November Movie Preview

Ah, November, the month of awful facial hair, awful weather and the awful wait for December to finally get it’s lazy, Star-Wars-teasing arse in gear. I know I can curmudgeon with the best of them, but November really does take the cake, biscuit and, dare I say, the whole dang confectionary trolley with it. The only saving grace in all this grim not-quite-end-of-the-year business is the steady increase in the quality of our cinema offerings and their awards-worthiness. Yes, I realise the subsequent list contains a schlocky little film about boy scouts fighting a zombie apocalypse, but I mean, come on, we don’t have to be SO dour in November, do we?

Brooklyn – 6^th November

I can’t say for certain just how much of an authority Nick Hornby (witty and exceedingly-English writer of Fever Pitch, High Fidelity and About a Boy) is on what it must’ve been like for Irish immigrants to move to America in the 1950s. I mean, he must know something otherwise he wouldn’t have done the screenplay for a film about just that. So here’s Brooklyn, a film about a young woman, Ellis Lacey (Saoirse Ronan) moving to Noo Yawk, building a life for herself, falling for local Brooklynite Tony (Emory Cohen) until her life back in Ireland calls her home and to Domhnall Gleeson’s Jim Farrell. This must stem from Hornby’s own experiences in having to choose between eligible, lovely gentlemen. Must be.

Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse – 6^th November

Trust me, this month is going to get a whole lot classier, but while we’re still reeling from the ups ‘n downs of Halloween let’s just have one last revel with all things silly and rife with horror, shall we? Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse is, well, pretty much that. It follows Tye Sheridan and his fellow Scout nerds as they use all of their Scouting know-how to survive the wanton hunger of the undead. It wears its plot on its sleeve, but sometimes we need things to be straight-forward and punctuated with the odd bit of inappropriate humour. Isn’t that the basis of the Evil Dead sequels? Also: army of zombie cats. That is all.

Steve Jobs – 13^th November

While Danny Boyle’s Aaron-Sorkin-penned-Michael-Fassbender-starring biopic might have been given a couple of harrumphs due to the, well, overtly-Sorkin nature of its dialogue, what else could you honestly expect? It’s Aaron Sorkin for crying out loud, if you didn’t want a biting, snippy deconstruction of successful white people you shouldn’t have hired him. Still, the marriage between Boyle, Sorkin and Fassbender has, by all early reports, been a damn fine ceremony with a lot of love for its craft and subject matter as it details Steve Jobs’ life in relation to three major launches within Apple’s lifetime. Kate Winslett, Seth Rogen and Jeff Daniels also star.

The Lady in the Van – 13^th November

Leodensian hero, acclaimed writer and nerdy doppelganger of Robert Redford Alan Bennett needs very little introduction in the UK, but in case you’re not clued up: Talking Heads, Madness of George, The History Boys, Beyond The Fringe and he was Owl in the televised version of Meg and Mog. And now you know. The Lady in the Van, like The History Boys, is adapted from one of Bennett’s plays, this one about the real tale of Miss Mary Shepherd: a crotchety yet well-read old woman who lived in a broken yellow van on Bennett’s driveway for 15 years. Dame Maggie Smith takes the role of Miss Shepherd for the third time in her career. Could it be Oscar number three for the Dowager Countess of Grantham?

Tangerine – 13^th November

Tangerine is more than likely going to be frequently dubbed ‘that’ film. It’s ‘that’ film shot only on iPhones. It’s ‘that’ film about transgender sex workers in Hollywood. It’s also the latest appearance by James ‘Ziggy Sobotka from Season 2 of The Wire’ Ransone, but that’s lower down on the list of sell-able faculties. From it’s themes alone Tangerine looks like it’s not going to be everybody’s cup of tea, and I accept that. If, however, it’s stars and means of recording are your reasoning behind skipping this one, do the rest of the 21^st century a favour and get over your old timey hang ups. Literally put them in a pile and jump over them. ‘Tangerine’ isn’t going to be like anything you’ve seen before, so try to catch it while you can.

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2 – 19^th November

And so dawns the final chapter of The Hunger Games, a pretty okay book series and a heavily-quilted movie one about what can be legitimately called ‘Random Dystopian Teenage Deathmatch’. It made, broke, reset and tried to squeeze back into the mould of teenage dystopias, but now The Hunger Games faces its final, chaotic act. It’s all the poor people in fictional Panem, led by Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) versus the luscious beard and security forces of President Snow (Donald Sutherland). Oh and don’t forget they’ve booby-trapped the entire city around his compound with flamethrowers, robots, flash floods, explosions and interpersonal problems to name but a few. Go get ’em, J-Laws.

Black Mass – 27^th November

Johnny Depp has been in trouble for a while now. I’ve just made the most passing glance at his IMDb page and the best, and most recent, credited thing he’s been in I can find (to me at least) is as John Dillinger in Public Enemies back in 2009. Yes, I liked Public Enemies, what’s your point? For the past 6 years at least Depp has been in what can generously be called a holding pattern, but with Black Mass we finally get to see where the good Johnny Depp went. As the pale-eyed, deranged, unhinged and worryingly real gangster ‘Whitey’ Bulger, he seems practically unrecognisable, and alongside Benedict Cumberbatch, Joel Edgerton and Kevin Bacon he seems to have found his chops again. Let’s just hope he keeps them at hand.

Bridge of Spies – 27^th November

I don’t think we’re breaking new ground when I say that Steven Spielberg makes good films. Any man who can make Jurassic Park and Schindler’s List in the same year as well as bring us the combined brilliance of Indiana Jones, Jaws, E.T and Saving Private Ryan gets a free pass from me. It’s been three years since he thoroughly impressed us with Lincoln, but now Spielberg’s back with the drama over the 1960 U2 incident he’s been telling us he’s wanted to make for ages. Bridge of Spies sees Tom Hanks as put-upon lawyer James Donovan as he is tasked with negotiating the exchange of spies between America and the Soviet Union at the peak of the Cold War. What is it with Spielberg and putting Tom Hanks into terrible situations? Shame on you, sir.

Carol – 27^th November

Gee, Todd Haynes has been keeping it quiet of late, hasn’t he? The director of such things as ‘Velvet Goldmine, Far From Heaven and I’m Not There has kept it quite close to his chest following his TV adaptation of Mildred Pierce in 2011. The buzz about Carol, his 1950s-set drama of two women falling for each other, has been enough to make a field of bees feel awkwardly inadequate. Not only was Carol in the running for the Palm d’Or at Cannes this year, but the awards hype around Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara has been second only to the general universe’s restlessness for a certain set of Wars in some Stars later this year. It should not be one to miss.

The Good Dinosaur – 27^th November

Two Pixar films in the same year? When was the last time that happened? Here’s the thing: it hasn’t. We’ve had two-year gaps between Pixar films in the past, making last year’s absence of anything heart-wrenching and beautifully-animated nothing unprecedented. In any case, here we have Pixar’s interpretation of life if dinosaurs hadn’t been wiped out by a certain meteor, but before you get carried away, don’t go expecting anything like a particular, Cretaceous, 1990s Jim Henson sitcom. The Good Dinosaur is a story of a young Apatosaurus named Arlo whose long journey home becomes dependant on his relationship with a wild little human boy, Spot. Similarities to The Land Before Time purely coincidental, I’m sure.