Here are my thoughts on fall movies:
Traditionally, the special effects and crashes and explosions of the summer movies turn to more character- and issue-driven movies as kids go back to school and the weather gets brisk. We’ll see some top stars and some highly-anticipated titles. Some I’m most looking forward to include:
Sept 15 “Never Let Me Go” Kiera Knightley, “An Education’s” breakout star Carey Mulligan, and future “Spider-Man” Andrew Garfield star in this eerie story based on the book by the award-winning author of “The Remains of the Day.” Children grow up together in a boarding school with an eerie difference.
Sept 22 “You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger” Two things to expect in any Woody Allen movie — an amazing cast (everyone wants to work with him) and the story details are kept top secret until the movie is out. So I can tell you that this movie stars Sir Anthony Hopkins, Josh Brolin, Naomi Watts, Antonio Banderas, and Freida Pinto of “Slumdog Millionaire” and that I am guessing it deals with romantic complications.
Sept 24 “Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole” Director Zach Snyder is known for striking visuals (“300″ and “The Watchmen”) so his first family-friendly film, the 3D animated story of Kathryn Lasky’s owl warriors should be something special.
Oct 1 “The Social Network” “The West Wing’s” Aaron Sorkin tells the story of the internet phenomenon that went from a student’s dorm room program to put the school directory online in 2002 to a worldwide phenomenon linking 500 million people, with half of them checking it every day.
Oct 8 “Secretariat” Every autumn brings us some tale of athletic triumph and this is the triumphant tale of the horse that won the triple crown in 1973, setting records still unbroken. Diane Lane plays the owner dismissed as “a housewife” and John Malcovich is the trainer who “dresses like Superfly.”
Oct 22 “The Company Men” A year in the life of three men who’ve been downsized from office jobs, with Ben Affleck, Kevin Costner, Tommy Lee Jones, and Maria Bello.
Nov 5 “Megamind” Brad Pitt and Will Ferrell provide the voices for this animated story of superhero vs. supervillain — and supervillain vs. even bigger supervillain.
Nov 19 “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1″ The final chapter of the Harry Potter series is so big they made it into two movies. In this one, the final battle begins!
