With summer blockbuster season behind us, the fall’s offerings of entertaining films look ever more promising. A mix of potential blockbusters and Oscar winners, here are 10 films worth looking out for as school ramps up again.
Riddick- Vin Diesel returns as the interstellar fugitive, facing off against alien creatures and a gang of bounty hunters. After “Chronicles of Riddick,” look for this third entry to return to the horror roots of “Pitch Black.”
Prisoners- This tense crime thriller sees Hugh Jackman and Jake Gyllenhaal as a father and detective, investigating a case of two missing girls from inside and outside the law.
Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs 2- Everyone’s favorite characters from the first film return for another go round, where inventor Flint Lockwood learns his food machine now makes food/animal hybrids, like shrimpanzees and tacodiles. Those names alone make me hungry for this sequel.
Don Jon- Joseph Gordon Levitt’s star continues to rise as he takes on acting, writing and directing, in his debut film as a porn addict who learns about women through a relationship with Scarlett Johansson.
Gravity- Let’s just say that the visionary director of “Children of Men” is making a film about a woman drifting alone through outer space. This woman also happens to be Sandra Bullock. I smell Oscar bait.
Captain Phillips- It’s barely October and yet the potential Oscars keep coming. Tom Hanks is the titular captain, who does everything in his power to keep his crew alive when his ship is taken by Somali pirates.
Machete Kills- Robert Rodriguez and Danny Trejo return in the sequel to their “Grindhouse” spinoff, where the titular Mexican action hero is hired by President Charlie Sheen to foil a terrorist plot by Mel Gibson. Also, Vanessa Hudgins, Alexa Vega and Lady Gaga all play femme fatales. Forget the Oscars, this is pure cheese and I love it.
12 Years A Slave- Chiwetel Ejiofor plays a free black man who is sold into slavery, with Benedict Cumberbatch and Michael Fassbender playing slave owners. Don’t expect “Django Unchained,” but something tells me this will be a good one.
Carrie- What better way to celebrate Halloween than with another horror movie remake, this one a Stephen King classic no less? The only bright spot: Chloe Grace “Hit-Girl” Moretz as Carrie, in what will hopefully be a performance worthy of the horror icon.
The Fifth Estate- Benedict Cumberbatch again, this time in a tense thriller playing Julian Assange, better known as the founder of WikiLeaks. He’s mastered Sherlock Holmes and an iconic Star Trek villain, so why not the WikiLeaks guy?
