A successful asset manager, who has just received a huge promotion, is blissfully happy in his career and in his marriage. But a temp worker starts stalking him, all the things he’s worked so hard for are placed in jeopardy.

What’s this, a Beyonce movie that isn’t a musical biopic? She sings in it, though, right? No? Not even a duet with Ali Larter? Would “Fatal Attraction: The Musical” have been too much to ask for here? It’s like a serious Attraction remake, but with Anne Archer as the lead character. Also, we are dying to see if B. kills A. with her thighs.

Rated PG-13 for sexual material including some suggestive dialogue, some violence and thematic content.

Director: Steve Shill
Stars: Beyoncé Knowles, Idris Elba, Ali Larter
Studio: Screen Gems
Release Date: 24 April 2009 (USA)
Genre: Drama, Thriller

A petty thief is gunned down in an alley and a Congressman’s assistant falls in front of a subway – two seemingly unrelated deaths. But not to wisecracking, brash newspaper reporter Cal McAffrey who spies a conspiracy waiting to be uncovered. With a turbulent past connected to the Congressman and the aid of ambitious young rookie writer Della Frye, Cal begins uprooting clues that lead him to a corporate cover-up full of insiders, informants, and assassins. But as he draws closer to the truth, the relentless journalist must decide if it’s worth risking his life and selling his soul to get the ultimate story.

You couldn’t ask for a better cast for this thriller: Affleck is spot-on, Crowe finally gets to flex his acting muscle without mugging (in a role that was considered for Brad Pitt, Johnny Depp and Tom Hanks), McAdams finally gets to act period, and Mirren is every reporter’s worst nightmare boss. The original 2003 BBC miniseries was fantastic television (once you could understand everyone’s accents) and if they don’t mess it up, this could be stellar, especially once you add in director Kevin Mcdonald (The Last King of Scotland). Our only question: why the April release? This could be a perfect adult option for the sequel-friendly days of summer.

Rated PG-13 for some violence, language including sexual references, and brief drug content.

Director: Kevin Macdonald
Stars: Russell Crowe, Rachel McAdams, Ben Affleck
Studio: Universal Pictures
Release Date: 17 April 2009 (USA)
Genre: Crime, Drama, Thriller

In the spring of 1936, three residents of “the Faubourg,” a working class neighborhood north of Paris, look to produce a musical that will bring back to life their cherished local theater.

Christophe Barratier was last seen in U.S. theaters with the Oscar-nominated The Chorus, and he returns with another musical in a time when Stateside audiences have demonstrated their hunger for all things French. (Isn’t it time to ramp up the marketing for this one, though?) Chorus members Kad Merad and Gérard Jugnot star alongside Clovis Cornillac, but I hear Nora Arnezeder nearly outshines their collective talent.

Rated PG-13 for some sexuality and nudity, violence and brief language.

Director: Christophe Barratier
Stars: Gérard Jugnot, Clovis Cornillac, Kad Merad
Studio: Sony Pictures Classics
Release Date: 24 September 2008 (Belgium)
Genre: Drama

A teacher (Cage) opens a time capsule that has been dug up at his son’s elementary school; in it are some chilling predictions — some that have already occurred and others that are about to — that lead him to believe his family plays a role in the events that are about to unfold.

Great premise, but what’s with the numbers game, didn’t The Number 23 make such a story device a dicey proposition for a while? Not that I’m deplaned from Alex Proyas’s sci-fi trips, but even he seemed disinterested in his new movie when he presented a first look at Comic-Con this year (sans Nic Cage, who lately seems as disinterested in promoting any of his movies). I’m still giving this one a shot, however, since the trailer is effective, please it’s cool to see what Proyas can do with a budget much smaller than, say, I, Robot’s.

Rated PG-13 for disaster sequences, disturbing images and brief strong language.

Director: Alex Proyas
Stars: Nicolas Cage, Chandler Canterbury, Rose Byrne
Studio: Summit Entertainment
Release Date: 20 March 2009 (USA)
Genre: Drama | Mystery | Thriller

A loose remake of 12 Angry Men (1957), set in a Russian school. 12 jurors are struggling to decide the fate of a Chechen teenager who allegedly killed his Russian stepfather. Stepfather took teenager to live with him to Moscow, during Chechnya war, in which teenager lost his parents. The jurors: a racist taxi-driver, a suspicious doctor, a vacillating TV producer, a Holocaust survivor, a flamboyant musician, a cemetery manager, and others represent the fragmented society of modern day Russia.A stray bird (a touch of New Age cinema) is flying above the jurors’ heads, alluding to tolerance.

Remember last year’s Oscars, when writer-director Nikita Mikhalkov’s thriller vied for the Foreign Language trophy against the unbeatable Counterfeiters? Hopefully word-of-mouth will keep 12 in theaters for a while, because neither the press nor the studio is paying the film much attention during the busy awards season. However! Russian film is still in the spotlight thanks to Admiral, and Mikhalkov’s developing a sequel to his Oscar-winning Burnt by the Sun. See you next year, Nikita?

Rated PG-13 for violent images, disturbing content, thematic material, brief sexual and drug references, and smoking.

Director: Nikita Mikhalkov
Stars: Sergei Makovetsky, Sergey Garmash, Apti Magamaev
Studio: Sony Pictures Classics
Release Date: 4 March 2009 (USA)
Genre: Crime | Drama | Thriller | War