After an interesting—and at times dazzling—summer season filled with auteur blockbuster brilliance (‘Mad Max: Fury Road’), another Pixar masterpiece (‘Inside Out’), innovative indies (‘Tangerine’, ‘It Follows’) and overrated franchise films that made a buttload of money (‘Jurassic World’, ‘Avengers: Age of Ultron’), the fall is finally upon us, and brings with it all the heady, awards-bait fare we’ve been yearning. Here are all the most hotly anticipated movies coming out this fall.
Norman Seeff
The latest from the world’s most prolific documentary filmmaker, Alex Gibney, sees the tireless chronicler move on from exposing the evils of Scientology (Going Clear) and American war crimes abroad (Taxi to the Dark Side) to taking aim at revered late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs. “Behind the scenes, Jobs could be ruthless, deceitful, and cruel,” says Gibney in voiceover, and his film takes that approach, painting the product visionary as a tyrant with little regard for those closest to him, and even less for the poor souls toiling away in Apple factories on the other side of the world. Whether or not it’s a fair portrait of Jobs is up to you.
Jigsaw Productions
In the late ‘90s and early aughts, M. Night Shyamalan dazzled audiences with his one-two punch of The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable, but, with the exception of the first half of Signs, it’s been pretty much downhill ever since. Well, Shyamalan is hoping that this $5 million horror film will mark a return to form. It’s centered on a mother (Kathryn Hahn) who drops her children off at her grandparents’ house while she goes on vacation. But the grandparents turn out to be evil, spooky geriatrics prone to bizarre behavior (think Zelda from Pet Sematary).
Leslye Headland’s feature filmmaking debut, the 2012 comedy-drama Bachelorette starring a deliciously icy Kirsten Dunst, proved to be an overlooked little gem of a film. The ex-Harvey Weinstein assistant’s follow-up is this, an ensemble romantic comedy about a lifelong womanizer (Jason Sudeikis) and a man-eating gal (Alison Brie) who form a friendship, coaching one another through their dating misadventures. But soon—yup!—they start to develop feelings for each other, and things get complicated. The film also stars Adam Scott, Amanda Peet, and Natasha Lyonne.
Directed by Colin Hanks—son of Tom—this documentary is a must for any ‘90s kid who spent hours navigating the aisles of Tower Records. Yes, it’s a feature-length doc exploring the rise and fall of the once-beloved chain of record stores and its unruly founder, Russ Solomon. Why did Tower Records, which was founded in 1960, go from making $1 billion in 1999 to filing for bankruptcy in 2006? If your answer is “the Internet,” that’s far from the entire story.
Robert Landau/Company Name
The latest from director Scott Cooper (Crazy Heart) hopefully marks a long-awaited return to greatness for its star Johnny Depp, who here transforms into the notorious—and murderous—Whitey Bulger, a South Boston mob boss and the brother of Massachusetts Senator William Bulger, played by Benedict Cumberbatch. Whitey eventually became an FBI informant, as well as one of the FBI’s Most Wanted, though the film focuses on his activity in the ‘70s and ‘80s as a leader within the Winter Hill Gang. Rounding out the film’s all-star cast: Joel Edgerton, Kevin Bacon, Dakota Johnson, Corey Stoll, Peter Sarsgaard, Sienna Miller, and Jesse Plemons.
Warner Bros
This cartel crime-thriller from underrated French-Canadian filmmaker Denis Villeneuve (Incendies, Prisoners), is set at the U.S./Mexico border and explores the dark world of the drug trade. It centers on a go-getting female FBI agent (Emily Blunt) who’s tasked by a sketchy government official (Josh Brolin) to help out a joint task force—including the titular sicario (hit-man), Alejandro (Benicio Del Toro)—in finding and taking down a powerful drug lord. The movie, which also stars Jon Bernthal and Victor Garber, received rave reviews out of Cannes, with Blunt’s performance drawing comparisons to Jodie Foster’s Oscar-winning turn in Silence of the Lambs.
Richard Foreman/Lionsgate
The preternaturally gifted Elle Fanning has always impressed onscreen, but some are saying that her turn in About Ray may earn her that coveted Oscar nod. In Gaby Dellal’s film, Fanning plays Ray, a teen born Ramona who’s decided to pursue his true identity as a man. His decision brings him into conflict with his mother, Maggie (Naomi Watts), lesbian grandmother, Dolly (Susan Sarandon), and estranged father, Craig (Tate Donovan).
The Weinstein Company
This 3D action-adventure hopes to be to mountain climbing what Gravity was to outer space. Directed by Baltasar Kormakur (Contraband), the film dramatizes the 1996 Mount Everest disaster that cost the lives of several climbers. It focuses on two expeditions struggling to survive—one led by Scott Fischer (Jake Gyllenhaal), the other led by Rob Hall (Jason Clarke). Kormakur’s blockbuster also stars Josh Brolin, John Hawkes, Sam Worthington, Robin Wright, Keira Knightley, Emily Watson, and Michael Kelly as Jon Krakauer, the writer who chronicled the doomed expedition in his acclaimed book Into Thin Air.
Jasin Boland
How many times have you seen It’s Complicated on cable? Yes, the plots to many of Nancy Meyers’ films sound downright basic on paper, but they manage to shine thanks to their goodwill and the spirited performances she coaxes out of her stars. Here, the hard-nosed CEO of a fashion start-up (Anne Hathaway) agrees to participate in an outreach program wherein a senior citizen with little tech experience (Robert De Niro) is granted an internship at her company. Expect plenty of hijinks from the cast, which also includes Rene Russo, Adam DeVine, and—yes—Snoop Dogg.
Warner Brothers
Directed by Ramin Bahrani, this timely real estate crisis-tackling drama stars Andrew Garfield as Dennis Nash, a man evicted from his home by a corrupt real estate broker, Rick Carver (Michael Shannon). Strapped for cash, Nash finds himself working for Carver in order to make enough money to reclaim his home, but soon finds himself lured over to the dark side of the foreclosure business, engaging in the same predatory behavior that once claimed him as a victim.
Hooman Bahrani/Broad Green Pictures
Filmmaker Roland Emmerich is best known for blockbuster disaster flicks like Independence Day and The Day After Tomorrow, so this decidedly lower budget feature is a passion project for one of the industry’s most prominent gay directors. Stonewall is a fictionalized account of the famous 1969 Stonewall Riots—a violent clash between gay activists and police at New York City’s Stonewall Inn that’s been pinpointed as the start of the gay rights movement in the Big Apple. The film stars Jeremy Irvine, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Ron Perlman, and Caleb Landry Jones.
Remember the thrilling, Oscar winning documentary Man on Wire that chronicled the amazing life of Philippe Petit, a French tightrope walker who walked across a wire between the Twin Towers? Well, The Walk is a feature film adaptation of Petit’s story, helmed by Back to the Future filmmaker Robert Zemeckis, and shot by Oscar winning DP Dariusz Wolski. Joseph Gordon-Levitt stars as Petit, and Ben Kingsley will play his mentor, Papa Rudy. The film also stars James Badge Dale, Charlotte Le Bon, and Ben Schwartz.
SONY
Putting aside the myriad problems of Prometheus, anytime Ridley Scott (Alien, Blade Runner) directs a sci-fi flick is cause for celebration. Based on Andy Weir’s 2012 novel of the same name and adapted by hot screenwriter Drew Goddard (The Cabin in the Woods), the film stars Matt Damon as Mark Watney, a NASA botanist and mechanical engineer who finds himself stranded on Mars, and forced to use his knowledge of the planet to survive. The movie’s all-star cast includes Jessica Chastain, Jeff Daniels, Michael Pena, Kristen Wiig, Donald Glover, Kate Mara, Sean Bean, and Chiwetel Ejiofor.
Fox
Based on the 2007 documentary short of the same name, director Peter Sollett’s Freeheld tells the eye-opening true story of Laurel Hester (Julianne Moore)—a police officer in Ocean County, New Jersey, who’s diagnosed with terminal lung cancer, and forced to fight with the county’s board of chosen freeholders in order to transfer her pension benefits on to her domestic partner, Stacie Andree (Ellen Page). The film, which also stars Michael Shannon and Steve Carell, and features a score by Hans Zimmer and Johnny Marr, is Moore’s first film since earning her first Oscar for Still Alice.
Phil Caruso
Directed by acclaimed documentary filmmaker Davis Guggenheim (An Inconvenient Truth, Waiting For Superman), this doc tells the amazing story of Malala Yousafzai, who at the age of 11 began blogging for the BBC under a pseudonym about the hardships for girls under Taliban occupation. When she was 15, the Taliban targeted her for speaking out about girls’ education, shooting her in the head and leaving her for dead. But she survived, and her message became more powerful than ever.
Twentieth Century Fox
Jafar Panahi is an acclaimed Iranian New Wave filmmaker who, in 2010, was charged with propaganda against the Iranian government for the content of his films. He was sentenced to 6-years in prison (later reduced to house arrest, then confinement inside Iran) and a 20-year ban on making movies. Still, he broke the ban by directing 2011’s This Is Not A Film from inside his home, and smuggled it out of Iran on a flash drive hidden in a birthday cake so it could screen at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival. His latest is Taxi, a portrait of Tehran through the eyes of a taxi driver (Panahi) and his interactions with his passengers—all untrained actors. The film won the Golden Bear at the 2015 Berlin Film Festival.
Jafar Panahi Film Productions
Can you say “Oscar bait?” Directed by Danny Boyle (Slumdog Millionaire), written by Aaron Sorkin (The Social Network), and starring Michael Fassbender, Steve Jobs is, according to the film’s website, “Set backstage at three iconic product launches and ending in 1998 with the unveiling of the iMac,” flashing back and forth through time to provide a portrait of the iconic Apple co-founder. In addition to Fassbender as Jobs, it stars Kate Winslet as Mac team member Joanna Hoffman, Seth Rogen as Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, Jeff Daniels as former Apple CEO John Sculley, and Katherine Waterston as Chrisann Brennan, Jobs’ high school girlfriend and the mother of his first child, Lisa Brennan-Jobs.
Universal Pictures
Directed by Jared Hess (Napoleon Dynamite), this heist comedy is one of the only films to not be caught in embattled distributor Relativity’s bankruptcy limbo. Based on the real-life 1997 Loomis Fargo Robbery in North Carolina, it stars Owen Wilson and Zach Galifianakis as a pair of bumbling bank employees who manage to steal $17.3 million. But they didn’t act alone. The film also stars Kristen Wiig, Jason Sudeikis, Kate McKinnon, and Leslie Jones—or 3/4 of the cast of the upcoming all-female Ghostbusters film.
Glen Wilson/Armored Car
Directed by Joe Wright (Atonement), this origin tale of Peter Pan and Captain Hook features newcomer Levi Miller as an orphan who’s spirited away to magical Neverland, where he’s groomed to become the boy-hero Peter Pan. Along the way, he clashes with Hook (Garret Hedlund), the villainous Blackbeard (Hugh Jackman), and is aided by Tiger Lily (Rooney Mara). Wright’s film also stars Amanda Seyfried as Mary and supermodel Cara Delevingne as a mermaid.
Weinstein
Right in the thick of awards season comes this Cold War spy thriller directed by Steven Spielberg and written by Joel and Ethan Coen. The historical film is based on the 1960 U-2 Incident, wherein an American lawyer, James Donovan (Tom Hanks), finds himself in the middle of the Cold War when he’s tasked with negotiating the release of Francis Gary Powers, an American pilot whose CIA U-2 spy plane was shot down over the Soviet Union. The film also stars theater legend Mark Rylance, Amy Ryan, Alan Alda, and Eve Hewson—who is, ironically, the daughter of U2 singer Bono.
Disney
Visionary filmmaker Guillermo Del Toro’s (Pan’s Labyrinth, Pacific Rim) long-gestating passion project will finally see the light of day. It’s set in Cumbria in a dilapidated mansion in northern England in the 19th century. A young author, Edith Cushing (Mia Wasikowska), is swept away and marries the debonair Sir Thomas Sharpe (Tom Hiddleston), but Sharpe and his mansion are not all that they appear to be. Del Toro has described the film as a “modern day ghost story,” and it also stars Charlie Hunnam, Jessica Chastain, Doug Jones, and Burn Gorman.
Kerry Hayes
Directed by Rob Letterman, who’s trying to rebound from the godawful Gulliver’s Travels, this adventure-comedy is based on the celebrated series of children’s books by R.L. Stine. Zach Cooper (Dylan Minnette) is a young boy who’s new to the tiny town of Greenland, Maryland. He soon befriends his neighbor, Hannah (Odeya Rush), whose father is Goosebumps author R.L. Stine (Jack Black). Stine keeps the ghosts and monsters from his stories locked up in his books, but when Zach accidentally releases all of them, the trio must team up to return all the evil beings from whence they came.
CTMG
Taiwanese filmmaker Hou Hsaio-Hsien is one of the world’s most revered directors, and his last feature-length film, Flight of the Red Balloon, was a near-masterpiece. His latest, a Taiwan-Hong Kong co-production, is set during China’s Tang Dynasty-period in the 9th Century and centers on Nie Yinniang (Qi Shu), a young woman who’s been trained in an order of assassins since she was 10. Nie soon finds herself caught between two warring factions—and the assassins—when she experiences a crisis of conscience and fails to carry out a mission. Hsaio-Hsien was the recipient of the Best Director award at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival for his elegantly crafted film.
Well Go USA
The film Beasts of No Nation is hotly anticipated for a number of reasons. It’s the first major film to be distributed by Netflix globally via their streaming service. It’s the first directorial effort from Cary Joji Fukunaga since his Golden Globe-winning turn helming True Detective’s first season. And it stars Idris Elba as a ruthless West African warlord in charge of a unit of child soldiers, including a young boy, Agu (Abraham Attah), whose father was slain by militants.
Netflix
Marking the directorial debut of James Vanderbilt, the screenwriter behind Zodiac and The Amazing Spider-Man, this slice of Oscar cake is based on the 2005 memoir by CBS News producer Mary Mapes. Cate Blanchett stars as Mapes in a film that documents the last days of CBS News anchor Dan Rather (Robert Redford), after he broadcasted a false report concerning documents critical of then-President George W. Bush’s time in the Air National Guard during the Vietnam War. The documents were later found to be forgeries, and due to the scandalous report, which aired just two months before the election, Rather was forced to resign. The film also stars Elisabeth Moss, Topher Grace, and Dennis Quaid.
Lisa Tomasetti/Sony Pictures Classics
Based on the ‘80s animated TV series of the same name, this feature film by director Jon M. Chu—he of the blockbuster Bieber doc Never Say Never—tells the story of four gals who embark on an epic quest to become music sensations. They are Jerrica Benton (Aubrey Peeples), Kimber Benton (Stefanie Scott), Aja (Hayley Kiyoko), and Shana (Aurora Perrineau). The cast is rounded out by Juliette Lewis, Ryan Guzman, and Molly Ringwald as the Benton girls’ aunt and the adoptive mother to all four girls in the band.
Universal
Not to be confused with the Clash tune, this comedy from Barry Levinson brings the filmmaker back to his Wag the Dog political satire wheelhouse. Bill Murray is Richie Lanz, an over the hill rock ‘n’ roll manager who takes his one and only client on a USO tour of Afghanistan. He’s soon abandoned and left broke and passport-less, but happens upon a young Afghan girl with an amazing voice, and decides to manager her through the Afghan version of American Idol. The comedy film also stars Bruce Willis, Kate Hudson, Zooey Deschanel, and Danny McBride.
Open Road Films
With Hillary Clinton poised to potentially became the first female President of the United States, filmmaker Sarah Gavron’s feature Suffragette feels all the more timely. The historical drama tells the story of the British women’s suffrage movement through the eyes of its early leaders, played by Carey Mulligan, Helena Bonham Carter, and living legend Meryl Streep. And the film, which also stars Brendan Gleeson and Ben Whishaw, was the first ever to be granted permission to shoot inside the Houses of Parliament.
Steffan Hill/Focus Features
Previously titled Adam Jones, this drama is directed by ER and Shameless showrunner John Wells, scripted by Steven Knight (Locke), and stars Bradley Cooper as Jones—a talented chef who loses his hot Paris restaurant in a hurricane of drugs and freak-outs. So, he moves to London to slowly rebuild his damaged career with the hopes of one day heading back to Paris to open one of the greatest restaurants in the world. Joining Cooper are Sienna Miller, Omar Sy, Daniel Bruhl, Alicia Vikander, Uma Thurman, and Emma Thompson.
The Weinstein Company
Vin Diesel is out to prove that he can topline a big film outside of the Fast and the Furious franchise with this, director Breck Eisner’s fantasy epic centered on an immortal witch-hunter (Diesel, crazy hair) who must lay waste to the evil covens of New York before they unleash a devastating plague upon humanity. The film also stars Rose Leslie, Elijah Wood, and Michael Caine.
Scott Garfield
If you’ve seen the immensely underrated Tombstone, you understand that Kurt Russell knows how to navigate a kickass western. In this wacky-sounding B-movie, Russell stars as Sheriff Franklin Hunt, one of a group of four cowboys tasked with rescuing a group of innocent captives from a horde of cave-dwelling cannibals (yowza). The cast also includes Patrick Wilson, Richard Jenkins, Matthew Fox, Lili Simmons, and Sean Young (yes, Blade Runner Sean Young).
Caliber Media Company
Directed by David Gordon Green (Pineapple Express), this remake of the 2005 documentary of the same name stars Sandra Bullock as “Calamity” Jane Bodine and Billy Bob Thornton as Pat Candy, two U.S. political operatives on either side of the 2002 Bolivian presidential election. You see, back in 2002, Bolivian politician Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada retained James Carville’s D.C. political consulting firm Greenberg Quinlan Rosner to help him win the presidential election—and it worked. The political comedy, brought to you by the producing team of George Clooney and Grant Heslov (Argo), also stars Anthony Mackie, Ann Dowd, Scott McNairy, and Zoe Kazan.
Warner Bros. Entertainment
Hot on the heels of the $1 billion grossing Skyfall, the 24th entry in the James Bond franchise will see Sam Mendes return to the director’s chair. Agent 007 (Daniel Craig) is tasked with investigating a sinister organization dubbed SPECTRE, as well as a nefarious character by the name of Franz Oberhauser (Christoph Waltz). Meanwhile, the new M (Ralph Fiennes) is forced to ward off political pressures threatening MI6. The film also stars Lea Seydoux and Monica Bellucci as Bond girls, Guardians of the Galaxy’s Dave Bautista as a vicious henchman, Ben Whishaw as Q, and Naomie Harris as Eve Moneypenny.
Columbia Pictures
The latest film from acclaimed indie director Tom McCarthy (The Station Agent, The Visitor) tells the story of The Boston Globe’s “Spotlight” team—known as the oldest continuously operating newspaper investigative unit in the U.S.—and how they took on high-ranking city officials and clergymen to expose the epidemic of Roman Catholic priests sexually abusing Boston-area minors. The stories led to more victims from across the world coming forward, bringing the issue onto the worldwide stage. The film stars Mark Ruffalo and Rachel McAdams as reporters, John Slattery as the deputy managing editor, Michael Keaton as the “Spotlight” team editor, and Liev Schreiber as the editor of The Boston Globe.
Kerry Hayes/Open Road Films
Directed by Irish filmmaker John Crowley (Boy A), and written by Nick Hornby, this sweeping historical romantic drama centers on a young Irishwoman, Ellis Lacey (Saoirse Ronan), who immigrates to 1950s New York and finds love with Tony Fiorello (Emory Cohen). But soon, she’s forced back to her home, where she develops feelings for Irishman Jim Farrell (Domhnall Gleeson). Ellis finds herself torn between the two countries and her two lives and loves. The film, which garnered rave reviews out of Sundance, also stars Jim Broadbent and Julie Walters.
FOX
The latest French film from Argentinean provocateur Gaspar Noe is a 3D sex odyssey featuring plenty of hardcore action (including an in-your-face money shot), and tells the tale of a young cinema student, Murphy (Karl Glusman), who was in the midst of a torrid love affair with Electra (Aomi Muyock) before cheating on her with Omi (Klara Kristin), and getting her pregnant. Electra leaves him over the affair but, even though he’s now with Omi, she remains his obsession. One day, when Electra’s mother calls to tell Murphy that her suicidal daughter’s gone missing, it forces him to recall their whirlwind romance.
Courtesy of Cannes Film Festival
Directed by Jay Roach (Recount, Game Change), this biopic features Breaking Bad star Bryan Cranston as Dalton Trumbo, who at one time was the highest-paid screenwriter in Hollywood, who was blacklisted from showbiz in the 1940s due to his affiliations with the Communist Party. But Trumbo continued to pen a number of award-winning screenplays under pseudonyms, including Roman Holiday, Exodus, and Spartacus, amid his battle with the U.S. government. The film also stars Diane Lane, Helen Mirren, John Goodman, Louis C.K., and Elle Fanning.
Hilary Bronwyn Gayle
Written and directed by Angelina Jolie, whose WWII epic Unbroken is getting some awards buzz, this drama stars real-life couple Jolie and Brad Pitt. It’s reportedly set in France during the mid-1970s, and the couple plays Vanessa, a former dancer, and Roland, an American writer, who are traveling through the countryside together but seem to be drifting slowly apart—that is, until they settle in a secluded seaside town and become seduced by its fascinating inhabitants. The film also stars the fetching Melanie Laurent, Niels Arestrup, and Melvil Poupaud.
Universal Pictures
Here, filmmaker Patricia Riggen dramatizes the 2010 Chilean mining disaster, where a group of 33 miners were left trapped inside the San Jose Mine in Chile for over two months before being rescued. The film features Antonio Banderas in the lead as Mario “Super Mario” Sepulveda, the leader of the mining crew who crafted daily video logs to send to the outside world to update them on miners’ condition. The film also stars Lou Diamond Phillips, Rodrigo Santoro, Juliette Binoche, and James Brolin.
Beatrice Aguirre/2014 Half Circle
Jessie Nelson’s film sounds like your typical Christmas tale of familial dysfunction: four generations of the Cooper clan congregate for their annual Christmas Eve gathering, secrets are revealed, personalities clash, chaos ensues. But spending time with a cast like this sounds like a fun time. We’re talkin’ Diane Keaton, John Goodman, Amanda Seyfried, Olivia Wilde, Ed Helms, Marisa Tomei, Anthony Mackie, Alan Arkin, and June Squibb. Not too shabby.
CBS Films
The final chapter in The Hunger Games franchise is one again directed by Francis Lawrence, and picks up where Part 1 left off. Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence), now enshrined as “The Mockingjay,” leads District 13 in a revolution against the tyrannical Capitol, and President Snow (Donald Sutherland). Meanwhile, Katniss must deal with an unpredictable, PTSD-inflicted Peeta (Josh Hutcherson), a skeptical Gale (Liam Hemsworth), and President Coin (Julianne Moore), whose motives she begins to question. Woody Harrelson, Elizabeth Banks, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Jeffrey Wright, Stanley Tucci, Sam Claflin, Jena Malone, and Natalie Dormer will all reprise their roles, and are joined by newcomers Michelle Forbes, Elden Henson, and Game of Thrones’ Gwendoline Christie.
Murray Close
Based on the Oscar-winning 2009 Argentine crime-thriller of the same name, this remake by Billy Ray (Shattered Glass) centers on a tight-knit group of FBI investigators—Jess (Julia Roberts), Ray (Chiwetel Ejiofor)—who, along with their District Attorney supervisor, Claire (Nicole Kidman), are aces at solving cases. But their lives are thrown into disarray when Jess’s young daughter is found brutally murdered. When Ray stumbles upon a lead in the case thirteen years later that might lead to the killer, the band gets back together. A vengeful, pistol-packin’ Julia Roberts? Sign us up.
Karen Ballard/STX
Along with Truth, this will be the second Oscar bait film starring the brilliant Cate Blanchett. And Carol takes filmmaker Todd Haynes back to his Far From Heaven milieu of closed-minded 1950s America to tell the story of Carol Aird (Blanchett), a middle-aged married woman in 1952 New York who becomes the object of affection for a twenty-something department store clerk, played by Rooney Mara. The film, which received rave reviews out of Cannes, also stars Sarah Paulson, Kyle Chandler, and Portlandia’s Carrie Brownstein.
Wilson Webb/Weinstein
Marking the directorial debut of Oscar-nominated screen veteran Jackie Earle Haley, this crime-thriller centers on four old friends from the neighborhood who reunite at a funeral. Due to an inside tip, they all decide to invest in a stock in order to become insta-rich, but the deal goes bust. To make matters worse, one of the young guys borrowed his money from a local mobster (John Travolta), so now the entire crew is in deep. In addition to Travolta, the film stars Michael Pitt, Dan Stevens, Christopher Abbot, Edi Gathegi, and Haley.
Image Entertainment
We’ve never had two 3D animated Pixar films in the same year—until now. The Good Dinosaur is directed by longtime Pixar animator Peter Sohn, and explores an alternate future in which the cataclysmic asteroid actually missed Earth, and dinosaurs never became extinct. It tells the tale of Arlo (voiced by Raymond Ochoa), a 70-foot-tall teen Apatosaurus who, along with a young human boy, Spot, hopes to bring peace to his community. The movie also features the voice talents of Frances McDormand, Sam Elliott, Anna Paquin, Jeffrey Wright, and Steve Zahn.
This comedy film reunites 50/50 director Jonathan Levine with stars Seth Rogen and Joseph Gordon-Levitt. It centers on a trio of friends (Rogen, Gordon-Levitt, Anthony Mackie) whose annual tradition of Christmas Eve insanity might soon be coming to an end, so they set out to find the biggest Xmas Eve rager of all-time. The movie also stars Lizzy Caplan, Lorraine Toussaint, and Jillian Bell, and reportedly features a cameo by none other than Kanye West.
Columbia Pictures
Yes, a Rocky spinoff featuring Stallone’s Balboa serving as trainer and Zen master to Adonis Creed, the son of the late Apollo Creed, isn’t the most novel concept in the world. But with Fruitvale director Ryan Coogler at the helm and his young—and ripped—star Michael B. Jordan lacing up the gloves in the title role, this boxing drama could shock the world. The film also stars Graham McTavish, Tessa Thompson, Wood Harris, and Phylicia Rashad.
Barry Wetcher
If you’ve got a nasty taste in your mouth from the craptastic Aaron Eckhart-starrer I, Frankenstein, well, this should help wash that out. Directed by Paul McGuigan (Sherlock), this horror flick is told from the perspective of Igor (Daniel Radcliffe), the hunchbacked assistant to a young medical student by the name of Victor Frankenstein (James McAvoy), who eventually creates his monster. The film also stars Downton Abbey’s Jessica Brown Findlay and Andrew Scott.
Alex Bailey/Twentieth Century Fox
Will Eddie Redmayne win back-to-back Oscars? Following his gripping, Academy Award-winning turn as Stephen Hawking in The Theory of Everything, the charming Brit is back in a biopic set in 1920s Copenhagen about the first recipient of a sex change operation. Redmayne stars as Einar Wegener, husband to the artist Gerda Wegener (Alicia Vikander). When Gerda asks Einar to stand in for a female model in a portrait—and more portraits after that—she begins to realize that she’s meant to live life as herself, and begins living her truth as a woman named Lili Elbe. This eventually puts strain on their marriage—and complicating things further is Lili’s dashing childhood friend, Hans (Matthias Schoenaerts), who forms a love triangle with the couple. The film is directed by Oscar winner Tom Hooper, who previously helmed Les Miserables and The King’s Speech.
Focus Features
This Oscar bait music biopic is directed by Marc Abraham and sees Tom Hiddleston, best known as the wily villain Loki in the Avengers, play a decidedly less vampiric rocker following his bloodsucking turn in Only Lovers Left Alive—that would be country music legend Hank Williams, who quickly shot to fame before dying suddenly at the age of 29. The film also stars Elizabeth Olsen as Hank’s wife/manager/duet partner Audrey Williams, as well as David Krumholtz, Bradley Whitford, and Cherry Jones.
Sony
