Movies get back to the basics

After a disappointing summer at the box office, Hollywood execs are hoping crowds will line up for their fall flicks

September 28, 2000
Web posted at: 5:48 PM EDT (2148 GMT)

By Greg Botelho
CNNfyi Writer

(CNN) -- As audiences recover from yet another Hollywood summer of bombshells and big budgets, the upcoming crop of movies has a more dramatic, subdued flair. Labor Day unofficially kicked off not only the fall but also the Oscar-handicapping season -- when studios roll out their top dramas.

A version of Dr. Seuss' classic "Grinch" story hopes to steal moviegoers' hearts

The fall should prove far more soothing for moviegoers than this summer's often mind-numbing lineup. Romance, aka the "date movie," is back, as is the classic book and cartoon "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" (with Jim Carrey playing "the mean one, Mr. Grinch") and box-office cinch Adam Sandler in "Little Nicky."

Friends and "Talented Mr. Ripley" co-stars Matt Damon and Gwyneth Paltrow are setting the pace with numberous fall releases. Hollywood golden boy Damon has two high-profile projects with top directors: "The Legend of Bagger Vance" in November and "All the Pretty Horses" in December. Paltrow is taking it personal. First she starred in a film ("Duets") directed by her father, Bruce Paltrow, and then she'll appear alongside her off-and-on flame, Ben Affleck, in "Bounce."

All members of this inseparable trio -- Damon, Paltrow and Affleck -- appear in our list of featured fall flicks. Except for a movie about several sultry angels, many of the season's most anticipated films aim to make their boom at the box office with drama -- not with the mind-blowing special effects we came to know so well this summer.

Starring Drew Barrymore, Cameron Diaz and Lucy Liu

"Ally McBeal's" Lucy Liu strikes a more angelic pose

There was no doubt what the main ingredient was in the hit 1970s television show "Charlie's Angels." Action? Maybe not. Drama? Not quite. Three beautiful women doing just about anything? Yes, that would be it.

Drew Barrymore, Cameron Diaz and Lucy Liu -- the 2000 model "Angels" -- serve the cause of justice plus some guy named Charlie in this big screen adaptation. All three women have been working nonstop the last few years and will probably draw legions of fans to see them in action as the "Angels."

The marketing blitz and cheesy commercials have begun, suggesting "Charlie's Angels" will be as much a comedy as an action picture. The buzz is that it won't have any earth-shattering insights, but viewers in the right mood will probably have a good time.

Starring Denzel Washington

Denzel Washington is no stranger to sports movies

In the media's eye and in movie theaters, high school football typically plays second or third string to movies on pro sports. But every so often, as in Tom Cruise's "All the Right Moves" (1983) and James Van Der Beek's "Varsity Blues" (1999), Hollywood goes high school with some success.

"Remember the Titans," which opened September 29, is the latest endeavor to use high school football as a way to look at sports and, more importantly, larger social issues.

Denzel Washington plays a football coach, hired over a white candidate, at T.C. Williams High School in Alexandria, Virginia, in 1971. With the school itself recently integrated, it is little surprise that tensions go beyond whether or not the team can make its next first down.

Acting in a racially charged sports movie shouldn't be much of a departure for Washington. In "The Hurricane," he played Rubin Carter, a boxer whose life was turned upside down when he was wrongly convicted of murder. Washington, who earned a best actor Oscar nomination for that portrayal, hopes he can match the critical success of the earlier film.

Starring Ben Affleck and Gwyneth Paltrow

Ben Affleck + Gwyneth Paltrow = blockbuster. Put the two together in a romance and this equation has a good chance of holding true, according to Hollywood calculations.

The film tells the story of Buddy Amaral (played by Affleck), who switches plane tickets with another man -- who subsequently dies in a crash. Affleck then falls for the deceased man's wife, Abby, portrayed by Paltrow.

"Bounce" is billing itself as the date movie for this fall. The "real life" subtext, namely the off-and-on romance between the two stars, should only add fuel to the fire.

'The Legend of Bagger Vance'

Starring Will Smith and Matt Damon

Will Smith, left, and Matt Damon bring their box-office muscle to a 1930s golfing tale

Roy Hobbs, the lightbulb-smashing hero of "The Natural" (1984), dons knickers and takes up golf? "The Legend of Bagger Vance" will not totally mirror this story line, but it's close enough. Its producers are gambling that, anchored by superstars Matt Damon and Will Smith, this film will beat out that '80s classic at the box office.

Robert Redford -- who played Hobbs in "The Natural" -- directs this historic, mystic sports drama. The film is based on Steve Pressfield's novel, centering around a golfer (played by Damon) who's guided through his game, and life, by the understated and mysterious Vance (portrayed by Smith).

Like "The Natural," itself based on a classic book by Bernard Malamud, "The Legend of Bagger Vance" will try to take viewers on a fantasy trip -- to 1931 Georgia, to the golf course and to a place where they can spend a few hours with some of Hollywood's most bankable actors.