Lester’s 2018 Fall Movie Guide

Lester’s 2018 Fall Movie Guide

The Little Stranger (August 31)

A creepy period piece set in a beautiful mansion, this apparent slow-burner has a killer cast: Domhnall Gleeson, Charlotte Rampling, and Ruth Wilson (whom you may know from her star turn on The Affair). Something tells me The Little Stranger has one helluva twist. I'll take a goth ghost story any day.

A Simple Favor (September 14)

Bridesmaids director Paul Feig and screenwriter Jessica Sharzer (American Horror Story) bring Darcy Bell's riveting thriller to the big screen. Fans of Gone Girl or TBS series Search Party will be drawn into this film's web of intrigue. Anna Kendrick plays a mommy blogger whose best friend, played by Blake Lively, vanishes. The disappearance launches a series of twists, turns, and betrayals that, judging from the film's sultry, stylish trailer, will have all the intrigue and verve of the best thrillers.

The Children Act (September 14)

Based on the 2014 novel of the same name by Ian McKewan, this movie (starring the unbeatable combo of Emma Thompson and Stanley Tucci) follows a British High Court judge who has to rule on whether a boy dying of leukemia should receive a life-saving blood transfusion against the wishes of his Jehovah’s Witness parents. Part court drama, part relationship drama, all drama-drama.

White Boy Rick (September 14)

White Boy Rick is a 2018 American crime drama film directed by Yann Demange. The story of teenager Richard Wershe Jr. (Richie Merritt), who became an undercover informant for the FBI during the 1980s and was ultimately arrested for drug-trafficking and sentenced to life in prison.

Operation Finale (September 21)

Operation Finale is a 2018 historical thriller film directed by Chris Weitz. 15 years after World War II, a team of secret agents are brought together to track down Adolf Eichmann, the infamous Nazi architect of the Holocaust.

Colette (September 21)

Keira Knightley in a period piece. The star of such classics as Atonement, Pride & Prejudice, and Anna Karenina is back at it again, this time trying the Belle Epoque on for size. In this joyful, fiercely feminist biopic of Nobel Prize–nominated author Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette (Gigi), Knightley plays the titular role with her usual aplomb, tracing the journey of a writer who must fight for visibility when her work is unduly credited to her husband. A hit at the Sundance Film Festival, this will be one of the bright spots of the fall.

The Old Man and the Gun (September 28)

The Old Man and the Gun is a 2018 American crime film directed by David Lowery, based on the 2003 New Yorker article by David Grann. The true story of Forrest Tucker (Robert Redford), from his audacious escape from San Quentin at the age of 70 to an unprecedented string of heists that confounded authorities and enchanted the public.

A Star is Born (October 5)

Lady Gaga literally stars as a preternaturally talented singer-songwriter whose rise to fame coincides with the fall from grace of her lover and mentor, played by Bradley Cooper. Cooper directed the flick and also sings in it. This is the third remake of a Janet Graynor film from 1937; Gaga steps into shoes that have previously been fitted for none other than Barbra Streisand and Judy Garland.

Bad Times at the El Royale (October 5)

Emmy, Grammy and Tony-award winning triple threat Cynthia Erivo leaps from the Broadway stage to the big screen this fall in the Viola Davis–starrer Widows and at the center of Drew Goddard's Bad Times at the El Royale. A twisty psychedelic “pulp fictiony” crime thriller brings seven strangers together at a motel in the 1960s—where guns, money, ominous rainstorms, and a shirtless Chris Hemsworth all come out to play. Co-starring Dakota Johnson, Jeff Bridges, and Jon Hamm.

Beautiful Boy (October 12)

Steve Carell and Timothée Chalamet join Oscar-winner Amy Ryan and Emmy-winner Maura Tierney to tell the heartbreaking true story of a father's fight to save his son from a crippling addition to meth. The film is based on two memoirs, one by dad David Sheff and one by son Nic Sheff.

The Hate U Give (October 19)

Based on Angie Thomas' bestselling YA novel, The Hate U Give explodes into theaters this autumn with an timely and incisive exploration of race, class, and opportunity. Starr (Amandla Stenberg) is a black girl living in two worlds: the mostly black, lower-class neighborhood in which she lives, and the mostly white, upper-class prep school she attends. But then she witnesses her cousin's murder at the hands of a police officer, and is drawn into activism as the lines between her worlds crumble. Thomas' book has been perched atop the New York Times bestseller list for over a year, so expect audiences to show up big time for this adaptation.

Can You Ever Forgive Me? (October 19)

Melissa McCarthy, who's shown dramatic chops before, gets to be front and center of this crime caper tragedy. McCarthy plays celebrity profiler Lee Israel, who has seen her fortunes fall and her paychecks dry up. While trying to make money selling rare books, she stumbles into letter forgery and quickly gets caught up doctoring missives from famous people with her own poison pen. Co-starring fellow funny people Richard E. Grant and Jane Curtain, this forgery flick is the real deal.

Serenity (October 19)

Interstellar co-stars Matthew McConaughey and Anne Hathaway re-team for another mind-bender, this one set on earth—or water, to be exact. Hathaway leads this neo-noir playing a woman who makes a dangerous request of her fishing boat captain ex-husband, played by McConaughey. She wants him to take her current husband, Jason Clarke, out on the boat and leave him for the fishes.

Bohemian Rhapsody (November 2)

Though there were some serious productions snafus that almost jeopardized this highly-anticipated Freddie Mercury biopic—including on-set chaos, thanks to an MIA director who later got fired mid-production—it’s finally happening and it looks really promising. Rami Malek (of Mister Robot fame) stars as the Queen frontman at the height of his powers, mustache and all.

Boy Erased (November 2)

This true story of a Baptist preacher's son (played by Oscar nominee Lucas Hedges), who is outed and must choose between submitting to gay conversion therapy or being exiled from his family and faith community. Oscar winners Russell Crowe and Nicole Kidman play his parents in a film directed by Joel Edgerton, who also wrote the screenplay.

Suspiria (November 2)

The trailer alone for Luca Guadagnino’s remake of the 1977 horror classic Suspiria makes me jump, and the movie got some terrified reviews from those who saw a preview of it at CinemaCon. Dakota Johnson in a creepy period horror film, though?

The Nutcracker and the Four Realms (November 2)

The Nutcracker and the Four Realms is a 2018 American fantasy film directed by Lasse Hallström, based on works by E.T.A. Hoffmann and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. After being led by her godfather (Morgan Freeman) to a special key, Clara (Mackenzie Foy) finds herself in a strange world inhabited by the Sugar Plum Fairy (Keira Knightley) and other mysterious beings.

On the Basis of Sex (November 9)

Mimi Leder directs Felicity Jones and Armie Hammer in a Ruth Bader Ginsburg biopic and it's time to get pumped. Jones plays the jurist as a young lawyer bringing a gender discrimination case before the Supreme Court. Hammer plays her legal partner and husband, Marty.

The Girl in the Spider’s Web (November 9)

Based on the fourth novel of the Millennium series (and the first not written by Steig Larsson, who passed away in 2014), this film got a lot of buzz with its trailer, which shows the genius Claire Foy nearly unrecognizable as Lisbeth Salander. She looks so badass and Swedish! It’ll be interesting to see Foy as an action star, but if there’s one thing we know about her, it is this: She has the range.

Welcome to Marwen (November 21)

Welcome to Marwen is a 2018 American fantasy drama film directed by Robert Zemeckis, inspired by Jeff Malmberg's 2010 documentary Marwencol. A victim (Steve Carell) of a violent assault constructs a miniature World War II village in his yard to help in his recovery.

If Beale Street Could Talk (November 21)

If Beale Street Could Talk is a 2018 American drama film directed by Barry Jenkins, based on the novel by James Baldwin. A woman in Harlem (Kiki Layne) desperately scrambles to prove her fiancé (Stephan James) innocent of a crime while carrying their first child.

Blue Are High On My List