We are firmly out of the summer blockbuster season, and now the races for awards are underway. We will have multiple film festivals like the Toronto International Film Festival and the Venice Film Festival, the two biggies that will lead the way for Oscar glory. While the films I will be previewing in this month’s post may not be the festival darlings that will most likely dominate the gold rush over winter, don’t be surprised if you see a few of these films pick up some love along the way!
New Theatrical Releases
Black Mass
Release Date: September 18th
Directed By: Scott Cooper (Crazy Heart, Out of the Furnace)
Starring: Johnny Depp, Benedict Cumberbatch, Dakota Johnson, Joel Edgerton, Kevin Bacon, Adam Scott, Jesse Plemmons, Corey Stoll
IMDb Summary: The true story of Whitey Bulger, the brother of a state senator and the most infamous violent criminal in the history of South Boston, who became an FBI informant to take down a Mafia family invading his turf.
Why I Am So Excited: Jack Nicholson’s Frank Costello from The Departed was based on Whitey Bulger, so if you were a fan of Nicholson’s over the top performance you will probably like Depp’s. While this is still a ‘crazy costume/makeup’ role for Depp, it is probably his most grounded performance since 2009’s Public Enemies. Depp who used to be at the top of everyone’s favourite actor list took a huge nose dive with his credibility with so many turds in the recent years, so I’m still only cautiously optimistic that this movie won’t suck. Edgerton, Plemmons and Stoll are all low-key actors who make everything better so hopefully this strong supporting cast works here.
Sicario
Release Date: September 18th
Directed By: Denis Villeneuve (Prisoners, Enemy, Incedies, Polytechnique)
Starring: Emily Blunt, Benicio Del Toro, Jon Bernthal, Josh Brolin, Victor Garber
IMDb Summary: An idealistic FBI agent is enlisted by an elected government task force to aid in the escalating war against drugs at the border area between the U.S. and Mexico.
Why I Am So Excited: Villeneuve might be the most exciting director to come out of Canada since David Cronenberg, with both of them pulling no punches in telling utterly devastating stores. After his two-film sojourn with Jake Gyllenhaal, Villeneuve casts Blunt as the lead and this might be a career defining performance for the woman who seems to get caught being typecast in slightly better than average action films, non-traditional Rom-Coms and being the best part in bad movies. After showing such great promise in the under rated The Young Victoria, here is hoping she finally gets an Oscar nomination. The great thing about Villeneuve is his trailers rarely give much away, and always end up being better. So if you are not fully interested after watching the trailer, I beg you give it a shot anyways.
Stonewall
Release Date: September 25th
Directed By: Roland Emmerich (The Day After Tomorrow, Anonymous, Stargate)
Starring: Joey King, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Ron Perlman, Jeremy Irvine
IMDb Summary: A young man’s political awakening and coming of age during the days and weeks leading up to the Stonewall Riots.
Why I Am So Excited: In the trailer for this movie after naming Emmerich as the director, no previously made films get name-dropped, a norm in the industry. I was tempted to also leave a selection of his previous work to, as it might be detrimental to the film’s cause. Emmerich is the German version of Michael Bay, specializing in big disaster flicks with plenty of CGI, like Godzilla, 2012 and White House Down. Not really the name you want to see associated with a film that kick started the cultural revolution of gay acceptance in North America. While a film about the Stonewall Riots is still a bit action heavy, I’m curious to see what the quieter, more intense scenes are like as Anonymous wasn’t a completely terrible revisionist take on William Shakespeare. Lead actor Jeremy Irvine seems to have a terrible agent as far as past movie selections go, so hopefully he has the chops and just wasn’t getting good parts because he can’t act his way out of a paper bag.
The Keeping Room
Release Date: September 25th
Directed By: Daniel Barber (Harry Brown)
Starring: Brit Marling, Hailee Steinfeld, Muna Otaru, Sam Worthington
IMDb Summary: Left without men in the dying days of the American Civil War, three Southern women – two sisters and one African-American slave – must fight to defend their home and themselves from two rogue soldiers who have broken off from the fast-approaching Union Army.
Why I Am So Excited: Sam Worthington accidentally became a superstar without the proper chops to back it up. It seems like he is trying to back up the hype train that was ready to implode and do some smaller scale work before his run of fifty Avatar sequels that are due to come out and ruin James Cameron’s legacy even further. Brit Marling is a rising star that made her name co-writing her own sci-fi features and looks to become the next Oscar worthy It-girl. This plot sounds a bit like My Week with Marilyn…
New on Blu-Ray
Mad Max: Fury Road
Release Date: September 1st
Directed By: George Miller
Starring: Tom Hardy, Charlize Theron, Nicholas Hoult, Hugh Keays-Byrne
IMDb Summary: A woman rebels against a tyrannical ruler in post apocalyptic Australia in search for her homeland with the help of a group of female prisoners, a psychotic worshiper, and a drifter named Max, who is anything but happy.
Why I Am So Excited: This is another film like The Kingsmen from earlier this year, which at first I disregarded, but after hearing the strong word of mouth I now need to catch up on. The intensity and cinematography I knew would be there, but the surprising feminist overtones and great performance from Theron was not expected at all. The film got a bit of flak from fan-boys online, but when all the dust settled a well-made action film was left standing.
