Fall Expectations Are High But Tempered

The Fall movie season is always eagerly expected because of the plethora of exciting options it usually provides. As the Toronto Film Festival unspools we think of all the movies we are eagerly expecting.

Been Waiting So Long We're Kinda Over It

Foxcatcher

We were excited a year ago. The raves came way back in May from Cannes. I guess we'll see it.

Cautiously Optimistic Because of Source Material

Into the Woods

Stephen Sondheim. Meryl Streep. Emily Blunt. Anna Kendrick. Christie Baranski. Billy Magnusson. Those songs. It would be our most anticipated but unfortunately we've seen Nine.

Career That Might Jumpstart

Jack O'Connell in '71

Starred Up. Unbroken. '71. Three major movie just might make a movie star. Two of them already seen with critical kudos, he's on his way.

Career Possibly Reinvigorated

Jake Gyllenhaal in Nightcrawler

The marketing has been aces. The campaign to tell us about his commitment and weight loss has already started. He's been on a roll of edgy interesting movies. We have faith.

Suspect Because of Terrible Trailer

Men, Women and Children

It seems it is trying to say something profound about the way we live now. Only that something looks and sounds very obvious. Hoping for the best but our gut says it's a turkey.

Suspect Because Tim Burton Has Been Lost For Years

Big Eyes 

Maybe Amy Adams will save it. Hoping for the best.

Known Entity But Still Eagerly Awaited

The Imitation Game 

We've seen it. It's fantastic. We love Benedict Cumberbatch in it. Who knew we'd ever say those words? We can't wait to see it again. Mostly we can't wait to discuss it over and over. The conversations are going to be good.

Meh Feel We've Seen Before

The Equalizer 

It looks like every other Denzel movie. Get that Fences adaptation going. And hire Viola Davis as your co-star.

Most Eagerly Awaited

Birdman 

The stellar reviews. Throwing about the "M" word. As in "masterpiece". We can't contain ourselves.

Wish It Was Opening This Fall

Carol

Not many movies starring women. This would've been the ultimate with some of our best actresses. As we mentioned before this might be our most anticipated movie ever.

What are you most excited about this Fall? What do you think of the movies we've mentioned? Agree? Disagree? Tell all in the comments.

A Birdman walks Into the Woods

Blunt with James Corden in Into the Woods

These two movies have nothing in common except they both dropped trailers today. And they star two actresses we are very fond of around these parts and who we think have yet to show their best. We are talking about charm machines Emily Blunt and Emma Stone.

Blunt is first up. We fell in love hard after The Devil Wears Prada (2006). Eight years later that remains our favorite performance of hers. Yes she was a charismatic and believable action star just this summer in Edge of Tomorrow (2014). But no movie has yet built on that promise in Prada. She's the number #1 reason we are excited about Into the Woods (2014). And that's a tall order since we consider Sondheim and Streep Gods. She's not in much of this teaser trailer, but we remain optimistic since The Baker's Wife is a plum part.



And now it's time for another lovely lady, Emma Stone.

Love this shot of Stone in Birdman

Stone has also not delivered on the promise of her early work in Easy A (2010). But at least she has become a global superstar thanks to the Spiderman reboot. She even made us watch those 2 movies just to see her. Stone is the type of actress whose snappy line delivery, warmth and chemistry with co-stars (she sizzles opposite Andrew Garfield) makes us wish Billy Wilder was still alive. Give us that The Apartment (1960) remake we don't need but would love if it starred Stone.

We are hoping her 1-2-3 punch of collaborating with Woody Allen, Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu and Cameron Crowe will gave her the showcase she deserves. Well #1 didn't quite work out. While she was charming and got her own way with Allen's lines in Magic in the Moonlight (2014), the movie was minor Allen at best. Still there's his next movie in 12 more months. #3 was postponed to next year. So Mr. Inarritu our hopes are on your very capable shoulders.

Below is the second trailer from Birdman  and Stone gets to yell at Michael Keaton. Reportedly she's playing his recovering addict daughter. So maybe she gets to show range? Maybe she even gets her first Oscar nod? Hopes are high over here.




We have faith in both Blunt and Stone. Do you? Are you looking forward to these movies? What did you think of the trailers? Tell all in the comments.

Most Anticipated : Carol

Blanchett as Carol

When reading The Price of Salt, the Patricia Highsmith novel on which this film is based, I imagined Carol as Marlene Dietrich if she were a 50s New York housewife. That is to say Cate Blanchett is perfect casting.

Pedigree

Todd Haynes re-teams with his I'm Not There star Cate Blanchett and enlists Lisabeth Salander herself, Rooney Mara, to film Highsmith's cult lesbian romance. TV stars turned prestige supporting players Sarah Paulson and Kyle Chandler lend support. Behind the camera it's a full on Far From Heaven reunion with lenser Ed Lachman and costume designer Sandy Powell. 

What's It About

Set in New York in the early 1950s the movie will tell the story of Therese Belivet (Mara) a department store assistant and her infatuation and eventual romance with the mysterious and beautiful Carol Aird (Blanchett). We can also think of it as a love quartet since the story involves Carol's husband (Chandler) who she's trying to divorce while keeping custody of their daughter, and her best friend and ex (Paulson). 

Why I'm Excited

Any movie with Blanchett is a most anticipated event around these parts. That she is working with Haynes again for which she gave one of her most astonishing performances is reason to cheer. That Haynes is working again in the 1950s milieu that he explored so well before in Far From Heaven raises the anticipation to fever pitch. That it is an adaptation of Highsmith's beautiful and moving novel, which defied conventions and stereotypes about LGBT stories and characters early on, raises our expectations to pure joy and giddiness.

Really?

Nothing. This might be my most anticipated movie EVER!

Most Anticipated : Macbeth

Will cinema screens combust from the heat off the lethal combination of Fassy and Marion coming at each other? That is the question, my friends.

Pedigree

Shakespeare needs no introduction and I can't remember if there was ever a major film adaptation of his Scottish play. Michael Fassbender, coming off his first Oscar nomination for 12 Years A Slave,  and Marion Cotillard, coming off two transcendent performances in Rust and Bone and The Immigrant, are the leads with Snowtown's Justin Kurzel directing. The supporting cast includes David Thewlis, Paddy Considine and The Great Gatsby standout Elizabeth Debicki.

What's It About
You know it. Ambition gone astray. Bravado run amok. And out out damn spot. It's a straight adaptation of the play set in 11th century Scotland with original Shakespearean language. 

Why I'm Excited
Snowtown was such a visceral punch to the gut. A excellent film debut for Kurzel that makes him the perfect choice to bring this to the screen. Fassbender is arguably the most exciting actor working today. Cotillard is at the top of her game with her recent performances - we can all try to forget the Talia al Ghul/Miranda Tate debacle. Plus I'm so excited to see where Debicki's career will go, based on evidence provided so far she has the talent and screen presence to become the next ACTRESS from down under to rule our screens.

Fassbender on set (JustJared)

Really?

Apparently Cotillard is keeping her French accent which is a strange choice for "the Scottish play". However if it means that this frees her to create a believable, emotional performance it might be a stroke of genius. 

There has never been an entirely successful straight adaptation of the Bard so I'm trying to temper my expectations. The only recent one that I liked was Baz Luhrman's Romeo and Juliet and that was a whole new interpretation. 

Most Anticipated : Far From the Madding Crowd

Mulligan and Schoenaerts

After Blanchett and Chastain, it is time to consider what's next for another actress we admire, Carey Mulligan.

Pedigree

Celebrated Danish director Thomas Vinterberg has assembled a pretty good European cast to surround Mulligan; Matthias Schoenaerts, Michael Sheen, Tom Sturridge and Juno Temple. Novelist and screenwriter David Nicholls of One Day fame wrote the adaptation from Thomas Hardy's novel. They shot on location in Dorset, England preserving the novel's original setting.

What's It About
An adaptation of Hardy's novel about an independent young woman Bathsheba Everdene (Mulligan) in 1750s England and the three men courting her. The handsome rascal who's clearly trouble (Sturridge), the older dependable but slightly crazy and depressed guy (Sheen) and her neighbour who becomes her employee, who's always around when needed and clearly the one she should choose (Schoenaerts). The novel is considered by some to be an early example of feminist literature. 

Why I'm Excited

Mulligan appeared in two of my favorite 2013 films The Great Gatsby and Inside Llewyn Davis. She was exceptional and distinctive in both showing a lot of range. And the woman can do wonders with her voice, controlling it to convey a million emotions. If Marion Cotillard's face launches a thousand differing and moving emotions; Mulligan's voice tells our hearts exactly what she's feeling at any time. 

Schoenaerts' sexy alive performance in Rust and Bone finally made me understand what people mean when they say Brando-esque. Plus the man is SEXY and of all his many upcoming movies this promises to be the one where he can at his broodiest, sexiest self. 

Vinterberg with his DP Charlotte Bruus during filming 

Really?

I guess I could quibble with Temple's casting since she has never impressed me or say that Sturridge is an unknown factor since I don't remember seeing him in anything. But who am I kidding? The combination of Mulligan, Schoenaerts and Vinterberg is more than enough to get me giddy with excitement. 60s purists might complain Julie Christie already played Bathsheba alongside Alan Bates, Peter Finch and Terrence Stamp but I'm excited for this new adaptation.

Most Anticipated : Miss Julie

Chastain as Julie

Yesterday we talked about Carol, today is Miss Julie's turn. Another woman centered movie that has me so excited with anticipation.

Pedigree
Liv Ullmann directs Jessica Chastain in a Strindberg adaptation. Just wow, a legit screen goddess directing one of the most exciting current actors in a movie adaptation of a classic play. Ullmann needs no introduction; Chastain can go from The Help to Zero Dark Thirty within a year so you know she's the definition of range. And the play is considered a classic. Colin Farrell and  Samantha Morton co-star.

What's It About
A tale fraught with sex, class struggle and power dynamics between the sexes. The titular character (Chastain) is drawn to a well travelled and well read servant (Farrell) in her father's household. That servant's fiance (Morton) is also part of the plot.


Why I'm Excited
Ullmann's collaboration with Cate Blanchett to interpret a classic - A Streetcar Named Desire - was a theatrical marvel. This is on film but still it's a collaboration worth getting excited about. Also Morton, who was so shafted in Her, is in this and it's been a while since we've seen this wonderful actor on screen.

Chastain with Farrell

Really?
Collin Farrell's casting gives me pause. He has never excited me on screen. In fact he was recently terrible in Saving Mr Banks. The movie was so much better when I watched a second time and fast forwarded through all his scenes. Still let's hope Chastain excites him and he rises to her level.

First Pictures of Cate as Carol

My most anticipated film in a long time is Carol; based on a Patricia Highsmith novel, directed by Todd Haynes and starring Cate the Great. It's a gay man's heaven : ACTRESS, queer writer and director, an impossible forbidden love story. It also has a killer supporting cast with Rooney Mara, Sarah Paulson and Kyle Chandler. All the ingredients that make me giddy and excited.

Here are the first pictures from the first day of shooting. And we will give the movie the "most anticipated" treatment soon.

Cate

Sandy Powell is serving some 50s coat realness

Even her back looks alluring.......

Mara and Paulson