EXILED
Cast: Anthony Wong, Francis Ng, Simon Yam, Lam Suet
Director: Johnnie To
Four hired killers descend on the house of a fellow bad guy. Two want to kill him; two want to save him. There's a gunfight. No one dies. All five sit down to dinner. Resume. Sergio Leone meets the Coen Brothers in this modern Western from virtuoso director To. (Magnolia) Opens New York and Los Angeles August 24, and additional cities August 31.
GOOD LUCK CHUCK
Cast: Dane Cook, Jessica Alba
Director: Mark Helfrich
Poor Chuck (Cook) becomes a babe magnet for all the wrong reasons after word gets out that for some mysterious reason any woman who sleeps with him is destined to fall in love with the next man she meets. (Lionsgate) Opens nationwide.
THE HOTTEST STATE
Cast: Catalina Sandino Moreno, Laura Linney, Mark Webber, Michelle Williams, Sonia Braga, Ethan Hawke
Director: Ethan Hawke
Hawke wrote and directed this adaptation of his 1996 novel, and Webber stars as a 20-year-old New York actor who meets a young singer (Moreno), takes her to Mexico City, and before long, regrets it. (ThinkFilm) Opens New York and Los Angeles August 24, with additional cities to follow.
AUGUST 31
BALLS OF FURY
Cast: Dan Fogler, Christopher Walken, George Lopez, Maggie Q.
Director: Robert Ben Garant
At the behest of the FBI, agent Randy Daytona (Fogler), a former ping-pong champ, re-enters the fray on a secret mission to defeat his father's arch rival and possible killer (Walken). Watching Walken ping his pong may be worth the price of admission. (Rogue) Opens nationwide.
DEATH SENTENCE
Cast: Kevin Bacon
Director: James Wan
A new adaptation of a 1975 novel by Brian Garfield, which was a sequel to Garfield's earlier novel, Death Wish, the book that spawned a hit film for tough guy Charles Bronson. In this updated version, a businessman (Bacon) turns vigilante after a street gang attacks his family. Bronson, Bacon, same diff. (Fox) Opens nationwide.
HALLOWEEN
Cast: Malcolm McDowell, Brad Dourif, Scout Taylor-Compton, Tyler Mane
Director: Rob Zombie
In what amounts to sacrilege to many serious horror fans (including this one), rocker turned filmmaker Rob Zombie (House of 1000 Corpses) remakes John Carpenter's 1978 horror classic, sending young Michael Myers out into his suburban neighborhood, slashing wildly, but with more psychological justification, or so promises Mr. Zombie. (Weinstein) Opens nationwide.
MR. BEAN'S HOLIDAY
Cast: Rowan Atkinson
Director: Steve Bendelack
Mr. Bean enters a church raffle and wins a vacation to France, where he wreaks his distinct brand of havoc, including separating a father and son and getting mistaken for a kidnapper. Expect a wacky finale at a fictionalized version of the Cannes Film Festival, which is as close as films about Mr. Bean are likely to get to the real event. (Universal) Opens nationwide.
THE BROTHERS SOLOMON
Cast: Will Arnett, Will Forte, Chi McBride
Director: Bob Odenkirk
Saturday Night Live's two Wills — Arnett and Forte (who scripted) — play not particularly bright brothers who want to fulfill their dying father's wish for a grandchild. One problem: They can't talk to women. (Screen Gems) Opens nationwide.
THE WEDDING DIRECTOR
Cast: Sergio Castellitto, Donatella Finocchiaro
Director: Marco Bellocchio
A film director (Castellitto) on the run from family drama escapes to a small village in Sicily where he accepts a nobleman's offer to shoot his daughter's wedding. This being Italy, the director promptly falls in love with the bride. (New Yorker Films) Opens New York, with additional cities to follow.
AUGUST (date to be determined)
BLAME IT ON FIDEL
Cast: Nina Kervel-Bey, Julie Depardieu, Stefano Accorsi
Director: Julie Gavras
In 1970s Paris, a nine-year-old girl (Kervel-Bey) finds herself left to nannies and a houseful of noisy revolutionaries while her parents devote themselves to radical causes. (Koch Lorber)
