The Kingdom
At a recent screening in Schaumburg, audiences broke out in applause and cheers when FBI agent Jennifer Garner puts a knife into a Muslim jihadist, right near where the sun don’t shine. This is a disturbing thriller about U.S. agents (Jamie Foxx, Garner, Chris Cooper and Jason Bateman) investigating a massacre of Americans in Saudi Arabia. Directed by actor Peter Berg. Opens Sept. 28.

Elizabeth: The Golden Age
The always fascinating Cate Blanchett picks up the same character she played in the 1998 release “Elizabeth.” Only now, she’s playing the British queen as she segues into her middle years. Directed (again) by Shekhar Kapur, Blanchett could be positioned to claim her next Oscar nomination - and win (as she did in 2005 for “The Aviator”). Clive Owen, Geoffrey Rush and Abbie Cornish co-star.
Opens Oct. 12.

Michael Clayton
Skip the boring title. George Clooney’s deft performance as a legal cleanup man for a huge law firm is the stuff Oscar nominations are made of. As his personal life disintegrates, Clooney’s Clayton (imagine a demoralized Cary Grant hanging on by his fingernails) tracks down the firm’s smartest whip (Tom Wilkinson) who’s apparently gone Erin Brockovich and turned against his employers to help the environment. Tilda Swinton’s ruthless executive easily ranks in the top 10 of
corporate movie villains. Opens Oct. 12.

Sleuth
Get this: Shakespearean master Kenneth Branagh directs poetic playwright Harold Pinter’s polished update of the 1972 movie “Sleuth” starring Laurence Olivier and Michael Caine. Except this time, Caine plays the role of the older man, an aging novelist really ticked off that his never-seen wife is having an affair with a young actor (Jude Law, who played Caine’s original role in the update of “Alfie”). It’s all based on Anthony Shaffer’s popular suspense play. Opens Oct. 19.

Beowulf
Robert Zemeckis’ special-effects-stuffed silver-screen translation of the oldest existing piece of great literature. A buffed-up Ray Winstone plays the legendary warrior who defeats the monster Grendel, only to face his really PO’d mommy, played by Angelina Jolie in the buff. “Beowulf” will also be released as an IMAX 3-D feature. Anthony Hopkins and Robin Wright Penn co-star. Opens Nov 16.