The Six Movies I Will See This Fall

Happy official first day of fall! It’s a great day of the year because it is time for good movies (other than Contagion and Drive) to finally hit the theaters. After a rather lackluster summer, I’m armed and ready to hit my local cineplex as often as I can. These are my picks for the movies I will be seeing this fall.

Moneyball – Releases September 23 – directed by Bennett Miller; starring Brad Pitt, Jonah Hill, and Philip Seymour Hoffman

Movies about baseball are my not-so-secret kryptonite. I watch every baseball movie I can and I enjoy almost every single one. Moneyball is adapted from Michael Lewis’ book about Oakland A’s general manager Billy Beane and how he transformed baseball. Moneyball is right up my alley, in part because it focuses on the period when I started to really love baseball and when I became utterly fascinated by front office dealings, not just the game itself. And, more than anything, because the team at the center of it all differs so much from my favorite team, the Yankees.

 

The Ides of March – Releases October 7 – directed George Clooney; starring George Clooney, Ryan Gosling, and Paul Giamatti

A drama about presidential campaigns AND comunications?! First Good Night and Good Luck and now this? It is as though George Clooney read my mind and knows exactly how to get me into a theater. Ryan Gosling is Hollywood’s actor of the moment and he joins Clooney’s power circle with a turn as a political communications wonder kid behind Clooney’s turn as a Democratic presidential nominee. I eagerly anticipate the many bromance moments that we will be blessed with because of this union.

Martha Marcy May Marlene – Releases October 7  2011 –  directed by Sean Durkin; starring Elizabeth Olsen, John Hawkes and Sarah Paulson.

This movie has me at the Olsen who is not Mary Kate or Ashley. Elizabeth Olsen stars as a young woman who flees a cult in the Catskills and tries to assimilate into her sister’s family. John Hawkes (!) co-stars as the frightening and terrorizing leader of the cult. Note to Elizabeth Olsen: Please stop calling yourself Lizzie now. You’re no longer four and making appearances on your sisters’ detective series. (Yes, I remember that.)

 

Like Crazy – Releases October 28 – Directed by Drake Doremus; starring Anton Yelchin, Felicity Jones, and Jennifer Lawrence

Like Crazy looks like it is actually going to make me care about the relationship between these two characters stuck in a potentially doomed transatlantic romance. When it comes to romance movies, what I want from them to make me become invested in the relationship without just resorting to something cute and without making me despise the female character for becoming a stereotype. In many cases (cough One Day cough) that doesn’t happen. Hopefully Like Crazy breaks that trend.

 

Melancholia – Releases November 11 – Directed by Lars Von Trier; starring Kristen Dunst.

Messy family dynamics againt a sci-fi backdrop plus Lars “has no filter” Von Trier. I’m sold. I also forgot that Kirsten Dunst existed until she won the Best Actress award at Cannes.

 

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo – Releases December 23 – Directed by David Fincher; Starring Daniel Craig and Rooney Mara

I vehemently despised the books but I loved the Swedish adaptations of the uber popular Stieg Larsson novels. Rooney Mara steps into the role of that Noomi Rapace originated The more promotional material that is released for David Fincher’s adaptation of the series just sucks me in more. Between the sexual pervasiveness of the first trailer and the latest poster, I’m intrigued and pumped to see this movie.

And there are many other movies I plan on seeing this fall: 50/50, The Skin I Live In, Sleeping Beauty, We Need To Talk About Kevin, Young Adult, The Iron Lady, War Horse, My Week With Marilyn, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, The Descendants, The Artist, and The Muppets. And yes, I am unashamed to admit that I will see Breaking Dawn. I think that covers the basics.

What’s on your list?