It’s that time of year again, when Hollywood actually cares about making good movies–or at least releasing good movies so that they can stand the best chance at getting awards recognition. Perhaps it’s revealing that I didn’t review a single new movie released in August, but will have plenty to choose from before the year is over. In a proud Alabama Liberal tradition of starting with the bad news and working our way to the good, let’s start with the 10 movies I’m looking least foward to, the five I’m not sure about, and the 10 I’m looking the most forward to…
The Ten I’m Looking the Least Forward to…[In Order of Least Dubious to Most Dubious]
10. I Saw the Light…Tom Hiddleson is a great actor, but he is a singularly lousy choice to play Hank Williams Jr.
9. The Intern…Robert DeNiro and Anne Hathaway look like they have no chemistry in the trailers, and the premise feels forced. The only movie about interns I want to see is one where they expose how bogus it is to call free labor (post-college) an “internship.”
8. Alvin and the Chipmunks: Road Trip and Hotel Transylvania 2…Not all family films are created equal. Something tells me parents will be grateful to see “The Peanuts Movie” a second time over either of these once.
7. Black Mass…Otherwise known as “The Miscasting of Johnny Depp.” Plus, the filmmakers will likely royally misrepresent the Whitey Bulger story. For the real deal, see the excellent documentary “Whitey: The People Vs. James J. Bulger” which feels more lively and exciting than most fiction films and a hell of a lot more informative.
6. Paranormal Activity 6 and Rings…Every October, there are cruddy horror sequels just trying to squeeze a last buck out of a dying franchise and this year’s “winners” of that shaky honor are sequels in the Paranormal Activity and The Ring franchises. In a nod to how unnecessary those movies have become, this is the last installment of the “Paranormal” franchise, so there’s that at least, and I have to admit that these franchises at least started off really promising…otherwise they’d be ranked lower.
5. By the Sea…The Brad Pitt/Angelina Jolie starrer has all the makings of the super-star flop of the Fall, notably the fact that Jolie herself is directing. Star vanity projects with their spouses rarely end well, and Jolie’s first two times as a director show she doesn’t shy away from the overwrought and depressing, and the story of a disintegrating marriage in 70’s Europe probably needs a lighter hand than she’s shown thus far.
4. Pan…The last four least selections are all variations on the same theme: unnecessary remakes, adaptations, or sequels, and “Pan” looks like the best of the worst, but that’s not saying anyone will leave truly happy.
3. The Last Witch Hunter…Vin Diesel hunts witches.
2. London Has Fallen…A sequel to a terrible movie that was a huge sleeper hit probably isn’t going to need any money for an Oscar campaign.
1. Victor Frankenstein…Yet another film about Frankenstein, but this one with James McAvoy. Poor Daniel Ratcliffe.
The Five I’m Not Sure About…
5. Snowden…Joseph Gordon Levitt is actually kind of miscast when the real Snowden looks so much like a skinny Seth Rogen, and Oliver Stone seems incapable of making good movies anymore. I already felt like CitizenFour was perhaps overpraised, so I’m not sure what a Hollywood version of the same story is going to illuminate that an Oscar-winning documentary couldn’t.
4. 13 Hours…Michael Bay gets serious? This “Benghazi thriller” wants to be this year’s Black Hawk Down or Lone Survivor or (even more accurately) American Sniper, but can Bay really pull that off? I’ll admit that I don’t care at all about Benghazi, and the endless senate panels may have told us more about what happened than a Hollywood movie can.
3. Joy…David O. Russell has never made a truly bad movie, but this just might be his first. Still, he deserves the benefit until people have actually seen this Jennifer Lawrence starrer.
2. The Hateful Eight…Likewise, Quentin Tarantino has never made an outright flop or a movie that’s not worth watching at least once. This just might be the first as the overly campy trailer suggests, but he’s worth giving the benefit of the doubt before anyone’s actually seen the thing, and I would love it if this film got more big movie work for underrated TV-star Walton Goggings.
1. Hunger Games 4 and Star Wars Whatever…Will these two mega-blockbusters be good? Probably. Will they be great films? Ehhhh… Will they receive all the attention and money this Fall while better films like The Revenant struggle to break even? Certainly. So I wasn’t exactly compelled to help their hype machine by putting them on a 10 most anticipated list when other films were more deserving.
And Finally, the 10 I’m Looking the Most Forward to…
10. Rock the Kasbah…I’m rooting for you Bill Murray! I want this Bill Murray-in-Afghanistan-comedy to be so good that I’m willing to bet that it just might be, just maybe not quite as good as a lot of other movies this Fall.
9. Trumbo/Steve Jobs…Two interesting looking biopics about blacklisted screenwriting legend Dalton Trumbo (played by underrated TV star Bryan Cranston) and, of course, the Silicon Valley icon (played by underrated movie star Michael Fassbender).
8. Our Brand is Crisis…Based on the great documentary about U.S. political consultants getting paid to participate in Bolivia’s presidential race, it should at least be the political satire of the Fall, and have a potentially good performance from Sandra Bullock. [My hope is that she doesn’t go “Blindside” broad and the politics remain realistic.]
7. Beasts of No Nation and Sicario …Two topical thrillers that will at least be interesting to watch. “Beasts” is about a child soldier working under Idris Elba’s possibly insane rebel leader and is the directorial debut of True Detective’s season 1 director Cary Fukunuga and the first simultaneous Netflix theatrical release. While “Sicario” stars Emily Blunt, Josh Brolin, and Benecio Del Toro on the hunt for a cartel hitman in Mexico while getting drawn into increasingly murky alliances. Smart, morally murky thrillers that actually reflect the world we live in? I’m sold.
6. Crimson Peak/Room…Out of the horror films coming in October, these two stand out. “Crimson Peak” is another lush Del Toro world with a solid cast including Jessica Chastain and Tom Hiddleson. While “Room” is based on the tense masterpiece of a novel about a young woman and her son (held in captivity in a single room) who eventually want to escape.
5. The Martian…The last few years there has been at least one quality sci-fi film opening in the Fall (like Gravity or Interstellar), and this year’s slot looks taken by “The Martian.” The only thing that worries me: Ridley Scott hasn’t made a good movie in a very long time, but he’ll have all the help in the world from a supposedly great source novel and an ace cast including Matt Damon and Jessica Chastain.
4. The Good Dinosaur…I hope Pixar can keep that “Inside Out” hot streak going, but at least this is an original idea. Typically, their non-sequels at least create a great new world for kids to explore.
3. Concussion/Spotlight/Truth…I love a good unraveling-the-conspiracy movie, and even better if it’s a true story. All of these are: “Concussion” stars Will Smith as the doctor who uncovered the link between football and dementia, and was slandered by the NFL for his trouble. “Truth” stars Robert Redford as Dan Rather when he was fired from CBS for his report about Bush’s war-dodging years. And “Spotlight” stars Michael Keaton and is about the cathartic Boston Globe story that finally, finally, finally broke wide open the massive Catholic Church conspiracy to cover-up the sex abuse. Any of these should be seen, but “Spotlight” seems particularly important.
2. Spectre…Out of all the sure-thing blockbusters coming in the Holiday season, the smart money is on this latest James Bond installment to be really good. It doesn’t hurt that Christoph Waltz is the Bond villain this time out–a role he seems to have spent his entire body of work auditioning for–and the director of “Skyfall” is back on board.
1. The Revenant…You knew it was coming. Sure, it may be indulging in my more pretentious tendencies to put this at number one, but I’m a fan of quality Westerns, and this snow-drenched period piece–starring Leonado DiCaprio as a left-for-dead fur trader trying to get revenge on Tom Hardy after a bear attack–will certainly be trying for greatness. The director of “Birdman” is coming off a hot streak, and his tricky long takes look amazing in The Revenant’s first trailer. Whether this film turns out to be good or not, people sat up and paid notice when that trailer came on, and that’s worth something.