2014
2013
11/4
Stephen Strange is a surgeon who can no longer work after an accident. During a quest to heal himself, he gains mystic powers and becomes a super hero.
Working For It: The "Marvel Studios" at the beginning of the trailer decided this for you one way or the other. I like (not love) the Marvel movies, so it has my interest. They've assembled a strong cast. Benedict Cumberbatch is a nice, counter-intuitive pick for a superhero. It also has Rachel McAdams, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Mads Mikkelsen, and Tilda Swinton. Those are four people I normally don't imagine in a movie together. If Mikkelsen is anywhere near as good a villain as he was in Hannibal, that's exciting.
Working Against It: Marvel has been dipping its toes into the more extended universe realms (i.e. not bound to this Earth). Guardians was pretty great. Thor: The Dark World not so much. It's hard to say where Doctor Strange will land. Anecdotally, this has been the Marvel movie with the biggest gap in excitement between comic and casual fans. Casual fans have no idea what this is actually about. Comic fans are picking up on all sorts of details and saying things like "you know what that means" or "it looks like they're setting _____ up". I'm very curious to see how the movie does in the box office.
Verdict: I'm seeing it. That's never been in doubt.
Andrew Garfield plays a WWII Army Medic who was a Conscientious Objector and eventually won the Medal of Honor for work on the battlefield.
Working For It: It's a throwback movie, by which I mean it's an earnest war movie about heroism. It's not looking to tear Desmond Doss (Garfield) down at all. He's not an anti-hero. Mel Gibson returns to directing after taking a decade off. I miss liking Mel Gibson, and everything I've heard about this movie indicates that it is pretty great. It also features Teresa Palmer (Lights Out, Warm Bodies), Vince Vaughn (going somewhat against type), Hugo Weaving, and Sam Worthington.
Working Against It: Yeah, it's another WWII movie. I have a high tolerance for war movies and even I'm getting tired of this topic.
Verdict: It's taking second position to Dr. Strange, but I fully intend to see it.
Anna Kendrick and Justin Timberlake are trolls who sing and dance in a Dreamworks animated feature.
Working For It: I am big fans of both Kendrick and Timberlake. Kendrick in particular I'm always looking to see sing (it's why I saw The Last Five Years). This is a Dreamworks movie, so you know the bench of top notch voice talent goes deep. I won't even begin to list them, but you've watched and probably adored the work of all of them at some point.
Working Against It: Dreamworks ranks low for me among the animation studios. They have a history of overstuffing their films and losing the heart of the story. The exceptions, like the How to Train Your Dragon movies don't come along often enough for me to give Trolls the benefit of the doubt.
Verdict: It's already a busy weekend. This is not for me.
The story of Richard and Mildred Loving (Joel Edgarton and Ruth Negga), an interracial couple sentenced to prison in 1958 for getting married.
Working For It: I've liked Edgarton since Warrior. Negga is newer to me. Jeff Nichols has built an impressive catalog (Midnight Special, Mud, Take Shelter) in a short amount of time. This is both a love story and a civil rights story which checks a lot of boxes.
Working Against It: I kind of get the sense that the trailer covers a bit too many beats. I worry that having seen it might step on some of the emotional heft of the film as it plays out.
Verdict: I want to see this, but it's really going to depend on how busy things already are when this expands out to a theater near me.
11/11
An ensemble comedy about a family reuniting for their first Christmas without the family matriarch.
Working For It: It's a film with an African American dominated cast that isn't tied to Tyler Perry. That's an immediate plus. Danny Glover is the patriarch of the family. Mo'Nique is an outspoken aunt. Gabrielle Union and Omar Epps look like the romantic leads. There isn't much about this that I can't immediately guess going in, and I'm fine with that.
Working Against It: Christmas family comedies are rarely much good. They're either overstuffed like Four Christmases, tonally erratic like The Best Man Holiday, or more zany than funny like Surviving Christmas. This might be all three.
Verdict: Too early in the season to successfully pull my Christmas heartstrings.
When alien vessels show up all over the Earth, a linguist (Amy Adams) is called in to find a way to communicate with them.
Working For It: Simply put, the reviews I've heard after in premiered on the festival circuit are more favorable than the trailer would suggest. I love Amy Adams, but the story seems pretty mechanical. Like a slightly more active Day the Earth Stood Still. I'm trusting director Denis Villeneuve (Prisoners, Enemy, Sicario) to deliver. Also, I believe the trailers and TV spots are holding back elements of the story so no one is spoiled by the time they get to the theater.
Working Against It: I accidentally covered it a couple lines up. A story about how to communicate with aliens sounds more intellectual than active on screen. If there isn't more too it than that, I'm not sure that Adams (and Jeremy Renner and Forest Whitaker) is enough to keep me interested.
Verdict: It's very likely that I'll be seeking it out.
A soldier is honored during the halftime show of a football game while flashbacks of what happened in Iraq contrast with the actions he is being praised for.
Working For It: Ang Lee is an amazingly diverse director, so I don't doubt his abilities to shoot the hell out of a war story. He's assembled an eclectic cast, including Kristen Stewart, Vin Diesel, Chris Tucker, and Steve Martin. I don't know much about Joe Alwyn, who plays the titular character. That anonymity could be a blessing or a curse.
Working Against It: While I don't deny that Ang Lee is a great filmmaker, none of his films have connected with me. When I watch one of his movies, it's like meeting a pretty girl with no personality.
Verdict: I figure significant Oscar buzz is the only thing that will get me to seek it out.
Naomi Watts is trapped in a snowstorm in a rural area trying to save a young boy from something insidious.
Working For It: Naomi Watts + horror sometimes means The Ring. It's got Jacob Tremblay from Room too.
Working Against It: A horror movie released two weeks after Halloween. That's kind of like when a "prestige movie" gets released in mid-February so that it gets lost in the Oscar season. There's no strategy to releasing a generic horror movie shortly after Halloween. That's just dumping it.
Verdict: I've already forgotten about it.
A successful woman tries to track down the man who raped her.
Working For It: It's supposed to be a career-defining performance for Isabelle Huppert with dark-horse Oscar potential. The trailer makes this look like equal parts drama, thriller, and even dark comedy.
Working Against It: I have a low frequency for seeing films with subtitles in theaters. More importantly though, I'm not a huge fan of director Paul Verrhoeven (Basic Instinct, Total Recall).
Verdict: I won't be looking for it.
A 60's throwback movie about a witch who makes men fall in love with her.
Working For It: It's technicolor and pulpy. That immediately gets my attention. Sometimes, all a movie needs is a good gimmick like that.
Working Against It: It looks like it's from the Casa de mi Padre school of filmmaking. The joke is that it exists. I'm not sure I need to see 2 hours of it to appreciate it. The trailer sums things up pretty well.
Verdict: There's a chance I find it on Netflix someday.
11/18
Miles Teller is a former world champion boxer who breaks his spine in a car accident. He's determined to get back in the ring though. Based on a true story.
Working For It: I'll see virtually anything with Miles Teller (Fantastic Four, War Dogs, Allegiant, Project X). That's because, when he's good (Whiplash), he's very good (The Spectacular Now). It also has Katey Sagal and Aaron Eckhart, who I like too. This film looks like it's taking a lighter tone than, say, Southpaw, which is a relief.
Working Against It: How many boxing movies do I really need to see? In the last two years, I've seen Grudge Match, Southpaw, and Creed (unless I'm forgetting about something), and I don't even like boxing. This looks fun, but I might've hit my limit. Also curious is director Ben Younger. Excluding shorts, his filmography is this: Boiler Room, Prime (that movie from 2005 about Meryl Streep as the psychiatrist for her son's lover), and the Army Wives pilot. That's light and not at all indicative of what to expect from the movie.
Verdict: I'll be looking for an alternative, but it's a possibility.
Hailee Steinfeld is a high-school reject who is left reeling when her best friend starts dating her cool older brother.
Working For It: I've hit the age where high school comedies have started to lose their innate appeal. At least, that's what I tell myself. It's fun tracking how Hailee Steinfeld has grown since her Oscar nominated work in True Grit 6 friggin' years ago. If I'm being honest, the joke in the trailer I saw about Woody Harrelson critiquing her text for being a run-on sentence won me over.
Working Against It: Steinfeld is trying to do what Emma Stone did before her and Lindsay Lohan did before her (I'll stop there but I could keep going) by making a self-aware teen comedy. The trailer didn't convince me she can carry a movie like this. I'd happily be wrong about that.
Verdict: Someday, but not in a theater.
Seventy years before the Harry Potter books, Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne) navigates New York City's secret wizard community on a magical adventure.
Working For It: This is the best case scenario for the movie in just about every way. It's a J.K. Rowling-penned screenplay. Harry Potter veteran David Yates is directing. Redmayne, a recent Oscar winner and nominee, is leading it. Pretty much everyone in the cast from Ezra Miller to Katherine Waterson to Colin Farrell is someone I like. Whatever your opinion of the Harry Potter movies is, you have to admit that they have perfected the tone and style of that world. I struggle to find a way that this could disappoint me.
Working Against It: Nothing, really. I don't have to love something to like it. There's a high floor for how good the movie will be and a very high ceiling. I don't expect this to be one of my favorite movies of the year, but I'd be shocked if it was one of my least favorite.
Verdict: Absolute lock to see.
Casey Affleck is forced to return to his childhood home in Massachusetts after his brother dies and he gets custody of his teenage nephew.
Working For It: This was my number one must see coming out of Sundance this year. Casey Affleck is supposed to be incredible. Michelle Williams too in a fairly small role (in terms of minutes on screen).
Working Against It: This sub-genre of dramadies about people returning to where they grew up after a family tragedy tends to disappoint (The Judge, This Is Where I Leave You) pretty often. All indications are that this is a notch or two above those, but it's worth noting.
Verdict: Try and stop me.
A woman (Amy Adams) discovers that her ex-husband has dedicated a book he published to her. The novel tells a violent and vengeful story that she thinks might be a threat by dedicating it to her.
Working For It: Well, Amy Adams is perfect, so there's that. It's funny that the film also has Isla Fisher since I confused both of them for years. Then there's Jake Gyllenhaal, Michael Shannon, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Armie Hammer, and Laura Linney. This is Tom Ford's follow-up to the excellent A Single Man. I honestly don't even care about the story as long as this film looks as good as his first.
Working Against It: This does appear to be a little more twist-based than A Single Man. After recent disappointment with twisty movies (The Girl on the Train, The Accountant), that worries me some.
Verdict: I'm really looking forward to this, but I can see how it could fall through the cracks in a busy season.
A former drug-addict's life is turned around when he meets a cat who becomes his best friend.
Working For It: In a world where Inside Llewyn Davis was directed by someone like Rob Marshall, this is the movie you'd get. It looks light and inspirational, populated by a lot of "oh yeah, that guy from that show" actors.
Working Against It: I feel like I got all the good feelings I'm supposed to get from the movie in the 2 minute trailer. Why watch the whole thing?
Verdict: Doubtful to ever see it.
Idris Elba is a loose cannon ex-CIA agent who is protecting a pick-pocket caught in the middle of a terrorist plan.
Working For It: If no one's going to cast Idris Elba as James Bond, then he'll just make his own Bond movie. I don't understand how Elba has gotten this famous without leading a blockbuster movie or even pulling in an Oscar nomination. How is The Take not a Europa production, directed by Luc Besson, opening on 2000 screens? It's just a matter of time.
Working Against It: This looks pretty generic.
Verdict: Whether or not I can see it in theaters probably won't be up to me. Even if it was an option, it's doubtful that I'd see it.
11/23 & 11/25
After WWII, an intelligence officer (Brad Pitt) discovers that his wife (Marion Cotillard) might be a spy for the other side.
Working For It: It's Robert Zemeckis, who's been a delight since moving back to live action in recent years (The Walk, Flight). I tend to see anything I can with Brad Pitt, because I like watching bonafide movie stars. Cotillard has a habit of showing up in movies I like even if she's not why I watched them.
Working Against It: I'm looking at this as Bridge of Spies 2. An older generation director making a WWII film with a dependable box office draw as the lead. It's not an exciting idea. I've seen forms of this story before. There's no urgency to see it.
Verdict: I assume I'll see it, but if you're keeping track, I'm saying that about a lot of movies this month. Something has to not make the cut.
Billy Bob Thornton returns to rob a charity this time as a Santa Claus.
Working For It: I love Bad Santa. It's a movie that really revels in how wrong it is. There's no need for a sequel, but the premise is malleable enough that it doesn't ruin anything by revisiting the character.
Working Against It: Sometimes a movie is good on accident. I'm pretty sure Bad Santa is one of them, so it won't take much for the sequel to be awful.
Verdict: That's going to be a very busy weekend and it's fourth on the list of nationwide releases.
A young woman goes on a magical quest to save her island. She employs the help of a shape-shifting demi-god.
Working For It: Disney Animations is on a hot streak right now (Zootopia, Big Hero 6, Frozen, Wreck-It Ralph). If you think of this as Pacific Islander Frozen, it's very easy to get excited about this. Plus, the Rock singing and music from Lin-Manuel Miranda.
Working Against It: None, except maybe that The Good Dinosaur was a let down last year when released on the same weekend. Going further back though, Frozen and Tangled had similar release dates and were plenty good.
Verdict: This will be a priority.
The love story of two people who work for Howard Hughes (Warren Beatty). One is an aspiring actress he has under contract (Lily Colins). The other is one of his drivers (Alden Ehrenreich).
Working For It: Warren Beatty hasn't directed a movie in almost two decades. That alone is worthy of attention. I'm not crazy about his previous films (Reds, Bugsy, Dick Tracy), but I'm curious to see what about this made him come out of semi-retirement. I have a surprising fondness for Mirror, Mirror and much of that has to do with Lily Colins. Ehrenreich is going to be the young Han Solo soon, and I'll be curious to see how this compares to the similarly set Hail, Caesar! which he was also in.
Working Against It: Between Hail, Caesar! and The Aviator, I wonder what's left for this film to do.
Verdict: I have every intention to see it as soon as I can.
The story of a man (Dev Patel) who was separate from and lost his family in India decades ago. Now he's determined to find them again based on the few memories he has from his childhood.
Working For It: It's a potential Oscar player and, from what I hear, has a massive tear-jerker ending. I'm already thinking of this as a version of Slumdog Millionaire that I'll like better. It has Rooney Mara and Nicole Kidman too. I like both of them. I don't recognize any of the Indian cast, but I'm sure they're good.
Working Against It: I can see this potentially getting lost in the season. There's nothing inherently about it that turns me off though. I only know director Garth Davis for a few episodes of the wonderful mini-series Top of the Lake. Perhaps, I'd like a few more credentials, although he has to start somewhere.
Verdict: If I don't see it, it won't be on purpose.
Jessica Chastain is a lobbyist who is the best at what she does.
Working For It: I don't actually know the plot, kind of like how I don't remember the plot of Wall Street. Chastain carries herself in the trailer like the lobbyist version of Gordon Gecko, which is exciting. It also has Gugu Mbatha-Raw, John Lithgow, Alison Pill, Jake Lacy, Sam Waterson who are all actors I like.
Working Against It: Not much is known about the film yet, so it could be shit. Movies like this often have a lot of fun creating the lead/villain, then fail to build a similarly engaging story.
Verdict: I think I can wait on this.
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