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In Review: Fall Movie Preview
By Mike Sweeney
The Avengers have avenged. The Dark Knight has risen. The Expendables have… been expended. Summer movie season is now a distant memory. As we gear up for the holidays, your local cinemas will switch gears to more adult fare, turning from escapist action and popcorn munching thrills toward more epic adventure, serious drama and the race for Oscar gold.
Tough Guys
The man with the “particular set of skills” returns in Taken 2 (October 5), as former covert operative Brian Mills (Liam Neeson) takes on a cabal of Eastern Bloc bad guys out to avenge their fallen comrades from the first film. This time, it’s Brian’s wife (Famke Janssen) who’s been “taken,” triggering another adrenaline fueled rescue mission filled with outrageous stunts and deadly gunplay. Aptly named French filmmaker Olivier Megaton directs the explosive action.
Writer-director Quentin Tarantino branches out into yet another genre with Django Unchained (December 25), his tribute to the Italian “spaghetti westerns” of the 1960s. In this revisionist epic, a freed slave named Django (Jamie Foxx) teams up with a bounty hunter (Christoph Waltz) to rescue his wife from a ruthless plantation owner (Leonardo DiCaprio). Fueled by his signature dark humor and edgy ultra-violence, this is vintage Tarantino with a unique historical twist.
Tom Cruise returns to the two fisted style of action he does so well, taking on the title role in Jack Reacher (December 21), based on the best selling novel One Shot by Lee Child. The character represents a slightly darker turn for Cruise, who takes on the role of a drifter and former MP who finds himself entwined in the case of a sniper who’s got civilians in his sights. Robert Duvall, Rosamund Pike and noted German film director Werner Herzog co-star.
Spies and Soldiers
Ben Affleck returns to the director’s chair for the third time with Argo (October 12), the riveting true story of a recently declassified operation that took place during the Iranian hostage crisis of the 1970s. Affleck stars as Tony Mendez, a CIA officer posing as a Canadian film producer. Under the guise of scouting locations for a fake science fiction B-movie called Argo, Mendez and his team infiltrate the dangerous and volatile streets of Tehran to free American captives.
“Bond. James Bond.” Those immortal words will be spoken once more by Daniel Craig in Skyfall (November 9), the twenty-third entry in cinema’s most enduring franchise. Following a botched job in Istanbul and an attack on the MI6 agency, Bond faces off against the sinister Raoul Silva (Javier Bardem), a villain whose personal connection to both 007 and his superior M (Judi Dench) exposes dark secrets that threaten to destroy British Intelligence.
The death of Osama bin Laden made headlines around the globe last summer. Zero Dark Thirty (December 19) tells the dramatized story of the intelligence operatives and military personnel who waged a decade-long secret war that brought down the most feared terrorist of our time. Oscar winning director Kathryn Bigelow (The Hurt Locker) takes charge of yet another suspenseful thriller with a cast that includes Joel Edgerton, Jessica Chastain and Kyle Chandler.
Worlds of Wonder
Classic horror gets a family friendly spin in Frankenweenie (October 5), another triumph of stop motion animation from the eccentric mind of director Tim Burton. When his beloved dog passes away, young mad scientist Victor (Charlie Tahan) brings him back to life, only to find the loveable resurrected pooch turning his suburban world upside down. Shot in gorgeous black and white, this tribute to old time movie monsters scares up plenty of spooky fun for all ages.
Return to Middle Earth as another three-film saga begins with The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (December 14), director Peter Jackson’s latest adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s epic mythology. Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman) teams up with Gandalf the Grey (Ian McKellen) and a company of twelve dwarves on a quest to reclaim a vast treasure. With dazzling special effects and scenic New Zealand vistas, the legend of the One Ring returns to the big screen.
You’ve never seen a movie quite like Cloud Atlas (October 26), and you probably never will. Based on David Mitchell’s sprawling novel, the film spans hundreds of years and chronicles everything from a Pacific voyage in the 1800s to an uprising against a totalitarian state in the distant future. Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Hugo Weaving and many others play multiple roles in interweaving storylines that shape an ambitious tale of fate, courage, love and humanity.
The Oscar Goes To…
Tolstoy’s classic gets another lavish cinematic production with Anna Karenina (November 16), which finds Keira Knightley playing the title role once portrayed by Vivien Leigh and Greta Garbo. Trapped in a loveless marriage, Russian socialite Anna embarks on an affair with the dashing Count Vronsky (Aaron Johnson), challenging social mores and the hypocrisy of high society. Joe Wright (Atonement) directs from a script by playwright Tom Stoppard.
The agony and triumph of the French Revolution comes to life in Les Misérables (December 25), a new adaptation of the Broadway musical. Hugh Jackman stars as convicted thief Jean Valjean, who violates his parole and spends the next two decades on the run from the relentless Inspector Javert (Russell Crowe). Anne Hathaway co-stars as Fantine, a factory worker and prostitute who places her illegitimate daughter Cosette (Amanda Seyfreid) in Valjean’s care.
No stranger to the Oscar spotlight, director Steven Spielberg digs back into history for Lincoln (November 9), a biopic chronicling the last several months of Honest Abe’s life. Based on Doris Kearns Goodwin’s Team of Rivals, the film chronicles Lincoln’s battles with his cabinet on the road to abolition and the end of the Civil War. Two-time Oscar winner Daniel Day-Lewis dons the stovepipe hat for what is sure to be a nuanced and human portrait of an American icon.
