Quite a few interesting films scheduled for autumn release are catching my eye. After a slow summer, Hollywood is mixing things up a bit, hoping that you’ll come back to the movie theaters for fall. I think they have the right idea. Here are 16 new releases that you should see between now and the holiday season.
September/October
This is Where I Leave You
Upon the death of one family’s patriarch, his children go back home to say goodbye and are forced to stay under one roof for a week. They’ve all taken different roads in life and they might clash with one another, but their family bond can never be broken.
Starring: Jason Bateman, Tina Fey, Adam Driver, Rose Byrne, Corey Stoll, Kathryn Hahn, Abigail Spencer, Dax Shepard, Jane Fonda
Release Date: September 19
Pride
Based on unlikely but very true events. Set in the United Kingdom in 1984, a gay and lesbian group in London is concerned with the national mine workers’ strike, and the members raise money to help the workers’ families. A small mining town gains new friends when the group makes their donation directly.
Starring: Bill Nighy, Imelda Staunton, Dominic West, Paddy Considine
Release Date: September 26
Gone Girl
Amy Dunne has been reported missing by her concerned husband. A media firestorm ensues and it becomes apparent that looks are deceiving: their “happy marriage” was a smokescreen. The police may not have to look far to find out who is responsible for her disappearance.
Starring: Ben Affleck, Rosamund Pike, Neil Patrick Harris, Tyler Perry
Release Date: October 3
The Best of Me
If you’re a fan of Nicholas Sparks novel adaptations like “The Notebook” and “A Walk to Remember,” you’ll like this film, also adapted from a Sparks novel. Two lovers reunite after twenty years apart only to find that the people and circumstances that drove them apart before will come back to haunt them again.
Starring: Michelle Monaghan, James Marsden, Liana Liberato, Luke Bracey, Sebastian Arcelus, Gerald McRaney
Release Date: October 17
The Book of Life
This interesting narrative is told as an animated comedy, produced by Guillermo del Toro. A young man is forced to choose between familial obligations and pursuing his dreams. On the way to his final decision, he is forced to confront his fears in three awe-inspiring worlds of wonder.
Voices: Diego Luna, Channing Tatum, Zoƫ Saldana, Ice Cube, Ron Perlman, Christina Applegate
Release Date: October 17
Fury
It’s the spring of 1945 and Nazi Germany is mere weeks away from falling to the Allied Powers. Sergeant “Wardaddy” and his five-man crew will do anything to liberate the Germans, so they commandeer a tank and penetrate enemy lines, despite being outnumbered.
Starring: Brad Pitt, Shia LaBeouf, Logan Lerman, Michael Pena, Jon Bernthal, Jason Isaacs
Release Date: October 17
John Wick
Keanu Reeves returns to the action film genre fifteen years after he revolutionized cinema with “The Matrix.” In this film, New York City serves as the backdrop as a former assassin for hire plots revenge against the mobsters who stole everything that he held dear.
Starring: Keanu Reeves, Michael Nyqvist, Alfie Allen, Adrianne Palicki, Dean Winters, Bridget Moynahan, Ian McShane, John Leguizmo, Willem Dafoe
Release Date: October 24
November/December
Beyond the Lights
An unlikely romance blossoms between the pop world’s hottest starlet and a cop with political aspirations who serves as her bodyguard. Taking notice, the people around them disapprove, but it’s this love that helps the singer discover aspects of her true self.
Starring: Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Nate Parker, Minnie Driver, Richard Colson Baker (MGK), Danny Glover
Release Date: November 14
Dumb and Dumber To
It may be 20 years later, but it feels like it was only yesterday. In this sequel, Lloyd (Jim Carrey) and Harry (Jeff Daniels) take a road trip to locate the child Harry sired but never knew about. Will this road trip be scarier than their original? Perhaps. Will it be funnier? Definitely.
Starring: Jim Carrey, Jeff Daniels, Rob Riggle, Laurie Holden, Rachel Melvin, Kathleen Turner
Release Date: November 14
Foxcatcher
Based on true events, a world-class athlete trains for the gold at the Olympics and to make a name for himself that doesn’t involve mention of his equally talented brother. His benefactor, through a series of mind games and manipulation, brings both brothers down a road of treachery and tragedy.
Starring: Steve Carell, Channing Tatum, Mark Ruffalo, Vanessa Redgrave, Sienna Miller, Anthony Michael Hall
Release Date: November 14
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1
At the end of the last Hunger Games feature, we saw Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) leave the Hunger Games in a state of disrepair nobody ever imagined possible. Her task is now to save Peeta (Josh Hutcherson) and aid District 13, whose people rose up using Katniss as a model.
Starring: Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Woody Harrelson, Elizabeth Banks, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Jeffrey Wright, Stanley Tucci, Donald Sutherland, Julianne Moore
Release Date: November 21
The Imitation Game
The heartbreaking true story of the life and death of Alan Turing, the English mathematician and cryptologist who cracked the Nazis’ Enigma Code and helped the Allies win World War II. After the war, he was prosecuted and chemically castrated for being gay, leading him to end his life.
Starring: Benedict Cumberbatch, Keira Knightley, Matthew Goode, Mark Strong
Release Date: November 21
Exodus: Gods and Kings
You may have heard this story before but you haven’t seen it told with such high-tech visual effects. Moses (Christian Bale) rises up against Ramses, the Pharaoh of Egypt (Joel Edgerton), and he leads his people — hundreds of thousands of slaves — from under the boot of oppression to the promised land.
Starring: Christian Bale, Joel Edgerton, Aaron Paul, John Turturro, Sigourney Weaver, Ben Kingsley
Release Date: December 12
Inherent Vice
In his 50-year literary career, no Thomas Pynchon novel has ever been made into a film — until now. Set in Southern California in the heady times of the early 1970s, a private investigator is forced to put together a convoluted drama so his ex-girlfriend can keep her billionaire boyfriend.
Starring: Joaquin Phoenix, Josh Brolin, Owen Wilson, Katherine Waterston, Reese Witherspoon, Benicio Del Toro, Martin Short, Jena Malone, Joanna Newson
Release Date: December 12
In June I recommended 14 movies to watch over the summer. Did you see all of them? You can go back and re-read the summer movie preview.