By Cheryl Eddy and Johnny Ray Huston

The Brown Bunny Roger Ebert is wrong. (Sept. 3)

Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow Shot using real actors – first-name-only types like Gwyneth, Jude, and Angelina – but C.G. for, well, everything else, Sky Captain has been tantalizing fans of sci-fi mayhem since the trailer hit months and months ago. Bring on the giant robot army already! (Sept. 17)

Shaun of the Dead Zombies, what a drag, eh? A huge hit in Britain, this funny-as-fuck comedy pits an average schlub – who's already having a really bad day to begin with – against a marauding horde of hungry undead. (Sept. 24)

I [Heart] Huckabees Five years after the unfortunately prophetic Three Kings, director David O. Russell uncorks the season's best casting. Marky Mark, meet Isabelle Huppert. Shania Twain, meet Dustin Hoffman. Tippi Hedren, meet Jude Law – and all of you, say hello to Lily Tomlin, who should feel right at home in this existential comedy. (Oct. 1)

The Yes Men If you're a frustrated leftist and the mere thought of one more joyless anti-Bush doc that confuses a cattle call of talking heads with filmmaking is enough to give you an aneurysm, American Movie director Chris Smith has just the tonic: a look at the title subversives, who've raised presidential hell and wreaked World Trade Organization havoc. Every San Francisco protester worth her or his weight in placards should see this and take notes – especially since one of the Yes Men used to call this quaint little fishing village his home. (Oct. 1)

Team America: World Police Puppet violence! Puppet sex! A scathing political satire, with Broadway-style musical numbers! South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone may, quite possibly, have one of the greatest movies ever made on their hands. (Oct. 15)

The Grudge American audiences have been surprisingly receptive to the twisted films surfing the horror wave out of Asia, albeit on their own terms (see last year's remake of Japanese horror phenom Ringu, with a Western director and cast). Haunted-house tale The Grudge, a remake of Ju-On, goes one step further by retaining the original's director, Takashi Shimizu, but also takes a few steps back by casting Sarah Michelle Gellar. Still, we'll take a Grudge match over Village-style faux-horror sop any day of the week. (Oct. 22)

Alexander Even if this is disastrous, it'll be one for the movie history books, ready to be shelved next to Joseph L. Mankiewicz's swords-and-sandals swan dive, Cleopatra. This time, instead of La Liz wearing golden asp jewelry, we have Colin Farrell's dyed-golden locks. Irishman Farrell plays the warring Macedonian, and every Hollywood blond's favorite boy toy (just ask Cameron, Britney, and Paris), Jared Leto, is platinum Alexander's more-than-just-a-friend. Oliver Stone watches, er, directs. (Nov. 5)

The Incredibles What do you get when C.G.'s commercial superpower joins forces with the man behind perhaps the best U.S. animated film of the past decade? We'll find out when this collaboration between Pixar and Brad Bird – whose hand-drawn Iron Giant didn't find the audience it deserved – hits theaters. (Nov. 5)

The Life Aquatic Wes Anderson + Bill Murray + deep-sea shenanigans = we'll see you at the front of the line. Duh. (Dec. 10)

Bad Education Psycho and Vertigo applied to Franco by Pedro. Gael García-Bernal in drag under the gaze of Almodóvar is one reason movies were invented. (Dec. 22)