Skip to main content
Not to cry over bumped release dates, but it’s been two full years since you needed both hands to count the potentially superb entries in an upcoming film season. That changes this autumn, in a movie world far from “normal” but either imperiled or emboldened enough to finally drop the goods: from long-awaited science fiction epics, to shocking Palme d’Or winners, to more titles by topflight filmmakers than two months can hold.
With Thanksgiving as the cutoff, let’s examine the promising slate ahead. Line up with vaxx proof handy and fingers crossed.
The Long-Held Heavyweights
No Time to Die, Oct. 8
No blockbuster took more COVID-19 lumps than Daniel Craig’s (allegedly) final Bond turn, which slid all the way from April 2020. The 25th Bond outing appears to be a 2-hour, 45-minute maximal ode to all the muscular, Batman-level darkness Craig brought to 007.
Halloween Kills, Oct. 15
Titled seemingly just for SEO, this fourth branch of Michael Myers’ story tree extends. Jamie Lee Curtis is still Laurie Strode, and she’s still battling her not-brother to the not-death. There’s only one crucial question: Will Michael, at long last, kill?
Dune, Oct. 22
Early reviews signal Denis Villeneuve remains perhaps blockbuster movies’ finest visualist. But it’s a huge question whether Herbert heads or Dune newbs will be satisfied and/or hooked by what’s clearly Part 1.
Eternals, Nov. 5
Fresh off her Best Director Oscar, Chloé Zhao spearheads a new Marvel chapter. In keeping with The Rider and Nomadland, will these MCU demigods muse silently on the frail, pastoral American existence before third-act punching?
The Auteur Parade
The French Dispatch, Oct. 22
This one goes out to our patient indie theaters in need of a reliable crowd. Wes Anderson returns with another mid-20th century European charcuterie board of a movie, starring 30 actors you like playing journalists. (Would you believe Bill Murray is in it???)
Last Night in Soho, Oct. 29
Always chasing a crowd-pleasing intersection of his own film and music obsessions, Edgar Wright follows Baby Driver with the transportive horror tale of a young fashion student (Thomasin McKenzie) communing through time with a 1966 nightclub singer (Anya Taylor-Joy).
Licorice Pizza, Nov. 26
Paul Thomas Anderson tops the list of acclaimed directors releasing films this fall, and the rollout to this ‘70s show-biz exploration (Boogie Days?) has unfolded only via 35 mm trailers in movie houses like Portland’s Hollywood Theatre. Two things we know for certain: Bradley Cooper plays hairdresser-turned-mogul Jon Peters, and PTA doesn’t miss.
Awards Front-Runners
Spencer, Nov. 5
Echoing Jackie (2017), Pablo Lorraín and his heart-crushingly intimate camera turn toward Lady Di, with Kristen Stewart donning her hats, dodging the paparazzi and dealing with bad in-laws.
The Power of the Dog, Nov. 17
Jane Campion’s new Netflix film belongs in the auteur category, if it weren’t already garnering such Oscar buzz. It may be a career peak for the perennially undervalued kiwi director of The Piano. Benedict Cumberbatch and Kirsten Dunst star as Montana ranchers with Jonny Greenwood scoring.
King Richard, Nov. 19
Hints of a long-awaited Will Smith Oscar run hang in the air as the 53-year-old star plays Richard Williams—the at once inspirational and flawed father of tennis legends Serena and Venus.
Indies Not to Miss
Titane, Oct .1
From newly minted provocateur Julia Ducournau, this successor to 2016′s Raw follows a disturbed woman who (*checks notes*) becomes pregnant via intercourse with a car. The trailer for the Palme d’Or winner is a pulsating blur of humping, dancing, stabbing and (one surmises) sexy cars. In other words, why we go to the movies.
Bergman Island, Oct. 15
Writer-director Mia Hansen-Love strands married film directors (Vicky Krieps and Tim Roth) on Ingmar Bergman’s favorite haunt, Fårö Island, and watches their artistic identities clash, connect and careen. HBO’s Scenes From a Marriage remake has Bergman competition!
The Velvet Underground, Oct. 15
Heralded for its heretofore unseen footage, this music doc is the latest from Portland (and international) luminary Todd Haynes. Considering Haynes’ wholly original treatment of music lore in I’m Not There and Velvet Goldmine, expect an unconventional rock doc befitting of the Velvets’ own taste.
