Fall Holiday Movie Preview
October Previews
Our picks for October’s must-see movies
Changeling
October 24
Angelina Jolie makes her second movie in two years based on a real-life kidnapping. But unlike A Mighty Heart — the story of Mariane Pearl, wife of kidnapped and murdered journalist Daniel Pearl — this plot wasn’t snatched from the headlines, but rather some dusty, long-forgotten documents.
Jolie plays Christine Collins, a Depression-era single mother whose son, Walter, went missing in Los Angeles in 1928.
After five months, the police — who were under great public pressure to find the boy — located Walter in Illinois and returned him to his mom. Only it wasn’t Walter. But when Collins protested, she was thrown in a psychiatric institution. Admitting that they had the wrong boy would have been too embarrassing for the LAPD. However, Collins continued her fight, eventually bringing the case to L.A.’s City Council.
The 80-year-old story came to light after screenwriter J. Michael Straczynski, also a journalist who has written for the L.A. Times, was sent some files by a source who was in charge of burning old City Hall documents. Fortunately, that source thought this particular case was far too interesting to go up in smoke. Clint Eastwood directs.
Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist
Michael Cera’s follow up to Juno mines similar hip-teen territory. Cera plays Nick, a young New Yorker who’s deep into the city’s indie rock scene. One evening he hooks up with Norah (Kat Dennings), and together the pair spends all night trying to find a secret show being put on by a legendary rock band.
Release date: October 3
Blindness
Anarchy ensues when the majority of people living in an unnamed city suddenly become blind. To control the situation the government locks away the afflicted, but one woman (Julianne Moore) fakes her blindness so she can accompany her doctor husband (Mark Ruffalo) into quarantine (a brutal prison), where she becomes the voice of reason. Canada’s own Don McKellar not only has a role in the film, but wrote the screenplay based on José Saramago’s acclaimed novel.
Release date: October 3
City of Ember
An underground world that has been home to a colony of humans for more than 400 years is about to be snuffed out. The ancient generator that powers Ember’s lights and machines is dying, so its residents — led by two teens (Saoirse Ronan, Harry Treadaway) — have to find a way out. Bill Murray plays Ember’s corrupt mayor in this family film based on a book by Jeanne Duprau.
Release date: October 10
Body of Lies
Leonardo DiCaprio and Russell Crowe join forces with director Ridley Scott to adapt the novel by David Ignatius. DiCaprio plays a journalist who, after being injured in Iraq, becomes a CIA operative and is sent to Jordan to track down a terrorist. Crowe plays another CIA operative in this, the fourth film he’s done with Scott after Gladiator, A Good Year and American Gangster.
Release date: October 10
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Passchendaele
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Passchendaele
Paul Gross, best known as Due South’s wisecracking Mountie and the star of the light Canadian comedy Men With Brooms,
has dedicated more than a decade to this epic drama about the WWI
battle that took the lives of 67,000 Canadian soldiers. Gross felt it
was time to pay attention to Passchendaele, which received relatively
little press at the time, since an honest account of the death toll
would have had a negative impact on recruitment.
Release date: October 17
Flash of Genius
Greg Kinnear does his best Russell Crowe circa The Insider as he transforms from handsome movie star to middle-aged David fighting a corporate Goliath. Based on a true story,
Kinnear plays Robert Kearns, inventor of the intermittent windshield
wiper system, who is forced to take on the big automakers when they
refuse to give him credit (and $$$) for his creation.
Release date: October 17 |
High School Musical 3: Senior Year
The third film in the phenomenally popular High School Musical franchise is actually the first to get a theatrical release. The first two were created exclusively for the Disney Channel. In their final year at East High, Troy and Gabriella (Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudgens, who’ve also been involved off-screen) deal with the possibility of going their separate ways after graduation.
Release date: October 24
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Colin Farrell (left) and Ed Norton star in
Pride and Glory
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Pride and Glory
When four NYPD officers are killed, the cop investigating (Edward Norton) realizes that his brother (Noah Emmerich) and brother-in-law (Colin Farrell) — also cops — may have had something to do with it.
Release date: October 24
Zack and Miri Make a Porno
Lifelong friends Zack (Seth Rogen) and Miri (Elizabeth Banks) think doing a porno flick together will be a good way to make some cash. Kevin Smith directs, and as far as we can see, Judd Apatow is in no way involved.
Release date: October 31 |
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SPECIAL EVENTS ON THE BIG SCREEN
The Metropolitan Opera
Salome (Strauss)
Live: Saturday, Oct. 11, 1 p.m. ET
WWE Pay-Per-View
No Mercy
Sunday, Oct. 5, 8 p.m. ET