As always, if I forgot some Oscar-bait Finnish film that’ll make three bucks and get 14 Golden Globe nominations, sue me. I’m just listing the contenders here (or at least movies that have a wide release). Let’s get on with it!!!
November 1
Remember when we used to start movie pools with blockbuster Marvel movies? Now it’s with the every-six-months Liam Neeson action movies. Here he plays someone wronged and does something about it… I guess. I haven’t kept up lately, but that’s been the general theme for about 15 years now.
Director Robert Zemekis returns with another experimental idea: Let’s film the same living room over 100 years and see what happens with the people in this family. When those people are Tom Hanks and Robin Wright, you have our attention. If the living room was mine where I’m just flipping around Worst Cooks in America, Masked Singer, and Crime Scene Kitchen on TV, most people are going to just pass.
Someone tried to say this could be Clint Eastwood’s last movie. Couldn’t you have said that about every Clint Eastwood movie? Still, if anyone’s still making movies into their 100’s, it’s that guy.
November 8
Judy Greer leads this ensemble cast through a Christmas pageant gone bonkers as the “wrong” kids in the neighborhood get involved. Thankfully, it’s the season where the wrong things can be made right and we can all learn lessons along the way. Wait, did I just write this screenplay?!
Elevation
Anthony Mackie fighting giant monsters in the post-apocalyptic Rocky Mountains? Uh, yeah! Sign me up. This could be the next Godzilla Minus Nothing.
November 15
Dwayne Johnson and Chris Evans are exactly the superhero team we need to save Christmas this holiday season. Hopefully, this hits on the quirky Jumanji vibes of The Rock’s previous family-fun hits and not his Tooth Fairy misses.
November 22
November 27
The sequel to the smash animated hit splashes down over Thanksgiving weekend. Lions, Cowboys, and Maui, oh my!
December 6
Uh, let’s just say a lot of smaller films are likely trying to do smaller things this weekend. I’ll save you the trouble and just move on.
December 13
I left the “+ IMAX” here because I love how studios think they can trick us into seeing a movie because it’s also in IMAX. Like, we’re just sitting at home going “I think that movie’s going to be a piece of crap, but it’s in IMAX, so let’s pay even more money for tickets.” Regardless, Sony’s goal to make movies to keep their Spider-Man license continues by making movies that do not include Spider-Man. Genius.
The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim
If you ever wondered how Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings vision would look in anime, you now have your answer. If you ever wondered how many Lord of the Rings fans wanted to see a Lord of the Rings film in anime, you’ll find out the answer on December 13.
December 20
The remake/sequel-machine that’s been Disney lately is now making a sequel to the live-action remake of The Lion King. I mean, sure, we can all agree that Simba’s kind of a goober and Mufasa’s really the best king in The Lion King. Does that mean he needed to get his own movie? Do we learn how Scar actually got his scar? Do we get to see Pumbaa when he was actually a young warthog? Maybe we did need this prequel.
Keanu Reeves lends his voice as Shadow in the latest Sonic The Hedgehog movie. Will he be John Wick-Shadow, Neo-Shadow, Ted-Shadow, or, hopefully, Duke Caboom, Canada’s Greatest Stuntman-Shadow? I find it really interesting that two films both aimed at families are opening the same weekend. Does Sonic really not fear Mufasa or does the King pay no mind to hedgehogs?
December 25
