Man On The Moon / Jim Carrey

Andy Kaufman's life was performance art. "His girlfriend told me, 'Andy opened his eyes in the morning, and the show started'," says Jim Carrey. Carrey does a poignant, uncanny turn as the comic in Milos Forman's "Man on the Moon." He plays not just Kaufman but Kaufman's creations: Latka and the obscene lounge singer Tony Clifton. Carrey stayed in character between scenes. "Milos was pretty perturbed in the beginning. The first time he met Tony was in the makeup trailer. Tony was drinking Jack Daniel's, and he said to Milos, 'Who the hell are you?!' " (Dec.)

The script promises a riveting meditation on the Eleventh Commandment: thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's life. Ripley (Damon) goes to Italy to drag an errant expat (Law) home to his family--and he's so smitten with the man's glam lifestyle he'd kill for it. Director Anthony Minghella, who also cast Paltrow and Cate Blanchett, sees Patricia Highsmith's novel as a tragedy: "Ripley's nose is pressed up against the window of a life he's always desired. Everybody can relate to that. You always imagine there are people who are cleverer than you are." Even after you've directed "The English Patient"? Minghella laughs. "Even then." (Dec.)

Fight Club
Outside a bar, a scuzzball philosopher (Brad Pitt) tells an office drone (Edward Norton) to hit him as hard as he can. A friendship is born. Soon alienated men everywhere are beating each other up--and forming an anarchist army. David ("Seven") Fincher's movie may strike people as brilliant, crazy or dangerous, but it will strike them. (Oct.)

Sleepy Hollow
What have you got to do to get a head in this town? The headless horseman is looking for a new noggin. Ichabod Crane (Johnny Depp) is trying to hunt him down--and win Katrina (Christina Ricci). Depp and director Tim Burton have done first-rate work together--"Edward Scissorhands" and "Ed Wood"--and rumor has it that the terrific, spooky script here benefited from the ghostly hands of Tom Stoppard. (Nov.)

Magnolia
Director Paul Thomas Anderson's follow-up to the brilliant "Boogie Nights." If you're a Tom Cruise fan and "Eyes Wide Shut" wasn't the shocker you were expecting, wait until you see him with a samurai hairdo, playing a rabid infomercial guru who preaches the joys of chauvinism. Cruise is part of an intense ensemble movie about life, death and the San Fernando Valley. (Dec.)

Three Kings
David O. Russell ("Flirting With Disaster") is an edgy director, so expect a slanted, surprising take on an action flick. The gulf war is ending, and George Clooney and Mark Wahlberg are American soldiers planning a gold heist. (Oct.)

Toy Story 2
Woody (Tom Hanks) gets kidnapped, and Buzz (Tim Allen) & Co. go on a rescue mission. It seems a crazed collector has discovered that Woody's an extremely rare, valuable toy. We knew that already. (Nov.)

The Hurricane
Count on Denzel Washington to give a heavyweight performance as real-life welterweight champ Rubin (Hurricane) Carter. Carter paved the way for Ali, and was then wrongly convicted of a triple homicide. (Dec.)

The Green Mile
Tom Hanks and Stephen King--this one doesn't exactly need our help. A prison guard (Hanks) bonds with a mystical murderer (Michael Clarke Duncan) on death row. Director Frank Darabont also made the acclaimed "The Shawshank Redemption" out of a King novella. Meet the surest of fall's sure things. (Dec.)

Bringing Out the Dead
Martin Scorsese and screenwriter Paul Schrader turned Manhattan into the second circle of hell for "Taxi Driver." Now they've reteamed to turn it into the ninth. "Dead" concerns a guilt-ridden paramedic--and proves once again that Nicolas Cage is a fearless son of a bitch. (Oct.)