of the 1957 western, based on an Elmore Leonard story, stars Christian Bale as a struggling rancher determined to bring in a notorious criminal (Russell Crowe).
DISTURBIA
In a contemporary spin on Rear Window, a troubled teen (Shia LaBeouf), who is under house arrest, suspects that his neighbour is a serial killer. Guess what? Nobody believes him.
SUPERBAD
Knocked Up star Seth Rogan co-writes and features in a coarse comedy charting the misadventures of three teen nerds (male, of course) over a single day and night.
DECEMBER BOYS
Daniel Radcliffe takes a break from playing Harry Potter for a coming-of-age picture about Australian teen orphans in the 1960s.
THE SERPENT
Eric Barbier's thriller transposes a Ted Lewis novel from 1960s England to present-day France, where a fashion photographer (Yvan Attal) becomes the next target of a psychotic blackmailer (Clovis Cornillac).
SHOOT 'EM UP
The action in this thriller begins when a man (Clive Owen) delivers a baby during a shoot-out and has to protect the child from hitmen. With Paul Giamatti and Monica Bellucci.
IN THE HANDS OF THE GODS
A documentary following five young US soccer fans to Buenos Aires, where they hope to meet their idol, Diego Maradonna.
EDMOND
A New York executive (William H Macy) experiences a dark night of the soul in Stuart Gordon's film of David Mamet's one-act play.
SEPTEMBER 21
KINGS
Colm Meaney, Donal O'Kelly and Brendan Conroy head the cast of Tom Collins's bilingual drama dealing with Connemara men who went to England as emigrants and are reunited 30 years later for a wake when one of them dies.
A MIGHTY HEART
Michael Winterbottom dramatises the search for Wall Street Journal reporter Danny Pearl (Dan Futterman) when he is abducted in Karachi. Angelina Jolie plays his journalist wife.
DEATH PROOF
Women sit around effusively spouting expletives in Quentin Tarantino's B-movie pastiche, a two-part yarn in which a grizzled Kurt Russell plays the linking character, a misogynistic stuntman.
I NOW PRONOUNCE YOU CHUCK AND LARRY
Adam Sandler and Kevin James play heterosexual firemen posing as gay to pull off a financial scam. With Jessica Biel and Steve Buscemi.
SPARKLE
In Tom Hunsinger and Neil Hunter's engaging serious comedy, a cabaret singer (Lesley Manville) is drawn to a lonely bachelor (Bob Hoskins), while her son (Shaun Evans) gets involved with a PR manager (Stockard Channing).
EVENING
Lajos Koltai's film of Susan Minot's novel features Vanessa Redgrave as a dying matriarch and Claire Danes as her younger self. With Glenn Close, Meryl Streep, Toni Collette, Natasha Richardson and Patrick Wilson.
SEPTEMBER 28
THE BRAVE ONE
Neil Jordan's New York thriller features Jodie Foster as a radio presenter who turns vigilante after she and her fiance (Naveen Andrews) are brutally attacked in Central Park. With Terrence Howard.
ACROSS THE UNIVERSE
Director Julie Taymor draws on a wealth of Beatles songs and references for her picture of Jude (Jim Sturgess), a young Liverpudlian, discovering the counter-culture in late 1960s New York and falling in love with Lucy (Evan Rachel Wood).
MICHAEL CLAYTON
Tony Gilroy, who wrote the Bourne trilogy, turns director with this legal drama starring George Clooney as the specialist doing his firm's dirty work. With Tilda Swinton, Tom Wilkinson and Sydney Pollack.
ROCKET SCIENCE
Director Jeffrey Blitz follows the spelling bee documentary Spellbound with a calculatedly quirky picture of teen angst set among ambitious high school debaters.
THE SINGER
Gérard Depardieu does all his own singing as an ageing, divorced dance-hall performer who falls for an estate agent (Cécile de France) less than half his age.
YELLA
Nina Hoss was voted best actress at this year's Berlin festival for her portrayal of a troubled young businesswoman, in Christian Petzold's metaphysical thriller.
MR WOODCOCK
A comedy with Seann William Scott as young man determined to stop his mother (Susan Sarandon) from marrying the gym teacher (Billy Bob Thornton) who gave him a hard time at high school.
WAR
Action doubtless will speak louder than words when an FBI agent (Jason Statham) seeks revenge on his partner's killer (Jet Li).
HOT ROD
An amateur stuntman (Andy Samberg) plans to clear 15 buses to fund a heart operation for his abusive stepfather (Ian McShane).
KENNY
A man who installs toilets is the subject of this Australian mockumentary.
HALLOWEEN
John Carpenter's 1978 horror movie gets the remake treatment from director Rob Zombie, whose wife Sheri Moon-Zombie joins Malcolm McDowell in the cast.
OCTOBER 5
GARAGE
Pat Shortt demonstrates his dramatic range as a small-town misfit in a quietly powerful film from the Adam & Paul team of director Lenny Abrahamson and screenwriter Mark O'Halloran.
CONTROL
Relative newcomer Sam Riley brings the late Joy Division singer Ian Curtis vividly to life, on and off the stage, in Anton Corbijn's touching portrait of the artist as an angry young man.
THE KINGDOM
Jamie Foxx, Chris Cooper, Jennifer Garner and Jason Bateman play FBI agents teaming up with a Saudi colonel (Ashraf Barhom) to track down a terrorist bomber in Riyadh. Peter Berg directs.
AND WHEN DID YOU LAST SEE YOUR FATHER?
Anand Tucker's drama explores the relationship between author Blake Morrison (Colin Firth) and his ailing father (Jim Broadbent).
DAY WATCH
The second film in Timur Bekmanbetov's trilogy, which began with Night Watch, continues the conflict between the forces of light and darkness in contemporary Moscow.
THE HEARTBREAK KID
Peter and Bobby Farrelly's remake of Neil Simon 1972 romantic comedy stars Ben Stiller as a man falling for another woman while on his honeymoon. With Michelle Monaghan.
OCTOBER 12
RATATOUILLE
In Pixar's inventive, charming animated comedy, a young rat reveals outstanding culinary skills in Paris. The voice cast notably includes Peter O'Toole as a snooty food critic named Anton Ego.
THE NANNY DIARIES
The new film from Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini, who made American Splendor, is a comedy starring Scarlett Johansson as a college student working as a nanny to a spoiled brat.
THE COUNTERFEITERS
Stefan Ruzowitzy's absorbing, fact-based drama deals with concentration camp prisoners made to forge money for the Nazis.
MR BROOKS
This sounds very strange indeed. Kevin Costner plays a successful businessman living a secret life as a serial killer, egged on by an imaginary friend (William Hurt), and with a millionaire detective (Demi Moore) on his trail.
THE INVASION
Contemporary spin on Invasion of the Body Snatchers, starring Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig.
BLACK SHEEP
A genetic engineering experiment goes disastrously wrong in Jonathan King's New Zealand splatter comedy.
RESIDENT EVIL: EXTINCTION
Milla Jovovich is back in action for the finale of the trilogy based on a video game.
OCTOBER 19
RENDITION
Tsotsi director Gavin Hood's film follows the quest of an American (Reese Witherspoon) to find her Egyptian-born husband (Omar Metwally) held at a secret detention centre outside the US. With Jake Gyllenhaal, Meryl Streep and Peter Sarsgaard.
RAZZLE DAZZLE
Ben Miller and Kerry Armstrong head the cast of Darren Ashton's over-the-top Australian mockumentary set on the contest circuit for pre-teen dancers.
STARDUST
Director Matthew Vaughn (Layer Cake) assembles a diverse cast for a romantic fantasy-adventure: Claire Danes, Charlie Cox, Michelle Pfeiffer, Peter O'Toole, Sienna Miller, Ricky Gervais and, as a cross-dressing sea captain, Robert De Niro.
NANCY DREW
Emma Roberts (daughter of Eric and niece of Julia) plays the teen detective discovering clues to a murder-mystery involving a movie star.
THE DARK IS RISING
An 11-year-old boy learns he is the last in a line of warriors and that no less than the future of the world depends on him. With Ian McShane, Frances Conroy and Christopher Eccleston.
DADDY DAY CAMP
Cuba Gooding Jr takes over from Eddie Murphy in the sequel to inane comedy Daddy Day Care.
THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS 3-D
The appealing 1993 animated feature produced by Tim Burton returns in digital 3-D.
OCTOBER 26
THE ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES BY THE COWARD ROBERT FORD
New Zealander Andrew Dominik (Chopper) directs Brad Pitt and Sam Shepard as bank-robbing brothers Jesse and Frank James, and Casey Affleck as Ford.
EASTERN PROMISES
David Cronenberg follows A History of Violence with another crime thriller starring Viggo Mortensen, this time set among Russian gangsters in London. With Naomi Watts and Vincent Cassel.
SICKO
The target of Michael Moore's new polemic is the US health- care system. Adhering to a now-familiar formula, he draws on statistical data, human experience and humour to make his points.
THE WITNESSES
Set in mid-1980s Paris, André Téchiné's compelling drama follows the complicated relationships of four characters - Emmanuelle Béart, Sami Bouajila, Michel Blanc and Johan Libéreau - before the spectre of Aids looms.
SAW IV
Expect much more gore as the horror franchise, now a Halloween staple, continues.
NOVEMBER 2
ELIZABETH: THE GOLDEN AGE
In a sequel that actually looks promising, director Shekhar Kapur continues the story begun in Elizabeth (1998) with Cate Blanchett returning as the queen, Clive Owen as Walter Raleigh and Samantha Morton as Mary Stuart.
DEATH AT A FUNERAL
Matthew Macfadyen, Rupert Graves and Peter Dinklage feature in Frank Oz's dark comedy set over a family reunion.
30 DAYS OF NIGHT
Set in an Alaskan town plunged into darkness every winter, this graphic novel adaptation stars Josh Hartnett as a sheriff tackling visiting vampires.
IN THE SHADOW OF THE MOON
This documentary charts the history of the Apollo moon landings and features most of the surviving astronauts.
NOVEMBER 9
LIONS FOR LAMBS
Robert Redford, who also directs, plays a professor who learns that two of his students are marooned in Afghanistan. Tom Cruise co-stars as a Republican senator trying to persuade a journalist (Meryl Streep) to promote his pro-Iraq war views.
INTO THE WILD
Sean Penn's fourth film as director observes the experiences of a 1990 college graduate (Emile Hirsch) who drops out of society and seeks spiritual fulfilment in Alaska.
PARANOID PARK
The protagonist of Gus Van Sant's minimalist movie is an alienated teen (Gabe Nevis) in a moral dilemma when suspected of killing a railway security guard.
SHROOMS
Director Paddy Breathnach ventures into the horror genre with a tale of US college students on an Irish holiday who bite off more than they can chew, so to speak, when they take magic mushrooms in a remote wood.
INTERVIEW
Steve Buscemi directs and stars in the US remake of Theo Van Gogh's Dutch movie as a veteran political journalist irked when assigned to interview a TV soap star (Sienna Miller).
SILK
François Girard's erotic historical drama features Michael Pitt as a 19th-century French merchant attempting to do business in Japan. Keira Knightley plays his wife.
THE BAND'S VISIT
Eran Kolirin's well-regarded debut film explores cross-cultural relations when an Egyptian police band is stranded in a remote Israeli town.
SAAWARIYA
Romance blossoms in a Bollywood treatment of the Dosteovsky story White Nights.
GOOD LUCK CHUCK
A dentist (Dane Cook), the victim of a hex in childhood, is unable to find a woman to marry until he meets an accident-prone penguin specialist (Jessica Alba). No kidding.
NOVEMBER 16
BEOWULF
Robert Zemeckis directs a lavish, hi-tech adventure based on the Old English epic poem and starring Ray Winstone in the title role alongside Anthony Hopkins, John Malkovich, Brendan Gleeson, Alison Lohman and Angelina Jolie.
HOW ABOUT YOU
Anthony Byrne (Short Order) directs a Maeve Binchy adaptation, with Hayley Atwell as a young woman left in charge of a residential home over Christmas. The cast includes Vanessa Redgrave, Imelda Staunton, Joss Ackland, Brenda Fricker, Orla Brady and the late Joan O'Hara.
AMERICAN GANGSTER
After the success of Gladiator and the debacle of A Good Year, Ridley Scott teams up with Russell Crowe again for a fact-based, 1970s-set thriller. Crowe stars as a detective on the trail of a notorious drug dealer (Denzel Washington).
BRICK LANE
Sarah Gavron's film of Monica Ali's novel features Tannishtha Chatterjee as a Bangladeshi immigrant to London, trapped in an unhappy arranged marriage.
THE JANE AUSTEN BOOK CLUB
Maria Bello, Hugh Dancy, Emily Blunt, Kathy Baker and Kevin Zegers feature in Robert Swicord's US drama of characters drawn together by their admiration for Austen's novels.
NOVEMBER 23
AUGUST RUSH
Kirtsen Sheridan's second feature (after Disco Pigs) stars Freddie Highmore as an orphaned musical prodigy seeking out his parents (Keri Russell and Jonathan Rhys Meyers). With Robin Williams and Terrence Howard.
SLEUTH
Kenneth Branagh directs Harold Pinter's adaptation of the Anthony Shaffer play, first filmed in 1972 with Laurence Olivier and Michael Caine as a wealthy writer and a struggling actor in a battle of wits. Caine now plays the older man, co-starring with Jude Law.
THE DARJEELING LIMITED
Owen Wilson, Adrien Brody and Jason Schwartzman play estranged brothers on a spiritual quest through India that goes wrong. Wes Anderson directs.
GONE BABY GONE
Ben Affleck's directing debut stars his brother Casey Affleck and Michelle Monaghan as Boston private investigators in search of a kidnapped four-year-old girl.
THE HUNTING PARTY
Richard Gere and Terrence Howard play seasoned TV journalists teaming up with a rookie reporter (Jesse Eisenberg) to track down a Bosnian war criminal. Richard Shepard (The Matador) directs.
NOVEMBER 30
RESCUE DAWN
In Werner Herzog's gritty, fact-based film set early during the Vietnam war, Christian Bale is reliably adventurous as a German-born US Navy pilot who crashlands in Laos.
TALK TO ME
Don Cheadle plays a real-life Washington DC DJ who becomes a voice for black Americans in the 1960s.
HITMAN
Timothy Olyphant plays a professional assassin who himself becomes a target while on assignment in eastern Europe. With Dougray Scott.
STRANGERS
Liv Tyler and Scott Speedman play a couple whose remote home is besieged by masked attackers.
FRED CLAUS
Overshadowed by his brother Nicholas/Santa (Paul Giamatti), Fred (Vince Vaughn) turns to crime in a comedy with Judi Dench and Kevin Spacey.
THIS CHRISTMAS
Nia Long and Delroy Lindo feature in a comedy set during a family reunion.
DECEMBER 7
THE GOLDEN COMPASS
Together again after The Invasion (see October 12, above), Daniel Craig and Nicole Kidman star in Chris Weitz's effects-driven adventure based on Philip Pullman's best-selling novel, published here as Northern Lights.
YOUTH WITHOUT YOUTH
Francis Ford Coppola's first film as a director in 10 years is a romantic mystery set in pre-war 1930s Europe. Starring Tim Roth, Alexandra Maria Lara and Bruno Ganz.
THE KILLING OF JOHN LENNON
Andrew Piddington's film explores the psyche of Mark Chapman (Jonas Ball) who murdered the ex-Beatle in December 1980.
DECEMBER 14
BEE MOVIE
In the new DreamWorks animated comedy, Jerry Seinfeld provides the voice of a bee (named Barry B Benson) falling for a florist (Renée Zellweger).
MR MAGORIUM'S WONDER EMPORIUM
Dustin Hoffman plays the 243-year-old owner of a store where the toys come to life when infused by his spirit. Natalie Portman is the very much younger manager.
THE AIR I BREATHE
Jieho Lee's drama interlinks the fates of a gambler (Forest Whitaker), a gangster (Brendan Fraser), a doctor (Kevin Bacon) and a pop star (Sarah Michelle Gellar). With Andy Garcia, Julie Delpy and Emile Hirsch.
ENCHANTED
Amy Adams, Susan Sarandon, Patrick Dempsey and James Marsden lead the cast of Disney's partly animated romantic comedy in which a young princess is banished to present-day Manhattan.
DECEMBER 21
PS I LOVE YOU
Hilary Swank reunites with Freedom Writers director Richard LaGravenese for the movie of Cecilia Ahern's novel. Swank plays the grieving widow finding messages left by her husband (Gerard Butler) to ease her pain.
ST TRINIAN'S
The 1950s British comedy series set at a girls' school gets an updating with Rupert Everett in a dual role (one as the headmistress). Russell Brand and Girls Aloud also feature.
ALVIN AND THE CHIPMUNKS
The cartoon characters move in with a struggling songwriter (Jason Lee) and become a musical sensation with his songs, but fame goes to their heads.
DECEMBER 26
THE KITE RUNNER
In Marc Foster's film, shot in the Dari dialect with a cast of unknowns, an Afghan immigrant returns from the US to Kabul in search of his childhood friend.
BALLS OF FURY
A ping-pong tournament is the setting for a comedy spoof with Dan Fogler and Christopher Walken.
DECEMBER 28
MY BLUEBERRY NIGHTS
Wong Kar-wai's visually stylish English-language debut stars singer Norah Jones (see cover photograph with Jude Law) as a lovelorn waitress who's as naive as the film itself.
Release dates are subject to change
