8 Mile Eminem makes his screen debut in this semiautobiographical tale of a young man struggling to rap his way out of a damaged background in Detroit. Instead of the usual exploitation quickie, there’s every sign that this is the real deal. With the masterful Curtis Hanson (“L.A. Confidential”) at the helm, a breakthrough performance from Brittany Murphy as the hero’s girlfriend, and Kim Basinger as his trailer-trash mom, the emphasis is on authenticity. The title refers to the road that bounds the wrong side of the tracks in Detroit. But if “8 Mile” turns Eminem into a movie star, will his next CD feature raps about scoring the best table at Spago? S–t, just messin’ wit ya. Universal, Nov. 8.
About Schmidt Acclaimed at Cannes, selected to open the New York Film Festival, Alexander Payne’s follow-up to cult favorite “Election” gives Jack Nicholson a shot for yet another Oscar. He plays a retired, widowed Omaha insurance exec who hits the road in his Winnebago for an unpredictable journey to witness the wedding of his daughter (Hope Davis) to a ponytailed salesman (Dermot Mulroney) he can’t abide. Sly and subtle, Payne is not one to go for the jugular: here he combines his trademark satire (no one has a better ear for the way Middle America talks) with surprising jolts of heartbreak. With Kathy Bates, who’s eager to get Jack alone in a hot tub. New Line, Dec. 13.
Gangs Of New York Daniel Day-Lewis was lured out of semiretirement (he briefly apprenticed to a cobbler in Florence) to play the terrifying Bill the Butcher in Martin Scorsese’s long-awaited, much-delayed–and delayed again–epic about a 19th-century immigrant turf war. During production, Miramax boss Harvey Weinstein and Scorsese engaged in a turf war of their own over the film’s budget ($97 million) and length (the first cut ran nearly four hours). No monster movie has faced such public turmoil since “Titanic.” No predictions yet, but word is that Day-Lewis is mesmerizing, and a bulked-up, vengeance-seeking Leonardo DiCaprio (who gets to romance Cameron Diaz) has shed his waifish youth. Rumored to be gorgeous and ultraviolent, it’s sure to give off scorching Scorsesean sparks. Miramax, Dec. 25.
Adaptation How can you not be excited to see what the creators of “Being John Malkovich”–writer Charlie Kaufman and director Spike Jonze–have come up with now? But it sounds mighty strange. Kaufman was supposed to write an adaptation of Susan Orlean’s nonfiction book “The Orchid Thief,” about a rare-orchid collector. Instead, he wrote a movie about a screenwriter named Charlie Kaufman (Nicolas Cage) and his twin brother (Cage again), who become obsessed with Orlean (Meryl Streep) as the writer struggles to turn her book into a movie. Sony, Dec. 6.
Also Check Out: Hannibal Lecter returns for his third helping in Red Dragon, based on Thomas Harris’s first novel to feature the hungry madman. The cast is delicious: Edward Norton, Ralph Fiennes, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Mary-Louise Parker. Oh, and Anthony Hopkins. Universal, Oct. 4.
Adam Sandler plays it serious–and seriously disturbed–in Paul Thomas Anderson’s utterly original Punch Drunk Love. Sony, Oct. 11.
Pedro Almodovar’s sublime Talk to Her, about two men caring for a pair of comatose women, could land the Spaniard another Oscar. Sony Classics, Nov. 22.
The first Harry Potter film grossed nearly $1 billion worldwide, but are people just as excited for part two, The Chamber of Secrets? Warner Bros., Nov. 15.
We don’t know anyone who isn’t excited about the next installment of Peter Jackson’s “The Lord of the Rings.” The Two Towers promises to be bigger, bolder and bloodier. New Line, Dec. 18.
Steven Spielberg barely gives us a chance to miss him: after June’s “Minority Report,” he’s already back, directing DiCaprio and Tom Hanks in Catch Me if You Can, a caper about a charming young con man and the FBI agent trying to catch him (if he can). DreamWorks, Dec. 25.
And finally, the musical Chicago hits the big screen, with Catherine Zeta-Jones and Renee Zellweger as the two lady killers who sing and dance their cold hearts out. Miramax, Dec. 25.
