There are also new films from old hands Oliver Stone (Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps), Joel and Ethan Coen (a True Grit redo), and Woody Allen (You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger), while a couple of actors go behind the camera, with Ben Affleck's The Town and Philip Seymour Hoffman's Jack Goes Boating.
Herewith a baker's dozen of the anticipated and the buzzed-about, the likely hits and promising possibilities making their way to theater marquees between now and year's end:
– Steven Rea and Carrie Rickey, Inquirer movie critics
The Town In this white-knuckle thriller directed by and starring Ben Affleck, he's a bank robber masked as a ghoul-faced nun who falls for his hostage (Rebecca Hall). While federal agent Jon Hamm tries to connect Affleck and accomplice Jeremy Renner to the crime, Renner tries to disconnect Affleck from the woman who could finger them. (Friday)
- C.R.
Never Let Me Go From Kazuo Ishiguro's novel about three fast friends at a mysterious English boarding school where the headmistress takes exceptional interest in her students' health and fitness. With Keira Knightley, Carey Mulligan, and Andrew Garfield. (Sept. 24)
- S.R.
The Social Network Harvard, 2003, and a bunch of dorm-room brainiacs sit around dreaming up Facebook. David Fincher directs, based on Ben Mezrich's The Accidental Billionaires, with Jesse Eisenberg as cofounder/CEO Mark Zuckerberg. The real Zuckerberg is said to be none too pleased. And how many friends do you have? (Oct. 1)
- S.R.
Hereafter Clint Eastwood's supernatural triptych follows three converging plotlines about characters whose lives are redefined by death. Matt Damon is a psychic who can communicate with the dead, Cecile de France is a French journalist who barely survives the 2004 tsunami, and the McLaren twins, Frankie and George, are London boys at the time of the 2005 London subway bombings. Screenplay by Peter Morgan (The Queen). (Oct. 22)
- C.R.
Morning Glory A floundering network morning show gets a new producer (Rachel McAdams) and a surly old-school news anchorman (Harrison Ford) in this comedy from the screenwriter of The Devil Wears Prada and the director of Notting Hill. Diane Keaton stars as the daffy coanchor who rubs Ford's Dan Rather-esque character the wrong way. (Nov. 12)
- S.R.
Unstoppable After their collaboration on The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3, Denzel Washington reboards director Tony Scott's runaway train in this fact-based thriller about a veteran railroad engineer trying to stop a freight loaded with toxic chemicals from crashing in an Ohio town. (Nov. 12)
- C.R.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 The not-so-young Chosen One faces off against dastardly immortal Lord Voldemort in the first installment of the two-part finale (second: July 2011), bringing to conclusion the epic - and epically lucrative - film series adapted from J.K. Rowling's seven books. (Nov. 19) - S.R.
Black Swan The blogosphere is on fire with advance reports that Darren Aronofsky's psychological thriller set in the competitive world of ballet - and starring Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis as the ballerinas angling for the lead in Swan Lake - features a romantic scene between the cutie beauties. (Dec. 17)
- C.R.
How Do You Know Yes, that's Rittenhouse Square that Jack Nicholson and Paul Rudd are ambling around in the trailer for James L. Brooks' comedy, a love-triangle thing with Rudd, Reese Witherspoon, and Owen Wilson at the respective vertices. Much of it was shot in Philly, but the action is set mostly in D.C. (Dec. 17)
- S.R.
Tron: Legacy Lucky for the cultists who loved Tron, the visionary 1982 film that introduced moviegoers to virtual reality, Jeff Bridges reprises his role as the computer programmer sucked into the mainframe where he fights for his life, this time alongside his virtual son, Garrett Hedlund. (Dec. 17) - C.R.
Little Fockers Robert De Niro and Ben Stiller go nose-to-nose as sparring father-in-law and son-in-law in the second sequel in the antic Meet the Parents franchise. Greg Focker and his wife now have 5-year-old twins to deal with, and still have Dustin Hoffman and Barbra Streisand around reprising their roles as the senior Fockers. (Dec. 22)
- S.R.
True Grit That fabulous Bridges boy, Jeff, also stars in the Coen Brothers' rethink of the Western about inebriated, one-eyed Marshal Rooster Cogburn (the role that won John Wayne his Oscar) and the young girl (Hailee Steinfeld) who hires him to find her father's murderer. Also with Matt Damon and Josh Brolin. (Dec. 25)
- C.R.
Blue Valentine Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams play a married couple working through difficult times in this well-received Sundance indie. Shot in Scranton, Wayne, and King of Prussia. (Dec. 31)
- S.R.
Ten more films for fall
Easy A High schooler Emma Stone pretends to lose her virginity - and helps other teens do the same. (Friday)
Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps A stockbroker (Shia LaBeouf) gets embroiled with disgraced financier Gordon Gekko (Michael Douglas) and engaged to his daughter (Carey Mulligan). (Sept. 24)
It's Kind of a Funny Story The team behind Sugar and Half Nelson adapts Ned Vizzini's novel about a teenager struggling with depression - and love. (Oct. 8)
Stone Robert De Niro and Edward Norton act their eyeballs out in this somber drama about a soulless prison staffer nearing retirement and a convict looking for early parole. (Oct. 22)
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest Computer hacker Lisbeth Salander (Noomi Rapace) is tried for murder in the conclusion of the Dragon Tattoo trilogy. (Oct. 29)
127 Hours James Franco stars as real-life rock climber Aron Ralston, who had to amputate his arm to save his life, in director Danny Boyle's follow-up to Slumdog Millionaire. No Bollywood dance numbers here. (Nov. 12)
Monsters Lots of festival buzz for this low-budget British sci-fi about alien life-forms trying to cross the border from Mexico into the States. Has the governor of Arizona heard about this? (Nov. 12)
The Fighter Mark Wahlberg is pro boxer "Irish" Micky Ward and Christian Bale is his older sib Dickie Eklund in David O. Russell's punchy comedy-drama. (Dec. 10)
The Tempest Helen Mirren as the shipwrecked Prospero in Julie Taymor's Shakespeare, with Djimon Hounsou and Russell Brand. (Dec. 10)
Country Strong Gwyneth Paltrow is a country thrush on a post-rehab comeback tour. (Dec. 22)
