“The Good German” (releasing December 15th in select cities) is being sold as a “Casablanca” clone, but it has more in common with another black and white adventure, “The Third Man.” A mystery set in post-war Berlin, it concerns an American military journalist (George Clooney) investigating a killing, along with his former girlfriend (Cate Blanchett, doing a German accent) and his violent driver (Tobey Maguire). It is also director Steven Soderbergh’s latest experiment (in a long line). He’s attempting to combine the acting styles and look of 1940’s noir, along with dialogue and violence owing more to current standards. Will they mix well? We’ll see, but either way it may be worth it just to see if a classic noir can still be made.

“The Good Sheppard” (December 22nd) is Robert De Niro’s second directorial effort, following 1993’s “A Bronx Tale.” “A Bronx Tale” was a small gem, using the genre he defined with his acting to tell a realistic tale of a boy torn between two father figures on the streets of New York. “Shepard” was written by Eric Roth, who’s had a few gems of his own (“The Insider”,”Munich”). The cast is packed with electric actors, including Matt Damon, Angelina Jolie, Alec Baldwin, John Tuturro, Joe Pesci (in his first role since “Lethal Weapon 4”). So, the question is can all this talent come together for this account of the forming of the CIA. If it does, De Niro will have crafted a searing epic, and will hopefully return to the director’s chair more often then he takes roles in high concept buddy comedies.

“Dreamgirls “ (December 25th) is the heavy hitter lurking late in the month, and it may be impossible to live up to its growing buzz. Still, all the elements are there for a wildly entertaining musical. Word is that’s it’s really Jennifer Hudson’s movie, which would propel her to be one of the few redeeming consequences of American Idol. She stars as a member of a singing group supposedly based on the Supremes, which also includes Beyonce. Eddie Murphy, Jamie Foxx, and Danny Glover lend support to the film, which was written and directed by Bill Condon. Condon is familiar with musicals, having written “Chicago”, but he has also shown himself to handle character pieces well (“Gods and Monsters”, “Kinsey”).

Children of Men (December 29th) come on the heels of another thought provoking science-fiction movie, “The Fountain”. “Children of Men” is much more literal then “The Fountain” (which also means it might be more commercial). It creates a world in the near future that should feel like it could exist, if you’re willing to go with a few unexplained phenomenons. The biggest of those is that women are unable to have babies, which immediately gives a sense of inevitable doom. The cast includes Clive Owen (doing his best Humphrey Bogart), Juliane Moore, and Michael Caine. Caine can play the sage with a twinkle in his eye as well as anyone, but judging from his shoulder length hair in the trailer, this may be a fun and daring performance. “Men” was shot quite daringly as well – there are 2 or 3 sequences of 8-10 minutes where there are no cuts. To set up and execute these shots must have been a nightmare, but they should prove effective in placing the audience right in the middle of this future world.

Finally, I’d like to say a brief word about the recent passing of Robert Altman. He directed over 40 films, as well as numerous plays and television productions. He was usually pushing the medium of moving pictures – as evidenced by his technical innovations. Those included his slow, graceful use of the zoom lens. He was able to keep the focus sharp, even as the zoom made the frame area smaller and smaller.

More often cited is his use of multiple wireless microphones, which allowed for overlapping dialogue and an improvised feel. Short bursts from different actors would pop in and out, giving the audience a sense of everyone. Gosford Park’s dinner scenes was a perfect example of this, allowing almost all of England’s most well known actors to get in a few words.

One of his riskiest moves was cooked up with cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond on “McCabe & Mrs. Miller.” They decided to “flash” the film stock before shooting, resulting in an incredibly soft, nostalgic look. If camera equipment had been invented 50 years earlier, the images it captured might have looked something like “McCabe.”

But besides his technical innovations, he opened worlds to the audience. From the old west to the British upper class, from the heart of country music to the cutthroat (literally) politics of Hollywood. And in these worlds he showed us faces, and within those faces, conflicting thoughts and feelings. He was always zooming in, and in his best films the focus is as sharp as can be.

• Alex Mechlin writes about the movie industry monthly, exclusively in Lumino Magazine. E-mail Alex at alex.mechlin@luminomagazine.com.

Comments

December releases Written by Guest on 2006-12-08 10:58:58 Great heads up on the more thoughtful movies (after all that violence in recent releases) for those of us interested in being transported to a different time and place.     Very thoughtful comments on Altman. His focus was indeed on human emotions and he created many memorable characters.

Written by Guest on 2006-12-24 15:26:09 you nailed it about altman, one of the few directors who enable you to discover something new every time yuo see the movie again.

This Rocks! Written by Guest on 2006-12-30 17:02:55 This was the best column ever! Keep rockin Alex!

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