Movie Releases, 9/15

Brian De Palma adapts James Ellroy--count me present! In The Black Dahlia, Josh Hartnett plays a detective looking for the killer of a young starlet played by Mia Kirshner. Based on the true story of Elizabeth Short. Hotties don't stop with Kirshner, though. There's Hilary Swank, who plays a woman who apparently got it on with the actress at one point and now is hopping in the sack with Hartnett, and then there's real life Hartnett squeeze Scarlett Johansson in the flick for good measure, with a steamy scene apparently so escalated that many reviewers have found it distracting through the rest of the movie. Did I say count me present? Also stars Aaron Eckhart--I'm definitely there now.

More football action with Gridiron Gang. The Rock plays a coach who gets a bunch of young thugs together to form a football team. The Rock will probably kick a bunch of guys' asses and then the thugs will learn a valuable lesson about teamwork and life. I will probably still be distracted by the Johansson sex scene if I watch this.

Then, a cartoon I just think is going to suck really, really hard. Everyone's Hero, a looks-cheap digitally animated story about a boy on a quest to help Babe Ruth and the Yankees win the World Series. As history has proved, the Yankees needed all the help they could get. Rob Reiner plays a talking baseball, and William H. Macy and Whoopi Goldberg make a long-awaited Doogal reunion (has it only been six months?). Begun by the late Christopher Reeve, I'm sure this movie was completed more out of sentimental value than anything.

Also, Zach Braff returns in the love-is-a-motherfucker story The Last Kiss, where he seemingly has a great fiancee in Jacinda Barrett, but wants to do Rachel Bilson. Hey--life is hard. There's also more of this theme with Blythe Danner and Tom Wilkinson. Casey Affleck also appears. Written in part by Crash director Paul Haggis, and directed by actor Tony Goldwyn.

Select limited releases apparently coming out:

The U.S. Vs. John Lennon. A documentary about the musician as an antiwar activist.

Artie Lange's Beer League. Is Artie Lange such a megastar that he warrants his name in the title? Talk about delusions of grandeur. Anyway, this is about beer softball and we can only hope it's half as funny as Beerfest. Count me as not enthused. Hey--Ralph Macchio got work!

Quite a few other movies with very limited release patterns--Bob Yari Group, in part responsible for both Crash and The Illusionist, have Haven coming out. A long-shelved movie starring Orlando Bloom and Bill Paxton, among others--involving stolen money, drug dealers, and forbidden love in locales around the world. Intrigue is sure to follow.

A documentary called Jesus Camp. It concerns kids trying to become evangelical preachers.

And, in New York at the IFC, Al Franken's God Spoke arrives on Wednesday. This is a documentary where he calls all right-wingers liars. I'm rolling in the aisles already! Isn't it about time for some right-winger criticism in this country? They have been virtually unscathed for the past 6 years. Anyway, might be funny, who knows? Franken is apparently making an appearance at the IFC to discuss the film on select dates.