November Preview

November is looking to be quite a month. There's a healthy number of blockbusters and awards contenders in here that should keep me busy. The wildcards, as always, will come in the form of the limited releases, of which there are many, not to mention the looming 12 Years as a Slave which should be reaching me in the next week or two. I'm hoping to avoid doubling up until December. With at least one light week this month, that should be possible...maybe...probably not.

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11/1

The Lock: Ender's Game

I know nothing about this except that my childhood was lesser having not read it. The casting of the younger actors is basically a collection of young people who were really good in a movie or two, then seemingly disappeared, including Asa Butterfield (Hugo), Hailee Steinfeld (True Grit), and Abagail Breslin (Little Miss Sunshine). Round that out with heavy hitters like Harrison Ford, Ben Kingsley, and Viola Davis, throw a $100+ million budget at it, pretend it isn't from the director of X-Men Origins: Wolverine, and you have what looks to be an enjoyable kickoff to the holiday box office season.
Odds I'll See It: 84%

In consideration:

Dallas Buyer's Club [Limited] - This is virtually a lock. I've been wanting to see Matthew McConaughey's acclaimed performance since I first heard about it. My only hesitation comes from the fact that I've heard raves about McConaughey ans Jared Leto's performances but I can't remember hearing much about the movie itself. I don't the an Iron Lady situation on my hands.
Odds I'll See It: 73%

About Time [Limited] - The preview has me awful interested. The time traveling is an interesting conceit and I can't ague with credentials like "from the man behind Love, Actually". I do worry that the trailer actually says too much about the story (think The Butterfly Effect meets The Time Traveler's Wife), but this is clearly going to live and die by the effectiveness of the romance and humor. In August, this would be a lock for me. In November, it's all about circumstance and timing.
Odds I'll See It: 48%

Last Vegas - The Bucket List meets The Hangover. I'm glad these guys (De Niro, Douglas, Freeman, and Kline) are finding something to do. That's doesn't mean I have to feel motivated to see it. Unless this gets some shockingly positive reviews, I don't expect I'll ever get around to finding out if my opinion of it is unfair.
Odds I'll See It: 6%

Free Birds - From the studio that brought you such animated hits as...uh...ok, it looks like this is a new kid on the block. Odds are, this time-traveling turkey tale will be swallowed up by the Ender's Game competition or general apathy (I can't speak for everyone but I don't like thinking about my turkey as a character before I eat it).
Odds I'll See It: 3%

Diana [Limited] - This Princess Diana movie has already been released in England where it was not well received. Short of the movie and Naomi Watt's work as the titular character getting major awards attention, I'm not going to bother with this one.
Odds I'll See It: 1%

11/8

The Lock: Thor: The Dark World
I wasn't wildly impressed by Marvel's first entry into Phase 2. This has potential to work much better though given Hemsworth's rising star, the fact that this doesn't look like a preamble to an Avengers movie like the first one , and a fall release (I don't know the last Marvel movie that wasn't a summer attraction). I also have appropriately tempered expectations thanks to Iron Man and the curious case of the disintegrating suits. I don't have any idea what the plot is beyond a vague notion of dimensional imbalances or something. Marvel has earned my trust though to at least deliver a fun product if not a terribly good product.
Odds I'll See It: 90%

In Consideration:

The Book Thief - Can we just go ahead an call this the sequel to Schindler's List and move it back to 1995 where is belongs. Watch the trailer. It has a voice over. I was kind of hoping that WWII narratives were played out in Hollywood. It's possible that this could be one of those surprise movies like War Horse that I like way more than I'd expect. For now, I'll err on the side of caution and say I'll be missing this one.
Odds I'll See It: 9%

11/15

The Lock:
Since The Wolf of Wall Street has been moved, nothing's here to replace it yet.

In Consideration:

Nebraska - I like Alexander Payne movies, so that helps. This doesn't look like Election or even The Descendants though. Critic as gushing about Bruce Dern in this and I'm very curious to see what dramatic Will Forte looks like. Sadly, I see this getting lost in the holiday and awards shuffle. I plan to see it but there's a good chance it won't be in a theater.
Odds I'll See It: 53%

The Best Man Holiday - Working in its favor is certainly the lack of Tyler Perry's name attached to it. Apparently, this is a sequel to The Best Man. I was already tepid about this movie to begin with. That I would feel obliged to see the first movie as well works against it greatly.
Odds I'll See It: 2%

11/22

The Lock: The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
The $400 million mark is where I normally decide, "yeah, I should stick with this for a while". Jennifer Lawrence's career right now must be the envy of every actor in Hollywood with both a blockbuster franchise running strong and the favor of one of the industry's favorite (and awarded for his actor's) directors happening concurrently. Fans of the books tell me the first it where it peeks. I am curious to see what Lionsgate does with the Twilight production formula of only sort of trying for the first movie, then fund like crazy for the sequels.
Odds I'll See It: 96%

In Consideration:

Delivery Man - I've seen the trailer for this and know that it's a remake of a French or French-Canadian movie about a sperm doner (played by Vince Vaughn in this case) who finds out he's fathered a ridiculous sum of children and starts meeting them. I get the feeling that the feel-good comedy elements won't mesh with the sperm-doner premise, but I could be wrong. Vaughn is not in good standing with me after The Internship. At this point, Chris Pratt is a my better sidekick than Owen Wilson and my interest in Cobie Smulders as the love interest is only slightly less than Rose Byrne. The problem here, if you've noticed is that I'm already comparing this barely favorably to a movie that was called a 90 minute infomercial for Google. That's not a good thing.
Odds I'll See It: 26%

11/29

The Lock:
I wanted to call Frozen the lock, but I fully recognize that movie expansion will be in full effect by this week so I could find this spot being filled by Dallas Buyer's Club of Nebraska. Also, these are weeks when reviews will highly influence what I see.

In Consideration:

Frozen - After the surprisingly great Wreck-It Ralph, as I said already, I nearly had this in lock status. Unlike Pixar though, Disney Animation Studios hasn't earned back my blind trust yet and I know little about this movie. I can't imagine it will be bad though. Let's be honest, the main thing keeping me from seeing this is that I know it will be an afternoon showing and I dislike the child to adult ratio in the theater being as lopsided as it is sure to be.
Odds I'll See It: 42%

Oldboy - I've finally seen the original. It is quite good. So much about this remake confuses me. First, the original has a die hard following who will be needed to make this a success and I'm not sure how much they'll support it. Second, the original has that famous twist ending that I can't imagine being kept without turning away casual audiences in droves. Third, Spike Lee is directing it. Does that seem like a strange choice to anyone else. I think he could do a good job with it, but it is so far out of his wheelhouse that I don't know what to expect. More than any movie in months, I'm going to RottenTomatoes this before deciding to walk to the theater.
Odds I'll See It: 19%

Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom [Limited] - I am really rooting for Idris Elba. I'd love for him to be a big name in Hollywood and I thought this Mandella biopic could be the chance to break in big as more than an ensemble player. What I've heard after it premiered on the festival circuit has not been great. Everyone has been favorable about his performance and Naomi Harris' but neither appear to be enough to save it. Best case scenario, we are looking at another Iron Lady (boy, I did not expect I'd be making two references to that movie in this).
Odds I'll See It: 12%

Homefront - I swear The Rock has done this exact movie before. And I didn't see it either. Amazing movie poster though. If this doesn't get bumped to January, I'll be shocked.
Odds I'll See It: 8%

Black Nativity - A Jesus allegory set in Baltimore. Despite my love of The Wire and Hairspray, neither the story or setting could create a desire for me to see it. Ok, maybe if there's singing.
Odds I'll See It: 4%