The Town (Sept. 17)
A second directorial effort from Ben Affleck finds him in front of the camera showing off his greatest strength — a Boston accent. He plays a thief trying to go straight, but who inevitably becomes torn between his loyalties and his love for a new hot thing.
Looks like: This latest installment is starting to build a case for a “Boston crime movies” genre, which would already include Affleck’s first film, Gone Baby Gone, Mystic River and recent classic The Departed. We’ll pay anything to hear those Southie accents utter “Did you kill my dawtah?” and “That was nawt wicked smaht.”
Let Me In (Oct. 1)
Chloe Moretz stars as a troubled child in this American version of the Swedish film Let the Right One In. Critics seemed to have liked the original that doing a remake wasn’t really necessary, but you know how Americans feel about subtitles.
Looks like: Aside from the obvious association with the source material, the murderous child theme is not only something that makes an appearance every year (like last year’s The Orphan), but this season alone sports at least two others, including Case 39, starring Renee Zellweger, and The Last Exorcism.
Secretariat (Oct. 8)
Secretariat is a biopic about housewife Penny Chenery (Diane Lane) who takes over the management of her ailing father’s stables, only to have one of its horses win the Triple Crown. Really? Another horse movie? Did anyone even watch Seabiscuit? It was a bad idea the first time, folks.
Looks like: Obviously Seabiscuit, but also when you really think about it, there are a ton of horse movies out there: Black Beauty, The Black Stallion, National Velvet, Flicka. And here we were thinking these films are only made for long-haired 10 year-old girls.
Red (Oct. 15)
A rogue team of ex-CIA agents now marked as the agency’s top targets reunite the team to show the U.S. government what’s up. Helen Mirren, John Malkovich, Bruce Willis and Morgan Freeman make up the team and — surprise! — the source material is a comic book.
Looks like: It’s kind of The Bucket List crossed with The Expendables or The Losers if Dame Helen had bigger pectorals or if Malkovich looked a little more like Terry Crews. Assembling such a top-notch list of actors for a caper like this reeks of hopes for another box-office payday like Oceans 11.
