Year of the Woman

Let's start this movie year off right. Let's talk about women -- in film, that is. Oftentimes, women in film act a lot like men in film. (Behold, an almost complete history of men in film, condensed into six words: talking smack and/or cracking skulls.) Of late, however, it has come to this alert critic's attention that sometimes dames are different from dudes. Evidence of this revolutionary theory will abound in your local multiplex throughout 2003.

Since moving pictures are cozily ensconced in their second century (let's call it Cinema Year 115, given that Edison started developing his kinetograph and kinetoscope in 1888), this former novelty now prompts certain expectations. Answering the call, you're sure to get your superheroes and supernerds (X-Men 2 in May, The Hulk in June, Ben Affleck as Daredevil way too soon for comfort), your freak-fests (Richard Benjamin directing Damon Wayans as rapper Dr. Snatchcatcher in Marci X -- August, maybe) and meaningful dramas (Kevin Spacey in Alan Parker's somber The Life of David Gale in February and Sean Penn in Clint Eastwood's somber Mystic River in October). But throughout the dude ranch of the movie business, the eternal feminine will wend its wondrous way.

Cases in point: director McG's Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle (June); Jan De Bont's Lara Croft and the Cradle of Life: Tomb Raider 2 (July); and Charles Herman-Wurmfeld's Legally Blonde 2: Red, White and Blonde (Independence Day weekend, natch). In these three male-directed productions -- featuring the magazine-sellin' likes of Cameron Diaz, Angelina Jolie and Reese Witherspoon -- we will experience the still-apparently-revolutionary concept that young ladies rock. You could also count Jonathan Mostow's Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (July), except it's hard to say if cyborg queen Kristanna Loken's attempted destruction of all humankind could rightly be called "rockin'." (Sexy Scandinavian monster babe? Is this T-3 or Species 3?) Since these romps are all summertime sequels to proven money-spinners (ka-ching!), they require little theorizing here. However, it's quite probable that they'll be kinda fun.

In the slightly deeper end of the Hollywood pool, we'll get Oscar-winner Jennifer Connelly appearing both in the geek-rage manifesto The Hulk from director Ang Lee (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) and House of Sand and Fog (autumn), the feature debut from Russian commercial director Vadim Perelman.

Essentially this year's Spider-Man, Hulk features antipodean actor Eric Bana (Chopper) as the dynamically afflicted Bruce Banner, Nick Nolte as his dad (apparently filling in for Bill Bixby, RIP), Connelly as compassionate girlfriend Betty Ross (what's a monster without a pretty love interest?) and even TV-Hulk Lou Ferrigno in a supporting role (a nice gesture after the Batman producers rudely barred Adam West from the very franchise he helped popularize and sustain). Given Lee's involvement, there'll be emotional sensitivity galore (maybe even the TV show's plangent closing theme, if we're lucky) to balance all the smashing (the bulky Hulk himself will appear courtesy of Lucasfilm's Industrial Light and Magic).

In sharp contrast, Sand and Fog (based on the popular novel by Andre Dubus III) will set Connelly down in a struggle with a bigger, meaner monster: the American dream on the California coast, circa 1991. Playing a disturbed alcoholic, she loses her husband and then -- thanks to tax fumblings -- her house, which is snapped up by an exiled Iranian air force colonel (Ben Kingsley, that crazy Persian!) who wants to provide his family with comfortable American assimilation. The problem is, Connelly's character wants her house back. Featuring Ron Eldard (Ghost Ship) and Iranian star Shohreh Aghdashloo (Surviving Paradise), the film is certain to provoke issues of property and women's rights, which could be why Oprah -- who lives part-time up the road in one of the biggest spreads in Santa Barbara -- dug the book so much.

There will be plenty more movies by, for and about women in 2003. Director Linda Mendoza's comedy Chasing Papi (May), will feature Maria Conchita Alonso and mega-percussionist Sheila E. in the tale of a three-timing wannabe pimp daddy who gets his comeuppance. More scholarly in scope will be Mona Lisa Smile (November), wherein Julia Roberts, Julia Stiles and Kirsten Dunst hang around a pretty East Coast college campus in the 1950s, forming a sort of Dead Poetesses Society. In addition, be sure not to miss Lynne Ramsay's poignant portrait of lost girl Morvern Callar as the gutsy Scottish film gradually opens across the country.

Also on the radar are Catalin Saizescu's Romanian import, Queen Cleopatra's Secret (Secretul reginei Cleopatra) and a weird little movie called May (January, in limited release), starring Angela Bettis as a lonely girl with a nasty Frankenstein complex. The black comic-horror project from fledgling feature director Lucky McKee plays its icky adolescent card a bit thuddingly, but it's elegantly directed and could hold some appeal for fans of Peter Jackson's darkly wonderful Heavenly Creatures.

That's just a taste of feminine film in '03, but we'd better get to the rip-snortin' dude movies. First let's toot our own horn: Inspired by the feature story of the same name by former Los Angeles New Times writer Michael Gougis comes Reggie Rock Bythewood's Biker Boyz (January), with Laurence Fishburne and newcomer Derek Luke (Antwone Fisher) battling through the California desert to prove who rides a motorcycle the coolest. If that gets your blood pumping, see also rapper Ludacris in John Singleton's 2 Fast 2 Furious (June), and Robert Rodriguez's Once Upon a Time In Mexico: Desperado 2 (autumn), which reteams Frida stars Salma Hayek and Antonio Banderas.