WHAT TO WATCH THIS AUTUMN: FILM

Jokers, Jedi and Irishmen headline a wildly unpredictable seasonal schedule.

When anyone asks the question "what films are you most looking forward to?" my answer is simple- the films that generate the most excitement are often the films I know least about! The hidden gems amongst a pack of overhyped OSCAR contenders. The little, low-key masterpieces that sneak up behind your back before whacking you around the head with disbelief that you didn't see them coming. Most of all, these films provide the most satisfaction for an aspiring film critic as they justify the relevance of their increasingly tried and tested passion. While we can often be known for slamming big-budget blockbusters bereft of heart or soul, if film criticism has any future at all, it's in flagging up films that would otherwise slip under the spotlight.

​Anticipation is always a risky business as it's mostly the case that if you invest too much faith in an upcoming production, all it can do is disappoint you when it turns out to be far from expected. As a result, I've usually supressed the urge to comprise a longlist of "most anticipated films of the year". With a surprisingly unpredictable autumn movie season beckoning at our feet, though, the temptation to look ahead ultimately proved impossible to resist...
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​IT: CHAPTER TWO (OUT SEPT. 6TH)

Andy Muschietti's 2017 screen adaptation of Stephen King's clown chiller 'It' sacraficed coming-of-age oomph for gimmicky shocks. However, that earlier film was only one half of the original novel; the second of which arrives at multiplexes early this month and boasts an impressive adult cast including James McAvoy and Jessica Chastain. Fingers crossed for less jump scares, less CGI and more psychological tension than your average horror potboiler.
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​BAIT (OUT SEPT. 6TH)

Shot in hand-made, monochrome 16mm stock, Director Mark Jenkin's Cornwall-set drama centres around a fisherman displaced from his boat due to an influx of tourists. Aswell as being an unreservedly old-fashioned technical triumph in this digital day and age,  this went down a stowaway success at this year's Berlin Film Festival and looks straight up the street of down n' dirty British cinema.
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​THE FAREWELL (OUT SEPT. 20TH)

For her second feature film following 2014's 'Posthumous', Director Lulu Wang helms this bilingual, semi-autobiographical tale of a Chinese American family who - upon learning of their grandmother's terminal illness - organize a gathering to celebrate her life. It's a well-trodden tale, but the trailers suggest a tad more sensitivity and sincerity than your standard, emotionally manipulative melodrama.

​AD ASTRA (OUT SEPT. 18TH)

One-time smug pretty boy Brad Pitt flexes his "serious" acting muscles in this operatic space adventure that pits him as an astronaut searching for his father (Tommy Lee-Jones) on the edges of the solar system. The film's director James Gray has lingered long in the minds of arthouse obsessives yet looks set to break into the mainstream with what promises to be the thinking man's Sci-Fi  of the year.
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JOKER (OUT OCT. 4TH)

The late Heath Ledger's ultra-psychopathic portrayal of the character remains the highest watermark of movie villains, but Joaquin Phoenix looks set for similar standing ovations  if the terrifying trailers are anything to go by. This deeply disturbing origins story casts Batman's No.1 nemesis as a twisted, tortured loner of the 'Taxi Driver' (1976) vein. That alone makes me cackle with maniacal excitement!
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JUDY (OUT OCT. 4TH)

An unrecognisable Renee Zellweggar looks poised for OSCAR glory for her seemingly skin-inhabiting turn as Judy Garland in a film that promises to follow 'Rocketman' (2019) in terms of spewing musical creativity out of a by-the-numbers biopic. The unstoppable Jessie Buckley ('Wild Rose' (2019)) also stars.
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THE DAY SHALL COME (OUT OCT. 11TH)

Almost a decade since his sobering terror satire 'Four Lions' (2010),  Chris Morris returns to the big screen - this time on American shores - for another jet-black comedy about Homeland Security. Newcomer Marchant Davis stars as an unassuming Miami commune leader with little threat to the United States before Anna Kendrick's FBI officer spots a crafty opportunity to win over her boss. Expect laughs and tears in abundance!
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SORRY WE MISSED YOU (OUT NOV. 1ST)

Aged 83 and showing no sign of slowing down, British king of working class misery Ken Loach follows his outstanding Palme d'Or winner 'I, Daniel Blake' (2016) with this gravelly tale of zero-hour contracts centring around an indebted delivery driver. Gritty social justice is a guarantee.
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THE IRISHMAN (OUT NOV. 1ST)

Those who claimed Martin Scorsese's last film 'Silence' (2017) wasn't what you'd expect from the master of the mob movie can hardly level the same complaint at his latest which ​reunites him with 'Goodfellas' graduates Robert De Niro and  Joe Pesci along with Al Pacino and 'Mean Streets' mafioso Harvey Keitel. A titanic talentfest battles it out in the mesmerising auteur's Netflix-produced biopic of Frank Sheeran - a veteran hitman rooted in the Bufalino Crime Family. Classic Scorsese? I think so! 
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STAR WARS: THE RISE OF SKYWALKER (OUT DEC. 19TH)

Calling the coming of a new 'Star Wars' movie an "event" is laughable given the pop cultural explosions of ecstatic energy that greets any upcoming release from the franchise. This sequel trilogy has so far proved to be every bit a match for its originals if not (whisper it) better and - if there's anyone who can pull off the trick three times lucky - its J.J Abrams whose Lucasian passion for the material has every bit the Spielbergian sense of wonder that absolutely accompanies a galaxy far, far away. 
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​CATS (OUT DEC. 20TH)

If you weren't vomiting enough from watching the Twitter-mocked trailer, how about 2 hours of humanoid felines in mo-cap jumpsuits singing to their hearts galore? This unintentionally creepy-looking rendition of Andrew Lloyd-Webber's 38 year-running stage musical nonetheless boasts a terrific cast ranging from Judi Dench to Idris Elba to Taylor Swift yet the real star is Director Tom Hooper who made a masterpiece out of 'Les Miserables' (2013) and could well pull off the same results for this bizarre beastfest. "Could"...
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