Fall Arts Preview

Here comes fall, earnest and urgent, whispering of Important Books and Movies in Oscar Contention and Controversial Art Exhibitions. TIME'S editors and critics have put together two lists of fall arrivals: the releases that seem to be attracting the biggest amount of attention (and we freely admit that this is not a scientifically measurable criterion) and the releases that our critics are most eagerly anticipating

What to Watch For

American Gangster

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David Lee / Universal

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Director Ridley Scott and scriptwriter Steven Zaillian (who last collaborated on Hannibal) aren't your standard shoot-'em-up types, so they'll be painting Lucas as a prototype of white-collar criminals and, even more crucially, highlighting the element of race in the heroin business. The Mafia considered blacks its customers, not its rivals. Lucas and the more notorious Nicky Barnes (played here by Cuba Gooding Jr.) changed all that.

The movie surely has another motive. The three stars and Zaillian are all Academy Award winners, as is producer Brian Grazer (for A Beautiful Mind), and Scott helmed Gladiator to a Best Picture statuette. So all involved are hoping that Gangster's guns will still be blazing on Oscar night.

—RICHARD CORLISS

Next No Country for Old Men

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