Fall is my favorite time of year. Not just because it's the time of year when New York City is at its most beautiful, thus reminding us all why we continue in this abusive relationship with it, but because the movies start to get good again after the onslaught of big-budget blockbusters that are only occasionally watchable.
People seem to think that, with each passing year, the movies get worse and worse. Well, if you're looking at crap like
Transformers (the new nadir of megahit blockbuster quality), then yeah. But there's a whole crop of ambitious, interesting films that come out every fall and - even if they end up being bad - you have to give them credit for trying. Unlike
Transformers.
So here's my list of 15 films that I am dying to see this fall. Some are already out (and I'm negotiating with my wife to be able to find the time to see them) and some I still wait in painful anticipation for:
15.
American Gangster - Ridley Scott might have actually done something he hasn't done in a long LONG time... make a great movie. I'm not talking about just a good movie, okay? I got news.
Gladiator? Not "great." Just "good."
Alien is "great." The director's cut of
Kingdom of Heaven? Very good. Not great. And I'm not even bothering to mention
Hannibal,
Black Hawk Down, and
Matchstick Men (could that movie have been any more obvious?). The trailer for
American Gangster caught me instantly, if for no other reason than the re-pairing of
Virtuosity stars Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe, and it looks like it could be Ridley Scott's first great movie in... 25 years? Can it really be 25 years now since...
14.
Blade Runner: The Final Cut - OK, despite my rabid love for this film, it's low on my list for two reasons. First, I've seen a different version of this film before. Four different versions, actually, counting the TV edit. THIS is not only A great Ridley Scott film, it's his masterpiece. Every science fiction film or TV show in the last 25 years that has had call to borrow from
Blade Runner HAS borrowed from
Blade Runner. It's visually stunning even now and as perfect an example of genre mixing (in this case, sci-fi and film noir) as anyone can ask for. But do we really need six versions of the film, counting the TV edit? Let's hope so because I'll call bullshit if this "final cut," which Scott shot new footage for as recently as last year (my second reason for putting it so low on the list), doesn't deliver the goods. But I'll be first in line at the Ziegfeld.
[EDIT: I was first in line at the Ziegfeld last week and my GOD, it was amazing! More on that in a later post.]
13. (tie)
Juno/Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story - Judd Apatow, for the umpteenth time, is comedic gold. Everything he's been responsible for in the last few years has been successful critically or financially, usually both. This year alone, he's responsible for two of the year's funniest movies (
Knocked Up and
Superbad) and is writing and producing what looks to be a third.
Walk Hard, a spoof of singer biopics such as
Walk the Line and
Ray, looks like a rare thing in the parody genre: genuinely funny. Honestly, any comedy with John C. Reilly in a starring role has my money. And whether it was intended or not (likely not), Apatow's sensibilities are being tapped into in a film like Jason Reitman's
Juno, which will likely be described as "
Knocked Up meets
Superbad." Whether or not that is an accurate description, I don't know, but considering it's about a girl who gets pregnant by her best friend and considering that the best friend in question is Michael Cera - the Mozart of comedic timing who also stars in
Superbad - this is almost certainly how the movie will be sold to you.
12.
Cassandra's Dream - I'm hoping that Woody Allen is going to doing a "bad/good/good" alternation with his films.
Anything Else was bad.
Melinda and Melinda and
Match Point were good.
Scoop was bad. If the pattern continues, then this crime drama starring Ewan McGregor and Colin Farrell should be a good one. I'm hoping so. On one hand it's got Ewan McGregor; on the other hand, it's got Colin Farrell (but he was good in
The New World). Pretty much the entirety of Woody's output this decade has been called into question by even his most ardent fans but I have faith. He's 71 and working as hard as he ever did; you have to admire that.
11.
John Rambo - I know, I know. But screw you for judging me. The trailer that popped up on youtube was the single greatest thing I have EVER seen Stallone take part in, and yes, I am counting
Rocky IV. In a post-9/11 world, if you're gonna do a
Rambo 4, it's got to be the most balls-out movie you've ever seen or no one's gonna care. The people want blood and lots of it. It looks like Stallone heard the people and is giving them what they want. Though I'm not sure why he's still fighting the Vietcong.
[EDIT: It looks like this is being pushed back to January. I wept upon hearing the news.]
10.
Southland Tales - Richard Kelly has become, with only one film released to date, the most hyperbolized director of the decade. Most people either think he's a genius or think he's a hack. I really like
Donnie Darko a lot but it's too soon to tell. With
Southland Tales' less-than-enthusiastic premiere at Cannes last year, the Kelly-haters felt vindicated and wasted no time in denouncing a film that they hadn't seen and knew almost nothing about. A year and a half later, and with a 15 minute trim, the movie is finally coming out. The trailer is interesting but I can't help but wonder if Kelly is going to be to apocalypse-minded sci-fi what M. Night Shyamalan is to the twist ending. I'm not trying to fool myself but still, an interesting misfire will always be better than a piece of shit that hits the mark.
9.
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford - Or the slow, thoughtful movie that everyone but the geekiest film geeks will hate with a passion right out of the Bible. Previous winners of this award include Terrence Malick's
The Thin Red Line and
The New World, as well as Steven Soderbergh's remake of
Solaris (which gets none of the respect it deserves). 2 hours and 40 minutes of slow-moving Western starring Brad Pitt and Casey Affleck? I am SO IN!
8.
The Golden Compass - Not much to say here except I can't wait for the Christian protests of this over its atheist overtones, and Eva Green... GRRRRRRRRRRRRRR.
7.
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly -
Basquiat is one of my favorite films of the 1990s. It captured a time and place, not so much of when the film was set as when it was made. If you want a great example of American independent filmmaking in its golden age,
Basquiat is one of the first ones I would recommend. It made me a lifelong fan of director Julian Schnabel and I eagerly await every film he makes.
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly is his latest film - only his third, after
Basquiat and 2000's
Before Night Falls - and it seems like Schnabel has a thing for biopics of people no one else would ever make biopics about. This time, the subject is Jean-Dominique Bauby, a magazine editor who suffered a stroke that paralyzed his entire body, with the exception of his left eye. This performance might be a little bit harder of an Oscar sell than Daniel Day-Lewis in
My Left Foot (at least he could move his body some) but if anyone can make this into a compelling film without submitting to sap, Schnabel can.
6.
I'm Not There - The last time Todd Haynes made a movie about rock & roll, it was
Velvet Goldmine. And he turned it into a glam rock take on
Citizen Kane. I have no idea what he's going to do with Bob Dylan's life story besides casting several actors, including Richard Gere and Cate Blanchett, but whatever crazy shit it sounds like Haynes has planned, I have no doubt it will be effective. After all, this is the guy who started his career by making a Karen Carpenter biography exclusively with Barbie dolls.
5.
The Darjeeling Limited - I think Wes Anderson is the Woody Allen of my generation. Think about it. He makes talky, quirky films; is an acquired taste; has been accused of making the same movie over and over; and no one can quite copy the formula that makes him so distinct.
Darjeeling is Wes' fifth film and unfortunately, the bulk of the reviews refer to co-star Owen Wilson's recent suicide attempt.
4.
No Country For Old Men - I actually liked
The Ladykillers. There. I said it. I liked it a lot actually. It's not one of the Coen Brothers' best movies but if you're going to make a bad movie in comparison to the rest of your work, then that's the way to do it. This new one was considered a dark horse for the Palme D'Or this year (it didn't win though) and is already one of the best reviewed films of the year. If the Coens have truly returned to form with
No Country, it's going to be one of the best films of the decade.
3.
Lust, Caution - If you really think that
Brokeback Mountain won all those awards because of political correctness and a push from the "gay mafia," then I don't want to know you. Seriously. If your homophobia keeps you from being affected by that movie, then you're just beyond help, plain and simple. Ang Lee, just like his Taiwanese brethren Hou Hsiao-hsien and the late great Edward Yang, is a master of putting real human emotion on film without exploiting his characters or manipulating his audience, unlike a certain unworthy film about racism that stole the Oscar from
Brokeback.
2.
There Will Be Blood - It's been five years since Punch-Drunk Love. Five years. Paul Thomas Anderson may be setting himself up to be the new Kubrick and, as long as the product justifies the wait, I'm okay with that. In the two-and-a-half minute trailer that has been posted on the internet, it's obvious that everything we knew about PTA is out the window, with the exception of quality filmmaking. It just screened a couple of days ago and already it's being hailed as a masterpiece. So I can't read anything more about it until its release for fear of it being overhyped for me.
1.
Youth Without Youth - So how can a movie I've waited five years for be topped? By a movie I've waited TEN years for. Francis Ford Coppola is back! Sadly, it's not with
Megalopolis, his ambitious project that A) would likely have been deemed a colossal failure had he actually made it; B) would, in actuality, have been the most important science fiction film since
Blade Runner; C) that is, if it didn't kill him first, so; D) he decided to shelve it in favor of his winery.
But now, ten years after
The Rainmaker (which was much better than people realize), he's returned to the business of directing. From the sound of it, he has made the sort of personal project that he hasn't had an opportunity to do in over 20 years. Word is it's not an easy film to watch but I remain firmly committed to the idea that, when someone like Coppola makes a film that is "difficult," it's up to the audience to find the film, not the film to find the audience. And it's Coppola's first foray into HD (well, the last time he made a movie, George Lucas was still shooting on film, so...) and it will be interesting to see how that visually affects his work.