Fall Film Guide: September 2012

The summer movie season is over and honestly it wasn’t that great. There were a few great films like The Avengers and The Dark Knight Rises, and I really liked some underrated and underperformed movies like Premium Rush and Hit & Run, but for the most part it was a pretty weak season. The summer comedy offerings were especially weak. I’m excited to get into the fall movie season though which has a bunch of highly anticipated films.

SEPTEMBER 7

• The Cold Light of Day – It concerns me that this movie comes out within a week yet I have never seen any marketing for this. It’s been out in the UK since April and the early reviews on Rotten Tomatoes have it rated at 10% so far. I wish the fact that it stars Bruce Willis and Sigourney Weaver meant more but this movie looks like a throwaway action thriller. It also stars future-Superman Henry Cavill and boy does he look dull in this.
• The Words – A film about an unsuccessful writer who finds another writer’s unpublished novel from another era and falsely publishes it himself. There are unforeseen consequences of course. This looks like it could be decent, but the music used in the trailer threw off the whole tone to me. I feel like this should be somewhat of a thriller, but the music is inspirational sounding. I don’t really have high hopes for this one and I wish Bradley Cooper picked better roles.
• Bachelorette – Finally a comedy I can get excited about. Lizzy Caplan, Isla Fisher, Kirsten Dunst, Adam Scott, and Rebel Wilson (Bridesmaids) star in this movie that’s all about females being funny. It does ring a bit too close to Bridesmaids but it has decidedly different tone. It seems more like the wild night of debauchery that you thought you were going to see from the Bridesmaids trailer versus the story about Annie’s life that we got.

SEPTEMBER 14

• Resident Evil: Retribution – Wow, they really make a killing on these movies, don’t they? I imagine lots of people in Tapout shirts go to see Resident Evil. Good for Milla Jovovich I guess.
• Finding Nemo 3D – This is one of the only Pixar films I’ve seen and I love it (I suck, right?). Still don’t think I’ll bother seeing it in theaters.
• The Master (expands Sept 21) – Who isn’t excited about The Master? PT Anderson has a virtually flawless collection of films under his belt (depending on who you ask) and it features a stellar cast including the return of Joaquin Phoenix after 4 years without a film unless you count I’m Still Here. The subject matter is fascinating and it looks like its going to be a beautiful, thrilling film and probably the kickoff of Oscar contenders.

SEPTEMBER 21

• Dredd – This film looks like something I’d never want to watch. Then after only a little bit of digging I find something pretty intriguing–it’s written by Alex Garland (28 Days Later). That definitely makes me think twice before completely writing this movie off. It also stars Olivia Thirlby who we just praised in our 25 Talents Under 25 list.
• End of Watch – If you know me you know I love Jake Gyllenhaal despite all his flaws and at times questionable movie choices. This looks alright but the cinematography looks like it has to be aggravating to watch for an entire movie. This does have Michael Peña who I think tends to add a little extra to anything he’s in along with Anna Kendrick who rules.
• House at the End of the Street – The trailer makes this look pretty generic. Its main tactic seems to be promoting “The Hunger Games‘ Jennifer Lawrence” as a tagline. That might be its best bet though because the preview isn’t too promising.
• Trouble with the Curve – The family/baseball drama doesn’t look half bad. I guess that’s because its cast is so stacked–Clint Eastwood, Amy Adams, John Goodman, Justin Timberlake, AND MATTHEW LILLARD (yeah, that excites some people). It doesn’t look overtly sappy and it seems to balance the different aspects of tumultuous family life and love of baseball fairly well.
• The Perks of Being a Wallflower – Like most girls that had any bit of alt to them in my age group, I’ve read this book more than once. The trailer is way too happy in tone for the book, but it doesn’t make me angry either. It isn’t going to be as sad as the novel, but things like Emma Watson’s casting really disappoint me. Hopefully this doesn’t wreck all the great things about the novel.

SEPTEMBER 28