LAT. Sneaks 2008.

"Studios are currently consumed with Oscar campaigns for last year's films, and the ongoing writers strike leaves the slate for 2009 uncertain. Happily, 2008 promises to deliver a plethora of movies to keep audiences in the moment." Rebecca Ascher-Walsh opens the "Sneaks 2008" package in today's Los Angeles Times.

"In Righteous Kill, opening this fall, Pacino and De Niro at long last share the screen for a significant amount of a movie's running time," writes Mark Olsen. "Coming from new studio Overture Films and directed by veteran Jon Avnet (Fried Green Tomatoes) from a screenplay by Russell Gewirtz (The Inside Man), the latest outing with these legendary actors finds them playing a pair of grizzled New York City cops. With its serial killer through-line and undercurrent of kinky sex, the film could come across as a grubby, late-90s erotic thriller were it not for the two stars who have three Oscars between them, making Righteous Kill something akin to watching two virtuoso jazz musicians work their way around an old standard." Trailer. Slated to open April 12 in New York and April 18 everywhere else.

Chris Lee: "'Car-Fu - that's what the boys were calling it,' said Speed Racer producer Joel Silver, speaking for the notoriously media-averse Wachowskis, the dystopian auteurs behind the blockbuster Matrix trilogy. 'Cars fighting in the air.'" Trailer. May 9.

"LA is getting a superhero that's perfect for the city," Iron Man director Jon Favreau tells Geoff Boucher, who decides, "That's true. In Iron Man, a Marvel Comics character who dates to 1963, the City of Angels is getting a hero who is sleek but self-centered, fabulously rich but morally compromised and (most fittingly) built for speed but bad for the environment." Trailer. May 2.

Also: A talk with Nick Nolte about The Spiderwick Chronicles: "I've been getting in touch with my monster." Trailer. February 15. Plus, a quick chat with Christopher Nolan about The Dark Knight. Trailer. July 18.

"'I've always envisioned myself as a major action star,' deadpans 45-year-old [Steve] Carell.... Many A-list comedians, including Will Ferrell and Jim Carrey, expressed interest in starring as Max during the project's nine-year development, but it wasn't until Carell signed on that Get Smart gained traction," reports Cristy Lytal. Trailer. June 20.

"Christina Ricci's new film, Penelope, has a lot of parallels to the actress' own journey to self-discovery and self-acceptance - minus the pig snout, of course," writes Pamela Chelin. Ricci: "My view more is that I just feel really safe in the world because I feel like everybody knows me. So it all seems like a neighborhood, just my big neighborhood." Trailer. February 29.

Susan King talks with Abigail Breslin about "making the family film Nim's Island in Australia." Trailer. April 4. Plus, a few words with Michel Gondry about Be Kind Rewind. Trailer. January 25. And with John Krasinski about George Clooney's Leatherheads. Trailer's at the site. April 4.

"In mid-November, about two weeks into the Writers Guild strike, a handful of high-profile projects that were originally intended for filming and release this year were delayed because studios, stars, directors or writers felt that the screenplays were not quite ready to shoot." Jay A Fernandez surveys "what you won't be seeing in 2008."

Posted by dwhudson at January 13, 2008 6:28 AM