Finally, it's Fall and the good movies are coming in droves. Several of my most anticipated movies of the year are showing up in the next few weeks. So let's not waste any time.
2018
2017
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2016
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2015
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2016
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2015
2014
2013
10/5
An alcoholic
musician helps an aspiring singer find success as they fall in love.
Working For It: This is a perfect
storm movie. It has a trailer which I've heard people joke is their favorite
short film of 2018. Bradley Cooper is using all his goodwill from the last six
years to star in and direct this crowd-pleaser. The people who didn't watch her
season of American Horror Story get to discover that Lady Gaga can
really act. I'm very excited for this potential Oscar frontrunner, even though
this isn't the kind of movie I tend to love.
Working Against
It: This is the third remake of A Star Is Born. All versions of it
were a big deal (for better or for worse). There's a lot of baggage and
expectations tied to this property. As good as Lady Gaga may be, people will
still say Judy Garland was better.
Verdict: Excited
A reporter stumbles
onto an alien symbiote that tries to take control of his body.
Working For It: They are doing
everything right with the casting. Tom Hardy in the lead. Michelle Williams
joining the superhero universe. Riz Ahmed as the chief antagonist. Others like
Woody Harrelson, Jenny Slate, and Ron Cephas Jones in some capacity. Count me
in. I'm also curious about the new direction Sony is going with their Marvel
properties.
Working Against
It: I have no idea how this movie fits into anything. It's not part of the
MCU with Spider-Man. Sony doesn't have any other active Marvel properties. So,
I guess it's in its own universe. It's strange to think of Venom with no
Spider-Man. The trailers remind me a lot of
Upgrade, from
earlier this year, which is funny, because I'm pretty sure I described Logan
Marshall-Green as a "poor man's Tom Hardy" in that Reaction. The
director is known for directing Zombieland and not much else that people
remember. I'm not sure what this movie is. It's rare that I say that about
big-budget movies that turn out to be really good.
Verdict: Curious
After a high
school student witnesses the police shooting of her friend, she must find her
voice and stand up for what's right.
Working For It: This is based on
a best-selling book. It's very "of the moment". I don't know much
about the lead actress (Amandla Stenberg), but I like the supporting cast,
including Regina Hall, Anthony Mackie, Issa Rae, and Sabrina Carpenter.
Working Against
It: Is "generic zeitgeist" a thing? Because that's what this looks
like. Like, if a studio said, "let's make a Black Lives Matter
movie", this what it would look like. It's the family-friendly look at
police brutality. Maybe this movie is amazing and I'm misreading it. The little
I know about it doesn't look that interesting or distinctive.
Verdict: Apathetic
A documentary
about the rise and fall of the infamous club.
Working For It:
The name 'Studio 54' still carries some weight, so there's something to the
endurance of the brand. It doesn't matter how many times I hear the story. It's
always interesting to hear the tales of this wild place.
Working Against
It: I have heard the Studio 54 story a number of times in many different ways.
It would be nice to see someone attack the story from a new angle.
Verdict: Curious
10/12
The stories of a
group of strangers converge at a remote hotel at the California/Nevada border.
Working For It: I'm very excited
for this one even though I know very little about it. It's written and directed
by Drew Goddard, who wrote and directed Cabin in the Woods.
This appears to be very much in the same chaotic mold. The cast gets better
every time I look at it. There's the actors all over the trailers like Chris
Hemsworth, Dakota Johnson, Jeff Bridges, and Jon Hamm. Then there's a few names
I caught on IMDB like Nick Offerman and Manny Jacinto (Bortles!!!). I like that
I can genuinely expect to be surprised by this.
Working Against
It: The risk with anything like this, that's so mysterious and has so many
characters and stories to juggle, is that it falls under the weight of it all.
I don't expect that to happen, but it's not hard to see how this could be a
mess.
Verdict: Excited
The story of Neil
Armstrong and how he became the first man to walk on the moon.
Working For It: Space movies have
a strong history. The Right Stuff is a classic.
Apollo 13 and
Gravity are
great movies that received a lot of Oscar love. Even something tangentially
related like Hidden Figures is really good. First Man, starring Ryan Gosling and Claire Foy and
directed by Damien Chazelle (La La Land,
Whiplash), is
set to be the next great space movie. Everything I hear about it makes it sound
more like a crowdpleaser than an Oscar frontrunner (think, The Martian),
which I'm totally fine with.
Working Against
It: I've had my fill of boomer nostalgia, and I've heard that Gosling plays
the role as stoically as possible. I prefer charming-Gosling, so that's
disappointing, even if it is accurate to the character.
Verdict: Excited
The book of
Halloween monsters is unlocked again.
Working For It: The first movie was entertaining enough. They've set a tone with the series and they are
sticking to it. I guess Jack Black is the big returning piece, holding the
series together. That make sense. He's good in this family-friendly speed.
They've brought in a few other comedy vets like Ken Jeong, Wendi
McLendon-Covey, and Chris Parnell to put next to the young cast (who I can't
name).
Working Against
It: I determined with the first movie that I'm not the target audience.
That's not a sin. It just means I'm in no hurry to see it.
Verdict: Apathetic
A father and son
work through the journey of the son's drug addiction and attempts to recover.
Working For It: It's a drama with
Oscar nominees all over it. Steve Carrell is the father. Timothee Chalamet is
the son. There's also Amy Ryan, Maura Tierney, Kaitlyn Dever. OK, that's just
three Oscar nominees, but my point stands. I'll happily watch these people act
hard for two hours. There's also the simple delight of seeing Carrell and Ryan
together onscreen again.
Working Against
It: Haven't we seen enough movies about addiction? Do we need another hit?
Verdict: Curious
The story of the
two brothers who created the bodybuilding industry.
Working For It: This looks like
the
CBGB of
bodybuilding. It's a lot of familiar but not too famous actors like Julianne
Hough, Victoria Justice, Steve Guttenberg, Tom Arnold, and Robert Forster. I
also want to see Calum Von Moger as Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Working Against
It: When someone describes a movie as "watchable, not good", this
is what I think of.
Verdict: Curious
A dramatization of
the arrest and trial of Kermit Gosnell.
Working For It: I
do appreciate the commitment to the idea. The title pulls no punches and the
movie has the look of a traditional crime and punishment movie.
Working Against
It: Where to begin?...A little subtlety goes a long way. This is an
anti-abortion movie, and it appears to be targeting a pro-choice audience. I
assume this, because the trailer is very defensive. The trailer points out
specifically that this isn't a race issue or a Pro-Life issue as if it's
proactively battling criticism that it will receive. I think there is something
to the fact that this case wasn't very covered in the news. Granted, I know
little about it, so maybe there's more to it. I'd really like to see a
documentary about it. The direction the film takes is to leave it as
unambiguous as possible. The title leaves no wiggle room. In the trailer,
Gosnell is figuratively twirling his mustache and strutting around like a
diplomat's son who just got caught shoplifting. This is great if you are
preaching to the choir. I don't think that's the only aim though. One movie
isn't going to change anyone's mind. The better strategy is to convince the
audience to at least question things.
I don't know why I
spend so much time talking about these religious movies every month. I'm a
lifelong atheist. I think I'm just bothered by how bad the strategy is with the
movies. There's no nuance with almost any of them. They don't take any genuine risks.
If they want to really spread the word, they should come at the audience at
their level. There should be a religious movie with a hard-R rating that ends
with a story of repentance. Whatever. This movie looks weak on a technical
level. The story doesn't even matter.
Verdict:Repelled
A man tries to get
through a contentious Thanksgiving dinner after news comes out that all U.S.
citizens will be required to sign a loyalty oath on Black Friday.
Working For It: It's a social
satire starring a metric ton of familiar comedy actors (Ike Barinholtz,
Toffany Haddish, John Cho, Max Grenfield, Jay Duplass, Carrie Brownstein, Nora
Dunn, Meredith Hagner, Billy Magnussen, and others). It's written and directed
by Ike Barinholtz (his feature debut as a director). The vein of the humor appears
to be extreme and playing against stereotypes. Could be fun.
Working Against
It: I normally find this kind of social commentary humor grating. They tend
to lose the jokes and get self-serious by the end. Hopefully with Barinholtz in
charge, that doesn't happen, but I'm not convinced.
Verdict: Intrigued
10/19
A direct sequel to
the original
Halloween:
Laurie Strode's final showdown with Michael Myers.
Working For It: From everything
I've seen, this looks like a serious take on the franchise, not another lazy
attempt to continue or reboot it. It's not focused on a young cast to be
victimized for 2 hours. It's not even going for the biggest names possible. I
saw Jamie Lee Curtis, Judy Greer, and Toby Huss in the cast. The rest are
familiar faces, not names. Even though I don't associate David Gordon Green
with horror, I am confident he can get this right.
Working Against
It: Chasing the success of the original may just be a fool's errand. It's
hard to give fan service and stand on its own as a movie. I'm not all
that worried, but it is a concern.
Verdict: Excited
A small boat
captain get wrapped up in a murderous plot.
Working For It: Here's what I
know. Matthew McConaughey and Anne Hathaway are Oscar winners. Diane Lane and
Djimon Hounsou are Oscar nominees. Jason Clarke is in a bunch of good movies.
There's aren't that many mid-level budget thrillers these days, and I liked
those back in the 90s and early 2000s. The kind of movies with good actors not
vying for awards attention. I want this to be good.
Working Against
It: Back in the day, for every What Lies Beneath that I really liked,
there was a Sleeping with the Enemy or The Hand That Rocks the Cradle that I didn't care much for. This can easily be a self-serious drip like The Counselor.
Verdict: Intrigued
A celebrity
biographer fabricates letters by famous writers.
Working For It: A reined in
Melissa McCarthy is often a great Melissa McCarthy. While I didn't care that
much for Withnail &I, I do think
Richard E. Grant (who has done many, many other things since) is perfect for
his supporting role in this. It's the kind of "based on a true story"
movie that would make me curious to research the real story afterward.
Working Against
It: I've heard tepid things about it coming out of the big fall festivals.
It's supposed to have great performances by McCarthy and Grant inside an
otherwise mediocre movie.
Verdict: Curious
A 13 year old
befriends a local group of skaters in the mid '90s.
Working For It: It's Jonah Hill's
debut as a director. He isn't in the movie to my knowledge. It looks like your
standard coming-of-age, band-of-misfits type of movie. That's my kind of movie,
so I'm likely to check this out.
Working Against
It: A lot of actors who take a stab at directing aren't that great. We
just tend to remember the great ones.
Verdict: Curious
10/26
A contemporary war
movie about an Army chaplain who can't find the same fulfillment at home that
he does on duty.
Working For It: I'm by no means a
PureFlix expert. I haven't seen any of their movies. However, I do enjoy
tracking their evolution through the trailers of their films. PureFlix is never
going to have a Passion of the Christ level
hit. Heaven is Real is even
aiming a little high. They are getting better at making movies that look beyond
their niche audience though, and Indivisible is a good example. This
looks like a cheap American Sniper.
The war action looks pretty good. The PTSD and family strife stuff looks well
enough done.
Working Against
It: It's still a bunch of actors I barely recognize in a movie that is
literally preachy.
Verdict: Uninterested
A Naval submarine
crew goes on a covert mission in enemy waters.
Working For It: "Submarine
thriller" is a very specific genre with a surprising number of entries, be
it The Hunt for Red October,
U-571,
or Crimson
Tide.
You probably know by now if this is going to be your kind of movie. The cast is
made up of all the actors who say yes to every script they come across,
including Gerard Butler, Gary Oldman, and Common.
Working Against
It: The joy of a submarine thriller is the confined setting and heavy
tension that comes with it. Hunter Killer wants to be a Fast and
Furious movie too. I am not looking forward to how those elements will mix.
Verdict: Uninterested
Johnny English has
to come out of retirement for one last mission.
Working For It: I admire Rowan
Atkinson's commitment to his shtick. Emma Thompson agreed to be in this, so
maybe it's better than it looks.
Working Against
It: I'm not a fan of
Bean or Johnny
English. I've only really enjoyed Atkinson in supporting or bit roles like Rat
Race. It's just too much as a lead character. And since that last Johnny
English movie, a lot of people have done spy comedies better.
Verdict: Repelled
Students at a
prestigious dance academy start dying or going missing.
Working For It: That trailer is a
lot to take in, and all reports suggest that the movie is as crazy as it looks.
I love the original
Suspiria (Much
more than I expected). This being Luca Guadagnino's follow-up to Call Me ByYour Name is
interesting. I like the casting of Dakota Johnson, Chloe Grace Moretz, and
Tilda Swinton. In fact, casting Swinton is the kind of move that as soon as I
heard about it, it became the most obvious casting decision imaginable.
Working Against
It: I don't expect this to capture the magic of the original. Guadagnino has
his own agenda for this. I have too many questions that need answering. I
expect this to be a well-intentioned mess.
Verdict: Intrigued
An ER nurse's
journalist son is kidnapped and she decides to take matters into her own hands
when she doesn't feel the goverment has done enough.
Working For It: It's nice to see
Susan Sarandon in a leading role. Edie Falco and Matt Bomer are always good.
Lola Kirke has a few good credits to her name. This is one of those moderate
budget thrillers that refuses to let itself look cheap. In another era, this
would've been a TV Movie of the Week. The kind of movie I'd catch at 1pm on USA
on a sick day and watch disinterestedly. I'm sure it will be fine.
Working Against
It: I'm also sure that I wouldn't be able to tell you the difference between
this and Zebra Lounge (or Arbitrage, or Nightwatch) in
four years.
Verdict: Apathetic
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