U.S. Openings This Week - October 31st

Title: The Human Stain
Staring: Anthony Hopkins, Nicole Kidman. Ed Harris, Gary Sinise...

The Plot....
----------------------------------------------------
The life of classics professor Coleman Silk (Hopkins) suffers a tremendous blow after his affair with a young woman (Kidman) is revealed. When another secret -- one he's kept for over fifty years -- also goes public, his colleague, Nathan Zuckerman (Sinise), decides to piece together longtime friend's true story, in an attempt to understand how things came to be.....

The Buzz....
----------------------------------------------------
The Human Stain is an old man's film. It was written by an old man. It was directed by an old man and it stars an old man. As such, there's much to love, much to admire, and much to pity in it.....



Title: Alien
Staring: Sigourney Weaver, Tom Skerritt, John Hurt

The Plot....
----------------------------------------------------
The crew of the deep space mining ship Nostromo are awakened from hypersleep to investigate a strange signal from a nearby planet. While investigating the signal, they discover it was intended as a warning, and not an SOS.....

The Buzz....
----------------------------------------------------
Happy Halloween. If you need any justification to go see this amazing, 25-year-old film again, know that it's apparently being re-edited by Ridley Scott and to be shown with the extra footage available on the most tricked-out laserdisc and DVD versions.....



Title: Die Die, Mommie
Staring: Charles Busch, Natasha Lyonne, Jason Priestley

The Plot....
----------------------------------------------------
Angela Arden (cross-dressing writer Busch) slips an arsenic-laced suppository to her husband Sol (Hall) in order to be with boyfriend Tony (Priestley). Daughter Edith (Lyonne), who always disliked Mom, plots revenge while servant Bootsie, who stood to inherit a large portion of the estate, mysteriously turns up dead. Family turmoil ensues.....

The Buzz....
----------------------------------------------------
Cross-dressing Mommie, aka Charles Busch, wrote both the screenplay and the play it's based on. Sundance took more note of his acting, awarding him a Special Jury Prize for outstanding performance.....



Title: Shattered Glass
Staring: Hayden Christensen, Chloë Sevigny, Steve Zahn

The Plot....
----------------------------------------------------
Young journalist Stephen Glass (Christensen) watches his career get run through the shredder after he's exposed as a fraud by a fellow journalist (Zahn).

The Buzz....
----------------------------------------------------
So, can he act or not? That question will be answered with Glass, which finds Christensen supported by a fine ensemble cast (Maggie Gyllenhaal, Greg Kinnear and Rosario Dawson also star). Cheesy title aside, we're primed for this true story presentation, especially after the Jayson Blair/New York Times scandal from earlier this year -- and even if the story that Esquire planned on having Blair review this film turned out to be a publicity stunt.
----------------------------------------------------