by MARK SLUTSKY

Let’s be honest here: the winter’s never really been considered the choicest season for moviegoers. Sandwiched between the Oscar-friendly fall and holiday rush and the money-mad summer season, poor old winter’s got the reputation of being the studios’ dumping ground for duds. But maybe that rep is undeserved. After all, when films open towards the end of the year to qualify for the Oscars, they usually do so in limited release, expanding to other markets, like our own, in January. And studios often dump the weirder movies they don’t know what to do with in this comparatively less crowded period in the hopes they might just luck into an audience.

War stories

It may not be getting the best of notices, but I’m still really curious about Steven Soderbergh’s latest, the black-and-white, Casablanca- and Third Man-emulating The Good German (not to be confused with Robert De Niro’s The Good Shepherd, or still-in-development animal thriller The Good German Shepherd). Shot as if it were the ’40s all over again, the film stars George Clooney, Cate Blanchett and Tobey Maguire and is set in devastated post-WWII Berlin (Jan. 19).

Also set in the ’40s is Rachid Bouchareb’s Cannes hit Indigènes (with the far inferior English title Days of Glory). It’s about a group of four Algerians who join the French army during WWII, and the discrimination they encounter; the leads all shared the Best Actor award at the French fest (Feb. 16).

Another war drama, albeit one set a couple millennia before, is director Zack Snyder’s adaptation of the Frank Miller graphic novel 300. Set in the fifth century B.C., the movie tells of the 300 soldiers chosen to defend Greece against the invading Persian army. Gerard Butler plays King Leonidas and The Wire’s Dominic West shows up too (Feb.).

If it’s thrills and chills you’re after, you needn’t look any further than Grindhouse, a retro-’70s exploitation double-feature from Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez. Tarantino’s installment, Death Proof, is about a killer stuntman, while Rodriguez’s, Planet Terror, involves zombies and a one-legged stripper (April 6). Also potentially thrilling, and possibly chilling, is another comics adaptation, Nicolas Cage’s pet Ghost Rider project. Cage plays the flaming-skull-headed motorcycle racer of the title, and Eva Mendes is non-flaming-skull-headed love interest (Feb. 16). But the most disconcerting film of the season is likely to be David Lynch’s latest, the cryptic, mysterious-sounding Inland Empire, with Laura Dern, Justin Theroux and other Lynch regulars.

Winter chills

Korean director Joon-ho Bong’s hilarious, horrific, overtly political monster movie The Host, about a monster that escapes from Seoul’s Han river and goes on a magnificent rampage, was one of the Toronto International Film Fest’s breakout hits, and we’ll be seeing it here soon, although an official release date hasn’t been announced. Also on the Asian horror front, The Eye filmmakers Oxide Pang Chun and Danny Pang make their American feature debut with The Messengers, about some creeped-out kids and a farmhouse. John Corbett and Penelope Ann Miller star (Feb. 2). And bringing their unique brand of Asian philosophy and martial arts mastery, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles hit screens in CGI form (March 23).

If the name Gaspard Ulliel isn’t already synonymous with terror, it just might be after Hannibal Rising drops this winter. Based on the Thomas Harris novel, the film follows the exploits of a certain young Hannibal Lecter, played by Ulliel (Feb. 9). But the serial-killer thriller that looks more exciting to me, anyway, is David Fincher’s Zodiac, about the real-life killer who haunted San Francisco in the ’60s and ’70s. Pretty sweet cast, too, with Robert Downey Jr., Mark Ruffalo and Jake Gyllenhaal (March 2). The season’s weirdest thriller, though, may be The Number 23, the latest film from trash king Joel Schumacher, about a man haunted by a book that seems to be based on his life. That man? Jim Carrey, in another serious role (Feb. 23).

Playing it straight

Another comic-gone-straight this winter is Adam Sandler, who stars in Reign Over Me. He plays a guy who’s lost it after losing his family in 9/11, and who re-connects with college chum Don Cheadle. Jada Pinkett Smith co-stars (March 9). Jennifer Garner is in a similar spot in Catch and Release, where she plays a young widow trying to put her life back together. Kevin Smith, of all people, co-stars (Jan. 26).

Anthony Minghella, the English Patient dude himself, is back with Breaking and Entering, set in London and starring Jude Law and Robin Wright Penn and so far not getting very good notices (Jan. 26). And director Bill Ray, he of the excellent Shattered Glass, follows that movie up with FBI drama Breach, starring Chris Cooper as agency mentor to junior agent Ryan Phillippe, who begins to suspect him of some nefarious activity. Definitely gonna keep an eye out for that one (Feb. 16) Also intriguing is Richard Gere as real-life phoney Howard Hughes biographer Clifford Irving in The Hoax (April 6).

When I was a youngster, nothing devastated me like the Katherine Paterson book (and, more to the point, the TV movie adaptation) Bridge to Terabithia. Twenty years later, it has been remade, so I guess I better brace myself. Zooey Deschanel co-stars, for crying out loud—there’s gonna be tears (Feb.16).

There’ll be... something... at the screening of the new film by Craig Brewer (Hustle and Flow), Black Snake Moan, definitely the weirdest looking movie of early 2K7, and an early contender for most controversial. In it, Samuel L. Jackson plays a backwoods preacher who chains Christina Ricci to his radiator to cure her of her nymphomania (Feb. 23) And in another case of a funny guy gone serious, Mira Nair’s The Namesake stars Harold and Kumar lead Kal Penn in a story of identity and family in New York and India (Feb.).

Cops and cross-dressers

Penn’s not playing it entirely straight this season, though, as he stars in the head-shakingly bad looking spoof Epic Movie, from the people who brought you Date Movie. We’re talking Napoleon Dynamite and Nacho Libre parodies here, folks (Jan. 26) In Norbit, another seemingly brutal comedy, Eddie Murphy plays multiple roles—a dude and an obese lady who’s his fiancée. For the sake of his rumoured nomination for Dreamgirls, let’s hope Academy voters aren’t watching (Feb. 9).

In romcoms, you’ve got Hugh Grant and Drew Barrymore in Music and Lyrics (Feb. 16), Gabrielle Union in Tyler Perry’s Daddy’s Little Girls (Feb. 16), and, perhaps most promisingly, Diane Keaton and Mandy Moore in Because I Said So, from Heathers director Michael Lehmann (Feb. 2). As well, Clueless helmer Amy Heckerling directs Michelle Pfeiffer and Paul Rudd in I Could Never Be Your Woman (Feb. 14).

Cult Comedy Central hit Reno 911! hits the screens with Reno 911!: Miami, in which our Cops-like crew hits Florida to bust some baddies (Feb.). Also on the road are John Travolta, William H. Macy, Martin Lawrence and Tim Allen in the midlife crisis caper Wild Hogs, as they play aging pals who get Harleys and take to the highways (March 2). Zach Braff and Jason Bateman square off for executive hilarity in Fast Track, which co-stars Amanda Peet and Charles Grodin (March 9). And look out for funny ladies Amy Poehler, Parker Posey and Rachel Dratch in girls-on-a-vacation yukfest Spring Breakdown (April 13).

And on the Cancon comedy front, Fido has K’Sun Ray as a dad who befriends a flesh-hungry zombie, in the form of Billy Connolly (March 9).

Rest of the fests

Though the festival season may have wrapped up in the fall, there are still a few left to look forward to. Local showcase Les rendez-vous du cinéma québécois (www.rvcq.com) celebrates its 25th anniversary this Feb. 15–25. The Festival international du film sur l’art (www.artfifa.com) also celebrates that happy number March 8–18. Look for Spanish fest Festivalissimo (www.festivalissimo.net) in March, and Vues d’Afrique’s 23e Journées du Cinéma Africain et Créole (www.vuesdafrique.org) April 19–29.

Also keep an eye out for local programming, like the Goethe-Institut’s excellent German Sound Film Classics: 1930–1945, which runs Jan. 18–March 30, and features classics like M and The Blue Angel alongside lesser-known works by Max Ophüls and others.

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