The Unfettered Critic – by Paula Block Erdmann & Terry Erdmann
Autumn is the season we savor for cinema. Oh sure, summer has the fun “popcorn” movies that entice people to spend two-plus air conditioned hours consuming non-stop action. And yes, we’ll admit it: we partook. Which explains why we’re currently feeling bloated, glutted with “butter-flavored” characters and plot threads that didn’t satisfy.
And so we celebrate the season when studios bring out their prestige projects, starring Oscar-winning actors, directed by honest-to-goodness filmmakers, and written by—well, let’s just say they’re actually written, as opposed to constructed from bits and pieces cobbled together to draw the largest crowd of teenagers.
We’ve picked five titles that look promising to us from the roster of upcoming releases. You’ll find the trailers for them—and dozens of others—in your local cinema, or on Internet sites like iTunes Movie Trailers or moviefone.
“Gravity” with Sandra Bullock and George Clooney
1. Gravity (opens October 4)—When was the last time you saw a movie about space that didn’t feature flying saucers, murderous aliens, or guys with light sabers? Gravity, directed by Alfonso Cuarón, has none of these, and yet the trailers are so intense that you may find yourself hyperventilating at the prospect of experiencing the whole movie. A medical engineer (Sandra Bullock) on her first space mission and a veteran astronaut (George Clooney) are conducting a spacewalk when their shuttle is bombarded by debris from an exploding satellite. Their vehicle destroyed and all contact with Earth severed, the pair struggle to survive. This looks to be the most adrenalin-soaked film of the season; viewer James Cameron, director of box office champs Avatar and Titanic, says, “I think it’s the best space film ever done.”
2. The Fifth Estate (opens October 18)—With all the hard news and random trivia invading our brains every day, it’s difficult to remember events of even a few years ago. If the name Julian Assange no longer rings a bell, perhaps WikiLeaks, the controversial website he founded in order to reveal confidential government-held information to the masses, does. This dramatic thriller, directed by Bill Condon and starring Benedict Cumberbatch (star of BBC’s Sherlock) as Assange, should catch us up on the details.
3. August: Osage County (opens November 8)—There’s always a film that comes so front-loaded with talent that it seems destined to play big at the Oscars. This would be it for 2013. Based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning play, August: Osage County stars Meryl Streep and Julia Roberts, and is directed by John Wells (The West Wing). It’s one of those dysfunctional family pieces that typically pop up around the holidays, perhaps to make us realize how much better off we are with our own relations. There’s a ton of talent here, great writing and some dark laughs; just don’t expect a happily-ever-after ending.
4. Saving Mr. Banks (Opens December 13)—This promises to be the spoonful of sugar for the season, and we mean that in the most delightful way. Tom Hanks stars as Walt Disney, struggling mightily to convince author P.L. Travers (Emma Thompson) to grant him the rights to make a film of her popular work Mary Poppins. We love tales of “Hollywood behind-the-scenes” and the trailer to this is downright enchanting.
5. The Monuments Men (Opens December 18)—It’s probably enough to say this drama is co-written, produced and directed by George Clooney (who also stars, along with Matt Damon and Bill Murray) to incite interest. But the subject matter—an Allied group charged with saving works of art before their destruction by Hitler during WWII—is equally fascinating. Oceans 11 meets The A-Team in Nazi-infested Europe? Works for us.
Paula Block Erdmann & Terry Erdmann
Paula and Terry each have long impressive-sounding resumes implying that they are battle-scarred veterans of life within the Hollywood studios. They’re now happily relaxed into Jacksonville.
Posted October 13, 2013
Paula and Terry identify as writers, with an ever-increasing number of published works to support the supposition. They live a primarily pastoral life in the enchanted town of Jacksonville.