While I have a few movies on my October to-see list, I kind of doubt I’ll see many in the theaters. Economics and time. Sigh.
September started out with a viewing of The Debt (well acted and produced, but fairly depressing), rentals In the Valley of Elah, I Am Number Four and Beastly (well-acted with Tommy Lee Jones, but depressing; interesting sci-fi premise but the execution just wasn’t there; another interesting premise without the acting/writing to back it up), a new rental of Changeling (again worth seeing but it’s not a feel-good movie, folks) and Easy A (fun, breezy and a good laugh), and a Netflix viewing of The Devil’s Arithmetic (well done, again not a feel-good movie though it ended on an upbeat).
Oh, my, my movie viewing definitely needs to have a few comedies added to the mix.
Moneyball was on the docket for the first weekend of October. Well acted, an interesting storyline (based on true events), but I found it too slow to really be good. It was entertaining, I just wish the editing had been tighter – shaving off five or 10 minutes might have been a good idea.
On to October!
Real Steel, rated PG 13, opens October 7. Starring Hugh Jackman and Evangeline Lilly, takes a science-fiction look at the future of boxing. I like the trailers, so I suspect I’ll break down and see this one in the theaters.
Also opening this weekend are The Ides of March, rated R, a political thriller starring George Clooney, Ryan Gosling, Paul Giamatti and Philip Seymour Hoffman; in limited release, Dirty Girl, rated R, about two high-school runaways and starring Juno Temple, Jeremy Dozier and Milla Jovovich; and Blackthorn, rated R and also in limited release, with Sam Shepard as Butch Cassidy, now James Blackthorn, longing for home.
Opening October 14: The Thing, rated R, a slight prequel to the other movies of the same name but the same premise and starring Joel Edgerton, Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Ulrich Thomsen; Footloose, rated PG, a remake of the Kevin Bacon classic (why oh why?); The Big Year, rated PG, a bird-watching comedy starring Jack Black, Owen Wilson and Steve Martin; Texas Killing Fields, rated R and in limited release, looks at a true-crime story and stars Sam Worthington, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Chloe Grace Moretz and Jessica Chastain; Trespass, rated R and in limited release before it goes to DVD, starring Nicolas Cage and Nicole Kidman as a couple held hostage; and Father of Invention, rated PG-13 and in limited release, is a comedy about an eccentric inventor (Kevin Spacey).
October 21 brings Paranormal Activity 3 to the theaters (not yet rated), along with The Three Musketeers, rated PG 13, a steampunk version starring Logan Lerman as the young D’Artagnan, and Matthew Macfadyen, Ray Stevenson and Luke Evans as the older legends; Margin Call, rated R, a look at investment banking starring Zachary Quinto, Stanley Tucci and Kevin Spacey; and in limited release Martha Marcy May Marlene, rated R, which focuses on a young woman (Elizabeth Olsen) trying to re-assimilate to the world after time with an abusive cult.
For October 28, watch for Anonymous, rated PG-13, a period political thriller starring Rhys Ifans, Vanessa Redgrave and David Thewlis and looking at who really wrote Shakespeare’s plays. This one’s on my radar.
Also opening the last weekend of the month are Puss in Boots, rated PG, a prequel for the cat from Shrek, with the voices of Antonio Banderas, Salma Hayek and Zach Galifianakis; In Time, rated PG-13, a science-fiction thriller starring Justin Timberlake, Amanda Seyfried and Cillian Murphy that asks the question of what do you do when you have to buy time to stay alive; The Rum Diary, rated R, stars Johnny Depp as a journalist in Puerto Rico during the 1950s; and Like Crazy, rated PG 13, a cross-continent romance between Felicity Jones and Anton Yelchin.
Only a few for me to see in October; I’ll try to see Real Steel, The Three Musketeers and Anonymous, and maybe Margin Call. As for November, keep a look out for Tower Heist (looks funny, although I’m not a Ben Stiller fan), My Week With Marilyn (buzz is high for Michelle Williams’ performance as Marilyn Monroe), J. Edgar (Oscar buzz already for Leonardo DiCaprio as FBI’s J. Edgar Hoover), Happy Feet Two (more animated fun), The Descendants (George Clooney as a dad trying to hold it together after learning of his wife’s infidelity), Hugo (a young boy ponders the mystery left to him by his father), A Dangerous Method (Carl Jung and Sigmund Freud and the birth of psychoanalysis – the trailers look better than it sounds), and The Artist (a glimpse into the 1927 Hollywood of silent films).
And looking toward the holiday season, I have on my wish list: Ticker Tailor Soldier Spy (a remake starring Gary Oldman with great buzz), New Year’s Eve (another romantic comedy from Garry Marshall), Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (highly anticipated sequel to the Robert Downey Jr./Jude Law classic detective tale), The Iron Lady (Meryl Streep as Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher), The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (an American adaptation of the bestselling Swedish novel), Misson: Impossible – Ghost Protocol (could Tom Cruise be turning the reins of this franchise over to Jeremy Renner?), The Adventures of Tintin (an animated version of the classic book series), The Darkest Hour (sci-fi tale of an alien invasion set in Russia), We Bought a Zoo (Matt Damon as a dad who moves his young family to the country), and In the Land of Blood and Honey (a look at romance during the Bosnian War, directed by Angelina Jolie).
So there you have it, a slow movie season in October, with a bit more in November and a whole lot to see in December. Can we keep up?! LOL.
See ya at the movies!
