The Corpse Bride

Credit: Beth Rankin

With the dog days of summer coming to a close, the cold Ohio weather preparing to creep back in and a brand new semester about to start, what can students look forward to besides chilly temperatures and long homework assignments? New fall movies!

Some of the biggest films set to hit the silver screen this fall, including remakes of popular films and several book adaptations,such as the fourth installment in a series about some little-known British wizard named Harry Potter.

The Corpse Bride

(Sept. 23, Warner Brothers)

Director: Tim Burton

Featuring the voices of: Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Albert Finney

Johnny Depp and director Tim Burton (Edward Scissorhands, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) team up once again in a creepy animated flick about a young man named Victor (bearing a striking animated resemblance to Depp) who accidentally marries the ghost of a murdered girl (voiced by Helena Bonham-Carter). This spooky tale about unwedded bliss is sure to provide the same chills and thrills as Burton’s 1993 animated classic The Nightmare Before Christmas.

In Her Shoes

(Oct. 7, Twentieth Century Fox)

Director: Curtis Hanson

Starring: Cameron Diaz, Toni Collette, Shirley MacLaine

Cameron Diaz once again puts her bubbly blond charms to work as Maggie Feller, a starry-eyed and flirtatious party girl who is the total opposite of her straight-laced, hard-working older sister Rose (Toni Collette). When Maggie is caught sleeping with Rose’s boyfriend, Rose kicks her out of the house, forcing Maggie to seek refuge with the grandmother she hasn’t seen in 20 years. Based on Jennifer Weiner’s best-selling novel of the same name, this conventional chick flick about forgiveness, love and coming to terms with the past is sure to be a tearjerker for sisters, mothers and daughters everywhere.

Elizabethtown

(Oct. 14, Paramount Pictures)

Director: Cameron Crowe

Starring: Orlando Bloom, Kirsten Dunst, Susan Sarandon, Jessica Biel

First, he causes the shoe company he works for to lose millions of dollars. Then his girlfriend breaks up with him. Then he discovers that his father has died. For Drew Baylor (Orlando Bloom) suicide seems to be the only logical option to his depression until, while flying home to Kentucky for his father’s funeral, he meets a spunky flight attendant, Claire (Kirsten Dunst), who may be just the person he needs to help turn his bad luck around.

Rent

(Nov. 11, Columbia Pictures)

Director: Chris Columbus

Starring: Rosario Dawson, Taye Diggs, Jesse L. Martin, Idina Menzel

In a world riddled with drugs and sexually transmitted diseases, a group of friends living the bohemian lifestyle in present-day New York interrupt the perils of their lives to belt out tunes about life, love and the struggle to pay the rent in this adaptation of the smash Broadway musical. Watch for the lengthy preview featuring the cast singing the catchy tune “525,600 Minutes” that is showing in theaters now.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

(Nov. 18, Warner Brothers)

Director: Mike Newell

Starring: Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, Ralph Fiennes

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry plays host to the legendary Triwizard Tournament, where witches and wizards from three different schools are selected by the Goblet of Fire and pitted against one another in a series of competitions. Though underage, Harry is mysteriously chosen as the fourth champion to participate in the tournament while, at the same time, signs marking the return of the evil wizard Voldemort begin to appear. The film is the fourth in a series of seven films based on the well-known children’s series.

The Chronicles of Narnia: the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

(Dec. 2, Walt Disney Pictures)

Director: Andrew Adamson

Starring: Georgie Henley, William Moseley, Anna Popplewell, James McAvoy

While sent to stay at the country home of a professor as World War II ravages Europe, four siblings stumble upon a mysterious wardrobe that, when opened, provides a passageway into the mystical land of Narnia. It is there that the children join forces with the lion god Aslan to battle the harsh reign of an evil witch who has come to power. The film is an adaptation of C.S. Lewis’ classic children’s book of the same name.

King Kong

(Dec. 14, Universal Pictures)

Director: Peter Jackson

Starring: Jack Black, Naomi Watts, Adrien Brody

A massive ape wreaks havoc on New York City after a documentary film crew and its beautiful female star discover the creature on a mysterious island and lure him back to the city to be put on display. Jack Black (School of Rock) takes on a serious role as the movie director obsessed with profiting from the ape’s capture, while Naomi Watts (The Ring) is the film star who successfully charms King Kong but falls prey to his admiration and love. (How could we forget the infamous scene of King Kong climbing the Empire State Building with his beloved in hand?) The film is the newest in a series of remakes of the 1933 original.

Memoirs of a Geisha

(Dec. 23, Sony Pictures)

Director: Rob Marshall

Starring: Ziyi Zhang, Ken Watanabe

A 9-year-old Japanese girl with extraordinary blue-gray eyes is plucked from the poor fishing village where she lives and sold to the female owners of a geisha house in the impressive district of Gion, Japan. Christened as Sayuri, the beautiful little girl begins an apprenticeship with Mameha, one of Gion’s most prominent geisha. But cruel punishment sparked by jealousy from Hatsumomo, another prominent geisha and rival of Mameha’s, makes Sayuri’s growth from a young girl into a mature geisha more than difficult. This film is an adaptation of Arthur Golden’s 1997 bestseller of the same name.

Contact student affairs reporter Michelle Poje at [email protected].