We just got out of the highest grossing October of all time. Every week had something exciting coming out. Not all were great, but that's expected. I don't think we're looking at an equally strong November, but that's because November is always strong. It's going to be hard to limit how the number of movies I'll see every week.
Here we go!
Here we go!
2018
2017
Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | June | July | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec
2016
Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | June | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec
2015
Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | June | July | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec
2016
Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | June | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec
2015
2014
2013
11/2
A Freddie
Mercury Queen biopic
Working For It: Rami Malek has a
lot of goodwill for how he kept Mr. Robot interesting despite itself.
The biggest thing working in the film's favor though is that I like Queen's
music. Even if it's a 60 minute concert movie inside a 2 hour drama, it's hard
to see me being entirely disappointed.
Working Against
It: I've heard there's some bait and switch at play. This was made under the
supervision of the surviving members of Queen, so it's as much about reminding
people that the other guys in Queen are important as it is about Freddie
Mercury. Smaller things like Malek not doing much of the singing and the teeth
he has to use worry me too. Then there's the matter of Brian Singer's
attachment to the project. If you don't know why that's a problem, look it up.
Interest Level: Curious
With the help of
her sister (Tiffany Haddish) who was recently released from prison, a female
executive (Tika Sumpter) tries to track down her online boyfriend, who may not
be who he seems
Working For It: There's a lot
going on in the trailer. The movie could've been entirely about the two sisters
reconnecting - a sort of odd couple story - and that would've been enough. The
possible
Catfish
storyline sounds excessive. Writer/director Tyler Perry is unleashing Haddish
on the movie. Sumpter should be sturdy enough to effectively balance Haddish
out as the straight woman.
Working Against
It: I love comparing Haddish's career to Melissa McCarthy's. In that
respect, this is Haddish's The Heat. She has a
director strong enough to reign her in but isn't interested in doing so. I got
exhausted by Haddish just in the trailer. Unless the trailer is edited
differently than the movie, I'm not sure I'll have to patience for 2 hours of
that. And, with it being a Tyler Perry movie, I worry about when the movie
inevitably takes a sharp dramatic turn in the third act that doesn't fit with
the rest of the movie. It may not happen, but past evidence suggests otherwise.
Interest Level: Apathetic
A girl is
transported to a magical land, based on the story of the Nutcracker
ballet*.
*Or is the
Nutcracker ballet based on a book? I have no idea what the lineage of that
story is. Neither do most people, so I think I'm safe.
Working For It: I suspect that
this is a minority opinion, but I'm pretty excited for this. I'm not sure why
either. Kiera Knightley is generally in movies that I like. Disney has proven
that it's a studio that knows how to make live-action fairy tales pretty well.
I like that Disney is making a weird choice with this. Technically, it is
an adaptation, but not of something they already had success with. All the
people complaining that Disney isn't making anything new in the live-action
realm should look to this as a good faith effort. I'm really hoping this could
be a Tomorrowland, or
at least John Carter-sized
surprise.
Working Against
It: There are a lot of reasons this could be bad. It looks way too much like
Alice in Wonderland, my least favorite of Disney's latest run of fairy
tale remakes. A lot of the performances looks pretty silly (Morgan Freeman has
an eye patch. Knightley is doing baby talk. Helen Mirren look like a cross
between the White Witch and Peter Pan). I'm not sure what to make of the fact
that it has two credited directors. They aren't a known directing team, so I'm
not sure why both are credited now. I don't recall hearing about any production
issues. One director made Chocolat. The other made the first Captain
America movie. I'm not sure how either will handle something like this. My
excitement for this is almost certainly misplaced, but I'd rather go into it
optimistically.
Interest Level: Intrigued
A teen is sent to
gay conversion therapy by his Baptist preacher father and mother.
Working For It: This is a power
house cast, including Oscar winners Russell Crowe and Nicole Kidman and Oscar
nominee Lucas Hedges. Writer/director Joel Edgerton too in a supporting role.
It's adapted from a popular memoir. This looks a little more straightforward
than The Miseducation of Cameron Post
earlier this year. It a movie that could break into a lot of acting categories
at the Oscars.
Working Against
It: As a film, I wonder if it plays all its cards in the trailer. I don't
implicitly trust Edgerton to capture all the nuances of the story. It's really
going to rest on how good the performances are.
Interest Level: Intrigued
The story of
decorated war correspondent Marie Colvin.
Working For It: Rosamund Pike
gets a bitchin' eye patch. It's directed by acclaimed documentarian Matthew
Heineman, which is pretty perfect. Heineman made his name on filming in
dangerous places. Who better understands someone like Marie Colvin?
Working Against
It: Even if it's accurate, the eye patch does look a little silly. There's
no way around that. Many directors move between scripted films and
documentaries, but not all of them are great at both. The jury is still out on
Heineman. This could struggle to find a story or a through line for all of
Colvin's disparate adventures.
Interest Level: Apathetic
11/9
An animated
adaptation of The Grinch.
Working For It: The last Grinch movie was
nearly 20 years ago. It's been long enough that I can entertain the idea of
adapting it again. Benedict Cumberbatch isn't who I would've thought of to
voice the Grinch, but he makes sense now that I know about it.
Working Against
It: The bigger problem is that the animated TV special is still so popular that
I don't see the need for an animated alternative. The trailers I've seen are
pretty light on story. I don't know what to make of that. This is telling the
classic Grinch story, right? Or is it a twist on it? The fact that I
don't really know worries me.
Interest Level: Apathetic
Lisbeth Salander
is back, this time with a person from her past going after her.
Working For It: I'm starting to
believe that Claire Foy is never bad in anything. It'll be nice to see Vicky
Krieps in something else. She was very good in Phantom Thread last
year. I'm curious to see how Stephan Merchant and Lakeith Standfield fit into
things.
Working Against
It: This comes out a full seven years after the first movie, and with a
completely new cast and crew. The first movie wasn't the hit people hoped it
would be, despite a very strong cast, David Fincher directing, and even some
Oscar attention. This sequel looks like a step down in almost every way. And it
has one of the more tortured titles I've seen in a while.
Interest Level: Curious
American soldiers
get stuck behind enemy lines on D-Day and stumble onto a secret Nazi
experiment.
Working For It: Even though JJ
Abrams is only a producer, this might as well be called Cloverfield 1944.
The cast includes a bunch of people I've loved in different TV shows: Wyatt
Russell (Lodge 49), Bokeem Woodbine (Fargo), Iain De Caestecker (Agents
of SHIELD), and Jovan Adepo (The Leftovers).
Working Against
It: I don't need another WWII movie. Not even with some sort of zombie
monsters.
Interest Level: Apathetic
A father fights
back after a police cover-up that followed the wrongful death of his son.
Working For It: It's about time
someone made an action movie about a police shooting. And it might as well star
Tay Diggs, John Cusack, and George Lopez as badasses.
Working Against
It: But seriously, this looks tone-deaf and miscast. I am kind of intrigued
by John Cusack's career the last few years. There's a lot of duds, but I still
like him.
Interest Level: Uninterested
The story of Gary
Hart's failed presidential campaign in 1988 and how it fell apart.
Working For It: Jason Reitman's
second movie of the year. Hugh Jackman gets to play a charming guy whose ego
brings his downfall. It documents the rise of tabloid news in politics. It
feels zeitgeist-y in a way that isn't as pointed as something like Dick
appears to be.
Working Against
It: I've heard surprisingly mixed things about it so far. It may be a little
too moralizing, and Jackman's attempts to tone down his charm may go a little
too far.
Interest Level: Intrigued
11/16
Newt Scamander's
next Wizarding World adventure.
Working For It: David Yates is
directing again. J.K. Rowling wrote the screenplay again. Eddie Redmayne,
Katherine Waterston, Alison Sudol, Ezra Miller, and Dan Fogler are all back.
Jude Law is playing a young Dumbeldore. Johnny Depp gets more time to ham it up
as Grindelwald. As I said after the last movie though, I just like being in the
Wizarding World again.
Working Against
It: The first movie
was highly imperfect. Johnny Depp hasn't made movies better for a while now.
That isn't an encouraging formula for this movie.
Interest Level: Excited
A couple adopts
three siblings.
Working For It: I never need
another reason to see a Rose Bryne movie. Mark Wahlberg is really reliable in
family friendly comedies at this point. I'm excited to see Charlie McDermott in
a non-The Middle role. Looking down the call sheet, I'm excited to see
names like Iliza Shlesinger and Tig Notaro. Stand-up comedians in bit parts
have high laugh potential.
Working Against
It: Explain to me how this will be significantly better than Daddy's Home. If you
can't then you know why Rose Byrne is the only thing that has me interested in
this.
Interest Level: Curious
After their
criminal husbands are killed on a job, four women complete a robbery, in order
to get out of the debt they left them in.
Working For It: Oh boy. Steve
McQueen's last movie won Best Picture (12 Years a Slave). It's
been five years since that, and now he's back with a crime thriller. And that's
not all. Gillian Flynn co-wrote the screenplay. I loved her Gone Girl
screenplay. Viola Davis looks ferocious in the trailers. It'll be nice to see
Michelle Rodriguez in what's essentially a prestige Fast and Furious
movie. I want to know if this is the moment when people finally recognize
Elizabeth Debicki. Cynthia Erivo looks to complete an excellent debut 1-2 punch
by following up Bad Times at the El Royale with
this. This call sheet is packed with names worth getting excited about: Carrie
Coon, Daniel Kaluuya, Brian Tyree Henry, Collin Farrell, Robert Duvall, Jacki
Weaver. McQueen is at that level right now where everyone wants a chance to
work with him. I'm stoked for this.
Working Against
It: My one concern is that McQueen makes something that's not quite a crime
thriller and not quite a drama, committing to neither fully, and failing as
both. McQueen wouldn't be the first critically lauded director who struggles
when he moves into films with popcorn aspirations.
Interest Level: Excited
A movie about
Vincent van Gogh during his time in Arles and Auvers-sur-Oise, France.
Working For It: There's been a
whisper campaign going on for a while about Willem Dafoe's work as van Gogh.
After his Florida Project nomination last
year, I suspect a lot of people are looking for an excuse to nominate him
again. And he gets Oscar Isaac and Mads Mikkelsen as screen partners.
Working Against
It: The movie looks a tad dull. It's a character study, so it's only going
to be as good as the lead character.
Interest Level: Curious
A documentary
about a man who has been walking every street of New York City for six years.
Working For It: There's 8000
miles of streets and paths in NYC. It's a diverse city in every meaning of the
word. This is just a cool idea.
Working Against
It: I'm not convinced that there's really a story to go along with the idea.
Does this need to be an entire movie rather than a news feature? I'm not yet
convinced.
Interest Level: Curious
11/21 & 11/23
Adonis accepts a
match against the son of the man who killed his father.
Working For It:
Creed is one of
the movies that made 2015 one of the best film years in recent memory. Even
though Ryan Coogler isn't back as the director, the core cast (Michael B.
Jordan, Sylvester Stallone, Tessa Thompson) are. The return of Ivan Drago
(Dolph Lundgren) with his terrifying son (Florian Munteanu) is worth getting
excited about, even if it's a little silly.
Working Against
It: Given the trajectory of the
Rocky franchise, I'm concerned
that the loss of Coogler as the steady hand that grounded Creed, could
lead to a sequel that's bombastic and much less appealing.
Interest Level: Excited
A white New York
bouncer drives an African American pianist around on his tour of the South in
the 1960s.
Working For It: Simply put, this
is 2018's Hidden Figures. It's a reverse
Driving Miss Daisy: a crowd-pleasing period race movie that isn't trying
to indict anyone. Mahershala Ali and Viggo Mortensen look like a very
entertaining pair. The movie has just enough heft to be a potential Oscar
player, but in the easy to digest form of a road trip movie.
Working Against
It: It's directed by Peter Farrelly of the Farrelly Brothers fame (Dumb
& Dumber, There's Something About Mary). Needless to say, this
is a bit of a shift from what he's known for. I've heard he handles it well,
but I'm not mentally prepared for the words "Oscar nominee Peter
Farrelly".
Interest Level: Intrigued
Ralph and
Vanellope travel from from arcade to the internet.
Working For It: Wreck-It Ralph was a
delight back in 2012. With an equally large and talented voice-cast and an
infinitely larger canvas to play on (the internet), I expect the sequel to be
just as delightful.
Working Against
It: I have 0 clue what the story is. Just making a joke delivery machine is
fine, but having some pathos is what makes the best Disney movies worth
revisiting so much. I'm sure it's there, just not in the trailers.
Interest Level: Excited
Cool Robin Hood.
Working For It: I like Taron
Egerton in the Kingsman
movies. And...uh, it looks like stuff explodes.
Working Against
It: I'm a little shocked that Guy Ritchie isn't even a producer on this.
Making old British stories hip is his thing (King Arthur, Sherlock). You
know who is a producer though: Leonardo DiCaprio. I don't know what to do with
this information.
Interest Level: Uninterested
A period piece
about two women competing for the favor of their queen.
Working For It: I am totally into
Emma Stone and Rachel Weisz duking it out for Olivia Colman's approval, dressed
in fancy gowns, in a movie filled with offbeat humor.
Working Against
It: I have a very shaky history with director Yorgos Lanthimos. The Lobster is fine,
I guess, but I hated
Dogtooth and
The Killing of a Sacred Deer.
Lanthimos' style has always turned me off. The saving grace (I hope) for The
Favourite is that he didn't write the screenplay. In his past movies, it is
the dialogue that I've had the most issue with, so maybe I'll like him as a
director-only.
Interest Level: Intrigued
11/30
A woman working
the graveyard shift gets more than she can handle when the morgue gets the
corpse of a women who died in the middle of an exorcism.
Working For It: "Scary stuff
happens in a morgue" is a solid horror premise. It's got an R-rating, so
it hopefully won't pull too many punches.
Working Against
It: Possession movies don't really do it for me.
Interest Level: Uninterested
A musical
Christmas zombie comedy movie.
Working For It: It is exactly
what it sounds like. It's a little British movie with no one you've ever heard
of. If it can pull off what it's trying to do, this has serious cult hit
potential.
Working Against
It: Man, there's so many ways for this to fail. If the music, Christmas,
zombie, or comedy doesn't work, the movie won't work. And that's not even
getting to if the story is any good.
Interest Level: Intrigued
A Harlem-set drama
about a woman trying to prove that her finace is innocent of a crime.
Working For It: It's Barry
Jenkins' follow-up to
Moonlight. It's
based on a James Baldwin novel. I look forward to some gorgeous cinematography
and great performances from actors who don't get enough great roles.
Working Against
It: It's a very confrontational movie, from what I understand. I'm not sure
how to prepare myself for that.
Interest Level: Curious
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