Hey folks, Harry here.... I suppose I have to do this now. Moriarty decided to write up the 10 films he's most looking forward to and why this fall. He's just listing shit and talking about it. He titled the article HARRY AND MORIARTY WRITE ABOUT THEIR TOP 10 PICKS FOR THE FALL...

That seems to indicate that I have to now type my 10 Picks for the Fall. The rotten steaming bastard. Ok. Fine... I'll do it.... and on top of that, I'll do it in order of release.... hahahhaah...

First, if anyone tells you that WHIPPED is any good at all... you should know straight up that it's a piece of shit. I saw the film and wanted to leave 10 minutes in. I saw it the day after I saw that BOYS AND GIRL crapfest, and had spewed enough venom at that.... But this is the first warning flag for the fall.

ALMOST FAMOUS.... September 15th.... this date does not begin to get here quick enough. From talking with my various friends, this movie is supposed to be some sort of religious experience. One of the best films... period... according to these numbskulls... Alright, I'll bite... I was talking to a beauty early tonight that was referring to me as her Lloyd Dobler. Cameron Crowe makes movies for those of us abandoned by John Hughes. He just picked that baton up and is carrying the relay for a generation. He speaks right smack dab in the soul of a generation that often wonders if it has one. He reminds us that it's not about the career or about the possessions... His films scream that primordial scream about the missing form in one's life. And I love him for it. His films are about passions and personal beliefs, the things that matter most to us. He is not some guru or religious figure... his ideas are not profound or revolutionary... they are simply reflections... we see ourselves in his stories and we hope to be a bit like those people. We want to be happy at the end of their story and our own. I really really, can't wait to see ALMOST FAMOUS.

THE CONTENDER... October 13th.... I would not know about this movie except that we've had some ecstatic reviews about the film so far. The movie is directed by Rod Lurie... an ex film critic... and tells the story of a senator played by Joan Allen who is nominated to be Vice President... when she is suddenly barraged by a vicious mudslinging... erupting over her sexual history.... and ... well, my understanding is that Jeff Bridges and Gary Oldman and Joan Allen and Lili Taylor are all... simply fantastic in this film. I've heard this movie is a really great film. I hope to judge for myself this fall...

MONKEY BONE... November 3rd.... Yes, I'm in it... but literally... that has not one iota of a reason as to why I want to see this film. HENRY SELICK. Point blank. Any film carrying his name, carries me into the theater. It is my personal feeling that my favorite most perfect movie of the 90's... well it was NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS.... and I absolutely adored JAMES AND THE GIANT PEACH. This, is completely different. Having been on set and having read the script... this is one of those films that you just can't imagine a studio being cool enough to produce. I mean, this is EXPENSIVE. But you are talking about a film where you enter into a semi-cubist reality... nix that word... make it cubist surreality... of Picasso-esque minotaurs and harpies with Dali-esque meets Harryhausen-esque Cyclops... The early word from the two reviewers we've seen has been mixed based on the last third... but you know what? This is a weird damn movie for weird damn people... and I'm a weird damn person.

UNBREAKABLE... November 22nd... I adored SIXTH SENSE and have endeavored to learn as little as humanly possible about this film. I love love love the trailer. I can not wait to see it. That's all I can say.

CROUCHING TIGER HIDDEN DRAGON... December 8th (New York)... If you have read the site.... if you have seen the reviews beginning when this was shown in Cannes... and through it's dazzling word of mouth from our Eastern Spies in Hong Kong, China and Japan.... Then you know what this promises to be. What it hopes to be. What some think it to be. I can not wait to see.

THIRTEEN DAYS.... this movie will be nominated for Best Picture. You will see why. I'm tired of explaining it. Just wait until you see it. I've got... a feeling.

then... on one glorius day in December dated: December 22nd, ENEMY AT THE GATES, TRAFFIC and O BROTHER WHERE ART THOU are all released.

ENEMY AT THE GATES... December 22nd... The images that I have seen from Jean-Jacques Annaud's latest film have a stark coldness that just scares me. Very little has been popping out, but I've heard rumors about screenings for Paramount's Sheryl Lansing... and I heard that the thoughts were that this was a brilliant film. No script reviews have appeared that I have read. No test screenings that I have seen. All we've seen are images.. select few, and I've got the feeling that the trailer will have a haunting effect on those that see it. Given his previous work, and the fact that I think with Joseph Fiennes, Jude Law, Ron Perlman, Rachel Weisz, Bob Hoskins and Ed Harris all busting their asses in this tale about the Nazi's siege upon STALINGRAD (which was it's own fantastic film), and Jean-Jacques set out to make this brutally realistic. I am a quiver in anticipation.

TRAFFIC... December 22nd... Steven Soderbergh is driving a truck loaded with Nitro over one helluva bumpy Amazon road with this movie. No, it's not a remake of WAGES OF FEAR, the Nitro is the subject matter of this film, and the bumpy road is American Society. This film... god what I would give to see it be released in advance of this year's presidential election. You will see a National Debate come out of this film. The covers of TIME and NEWSWEEK will hail it as being genius I predict, where it will then provoke in the same magazine editorial pieces and major cover stories about America's War on Crime. Our Drug Czar will make a public address about the film, it will in all likelihood sweep through Critic's awards.... This is all based on the script, upon Soderbergh keen and unholy knack at putting his films together now... and the fact that this is a movie with gigantic exposed balls. This is the type of movie that SCORSESE and COPPOLA and FRIEDKIN and PAKULA made in the seventies. This is the sort of film we don't see today. At least... that's what the script promises.

O BROTHER WHERE ART THOU.... December 22nd... It's the Coen Brothers... I love their script... a weird bizarre adaptation of Homer's ODYSSEY. It's the Coen Brothers.... That's all you need to know. It automatically becomes one of your top 10 films to see this fall.

CASTAWAY... Christmas.... I believe this movie will be brilliant. Why? I've heard the ignorant folks that haven't read the script... that think it's cool to yell and scream about how Tom Hanks is an overrated actor... Yeah yeah, I know. It'll suck... Riiiiiiiiiight. Listen up. This movie is a profound fable that will touch your soul. No... I haven't seen it. But there is utterly no way Zemeckis or Tom Hanks can play this wrong. So ya don't like the teaser trailer? Well... having read the script, I can tell you the trailer sent a shiver down my spine like you wouldn't believe. This is going to be a story about a man of today... with the most today job you can have. With all the implements of our world. He will be stripped of everything. He will discover the meaning of a second. The fact that there is no such thing as silence, as the absence of man made noise leaves only nature. Life will be reduced, his mind will begin to go. He will endeavor to survive and he will go utterly mad. And I have not given away the story. This movie and the performance that Tom Hanks will give, and make no mistake about it... Hanks will deliver... Hanks has his name engraved on a third oscar... and there is literally nothing that anyone else can do to stop it.

MOULIN ROUGE.... Christmas.... You'll see.

Those are my baker's 10. If I could add but one more, it would be THE GRINCH. The version I saw was so empty of so much that it had left to show. It was complete only in length, but not in form. It was a jewel that had yet to be cut and shined. With the right score (which they are currently recording...) And with Digital Domain's complete WHO universe, well... this movie has a chance to be one of the GREAT IMAGINATIVE films made.... A milestone in design and spectacle.... as well as being a sweet and scary story about the perils of consumerism. This is the classic Dr Seuss story with a tad of FIGHT CLUB and CITIZEN KANE thrown in for good measure. I can't wait to see how it all turns out.

And Now.....

This is where that old degenerate files his opinions....

Hey, everyone. "Moriarty" here with some rumblings from the Lab.

Well, if you've been to the newsstand lately, you know what time of year it is. I recently used the special street-access exit hatch from the Moriarty Labs to go topside at Cahuenga and Hollywood, the corner where they have the best damn newsstand in LA. While picking up all the various Evil Genius monthlies (we are such a trendy niche these days... simply everyone's getting into World Domination, you know), I spotted PREMIERE and ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY, both of which are doing their Fall Movie Preview Issues. They're both riddled with new photos and little tidbits, and I'm a hopeless junky for the stuff, so I added them to the stack. E!Online actually asked me to spitball them some thoughts on the upcoming season's releases for something they're working on. It's what you might call the "topic d'jour." Now, after making my way through all these articles and other materials, I'm convinced that 2000 does not have to go on the books as a disappointing year. There are some major pictures coming out, and there are ten I thought worth pointing out in particular. More than ten actually, but I've already written at length about films like GRINCH, SHADOW OF THE VAMPIRE, and ALMOST FAMOUS, and I plan to publish my review of Neil La Bute's marvelous new film NURSE BETTY this week. There's films that I'm damn curious about that just didn't make it to my final list like REMEMBER THE TITANS, GIRLFIGHT, BEST IN SHOW, MEET THE PARENTS, BAMBOOZLED, BLAIR WITCH 2, DR T & THE WOMEN, REQUIEM FOR A DREAM, BILLY ELLIOTT, BEDAZZLED, THE CONTENDER... and that's just between now and October. The holiday season is overstuffed as usual with big titles like CHARLIE'S ANGELS, LITTLE NICKY, BOUNCE, THE 6TH DAY, GET CARTER, RED PLANET, PROOF OF LIFE, WHAT WOMEN WANT, FAMILY MAN, ALL THE PRETTY HORSES, FINDING FORRESTER, and STATE AND MAIN.

And while I'll probably end up seeing every one of those films and more this season, that's ridiculous. Making it from here to the end of the year is going to require people to make choices, to be adventurous. To that end, I thought I'd list the ten movies that I truly believe will be most worth the time and energy. These aren't predictions of greatness, either. This is just me guessing what films are most going to provoke, please, and outrage us as we wind our way towards 2001.

In no particular order, we've got:

CAST AWAY

I've written about this film's screenplay by William Broyles before, but I'll take any opportunity given to sing its praises. Zemeckis? You know that whole WHAT LIES BENEATH thing? I ain't mad atcha, brother. Just deliver the goods on this film, and all is forgiven. Because I'm sure you're worried about whether I like your $100million+ grossing film or not. CAST AWAY is a totally different ballgame from the last time Zemeckis and Hanks were working together. For all the buzz about FORREST GUMP as an "unconventional" hit, I think that's a fairly blindered view. The film is shamelessly crowd-pleasing in the way it's built. Anyone looking for a similar experience this time out is going to surprised, since what it looks like this team is trying for is an art film. I don't mean that in the "slow and boring" way, either. I mean that in the sense that they're trying to make something lasting, something that has a genuine sense of purpose, with something to say about the condition that we find ourselves in as a people right now. It's also a film about art, and about the value of art in our lives, and the power it has to change us, to heal us. I am astonished by the photos of Hanks that are starting to be released now with his massive beard and his haunted eyes. This is a performance that is going to be key in the way Hanks is seen from here forward, either as a landmark or as a missed opportunity. Betting against Hanks is a fool's game, so I'm going to guess that we're looking at one of the biggest contenders for year end honors and one of the year's biggest moneymakers. I know the teaser trailer played to mixed reception recently when it was released, but this isn't an experience that can be summed up in 3 minutes... not if they've done their jobs right. Fingers crossed... breath being held... I hope...

O, BROTHER, WHERE ART THOU

I did with this Coen Brothers films what I love to do with all their movies when they are announced. I find the script, I read the script, and I have one experience where I just bask in the language of their writing, something that is truly wonderful each and every time. Then I put the script away and spend the rest of the time before release just trying to forget anything I know. That way, when I finally have the experience of seeing the film, it is as fresh to me as it can be. The reason I try to forget my reading of the script is because no matter what I envision, the Coens top it. They are, without a doubt, my favorite working filmmakers. I love these guys. I love their aesthetic choices each time out, the way they make each world different, each film distinct. I love their casting instincts. I love their dialogue, as metered and particular as Shakespeare, as cutting as the best of Ben Hecht or Billy Wilder. When Harry and I spent the first afternoon on the sets of FAIL SAFE this spring, the best stories George Clooney told were stories about working on this film. There was such a joy in the way he described the process that it was obvious the film would be something special. Reaction at Cannes was solid, and the buzz has been building ever since. I've talked to many people now who have seen the film and am actually having to work now to keep my expectations down. I'm sure it's something special, something beautiful, and something we've never seen before. By the way, if you haven't read the stunning news that Variety printed here, then let me be the first to tell you that Brad Pitt has signed finally to star in TO THE WHITE SEA, a film that the Coen Bros. will make as soon as Pitt finishes OCEAN'S 11 next year. I've been waiting for TO THE WHITE SEA for at least three years now, and I can say with confidence that whatever year it comes out, it's the film I'm most looking forward to. No discussion necessary. HURRY!!!!!!!

DANCER IN THE DARK and MOULIN ROUGE

Isn't it strange that the mere idea of making a musical seems so radical, so revolutionary? This genre has been part of film since the advent of sound, and it's one of the purest forms of cinema around, something that can only really exist on film, yet we've forgotten how to make them. Now we get a Lars Von Trier or a Baz Luhrmann trying to wring fresh life from the form, and they're viewed as visionary. At least they are as far as I'm concerned. BREAKING THE WAVES, one of my very favorite films of recent memory, worked in large part because of the intimacy that Von Trier acheived with his actors. Bringing that to bear with the added stylistic decision to include musical numbers should make for an unforgettable experience. I love the first song I've heard, a duet between Bjork and Thom Yorke. It's like Kurt Weil for the 21st century, and it makes me ache to see this film as soon as possible. With MOULIN ROUGE, Luhrmann sounds like he's making an equally ballsy film, one set in 1899 Paris, in the middle of what was then the most bustling, daring artistic scene in the world. Ewan McGregor, Nicole Kidman (as a courtesan named Satin), and John Lequizamo in prosthetic legs are all part of the carnival that Luhrmann is throwing. The music itself? It's all modern, pop standards from the 60s, 70s, 80s, and 90s. It's as if these people are somehow tuning into a signal from a century in the future, hearing all this music, and then simply pouring it out as their own raw emotion. I think it's a daring conceit, and I think he did some truly astonishing things with ROMEO+JULIET, and if he has pushed himself to dream bigger here, then there's the real potential for a rebirth of something long thought dead.

UNBREAKABLE

Make no mistake... I think this movie is going to stumble and ultimately fail. If I were a betting man, I'd bet against this sophomore effort by M. Night Shyamalan. Oh, I can hear you clicking those "TALK BACK" buttons now to tell me that he made two films before he made THE SIXTH SENSE. Yes... that's true. But his career in the minds of the public begain with SIXTH SENSE. Period. WIDE AWAKE made no mark on the box office or public awareness, and PRAYING WITH ANGER never played most markets. To most people, UNBREAKABLE is his second film, his follow-up, and in some ways, it's almost a tonal sequel to SIXTH SENSE. I'm betting that this ultimately turns into a textbook case of hubris, an example for young filmmakers to be well aware of. Coming off the massive success of SIXTH SENSE, Shyamalan was free to do anything. Keep in mind, this is a young filmmaker who got royally screwed around by Fox on a project called LABOR OF LOVE before he had the successful experience with Disney. Like all young filmmakers, he wears those scars from past encounters right up front, and he doesn't forget. He demanded a fair amount of freedom on UNBREAKABLE, creatively speaking, and it was given to him. This is one of those cases where a great premise and intriguing characters ultimately get lost amidst muddled intentions. Contrary to the rapidly building buzz that the script is "great with a lame trick ending," I think the problems are deeper, more ingrained conceptually. I think this is a film that never finds its narrative focus. I hope that Samuel Jackson and Bruce Willis, smart and gifted actors that they are, were able to push Shyamalan to improve this piece on the set. If so, there's a chance he could pull this highwire act off, and that would be glorious to behold. Right now though, this movie being any good is the biggest potential surprise Shyamalan could pull.

QUILLS

Howard Hessman in the Los Angeles stage version of Doug Wright's QUILLS cut a memorable figure as the Marquis De Sade, locked away for his work, gradually being stripped of all tools of expression, finally revealed in all his naked, ridiculous glory for the play's tough, uncompromising ending. Knowing that Philip Kaufman is directing Wright's own screenplay, with Geoffrey Rush starring in this film with Kate Winslet, Joaquin Phoenix, and Michael Caine, I am absolutely certain that this will be unlike any other film we're offered between now and the end of the year. That's what makes these films worth tracking more than others coming in the near future... it's the idea that we might be challenged, that we might see something fresh, that we might be treated to something really special. This should be a provocative ride for adult audiences, a chance for Kaufman to bring his particular touch from films like THE UNBEARABLE LIGHTNESS OF BEING and HENRY & JUNE to a story that debates the very right for such pictures to even exist. QUILLS is about expression and voice and pushing the envelope. Anything that can entertain as much as this play did and tackle questions that big is worth anticipating.

THE LEGEND OF BAGGER VANCE

I know it's a golf movie. I know it's Will Smith and Matt Damon. I know it's a golf movie. I know it's a light romantic fable set just after WWI that still manages to play dark at times. I know it's a golf movie. None of this matters. These things that look at first like commercial question marks don't really matter when you take two things into consideration. First, there's the remarkable work done by Jeremy Leven in adapting Steven Pressfield's novel. Second, there's Robert Redford. He's made some pictures I'm not nuts about... THE HORSE WHISPERER being the most recent example, but he also made QUIZ SHOW and A RIVER RUNS THROUGH IT, both of which are smart, engaging, marvellously crafted commercial pictures. That's exactly what BAGGER VANCE wants to be, and they've got the script to pull it off. I hope Redford strikes just the right mythic note for the film. If so, he's made a classic to stand alongside a film he starred in, Barry Levinson's THE NATURAL.

TRAFFIC

If I had to pick a Best Picture winner based solely on the scripts I've read and the footage I've seen, this USA Films release would be the one I'd pick. TRAFFIC has a chance at being that rarest of animals: a genuinely political film with a passionate angry voice that manages to be a commercial success and an actual aid to opening a national dialogue, crafted by the single most versatile commercial filmmaker since Howard Hawks. I've never read anything... article, book, interview... that better illuminated the ways in which we are losing our national "War On Drugs," and the ways in which all of us are paying for that failure. It's a harshly critical film, and the script pulled no punches. Soderbergh's been describing it as "THE FRENCH CONNECTION meets NASHVILLE," which just makes me cackle. I think he's making THE GODFATHER, an important American epic that puts personal faces on giant ideas and leaves a lasting and important mark on the national consciousness. If I had to make any film on this list a first priority, this one would be it.

13 DAYS

David Self's script for this movie was taut, smart, and never once treated the reader like a child, overexplaining things or dumbing down the reality of the Cuban Missile Crisis and all the intricate political minefields that had to be negotiated. I broke a sweat while reading it. It's explosive, and early word on the film is that Roger Donaldson nailed the script. Bruce Greenwood's performance as JFK is eerie in just the few moments I've seen, a recreation of a man, not a legend. It would be nice to see Greenwood finally recognized as an actor of considerable weight. He's done his time in commercial crap like DOUBLE JEOPARDY even while honing his craft in gems like THE SWEET HEREAFTER and EXOTICA. I'm guessing that anyone who found themselves riveted by Michael Mann's THE INSIDER last year will flip out in equal measure for this study of men and their ethics under fire. This isn't a history lesson. This is a living recreation of a moment where our future as an entire species literally hung on a series of decisions that had to be made under the most incredible durress imaginable. That's the stuff of great drama, which is what I hope 13 DAYS turns out to be.

CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON

Ang Lee. Martial arts. Geek raves since Cannes. Chow Yun-Fat. Michelle Yeoh. Wire-fu. Major North American release. What more do I need to say?!

YOU CAN COUNT ON ME

And here's the one where people are going to go, "Huh?" It might seem strange to give such a prominent spot to a little indie film, the first from writer/director Kenneth Lonergan, but that's because most of you don't know who Mark Ruffalo is. Back in 1995, Harry Lime and I wrote a play that was part of a festival here in town, an evening of one-acts. Actors like Adam Goldberg, Robert Pastorelli, Elias Koteas, Katharine Helmond, Michelle Forbes, Michelle Joyner, Willie Garson, and Jonathan Silverman were all part of the festival, and so was an actor named Mark Ruffalo. He wasn't in a play on the same night (out of three) that our play was on, but we made a special effort to drop by and see him peform every time we could. We had no choice. It was obvious from the first time we saw him that Ruffalo was something special. He was Brando. There was a perfect combination of physical intensity and spiritual fragility in the work he did, a sort of karmic balance that made it impossible to look away. Now the buzz is building on him on a national level in the wake of this film's reception at Sundance. Ruffalo plays a troubled soul who drifts into the lives of his sister (Laura Linney) and her son. I don't know anything more than that, and I don't have to. If you want to see a major announcement of a major talent, then find and see this film this fall. And be prepared... Ruffalo is a movie star, and you're going to rave like a loon after you see the proof.

That's it for me. Let me know what you're looking forward to most. These films are all starting to screen now, so expect AICN to keep you posted on each of them as we get nearer to release. Later this week, I'll be talking more about what I consider the fall's first really great movie, NURSE BETTY. Until then...

"Moriarty" out.