Is it too early to talk about fall yet?

So even if there are a couple movies out this summer that seem promising (especially Brad Bird's Ratatouille, which I hope to see this weekend) , but this fall is shaping up to be incredible. In addition to Eastern Promises, which I wrote about yesterday, there are an incredible amount of great films bowing later this year. In my rough order of excitement:

1. The Darjeeling Limited
The new Wes Anderson, and his first sence The Life Aquatic, a film that grows more on me as time goes by. This seems to be another interesting step for Wes, carving out this odd subgenre of the whimsical adventure film. I know that many people, especially those over the age of about 35, seem to not be on his wavelength, but if you talk to the iPod generation he is clearly doing something that speaks to us. His The Royal Tennenbaums is amongst my favorite movies of the decade.

No trailer, so here is the great Wes Anderson AmEx ad from this year:




2. No Country for Old Men
The reports from Cannes have the Coens back on track, though I will defend Intolerable Cruelty from anyone. I am always happy to see their Miller's Crossing side come out again. Based on a novel by the currently en vogue (and recently Pulitzered) Cormac McCarthy, it looks like an absolute showcase for Javier Bardem, though I hear that Josh Brolin steals the show. Not too surprising if you've seen Grindhouse, where he is a blast.




3. There Will be Blood
Punch Drunk Love is the best romantic comedy of the decade, and Magnolia still works almost a decade later, especially during the brilliant John C Reilly scenes. This new film is based on an Upton Sinclair novel and stars Daniel Day Lewis, all good signs. This is by far the biggest film of Anderson's career in scope, let's hope he can handle a canvas this size.


4. Flight of the Red Balloon
Hou Hisao Hsien made a film outside Taiwan? And its in English? And its a remake of the classic short Le ballon rouge? I have to see this.


5. Leatherheads
With echoes of Harold Lloyd's classic The Freshman, the next film from George Clooney as a writer-director-actor is a comedy set in the world of 1920s football. The F. Scott Fitzgerald fan in me is very excited about that setting, and with a script co-written by Clooney and Stephen Soderbergh this might be incredibly fun. Even with the presence of Rene Zellweger.

Again no trailer yet, so how about some vintage "Facts of Life" featuring Clooney:


6. Brief Interview with Hideous Men
So "The Office"'s John Krasinski has adapted and directed a film of a book of avant-garde David Foster Wallace short stories? DFW is one of my favorite authors, but how could this possibly work? The jury is still out on if this could be a film, but the cast is certainly solid: Krasinski, Julianne Nicholson, Will Forte, Christopher Meloni, Josh Charles, and Rashida Jones. Still, how the hell did this get greenlit?

For video on this one, let go with this bit of Roger Federer: