Fall Movie Preview – What’s coming to theatres this fall
It’s election season, and one former president making a surprise return to the spotlight—and the theater, actually—is “Honest Abe,” with director Steven Spielberg’s long-awaited passion project Lincoln arriving next month. With the blockbusters of summer in the rearview mirror, here are five intriguing fall movies to keep an eye on.
Oct. 12
The gist: Based on a declassified true story, this CIA thriller follows secret operatives posing as Hollywood filmmakers shooting a sci-fi movie in Iran in order to extract a group of Americans hiding from authorities in the revolution-torn country.
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The good: Have Emmy winners Bryan Cranston and John Goodman ever given sub-par performances?
The bad: With The Town, Ben Affleck proved himself a better director than actor. He does double-duty again here, so which will prevail?
Recommended if you like: Munich, Three Days of the Condor, Bee Gees hair
Likely score: 8/10
Oct. 12
The gist: A downtrodden screenwriter—is there any other kind?—aloofly falls in with the L.A. underground when his hare-brained friends kidnap a ruthless mobster’s Shih Tsu.
The good: Director Martin McDonagh’s last outing with star Colin Farrell was the hilariously dark and underrated In Bruges, and this new farce looks like the riotous love child of the Coen Brothers and Guy Ritchie. Also, Tom Waits and Christopher Walken co-star.
The bad: Have audiences seen one too many Hollywood-set action comedies already?
Recommended if you like: The Big Lebowski, Snatch, bookmarking pet reunions on YouTube.
Likely score: 9/10
Oct. 26
The gist: English author David Mitchell’s ambitious, generations-spanning novel comes to life with various and interconnected trans-generational stories culminating in six successive narrative climaxes. Phew.
The good: Tom Hanks hasn’t gone through so many different phases in a film since Forrest Gump.
The bad: This could be an overly ambitious (and overly long) A-list version of The Butterfly Effect.
Recommended if you like: Babel, Cold Mountain, reincarnation jokes—heard the one about the rabbits in Montana?
Likely score: 7/10
Nov. 9
The gist: When a deadly new enemy begins outing and targeting MI6 agents, James Bond crosses swords with M over her past sins and returns from certain death to snuff out the threat.
The good: With Oscar winner Sam Mendes directing, Roger Deakins shooting and the acclaimed Javier Bardem and Ralph Fiennes battling Daniel Craig’s steely 007, this should be the best-looking and best-acted Bond film of all time. Plus, the return of Q!
The bad: Can’t Bond and M just hug it out already??
Recommended if you like: Layer Cake, No Country for Old Men, premature obituaries.
Likely score: 9/10
Nov. 16
The gist: A lanky country lawyer rises to the highest post in the land and guides the Union to victory over the Confederacy during the Civil War. Then he has a really bad night at the theater.
The good: Daniel Day-Lewis is back in black—stovepipe and all. Co-star Tommy Lee Jones is already singing the actor’s praises, and Jones is not easily impressed.
The bad: How does a film successfully humanize a man who has his own memorial and dollar bill?
Recommended if you like: Gettysburg, Glory, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter (but wished there weren’t any bloodsuckers).
Likely score: 10/10
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