Fall Flicks: The good, the bad and the really intriguing

We suggest you save these pages. Circle the flicks you want to see now and make it a date.

(All release dates are subject to change. "Limited" means limited markets for that date.)

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Friday:

"All About Steve" (Fox). Sandra Bullock and Thomas Haden Church star as an "eccentric crosswords puzzle player" and the CNN cameraman she becomes comically obsessed with in this romance from the screenwriter of "License to Wed."

"Extract" (Miramax). Jason Bateman stars as the owner of a flower-extract plant coping with a cheating wife (Kristen Wiig) and assorted other issues. Ben Affleck and Mila Kunis also star in this Mike Judge comedy.

"Gamer" (Lionsgate). Gerard Butler stars in this sci-fi thriller about a guy who tracks down the man (Michael C. Hall) who pulls the strings in the popular "Slayer" game.

Limited:

"Carriers" (Paramount Vantage). Four friends fleeing a pandemic become each other's worst enemies in this indie thriller.

"Shanghai" (The Weinstein Co.). John Cusack, Gong Li, Chow Yun Fat and Ken Watanabe star in this period piece about an American who returns to Shanghai after the death of a friend on the eve of Pearl Harbor.

Sept. 9:

"9" (Focus). Rag-doll creatures struggle to survive in a post-apocalyptic world in this sci-fi animation, which features the voices of Elijah Wood, Jennifer Connelly, John C. Reilly and Christopher Plummer.

Sept. 11:

"Daybreakers" (Lionsgate). Ethan Hawke and Willem Dafoe star in this sci-fi vampire movie about a virus that's turned the Earth of 2017 into vampire central.

"The September Issue" (Roadside Attractions). This documentary follows that whirling dervish of fashion, Anna Wintour, as she prepares to set the fashion agenda with her annual September edition of Vogue.

"Sorority Row" (Summit). Briana Evigan and Rumer Willis are among the celebrity offspring starring in this horror thriller about sorority girls who try to cover up a death.

"This Side of the Truth" (Warner Bros.). This Ricky Gervais comedy is about a young American (Jonah Hill) who craves the approval of his reckless ex-pat dad, now living in Rome.

"Tyler Perry's I Can Do Bad All By Myself" (Lionsgate). Taraji P. Henson stars. Gladys Knight sings and Tyler Perry dons the Madea dress for his latest sermon with a silly edge.

"Whiteout" (Warner Bros.). Kate Beckinsale stars in this Antarctic murder mystery, based on the Greg Rucka graphic novel and directed by Dominic Sena.

Sept. 18:

"Armored" (Screen Gems). An armored truck heist is at the heart of this action film, which stars Columbus Short, Matt Dillon, Lawrence Fishburne, Skeet Ulrich and Jean Reno.

"Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs" (Columbia-Sony Animation). The voices of Anna Faris, Bill Hader, James Caan, Mr. T. and Tracy Morgan are featured in this comedy about world hunger being solved (sort of) when food begins falling from the sky.

"Jennifer's Body" (Fox). Megan Fox is a cheerleader possessed, who kills off her male classmates in this horror comedy from the writer of Juno.

"Love Happens" (Universal). Aaron Eckhart is a self-help guru who has written of his wife's death; Jennifer Aniston is the woman he meets at one of his seminars in this romantic weeper.

"Pandorum" (Overture). Dennis Quaid and Ben Foster are spacemen who wake up on their ship with no memory of who they are or what their mission might be.

Limited

"Bright Star" (Apparition). Aussie director Jane Campion's latest period piece is about the 18-year-old (Abbie Cornish) who inspired her neighbor, John Keats (Ben Whishaw), to write the love poem, "Bright Star."

"The Burning Plain" (Magnolia). The screenwriter of "Babel," "21 Grams" and "Amores Perros" takes a stab at directing this melodrama of inter-connected characters, love and guilt, starring Charlize Theron, Kim Basinger and John Corbett.

Sept. 25:

"Fame" (Lakeshore Entertainment/MGM). Debbie Allen and a bunch of little-knowns and unknowns turn out for this update-remake of the 1980 film and 1982 TV series about ambitious dreamers at New York's High School for the Performing Arts.

"The Invention of Lying" (Warner Bros.). Ricky Gervais plays a man who lives in a world free from lies, until this writer discovers the art of fibbing. With Tina Fey, Jennifer Garner, Jonah Hill and Jason Bateman.

"Surrogates" (Touchstone). Bruce Willis and Radha Mitchell star in this sci-fi thriller as agents who track murders back to a company that makes humanlike robots designed to step in for their owners.

Oct. 2:

"Capitalism: A Love Story" (Overture). Michael Moore's take on the financial crisis and the people, high and low, who caused it.

"Shutter Island" (Paramount). Martin Scorsese's adaptation of novelist Dennis Lehane's novel is a 1950s mystery that has Leonardo DiCaprio searching for an escaped mentally ill murderess (Emily Mortimer). Ben Kingsley, Mark Ruffalo, Michelle Williams, Max von Sydow and Jackie Earle Haley are also in the cast.

"Toy Story 3D" (Disney/Pixar). Pixar re-issues a double-feature of the two films, "Toy Story" and "Toy Story 2," that started the computer animation craze, this time in 3D.

Limited

"A Serious Man" (Focus). The new Coen Brothers dramedy is set on a Minnesota college campus in the 1960s, where a professor seeking tenure faces marital, personal and spiritual crises that he tries to resolve through three different rabbis.

"The Ministers" (Maya Entertainment). Florencia Lozano, John Leguizamo, Harvey Keitel and Diane Venora star in this thriller about a detective who sets out to avenge her father's murder.

Oct. 9:

"Couples Retreat" (Universal). Vince Vaughn, Malin Akerman, Kristen Bell, Faizon Love, Jon Favreau and Justin Bateman are in this all-star comedy about couples trapped in a resort where they're forced to fix their relationships.

"The Informant" (Warner Bros.). Matt Damon stars in this Steven Soderbergh farce about a real-life whistle blower who was almost as dirty as the folks he was blowing the whistle on.

"Zombieland" (Columbia) Woody Harrelson plays a meek chap who tries to find refuge in a world overrun by zombies. Jesse Eisenberg also stars.

Limited:

"Bronson" (Magnolia). Tom Hardy stars in this historical heist picture about a Brit robber who spent much of his life behind bars, where he earned the nickname Charles Bronson.

"Whip It" (Fox Searchlight). Ellen Page, Juliette Lewis and Kristen Wiig join star and director Drew Barrymore for this lady-roller-derby dramedy.

Oct. 16:

"Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant" (Universal). Willem Dafoe, Salma Hayek and, as a vampire, John C. Reilly, are prime attractions at a "freak show" circus that a young boy (Chris Massoglia) falls into.

"Law Abiding Citizen" (Overture). Gerard Butler stars in this thriller about a man whose family was murdered who then takes the law into his own hands when the justice system fails him.

"The Road" (Dimension). Cormac McCarthy's post-apocalyptic sci-fi dystopia about a man and his son struggling to survive on "the road" stars Viggo Mortensen and Oscar winners Robert Duvall and Charlize Theron.

"More than a Game" (Lionsgate). LeBron James and four high school teammates tell the story of their friendship and ensuing lives in this documentary about the roots of an NBA superstar.

"The Stepfather" (Screen Gems). This is a remake of the 1987 thriller about the man who tries to kill off a family he has married into that isn't working out. Sela Ward and Amber Heard are among the stars.

"Where the Wild Things Are" (Warner Bros.). The Spike Jonze version of Maurice Sendak's classic children's fantasy book stars Forest Whitaker, Catherine Keener, Mark Ruffalo and Catherine O'Hara.

Oct. 23:

"Amelia" (Fox Searchlight). Mira Nair's biography of aviation legend Amelia Earhart stars Oscar winner Hilary Swank.

"Astro Boy" (Summit). Another animated Japanese TV series from the '60s earns a big-screen outing, with the voices of Nicolas Cage, Eugene Levy and Freddie Highmore as the robot, Astro Boy.

"Ong Bak 2" (Magnolia). More Thai martial-arts action starring and directed by Tony Jaa, with this vengeance tale set in medieval Thailand

"Saw VI" (Lionsgate). The slasher series that will never die until you people stop buying tickets makes its annual Halloween Eve return.

Oct. 30:

"House of the Devil" (Magnolia). A babysitter takes an unusual job and lives to regret it in this horror tale starring Jocelin Donahue.

Nov. 6:

"The Box" (Warner Bros.). A dark fantasy about a family (Cameron Diaz, James Marsden) who receives a magical box, an offer of $1 million from Frank Langella - and the promise that pushing a button to ensure that $1 million will kill someone they do not know.

"Disney's A Christmas Carol" (Walt Disney). Robert Zemeckis made this performance-capture (The Polar Express) version of the Dickens holiday classic, with digital versions of Gary Oldman, Robin Wright Penn, Colin Firth and Jim Carrey, who plays several roles, starting with Scrooge.

"The Fourth Kind" (Universal). As in "Close Encounters of the..." Milla Jovovich stars in this thriller about a therapist who notices startling similarities among victims of alleged alien abductions.

"Men Who Stare at Goats" (Overture). Ewan McGregor, Kevin Spacey and Jeff Bridges star in this film based on Jon Ronson's satiric novel about a reporter who stumbles across a soldier who claims to be a veteran of a U.S. Army paranormal battalion.

"Pirate Radio" (Universal). Philip Seymour Hoffman and Bill Nighy are among the stars of this Richard Curtis comedy about offshore rock radio in the UK in the '70s.

Limited:

"Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' " by Sapphire (Lionsgate). Oprah Winfrey and Tyler Perry have thrown their clout behind this Sundance hit about an obese pregnant and illiterate teen who tries to turn her life around in a Harlem school.

Nov. 13:

"The Fantastic Mr. Fox" (Fox). An animated Wes Anderson film based on a Roald Dahl story? We're intrigued. It's about farm folk who tire of the wily fox in their midst (voiced by George Clooney) and resolve to wipe out him and his kind.

"2012" (Sony). Roland Emmerich's latest end-of-the-world spectacle concerns the confluence of disasters that some folks figure accompany the expiration date on the ancient Mayan calendar.

"Red Cliff" (Magnolia). John Woo's action epic of ancient China is about efforts to "unite all of China" some 2,000 years ago. Tony Leung, Takeshi Kaneshiro and Zhang Fengyi are the stars.

Nov. 20:

"The Blind Side" (Warner Bros.). A homeless kid is recruited to a college football power in this drama based on the Michael Lewis book. Quentin Aaron, Sandra Bullock, Tim McGraw and Kathy Bates are the stars of the John Lee Hancock film.

"New Moon" (Summit). The sequel to Twilight has fetching young Bella recovering from a vampire attack, and cozying up to the cuter vampires.

"Planet 51" (Sony Animation). Dwayne Johnson voices the astronaut who visits a strange planet that lives in fear of alien invasion in this cartoon.

Nov. 25:

"Ninja Assassin" (Warner Bros.). Rick Yune and Rain face off in this tale of dueling ninja murderers for hire, the Interpol agent (Naomi Harris) on their trail.

"Nine" (The Weinstein Co.). Rob Marshall's all-star adaptation of the musical based on Fellini's film "8½," stars Daniel Day-Lewis as the filmmaker who tries to reconcile his artistic life with his many lady loves.

"Old Dogs" (Walt Disney). Robin Williams and John Travolta play kid-averse bachelors charged with caring for 6-year-old twins. From the director of "Wild Hogs," if that tells you anything.

Dec. 4:

"Brothers" (Lionsgate). Tobey Maguire is a soldier gone missing and presumed dead in Afghanistan, Jake Gyllenhaal the brother who looks after his "widow" (Natalie Portman) in this Jim Sheridan drama.

Limited:

"The Debt" (Miramax). Helen Mirren and Sam Worthington star in this John Madden adaptation of an Israeli film about Mossad agents on the trail of a German war criminal.

Dec. 11:

"Invictus" (Warner Bros.). Clint Eastwood's latest directing job is a Morgan Freeman/Matt Damon bio-drama about Nelson Mandela's efforts to unite his country through rugby.

"The Lovely Bones" (Dreamworks). Saoirse Ronan plays a young murdered girl who watches over her family (Rachel Weisz, Mark Wahlberg) from heaven, and plots her revenge, in this Peter Jackson horror fantasy.

Dec. 18:

"Avatar" (Fox). James Cameron's years-in-the-making 3D-motion-capture animated thriller is about humans battling aliens on a distant planet. The film features the digital proxies for actors Sam Worthington and Sigourney Weaver, among others.

"Did You Hear About the Morgans?" (Columbia/Sony). Hugh Grant and Sarah Jessica Parker team up for this fish-out-of-water comedy about a high-powered New York couple who witness a mob murder and are relocated to rural Wyoming.

Dec. 25:

"Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakuel" (Fox). More tunes and sight gags from those rockin', rappin' rodents, the Chipmunks.

"The Princess and the Frog" (Walt Disney). Disney's return to classical (non-computer-rendered) animation is an updating of the fable set in 19th-century New Orleans. Oprah and John Goodman are among the voice actors.

"Sherlock Holmes" (Warner Bros.). Robert Downey Jr. and that box-office kiss of death, Jude Law, star in this version of Holmes' detective adventures. Guy Ritchie directed it.

Date to be determined:

"Up in the Air" (Paramount). George Clooney is a corporate downsizing expert who has racked up the frequent flyer miles but whose success is threatened when he meets a fellow frequent flyer, the woman of his dreams (Vera Farmiga), in this Jason Reitman comedy.