BEST UPCOMING:
9/18
Everest
This is the beginning of the Oscar bait season. While there will only be a few of these high quality films in Sept and Oct, it's November and December that really overloads you with every Oscar contender. But, for now, we have the first one and it looks epic. While I don't think it has a chance at best picture or anything, it still looks like an exciting, nerve-wracking film. And I'm like 90% sure something happens to Gyllanhaal early in this movie because he makes an appearance in the trailer in the beginning and then they don't show him again. You never know though...
Black Mass
This is the other Oscar bait film of October and (hopefully) the resurgence of Johnny Depp's career, because judging from the trailer he looks bat shit insane. It's been a while since we've had a really good mob movie (especially one not directed by Scorsese) and from what I can tell this one will have everything. Depp is damn near unrecognizable as the notorious Whitey Bulger and he's got a fantastic supporting cast behind him. I'm willing to bet Depp gets pretty far in the Best Actor category and this movie will be very memorable.
Sicario
This is a little known heard of movie that is supposed to come out next week. I'm guessing it had a decent-sized budget and it will probably make the budget back or even a little less. It's a bit of a niche movie that isn't going to draw a crowd, but those that make the trek to see it will probably be very impressed. There may be awards that stem from this film, but right now, to me, it looks to be a very smart and mature and thrilling action film with a very strong female lead that has proven she knows how to kick an ass or two. I'm very excited for this movie.
9/25
The Green Inferno
I wrote about this movie this time last year. It was sadly delayed for over a year because of production company troubles. The movie has been done and there's been no tweaking of the film, it's just been a bitch to get to our theaters. It looks like Eli Roth at his finest and it'll be nice to see something he's directed since the mediocre Hostel 2. This movie will NOT be for the faint of heart as it looks unbelievably disturbing and hard to stomach. But, I, for one, and very excited.
10/2
The Walk
If you haven't seen the documentary this film is based off of on Netflix called Man on Wire, I highly recommend it. I saw it a few years back and this film adaptation of the documentary is even HALF as tense as that was... we are in for a great movie. It's already the perfect setup for a movie. Dudes have to con their way up to the top of one of the twin towers, shoot a high wire across the two and let some insane French guy walk across it. Add brilliant director Robert Zemeckis coming off his last feat Flight with the acting of Joseph Gordon-Levitt and we've got a winner here.
The Martian
Based off the best selling book (as most everything is nowadays) I've heard that it's one of the most exciting books to read and that Matt Damon is the perfect choice to play the astronaut left behind after an expedition of Mars. The trailer doesn't give too much of the side stories away (and the cast is big enough that there will be a lot going on) but essentially it's just Damon left on Mars for years trying to figure out how to survive until he is rescued. Written by brilliant screenwriter Drew Goddard, hopefully director Ridley Scott can use this film to get back on track and give us a thoroughly enjoyable sci-fi film.
Legend
Remember how I said it'll be nice to see a good mob/gangster movie again? Well, we are being treated to two gems this year. While I'm excited for Black Mass, I'm even more excited to see Tom Hardy unleash his twin murderer crazies in Legend. Twice the Hardy, twice the violence, twice the Brit, twice the fun. That should've been on the poster. Probably not. It's dumb. The movie won't be.
10/9
Steve Jobs
I know... ANOTHER Steve Jobs biography? Didn't we already get to see a shitty one with Ashton Kutcher? No. This is on an entirely different level. Now, we have top three one of Hollywood's best and smartest writers (Aaron Sorkin) writing the script. This will make that Kutcher Jobs film look like it was written by fourth graders on a handheld camera. Plus, the cast is better too. Fassbender as Jobs, Kate Winslet, Jeff Daniels, Seth Rogen. This will be a much better film.
Knock Knock
So, I'm filing this one under I HOPE it's good. I don't actually know if it will be any good. We haven't had a film directed by Eli Roth in almost a decade and now we have two of them being released less than a month from one another. This one has Keanu Reeves. He's a father staying at home while his family is away. He's seduced by two women "stranded" in a storm. After he's seduced, he's then, you know, tortured by them for hours and days. It looks like a mindfuck, but one that I hope is effective. I'm betting this will be a very chilling, under the radar, horror film.
10/16
Crimson Peak
Oh, hell yes. Guillermo Del Toro has directed another goth horror film that he's also written. While Pan's Labyrinth wasn't necessarily horror, it did have some gruesome and terrifying moments. That's the beauty and genius of Del Toro is he's able to give story and substance and visual beauty to the movies he scares the crap out of us. Don't Be Afraid of the Dark was a misfire, but from what I've seen, Crimson Peak will be his glorious return to horror.
Bridge of Spies
This is one of those rare movie situations where everything comes together so perfectly, I don't even have to tell you what the movie is about for you to be excited to see it. Okay, check it out... there's a movie starring Tom Hanks. Okay.... Okay, and it's also directed by Steven Spielberg. Okay, I'm getting a little more interested. Oh, and get this! It's been written by the Coen Brothers. Yeah. I'm in. Don't even care. Like, I mean, it helps that the trailer makes the movie look interesting, but it could literally be Tom Hanks standing against a white backdrop saying give me ten dollars and I would do it with everyone that is attached to it. This movie will be amazing!
10/23
Suffragette
This one doesn't entirely look like my cup of tea. And I sincerely can not STAND Carey Mulligan in anything, but it doesn't mean that this isn't going to be a good movie. Just because I'll be nagging and complaining when I'm asked by my girlfriend to go see it doesn't mean it's going to be a trash heap of a film. Plus, Meryl Streep is in it. Has she ever made a bad movie?
11/6
Spectre
Hopefully this isn't the end of the Daniel Craig Bond era, but it seems like it will be. Sam Mendes has been able to breath new life into the franchise and gave us one of the best Bond's in recent memory with Skyfall. According to Craig, not only is this film better than Skyfall, it's like Skyfall on crack. It's supposed to be his Bond magnum opus. And, even if it wasn't... come on. Any year a new Bond film comes out is a good year.
The Peanuts Movie
This isn't going to be the blow-you-away family animated movie of the year (I mean, come on, we've already seen Inside Out), but this looks to be a simple, fun, and pleasant homage to Charles Schultz's beloved Peanuts characters. It looks well-written and honors the old newspaper strips perfectly. It's not the most exciting movie to come out in Novemeber, but it'll be a good film if you have a chance to see it.
Trumbo
Now we're starting to get into the meat of Awards season. I was wondering what the role was going to be that Bryan Cranston would take that he would dominate coming off of Breaking Bad. How we haven't seen this dude in everything is a damn mystery. But Trumbo looks like it could garnish him his first Best Actor nomination. Portraying the real life story of a blacklisted screenwriter, this movie looks like perfect Oscar fodder for Cranston. It'll probably only come out limited and be a bitch to try and find in a theater, but it's going to be one of the best films of the fall. I'm calling it now.
11/20
Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2
Clearly this is one of the most anticipated films of the Fall. All of us who were too lazy to read the books need to know how the saga ends. And those who read the book need to be able to see it on screen so they can judge how much the movie got wrong that the book got right. Either way, The Hunger Games films struck gold with a great cast and good direction that it's one of the few YA book trilogies that speaks to most people. Each one has been good, this one will be as well.
Secret In Their Eyes
This is a remake of the Academy Award winning Argentinean film of the same name. I was able to watch that film for a class and it's a gorgeous film. While this new one doesn't seem to have the same aesthetic beauty, it looks like it's going to hit the same emotion chords the previous one did. It's a heartbreaking tale that's quite bleak, but very emotionally powerful.
11/25
The Good Dinosaur
I honestly have not seen a preview or heard a plot synopsis for this film. I don't need to. It's Pixar. It's the last original Pixar we are going to get for the next four years and it's the first time Pixar has ever released two films in the same year. It's going to be good.
The Night Before
There are too many serious films coming out in the Fall that we are going to need something comical. While we know that successful comedies weren't exactly the highlight of 2015, it's nice to see that we are getting a Seth Rogen movie before the year is up. His films aren't ever amazing or have very much to say, but they make you laugh. They make you laugh harder than most comic actors today. And The Night Before, an R-rated Christmas comedy looks like it will do just that. While you wade through the dramatic Oscar fodder... this will be a nice distraction that hopefully becomes a yearly Holiday staple in the long list of Christmas movies that have to be watched every year.
WORST UPCOMING:
9/11
The Perfect Guy
The movie is supposed to be a thriller, yet I've never seen a funnier trailer. It's supposed to be a creepy Fatal Attraction stalker type film, yet I've never heard such uproarious laughter in a theater while watching the film. This movie looks like it could possibly be the worst film of the year. Just find the trailer and the moment when he is literally UNDER HER BED AND SMILES AT THE CAMERA... fuck you.
10/23
The Last Witch Hunter
Granted, I'll give it this-- I've only seen the trailer and it doesn't show much. Now, let's look at the track record of movies about witches in the last few years (Season of the Witch ring any bells?) and let's look at Vin Diesel's track record for movies that don't have the word fast or furious attached to it? I'm just putting the pieces together and assuming this is going to be one bad failure of a film. I won't see it, so you'll have to let me know how bad it actually is.
Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension
I'm a big fan of the first Paranormal films. I've seen every one of them and they get just a little bit worse each time. Except the last one. The spinoff that looked like it had nothing to do with the original series except that it has a huge twist and a lot of information at the end that is necessary to see... that one was actually really good. But this one. Watch the trailer. It looks like complete dogshit. Why are black vine-y ghost strings scary to anyone? When have they ever been? Why is it that when you get more money for each new movie it sucks that much more? I'm still going to see it because I have to... it's like Season 2 of True Detective. I'm hating it, but I'm watching it because I have to know what happens.
11/13
Love The Coopers
It's that generic white people get together for the holidays and have white people problems movie that we tend to get every other year. The selling point is that it's by the people who did The Family Stone, which if you've seen that movie... is not a selling point. It'll have cute moments but overall be a shitfest that is so unforgettable you're upset you thought it would be the one to transcend the genre.
By The Sea
Angelina Jolie directs a douchebag movie about a douchbag couple who have douchebag problems and end up banging them all out over two hours in Europe. The couple-- her and Brad Pitt. I'm trying to remember the last movies where we watched a couple fight and bang the entire time... oh wait... Eyes Wide Shut... oh yeah... Gigli. This should be a GREAT film.
Rings (The Ring 3D)
I didn't even know this was a thing! There's not even a trailer for it. Just a release date and a poster. Oh, my god I'm so disappointed in the world. And it's in 3D??? Please show us the way you irrelevant sequel to a movie no one saw the second one to! Show us the light into brilliant horror that won't be jump scares and cheap effects. I wish I hadn't stumbled upon this. I just love the fact that there isn't even a trailer yet. There are previews for movies out that are coming to the screen NEXT SUMMER and we don't even have an advertisement for a movie coming out in a month and a half.
11/25
Victor Frankenstein
I think in more capable hands this movie could actually be decent. It's already got the cast, but the direction looks like that shitty generic Hollywood monster movie that no one has shown any interest in since I don't know when. Look at I, Frankenstein or any of the Underworld sequels or Van Helsing. These movies don't work because the filmmakers don't put any love into them. It's poorly written with the WORST CGI. We don't get to see the monster in the trailer but briefly... and from what I could tell is the same lazy CGI it's always been. It sucks because this movie could've been great.
UPCOMING WILDCARDS:
9/11
The Visit
Everything I've heard and everything I've read has suggested that this is M. Night Shyamalan's return to horror glory. It's supposed to be a refreshing combination of terrifying horror and laugh out loud comedy... something very hard to perfect if you're not Sam Raimi. And while I want to believe it... I'm in the fool me six times stages with M. Night where I thought I had sworn him off altogether. Hopefully this brings him back because the found footage genre combined with his name just makes me want to stay away.
11/25
The Intern
Nancy Meyers, who directs the most white people movies of all time (What Women Want, It's Complicated) has a new movie with a bunch of white people. It's like a reversal of The Devil Wears Prada, but Anne Hathaway is the boss and the Intern is... Robert DeNiro? Eh, it could be good. Might suck. I probably won't see it either way.
10/9
Pan
For all intents and purposes, this movie should suck. We've had SO many Peter Pan movies and remakes and reboots and all of that. And we all know the best one is Hook. So, why do we need another one? We know the story and we all don't really care anymore. Yet, it is Hugh Jackman. And Joe Wright has shown he is a very capable director. I don't see how it could be, but Pan might actually be kinda decent. We'll have to see.
10/16
Goosebumps
On the other end of the spectrum here is a movie I actually WANT to be good and want to see. It's Goosebumps! It's Jack Black! It's my childhood. Yet, I know it's going to suck. It won't be as bad as Pixels, but it's not going to be funny... it's not going to be scary... it's not going to be well-written... it's not going to have CGI that should be up to par with 2015... but I really want it to be good and I'm holding out for the chance that it might actually be.
10/23
Rock The Kasbah
In that same vein, I want this movie to be great as well. I love Bill Murray, but after seeing the trailer multiple times I'm thinking that it's going to be tonally completely off. It's got a great cast and a director who used to be capable... but it's just got a certain quality to it that makes me question how good it's going to be... if it even does have any goodness to it.
11/25
Creed
I almost put this movie in the Upcoming Best section, but I just couldn't stand by predicting this movie to be that good. While it looks like a high quality film with a very good director... at it's core it's yet another Rocky sequel. It's about Apollo Creed's son. And now Rocky is his trainer. And it's yet another boxing movie. There's only so much that can be said about boxing in a series that this will be number 7... so... that's why it's going into the wildcard section.
And obviously none of these movies hold a candle to the one everyone is most excited about-- STAR WARS!
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