Fall Movie Preview: Big Swings and Bigger Monsters

10 movies to look forward to from Labor Day to Thanksgiving.

by

Film

How did you spend your summer? You probably spent a good chunk of it at the movies, as the domestic box office hit $4 billion and even surpassed pre-pandemic revenues. Awards season officially kicks off this month in Toronto and Telluride, and last year, One Battle After Another rode the momentum of its September release all the way to Oscar glory. Christopher Nolan may already be clearing room in his trophy case for The Odyssey, but can any of the films coming out in the next few months supplant it as the Best Picture frontrunner? With that in mind, here are the films I’m most looking forward to between now and Thanksgiving.

Hope

(September 9)

A 160-minute VFX-fest about serrated-jaw CGI monsters rampaging through the woods isn’t necessarily up my alley. Still, hope springs eternal, especially when Hope is the first movie in 10 years from South Korean director Na Hong-jin, whose 2016 horror film The Wailing still hasn’t gotten out from under my skin. Hope boasts an international cast that includes South Korean superstar Hwang Jung-min alongside Alicia Vikander and Michael Fassbender.

Resident Evil

(September 18)

After six installments held hostage by director Paul W.S. Anderson and star Milla Jovovich, what life is left in this zombie franchise? If anyone can locate a pulse, it’s writer-director Zach Cregger, who wrapped me around his finger with last year’s Weapons. Once again inspired by the Japanese horror video game franchise, Resident Evil stars Austin Abrams as a courier trapped among the infected in Raccoon City.

Digger

(October 2)

When it comes to Oscar-winning director Alejandro González Iñárritu (Birdman), I’ve always admired the ambition more than the execution. And after his unwatchable 2022 film Bardo, the idea of Iñárritu making a wacky apocalyptic comedy feels borderline torturous. But with an unhinged Tom Cruise as a blustering plutocrat trying to save the world from the disaster he caused, this is must-see viewing, trainwreck or not.

Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother

(October 9)

The endlessly gestating Blade movie starring Mahershala Ali will apparently never happen, but Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother might be the project’s silver lining. That’s how the two-time Oscar winner Ali connected with director Bassim Tariq (Mogul Mowgli), who also wrote and co-produced this story of a deeply religious hitman and newly widowed father trying to protect his children.

Fjord

(October 9)

Romanian director Cristian Mungiu took home his second Palme d’Or at Cannes last May for this scathing domestic drama. The trailer for Fjord is deliberately elliptical but considering that Mungiu’s previous Palme d’Or came for the unrelenting 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days, get ready for the wringer. Inspired by a true story, Fjord stars Sebastian Stan and Renate Reinsve as a conservative couple targeted by their progressive Norwegian neighbors.

The Social Reckoning

(October 9)

As recently as 2019, The Social Network screenwriter Aaron Sorkin said he wouldn’t make a sequel without David Fincher. But with Fincher shepherding his $200 million, IMAX-exclusive follow-up to Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood instead, the Facebook sequel has Sorkin at the helm. Sorkin’s directorial career has been unimpressive so far, but if this isn’t in his wheelhouse, nothing is.

Wildwood

(October 23)

Director Travis Knight might still be recovering from his Masters of the Universe mega-bomb, but if that drives him back into the arms of his stop-motion animation company Laika, then it’s for the best. Wildwood is based on the 2011 children’s fantasy novel by Colin Meloy and Carson Ellis, and the trailer makes it look like a real stunner.

Wild Horse Nine

(November 6)

Black comedy maestro Martin McDonagh (The Banshees of Inisherin) wrote and directed this story of CIA operatives dispatched to Easter Island on the eve of the 1973 Chilean coup. It stars John Malkovich and Sam Rockwell as squabbling partners confronting the consequences of American meddling in one of the most beautiful and isolated places in the world. The supporting cast features Steve Buscemi, Tom Waits and Parker Posey.

Godzilla Minus Zero

(November 6)

Here’s a CGI monster that’s more my size. Takashi Yamazaki’s 2023 kaiju epic Godzilla Minus One injected some heart and history into the formula, which carried it to international success and a surprising Best Visual Effects Oscar. Yamazaki and his cast return for the highly anticipated sequel, which is the first Japanese production filmed for IMAX.

Paper Tiger

(November 20)

For over 30 years, writer-director James Gray has been turning out quietly underrated movies in a variety of genres. Paper Tiger returns Gray to his favored milieu of working-class criminals. Adam Driver and Miles Teller star as brothers torn apart when their get-rich-quick scheme runs afoul of Russian gangsters. If Gray can bottle the same bruised humanity he’s found before, this could be the one that sticks.

Daniel Barnes is a Sacramento-based film critic, copywriter and journalist. A member of the San Francisco Bay Area Film Critics Circle, Daniel is the creator and host of the Dare Daniel, Canon Fodder and Single Take podcasts.