FALL PREVIEW
With summer sequels behind us, a dozen films in particular look likely to class up the box office.
Conventional movie wisdom says summer is for superheroes and sequels, reboots and R-rated comedies— but come September, it’s time for the potential classics, the Oscar contenders, “grown-up” movies.
Conventional movie wisdom is pretty, pretty, pretty wise.
In order of Chicago release date, a dozen movies pinging my moviegoing radar:
1. ‘Black Mass’ (Sept. 18)
Johnny Depp is the master of the wild-costumed, crazy-makeup, over-the-top performance, but my favorite Depp movies are the ones in which he concentrates more on authenticity than eyeliner (“Blow,” “Donnie Brasco,” “Finding Neverland”). In “Black Mass,” Depp plays Whitey Bulger, the notorious Boston mobster turned FBI informant who disappeared in the 1990s and was at large for 16 years. Director Scott Cooper helmed the dark and quietly powerful crime thriller “Out of the Furnace,” one of my favorite overlooked movies of the last few years.
2. ‘Sicario’ (Sept. 25)
I’ve seen this one and I’ll hold off until my full review to tell you why it’s one of the most memorable films of this decade. Suffice to say Denis Villeneuve’s uncompromising, intense, violent and morally ambiguous take on the war on drugs is perhaps the best movie of its kind since Steven Soderbergh’s “Traffic” in 2000. Benicio del Toro won best supporting actor for his work in that film, and his performance here is equally brilliant. Emily Blunt and Josh Brolin also deliver nomination-worthy work.
3. ‘Legend’ (Oct. 2)
Another true crime story, starring one of the best actors in the world, Tom Hardy, in a dual role as Ronald and Reginald Kray, twin brothers who ruled organized crime in London in the 1950s and 1960s. “Legend” is directed and co-written by Brian Helgeland, who won the Oscar for his “L.A. Confidential” screenplay. Emily Browning, Paul Bettany, Chazz Palminteri, Tara Fitzgerald and David Thewlis co-star.
4. ‘The Martian’ (Oct. 2)
For 20 years, Matt Damon has been one of the most versatile actors in the business, handing heavy drama (“The Departed,” “Saving