Okay, so here’s a list of movies that are coming out this fall that (based on trailers, industry buzz, and cast and crew) I’m recommending you go see. I’ll also try and give a tagline, some basic plot points, cast members, and a “why you should see it” for each film.
And, as always, let me know what you think! Tell me what movies you are looking forward to seeing.
The Kite Runner (November 2): Directed by Marc Forester (Monster’s Ball, Finding Neverland), this is a film adaptation of the best-seller book of the same name. After spending years in California, Amir returns to his homeland in Afghanistan to help his old friend Hassan, whose son is in trouble. See this one because it’s a beautiful story and is the only book that, when I’d finished reading it, made me think I have no chance at all of being a successful writer. (I know I do have a chance, but this book was just so practically perfect that it made me doubt myself for a few moments.)
December Boys (September 14): Stars Daniel Radcliffe (aka Harry Potter), set in Australia, based on a novel by Michael Noonan. One summer, four orphans boys who have grown to be the closest of friends find themselves competing for the attention of the same family. See this movie because the trailer made me cry. Into the Wild (September 21): Directed by Sean Penn (Academy Award-winning actor), stars Emile Hirsch, Marcia Gay Harden, William Hurt, and . Based on a true story and bestselling book by Jon Krakauer. After graduating from Emory University in 1992, top student and athlete Christopher McCandless (Hirsch) abandons his possessions, gave away his entire $24,000 savings account to charity and hitchhiked to Alaska to live in the wilderness.
Elizabeth: The Golden Age (October 12): Directed by Shehkar Kapur. Reprising the roles they originated in seven-time Academy Award-nominated Elizabeth, Cate Blanchett and Geoffrey Rush return for a gripping historical thriller laced with treachery and romance. Joining them in the epic is Clive Owen as Sir Walter Raleigh, a dashing seafarer and newfound temptation for Elizabeth. Elizabeth: The Golden Age tells the thrilling tale of an era–the story of one woman’s crusade to control love, crush enemies and secure her position as a beloved icon of the western world. I always love seeing Cate Blanchett on screen and am anxious to see how she’ll trump her own performance in Elizabeth.
Lars and the Real Girl (October 12): Stars Ryan Gosling (Lars), Patricia Clarkson (Dagmar), and Emily Mortimer (Karen). Lars Lindstrom is a loveable introvert whose emotional baggage has kept him from fully embracing life. After years of what is almost solitude, he invites Bianca, a friend he met on the internet to visit him. He introduces Bianca to his brother Gus (Paul Schneider) and his wife Karen and they are stunned. They don’t know what to say to Lars or Bianca — because she is a life-size doll, not a real person and he is treating her as though she is alive. They consult the family doctor Dagmar who explains this is a delusion he’s created and they should all go along with it. What follows is an emotional journey for Lars and the people around him.
Across the Universe (September 21): A dock worker Jude (Jim Sturgess) travels to America in the 1960s to find his estranged father. There he falls in love with sheltered American teenager Lucy (Evan Rachel Wood). When her brother Max (Joe Anderson) is drafted to fight in the Vietnam War, they become involved in peace activism. This film is a kind of whimsical musical, set to Beatles songs that defined the era. A new twist on classic Beatle songs though, as the cast members sing the songs instead of the original Fab Four.
Martian Child (November 2): Crushed by the death of his fiancee, a writer (John Cusack) adopts a 6-year-old boy in an effort to create a family. The boy, who desperately wants a father, is troubled by the idea that he’s from Mars. Joan Cusack, Amanda Peet, Oliver Platt, and Sophie Okonedo also star. I’m curious about this film, because I really want to know if this kid is really from Mars or not. Either way, I can tell that it’s going to be a good tear-jearker.
Margot at the Wedding (November 12): Directed by Noah Baumbach (The Squid and the Whale). Margot (Nicole Kidman) and her son Claude decide to visit her sister Pauline (Jennifer Jason Leigh) after she announces that she is getting married to less-than-impressive Malcolm (Jack Black). In short order, the storm the sisters create leaves behind a mess of thrashed relationships and exposed family secrets. I always love Jack Black and Nicole Kidman, but I never though I’d see them in a movie together.
August Rush (November 21): A charismatic young Irish guitarist (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) and a sheltered young cellist (Keri Russell) have a chance encounter one magical night above New York’s Washington Square, but are soon torn apart, leaving in their wake an infant, August Rush, orphaned by circumstance. Now performing on the streets of New York and cared for by a mysterious stranger (Robin Williams), August (Freddie Highmore) uses his remarkable musical talent to seek the parents from whom he was separated at birth.
I Am Legend (December 14): A reinvention of the Charlton Heston film The Omega Man. Robert Neville (Will Smith) is a brilliant scientist, but even he could not contain the terrible virus that was unstoppable, incurable, and man-made. Somehow immune, Neville is the last human survivor in what’s left of NYC and maybe the world. For three years, Neville has been broadcasting radio messages, desperate to find other survivors. And he’s not alone. Mutant victims of the plague – The Infected – lurk in the shadows, waiting for Neville to make a mistake. I love a good sci-fi thriller, and Will Smith will always get me to the movies.
So that’s it for now. Did I pique your interest at all? What movies are you looking forward to seeing?
I’m not sure about Kite Runner — I read the book and it tore me up — and I can read stuff that I can’t watch.
December Boys looks intriguing, as does the new Elizabeth. The rest will have to wait until they’re avaiable via Netflix.
Susanne
September 10th, 2007