Trust us. You want to ride shotgun as Ryan Gosling maneuvers L.A.’s mean streets to the sound of a simmering techno score and ticking timepiece. It doesn’t get better than Cannes Best Director Nicolas Winding Refn’s tender, violent tour de force he calls an unorthodox remake of Sixteen Candles. As Driver, a laconic, almost-psychotic stuntman who gets tangled up in a botched heist, Gosling may have just hitched a ride straight to Oscar’s front door.
It’s like: Heat with heart.
Take: The fast lane.
Premieres: September 16
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From real-life cancer survivor Will Reiser’s pen, indie filmmaker Jonathan Levine’s (The Wackness) latest full house rolls Bryce Dallas Howard, Anna Kendrick, Anjelica Huston, Seth Rogen, and leading man Joseph Gordon-Levitt (who replaced James McAvoy), into a tissue-worthy cancer comedy. When Adam (JGL) learns he needs surgery to remove a malignant tumor, leaving him with half a shot at life, he’s forced to shut up and deal.
It’s like: I Love You Man meets Terms of Endearment.
Take: A blind date and let it ride.
Premieres: September 30
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It’s easy to get trapped in Jeff Nichols’s thrilling, visually stunning Sundancer. Haunted by premonitions of an apocalyptic storm worse than The Nothing coming to town, pragmatic Curtis abandons all domestic responsibility to build an underground haven that will keep his wife and deaf daughter safe from said Nothing. Just one problem: No one else sees the flocks of birds, black cumulonimbus, or tornadoes. Maybe his feared Nothing is just that — until it’s not.
It’s like: Donnie Darko with A Beautiful Mind.
Take: Shelter. Don’t you listen?
Premieres: September 30
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Yes, we know Gavin O’Connor’s film centers on the fanboy sport of mixed martial arts. But a film that can excite an entire audience (chickadees included) to the point of deafening applause is worthy of a watch — or two when it comes to Hardy boy Tom as Tommy, a fighter with a knockout punch similar to Clint Eastwood’s million dollar baby, and Joel Edgerton, a Cinderella Man in every sense.
Its like: Fighting meets Brothers.
Take: Comrades in arms.
Premieres: September 9
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Avoid the trailers, posters, and water-cooler chitchat like they’re the plague. This one’s best going in with a clean slate a la last year’s Catfish. Just know Steven Soderbergh’s Hollywood heavyweight-filled, could-be factual tale of a disease threatening to wipe out the human race is infecting, um, screening at the Venice Film Fest a week before it’s airborne in the U.S. Get the sanitizer ready.
It’s like: Outbreak stuck in Traffic.
Take: Infectious personalities.
Premieres: September 9
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Allow Anne Sewitsky’s Sundance-approved dark comedy set in BF Norway during the dead of winter to turn that frown upside down. Accustomed to the cold shoulder, optimistic Kaja loves her husband as much as he loves men. But when she starts a sexual affair with her spoken-for neighbor, even her cheery disposition can’t stop the figurative snowball. It’s a small film, but we think it deserves a big reception.
It’s like: A Norwegian American Beauty.
Take: Your spouse, before someone else does.
Premieres: September 16
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Remember the theater posters back in January? Originally set to open early this year (even before its play date at Cannes), the delicate drama about a sick girl and the boy who loves her now has a fall release to match its autumnal atmosphere. Pairing again, Gus Van Sant at the helm and Danny Elfman on the tunes, the duo turns grim matters of life and death into beautiful, whimsical matters of the heart.
It’s like: Sweet November a month and a half early.
Take: The girls on a whim.
Premieres: September 16
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So what if film critics are barking mad about Rod Lurie reimagining Sam Peckinpah’s 1971 thrill ride? This is one remake we can really get behind. Keeping the original on a leash, Lurie’s version follows a couple living the dream until locals looking to draw blood induce a living nightmare. Fetch the candy and count us in.
It’s like: The Strangers meets The Last House on the Left.
Take: Your guy out.
Premieres: September 16
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Capote director Bennett Miller steps up to the plate with another true-story narrative. His baseball drama has a standing-ovation feel and Brad Pitt starring as Oakland A’s general manager Billy Beane, a man who turned a crew full of ragamuffins into a team with champion potential. The book rounded the bases; the film’s bringing it home.
It’s like: Ocean’s Eleven in the Major League.
Take: Your peanuts and Cracker Jacks.
Premieres: September 23
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The cutest gore fest you’ll ever see, Eli Craig’s cult-status silly horror with a soft underbelly has enough goo to make Eli Roth squirm. Mistaken for forest-dwelling body hackers by a group of popped-collar college kids (a.k.a. evil), bumpkins Tucker and Dale have to fight to stay alive. Aside from the messy wood chipper incident, the fire on flesh, and a spiked club to the noggin, its message is one of the sweetest to date.
It’s like: She’s Out of My League meets Cabin Fever.
Take: A group and bet each one they’ll cheer. You’ll make a killing.
Premieres: September 30
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Fall 2011 Trends: Winter Whites
