Fall film preview: The season’s most promising cinematic options

What a terrible summer! We saw unabashed hate speech, institutional tyranny and tin-hat conspiracy theories collide to create an almost complete disintegration of the American social fabric. And that was just people tweeting about Ghostbusters! Thankfully, we’re almost past the superhero cape-strewn dog days of summer and into awards season, where most films are forced to project at least a pretense of quality. In order to prepare, SN&R film critics Daniel Barnes and Jim Lane have each selected their five most anticipated films of the next few months.

Sully (September 9): After J. Edgar, Jersey Boys and American Sniper, this is the fourth Clint Eastwood-directed film in a row that deals with the myth of an American legend (or the legend of an American myth, if you prefer). Having already tackled the government, celebrity and the military, Sully concerns itself with civilian heroism, covering the 2009 “Miracle on the Hudson” incident in which airline pilot Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger (Tom Hanks) safely landed a malfunctioning aircraft on the river.

Manchester by the Sea (November 18): This drama starring Casey Affleck and Michelle Williams garnered a lot of critical buzz coming out of the Sundance Film Festival, but all I care about is that Manchester by the Sea is the first film directed by Kenneth Lonergan since 2011’s doomed but brilliant Margaret. The 135-minute running time of Manchester is less imposing than the three-hour-long Margaret, but Lonergan’s gift for unsparing emotional honesty and novel-like construction will almost certainly remain intact.

La La Land (December 16): Whiplash director Damien Chazelle returns with this unapologetic movie musical starring Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone, playing young creatives brought together by struggle and torn apart by success. The film is also supposed to be a love letter to Los Angeles (fans have spent the past year slavering over a still of Gosling and Stone jitterbugging through Griffith Park), so hopefully Chazelle has invested La La Land with an exuberant melancholy reminiscent of early Alan Rudolph.

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (December 16): One year ago, barely a decade removed from the hell of the prequels, I couldn’t imagine ever wanting even one more Star Wars movie, let alone one a year until the end of time. But that’s the magic of J.J. Abrams’ generally acceptable The Force Awakens—it hit the reset button while still forging strong connections with the original three, yet didn’t set a bar too high for subsequent films to clear. Godzilla director Gareth Edwards helms this side story, set between Episodes III and IV.

Silence (December): This pick rides on a wing and a prayer, since Martin Scorsese’s reportedly 195-minute epic starring Liam Neeson and Andrew Garfield as Jesuit missionaries in 17th-century Japan probably hasn’t locked in a final cut yet (the film was originally slated for a 2015 awards season release). But when a long-gestating passion project from the greatest living director is at stake, it can’t hurt to hope for a Christmas miracle.

—Daniel Barnes

The Birth of a Nation (October 7): Writer-director-star Nate Parker’s retelling of Nat Turner’s 1831 slave rebellion was a hit at Sundance and is getting major buzz. In a year when Hollywood’s diversity (or lack of it) has been under fire, Parker’s timing in completing his seven-year project couldn’t have been better. The audacious irony of Parker appropriating the title of Hollywood’s original Klan-loving blockbuster (still the most controversial movie ever made) was a brilliant stroke, implying both ambition and counteraction.

Arrival (November 11): I’m nervous about this one, but curious. Ted Chiang’s Nebula-winning “Story of Your Life” short story is a mind-and-time-bender about alien contact that defies filming; previews suggest that director Denis Villeneuve and writer Eric Heisserer have remolded it closer to Independence Day. Still, Villeneuve (Prisoners, Sicario) has a good track record, if Heisserer not so much (Final Destination 5, 2011’s The Thing); maybe the trailers are just a come-on and Chiang’s story is still there. Anyhow, we’ll have Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner and Forest Whitaker.

Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk (November 11): Reviews of Ben Fountain’s debut novel suggest that it’s nothing less than a Best Years of Our Lives for the Iraq War. I hope I have time to read it before director Ang Lee’s movie comes out, but even if I don’t—hey, it’s Ang Lee. I’d follow him just about anywhere.

Allied (November 23): It’s Casablanca in 1942, and Brad Pitt and Marion Cotillard meet and fall in love on a mission to assassinate a Nazi officer. With Robert Zemeckis directing a script by Steven Knight, can they banish the ghosts of Bogart and Bergman? Probably not, but with luck, this one will be worth waiting for.

Passengers (December 21): Another (potential) science-fiction think piece, with Jennifer Lawrence and Chris Pratt as deep-space explorers on a 120-year journey whose suspended-animation system malfunctions and wakes them up 90 years too soon. Adam-and-Eve parallels are obvious, and I hope director Morten Tyldum and writer Jon Spaihts don’t hit us over the head with them. I want to see where, if anywhere, this star trek takes us.

—Jim Lane