The leaves and the temperature aren’t the only things that change come fall. The movies get a little more serious; even the escapist stuff is more tailored for grown-ups than kiddos, or at least adults who never quite grew up.
Our late-year movie preview is by no means encyclopedic; too many films fill these final months to allow for a top-to-bottom inventory. But we can still hit the highlights as we see them, meaning it’s time to put the critical glasses on and point you in a direction we hope you’ll find agreeable. Here are 30 of the films we’re most excited about this season. As always, dates are subject to change and Houston openings may come after New York and Los Angeles debuts.
WELCOME TO ARTS SEASON: See our 2019-2020 arts guide, only on HoustonChronicle.com
September 6
It Chapter Two — The kids from the first film are adults now. James McAvoy, Jessica Chastain and Bill Hader star and it’s directed by Andy Muschietti who made “Annabelle.”
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Tigers Are Not Afraid : This tale of borderland drug violence is also a ghost story, in which the dead are never really dead and a group of children struggle to stay alive. A Mexican horror film with a topical bite.
September 13
The Goldfinch : Donna Tartt’s literary sensation is now movie, starring Nicole Kidman as a wealthy New Yorker who takes in a boy after his mother is killed in a museum bombing. The boy, meanwhile, has taken in a priceless work of art.
September 20
Ad Astra : This season’s metaphysical space movie finds Brad Pitt’s astronaut traveling to the edge of the solar system in search of his father. Since it’s a metaphysical space movie, the quest also has ramifications for human existence as a whole.
Downton Abbey: It’s not a law, but it’s a pretty good bet these days that a TV sensation will draw the attention of the movie powers that be. In this case, the small screen’s favorite English countryside drama has finally made it to the multiplex.
October 4
Joker: Batman’s arch nemesis gets his own origin story, starring Joaquin Phoenix, Robert De Niro and Marc Maron, in this Todd Phillips movie that’s being billed as a “cautionary tale.”
October 11
Parasite: From the filmmaker who brought us Snowpiercer, Okja, Memories of Murder and The Host comes a fiendish story about class warfare, South Korean style. When is an English tutor not really an English tutor? Right here, that’s where.
Gemini Man : Every now and then Ang Lee leaves the art film world behind in favor of a genre movie. This time he casts Will Smith as an aging hit man squaring off against a younger version of himself.
October 18
Jojo Rabbit: Taika Waititi doesn’t just direct this satire about a Hitler youth who discovers his mother is hiding a Jewish girl in their home; he also takes on the role of Hitler himself. Paging Charlie Chaplin.
The Lighthouse: This atmospheric Cannes prize-winner from director Robert Eggers (“The Witch”) stars Robert Pattinson and Willem DaFoe as lighthouse keepers on a mysterious island.
Zombieland: Double Tap : The family that slays together stays together? Woody Harrelson, Emma Stone, Jesse Eisenberg, and Abigail Breslin bond, beef and do battle with the undead in this sequel to the 2009 hit.
November 1
Harriet: Harriet Tubman may not appear on American money any time soon but she does have a new biopic starring Cynthia Erivo who made a splash in “Widows” and the otherwise forgettable “Bad Times at the El Royale.” Janelle Monae co-stars.
Motherless Brooklyn : Edward Norton directed and stars in this adaptation of Jonathan Lethem’s breakout novel, about a private detective with Tourette’s Syndrome. Bruce Willis and Willem Dafoe also star.
Terminator: Dark Fate: Linda Hamilton and Arnold Schwarzenegger are back with James Cameron along as co-writer and producer.
November 15
Ford v. Ferrari: Who doesn’t like a good Cinderella story on wheels? Christian Bale and Matt Damon star as a driver and designer who set out to make Ford a nifty race car to take on Ferrari at Le Mans in 1966.
The Good Liar: Here’s one for the grown-ups. Nicholas Searle’s novel about a con artist who meets a woman he actually cares for stars Ian McKellen and Helen Mirren and is directed by Bill Condon (“Mr. Holmes,” “Kinsey”).
November 22
21 Bridges: Chadwick Boseman takes a break from playing famous people and super heroes in this drama about a disgraced cop given a shot at redemption. Sienna Miller co-stars.
A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood: In the casting-from-heaven department, Tom Hanks plays Mr. Rogers, who teaches a reporter based on Tom Junod (Matthew Rhys) life lessons. Lesson No. 1: Nice guys don’t always finish last.
Frozen II: This sequel from the duo of Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee, who made the first film, is supposedly a bit darker and grown-up.
November 27
Knives Out: Genre prankster Rian Johnson (Brick, Looper) takes a break from Star Wars land with this story of a detective (Chris Evans) investigating the death of an eccentric patriarch. Daniel Craig, Toni Collette and Michael Shannon round out an excellent cast.
Queen & Slim: A first date goes awry when a couple gets pulled over by the cops. Playing the police: alt-country god Sturgill Simpson, not exactly the prototype of an authority figure.
December 13
A Hidden Life: Texan Terrence Malick tested the patience of even his fans with his last feature, “Song to Song,” but he may be back in top form in this drama about an Austrian conscientious objector who refuses to fight for the Nazis in WWII.
Jumanji: The Next Level: Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson joins Awkwafina, Keven Hart and Jack Black for another installment of the game that throws jungle, desert and other environs at movie stars looking for a paycheck.
December 20
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker : The fresh generation of “Star Wars” stars is back, including Daisy Ridley, Domhall Gleeson, Lupita Nyong’o, Adam Driver, and Oscar Isaac, along with a couple of old pros, Mark Hamill and the late, great Carrie Fisher. It’s being billed as the final chapter of the Skywalker saga, so get those hankies out and ready to use.
Cats: What are the odds that T.S.Eliot thought his feline poetry epic would some day become a tent pole holiday movie? Probably about the same as the odds he foresaw a hit Broadway musical. I’m still holding out for the version Will Smith described in “Six Degrees of Separation.”
December 25
1917 — Could this be the “Dunkirk” of 2019? Sam Mendes (“American Beauty,” “Skyfall”) directs this drama set on the battlefields of WWI starring Benedict Cumberbatch, Colin Firth, Mark Strong and George MacKay.
Just Mercy — Michael B. Jordan steps out of the “Creed” boxing ring and the kingdom of Wakanda to star in a drama based on the work of civil rights attorney Bryan Stevenson. Brie Larson co-stars.
Little Women: Greta Gerwig steps behind the camera to tell the story of Louisa May Alcott’s March sisters, aided by a cast that includes Emma Watson, Saoirse Ronan, Meryl Streep, Chris Cooper, Timothée Chalamet, Florence Pugh and a stable of players looking to get their post-Civil War fashion on.
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Dolemite Is My Name: Director Craig Brewer struck pay dirt with “Hustle & Flow” in 2005 and he’s back with this biography of actor Rudy Ray Moore, star of the 1975 blaxploitation film “Dolemite.” Eddie Murphy plays Moore.
The Irishman: Last year, Netflix had Alfonso Cuarón’s “Roma” as its big holiday gift to film fans. This year, it has Martin Scorsese’s gangster saga “The Irishman” starring Robert DeNiro, Al Pacino, Anna Paquin, Bobby Cannavale, Joe Pesci and Harvey Keitel. It remains to be seen if this will play theatrically at all in Houston or only will be available through streaming.
chris.vognar@chron.com
Cary Darling contributed to this report.
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