Here we are, starting down the barrel of the final 4 months of the year all of a sudden. It feels like it was only a couple of months ago that The Beekeeper was bewitching audiences with its pure January B-action movie magic and now, we are in the midst of fall festival season with Telluride concluding over the weekend, Venice ongoing and Toronto starting on Thursday. Time really does fly when you let the power of the moooovies wash over you.
This hot-and-cold 2024 movie slate appears set to follow this frustratingly erratic pattern right to the bitter end as the next 4 months yoyos between these two opposing sides no matter where your cinematic interests lie. For me, much of the excitement falls between the middle of October and Thanskgiving. This 5-week stretch is effectively a sampling of most of my favorite areas of the film industry. There's awards hopefuls galore (Conclave, Saturday Night, Anora), sequels to very entertaining films (Gladiator II, Smile 2, Venom: The Last Dance), offbeat genre entries (The Shadow Strays, Heretic, Your Monster) and some titles from last fall/winter's festival slates (A Real Pain, My Old Ass, Woman of the Hour) that are finally making their way to a wide audience.
Outside of this sweet spot, there are still a fair number of standouts. After several setbacks, Robert Eggers is finally getting a chance to put his own spin on a horror classic (Nosferatu). Absurdist comedy legend Kyle Mooney is stepping behind the camera for the first time for a project that looks absolutely nuts in the best possible way (Y2K). One of the most talked about titles from this year's Cannes (The Substance) is only 2 weeks away from being unleashed on the world. The first animated film from a classic cartoon franchise in nearly 40 years has earned early raves and might even get nominated for an Oscar (Transformers One). Russell Crowe will be dropping the latest addition to his over-the-top cartoony accent collection in Sony's 1st R-rated superhero flick (Kraven the Hunter).
Regardless of when they release, let's hope we're in store for some big hits and pleasant surprises during this period so this weird yet exciting year for film can end on a high note. Here are the 10 movies set to release from September-December that I'm most excited to see.
10.His Three Daughters (September 6 theaters/September 20 streaming):
Elizabeth Olsen has finally been liberated from her MCU prison and she's bringing the great Natasha Lyonne and Carrie Coon along for her return to proper film acting. In all seriousness, His Three Daughters was one of the biggest darlings of last year's Toronto Film Festival and these three women are well-equipped to carry a chamber piece like this to greatness.
9.Heretic (November 15):
Next stop on Hugh Grant's (mostly awesome) post-British romcom heartthrob tour: Playing a psychopath who locks two Mormon missionaries (Sophie Thatcher, Chloe East) who showed up on his doorstep inside his home and will only allow them to leave if they can complete a massive maze in his basement that's designed to test the strength of their faith! While I remain dubious about Scott Beck and Bryan Woods' directorial instincts after the bizarrely low energy 65, the decision from A24 to debut Heretic at Toronto 2+ months before its wide release is an encouraging sign that the duo got this one right.
8.A Real Pain (November 1):
Searchlight made Jesse Eisenberg's sophomore feature the first big acquisition of this year's Sundance after the dramedy about two American cousins (Eisenberg. Kieran Culkin) who embark on a tour through Poland to honor their late grandmother brought down the house at its premiere. Disney's specialty label tends to have great judgement when it comes to the titles they pick up from festivals and the pairing of Eisenberg and Culkin is an all but guaranteed home run, so I'm really excited to finally see this.
7.Babygirl (December 25):
Erotic thrillers are back! Halina Reijn's third feature sent Venice into a frenzy at its premiere last Friday with its sex scenes, plot twists and daring performances from leads Nicole Kidman and Harris Dickinson. This genre absolutely rips when it's at its trashy, self-aware best and after Bodies Bodies Bodies, I have total faith in Reijn's ability to deliver the goods.
6.The Substance (September 20):
Buzz surrounding French filmmaker Coralie Fargeat's English-language debut has been electric since it debuted at Cannes in May, where Fargeat won Best Screenplay and star Demi Moore generated early Oscar buzz for her performance as a celebrity fitness instructor recently fired from her job over her age who begins to experiment with the titular drug that allows the person who uses it to become a younger version of themselves (Margaret Qualley plays Moore's younger self) for a week at a time. Given how gruesome her previous film Revenge was at times, this could be a really hardcore body horror movie that pushes the limits of the R-rating and honors the gruesome, darkly comedic spirit of this underserved subgenre.
5.Saturday Night (October 11):
The early days of Saturday Night Live where the show was trying to find its identity as a weekly live sketch comedy show are fascinating to me and dramatizing the chaotic 90 minutes before the premiere episode on October 11, 1975, in real time is an inspired way to explore them in the cinematic form. Early word from Telluride is that Saturday Night is a triumph with its tense yet hilarious atmosphere, use of long takes/16mm film and the performances of Gabriel LaBelle (Lorne Michaels), Cory Michael Smith (Chevy Chase), Rachel Sennott (Rosie Shuster), Lamorne Morris (Garrett Morris) and Dylan O'Brien (Dan Akroyd) being singled out for praise.
4.Smile 2 (October 18):
Smile felt like the announcement of a major new talent in Parker Finn. The film did a remarkable job of using every tool at its disposal (jump scares, steady building of a dread-filled atmosphere, visceral sound design, gnarly imagery, deployment of unusual camera angles/movement, a wide array of different zoom speeds) to create something was unnerving as both a supernatural horror flick and metaphor for real world mental illness and the stigmas that surround them. Seeing him return to this world armed with a bigger budget and brilliant sequel hook (Naomi Scott plays a pop star who becomes the latest person to be haunted by the smiling demon) feels like the perfect opportunity for him to further elevate his stock in the industry.
3.Gladiator II (November 22)
As questionable as a Gladiator sequel sounds on paper, Denzel Washington doing movie star shit as a power broker plotting to take control of Rome, maritime battles in the flooded Coliseum and a giant CGI rhino charging at a team of gladiators is way too fucking cool for me to not get excited about. Please don't screw this one up Ridley.
2.Anora (October 18):
Leave it to an outside-the-box directorial voice like Sean Baker to finally hand Mikey Madison the opportunity to lead a movie that has bafflingly alluded her following her scene-stealing supporting turns in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood... and Scream '22. Madison plays a struggling New York City stripper who enters a whirlwind relationship with the son of a Russian oligarch (Mark Eidelstein) that escalates considerably when they decide to get married in Las Vegas after only a few weeks of dating, which attracts the attention of his powerful parents who will stop at nothing to get their son to come back to Russia as an unmarried man. Both Baker and Madison have already earned widespread raves for Anora, which became the first American film to win the Palm d'or at Cannes since The Tree of Life in 2011, and Neon is already positioning it as their big Oscar play for this year with a string of festival screenings (Toronto, New York, Fantastic, this past weekend's Telluride) leading up to its October release. I can't wait to finally see what Baker, Madison and their cohorts cooked up with this chaotic love story.
1.Nosferatu (December 25):
A Nosferatu remake and Robert Eggers feels like the perfect marriage. Eggers is the modern leader in period horror and descending into the dreary yet darkly beautiful realm of gothic horror presents him an incredible opportunity to add another notch to his increasingly dynamic filmmaking belt. On top of the Eggers factor, Jarin Blaschke's cinematography looks to be astonishingly good per usual, the casting of certified freak Bill Skarsgard as the titular vampire is 10/10 work and Willem Dafoe's delivery of "vampire" in the trailer alone is enough to convince me that the man is once again cooking with gas in the overacting department.
Also Looking Forward To:
The Front Room (September 6)
Rebel Ridge (September 6)
My Old Ass (September 13)
The Killer's Game (September 13)
Speak No Evil (September 13)
The 4:30 Movie (September 13)
Will & Harper (September 13 theaters/September 27 streaming)
A Different Man (September 20)
Never Let Go (September 20)
Transformers One (September 20)
Killer Heat (September 26)
Azarael (September 27)
Megalopolis (September 27)
Rez Ball (September 27)
The Wild Robot (September 27)
It's What's Inside (October 4)
The Outrun (October 4)
Brothers (October 10 theaters/October 17 streaming)
Piece by Piece (October 11)
We Live in Time (October 11)
The Shadow Strays (October 17)
Exhibiting Forgiveness (October 18)
Flight Risk (October 18)
The Line (October 18)
Woman of the Hour (October 18)
Nickel Boys (October 25)
Venom: The Last Dance (October 25)
Your Monster (October 25)
Emilia Perez (TBD October theaters/November 13 streaming)
Conclave (November 1)
The Piano Lesson (November 8 theaters/November 22 streaming)
Nightbitch (December 6)
The Order (December 6)
Y2K (December 6)
Carry-On (December 13)
Kraven the Hunter (December 13)
On Becoming a Guinea Fowl (December 13)
The Room Next Door (December 20)
Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (December 22)
A Complete Unknown (December 25)
The Fire Inside (December 25)
Salem's Lot (TBD October)
Maria (TBD)
Queer (TBD)
No comments:
Post a Comment