The summer season has ended, and now we’re moving into the second most popular movie season of the year: the holidays, also known as Oscar season.
The film festival circuit is more than halfway finished, and a number of movies featured at fests like Sundance, Cannes, Toronto and Colorado’s own Telluride Film Festival will appear in theaters this fall. The autumn season is also a big release date for musicals and family films. Here’s a brief preview of some of the most talked about films coming to theaters before the end of 2014.
Opening the first weekend of October is David Fincher’s much anticipated adaptation of Gillian Flynn’s twisted best-selling book Gone Girl, with Ben Affleck and Rosamund Pike in the starring roles. That same weekend, viewers can catch Reese Witherspoon in Philippe Falardeau’s biopic “The Good Lie,” about an American woman who helps Sudanese war orphans adjust to their new lives in the U.S. And Michael Keaton will make his much buzzed about screen comeback as the title character in Alejandro González Iñárritu’s “Birdman,” alongside Emma Stone and Edward Norton.
“The Judge,” “Kill the Messenger,” “Fury” and Disney’s “Alexander” will fill up the rest of the month, while the horror/thriller “Horns” starring Daniel Radcliffe will open on Halloween.
November will begin with Chris Nolan’s long awaited sci-fi epic “Interstellar” featuring Matthew McConaughey and Anne Hathaway, and the first half of “Mockingjay” in the hugely popular “Hunger Games” franchise will be released.
Also on tap that month: Steve Carell experiments with dramatic acting as he co-stars with Channing Tatum in the chilling biopic “Foxcatcher.” And another period piece biopic, “The Imitation Game,” which stars Benedict Cumberbatch and Keira Knightley, tells the story of a team of British code breakers who were tasked with cracking the German Enigma code during World War II.
For some comedic relief, viewers can see Knightley in a lighter role opposite Sam Rockwell and Chloë Moretz in Lynn Shelton’s “Laggies,” and “Horrible Bosses 2” will be out Thanksgiving weekend.
Witherspoon will continue her comeback to dramas at Christmas time with “Wild,” based on Cheryl Strayed’s best selling memoir of her 1,100-mile solo hike on the Pacific Crest Trail. Witherspoon is also a part of P.T. Anderson’s ensemble piece “Inherent Vice,” due out Dec. 12, about a drug-fueled detective investigating the disappearance of a former girlfriend. (The cast also features Joaquin Phoenix, Josh Brolin and Benicio Del Toro.)
Also slated for Christmas season release: Angelina Jolie’s second directorial work “Unbroken” about Olympic runner turned WWII prisoner Louis Zamperini; Disney’s all-star film adaptation of “Into the Woods”; Sony’s new take on “Annie” with Jamie Foxx and Quvenzhané Wallis; Tim Burton’s artsy biopic “Big Eyes” starring Amy Adams and Christoph Waltz and “The Interview,” featuring professional BFFs James Franco and Seth Rogen.
The happiest time of the year gets a little happier for movie lovers and people looking for something to see with their relatives or on a date during the holidays. See you at the movies.
mbianco@durangoherald.com. Megan Bianco is a movie reviewer and also contributes other entertainment related features and articles.
