Fall brings full slate of fascinating films to theaters
horizon: “The House with a Clock in its Walls” (Sept. 21, Universal) brings us the odd-couple match up of Cate Blanchett and grindhouse director Eli Roth (“Cabin Fever,” “Death Wish”). “The Old Man &
the Gun” (Oct. 5, Searchlight), which will be Robert Redford’s final film. Apparently, wearing a mask and speaking incomprehensibly in “The Dark Knight Rises” (2012) as Bane wasn’t enough for Tom Hardy. He’s back in the comic book adaptation “Venom” (Oct. 5, Sony). Speaking of famous masks, just in time for Halloween is David Gordon Green’s “Halloween” (Oct. 19, Universal), the umpteenth sequel/reboot/spinoff (including two films by Rob Zombie), of the great John Carpenter minimalist 1978 original. The brilliant and iconic original “Halloween” introduced the world to serial-killer-in-a-WilliamShatner-mask Michael Myers and his resourceful would-be victim Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis). The new film picks up with Laurie 40 years later when she has a “final” confrontation with Myers (Don’t count on it).
Much weirder than another “Halloween” is the remake of Dario Argento’s more revered than great 1977 cult horror film
“Suspiria” (Nov. 2, Amazon Studios) from another Italian filmmaker, art house darling Luca Guadagnino (“Call Me By Your Name”). The new “Suspiria” features Guadagnino favorites Dakota Johnson and Tilda Swinton and is 152 minutes long (Argento’s film was 98 minutes). If Michael
Moore’s political satire “Fahrenheit 11/9” (Sept. 21, Briarcliff) recalls another, perhaps better film, it may be just that.
Also on tap are the liveaction Disney fantasy “The Nutcracker and the Four
Realms” (Nov. 2, Buena Vista), the “gay conversion” drama “Boy Erased” (Nov. 2, Focus) and an animated
“The Grinch” (Nov. 9, Universal), with the voice of Smaug himself, Benedict Cumberbatch, from the “Despicable Me” crowd. Busy bee Claire Foy trades her crown for Lisbeth Salander’s shorn head, tattoos and piercings in “The Girl
in the Spider’s Web” (Nov. 9, Sony).
Inevitably, we have to expect “Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald”
(Nov. 16, WB), with Eddie Redmayne, the man who stole Michael Keaton’s Oscar, Zoe Kravitz, Katherine Waterston, Jude Law and Johnny Depp. How about another Mark Wahlberg movie? It’s the comedy
“Instant Family” (Nov. 16, Paramount), with the similarly ubiquitous Rose Byrne as well as Octavia Spencer. Mark, take a vacation, buddy, for heaven’s sake.