10) The School of Rock (October 3rd)

Writer Mike White is best known for his dank and disturbing looks at obsession. Director Richard Linklater is an indie stalwart whose films are often densely philosophical (Waking Life was essentially an animated Philosophy 101 primer). Jack Black is a manic, often rude, crude, and profane comedian. What do you get when you put them all together? A sweet, fairly family-friendly film featuring a bunch of elementary school students striving to win a Battle of the Bands competition, of course. Kicked out of his band and desperate for cash, Jack Black cons his way into a substitute teaching position at a ritzy private school. His unorthodox teaching style doesn't go over well with the uptight and overachieving students until he discovers their musical abilities and hatches a plan to put together a rock group from his class. The immature adult and overly mature children learning from each other theme was tried recently with Uptown Girls, but this effort looks a whole lot better. Besides, we like Brittany Murphy well enough, but she's no Jack Black. His interaction with the kids as sort of a new millennium Walter Matthau in a rock 'n' roll Bad News Bears makes this the most promising straight-out comedy of the fall.

9) Cabin Fever (September 12th)

Take five youngsters. Put them in a remote cabin in redneck country, add in a horrible flesh eating virus and what have you got? A brand new horror movie that's a throwback to the sort of gritty gorefest that used to characterize the genre, that's what. Director Eli Roth comes highly recommended off of his student films and his professed love of classics like The Crazies, Creepshow, The Thing and Evil Dead -- it's even rumored that the soundtrack contains a song taken directly from Wes Craven's seminal Last House on the Left. Advance word also has this one delivering a black comedy moment or two along with the buckets of blood, helping to lend a cutting and satiric edge to the fright-filled proceedings. Ultimately, it all totals up to the kind of film that aficionados of horror will absolutely not want to miss, so be sure to circle September 12th on your calendar in dripping blood red. It'll eat you up inside if you miss it.

8) Lost in Translation (September 19th)

When your last name is Coppola and you're in the film industry, you probably have to face charges of nepotism daily. It doesn't help when you're then blamed (unfairly or not) for dragging down The Godfather: Part III after your father cast you in an important role. How do you leave that tag behind? If you're Sofia Coppola, you make a brilliant feature film directorial debut with The Virgin Suicides. Though seen by only a limited audience, it announced her as a major talent in and of herself, and obliterated any notion that she could only make it on the merits of her familial heritage. It also made her one half of perhaps the best filmmaking married couple ever with husband Spike Jonze. That's why we're so psyched to see her follow up film. Bill Murray plays an actor in Tokyo to film a commercial who meets up with the young wife (played by Scarlett Johansson) of a workaholic photographer in the hotel bar late at night when they are both up with insomnia. They spend the week together getting to know each other and themselves. The gentle style Coppola showed in The Virgin Suicides seems like it will fit perfectly for this story, and we're also getting a bit of a May-December/Before Sunrise vibe. And that's a good thing.

7) Mystic River (October 8th)

Looking for a work with solid directing, an impressive cast, and great source material? Here's Mystic River. Dennis Lehane's bestselling novel tells of three childhood friends who grow apart after one falls into sinister hands. The story touches on murder and vengeance, forgotten friendship and lost innocence, resolution and regret. Now adults, the three are drawn back together after the murder of one of their daughters. Clint Eastwood's last big hit as a director was in 2000 with Space Cowboys. Helming Mystic River, he works with a cast that tops that in any of his other films. Kevin Bacon, Tim Robbins and Sean Penn play the leads, with Laura Linney, Laurence Fishburne and Marcia Gay Harden ably filling in supporting roles. Brian Helgeland, writer of L.A. Confidential, translates Lehane's gripping, moody novel. Don't be surprised if Mystic River generates a lot of Oscar buzz even before its release.

6) The Runaway Jury (October 17th)

Remember when any new movie based on a John Grisham novel was hotly anticipated and a guaranteed blockbuster? While The Runaway Jury may not be a complete return to the box office success of The Firm, it is at least a step in the right direction. It's a good thing that Grisham's return is with what is perhaps his best novel. Perhaps that's why the film adaptation attracted such a stellar cast that includes Dustin Hoffman, Gene Hackman, Rachel Weisz, and BOP favorite John Cusack. The story about jury tampering in a high-profile class action suit against the gun industry should raise some hot button issues as well as provide an opportunity for a showdown between Hoffman and Hackman. It's about time for another good courtroom potboiler, and when the verdict is in, we're betting this will be it.

Click here to read selections 20-16.
Click here to read selections 15-11.
Click here to read selections 5-1.

Click here for an alphabetical list of all selections.