King's Guide:Fall Movie Preview

If you have been wondering what films will be released this fall, you stopped at the right place. I have composed a list of films that will be making their way to a cinema near you. Keep in mind these release dates are limited to the US only. If the film is a wide release for example Breaking Dawn, there is a good chance that it will be playing in your country as well. What films are you most looking forward to? The films that I am most looking forward to are in red.

September

• The Words
• Bachelorette- Limited Release
• 10 Years- Limited Release
• Can this year be the year of Channing Tatum? We will see with this release.
• Finding Nemo 3D
• Is it bad that I would go see this movie again? 
• Resident Evil: Retribution
• The Master- Limited Release
• Dredd 3D
• End of Watch
• House at the End of the Street
• Jennifer Lawrence stars in this thriller about a mother and daughter who move in next door to a house where a young girl murdered her parents.
• Trouble with the Curve
• Clint Eastwood stars as a baseball scout in his first film since Gran Torino. This film as stars Amy Adams and Justin Timberlake
• The Perks of Being a Wallflower- Limited Release
• The trailer looks wonderful for this film. I have a feeling that I would absolutely love this film.
• Hotel Transylvania
• Looper
• Joseph Gordon Levitt stars as a killer for a future mob that is assigned to kill his future self( Bruce Willis) 
• Won't Back Down

October

• Frakenweenie
• Pitch Perfect
• Taken 2
• The Paperboy- Limited Release
• Directed by Lee Daniels( Precious) and starring Zac Efron, Nicole Kidman and John Cusack 
• Argo
• Based on a true story of the operation to rescue six Americans during the Iranian revolution in 1979 It is directed by Ben Affleck( The Town, Gone Baby Gone)
• Seven Psychopaths
• Alex Cross
• Killing Them Softly
• Paranormal Activity 4
• Cloud Atlas
• The Big Wedding

November

• Flight
• Denzel Washington returns to the screens in this Robert Zemeckis( Forrest Gump) vehicle. 
• Wreck-It Ralph
• Skyfall
• Lincoln- Limited Release
• The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part II
• The Twilight Saga comes to an end, twihards are in agony while film lovers rejoice
• Anna Karenina- Limited Release
• Directed by Joe Wright( Atonement, Pride & Prejudice) and starring Keira Knightley in the titled role. 
• Life of Pi
• Based on the Best selling novel and directed by the Academy Award winning Ang Lee( Brokeback Mountain) 
• Red Dawn
• Rise of the Guardians
• The Silver Linings Playbook

December

• The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
• Peter Jackson returns for the prequel to the Lord of  Rings trilogy. 
• Les Miserables
• Zero Dark Thirty
• This is 40
• Quasi sequel to Knocked Up
• Jack Reacher
• Django Unchained
• Been waiting for this film for two years now. I know that Quentin Tarantino will not disappoint

The Dark Knight Rises

Starring: Christian Bale, Gary Oldman, Tom Hardy, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Anne Hathaway, Marion Cotillard, Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine
Director: Christopher Nolan
Written By: Christopher Nolan and Jonathan Nolan
Rating: 4.5/5 Unicorns

The Dark Knight Rises is the conclusion to the epic Batman trilogy directed by Christopher Nolan. It takes place eight years after The Dark Knight. During those eight years Gotham City has not experienced any particular threat. That is all changed when Bane( Tom Hardy) enters the city with a mindset to destroy Gotham City. Batman( Christian Bale) must defend the city that has branded him a villain.

The Dark Knight Rises was not only one of the most anticipated films of the summer but of the most anticipated movies of the whole year. If it was not for The Avengers and The Hobbit it would be the film I was most looking forward to this year. I will be the first to admit that after watching The Avengers earlier this summer, many films failed to live up to my expectations. I was itching for a film that would entertain me at that level. Thankfully, The Dark Knight Rises filled the void for me. Unfortunately,  TDKR was overshadowed by tragedy. During the midnight showing of TDKR a man opened fire to an unsuspecting crowd. On my other blog I have written a post about my feelings of the tragedy. http://confessionsfromablackrose.blogspot.com/2012/07/frailty-of-life.html#more

You might be wondering why I have not given the TDKR a perfect score. I will tell you that I felt it was too long. There were some elements of the film that I felt dragged on. That does not mean that I did not like the film, I did. I honestly thought it was better than The Dark Knight. Tom Hardy was fantastic as Bane, his performance was bone chilling. Joseph Gordon-Levitt continues to slay me with his impeccable performances. He played the role of John Blake who was another hero of the film. I won't give it away but the ending for John Blake had me fangirling. Anne Hathaway had a career turn with Catwoman. I knew that she had it in her but it was still great to see it with my own eyes. There were twists and turns, a fantastic score by the legendary Hans Zimmer, the return of all the Batman Begins villains and directed by legend in his own right Christopher Nolan. If that is not a reason to check it out, I don't know what else to say.

Battle Royale

Starring: Tatsuya Fujiwara, Aki Maeda, Taro Yamamoto Takeshi Kitano, Chiaki Kuriyama, Ko Shibasaki, Masanobu Ando
Director: Kinji Fukasaku
Written By: Kenta Fukasaku
Rating: 5/5 unicorns

42 ninth grade students wake up on a deserted island with a mysterious device on their necks. They are told that they have been selected to compete in the Battle Royale. The rule of the game is the participants have three days to kill each other until there is only one survivor. If they fail to do so their device will be activated and all of them will die. The students are each equipped with a bag that holds a weapon, map and rations of food and water.

I will be the first to admit that I had never heard about  Battle Royale before this past spring. I was voicing my disappointments after  finally seeing The Hunger Games(THG) with one of my friends. I was complaining about how THG failed to live up to the book. He mentioned that The Hunger Games was pretty much a rip off of Battle Royale. I did a little research and I found out that Battle Royale is a Japanese film that came out 12 years ago. It is based on a novel by the same name that came out in 1999. When Netflix matched me with the film a few weeks ago,  I decided to add Battle Royale to my queue. I finally watched the movie over the weekend and I have only one word to describe it, WOW!

Battle Royale is hands down the most intense and frightening film I have ever seen. At the same time there is a lot of humor as well. I can understand completely why it is a cult classic. It felt more like Lord of the Flies meets Clockwork Orange meets Kill Bill than a superior version of The Hunger Games.You really see the grotesqueness of these classmates killing each other. It is not watered down so it is easy to digest but graphic and unsettling. The film is a beautiful portrayal of survival and friendship. Interestingly these two elements are codependent and conflicting from each other. It was fascinating to see how friendships were formed and dissolved under these circumstances. What made this film so horrifying for me is that it is something that could totally happen now. It asks some tough questions and illustrates the complexities of human nature. There are individuals who are natural born killers, others that are self sacrificing and few that refuse to play the game at all. I would recommend this film for anyone who is interested in having a twisted thrill ride.