2021 Fall Movie Preview – Part 2

September 24, 2021

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OK, it’s time for part two of my Fall Movie Preview.  As mentioned in last week’s post (available here if you missed it), the new releases in the next few months look impressive.  There are plenty of options in theaters and on streaming services coming your way.  And while the Fall television season has traditionally been pretty popular, those days are long gone.  Not much interest in traditional network television these days (aside from sports), but there are a few good cable / streaming shows coming back soon, like new seasons of The Morning Show (available now on Apple TV+), Succession and Curb Your Enthusiasm (in October on HBO), and Yellowstone (in November on Paramount).  That being said, my attention will largely be focused on this list of movies.  Let’s jump into part two.

The Rise of Jodie Comer – The Last Duel

Speaking of television, one of the lead actors in the new film from director Ridley Scott is Jodie Comer, who won an Emmy for her outstanding performance in Killing Eve, one of my favorite television shows of the last ten years.  In The Last Duel, Comer plays a woman in 14^th century France who accuses her husband’s friend (played by Adam Driver) of raping her.  When no one believes her account of the incident, her husband (Matt Damon) challenges his friend to a duel.  This film is based on a 2004 book which describes the last sanctioned duel in France.  The script was initially written by Damon and Ben Affleck (who has a supporting role), but during the writing process they realized that they needed to add a female voice to the script to better convey the point of view of Comer’s character.  The Last Duel is reportedly told in a Rashomon-type format, with different viewpoints conveyed throughout the film.  Oscar-nominated writer Nicole Holofcener was brought in to help write the script and early indications are positive, particularly around Comer’s performance.  In addition to The Last Duel, she starred in one of the surprising Summer hits, Free Guy, a comedy-fantasy with Ryan Reynolds.  I liked that one a lot, particularly her performance.  Reynolds was pretty good.  I’ve never been a big fan of his, but I think he worked well in that role.  Suffice it to say that with a hit Summer movie, an Oscar-contender with The Last Duel, the next season of Killing Eve in production, and re-teaming with Ridley Scott for his next film (as the wife of Napoleon Bonaparte, opposite Joaquin Phoenix), Jodie Comer’s future is very bright.  The Last Duel opens in theaters on October 15^th.

Because You Can Never Have Too Much Michael Myers – Halloween Kills

Say what you will about the Marvel franchise, one thing you have to give them credit for is planning.  The powers that be at Marvel Studios (owned by Disney) map out movies (and now television series) years in advance, carefully setting up broad story arcs for their characters.  The pandemic delays threw a monkey wrench in their plans, but they are getting back on track.  Now, I’m not even close to a Marvel expert, although I have taken the plunge and started making my way through the catalogue, which I am enjoying so far (some movies a little more than others).  I recently had the chance to pick the brain of an old friend from high school, a comic book expert, and he gave me some good insights on the many interweaving threads of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.  A quick side note on that conversation – we reconnected on Facebook after not seeing each other for many, many years and met up for lunch.  First lesson learned – it was way too long since we connected, and I’m so glad we scheduled it right after the proverbial “yeah, we should get together” exchange.  A reminder that I need to follow up with some old friends and book a day to meet up.  Second lesson learned – it was great to see how much we still have in common, even after not staying connected since high school, especially the insanely random data points from those days that were buried in the deep recesses of my brain.  Yeah, my thinking style is a little strange.  Anyway, it was a lot of fun to catch up with him, and we’ll definitely meet up again soon.  Where the hell was I going with this?  Oh yeah.

You know who doesn’t plan things in advance?  The owners of the Halloween franchise.  There have been eleven Halloween movies released since the pioneering horror installment from John Carpenter debuted in 1978.  Sounds simple, right?  Not so much.  It seems that there have been some direct sequels, some that have nothing to do with the franchise, a remake of the original, and a sequel to the remake.  Confused yet?  Yeah, me too.  I like linear storytelling.  But thankfully, things have been simplified.  In 2018, a sequel to the original 1978 film, called simply (or confusingly) Halloween, was released and essentially ignores all of the other movies made since the original.  It’s pretty good and I’m glad they are continuing the story in a more cohesive manner.  This year’s entry, Halloween Kills, is a sequel to the 2018 film, and there is a third one planned for next year, Halloween Ends.  But will it really end?  Isn’t there going to always be a special (dark) place in our hearts for Michael Myers, the psychotic killer from the franchise?

In addition to checking out the 2018 movie, I also recently revisited the original for the first time in a long, long time.  What was remarkable about the 1978 horror film (aside from the excellent performance by Jamie Lee Curtis, in her acting debut) was the effectiveness of scaring the viewer with a lot more suspense than blood.  The original Halloween is not a bloodbath with massive amounts of killing – in fact, there are only a few victims.  Instead, Carpenter did what Spielberg did with Jaws – it was less about seeing the shark, and more about building up the suspense that the shark was always lurking.  Granted, Spielberg’s mechanical shark didn’t work, but that’s a story for another day.  Back to Halloween – through a brilliant score and scream-inducing jump scares, the original is still a great movie.  I would have loved to have been in a crowded theater in 1978 and see the reaction to the appearance of Myers in his trademark mask.  Although, wait a minute…..1978…..(doing some quick math)…..yeah, I was six years old in 1978.  Nope.  Didn’t need to be in the theater for that one.  Halloween Kills premieres in theaters and will be available for streaming on Peacock on October 15^th.

Funny or Terrifying? – Lamb

Typical reactions to movie trailers usually boil down to three categories: “Wow, that looks awesome” (No Time to Die), “Oh my, that looks awful” (insert any Mark Wahlberg film since the late 1990s), or in the case of Lamb, “What the…..was that?”  I literally have no idea if this movie is a dark comedy, a horror film, or something entirely else.  The premise looks like the story of a couple in Iceland who, desperate to have a child and unable to have one, find joy in a new lamb that is born on their farm.  And apparently, they start to raise the animal like a baby?  And that’s all I kind of know.  For movies like this, I prefer to not learn too much before going in (see my rant on the Dear Evan Hansen trailer last week) to keep the viewing as fresh as possible.  This one could be terrible or brilliant and I wouldn’t be surprised either way.  Lamb premieres in theaters on October 8^th.  

You Have To Admire the Work Ethic – Cry Macho

Imagine being 62 years old and after forty years in the entertainment industry, you finally receive acknowledgement from your peers, winning Oscars for producing and directing a Western that recalled the glory days of Hollywood.  Pretty good, right?  Nice capstone to the career, right?  What if that was THIRTY years ago and you were still going strong, having just directed your forty-first feature film while starring in the lead role?  Oh, and let’s say you won another Oscar for producing and directing a Best Picture, twelve years after your first win.  Now, that is more than a decent career – that’s downright legendary.  And that’s exactly what Clint Eastwood has just achieved, at the ripe old age of 91.  My earliest memories of Eastwood’s movies were back in the mid-1970s when he was my age – and let me tell you, I’m pretty damn old!

Cry Macho was recently released and I had a chance to check it out.  I would describe it as a decent film that is far more interesting because of Eastwood’s involvement as a retired cowboy recruited to travel to Mexico to bring his boss’s son back to Texas.  The locations Eastwood chose to film their journey were beautiful and add a nice touch to the movie.  The boy is played by newcomer Eduardo Minett and you can tell that he doesn’t have much acting experience.  Not that his performance is “bad”, it’s just not that compelling.  Here is an example where Eastwood’s reputation as a quick director (nicknamed “one-take Clint”) might do a disservice to the quality of the work.  There were a few times where I thought, “Yeah, I would have had the kid do that scene again.”  That being said, Cry Macho is a sweet story about a man coming to terms at the end of his life about what’s really important in your short remaining time on the clock, all while trying to teach the kid some important life lessons.  If this is Clint’s swan song, it’s not a bad way to close out a legendary film career.  Cry Macho is now playing in theaters and is available on HBO Max until October 17^th.

He’s Back – The French Dispatch

No, this is not another horror movie.  Instead, it’s the long-awaited next film from Wes Anderson, a director whose work has been long-admired, if not entirely appreciated from a mainstream popularity standpoint.  I’m pretty new to the Anderson universe, but have grown to really like his films and there is something that demonstrates his impressive run of quality movies – the number of A-list actors he convinces to join his projects.  The French Dispatch has been on the shelf for a while now, having originally been scheduled for release last year.  It recently premiered at the Cannes Film Festival to strong reviews, particularly for Anderson’s vision of the world of journalism.  He has a way of building these incredibly expansive universes for his projects, and not in a CGI way.  He builds out the sets, the costumes, and brings his actors into the world he has developed to tell a story in his own unique way.  Much like his other films, The French Dispatch features a number of interconnected storylines with an ensemble cast, telling the story of a French foreign office bureau of an American newspaper preparing its final edition.  If there is one thing you can count on in any Anderson movie, it’s the driest of humor with deadpan delivery from his actors, telling a clever, quirky story.  It’s no coincidence that Bill Murray has acted in nine of Anderson’s ten feature films.  I’ll be doing a full piece on Anderson’s career next month in conjunction with the release of The French Dispatch, which premieres in theaters on October 22^nd.  

Raising Child Prodigies – King Richard

If you’re not in the mood for a horror film, a quirky story about journalists, or watch a nonagenarian transport a teenager across the border, how about a good old-fashioned crowd pleaser?  I recently saw the trailer for King Richard, which just premiered to strong reviews at the Telluride Film Festival, and boy does it look good.  Will Smith, earning early Oscar buzz, plays Richard Williams, a man driven to raise his daughters to be the best tennis players in the world.  You may have heard of them – Venus and Serena.  The story focuses on Richard’s story when the girls were younger, living in Compton, California, and determined to get his girls the tennis training they needed to succeed.  Now, Williams was known as the archetypal domineering sports parent when Venus and Serena burst on the scene in the mid-1990s.  It’s unclear if this film will show any of the dark side that was most likely evident in his parenting methods, or if this is going to be just a feel-good story.  The trailer seems to lean more toward the latter, but we’ll have to wait and see.  Either way, it sure looks like Smith is having fun and delivers a very strong performance.  King Richard premieres in theaters and on HBO Max on November 19^th.  Note that it will only be on HBO Max for thirty days.

Anticipation is High, But We Don’t Know Much – Licorice Pizza

What the hell is a licorice pizza?  Don’t worry – this isn’t a movie about a pizza joint with gross recipes.  This is the new picture from Paul Thomas Anderson, one of my favorite filmmakers working today, and director of such masterpieces as There Will Be Blood and Boogie Nights.  Anderson is notorious about keeping the plot details of his films top-secret until he is ready for them to be revealed, so we don’t know much about this one.  He has released a short teaser trailer to a handful of theaters in different cities, strategically showing them in between hand-chosen double features of classic films.  The trailer hasn’t made it online yet, but a few articles have been written with some details.  

First, the title.  Apparently, there was a record store in Southern California in the 1970s called Licorice Pizza (if you look at the initials, it will make more sense as a record store name) and Anderson’s film takes place in that location and era, harkening back to the vibe he created with Boogie Nights.  The movie stars Cooper Hoffman (son of the late Philip Seymour Hoffman, a frequent collaborator with Anderson) as a young aspiring actor.  Licorice Pizza also stars Bradley Cooper as a film producer, and Maya Rudolph, John C. Reilly (another frequent Anderson collaborator), and Ben Stiller in unspecified roles.  Anderson has always been a master at bringing compelling characters to life on the screen, and I’ll have more to say about his excellent filmography as we get closer to the release date.  Needless to say, this one is on my short list of most anticipated movies.  Licorice Pizza is scheduled to be released in limited theaters on November 26^th, with a nationwide release on December 25^th.  

My Most Anticipated Movie – Last Night in Soho

The fact that I am writing about over twenty films as part of this three part series tells you that I have a number of pictures I’m looking forward to.  Now, if some of them turn out to be duds, I won’t be too disappointed, but there are a few that I hope are really good.  Licorice Pizza is definitely one of them, given my admiration for Paul Thomas Anderson, but I haven’t seen the trailer, so I have no idea if it will be good.  On the other hand, when I started checking out the work of Edgar Wright over the last year and then saw the trailer for Last Night in Soho, it quickly moved up my list of most anticipated movies.

Wright might not be a household name, but he has developed a bit of a cult following over the last twenty years, directing the zombie comedy Shaun of the Dead, the insanely creative Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, and the fun action drama Baby Driver, among other movies.  I think of his directing style as slick and stylish, always inserting quick-cutting scenes to keep the story moving.  He’s also incredibly talented at selecting music for his soundtracks, and it looks like Last Night in Soho will feature all of his trademark skills.  It’s not quite clear what the exact plot of the movie is, and I’m intentionally not trying to learn too much before I see it.  All that I know is that we have a young woman in present day London (played by Thomasin McKenzie) who has visions where she is traveling back to the 1960s London, where she inhabits the body of another woman, played by Anya Taylor-Joy, of The Queen’s Gambit fame.  It’s been described as a psychological horror film with a bit of a time-tripping vibe, and you can see the trailer here.  It looks scary, beautiful, and something I’m hoping will live up to the promise of everyone involved.  Last Night in Soho premieres in theaters on October 29^th.

That’s all for this week.  Hope you enjoyed part two of my look at the Fall movie season.  We’ve got one more to go next week, including some of the biggest names in the industry including Spielberg, DiCaprio, and Lawrence, plus a flashback to 1980s nostalgia, a science-fiction epic based on a legendary novel, a new Marvel film, Lady Gaga in what might be the wackiest movie of the year, and much more.  Thanks for reading and if you’d like to be notified of future posts, you can subscribe here.