Fall Movie Releases - 10/23/09

The Vampire's Assistant

Director Paul Weitz once had a promising career fresh off About a Boy, which still holds up pretty darn well 7 years gone. Since then, things have been shaky for him (American Dreamz, In Good Company) and his brother Chris (The Golden Compass). I'm at least twice as old as I need to be to understand the resurgence of all the vampire crap in popular culture so I won't try. But it would appear John C. Reilly's career is on the way down.


Amelia

Hilary Swank goes for a third Oscar as the most famous aviatrix ever. (Unless that diaper-wearing cross-country traveling astronaut counts.) Ewan McGregor and Richard Gere stand to be completely emasculated by Swank. Mira Nair has visual flair but the drama tends to fall flat. Like Swank's neck on a stool.


Astro Boy

Nicolas Cage's second animated voice work in 3 months is obviously a cry for help. An intervention needs to occur. Kristen Bell and Charlize Theron also provide voices but that's hiding their strong suit(s). For the record, an inventor creates a robot to replace his dead son. The robot goes on to save the world. It's like A.I. meets the superhero genre. Lawyer's online tickets were purchased weeks ago.

Saw 6

I've never seen any of these, not even the first one. But I do remember Tobin Bell in Goodfellas (a Pittsburgh parole officer). And I do remember his remarkable year in 1993, when he played bad guys in The Firm, In the Line of Fire, and Malice. That was the good ol' days when "torture porn" was a mere dream of the most depraved and amoral members of society.