Summer Movie Preview - August

24 HOUR PARTY PEOPLE A likely addition to the dramatic competition at Cannes, the new U.K. comic drama from Michael Winterbottom (Wonderland, The Claim) chronicles the Manchester music scene's transformation from '70s punk dump to '80s pill-popping paradise. In the town that spawned such beloved Brit-rock outfits as the Stone Roses, Happy Mondays, and Joy Division, our hero of sorts is rock & roll original Tony Wilson (Steve Coogan), a gonzo TV journalist who charms and smarms his way to becoming the head of trailblazing Factory Records, only to experience a cocaine-fueled fall. (Aug. 9)

Plus

Amid the mounting desolation of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, a criminal investigator must cope with his self- destructive brother (Dances With Wolves' Graham Greene) in SKINS.... In HUSH! a young Japanese couple--he's gay, she's straight--tweak traditional social conventions by trying to have a baby.... Director Bille August's A SONG FOR MARTIN tells the story of two middle-aged soul mates who embark on a relationship despite the fact that both are married with children.... Based on a Truman Capote story, CHILDREN ON THEIR BIRTHDAYS focuses on two boys whose friendship suffers when a new girl moves to town.... In THE LAST KISS, which tied for the Audience Award for World Cinema at Sundance, a 30-year-old Italian man is tempted by one last fling shortly before his wedding day.... In VIRGINIA'S RUN, a 12-year-old girl gains new freedom after her mother's death when she bonds with a horse.... The latest Dogma 95 offering, KIRA'S REASON--A LOVE STORY, finds a Danish woman returning from a mental hospital to a husband who recently had an affair.... SECRET BALLOT observes the prickly pairing between an Iranian soldier and the female election supervisor who visits his remote outpost on voting day.... With APOLLO 13: THE IMAX EXPERIENCE, Ron Howard's 1995 Oscar winner gets the really-big-screen treatment.... In I'M GOING HOME, an aging French actor beset by tragedy is hired for one last role by an American director (John Malkovich).... A young girl is entrusted with the LITTLE SECRETS of her neighbors when she sets up a truth-telling booth in her backyard.... Romance and politics collide in MAD LOVE, a Spanish drama centering on the strife between 15th-century Flemish and Castilian monarchs.... Twenty paid volunteers agree to participate in DAS EXPERIMENT, a German drama that shows what happens when ordinary people enter a controlled prison environment.... A meticulous chef's life slowly unravels when tragedy strikes and an 8-year-old niece comes to live with her in MOSTLY MARTHA.... Former thirtysomething star Melanie Mayron directs SLAP HER, SHE'S FRENCH, a comedy about an exchange student who arrives at a small town in Texas.... Akira Kurosawa's action fable SEVEN SAMURAI will be rereleased with a spruced-up print and new subtitles.... And avant-garde director Michael Snow (whose 1967 Wavelength consisted of a 45-minute zoom) returns with *CORPUS CALLOSUM, an exploration of the colorful and sometimes erotic sides of life--or so we think.