It remains hard to believe that the industry that gave us all the superhero comic book dreck that filled multiplexes this summer is the same mill that can churn out so much anticipated award fodder in the fall. But get ready for the work of such admired directors as Alexander Payne (Nebraska), Martin Scorsese (The Wolf of Wall Street), David O. Russell (American Hustle) and the Coen Brothers (Inside Llewyn Davis).
Hibernating in the summer apparently, the stars come out in the fall months, including George Clooney (twice!), Tom Hanks (twice!), a mere single release from Meryl Streep and a near solo turn from 77-year-old Robert Redford in what is widely thought of as his final chance to walk off with a Best Actor Oscar. Their efforts pale, however, to the busiest guy in Hollywood — Paul Giamatti.
Anyway, here is my highly subjective list of films currently slated to premiere before year’s end and worth the time and energy to pull yourself away from your Netflix account and view a movie or two in a communal setting alongside talkers, cellphone users and popcorn crunchers.
Don Jon (Sept. 27) — Few actors have made the transition from child performer (Third Rock from the Sun) to adult star as well as Joseph Gordon-Levitt (500 Days of Summer, Inception, Looper) with such seeming ease, so we are eager to see what he can do as a triple threat actor/director/screenwriter. Chances are his take on the romantic comedy genre will be unconventional, as he casts himself as a guy struggling between Internet porn and a live, amorous woman (Scarlett Johansson) who disapproves of his pixel fixation.
Gravity (Oct. 4) — Oscar winner Sandra Bullock first came to our attention driving a bus in Speed, and now she is a medical engineer piloting a space flight. And wouldn’t you know it, the mission runs into trouble during a spacewalk exercise and she is left adrift in darkness. Mexico’s Alfonso Cuaron (Children of Men) directs his first 3-D epic, with George Clooney along for the ride to up the stress level.
All Is Bright (Oct. 4) — The always welcome Paul Giamatti plays a French Canadian ex-con who returns home to find that his wife has taken up with his former buddy, Paul Rudd. Oddly then, the two of them join forces and head to Brooklyn with a truckful of Christmas trees to make their fortune. Directing these fish out of water — the reason to be intrigued — is Phil Morrison, making his follow-up film to the admirable Junebug eight years ago.
Parkland (Oct. 4) — The scene is Dallas’s Parkland Hospital and the date is Nov. 22, 1963, almost 50 years ago, just after President Kennedy has been shot. Writer-director Peter Landesman gathers a large, ensemble cast including Zac Efron, Jackie Earle Haley, Colin Hanks, Marcia Gay Harden and — there he is again! — Paul Giamatti as amateur photographer Abraham Zapruder, all going through the nation’s collective grief, intensified by their proximity to the media’s sudden focus.
Captain Phillips (Oct. 11) — If your idea of pirates is Jack Sparrow and his crew, you need to see this recreation of events from 2009, when Somali high seas hijackers laid siege to an American container ship — the first such crime in 200 years. Tom Hanks plays the American captain and director Paul Greengrass applies his hand-held, documentary style that was so effective in reliving some of 9/11 in United 93.
Romeo and Juliet (Oct. 11) — Every generation, it seems, earns its own film version of Shakespeare’s tragic tale of star-crossed lovers. If only the Bard were getting royalties from these remakes, but his agents were notoriously short-sighted on that score. Julian Fellowes (Downton Abbey) gets to share writing credits with Ol’ Will for the adaptation, Carlo Carlei (The Flight of the Innocent) directs Hailee Seinfeld (True Grit) and relatively unknown British up-and-comer Douglas Booth as the title pair. Oh, yeah, and as Friar Laurence — wait for it — it’s Paul Giamatti.
All Is Lost (Oct. 18) — The Oscar talk is pretty loud for Robert Redford’s performance as a man set adrift at sea when his sailboat collides with a shipping container. Redford is virtually all alone on screen and, as a result, dialogue is all but non-existent. Hey, it almost worked for Tom Hanks in Cast Away. J.C. Chandor, who moved up several notches on the Hollywood pecking order with Margin Call, directs.
Carrie (Oct. 18) — Stephen King’s first novel, the one about sweet, bloody revenge at a high school prom became a chilling film in the hands of a young Brian De Palma, but that was back in 1976. Now trying her hand at a remake is director Kimberly Peirce (Boys Don’t Cry), with Chloe Grace Moretz stepping into the shoes of Sissy Spacek as the teenage outcast and Julianne Moore as her Bible-toting mom.
The Fifth Estate (Oct. 18) — Regardless of whether you consider WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange a hero or a villain, you’ve got to concede that his life has enough suspense and drama to fuel a feature film. That is the view of director Bill Condon (Kinsey), who has the benefit of Benedict Cumberbatch in the central role and support from such A-list talent as Stanley Tucci, Laura Linney and Anthony Mackie.
Paradise (Oct. 18) — A young, devout woman (Julianne Hough) has her faith destroyed by a hideous plane crash, so she heads to Las Vegas in search of sin. The plot is not what interests us, but the fact that Oscar-winning screenwriter Diablo Cody (Juno) is making her directing debut. We predict either a sublime comedy or a train wreck.
12 Years a Slave (Oct. 18) — Director Steve McQueen goes from sexual obsession (Shame) to the history of slavery in America with this harrowing tale of a free black man named Solomon Northrup, kidnapped in upstate New York, circa 1840, and sold into bondage in the South. British actor Chiwetel Ejiofor (do not attempt to pronounce his name if you have dentures) plays Northrup and guess who else is in the cast — Paul Giamatti.
About Time (Nov. 1) — Director-writer Richard Curtis (Love, Actually) sure knows his way around the romantic comedy genre and the obstacles in the way of a happy ending. So even though this yarn about a law student (Domhnall Gleeson) who can time travel, changing his past and his future, sounds a tad far-fetched, do not doubt that you will be swooning by the final credits.
Last Vegas (Nov. 1) — Aiming for, um, a “mature” market like South Florida, director Jon Turteltaub (of the National Treasures franchise) zooms in on four buddies of a certain age — Robert De Niro, Michael Douglas, Morgan Freeman and Kevin Kline — throwing a bachelor party in Las Vegas for the last of their gang to get hitched. No doubt hilarity ensues. Please make up your own joke about The Hangover.
The Wolf of Wall Street (Nov. 15) — The partnership of director Martin Scorsese and his star Leo DiCaprio continues, this time with the based-on-fact biography of stock broker Jordan Belfort, who flew high until he dabbled in crime and corruption and — here’s the real problem — he got caught. Everyone wants to work with Marty, so he had little trouble gathering a cast that includes Matthew McConaughey, Jonah Hill, Jean Dujardin and Rob Reiner.
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (Nov. 22) — If you are unaware of the plot of this dark, futuristic saga, find a 14-year-old girl and ask her. All you really need to know is that teen warrior Katniss Everdeen (hotter than hot Jennifer Lawrence) is now a national celebrity for emerging victorious from the lethal competitive games. Now she needs to weigh political options against an imminent revolution. Philip Seymour Hoffman joins the returning cast of Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Elizabeth Banks, Stanley Tucci and Woody Harrelson, but director Gary Ross baled in favor of Francis Lawrence (I Am Legend).
Nebraska (Nov. 22) — Director Alexander Payne returns to his home state for a character-driven tale of an old geezer from Montana (Bruce Dern) who believes he has won a million dollar sweepstakes and asks his dubious, estranged son to drive him to Lincoln, Neb., to collect the prize money. The word of mouth from Cannes was very good, even as viewers were scratching their heads over why the filmmaker of Sideways and The Descendants insisted on shooting in black-and-white.
Grace of Monaco (Nov. 29) — Channeling the cool, regal beauty of Grace Kelly, Nicole Kidman impersonates the Philadelphia socialite turned Hollywood star turned European princess in this autobiographical look at a time of crisis for her marriage and for her adopted country, when her hubby, Prince Rainier III (Tim Roth) is embroiled in a political dispute with French president Charles de Gaulle.
Inside Llewyn Davis (Dec. 6) — Joel and Ethan Coen again play fast and loose with facts, recalling the fictional life of a famous folk singer of Greenwich Village in the early ’60s. Oscar Isaac plays the title character, with support from Carey Mulligan, Justin Timberlake and the Coen brothers’ good luck charm, John Goodman.
American Hustle (Dec. 13) — Anyone remember Abscam, the FBI con of the late ’70s in which the Feds invented an Arab sheik to seduce public officials into taking hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes? Director David O. Russell serves up a tale loosely based on that case, with Christian Bale as the flim-flammer, Bradley Cooper as the FBI honcho and Amy Adams and Jennifer Lawrence along for the ride. Yes, Russell has built a rep company of alumni of The Fighter and Silver Linings Playbook.
August: Osage County (Dec. 20) — Playwright Tracy Letts (Bug, Killer Joe) earned a Pulitzer Prize in 2007 for this darkly comic tale of a highly dysfunctional Oklahoma clan. It now makes the leap to the big screen, helmed by John Wells (of the underappreciated The Company Men), with a starry ensemble cast of Meryl Streep, Julia Roberts, Sam Shepard, Juliette Lewis, Chris Cooper and Abigail Breslin. I guess Paul Giamatti was unavailable.
Monuments Men (Dec. 20) — Picture Ocean’s Eleven near the end of World War II, where the team is trying to prevent a heist instead of pulling one off. George Clooney stars, directs and co-writes the script about art scholars and museum directors going into Germany to prevent the destruction and/or disappearance of treasured paintings by the Nazis. On board are Matt Damon, Bill Murray, John Goodman, Jean Dujardin and Bob Balaban.
Her (Dec. 20) — We have long been jonesing for a new mind-bender feature from writer-director Spike Jonze, who casts Joaquin Phoenix (Wasn’t he going to quit making movies?) as a writer who falls head over heels for the voice of his word processor’s operating system. Yes, the premise sounds loopy, until you hear that the voice belongs to Scarlett Johansson.
Saving Mr. Banks (Dec. 20) — You would think authoress P.L. Travers would be delighted to have her iconic governess Mary Poppins popularized on film, but that was hardly the case, as we will see in this look at the clash between Travers (Emma Thompson) and Walt Disney (Tom Hanks). Director John Lee Hancock’s cast also includes Colin Farrell as Travers’ stern father as well as — we swear it’s true — Paul Giamatti.