Well, the summer season is just about over, so it is now officially time to turn our eyes towards the autumn. Much like late spring, this time of year is about transition: The temperatures start to drop, schools everywhere are in session again and Hollywood studios assess their bottom line from the just-completed summer. Some are licking their wounds, while certain others are no doubt having five-star-catered office parties, complete with the caviar and champagne and culminating in the CEOs making angel patterns in their huge piles of money. Ahhh, the life ... yeah, smell that money ... (pop) Oops, sorry, what was I saying again?

Oh, yeah, fall season. Today I'm going to be critiquing the films of Sept. 5, or, should I say, the FILM. With Passengers and The Accidental Husband flying south for the winter, there is all of one major wide-release film being released on that weekend, which makes it the least crowded weekend since, well, the very first Friday of 2008, when all I had to contend with was One Missed Call. (Fortunately, this week's lone wolf seems to have a bit more appeal.) I will therefore be filling the dead air with the list of my Top 10 Most Anticipated Films of Late 2008, where I showcase the movies that I look forward to seeing the most in the last third of the year.

But first, I'll talk about Bangkok Dangerous, starring the perennially busy Nicolas Cage, who probably owes the fact that he still is a bankable star to the rousing success of the two National Treasure films. Because other than 2007's Ghost Rider, most of his projects over the last 10 years have failed to achieve success, either financially or critically. I don't look for Dangerous to be all that huge, but it should make for passable entertainment it what looks to be an otherwise lackluster month.

Let's face it: Movies about hitmen are cool (most of the time), and Nic, whatever his faults, still has no trouble pulling off "cool," even now. In this story, Cage plays Joe, who is hired to do a series of hit jobs in Bangkok (the capital city of Thailand), but as things progress, he breaks two cardinal rules of the business. Firstly, he falls for a local woman (Hong Kong-born actress Charlie Yeung); and second, he refuses to carry out the final assassination once he finds out that doing so would have huge political ramifications. From there, it becomes a cat-and-mouse game of kill-or-be-killed as he turns on his former employers.

Even after all his failures, I still like Nicolas Cage as an actor. I haven't forgotten how awesome he was in Raising Arizona, Honeymoon in Vegas, The Rock and Face/Off. I have also enjoyed elements of some of his less-than-successful outings, including Snake Eyes, 8MM, Matchstick Men (one of my personal favorites), Lord of War and Next. Bangkok Dangerous will probably be joining the second half of that list soon enough, as just another good, solid popcorn film.

And now that all of its direct competition has either left the building or will be at least in its second weekend, Bangkok Dangerous looks to be one of the more solid cheap picks of the entire season. Most of the August holdovers will probably be losing steam, and I daresay that nothing from the previous week is likely to repeat at No. 1 (unless Babylon A.D. just does MONSTER numbers). This could be one of those weekends when it takes less than $20 million to win, and Dangerous is in a prime position to pull that off. The R rating might decrease those numbers even further, but even my most pessimistic predictions wouldn't have this film coming in any lower than No. 2. And with only two major releases the following weekend, Little Nicky could hang around in the Top 5 for a while.

For a mere $4 in Ultimate (or even $9 in Box Office), you could snag yourself upwards of seven to 10 Top 5 points, perhaps a couple of PTA, a User Rating hopefully not lower than 5.5 and perhaps around $40 million. But even if it only tops out around $30 million, it's still a good pick.  Given how ludicrously inflated the prices for the October films are in the August-October leagues, this is a must-have. It's like You Don't Mess with the Zohan was this summer. Poor Ratings, but decent numbers in every other category. Plus, you'd do well to note that the only remaining films on the Ultimate slate from this point on that are under $7 are Righteous Kill for $2 (another must have, which I'll talk about next week), and the mid-October releases Quarantine and Sex Drive (which really don't look worth it to me, even assuming they stay on their release dates) for $5. Grab this one now.

As an avid moviegoer, it's hard not to look ahead, sometimes far ahead, to what's coming to theaters down the road. I'm already salivating over a few of next year's films, but I'll save that analysis for a later time. First we have to finish up 2008, and here is my list of the 10 films that look to be the most tantalizing (to me, anyway) in the last four months of the year.

(Note: It's a good thing I found out that Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince had been bumped to next summer with enough time to revise this list. Damn, I was really looking forward to seeing it, too. In fact, it would have been my No. 2.)

10. Righteous Kill (Sept. 12) — Come on, you're surprised? While it's true that both Robert De Niro and Al Pacino have been less than discriminating about the roles they've selected in the last 10 years, just the chance to see these two big-screen legends in a film together has got to be worth the price of admission. Admittedly, Kill looks a lot less appealing on paper than their previous collaboration, Heat, where they had all of two scenes together (one was just a shootout, but the other one was that classic diner scene). Yet even though it's directed by the guy who brought us 88 Minutes (Jon Avnet; dude must have dirty pictures of Pacino), I still plan to be there on opening weekend.

9. Max Payne (Oct. 17) — 20th Century Fox has kept much of the plot of this film carefully shrouded in mystery, as all I have to go on at this time are the one-sheet and the trailer, which looks to me to be a cross between a gritty cop drama and Constantine. Which doesn't necessarily mean it'll be good, but I'm hoping that Mark Wahlberg can be in at least ONE decent film this year. And if not, well, thank God that The Brazilian Job is on the docket for next year.

8. City of Ember (Oct. 10) — Bill Murray, ever one of Hollywood's goofiest and most eccentric personalities, never takes a serious role unless there's something to it. Ember is an underground city, the last safe haven on a post-apocalyptic Earth, with illumination only available from electrical lights powered by an ancient water-driven generator. (The story is taken from a popular YA novel by Jeanne DuPrau.) In addition to Murray, the film features the ever-resilient Tim Robbins, as well as budding star Saoirse Ronan (who copped an Oscar nom last year for Atonement), and that's a cast worth checking out. The trailer looks cooler than Journey to the Center of the Earth did, and I'm hoping that this will be better than the utter mess that was The Spiderwick Chronicles.

7. Eagle Eye (Sept. 26) — Despite Shia LaBeouf's growing real-life destructive streak, there's no denying that this kid has got star potential. (But then, so did River Phoenix, who also had, ironically, ties to the Indiana Jones franchise.) Having shined in last year's Transformers and Disturbia (which was directed by D.J. Caruso, who also directs here), LaBeouf plays some sort of Average Joe (or is he?) caught up in some kind of guns-blazing conspiracy. The fast-paced feel of the trailer makes me look forward to this one, which seems to the coolest actioner in an otherwise dull-looking September.

6. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (Dec. 19) — A guy aging backwards? Wow, I don't think I've seen that plot device since Mork and Mindy went off the air. What makes this film intriguing to me is not the fact that it stars mega-celebs Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett; rather, it is because it's being helmed by director David Fincher, who has given us some of the coolest films of the last two decades (Fight Club, Se7en, Zodiac, The Game and, to a lesser extent, Alien 3 and Panic Room). And though this is a fairly different genre than he's used to, things always seem to click when he teams up with ol' Brad. And the visual effects look amazing.

5. Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa (Nov. 7) — Yeah, I know, sequels to animated films, however successful, are often a letdown. (Shrek 2 came very close, whereas Toy Story 2, alas, did not, which makes it my least favorite Pixar flick ever.) I simply adored DreamWorks' original Madagascar, however, which followed the exploits of four zoo animals, bred in captivity, who must learn to cope with life in "the wild." In this one, they apparently make their way inland a bit, from the shores of Madagascar to the wildebeest-strewn plains of Africa, where they meet others of their species for the first time ever. All the actors who did the voices from the original are back (including Sacha Baron Cohen), so you can bet I'll be the first one to move it, move it to theaters on the first Friday in November. (Sorry, I was contractually obligated to make that joke.)

4. Quantum of Solace (Nov. 7) — That is, of course, immediately AFTER I see the latest James Bond thrill ride, which opens the very same day. Two years ago, Daniel Craig revitalized a classic franchise (that had grown stagnant at the end of the Brosnan years) with Casino Royale. It would appear that this may be the first actual Bond "sequel" in history, following hot on the footsteps of the events of Royale, and I am hoping that Craig's more-macho-than-suave persona has not changed in the last two years. Though it does seem to be Bond's lot in (his resurrected) life to open against DreamWorks, I think this time around he will actually fare better. Craig turned many non-believers into fans again, including yours truly. Plus, it's Bond. Some things in life you just have to go see, no matter what.

3. Burn After Reading (Sept. 12) — Wow, two Brad Pitt films on the same list. That says a lot, given that I've never been the man's most ardent supporter, but it's a testament to the directors that he chooses to work with that he has been able to keep evolving as an actor. And this time, it is the defending Oscar champs, the Coen Brothers, coming off their huge hit, No Country For Old Men. Burn After Reading looks to be miles away from the stark canvas that No Country was, that's for damn sure. But with a cast that also includes Pitt's Ocean's Integers series cohort George Clooney, Frances McDormand, Tilda Swinton, Richard Jenkins and John Malkovich, I look for a dark comedy at its pitch blackest, in a way that only the Coens can deliver.

2. Changeling (Oct. 24) — As someone who tends to shy away from heavy Oscar-incurring dramas like this, I have to say, this one just might have "Best Picture" written on it. Clint Eastwood, the guy who brought us Unforgiven, Mystic River and Million Dollar Baby, has generated huge buzz with his latest, which was nominated for the Golden Palm at Cannes this year. And here's hoping that Angelina Jolie can sufficiently shed her femme fatale image long enough to give what just might be her best performance since Girl, Interrupted.

1. The Spirit (Dec. 25) — Proof, if any be needed, that a good trailer is sometimes all it takes to hook an audience. The Spirit's first teaser was rather meh, as all it did was serve to remind us that Frank Miller has kept himself busy since last year's awesomely over-the-top eye candy 300. The second trailer, however, was about four levels above merely "cool" (if such a thing is possible). The women, the visuals, the women, the music, did I mention the women? And, of course, Samuel L. ("What is it with you and women?") This should serve as a nice little tentpole until Sin City 2 and Sin City 3 come out. A lot of the films from December 2007 ended up disappointing me greatly — namely, The Golden Compass, I Am Legend, Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story, AVP: Requiem — but I believe that whatever Christmas doldrums I may be experiencing four months hence will be summarily dissipated by The Spirit.

The other films that I plan on seeing from this time period (in whatever venue) are: Bangkok Dangerous, Body of Lies, Saw V, The Brothers Bloom, Passengers, Soul Men (Bernie Mac AND Isaac Hayes together onscreen, in a tragic bit of irony), Seven Pounds, The Day the Earth Stood Still, Defiance, Yes Man, The Tale of Despereaux, Bedtime Stories and possibly a few more.

Well, that will do it for me for another week. Please return next week, as I will be giving you the lowdown on three films arriving in mid-September. Hollywood icons Robert DeNiro and Al Pacino team up together as detectives trying to track down a rogue cop/serial killer in Righteous Kill; Tyler Perry continues his six-month cycle of bringing us star-studded African-American family dramas, this time with The Family That Preys, starring Alfre Woodard and Kathy Bates; and also, coming one week later, an animated film called Igor, featuring John Cusack in the title role as a mad scientist's hunch-backed lab assistant who desperately wants to be a mad scientist himself.

Don't forget to check out my new website, The Latest Movie Reviews.

TTFN!

Shrykespeare would see a commercial for a ham sandwich if it had Robert De Niro and Al Pacino in it. He might watch it even if the stars were just Nic Cage and Jessica Biel. A ham sandwich is at least as interesting as all of that weird crap from Next, right? Submit your own can't-miss-combos to shrykespeare42@gmail.com.