Forget summertime: a lot of fun and exciting movies, whether they be comedies, thrillers, horror films or dramas, are released in the autumn, from September all the way through the Thanksgiving holidays. We here at Hotspots have selected 20 movies that you should see between now and the end of November…
Fall Movie Preview: 20 New Releases You Must See
by: Mike Halterman
Forget summertime: a lot of fun and exciting movies, whether they be comedies, thrillers, horror films or dramas, are released in the autumn, from September all the way through the Thanksgiving holidays. We here at Hotspots have selected 20 movies that you should see between now and the end of November.
The Family
After a mafia boss snitches to the cops, he and his family are placed under the witness protection program and moved to France. They blow their cover when it becomes apparent that you can’t take the “family” out of the family.
Starring: Robert De Niro, Michelle Pfeiffer, Tommy Lee Jones, Dianna Agron, John D’Leo, Domenick Lombardozzi
Release Date: September 13
Insidious: Chapter 2
A sequel to 2011’s film Insidious. Josh and Renai Lambert find that their trauma has not ended after Josh’s trip into the Further. The family begins to suspect that Josh may not be who he says he is.
Starring: Patrick Wilson and Rose Byrne as Josh and Renai Lambert. Also featuring Lin Shaye, Ty Simpkins and Barbara Hershey.
Release Date: September 13
Battle of the Year
Two friends look for talented breakdancers willing to put in the time and work needed to win the national championship. The group assembled hopes to succeed by believing that with the proper guidance, anything is possible. The movie is screened in 3D.
Starring: Josh Holloway, Chris Brown, Laz Alonso, Josh Peck
Release Date: September 20
Prisoners
A man’s six-year-old daughter is kidnapped on Thanksgiving. After losing patience and faith in the local law enforcement, he takes matters into his own hands, apprehending the man he believes is guilty. The vigilante turn causes the father to lose his grip on reality.
Starring: Hugh Jackman, Jake Gyllenhaal, Viola Davis, Maria Bello, Terrence Howard, Melissa Leo, Paul Dano
Release Date: September 20
Baggage Claim
Montana has it all…except for a man, that is. To prove her family wrong and to escape being the oldest woman in her family not to marry, she travels the world in thirty days in the quest to find the perfect man, and she won’t be going home without one!
Starring: Paula Patton as Montana. Also featuring Adam Brody, Djimon Hounsou, Taye Diggs, Christina Milian and Derek Luke.
Release Date: September 27
Don Jon
Jon is considered a “Don Juan” who leaves everyone awestruck with his ability to snag and bed “perfect 10s.” In his quest to find something bigger and better, he becomes addicted to porn and the perfect sexual encounter. While trying to find it, he learns more about himself and the women he used to objectify.
Starring: Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Jon. Also featuring Scarlett Johansson and Julianne Moore.
Release Date: September 27
Gravity
Two astronauts, one on her first mission and the other on his last, are stranded in space when debris from a satellite crashes into their space shuttle while they are on a spacewalk. With no way to communicate with Mission Control, and with limited oxygen, they must work together if they want to live.
Starring: Sandra Bullock, George Clooney, Ed Harris
Release Date: October 4
Runner, Runner
An Ivy League student squanders all of his tuition money by playing online poker. He tracks down the website’s owner to a remote island with the intent of getting his money back, but he ends up being lured into the dirty business himself.
Starring: Ben Affleck, Justin Timberlake, Gemma Arterton
Release Date: October 4
Captain Phillips
A real-life thriller, based on the 2009 hijacking of the ship Maersk Alabama by Somali pirates. After the pirates storm aboard the boat, capturing the captain and other crew members, a series of events unfold leading to a showdown between US warships and a small lifeboat, to which the pirates escaped with the captain.
Starring: Tom Hanks, Catherine Keener, Max Martini, Yul Vazquez, Chris Mulkey
Release Date: October 11
Romeo & Juliet
Set in Renaissance Verona, the love story between the two star-crossed lovers from the Houses of Capulet and Montague ends as fast as it begins. Unlike past adaptations, Shakespeare’s dialogue will not be used in this film, but it will stay true to plot.
Starring: Hailee Steinfeld, Douglas Booth, Damian Lewis, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Ed Westwick, Paul Giamatti
Release Date: October 11
Carrie
Stephen King’s 1974 novel comes back to the screen as a horror even scarier than the original film adaptation. Abused at home and at school, shy student Carrie White uses her powers of telekinesis to exact revenge on the evildoers in her life.
Starring: Chloë Grace Moretz as Carrie. Also featuring Judy Greer, Portia Doubleday, Alex Russell, Gabriella Wilde, Ansel Elgort, and Julianne Moore.
Release Date: October 18
Escape Plan
Imagine being convicted of a crime you didn’t commit. That’s what happened to Ray Breslin. There is just one twist to this story: Ray Breslin is one of the world’s foremost structural engineers and his sentence requires him to live in a maximum security prison of his own design.
Starring: Sylvester Stallone as Ray Breslin. Also featuring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jim Caviezel, 50 Cent, Vinnie Jones, Vincent D’Onofrio and Amy Ryan.
Release Date: October 18
Last Vegas
Billy is in his late 60s and all his life he swore he would be unmarried. So when he finally pops the question to his much-younger girlfriend, his friends Paddy, Archie and Sam (all married and all boring) recognize what a special occasion this is and throw him an epic bachelor party in Las Vegas, all of them hoping to relive the exciting times of their youth.
Starring: Michael Douglas as Billy, Robert de Niro as Paddy, Morgan Freeman as Archie and Kevin Kline as Sam.
Release Date: November 1
Thor: The Dark World
Thor fights a mysterious enemy in the hopes of saving the beauty and innocence of the Nine Realms. Another evil group emerges, hellbent on setting the sun on the land for good. Thor must solicit Jane Foster’s help again if he is going to save the day.
Starring: Chris Hemsworth as Thor and Natalie Portman as Jane Foster. Also featuring Tom Hiddleston, Anthony Hopkins, Stellan Skarsgård, Idris Elba, Christopher Eccleston, and others.
Release Date: November 8
The Book Thief
Liesel Meminger is a teenager who can’t help but notice that death is all around her…it figuratively (and literally) narrates the conditions in which she lives her life. Liesel’s coming of age in 1940s Nazi Germany sets the scene in this film, based on the book by Markus Zusak.
Starring: Sophie Nélisse as Liesel Meminger. Also featuring Emily Watson and Geoffrey Rush.
Release Date: November 15
The Wolf of Wall Street
Based on the memoir of the same name written by Jordan Belfort. A stockbroker rises to high heights when his company earns over a billion dollars, and his life crashes to the ground when he is arrested for money laundering.
Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Jonah Hill, Margot Robbie, Matthew McConaughey, Jon Favreau, Kyle Chandler, Rob Reiner, Jean Dujardin
Release Date: November 15
Delivery Man
David Wozniak once donated sperm under the alias “Starbuck.” He is now surprised to learn that he fathered 533 children, and they are petitioning to make his identity public to them. Unaware of all this, his girlfriend wants to start a family and isn’t sure if David can be a good father.
Starring: Vince Vaughn as David Wozniak. Also featuring Ben Bailey, Cobie Smulders and Britt Robertson.
Release Date: November 22
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
The second installment of the Hunger Games movie franchise finds President Snow wanting to eliminate Katniss, Peeta and Gale in order to extend his own power. He may be able to get his chance during the Quarter Quell, when Katniss and Peeta replay the Hunger Games and compete against vicious criminals.
Starring: Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss Everdeen, Josh Hutcherson as Peeta Mellark, Liam Hemsworth as Gale Hawthorne and Donald Sutherland as President Snow. Also featuring Woody Harrelson, Elizabeth Banks, Lenny Kravitz, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Jeffrey Wright and Stanley Tucci.
Release Date: November 22
Oldboy
An advertising executive’s world is turned upside down when he is kidnapped and placed in solitary confinement for twenty years. When he is released, he tries to find out who kidnapped and imprisoned him, and that he is still in danger despite being free.
Starring: Josh Brolin, Elizabeth Olsen, Sharlto Copley
Release Date: November 27
Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom
A biographical film relating the events in the 1994 book Long Walk to Freedom, written by Nelson Mandela. It is a profile of Mandela’s life: first as a young child, then as a student in university, then finding and eventually leading the African National Congress, then culminating in his 27-year prison sentence on Robben Island.
Starring: Idris Elba as Nelson Mandela. Also featuring Naomie Harris as Winnie Mandela.
Release Date: November 29
