David Fincher’s “Gone Girl,” which opens in theaters Friday, including Westwood’s Regency Village Theatre, is the first major award contender of the fall season. Fincher’s dramatic retelling of Gillian Flynn’s best-selling novel ushers in a time of cinematic prosperity and pop culture bliss – at least, for the next three months or so. The following is a preview of what other big projects the theaters have to offer this fall quarter.
“The Judge”
Warner Bros.
Oct. 10
Robert Downey, Jr. is a complicated man whose current career state can be narrowed down to one note: He’s a veritable moneymaker. Whether the charismatic superhero or obnoxious detective, Downey, Jr. always hits it home. Also featuring Robert Duvall as his estranged father, a judge blamed for murder, and the always menacing Billy Bob Thornton as his courtroom opposition, “The Judge” is prime acting Oscar fodder. Whether it comes out as such will come down to director David Dobkin, whose experience with comedies such as “Wedding Crashers” and “Shanghai Knights” may put an interesting spin on this dramatic tale.
“Fury”
Columbia Pictures
Oct. 17
Unbeknownst to many, Brad Pitt won both an Oscar and an Emmy in the last year – for producing “12 Years a Slave” and “The Normal Heart.” What that says most in terms of “Fury,” a historical look at a World War II tank battalion that receives an important mission toward the end of the war, is two things: Pitt is on a roll, and “Fury” is going to be intensely dramatic. Joining Pitt on his romp through mid-century Germany are Shia LaBeouf and Logan Lerman, who are both interesting characters in their own right. If “Fury” dials up the war-torn setting and treads the psychological themes carefully, it could be an early fall winner.
“Interstellar”
Paramount Pictures
Nov. 7
Like “Gravity” last year, “Interstellar” appears to verge on the brink of cinematic chaos, the kind of thing that Stanley Kubrick loved and mastered. With a mysterious plot, top-notch cast, including Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, Jessica Chastain and Michael Caine, a pint of somberness and a truckload of dazzling visual effects, there is no reason not to see “Interstellar.” In fact, everyone might be convinced to see it already. But the finishing touch is director Christopher Nolan, a man whose works are so gritty, and often majestic, that they demand to be noticed. “Interstellar” is this year’s IMAX event, and it certainly won’t go without an otherworldly bang come mid-quarter.
“The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1”
Lionsgate
Nov. 21
The first “The Hunger Games” film and its sequel “Catching Fire” are not kids’ films by any means. That can be garnered from the general plotline of children killing other children for sport and fascist amusement. That being said, “Mockingjay – Part 1” makes them look like kids’ movies, as Panem enters a wartime revolution that is as dark and brutal as it gets. With Jennifer Lawrence returning as society’s unwilling hope, Katniss Everdeen, doom is on the way, assured by the return of “Catching Fire” director Francis Lawrence. The cast of “Mockingjay – Part 1,” which includes Julianne Moore and the late Philip Seymour Hoffman, guarantees a show to remember.
“Horrible Bosses 2”
Warner Bros.
Nov. 26
Surprisingly enough, the first “Horrible Bosses” wasn’t very horrible at all; in fact, it made box office rounds when it released in 2011. “Horrible Bosses 2,” then, has a high standard to meet. Jason Sudeikis, Jason Bateman and Charlie Day all return as newly partnered entrepreneurs whose new organization’s product, the Shower Buddy, is ripped off by two appropriately horrible investors, played by Chris Pine and Christoph Waltz. Naturally, kidnapping ensues. “Horrible Bosses 2” will need to overcome a lot to not become “The Hangover Part II”-esque, a comedy sequel that treads along without feeling or inspiration. Luckily, Kevin Spacey, Jennifer Aniston and Jamie Foxx also return to help make that transition.
“The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies”
Warner Bros.
Dec. 17
After 13 years, Peter Jackson’s wild ride through J.R.R. Tolkien’s legacy of novels is finally coming to a close. Some would argue that said ride was too much to handle – after all, Jackson decided to divide the 95,000-word “The Hobbit” from two films into a trilogy, as opposed to the one-film adaptation of 185,000-word “The Fellowship of the Ring.” Nonetheless, “The Hobbit” series so far has been sustainably amusing, a trip through dwarf havens and troll forests that, although extensive, provides for wondrously beautiful theatrical entertainment. “The Battle of the Five Armies,” previously subtitled the less violent-sounding “There and Back Again,” should prove to be the most intense of the three, as a hopefully fitting conclusion to the legend.