AUTUMN FILM Special AU
Hollywood Highlights BIG SHOTS
Captain Phillips
What Hollywood blockbusters are set to get
the heart pounding in the coming months? Niki Boyle looks forward to autumn’s big releases
T h o r : T h e D a r k W o r l d
G r a v i t y
T he biggest story in multiplexes this autumn is the continued d 2 development of Marvel’s Avengers universe with Phase 2 super-sequel Thor: The Dark World (30 Oct). Following on on ng fro from the events in last year’s Avengers Assemble, the hammer-wielding Chr der Chris Hemsworth will step up to take on interdimensional beings ‘older than than the universe itself’. Gravity (18 Oct), Alfonso Cuaron’s long-awaited follow-up to 2006’s 06’s Gr ense Child Children of Men, sticks with a sci-i theme, but has a much starker sense of ter nauts of terror at its heart. George Clooney and Sandra Bullock star as astronauts cast ad so far cast adrift outside the Earth’s atmosphere; the slew of trailers released so far sugges suggest a truly nail-biting 90 minutes. Tom H ollo 13 Tom Hanks builds on his history of being marooned (a la Cast Away, Apollo 13 and er, e as the as the and, e and, er, Joe Versus the Volcano) with another trip on the high seas, this time as the titular character in Captain Phillips (18 Oct). A modern-day piracy thriller based r ch er b titular based rue on a tr held to l h on a true story, Phillips has Cap’n Hanks and the freighter under his control held to ransom m b ransom by Somali pirates. An all-star cast have lined up for Cormac McCarthy-penned thriller The Counsellor l-st An all nsellor v), (15 Nov a lawyer (15 Nov), directed by Ridley Scott. Michael Fassbender takes the lead role as a lawyer ts who get pe Cruz, who gets in too deep after becoming involved in drug trafi cking; Penélope Cruz, on Camero cters he Cameron Diaz, Javier Bardem and Brad Pitt portray the underworld characters he encount encount ter encounters. Horro reboot Horror-wise, the autumn release that’s attracting most attention is the reboot of Carrie at the hands of Boys Don’t Cry director Kimberly Pierce. Pierce is an of Car e is an interes minist interesting choice to helm a story that’s been the subject of numerous feminist critiqu Grace critiques in the past; on the other hand, the casting of Kick-Ass star Chloë Grace More Moretz as the vengeful girl on the edge of puberty i ts perfectly. Tac king Tackling more post-adolescent urges is Joseph Gordon-Levitt, who’s making his directorial debut with Don Jon (15 Nov). It looks to be a solid, character- his d cter- base ngs based romantic drama about a regular guy who only cares about certain things in l irls in life: his body, his pad, his ride, his family, his church, his boys, his girls . . ara . . . and his porn. How this works out with new romantic interest Barbara (S (Scarlett Johansson) remains to be seen.
oun s a op rac
F st Finally, the i nest family release of the fall is a follow-up to 2009’s funniest food i ght. The trailer for Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2 (25 fo 5 O e Oct) suggests a return to the warm, witty, pun-i lled antics that made the o original i lm such a resounding success.
Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2 The Counsellor
Carrie