The summer blockbusters have come and gone. Fall is the time when studios bring out their serious fare.
The Early Show entertainment contributor and People magazine assistant managing editor Jess Cagle previews some of the new season's most anticipated movies.
Cagle said fall is the time for the Oscar contenders -- a fall lineup starring Hollywood's hottest leading men.
Denzel Washington is back, and he's bad. He plays a Harlem drug lord and Russell Crowe plays the cop trying to bring him down in "American Gangster." Brad Pitt stars in "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford." Pitt plays the infamous outlaw, and the title pretty much says it all. George Clooney gets serious again, as a dirty dealing lawyer in "Michael Clayton." In "The Kingdom" Jamie Foxx leads a group of elite FBI operatives investigating a terrorist attack in Saudi Arabia. Oscar nominees Joaquin Phoenix and Mark Wahlberg team up for the crime drama "we own the night." Phoenix also plays a grieving father trying to track down the hit and run driver who killed his son in "Reservation Road." Ben Affleck steps behind the camera, directing and co-writing the crime drama "Gone Baby Gone." The last time he wrote a screenplay he won an Oscar for "Good Will Hunting." This time he leaves the acting to his brother, Casey. The Oscar buzz has already begun for John Cusack. In the Sundance favorite "Grace is Gone" he plays a father who can't break the news to his daughters that their mother has died in Iraq. And Tom Cruise tries to reignite his career with "Lions for Lambs." He's got a good shot, costarring with Meryl Streep and Robert Redford, who also directed. But the fall isn't just about the guys. Two-time Oscar-winner Jodie Foster goes vigilante after a brutal attack in "The Brave One." Cate Blanchett returns to her star-making role in "Elizabeth: The Golden Age." And Halle Berry is expected to be an Oscar contender once again for "Things We Lost in the Fire." Also getting a lot of buzz is "Rendition," the film that brought Reese Witherspoon and Jake Gyllenhaal together. The Coen bothers bring Cormac McCarthy's novel "No Country for Old Men" to the big screen. And the best seller "The Kite Runner" also makes its way to theaters If you're looking for comedy, the fall also a few of those. Ben Stiller re-teams with the filmmakers behind "There's Something about Mary" for "The Heartbreak Kid." Owen Wilson, Adrien Brody, and Jason Schwartzman team up for writer/director Wes Anderson's latest "The Darjeeling Limited." Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson stars as a football player who learns he's a father on "The Game Plan" Jerry Seinfeld lends his voice to the animated "Bee Movie," which he also wrote. And you can get you into the Christmas spirit a little early with the November comedy "Fred Claus." it stars Vince Vaughn as Santa's slacker brother. Also, Steve Carrell stars in "Dan in Real Life" and Janet Jackson stars in Tyler Perry's latest "Why Did I Get Married."