2006 Fall Movie Preview

"Casino Royale" with Daniel Craig as the new James Bond is just one of the fall films that Los Angeles Times film critic Kenneth Turan doesn't want to miss.

"These films always manage to be fun somehow," he told Sunday Morning correspondent Jerry Bowen. "This is a franchise that has longevity."

The remake of Oscar winner "All The King's Men" gets Turan's vote, as well.

"It's clearly a great story," he said. "Sean Penn plays Willie Stark, a populist rabble-rousing politician based on Hughie Long. I have very, very high hopes for this one."

Turan also has high hopes for Martin Scorsese's "The Departed" featuring Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon and Jack Nicholson. The movie is about struggle between a criminal gang and the cops.

"The gang has a mole inside the police force and the police force has a mole inside the gang," Turan said. "It's a great plot."

There are also true stories on the silver screen this season.

"We are Marshall" is about what happened after a university football team perished in a plane crash.

"Hoax" is about Clifford Irving's fake biography of the reclusive Howard Hughes.

On the heels of last year's film "Capote" comes "Infamous," another movie about the eccentric author.

"Flags of Our Fathers" is an epic World War II battle for Iwo Jima directed by Clint Eastwood.

"He's become a real classical director," Turan said. "A classicist using restraint — and this is a great story."

"Stranger than Fiction" has an offbeat story with Will Ferrell playing an I.R.S. agent who hears a voice in his head — the voice of Emma Thompson as she writes a novel. It turns out that Ferrell is the novel's main character.

"Running with Scissors" is based on Augusten Burroughs's memoir of a dysfunctional family.

The movie "Flicka" hails directly from the children's bookshelf.

"I'm hoping to relive my childhood with this film," Turan said. "And hopefully it will just kind of make me forget about all the horrible things that are going on in the world."

"Charlotte's Web" stars Dakota Fanning with Julia Roberts as the voice of the spider.

There is magic to be seen in "The Prestige," a drama about two competing magicians.

Audiences loved "Dreamgirls" on Broadway. Twenty-five years later, it's coming to the big screen with Jamie Foxx, Beyonce Knowles and Eddie Murphy.

"It looked like an old fashioned musical," Turan said. "The kind of musical that we really, you know, that people who like musicals saying why don't they make films like this anymore."

It seems like the big Hollywood studios aren't making many films for grown-ups anymore, spending their money instead on action and special effects that appeal to teenagers. More and more, those grown-up films are being turned out by budget minded independents or the specialty divisions of the big studios.

Turan, author of the new book "Now in Theaters Everywhere" says it all comes down to the bottom line: money.

"When you make a product for $100 million, you want to make it for your most avid audience; and the adult moviegoer is not the most avid movie going audience," he said. "And so the films made for them, they just don't get made as often."

Films like "The Last King of Scotland" with Forrest Whitaker as Idi Amin had stirred up buzz this past week at the Toronto Film Festival as did director Todd Field's "Little Children" about an adulterous affair, "Babel" with Cate Blanchett and Brad Pitt, and director Pedro Almodovar's "Volver" with Penelope Cruz.

"It's a wonderful performance. It's a pleasure to watch a great director make a film that's so audience accessible," Turan said.

Not so accessible, perhaps, is Mel Gibson's violent "Apocalypto" told in Mayan tongue, while "Bobby" tells of one night of violence, when Robert Kennedy was assassinated.

Helen Mirren is Queen Elizabeth in "The Queen" as she confronts the overwhelming public grief after the death of Princess Diana.

Kirsten Dunst is the teen queen Marie Antoinette in director Sofia Coppola's pop culture treatment of the 18th century French royals.

"It's very historically accurate, but it's like the 'O.C.' in Versailles and it's a very unexpected film," Turan said. "It's very jazzily made. I found it quite charming."

There are also comedies like "For Your Consideration" about a tiny film with huge Oscar buzz.

"Borat" with Sacha Baron Cohen in the role of a TV personality from Kazakhstan who loses nearly everything in translation.

"Man of the Year" features Robin Williams as a most unlikely presidential candidate.

There are star turns to see: Russell Crowe stars in the romantic comedy "A Good Year," Will Smith stars in "The Pursuit of Happiness," and Denzel Washington in pursuit of answers in "Deja Vu."

Speaking of déjà vu, Sylvester Stallone is back as "Rocky."

"When I saw that there was another 'Rocky' film, you know on the schedule, it was like Groundhog Day," Turan said." I said 'haven't we been here before?"

Stallone, 60, promises number six will be the last.