An aggrieved serial killer (Johnny Depp) slits throats, and his freakish gal-pal (Helena Bonham-Carter) makes pies of the corpses in "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street," Tim Burton's version of Stephen Sondheim's classic musical.

Widow Audrey Burke (Halle Berry) comforts daughter Harper (Alexis Llewellyn) in Danish director Susanne Bier's "Things We Lost in the Fire," also starring Benicio del Toro.

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J.A. Montalbano's picks

"Margot at the Wedding" (November) I can't wait to reconnect with Noah Baumbach (who made my favorite film of '05, "The Squid and the Whale"). The previews with Nicole Kidman and Jennifer Jason Leigh look great. I'll even put up with Jack Black.

"I Don't Want To Sleep Alone" (September) One of my favorite films of the decade is "What Time Is It There?" Taiwan's Tsai Ming-liang returns with another dreamy opus.

"The Darjeeling Limited" (October) Have I finally outgrown Wes Anderson? We'll find out.

"Kurt Cobain: About a Son," "My Kid Could Paint That," (October) "The Life of Reilly" (November). We need some documentaries to keep it all real.

"Charlie Wilson's War" (December) This will be my holiday guilty pleasure. (It stars Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts!) Aaron Sorkin (my beloved "Sports Night") teams with Mike Nichols, who never fails to leave me jangled.

I'm crossing my fingers over the latest from John Sayles ("Honeydripper"), Todd Haynes (the Dylan head trip "I'm Not There") and Paul Thomas Anderson (the Upton Sinclair story "There Will Be Blood").

And I'm going to read "Love in the Time Cholera" rather than go see the Hollywood version of Gabriel Garcia Marquez's book.

Phil Parker's picks

"No Country for Old Men" (November) When the Coen brothers are on point ("Blood Simple," "Fargo") they make masterpieces. This is a story of lawmen, psychos, greed and grisly murder. My film fan's intuition says it'll be brilliant.

"There Will Be Blood" (December) Great title, great director (Paul Thomas Anderson) and maybe the greatest actor on the planet (Daniel Day-Lewis).

"American Gangster" (November) This looks old-school awesome - a big, bad gangster epic with Denzel Washington in full-blown villain mode. And who better to spar with than Russell Crowe?

"Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street" (December) A murderous barber slits the throats of his patrons, and his companion bakes them into meat pies. This dark and disturbing fable comes from the masters of such D&D, Johnny Depp and Tim Burton. They owe us after "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory."

"The Mist" (November) Best trailer I've seen in ages. It's about time Frank Darabont ("The Shawshank Redemption," "The Green Mile") tackled hard-core Stephen King and stopped sissy-footin' around.

Hard to believe two good vampire movies could be released the same season, but "30 Days of Night" has a gnarly hook, and "I Am Legend" has Will Smith. "Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story" is the latest comedy from Judd Apatow, who must have made some Faust-like deal with the devil for such a successful 2007. And something tells me "The Kingdom" will be a marvel of relevant, real-world-inspired violence. (Maybe it's that I've already seen it.)