It was a bummer summer for movies. The Fall Guy and Furiosa delivered
everything a fun summer diversion should be, but so much of the rest were
half-hearted imitations of better things. Let's hope the holiday season is
different.

November 1 - Here

Robert Zemeckis, Tom Hanks, and Robin Wright reunite for this
multi-generational story set in a single location as it and its inhabitants
change throughout the years. If it's not too facile or generic in portraying
human relationships, this could be terrific. My worry is that this film has
already been done better: A Ghost Story (2017), despite its paranormal
flavor, is essentially this at its core. Either Here will come off like
a sappier, clumsier alternative, or it will complete one heck of a double
feature.

November 1 - Juror #2

Clint Eastwood directs this courtroom thriller that, by its title, evokes
memories of the stone cold classic 12 Angry Men. But the movies defy
comparison beyond sharing the trope of a lone juror to explore a moral dilemma.
Eastwood is at his prime when he's exploring characters wrestling with the
low points of life, and while his recent work has been more muted than when he
was at the top of his game -- you know, back when he was in his eighties --
this film has comeback potential.

November 1 - A Real Pain

Jesse Eisenberg (who also wrote and directed this) hits the road with Kieran
Culkin on a trip through Poland to honor their grandmother. Inevitably,
old family history unearths itself, and the characters must work through it.
The formula is familiar but uninformative: this movie sinks or swims based
on the specifics of its characters and how well the movie brings them to life.

November 1 - Blitz

Londoners negotiate the chaos of the blitz. Saoirse Ronan, not for the first
time, looks like she spilled directly out of history to appear in this.

November 1 - Lost On a Mountain In Maine

If you're from Maine, chances are you know about the ubiquitous book Lost On a
Mountain In Maine, even if you've never read it. Chances are you know that
it's by and about Donn Fendler, who at age 12 became lost for 9 days on Mount
Katahdin, Maine's tallest mountain. He credits his survival to God, the
power of prayer, and his experience as a Boy Scout. This was back in 1939,
but the story became such a part of Maine history that Governor LePage
declared the 75th anniversary of his rescue "Donn Fendler Day" in 2014.

This film, produced by Sylvester Stallone of all people, adapts the book, which
was published in 1978 and became something of a classic.

November 15 - Red One

Santa Claus gets kidnapped, and Dwayne Johnson, in charge of North Pole
security, has to go get him back. These big budget Christmas comedies always
sound so unappealing -- call me a grinch, I guess -- that I'm always shocked
when one of them works. I think the last one was Elf?

November 22 - Gladiator II

Ridley Scott returns to his inexplicably enduring favorite. Is it just me,
or is it really weird that it's called "Gladator II" and not something like
"Gladiator: The Arena Calls" or whatever? I didn't think period pieces were
allowed to have numbered sequels, but maybe it's appropriate that a Roman epic
makes use of roman numerals.

November 22 - Wicked

The popular stage musical gets a film adaptation, split into two parts.
Part two comes a year later.

November 22 - Armor

An armored truck guard (Sylvester Stallone) and his son face off with robbers
on a bridge. Or something? There's no way this is good.

November 27 - Moana 2

What's that? A popular movie without a sequel? Somebody get on that!

November 27 - September 5

It's unlikely that this fifth episode in the franchise will improve upon the
original, by Earth, Wind, and Fire.

Ha ha, okay, fine. Actually this is about a sports broadcasting crew that
unexpectedly finds itself covering the 1972 Munich Olympics hostage crisis,
covered from a different perspective by Spielberg's film Munich. This film
is likely as tough a watch as that one was, given the horrible and tragic
events of that day, but if the trailer is anything to go by they did a
fantastic job with it. The evocation of the 70s is uncanny.

December 6 - The Return

Ralph Fiennes stars as Odysseus, returning home after 20 years away. This
film covers only the end of The Odyssey, which I always did think warranted
its own story rather than being glossed over as the epilogue to Odysseus'
more famous and fantastical journeys throughout the Mediterranean Sea.

December 13 - The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim

Animated film set in Middle Earth. I was mildly interested in this when I
first heard about it. Alas, the recent expansions to this world have
made Middle Earth less special, however, and the trailer for this film looks
so very generic.

December 13 - Kraven the Hunter

Solo villain comic book adaptations must be cheaper to produce than when you
have their more famous hero counterparts involved. This much-delayed film
miiiight finally get a release here?

December 20 - The Count of Monte-Cristo

This high budget French adaptation of the literary classic has gotten
outstanding early praise from people who have already seen it in other
countries. Even those who love the book and must acknowledge the film's
liberties (which are, in the end, perhaps less than in most other adaptations)
seem to love it.

I assume this was greenlighted in the wake of the recent big budget, two-part
French adpatation of The Three Musketeers. That was lush and fun, though not
quite the unequivocal success I had hoped for, but this one just might be.

January 17 - Wolf Man

The director's previous film, The Invisible Man, was a very good fresh take
on the Invisible Man idea. For that reason alone, I'm wondering what he can
do with the Wolf Man. The trailer, alas, suggests a much lesser film, but
you never know.

January 17 - Paddington In Peru

It's surprising how long it took to make a third Paddington film, given that
the first two were so good as to put all other "live-ish action" children's
adpatations to shame. The writers and director are different, however, with
the original team only having contributed the story, so proceed with caution.