I guess it’s finally autumn, culturally speaking, as most of the films out this week appear to be horror films. Hustlers is finally out, for those of us who don’t enjoy a good scare, and I recommend Monos or Fagara. Watch all the trailers below the fold.
Imprisoned stars Lawrence Fishburne in a movie with a plot that’s a big ol’ yikes: “One woman’s struggle against those who are keeping her imprisoned as she dares to tell the truth, gambling her freedom and sanity, succumbing to a caged mind in a mental health hospital.”
Out Of Liberty is a Western drama. Set in 1839, a local jailer supervises Missouri’s most wanted.
Haunt, one of this week’s horror films, dumps a group of friends in an extreme haunted house on Halloween.
Seeds is a horror film about a man haunted by his deepest fears.
Empathy, Inc. is a science fiction/thriller about “a struggling tech venture capitalist who invests his and his in-laws money in an extreme virtual reality company.”
Super Size Me 2: Holy Chicken!, a Morgan Spurlock documentary, “explores the ways in which the fast-food industry has rebranded itself as healthier since his original film through the process of Spurlock working to open his own fast-food restaurant, thus exposing some of the ways in which that rebranding is more perception than reality.” Man, let me have my Taco Bell in peace.
The Sound of Silence stars Peter Sarsgaard as “a ‘house tuner,’ working on the sonic environment of homes.” What the hell does that even mean? Rashida Jones and Tony Revolori also star in a film with a lot of buzz around it.
Desolation Center is a documentary about a series of Southern California concerts that led to Burning Man, Lollapalooza, and Coachella.
Depraved “ is a modern version of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein.”
Fagara is a “sincere, sensitive” Chinese drama about three women encumbered by grief who take over a family restaurant.
The Goldfinch, a faithful adaptation of the 2013 Pulitzer-winning novel by Donna Tartt, follows the story of a young man who steals a painting in the aftermath of a terrorist attack, which kills his mother, and leads to a life of art forgery. Starring Nicole Kidman, Ansel Elgort, Finn Wolfhard, Sarah Paulson, Luke Wilson, and Jeffrey Wright.
Cracked Up is a documentary about SNL alum Darrell Hammond, whose decades of addiction stemmed from a traumatic childhood. (His 2011 memoir, God, If You’re Not Up There, I’m F*cked, was very well received.)
Can You Keep a Secret? stars Alexandra Daddario as a woman who spills her secrets to the CEO of her employer when she thinks her plane is going to crash into the ocean.
The Harvesters is a South African coming of age drama. The film received a standing ovation at Cannes last year; this trailer fills me with dread.
Monos is a Colombian drama (shot on location in the remote and previously unfilmed Chingaza páramo in Cundinamarca and on the jungle of the Samaná river canyon in Antioquia) about a handful of teenage soldiers assigned to watch a hostage and a cow. The film stars Julianne Nicholson and Moisés Arias.
Freaks is a psychological thriller with a plot similar to 10 Cloverfield Lane. Emile Hirsch plays a character called Dad. Am I Old now? And why doesn’t he have a better agent?
Another Day of Life is a 2018 Polish-Spanish-Belgian-German-Hungarian animated film based on the novel by Polish journalist Ryszard Kapuściński’, which covered the Angola Civil War.
Hustlers is a drama from director Lorene Scafaria starring Jennifer Lopez and Constance Wu with Keke Palmer, Lizzo, Cardi B, and Julia Stiles. The film is inspired by the excellent New York article about a group of women that drugged and hustled Wall Street bankers.
Coming to theaters Wednesday, September 18th:
Midnight Traveler is a documentary by Hassan Fazili who was forced by the Taliban to flee Afghan with his wife and daughters. The film is an account of their flight and attempt to seek asylum elsewhere.
Amazon releases two series today, El Corazón de Sergio Ramos:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TjISe52z-cYAnd Undone:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6uWCNHQgfncOn Thursday the service releases Family Man:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78cHirO0ffAToday on Netflix:
The Chef Show, volume two
Hello, Privilege. It’s Me, Chelsea.
The Ranch, part seven
Tall Girl
Unbelievable
Available Sunday:
Los Tigres del Norte at Folsom Prison
Available Tuesday:
The Last Kids on Earth
Screen Scholars 