ALPHA & OMEGA
RELEASE DATE: SEPTEMBER 17
DIRECTORS: ANTHONY BELL AND BEN GLUCK
CAST: (VOICES OF) JUSTIN LONG, HAYDEN PANETTIERE, CHRISTINA RICCI, DANNY GLOVER
This film is Romeo & Juliet meets Lady and the Tramp meets Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey. If this were a Pixar movie, that might be something to be excited about. But it’s not. The film follows a pair of wolves: Kate (Panettiere), daughter of the pack’s Alpha male, and Humphrey (Long), a lowly Omega wolf. Yes, it’s the whole two-lovers-from-opposite-sides-of-the-tracks formula. When Kate and Humphrey are kidnapped by a park ranger, relocated and expected to mate to repopulate an Idaho reserve, things get a tad bit uncomfortable. This film is rated PG for scary scenes and adult wolf situations.

THE AMERICAN
RELEASE DATE: SEPTEMBER 1
DIRECTOR: ANTON CORBIJN
CAST: GEORGE CLOONEY, THEKLA REUTEN, BRUCE ALTMAN, VIOLANTE PLACIDO
What do you think George Clooney smells like? I bet he wears Caesers Man Cologne. (Google it.) The American borrows a little bit of something from quite a few movies of that same heisty, European, action, murdery, spy genre. Clooney (Ocean’s 11) plays an assassin named Jack, who vows to take only one more job after his previous assignment goes badly (In Bruges). Jack hides in Italy (The Italian Job), where he awaits orders, befriends a priest (The Omen) and falls for a sweet local woman (Bourne Identity). Will Jack’s attempts at assimilation (Borat) blow his cover, or will he succeed in completing his assignment and get the girl (Never Been Kissed)?

DEVIL
RELEASE DATE: SEPTEMBER 17
DIRECTORS: DREW AND JOHN ERICK DOWDLE
CAST: CHRIS MESSINA, GEOFFREY AREND, LOGAN MARSHALL-GREEN, JENNY O’HARA
As the trailer so tragically puts it, this film is a “new nightmare from the mind of M. Night Shyamalan.” If you haven’t seen the YouTube video of an audience groaning at the mention of his name during the film‘s preview, do yourself a favor and watch it. I experienced this reaction first-hand. In Philadelphia. M. Night’s hometown. Remember when people thought he was a genius? This film, the first in a supposed trilogy called The Night Chronicles, follows seven people who are trapped in an elevator together. Turns out, one of the seven is Satan himself. The questions are 1) Which person is it? and 2) Will he or she let the others survive?

EASY A
RELEASE DATE: SEPTEMBER 17
DIRECTOR: WILL GLUCK
CAST: EMMA STONE, PENN BADGLEY,
AMANDA BYNES, CAM GIGANDET
When Amanda Bynes retired from acting at the young age of 24 and then un-retired a month later at the age of 24, she had only one thing to say via Twitter: “easy A. check it out :)” OK, we will, but only because you asked nicely, albeit with total disregard for capitalization. Easy A follows the story of Olive (Stone), a total dork who fake screws a gay guy to help his reputation. Unfortunately, it’s Olive’s reputation that takes a hit as she is branded a slut by the rest of the school, just like the Puritan chick in The Scarlet Letter. Despite all this, Olive continues to fake service other town dorks until a charming Abercrombie model (Badgley) shows her that there’s more to life than pretending to have sex with strangers.

LEGEND OF THE GUARDIANS:  THE OWLS OF GA’HOOLE
RELEASE DATE: SEPTEMBER 24
DIRECTOR: ZACK SNYDER
CAST: (VOICES OF) JIM STURGESS, GEOFFREY RUSH, EMILIE DE RAVIN, HELEN MIRREN
Who would have guessed that the director of Dawn of the Dead, 300 and Watchmen would go on to make an animated movie based on a kids book series about owls? The plot centers on a mischievous young owl named Soren and his mean older brother, Kludd. Both owls clumsily wind up in the hands of a group of predators known only as the Pure Ones. If these brave little owls are to stand any chance of survival, they must escape from their captors and enlist the help of the mythical band of owl warriors: The Guardians of Ga’Hoole. This film is based on the first three installments of the Guardians series, “The Capture,” “The Journey” and “The Rescue.”

MACHETE
RELEASE DATE: SEPTEMBER 3
DIRECTOR: ROBERT RODRIGUEZ
CAST: DANNY TREJO, ROBERT DE NIRO,
JESSICA ALBA, MICHELLE RODRIGUEZ
The 2007 Grindhouse double feature, directed by Rodriguez and Quentin Tarentino, featured a handful of explicit faux movie trailers, including Thanksgiving, Don’t and Machete. Now expanded to a real, full kick-ass film, Machete follows a renegade Mexican federale named Machete Cortez. Machete accepts a murder-for-hire contract in which the assassin is tasked with eliminating a corrupt Texas senator (De Niro), who is sending Mexican immigrants out of the country. When Machete is double-crossed by the people he trusted, he must go on a killing rampage to get the job done. Fun fact: The Machete character appeared in the Spy Kids franchise as the young agents’ uncle.

THE TOWN
RELEASE DATE: SEPTEMBER 17
DIRECTOR: BEN AFFLECK
CAST: BEN AFFLECK, BLAKE LIVELY, JEREMY RENNER, REBECCA HALL
Based on the Chuck Hogan novel Prince of Thieves, The Town is Affleck’s second attempt at directing a film. I thoroughly enjoyed Ben’s directorial debut, Gone Baby Gone, and have high hopes for this film, which could be a wicked pissah. The movie follows four Massachusetts-area bank robbers as they woo women and evade a shark-like FBI agent, played by Mad Men’s Jon Hamm. The cast alone would be reason enough to see the movie. The cleavage-tastic Lively plays a junkie, Hurt Locker star Renner (who will play Hawkeye in Marvel’s Avengers) plays a fellow crook and Vicky Cristina Barcelona star Hall continues to do Liv Tyler better than Liv Tyler.

WALL STREET: MONEY NEVER SLEEPS
RELEASE DATE: SEPTEMBER 24
DIRECTOR: OLIVER STONE
CAST: SHIA LABEOUF, CAREY MULLIGAN, MICHAEL DOUGLAS, FRANK LANGELLA
In April (the film’s original month of release), I said I would sooner see a sequel to Andy Kaufman’s Heartbeeps than a continuation of the Wall Street saga. But after seeing the slick and engaging trailer, I realize I may have misjudged this film’s potential. Set 23 years after the events of the 1987’s Wall Street, the movie begins with the release of Gordon Gekko (Douglas) from prison. After failing to warn Wall Street about the impending economic disaster, Gekko attempts to repair his relationship with his estranged daughter (Mulligan) and takes to mentoring her fiance, Jacob (LaBeouf), an ambitious young trader. Josh Brolin plays the film’s villain, a hedge fund manager who may have killed Jake’s former mentor.

YOU AGAIN
RELEASE DATE: SEPTEMBER 24
DIRECTOR: ANDY FICKMAN
CAST: KRISTEN BELL, SIGOURNEY WEAVER, JAMIE LEE CURTIS, ODETTE YUSTMAN
A young girl named Marni (Bell) discovers that her brother is marrying her bitchy high school rival, Joanna (Yustman), and sets out to destroy her. Ironically enough, Marni’s mom (Curtis) and Joanna’s aunt (Weaver) were also high school rivals (oh snap!), which sparks an all-out war between these feuding families. Betty White continues her comeback tour as a character named Grandma Bunny. If the name Odette Yustman sounds familiar to Fly readers, it’s because we interviewed the Megan Fox-alike for her January 2009 horror film The Unborn. If the name Odette Yustman doesn’t sound familiar to you, it’s because she starred in the January 2009 horror film The Unborn.

By David Onda