2013 Fall Movie Preview

It's that time of year. The time when theaters sweep up the popcorn, mop the aisles, and restock refreshments as the curtain closes on another hectic summer movie season of lycra-tighted superheroes and sugar-charged kiddos. But more importantly, it's that time of year when Hollywood rolls out its big guns. The movies already playing to serious Oscar buzz and the ones we've waited all year to get a look at. It starts now!

Here's our list of the most hotly anticipated films of the Fall Movie Season


September

The Family

The Family - September 9
Snitch on the mob and this is what you get; witness protected to France. Directed by Luc Besson and starring Robert DeNiro and Michelle Pfeiffer


Rush

Rush - September 20
Ron Howard gets back int eh chair with a Formula One racing that's the true story of F1 racing legends Niki Lauda and Brit James Hunt and their intense rivalry during the 1976 racing season. Stars Chris Hemsworth and Olivia Wilde.


Enough Said

Enough Said - September 20
Hopefully the films story won't be overshadowed by the death of its main star James Gandolfini in one of his last films before his death earlier this year. Also stars Julia Louis-Dreyfus as a masseusse who falls for one of her client's ex-husbands.


Parkland

Parkland - September 20
Taking its name from the hospital where late president John F. Kennedy died 50 years ago this November, Parkland strays from conspiracy theories and whodunit scenarios and shifts its focus to the real-life doctors, nurses and other who stepped up in the days following the president's death. Directed by Peter Landesman and starring Zac Effron, Paul Giamatti, James Badge Dale, and Billy Bob Thornton.


Prisoners

Prisoners - September 20
Hugh Jackman, Paul Dano, and Jake Gyllenhaal star in this vigilante thriller about a child kidnapping father who takes matters into his own hands to apprehend the criminal. Denis Villeneuve directs. The star-studded cast also stars Viola Davis, Melissa Leo, and Terrence Howard.


Don Jon

Don Jon September 27
Joseph Gordon-Levitt writes, directs and stars in this drama about a church-going, body-building libertine who can't quite match his expectations of reality with those in porn-addicted mind.  Also stars Scarlett Johansson, Julianne Moore, and Tony Danza


October

 

Gravity

Gravity - October 4
Sandra Bullock as a believable astronaut? Apparently so, as this one's getting plenty of early buzz having debuted in Toronto to rave reviews at the Toronto International Film Festival. George Clooney plays a fellow astronaut, but it's mostly Bullock carrying the load alone in space after a tragic accident separates her from the vessel.


Captain Phillips

Captain Phillips - October 11
Tom hanks stars as the titular captain of the Maersk Alabama, the first American cargo ship to be hijacked in 200 years. The freighter was overtaken by Somali pirates in 2009 and held for ransom, triggering a deadly standoff with U.S. Navy ships. Captain Phillips is directed by Paul Greengrass who brought to life another hijacking in United 93. Also stars Catherine Keener.


Machete Kills

Machete Kills - October 11
The sequel to Robert Rodriguez's 2010 cult hit Machete. And yes, this one also stars Danny Trejo as the titular Federal agent faced with a missile pointed directly at Washington, D.C. Mel Gibson is the villain and Sofia Vergara is the owner of a machine gun-shooting bra. Oh, and Machete don't tweet!


Kill Your Darlings

Kill Your Darlings - October 16
Daniel Radcliffe is writer Allen Ginsberg in 1940s New York City. A murder draws together the great poets of the beat generation including Jack Kerouac, and William Burroughs. This will be our chance to see if Radcliffe has any acting life left post Harry Potter. Very intense with scenes of betrayal, homosexuality, drugs, sex, and rock and roll.


12 Years a Slave

12 Years a Slave - October 18
Shame director Steve McQueen directs Chiwetel Ejiofor in this true story about a man's fight for survival and freedom in the pre-Civil War United States. Ejiofor is Solomon Northrup, a free black man from upstate New York who is abducted and sold into slavery before finally meeting up with a Canadian abolitionist who will change his life. Also stars Brad Pitt, Michael Fassbender, Paul Dano, and Paul Giamatti. This may the one to heath this year.


The Fifth Estate

The Fifth Estate - October 18
Benedict Cumberbatch is WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange who exposed the deceptions and corruptions of power via his upstart website. The real Assange didn't corroborate on the story with director Bill Condon, and is now calling it a massive propaganda attack. Also stars Daniel Bruhl, and Stanley Tucci.


All is Lost

All is Lost - October 18
This one sounds a lot like the American version of the The Life of Pi, this one with American screen legend Robert Redford trapped on a sinking boat in the Indian Ocean after being struck by a cargo ship. Redford silently carries every frame as the only human that appears in the film.


 

Carrie

Carrie - October 18
The first remake of the season goes to Carrie which is of course Kimberly Peirce's reimagining of the role that vaulted Sissy Spacek to fame way back in 1976. Stars Chloe Grace Moretz as the titular high schooler, Julianne Moore, and Judy Greer.


November

Enders Game

Ender's Game - November 1
Asa Butterfield, Abigail Breslin, Harrison Ford, and Hailee Steinfeld star in Gavin Hood's sci-fi thriller that looks more like a Starship Trooper knock-off than it does a serious theme-heavy character piece it wants to be.


Last Vegas

Last Vegas - November 1
"Old geezers hit the town," or as Hollywood puts it "Three sixty-something friends take a break from their day-to-day lives to throw a bachelor party in Las Vegas for their last remaining single pal." Star-studded cast featuring Robert DeNiro, Morgan Freeman, Michael Douglas, Mary Steenburgen, and Kevin Kline. Directed by Jon Turteltaub of National Treasure fame.


Thor: The Dark World

Thor: The Dark World - November 8
Things get perilous for Thor in the second installment of this revisit to Asgard.


The Wolf of Wall Street

The Wolf of Wall Street - November 15
Martin Scorcese's return to the director's chair comes in the form of a true story starring his go-to guy, Leonardo DiCaprio as Jordon Belfort in this biopic of sorts about the man's rise from wealthy stockbroker to his fall involving crime, corruption, and the feds. Also stars Matthew McConaughey, Jonah Hill, and Jon Favreau


The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire - November 22
The highly-anticipated follow-up to the first installment stars all the main actors again but this time with Francis Lawrence directing the story that returns to the games of Panem.


Oldboy

Oldboy - November 27
Another remake of movie that was good enough the first time to not need to be done again. Spike Lee takes South Korean director Park Chan-Wook' 2003s original and Americanizes for max consumption. Let's hope Spike Lee's first remake is worth our time. Stars Josh Brolin, Elizabeth Olsen, and Samuel L. Jackson.


Mandela: Long Walk the Freedom

Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom - November 29
Most know of Mandela's legacy, but Justin Chadwick will fill us in on the Nobel Prize winner's early life from his childhood in a rural village through his inauguration as the first democratically elected president of South Africa.


December

Inside Llewyn Davis

Inside Llewyn Davis - December 6
The Coen Brothers' next. Enough said. Stars Carey Mulligan, Oscar Isaac, and Justin Timberlake


Dallas Buyers Club

Dallas Buyers Club - December 6
Stars Matthew McConaughey in the role for which he lost 38 pounds to assume his role as AIDS patient Ron Woodruff and his battle with the medical establishment. Jared Leto, Jennifer Garner, and Steve Zahn.


American hustle

American Hustle - December 13
The federal investigation into the political corruption known as Abscam from the '70s gets its movie. David O. Russell's follow-up to Oscar award-winning Silver Lining's Playbook from last year. Stars Jennifer Lawrence, Christian Bale, Amy Adams, and Bradley Cooper.


Saving Mr. Banks

Saving Mr. Banks - December 13
We'll get a fairly good idea at just how terse Mary Poppins author P.L. Travers was when working with Walt Disney to bring her beloved story to the big screen in Disney's 1964 adaptation. Tom hanks is Walt Disney himself while Emma Thompson puts on the stiff upper lip as Travers.


The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug - December 13
Peter Jackson's second in his fantasy epic trilogy that brings J.R.R. Tolkein's legendary tale tot eh big screen. Let's all hope the first was the low water mark.


The Monuments Men

The Monuments Men - December 18
A Great-Escape style war epic starring Matt Damon, Cate Blanchett, George Clooney, Bill Murray, and John Goodman. Count us in!


August: Osage COunty

August: Osage County - December 25
Dysfunctional family gets another movie, this time with Meryl Streep as the matriarch of her small-town Oklahoma home. From Tracy Letts's Pulitzer Prize-winning Broadway play. Also stars Sam Shepard, Benedict Cumberbatch, Abigail Breslin, Julia Roberts, and Ewan McGregor. Oscar bait!


The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty - December 25
ben Stiller directs and stars in this adaptation of James Thurber's classic short story about a dull man who spices up his life by imagining himself on fantastical journeys around the world. Also stars Kristen Wiig, Sean Penn and Patton Oswalt


Jack Ryan

Jack Ryan: Shadow One - December 25
Chris Pine takes over for Harrison Ford in this reboot-of-sorts for the Tom Clancey CIA character. Director Kenneth Branagh takes us back to the beginning of Ryan's career. Keira Knightley, Kevin Costner, and Kenneth Branagh also star.


Labor Day

Labor Day - December 25
A wounded fugitive takes up shelter with a Mentally fragile, reclusive mom and her son. As police close in, the mom and her son gradually learns the man's backstory. Kate Winslet, Josh Brolin, Tobey Maguire, and James Van der Beek star while Jason Reitmen directs