Coming This Fall: Part I

by Kevin Powers

So begins the school year, football season, cooler weather, falling leaves, and the best movies of the year.

Yes. That’s right. The best movies are always released in the fall. Why? Oscar-bait.

It’s hard to say what exactly will be in the Academy Award discussion at this point. That will come after the Toronto and New York Film Festivals, which are the starting points for the big fall and winter releases sure to win Oscars come late February.

More to come on that in a later column.

For now, I would like to start my Most Anticipated Movies of 2014 list. Here are the first five:  

“This Is Where I Leave You” (September 19^th) – Jason Bateman and Tina Fey lead an ensemble cast as siblings forced to return home after their father’s death. Jane Fonda also stars as their unfiltered mother. The trailer offers the makings of a great human comedy-drama.

“Gone Girl” (October 3^rd) – Ben Affleck stars as Nick Dunne, a failed New York entertainment writer, who moves his wife to his Missouri hometown. When she disappears on their 5^th wedding anniversary, a media storm ensues, pegging Nick as a possible wife-killer. Based on the acclaimed novel by Gillian Flynn, “Gone Girl” promises to be another dark, suspenseful mind game from director David Fincher (“Fight Club”, “The Social Network”).

“Nightcrawler” (October 17^th) – Jake Gyllenhaal continues his outstanding run of late (after last year’s “Prisoners” and this year’s “Enemy”) with this movie about an L.A. crime reporter in over his head as he slips further and further into the city’s criminal underworld. The trailer for this one is intense.

“Birdman” (October 17^th – Limited Release) – Michael Keaton comes out of hiding once again to star in Mexican master of cinema Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s story of a washed-up action hero, once known as the superhero “Birdman,” trying to make a comeback on the Broadway stage. Zack Galifianakis, Edward Norton, Emma Stone, and Naomi Watts co-star.

"Interstellar” (November 7^th) – Christopher Nolan (“Inception”, “The Dark Knight” trilogy) returns to the mega screen with what promises to be a sci-fi flick for the ages. Matthew McConaughey stars as an astronaut on a mission to save the planet after a wormhole is discovered in space with the ability to send a crew of explorers to another galaxy. Anne Hathaway, Jessica Chastain, and Michael Caine co-star. If the trailer is any indication, this will be a masterpiece, both visually and emotionally. IMAX, here I come!