In movie world, ideas seem to percolate in different places at the same time. A while back, the number nine showed up in four titles at once. And right now, the always-popular word “paradise” seems to be having a particular moment.
I’m looking forward to the first movie directed by “Juno” screenwriter Diablo Cody. It’s called “Paradise” and stars Julianne Hough, Russell Brand, and Oscar-winner Octavia Spencer.
“Beyond Paradise” is the story of a young woman in an arranged marriage who falls in love with another man.
“Paradise Faith” is the story of a Christian missionary unhappily married to a Muslim.
And “The Paradise” is a BBC costume drama coming to PBS next month, about the employees in a department store.
Fall doesn’t start officially for another few weeks, but the fall movie season won’t wait that long. Traditionally, fall is when we start seeing some movies for grown-ups after all of the chases and explosions of the summer. Let’s take a look at what’s coming, including some prestige dramas with Oscar-worthy performances, some silly comedies, some scary thrillers, some romance, and even a superhero or two and a couple of high-profile sequels coming in September, October, and November.
Dramas:
“Rush” is written by Peter Morgan, who specializes in real-life stories of conflict between two strong characters like “The Queen” and “The King of Scotland.” Here he re-teams with his “Frost/Nixon” director Ron Howard for the true story of competing Formula One race car drivers.
“Gravity” stars Sandra Bullock as an astronaut stranded in space. Director Alfonso Cuarón wowed the fans at Comic-Con with early footage.
“Captain Phillips” is based on a chilling real-life story of an American ship taken over by Somali pirates with nothing to lose. Tom Hanks plays the merchant marine captain.
“12 Years a Slave” has Chiwetal Ejiofor in the true story of a free black man from New York who was sold into slavery, and wrote about it after he was freed.
“The 5th Estate” is the story of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, played by Benedict Cumberbatch.
“All is Lost” has just one actor: Robert Redford, as a man lost at sea.
“Diana” stars Naomi Watts as the Princess of Wales, focusing on her relationship with an Indian doctor (Naveen Andrews), who may have been her greatest love.
“Grace of Monaco” stars Watts’ BFF, Nicole Kidman, as another royal blonde icon, actress-turned princess Grace Kelly.
“Last Vegas” has an all-star cast of Oscar-winners: Kevin Kline, Robert De Niro, Morgan Freeman, and Michael Douglas in the story of a Las Vegas bachelor party they swear is not another version of “The Hangover.”
“The Wolf of Wall Street” reunites director Martin Scorsese with Leonardo DiCaprio in this fact-based story of the rise and fall of a financial crook. This may be Matthew McConaughey’s year for an Oscar — in this film and in “Dallas Buyer’s Club” he looks very impressive.
Big books about teenage heroes:
“Catching Fire” is the second chapter in “The Hunger Games,” with Jennifer Lawrence returning as Katniss Everdeen.
“Ender’s Game” stars Harrison Ford, Ben Kingsley, and “Hugo’s” Asa Butterfield in the story of a boy trained to defeat alien invaders.
“The Book Thief” is about a girl in Nazi Germany who steals to help her family.
“Great Expectations” is yet another version of the Dickens classic, with Helen Bonham Carter as Miss Havisham.
Comedies:
“Anchorman 2” takes Ron Burgundy and his clueless colleagues enter the era of 24-hour news channels in this sequel. The 70’s clothes, I’d like to point out, are not exaggerated.
“The Family” stars Robert De Niro and Michelle Pfeiffer as a mob couple in the witness protection program, under the supervision of federal agent Tommy Lee Jones.
“Delivery Man” has Vince Vaughn as (what else) a slacker. He is stunned to learn that through a bureaucratic oversight, his donations to a sperm bank have resulted in 533 children.
Romance:
“Enough Said” stars James Gandolfini in one of his last performances — his first as a romantic lead, opposite Julia Louis-Dreyfus, with Catherine Keener as his ex-wife.
“About Time” may feel like deja vu for Rachel McAdams, who once again finds herself falling in love with a time traveler.
Documentaries:
“Salinger” is the story of the 20th century’s most famously reclusive author. One bombshell has already been reported. There may be five unpublished novels coming from the man who wrote Catcher in the Rye.
“Inequality for All” documents the growing income inequality and its consequences.
“Metallica Through the Never” combines 3D performance footage with a fictional story about a roadie.
For the Whole Family:
“Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2”
“Frozen” is an animated musical from Disney inspired by the classic fairy tale, “The Snow Queen.”
Kevin Sorbo, Kristy Swanson, C. Thomas Howell, and Dani Chuchran star in “Storm Rider,” coming on DVD and VOD on October 22, 2013. Spoiled 18-year old Dani Fielding’s world is turned upside down when her father gets arrested for securities fraud. She has to leave her cushy home and loses her prize horse to stay with her gruff uncle, Sam. As Dani and her uncle struggle to bond, she’s given an orphaned colt that is a different type of horse than she is used to training. Dani pours her affection into “Stormy” and uses him to replace what’s missing in her unsettled life. Through Stormy, Dani soon realizes that truly caring about others is the answer to most of life’s biggest problems. When her uncle and friends need her the most, Dani and Stormy must work together to save the day and learn the true meaning of the word “family.”
Coming from Ben Stiller: The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
Posted on August 15, 2013 at 3:59 pm
James Thurber’s most fondly remembered story is probably “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty,” which invites us into the daydreams of a mild-mannered and slightly henpecked husband. While he tries to remember what it was his wife wanted him to pick up at the store (puppy biscuit), he imagines himself as a surgeon, a marksman, a Naval officer, and the devil-may-care target of a firing squad. After all, who among us has not sat at our desks and imagined ourselves taking a fifth curtain call, inventing the iPhone, accepting a Tony, an Oscar, a Nobel?
The story was made into a musical comedy starring Danny Kaye in 1947.
And now Ben Stiller has directed and stars in an updated version that looks wistful, even melancholy, but very touching, the kind of movie a guy might daydream about from the set of a dopey film like “The Watch.”
The Author Who Tried to Disappear: A New Documentary About J.D. Salinger
Posted on August 14, 2013 at 3:59 pm
One of the most influential writers of the 20th century was J.D. Salinger, author of The Catcher in the Rye. He spent the last decades of his life living quietly, almost reclusively, writing but not publishing anything more from 1960 to his death at age 91 in 2010. A documentary called Salinger will be released on September 6. Through the use of exclusive video, images, news clips, and other memorabilia, the Salinger site subtly gives clues and hints to what happened to J.D. Salinger. Users are encouraged to explore and discover hidden content for themselves. The site includes two famous magazine covers featuring Salinger – TIME Magazine (1961) and ESQUIRE Magazine (1997) – as well as the only photo ever seen of Salinger on his bed, in his bedroom.
The documentary features interviews with 150 subjects including Salinger’s friends and colleagues who have never spoken on the record before as well as film footage, photographs and other material that has never been seen. Additionally, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Edward Norton, John Cusack, Danny DeVito, John Guare, Martin Sheen, David Milch, Robert Towne, Tom Wolfe, E.L. Doctorow, Gore Vidal and Pulitzer Prize winners A. Scott Berg and Elizabeth Frank talk about Salinger’s influence on their lives, their work and the broader culture. The film is the first work to get beyond the Catcher in the Rye author’s meticulously built up wall: his childhood, painstaking work methods, marriages, private world and the secrets he left behind after his death in 2010.
. He spent the last decades of his life living quietly, almost reclusively, writing but not publishing anything more from 1960 to his death at age 91 in 2010. A documentary called