It has been a truly forgettable summer in which most of the movies were as dull as the weather, and some of them, especially The Avengers, were simply unspeakably bad. Happily, as the evenings get longer and the children go back to school, special-effects-driven blockbusters are being replaced by movies for grown-ups at cinemas across the country. From the wide range of films set to open here from September to November, here is a selection of 20 worth noting for various reasons. They are listed in the order in which they are scheduled to be released here, although some opening dates may change.
Saving Private Ryan
September 11th
Steven Spielberg has produced one of the crowning achievements of his film career with this harrowing and remarkable anti-war movie which remains riveting throughout its 170 minutes. It is bookended by extraordinary battle scenes of mayhem and cacophonous chaos which make for chilling and often shocking viewing, beginning with the D-Day landings on Omaha Beach in Normandy, filmed at Curracloe, Co Wexford last summer.
Tom Hanks is memorably cast as the paternal captain leading a calculatedly ethnic mix of GIs played by Matt Damon, Giovanni Ribisi, Barry Pepper, Edward Burns, Adam Goldberg, and most impressively, Tom Sizemore and Jeremey Davies.
Love is the Devil
September 18th
The volatile gay artist, Francis Bacon, is the subject of an impressive, impressionistic portrait in John Maybury's film. Set in 1960s London, it focuses on the tempestuous sevenyear relationship between Bacon and George Dyer, the minor east-end criminal whom he first encounters as a burglar. He soon becomes his lover in a sado-masochistic relationship.
These disturbing drink-and-pills-soaked days are vividly brought to life by Daniel Craig (from Our Friends in the North) as Dyer, and in the sublime and complex portrayal of Bacon by Derek Jacobi, who, in one of many memorable scenes, brushes his teeth with Vim and colours his hair with shoe polish.
Dancing at Lughnasa
September 25th
The spellbinding, beautifully crafted and superbly acted film version of Brian Friel's Tony award-winning play, dealing with five sisters in Co Donegal in the mid-1930s, has been judiciously adapted for the screen by Frank McGuinness and is sensitively directed by Pat O'Connor. The exemplary cast features Meryl Streep, Kathy Burke, Sophie Thompson, Brid Brennan, Catherine McCormack, Rhys Ifans and Michael Gambon. The music, at its most effective in the thrilling scene when the sisters dance together, is by Bill Whelan.
There's Something About Mary
September 25th
Taste, to paraphrase Mae West, has nothing to do with this provocative comedy, a huge hit in the US, which has something to offend just about everyone. It's directed by brothers Bobby and Peter Farrelly and anyone who has seen their Dumb and Dumber and Kingpin will have an idea of what to expect. Cameron Diaz is characteristically radiant as a young woman who is the object of desire for a number of men, played by Ben Stiller, Matt Dillon, Lee Evans and Chris Elliott.
The Spanish Prisoner
September 25th
David Mamet's sly, deliciously clever comedy teasingly unravels a narrative which returns him to the confidence tricksters' milieu of his House of Games. Campbell Scott plays a trusting man who devises a lucrative invention for the mysterious company which employs him. Steve Martin is the high-living stranger who queries how appreciative Scott's employers are of his work, and Rebecca Pidgeon is the secretary who increases Scott's insecurity. This very satisfying movie doesn't even explain its title until after the first hour as the plot thickens.
Buffalo 66
October 2nd
Actor Vincent Gallo - from Arizona Dream, The Funeral and Palookaville - makes his directing debut with this tale of a recently released convict (played by Gallo himself) who kidnaps a teenage student (Christina Ricci) and takes her to visit his parents, claiming he is about to marry her. Anjelica Huston and Ben Gazzara play the parents in this film which Village Voice described as a "flamboyantly narcissistic wet dream".
The Truman Show
October 9th
Peter Weir's fascinating post-modern picture of our media age, based on an ingenious, highly original screenplay by Andrew Niccol, features a remarkably subdued Jim Carrey as Truman Burbank, a mild-mannered insurance agent who lives in a squeaky-clean, homogenised environment. At 30 he remains blithely unaware that his life is the subject of a round-the-clock television show, and that everyone he knows, even his wife, is an actor within the scenario.
Demanding, and rewarding the audience's willing suspension of disbelief, Weir's film makes for consistently thoughtful and stimulating cinema. It is rich, imaginative, precisely sustained and admirably detailed in the execution of its concept.
Mulan
October 16th
Disney's 36th full-length animated feature, said to be their most striking for some time, deals with the eponymous Mulan, a young, high-spirited Chinese woman who tries to be the perfect daughter. When her ailing father receives a conscription notice to fight an invading army, she disguises herself as a man and enlists in his place. Eddie Murphy provides the voice of the feisty, fast-talking dragon who acts as her guardian angel.
The Dream Life of Angels
October 16th
Elodie Bouchez and Natacha Regnier shared the best actress award at Cannes this year for their acclaimed performances in this first feature from French writer-director Erich Zonka. Set in Lille, it features Bouchez as a resourceful, optimistic 20-year-old roaming from city to city, and Regnier as the antisocial, hyper-sensitive loner she befriends. The film follows their experiences when they agree to share an apartment.
Divorcing Jack
October 16th
The humour is consistently black in David Caffrey's sprightly film of Colin Bateman's novel, which is set in 1999 in the run-up to the election of Northern Ireland's new prime minister. The central character is an abrasive Belfast newspaper columnist (David Thewlis) whose drunken adulterous fling with a woman he meets in a park ends abruptly when he finds her dead in bed. Soon he has the RUC, IRA, UVF and the British army on his trail. This cynical and acerbic comedy, which at times turns jaw-droppingly irreverent, marks an assured feature debut for its young Irish director, David Caffrey, although it could benefit from some finetuning of its over-plotted final stages.
Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels
October 23rd
Ecstatic British critics are leaping on this London crime movie as the next Trainspotting or Full Monty. Written and directed by 29-year-old Guy Ritchie, it is populated entirely by amoral characters - with the exception of one unfortunate traffic warden - and set in London's underworld for a tale of multiple duplicity involving rival gangs and amateurs. Replete with movie references, most pointedly (and enjoyably) to The Italian Job, it features footballer Vinnie Jones in a key role, along with Nick Moran, Jason Flemyng, Dexter Fletcher and in a cameo, Irish boxer Steve Collins.
Velvet Goldmine
October 23rd
One of the most heavily hyped and eagerly awaited movies of the year, Todd Haynes's film of the glam rock era of the 1970s proved most disappointing when launched at Cannes this year and can only benefit from the pruning to which it was subsequently subjected. It offers rather more by way of nostalgia than insight into The Decade That Taste Forgot, but it aptly captures the fashion tragedies of the period and is anchored by the performances of Ewan McGregor as an exhibitionistic rocker, and especially the fast-rising 20-year-old Cork actor, Jonathan Rhys-Meyers who enlivens it with his radiant screen presence.
Elizabeth
October 23rd
The title refers to the princess who is crowned Queen Elizabeth I when her sister Mary dies in 1554. The film, directed by Shekhar Kapur (who made the searing Indian drama, Bandit Queen) deals with Elizabeth's need to exert her authority forcefully in England and in Europe, and with her relationship with her childhood sweetheart, Robert Dudley. The Australian actress, Cate Blanchett, takes the title role, with Joseph Fiennes as Dudley and Kathy Burke as Mary, in an international cast that also includes Richard Attenborough, Christopher Eccleston, Fanny Ardant, Geoffrey Rush and Vincent Cassel.
Primary Colors
October 30th
Mike Nichols's rich, sophisticated and scintillating political satire is a highly topical picture of the rise and rise of a US state governor to the presidency of his country. John Travolta gives the finest performance of his career as the candidate, a man whose campaign is threatened by his out-of-control sex drive, yet somehow manages to bounce back triumphantly from every apparent setback. Emma Thompson co-stars as his wife who is shown to be deeply upset over all the allegations of adultery while remaining fully supportive of him in public.
Antz
November 6th
This high-tech computer animated comedy from Steven Spielberg's company DreamWorks features the voices of, among others, Woody Allen, Sharon Stone, Gene Hackman, Sylvester Stallone, Anne Bancroft and Christopher Walken. Directed by Eric Darnell and Tim Johnson, this is a comic study of the struggles of the individual against the system.
Woody Allen provides the voice of the ant, Z-4195, a Central Park inhabitant and non-conformist in a society interested only in the good of the colony. Undaunted by the ant caste system, Z sets his sights on the spoiled princess Bala (Sharon Stone).
Snake Eyes
November 6th
The opening 20 minutes consist of one continuous steadicam shot in the new thriller from visual stylist Brian De Palma. The movie takes place almost entirely within an Atlantic City gambling emporium and boxing arena where the US secretary of defence is shot during a prize fight. Nicolas Cage plays the tainted local detective on the case, with Gary Sinise as his old friend, a navy commander now highly placed in the department of defence.
My Name Is Joe
November 6th
The title of the new Ken Loach film is the first half of a sentence which finishes with "and I am an alcoholic" - words uttered by Joe, an unemployed Glaswegian (played by Peter Mullan), who awkwardly, tentatively becomes involved with a dedicated health worker (Louise Goodall). He also feels compelled to take action when a young ex-junkie and his drug-addicted girlfriend become the helpless prey of unscrupulous dealers. This gripping, angry and accomplished social drama builds in dramatic power and is charged by the vivid, naturalistic performances of a fine cast.
Out of Sight
November 20th
Cinema's latest Elmore Leonard adaptation marks a return to form for Sex, Lies and Videotape director Steven Soderbergh. A crime caper, it features George Clooney as an escaped bank robber determined to avoid capture, and Jennifer Lopez as the federal marshal who is equally determined to put him back behind bars. The attractive ensemble cast also features Ving Rhames, Albert Brooks, Don Cheadle, Dennis Farina, Catherine Keener and Nancy Allen.
Rounders
November 27th
After scoring major successes playing the title roles in both Good Will Hunting and Saving Private Ryan, Matt Damon heads for a hat-trick in the new movie from The Last Seduction director John Dahl. Damon plays a gambling addict who has swapped card-playing for legal studies - until his best friend (Edward Norton) leads him into a high-stakes game which sets loan sharks on their trail. The cast also features John Turturro, Gretchen Mol and John Malkovich.
Bulworth
November 27th
Warren Beatty co-wrote, produced, directed and starred in this reputedly caustic political satire in which he plays the incumbent US senator, Jay Bulworth, who in the middle of a nervous breakdown, arranges his own suicide by hiring a hit man to assassinate him during the final weekend of campaigning - after making a deal with a corrupt lobbyist for a life insurance deal to benefit his daughter. Halle Berry plays the African-American activist who shows him the meaning of life, but is it too late to stop the hit man?