The Rest of the Cinematic Year
By: Connor Lenahan
It should come of no surprise to anyone living in the northeastern corner of Pennsylvania that the list of things you can do for fun is pretty short.
If you do not partake in the party scene, which I do not, then you are basically left with nothing.
With just under a month until I head to Boston University I have been making an effort to go to the movies as much as I can because I have no other way to kill time.
I started watching more movies than my usual quota last year with the final tally for the year being 17. As of right now on August 2nd, I am up to 15. Later tonight I will be seeing Sharknado in theaters at midnight because either I have given up on life or my parents have lost the ability to say no or some combination of those two.
While I’ve been obsessively reading about the Academy Awards recently I have also been keeping an eye on what movies intrigue me the most. I have compiled a list of the 10 movies I am looking the most forward to the rest of the year and why.
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Opening: November 27th
Directed by: Spike Lee
Actors I Like: Josh Brolin, Samuel L. Jackson
After hearing about this remake of a 2003 Korean film, with the guy I keep running into at Niketown (twice in a row) behind the camera, I was definitely interested. Then the trailer came out. The premise looks stellar, the visuals incredible and hammers galore. If I don’t see this the day it comes out, something went horribly wrong.
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Opening: November 27th (Limited), December 6th (Wide)
Directed by: Scott Cooper
Actors I Like: Literally the entire cast (Bale, C. Affleck, Harrelson, Saldana, Whitaker, Dafoe)
I’m not great at predicting Oscar nominations, because I see some of the nominated films, but I saw only four of the 9 Best Picture nominees last year. I’m not in any means an expert. I am however opinionated and excited. Judging from the trailer alone, I feel like you could make cases for a Best Picture, Supporting Actor (Harrelson), and Director nomination. I feel like Bale is going to own this film. But I think he gets a Best Actor nom elsewhere (more on this soon). I’ve seen this trailer more than the rest combined, excited is an understatement.
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Opening: November 15th
Directed by: Martin Scorsese
Actors I Like:
This isn’t even fair
The trailer to this came out one day after Yeezus leaked online. This was coincidentally the day after I graduated. Adding to the fun, this was also the first day I got to see the trailer for Magna Carta Holy Grail. I originally thought that maybe my excitement for this movie was amped because it fell in what was pretty much the best 36 hours of my summer, but then I watched the trailer again. The film is a lock, and I mean like federal bank vault lock, for a Best Picture nomination. I’m speechlessly excited for this. It could be a masterpiece, or it could be the greatest movie ever made. I’m not sure there are any other outcomes. So, you know, no pressure or anything.
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Opening: December 20th
Directed by: Adam McKay
Actors I Like: The Channel 4 Action News Team
No need for a long description. This movie should be required viewing for all Americans with failure to comply punishable by catapult. There is a 0% chance this isn’t hilarious.
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Opening: Christmas Day
Directed by: David O. Russell
Actors I Like: 
Grantland had said it best when they announced that David O. Russell is pretty much trying to get every single nomination this year. The cast is so absurdly stacked that if you want to win your Oscar pool, get familiar with this movie, it’s going to be a warhorse for you. This is what I think Bale will end up getting nominated for, and I could see basically everyone else having a shot too. The Notorious DOR is coming off back-to-back Best Picture/Director nominations for The Fighter and Silver Linings Playbook. I would bet anything that he’s about to go 3-for-3.
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Opening: September 6th
Directed by: Shane Salerno
Catcher in the Rye is my all-time favorite book. There is no way I am going to gloss over the documentary about the absolutely mysterious author of it. Have you seen this trailer?? This is going to be mesmerizing.
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Opening: September 20th
Directed by: Denis Villeneuve
Actors I Like: Hugh Jackman, Jake Gyllenhaal, Paul Dano
Crime thriller with an angry Wolverine chasing after his kidnapped daughter, Jake Gyllenhall looking slightly insane and Paul Dano completely owning the creeper role? Yes please.
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Opening: September 27th
Directed by: Joseph Gordon-Levitt
Actors I Like: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Julianne Moore, Tony Danza
At worst this movie is going to be entertaining due to its premise and seeing Joseph Gordon-Levitt as a completely likable douchebag. Best case scenario? This ends up as a sleeper hit and one of the better films of the year. Anytime someone takes on more than one task on a movie I’m impressed. Joseph Gordon-Levitt wrote, directed and stars. Damn son.
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Opening: September 27th
Directed by: Brad Furman
Actors I Like: Justin Timberlake, Ben Affleck, Anthony Mackie
When I first heard about a movie starring Timberlake and Affleck I knew immediately that I was in. Regardless of the plot. I am so much of a homer for Timberlake that I will like him in anything, and Affleck has been stellar in everything I have seen him in, so what could go wrong? After seeing the trailer, and finding out the criminally underrated Anthony Mackie is also in the film, and seeing what it was all about, I’m hard pressed to find another (Non-Anchorman) movie that will be as easy a sell on my friends to go in a large group opening night.
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Opening: October 25th
Directed by: Ridley Scott
Actors I Like: Michael Fassbender, Brad Pitt, Javier Bardem
I still don’t know quite what this movie is about, and there isn’t much to the trailer. Seeing Fassbender in anything is definitely a selling point for me. Bardem stole Skyfall, my favorite movie last year, and a role he should have gotten a nomination for, so he gets a ton of credit in my mind. Pitt is a monster so he finalizes my Fandango purchase. Plus, it’s a movie written by the same guy that wrote No Country for Old Men, which won Best Picture, I think this is a pretty safe bet on being great.
So if you were to go with my list and attend all of these films, here is how your fall would work out:
Salinger: September 6th
Prisoners: September 20th
Runner, Runner & Don Jon: September 27th
The Counselor: October 25th
The Wolf of Wall Street: November 15th
Oldboy: November 27th
Out of the Furnace: December 6th
Anchorman 2: December 20th
American Hustle: December 25th
I cannot wait until next month, then I actually will have movies to see, and I won’t have to go to Sharknado at midnight.
Fin.
Connor Lenahan (@ConnorLenahan) is the founder and editor-in-chief of Connorlenahan.com. He is a freshman at Boston University, majoring in journalism.
Connor,
I loved reading this! Now I can’t wait for all of these movies. There are a few others, that I’m thinking about, too:
1. Rush – The Ron Howard directed movie about Niki Lauda, the Formula 1 racecar driver that crashed, then made a comeback. Looks awesome, and Ron Howard movies always capture that “underdog that wins in the end” theme that I love.
2. Ender’s Game -Based on the very cool YA novel that appeals to adults, too, about a future society that grooms super-intelligent kids to battle an alien race that will be coming to destroy earth. Harrison Ford will be in this one, and Ender will be played by Asa Butterfield, who starred in “Hugo.” I just hope it lives up to the book.
3. (And this one is big.) Bermuda Tentacle – The Syfy network movie, (the name could change before it’s out, probably in October) starring Linda Hamilton of Terminator fame, and Jamie Kennedy the comedian/actor. Rakel Joyce, a local, upcoming force in the movie industry, worked on this as a production assistant. It should be awesome. Just sayin.’ Maybe it will even make it to the big screen following in the footsteps of Sharknado. You never know…
–Mary Ann