"NINE" LIVES

For someone who could truly live without the Broadway musical, I just can't get enough of the recent Hollywood musical adaptations. At least the three that count: Chicago, Dreamgirls and Hairspray. Will Nine turn that hallowed triumvirate into a foursome? (The second word in this post title, by the way, rhymes with "gives.") Judging from the evidence of the new trailer (below), I'm guessing hell, yeah! Some thoughts...

• Nicole Kidman many no longer be looking quite human on the red carpet, but I'll be damned if she's not still breathtaking on the big screen. I'd be excited even if she were the only A-list diva involved.
• I love Judi Dench in crazy-campy bitch mode (see Shakespeare In Love and Notes On A Scandal -- but not Chocolat). I'm thinking she's the one most likely to score a best supporting actress nod.
  
• Is Penelope Cruz starting to win me over? Not really, but she sure does look purdy.
• I don't understand what Fergie is doing in this movie (costarring with so many Oscar winners), but I secretly dig her moist, rabid look.
  
• Everybody loves Marion Cotillard. But me. I'll never forgive her for stealing Oscar No. 2 from Julie Christie.
• Kate Hudson? Was she really the best they could do in the American-starlet category. What about Reese Witherspoon? I know she doesn't really do sexy onscreen, but I'm kind of shocked that she hasn't been snatched up for a musical or a recording contract after basically winning an Oscar for impressively singing those June Carter Cash tunes in Walk The Line. Or Anne Hathaway? Her suspiciously not-quite-impromptu opening number duet with Hugh Jackman at this year's Academy Awards suggest that she could actually win one of her own for a musical. I know that Kate, with the right costar (Matthew McConaughey), is sort of box office (unlike, to be entirely honest, any of the above above-the-title stars), but so are Reese and Anne -- and more so.
• Why do I get the feeling that Sophia Loren won't be more than vintage window dressing? I hope I'm wrong. You don't get a legend like Sophia to do your movie and then not use her.
• Will Daniel Day-Lewis snag Oscar No. 3? I doubt it. As expected (by me), his touch seems a tad intense for a frothy musical, but I'm going to step out on a limb and predict a third nomination (and fifth overall) for the fourth of his last four films.
• The trailer doesn't really say anything about the plot of the movie, but as a game of spot-the-superstar, it just don't get no better than this: A+. November 25 can't come soon enough. Bring it!