After the spring and summer seasons largely fell short of expectations, the final four months of the year are going to decide whether or not 2015 goes down as a quality year for film. The prospects of the fall season making up for the slightly underwhelming first eight months of the year are bright as there are a large number of potential gems among the dozens of films slated for release from September to December. Here's a look at the 10 films I'm most looking forward to seeing this fall.
10.Steve Jobs (10/9): The life story of Apple founder Steve Jobs was already brought to the big screen (and butchered horribly) in the 2013 film Jobs. This take on the life of the technology juggernaut from screenwriter Aaron Sorkin (The Social Network, Moneyball) and director Danny Boyle (127 Hours, 28 Days Later) is all but guaranteed to be a monumental improvement over the Ashton Kutcher-led biopic from a couple of years ago. The trailer makes the film look remarkably tense and gripping and the casting of Michael Fassbender as Jobs is about as pitch-perfect as casting in Hollywood gets.
9.Snowden (12/25): NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden is without question one of the most interesting and polarizing figures in recent history and his story is one that demands to be told on the big screen. The presence of the wildly inconsistent Oliver Stone in the director's chair raises some red-flags, but the stellar cast featuring Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Shailene Woodley, Zachary Quinto, Timothy Olyphant and Melissa Leo and Snowden's complex and fascinating backstory makes this film incredibly intriguing.
8.Spotlight (11/6): The story of the Boston Globe Spotlight news team that exposed the Boston archdiocese mass cover up of priests sexually abusing underage boys in 2002 is finally heading to the big screen. As resident of the Boston-area, I remember when this story broke and I'm very interested to see how the filmmakers went about dramatizing it. The sensational ensemble cast headlined by Michael Keaton, Mark Ruffalo and Rachel McAdams and its place on the slates of the prestigious Venice and Toronto Film Festivals indicate that the film could be something really special
7.Joy (12/25): David O. Russell is on one hell of a hot streak right now with his last three films (The Fighter, Sliver Linings Playbook, American Hustle) being amongst the best films I've seen in the past five years. With a cast anchored by his frequent collaborators Jennifer Lawrence, Bradley Cooper and Robert De Niro and another rich story documenting the life of Joy Mangano, a single mother of three who went onto become the first independently-wealthy female entrepreneur in American history, that hot streak doesn't appear to be in danger of coming to an end here.
6.Creed (11/25): After the trailer was released last month, a lot of critics and online commentators wrote this off as looking like a cheap cash-in on the long-dead Rocky franchise. With Ryan Coogler, the writer/director of the unheralded 2013 masterpiece Fruitvale Station. at the helm and Michael B. Jordan playing the title role, it would be a complete shock if that ended up being the case. Coogler is a filmmaker who has a firm grasp on character development and crafting realistic human drama while Jordan is one of, if not the absolute best up-and-coming actor in Hollywood today. Anything less than a standout sports drama from this actor/director duo would be a massive letdown.
5.The Hunger Games Mockingjay-Part II (11/20): The Hunger Games has been the best blockbuster franchise of the past few years and the long-awaited final installment looks to be a worthy conclusion to the wildly popular series. From what I've told from non-simpletons like myself who actually read the books these films are based on, the ending is fantastic and with the same cast and crew from last year's Mockingjay Part I returning, it would be a shock if they botched the finale.
4.Star Wars: The Force Awakens (12/18): As someone who adores Star Wars, I should be unbelievably stoked about The Force Awakens. The cast features a bunch of talented actors and writer/director J.J. Abrams (2009's Star Trek, Super 8) is the most gifted sci-fi filmmaker working today. The problem is that this film is being so heavily hyped that it's almost bound to disappoint. I really hope I end up being wrong, but for now I'm grounding my expectations a bit (hence the number four ranking on this list).
3.The Night Before (11/25): I'm one of those immature jackasses that still loves Seth Rogen and gets unreasonably excited about each new project he releases. The thing that has me especially excited (aside from the fantastic redband trailer and the talented-loaded cast appearing alongside Rogen) about The Night Before is the presence of director Jonathan Levine. Rogen and Levine last collaborated on the 2011 comedy/drama 50/50, so I have a feeling that this film will have a nice dose of heart alongside its plethora of vulgarity.
2.Black Mass (9/18): Warner Brothers Pictures has had great success with fictionalized South Boston crime stories like The Town, Mystic River and The Departed . Now the studio is capturing the ultimate Southie crime story of real-life mob boss/FBI informant James "Whitey" Bulger that terrorized the neighborhood from the early 70's to 1994 and spent 16 years on the lam before being captured in June of 2011. The trailers for Black Mass have been spectacular and all signs seem to point that Johnny Deep's performance as Bulger will be a return to form for the three-time Oscar nominee after his recent string of poorly-received and financially unsuccessful films.
1.The Hateful Eight (12/25): Quentin Tarintino is my all-time favorite director, so it's not exactly a surprise that his latest project is my most anticipated film of the fall. If The Hateful Eight ends up matching or exceeding the quality of his last two Western-influenced films (Inglorious Basterds and Django Unchained), there's no doubt in my mind that it will be the best film of 2015.
Also Interested in Seeing:
The Transporter: Refueled (9/4)
Sleeping with Other People (9/11)
The Visit (9/11)
Everest (9/18)
Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials (9/18)
Pawn Sacrifice (9/18)
Sicario (9/18)
99 Homes (9/25)
The Green Inferno (9/25)
The Intern (9/25)
Mississippi Grind (9/25)
Stonewall (9/25)
The Walk (9/30)
Hell and Back (10/2)
Legend (10/2)
The Martian (10/2)
Knock, Knock (10/9)
Beasts of No Nation (10/16)
Bridge of Spies (10/16)
Crimson Peak (10/16)
Goosebumps (10/16)
Truth (10/16)
Bone Tomahawk (10/23)
Burnt (10/23)
I Smile Back (10/23)
The Last Witch Hunter (10/23)
Rock the Kasbah (10/23)
Room (10/23)
Our Brand is Crisis (10/30)
Scout's Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse (10/30)
Brooklyn (11/6)
Spectre (11/6)
Trumbo (11/6)
By the Sea (11/13)
Love the Coopers (11/13)
Secret in Their Eyes (11/20)
Victor Frankenstein (11/25)
Krampus (12/4)
In the Heart of the Sea (12/11)
Sisters (12/18)
Concussion (12/25)
Daddy's Home (12/25)
The Revenant (12/25)
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