As we return to school and continue to roast under the hot Virginia sun, a place of solace for a quiet weekend night will be the beautifully air-conditioned, dark rooms of the movie theater. This fall season comes accompanied with a bevy of wonderful cinematic options that vary from exhilarating action-thrillers and indie romances to Academy favorites and Hollywood's dregs.
September starts with the dumping ground that is Labor Day Weekend. Traditionally known for its terrible films, Labor Day weekend will be no different this year, boasting such releases as Shark Night 3D and Mexican comedy Saving Private Perez. Thankfully, the rest of the month makes up lost ground with several highly anticipated films. Academy-award winning director Steven Soderbergh's Contagion, which stars Matt Damon, Kate Winslet and Jude Law, hits theaters Sept. 9 along with Warrior, which Tom Hardy fans have been patiently awaiting. If you have to pick one of the two, I would choose Warrior, which is lining up to be an Mixed Martial Arts version of the popular 2004 hockey film Miracle, which shouldn't be a big surprise since they share the same director, Gavin O'Connor.
The two weeks in the middle of September show some promise with the adrenaline-induced action film Drive, starring Ryan Gosling, and Brad Pitt's new movie Moneyball, which features fan favorite Jonah Hill. I can't help but address Taylor Lautner's new film Abduction, which also comes out in mid-September. Hordes of teenage girls (and older women) will flock to theaters to see this young actor flex his muscles in his new role. Will Lautner break out of his pretty boy persona and surprise audiences? Judging by the trailer, the answer is no, but we will have to wait and see.
October plays host to a large number of interesting films, some of which I think will surprise audiences and critics alike. At the beginning of the month, everyone's eyes will be on George Clooney's latest directorial effort, The Ides of March. A drama that focuses on the grittiness of the American political campaign trail, Ides has an absolutely amazing cast that includes Clooney, Gosling, Phillip Seymour Hoffman and more.
The Ides of March is not the only October release with a stacked cast. Owen Wilson, Jack Black and Steve Martin team up in the comedy The Big Year, and the Wall Street drama Margin Call has more notable actors than I can fit into this article. Two October films that I hope will surprise everyone are Wanderlust and Like Crazy. In Wanderlust, Paul Rudd and Jennifer Aniston play a couple who decide to rediscover themselves by joining a commune. Aniston's role is very different from her past characters and hopefully will prove to be hilarious. Although I do not usually promote limited releases for the simple fact that they are hard to find, Like Crazy is worth talking about. This romance, which stars Anton Yelchin and Jennifer Lawrence, plays out less like sappy love stories and more like something out of everyday life. As the winner of the 2011 Sundance Festival's Grand Jury Prize, Like Crazy may be this year's hidden gem.
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