November movies

A couple cartoons, a big Marvel film, the return to the world of Harry Potter (kind of) and plenty of films vying for an Oscar. It’s November people, enjoy the Turkey. 

People with shaved heads teach a man impossible skills while he learns about an alternate reality. If I were to ignore everything that makes The Matrix important I suppose that’s how I could explain it. The same goes for Doctor Strange. When a terrible car accident threatens to ruin Dr. Stephen Strange’s career he seeks help, what he finds is a bald Tilda Swinton who teaches him how to travel between dimensions and use magic. If this happened when I went to the doctor, I’d go to the doctor more often. His adventures catch the attention of the evil Mads Mikkelsen. Well, in this he’s evil. He’s a talented actor so he can be charming, terrifying, charmingly terrifying and terrifyingly charming. That takes skill. In this I’m pretty sure he’s just terrifying, he’s got this weird eye thing going on (which is actually a running theme in many of his movies). This film takes place in the ever expanding Marvel Cinematic Universe so while I’m not sure that we’ll see any member of the Avengers there might be a reference made, after all Steven Strange was mentioned in a throwaway line in Captain America: The Winter Soldier so they’ve been building up to this.

Those spiky haired, smiling Trolls get a movie of their own from the creators of Shrek. It’s got Justin Timberlake and plenty of other names attached to it. Expect some singing and dancing and a cute kid friendly story about Trolls fending off the creatures that are trying to eat them. Yup, that’s the story. I love these kids films that are cute and fluffy but have fallen victim to what I call the Toy Story 3 effect where we all know everything is going to be all right but the story needs more heft so let’s put toys in mortal danger! 

You might know that there’s a movie called Hacksaw Ridge coming out. You might know that it’s about a soldier who refused to use hold a weapon while serving as a medical officer during battle. What you might not know is that it’s directed by Mel Gibson. That’s because the studios recognize that Mel Gibson is a talented director but some people are far from ready to forgive him (I could go on a political rant about who many people are willing to forgive but I’ll hold off) so they are completely leaving his name out of promotional material. They are saying that it’s from the director of Braveheart and Passion of the Christ so they’re not completely burying him and maybe because it’s being released in November the studio feels that this war film is a possible Oscar contender. 

Jeff Nichols first film was in 2007 and that’s recent enough for me to consider him one of my favorite new directors. He got a good amount of recognition after Mud was an integral part in the McConaissance but instead of taking that fame and making a big budget film he seems to be sticking with the smaller films. His next movie was a sci-fi story called Midnight Special about a young boy who cult members and government agents are searching for, I liked it a lot. His newest one is called Loving. It’s the true story about Richard and Mildred Loving, an interracial couple who were jailed in 1958 Virginia when they were arrested for getting married. Their arrest led to a Supreme Court decision 9 years later that overturned the Virginia law stating that interracial marriages were illegal. That’s less than 50 years ago. I expect this to get several Oscar nominations like lead actor, lead actress and director. 

Ang Lee is one of the more prominent directors working today, having won two Oscars for directing, and yet somehow I haven’t seen any of his movies. His more dramatic movies like Brokeback Mountain, The Ice Storm and Sense and Sensibility wouldn’t be found on any of my ‘recommended for you’ lists but I don’t get how I haven’t seen Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Hulk or Taking Woodstock, which until right now I didn’t know he directed. His most recent film Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk, does peak my interest though. Billy is a young soldier being honored during a football game for his role in an Iraq battle. The film focuses on him preparing for the event while he recalls the events on the day that made him a hero and we find out what really happened that day. It’s got quite the eclectic cast with Kristen Stewart, Chris Tucker, Vin Diesel and Steve Martin. Apparently it will be shown in 120 frames per second, which is a film term I am generally unfamiliar with but it is a new, clearer way to show films. Why Lee decided to do this is beyond me but come awards season we’ll see how everyone feels about it because early reviews are middling. 

Get happy muggles because we’re going back to the magical world of Harry Potter! Minus Potter and all other characters we’ve come to love. So the downside is we won’t see anyone we’re familiar with, the upside is they can’t pull a Phantom Menace and anger people for decades to come. This is based on the book within the Potter books Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them and takes place 70 years before Harry reads said book in his first year at Hogwarts. Well I’m sure Hermione read it, Harry skimmed it and Ron forgot about it. All of these references are lost on anyone unfamiliar with the series. The film focuses on the books writer Newt Scamander and his adventures in New York. Scamander will be portrayed by Eddie Redmayne who’s on a hot streak with Oscar nominations so while this might not get him another nominations I’m sure it will be fun. 

When Moana, the only daughter in a family of navigators, steps up to save her family she gets the help from the demi-god Maui. This is the latest animated Disney film that should be a big hit because there’s a lot of great people at the helm. On the writing team is the writer of Zootopia, a couple writers of Aladdin and my wife and I’s favorite filmmaker Taika Waititi. Then you got Dwayne Johnson as the voice of the demi-god and Alan Tudyk as a rooster. To top it all of the Hamilton’s Lin-Manuel Miranda is doing the music. That’s a lot of talent going on there. 

Thirteen years ago Billy Bob Thornton surprised us all with his turn as Santa Claus because it was a drunk, foul mouthed, criminal, mall Santa looking to rob convenient stores and the film was called Bad Santa. Now all these years later not much has changed as he is back in Bad Santa 2 and is looking to knockoff a Chicago charity. A few other folks from the first have returned with the addition of Christina Hendricks and Kathy Bates who can do drama and comedy much like Thornton so he’s in good company. Expect plenty of offensive hilariousness.

Brad Pitt might want some of the attention taken off of him in the aftermath of his split from Angelina but that’s not going to happen with a new romantic war thriller coming out. Allied is about Pitt and Marion Cotillard as spies from America and France, respectively. They meet while on a mission in North Africa and attempt to continue a relationship in London but they’re spies and there’s a war going on so it’s going to be complicated. This is directed by Robert Zemeckis, who’s been making more adult oriented films recently after making a string of motion capture films, and written by Steven Knight, creator of Peaky Blinders and other thrilling dramas like Locke and Eastern Promises.

Twenty years ago aliens secretly invaded earth and only one radio operator could save the day! This is what I think the plot to Charlie Sheens 1996 The Arrival was about, it’s been a long time since I’ve seen it. I remember liking the ending. Unfortunately the title and the fact that it’s about aliens are the only real connection to Arrival. The new film from Denis Villeneuve, director of dark crime-dramas like Prisoners and Sicario, stars Amy Adams as a linguist who is tasked by the government to attempt to communicate with aliens when their ships land all over earth. This probably will not be a friendly E.T. or a terrifying Alien but a heady drama about survival of the human race that also has aliens in it. Look for this one to get a few Oscar nominations.

Warren Beatty was acting pretty consistently from the late ‘50s to the late 70’s then between the 80’s and 90’s he only appeared in 7 movies and his portrayal of Howard Hughes in Rules Don’t Apply will mark his return to film after a 15 year absence from the big screen. When a devout Baptist aspiring actress, past Snow White Lily Collins, and a devout Methodist engaged limo driver, future Han Solo Alden Ehrenreich, are working under the eccentric Howard Hughes in the late 50’s things are going to get interesting and I imagine this is the kind of project Beatty had been waiting for to bring him out of retirement. He’s reportedly been trying to get a Hughes biopic off the ground since the 70’s so I imagine there’s a lot of heart in this film as he wrote and directed it. It’s an interesting story and it has a loaded cast so this will get some Oscar consideration I’m sure.