Gone is the marshmallow fluff of summer, replaced by the stodgy determination of Oscar contenders as we count down the calendar towards the holiday release schedule and awards season. Here is a sampling of the films coming your way in the next two months, from Indian summer nights until the last leaves fall…
• September
Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs 2
Attack of the giant 3D food! Flint’s invention, which turned weather into spaghetti tornadoes, survived the last film and now churns out food animals — shrimpanzees and deadly tacodiles — that threaten to overtake the mainland. Fab voice cast led by Ed Helms, James Caan and Anna Faris.
Salinger
What better way to usher in the school year than with a documentary about one of literature’s most enigmatic authors. More than 100 friends, colleagues and disciples talk about J.D. Salinger’s personal life and his influence over their work. Edward Norton, John Cusack, Gore Vidal, Tom Wolfe, John Guare are among the contributors.
Prisoners
Hugh Jackman faces every parent’s worst nightmare when his six-year-old daughter and her friend go missing. While Det. Loki (Jake Gyllenhaal) interrogates and releases a suspect, dad takes matters in his own hands (minus the Wolverine blades).
Battle of the Year
A Los Angeles-based hip-hop dancer (Josh Holloway) wants to take home the top title in a dance competition where the Americans have come up short 15 years running. He enlists the help of a former football coach to recruit a Dream Team of dancers from all over the country. Like Hoosiers but with chest pops and turtles.
• October
Captain Phillips
Paul Greengrass is at the helm of this timely thriller starring Tom Hanks as real-life Captain Richard Phillips, whose cargo ship was taken over by Somali pirates in 2009. Expect lots of water, but no sign of Wilson.
The Fifth Estate
Benedict Cumberbatch plays Julian Assange, co-founder of the online site Wikileaks that allowed people to expose the secrets of the corrupt and powerful. But as we’ve all learned, when that information involves the U.S. government, the free exchange of information comes at a high price.
Escape Plan
“Ray Breslin is able to break out of any prison designed by man”: the man is Sylvester Stallone, who along with inmate Arnold Schwarzenegger, plan to break out of the world’s most high-tech, heavily fortified prison.
Gravity
Watch Alfonso Cuaron (Children of Men, Harry Potter) set interest in space colonization back a few decades: after a disaster aboard a space mission engineer Dr. Stone (Sandra Bullock) and veteran astronaut Matt Kowalski (George Clooney) finds themselves floating through space, with little chance of rescue and precious oxygen running out.
Carrie
Chloe Grace Moretz takes a stab at classic horror role, the role that forever cemented the image of Sissy Spacek covered in pig’s blood in our collective consciousness. Stephen King’s first published novel is a cautionary tale about a girl pushed too far by bullies at school and by her repressed mother (played by Julianne Moore).
Runner Runner
Ben Affleck and Justin Timberlake star in this film dedicated to the pursuit of easy money, by way of online gambling and shady dealings. Ivan Black (Affleck) is a billionaire tycoon; Richie Furst (Timberlake) is the man who covets it all.
12 Years A Slave
A free black man (Chiwetel Ejiofor) in pre-Civil War America is abducted and sold into slavery, facing torment (at the hands of Michael Fassbender) and occasional kindness along the way. After a dozen years Solomon meets a Canadian abolitionist (Brad Pitt) who will change his life forever. Fantastic supporting cast.
The Counselor
Guess what? Michael Fassbender and Brad Pitt again, in a whole different kind of film. Fassbender is a lawyer who has it all, until a “one-time deal” gets him in too deep with drug dealers. Ridley Scott directs from Cormac McCarthy’s (No Country For Old Men) screenplay; Javier Bardem, Penelope Cruz, Cameron Diaz co-star.
