The Milwaukee Post

September 11, 2015 • Milwaukee County Post • 15 ENTERTAINMENT By TOM JOZWIK Post Film Critic If reboots have figured prominently in this sum- mer's cinematic landscape, the fall season promises to place emphasis on movie art imitating life. Hollywood will pay hom- age to actuality between late September and Thanksgiving weekend through biopics, documen- taries and dramatizations of historical incidents. Following are 10 detailed examples with tentative release dates, plus shorter summaries of five additional films. 1. Sept. 18 — "Pawn Sacrifice," directed by Ed Zwick, tells the tale of trou- bled chess champ Bobby Fischer (Tobey Maguire). Fischer's best-remembered opponent, the Soviet Boris Spassky, is played by Liev Schreiber. 2. Sept. 30 — "The Walk." In 1974, Philippe Petit became the only indi- vidual to walk on a high wire between New York's World Trade Center Towers. Joseph Gordon-Levitt portrays Petit in this Robert Zemeckis- helmed adaptation of the French daredevil's memoir. 3. Oct. 2 — "He Named Me Malala" is a documen- tary about history's youngest Nobel Peace Prize winner, shot at age 15 after stumping for girls' education in Pakistan. 4. Oct. 9 — "Steve Jobs" is the eponymous title of this feature directed by Danny Boyle, written by Aaron Sorkin and starring Michael Fassbender as the late indus- trialist. The biopic, also fea- turing Kate Winslet, comes on the heels of a Jobs docu- mentary. 5. Oct. 16 — "Freeheld," based on a 7-year-old short doc, boasts 2014 best actress Oscar winner Julianne Moore as a dying detective hoping, in bygone days, that her pension benefits can pass on to her same-sex part- ner. Steve Carell is also in the cast. 6. Oct. 16 — "Bridge of Spies" unites Steven Spielberg, Tom Hanks and the screenwriting Coen brothers. Hanks is a 1960s lawyer who, at the CIA's behest, seeks the release of Francis Gary Powers — an American captive whose spy plane the Soviets have shot down. 7. Oct. 30 —"Our Brand Is Crisis," produced by George Clooney, is a retool- ing of a similarly titled 2005 documentary. The political dramedy, set in Bolivia, pits Sandra Bullock against Billy Bob Thornton. 8. Nov. 6 — "Trumbo" is Oscar laureate Dalton Trumbo, a Hollywood screenwriter blacklisted dur- ing the McCarthy era. "Breaking Bad's" Bryan Cranston takes on the title role, opposite Helen Mirren as gossip columnist Hedda Hopper. 9. Nov. 20 — "All the President's Men" — a drama approaching the Catholic Church's clergy abuse scandal from a jour- nalistic standpoint. Tom McCarthy, one of the two screenwriters, directs. 10. Nov. 27 — "I Saw the Light," biopic of country crooner Hank Williams (Tom Hiddleston) directed by Marc Abraham and co-starring Elizabeth Olsen, comple- ments earlier 2014 flicks about Amy Winehouse and Brian Wilson. Two real-life gangster films — "Black Mass" with Johnny Depp as Boston underworld figure Whitey Bulger and "Legend" with Tom Hardy playing identical twin British criminals — will also find their way into theaters this autumn, as will treatments of a Chilean min- ing disaster ("The 33" star- ring Antonio Banderas) and perilous mountain climbing expeditions ("Everest" with Jake Gyllenhaal), plus the documentary "Drunk, Stoned, Brilliant, Dead: The Story of the National Lampoon." Big screen keeps it real this fall Fiction isn't a far flicker away in movie popularity Sony Pictures Entertainment Joseph Gordon-Levitt performs as aerialist Philippe Petit in "The Walk," directed by Robert Zemeckis. Many new films explore recent history Kerry Brown/Open Road Films Bill Murray is a failed manager of rock stars who discovers an excit- ing new talent in Afghanistan in Barry Levinson's "Rock the Kasbah." The movie is due out Oct. 23. Many movies premiering this fall are in the fictional realm. Here, in the chronological order of their tentative debut dates, are synopses of 10 autumnal fiction films by scheduled release dates that would appear to be rather promising: Sept. 18 ■ "Coming Home." Having done prison time for political reasons, a Chinese man returns home to a spouse who's become an amnesiac. Comparison has been made of this subtitled movie and 1965's "Dr. Zhivago." Sept. 25 ■ "Hotel Transylvania 2." In a season during which other new flicks will add to the "Maze Runner," "Paranormal Activity" and "Hunger Games" series, this animated sequel — featuring the voices of Mel Brooks, Selena Gomez and Adam Sandler — is employing the poetic tagline "This fall, the Drac Pack is back!!" Oct. 2 ■ "The Martian," direct- ed by Ridley Scott, sounds like a cross between "Apollo 13" and "Robinson Crusoe." Matt Damon portrays an astronaut stranded you-can- guess-where; Jessica Chastain is a fellow traveler. Oct. 23 ■ "Adam Jones" stars Bradley Cooper in a John Wells comedy about a chef who loses one restaurant, then strives to establish another. Alicia Vikander, fast becoming an onscreen omnipresence, plays oppo- site Cooper. ■ "Suffragette" turns the spotlight on women's libbers in the England of 100 years ago. Meryl Streep, Carey Mulligan and Helena Bonham Carter star. ■ "Secret in Their Eyes" is an English version of the Argentinian murder mys- tery honored with an Academy Award as the top foreign language movie of 2009. Julia Roberts and Chiwetel Ejiofor portray FBI agents; Nicole Kidman plays a district attorney. ■ "Rock the Kasbah," being billed as a drama, has Bill Murray as a manager of rock 'n' rollers who loses his last client — in Afghanistan — only to discover what might just be a superior replacement. Kate Hudson and Bruce Willis are Murray castmates. Barry Levinson directs. Nov. 6 ■ "Spectre" marks Daniel Craig's fourth appearance as James Bond and Sam Mendes' second shot at helm- ing a Bond flick. Also in the cast: Naomie Harris, Christoph Waltz and Ralph Fiennes. ■ "Room" focuses on the forced confinement of a mother (Brie Larson, late of "Trainwreck") and son (5- year-old Jacob Tremblay) to a living space measuring just 100 square feet. Nov. 25 ■ "Victor Franken- stein." Daniel Radcliffe, aka Harry Potter, assists James McAvoy's Dr. F in director Paul McGuigan's take on the famed horror novel. — Tom Jozwik

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