Twentieth Century Fox
Isn’t it great that the summer movie season is over? Enough with all the sequels and the reboots, right? Well, this fall’s crop of movies might disappoint you if you’re looking for originality. Over the next four months, you can expect to see about as many sequels as you did the last four months. Worse, though, is the number of remakes, many of them dramatic retellings of stories that were covered just fine in documentaries. Plus Jem and the Holograms, which is based on a cartoon TV series.
You may not be interested in seeing every single major release between now and the end of the year (feel free to stick to our fall preview), but if you are you might also be interested in checking out all 50 films listed below (plus some extra mentions here and there). Or you can pick and choose depending on your moviegoing plans this season. We just want you to be prepared with context wherever necessary.
Each recommendation includes a due date to watch it by, which is the initial release date of their respective new counterparts.
Bobby Fischer Against the World (2011)
Edward Zwick‘s Pawn Sacrifice, starring Tobey Maguire as Bobby Fischer, looks okay, but Liz Garbus‘s documentary about the famous chess grandmaster is really all you need. Especially during the segment on the 1972 World Chess Championship, the earlier film already plays like an intense drama, so a biopic wasn’t required. Except for the people who hate docs and are still upset that Searching for Bobby Fischer wasn’t about Fischer at all. Due Date: 9/16
Everest (1998)
While not completely linked with the new drama of the same name, this IMAX documentary was shot in part during the 1996 Mount Everest disaster it depicts, and its crew was involved in the search and rescue efforts. There is at least mention of the IMAX filmmakers in the drama. Also worth seeing is the 2007 documentary Remnants of Everest: The 1996 Tragedy, which was directed by the IMAX film’s co-director, David Breashears and was seen in the US as a Frontline episode titled Storm Over Everest. Due Date: 9/18
The Maze Runner (2014)
So little of Wes Ball‘s first Maze Runner movie makes sense (refer to the questions it left me with) that it might not even be essential viewing before the new sequel, Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials, but it probably couldn’t hurt, and anyway it’s still very entertaining in spite of how confusing and illogical it is. Due Date: 9/18
Whitey: United States of America v. James J. Bulger (2014)
Johnny Depp is getting some good buzz for his performance as Whitey Bulger in Black Mass, but before you catch the portrayal be sure to see the real deal in this recent documentary by Joe Berlinger (the Paradise Lost trilogy). It’s more focused on the notorious gangster’s trial than his life story, but the latter understandably comes through with the former. We also recommend The Departed for its famous fictionalization of Bulger. Due Date: 9/18
Hotel Transylvania (2012)
This animated feature might make you realize you don’t hate all recent Adam Sandler movies, but I can’t promise you the new sequel, Hotel Transylvania 2, will do the same. Due Date: 9/25
Cannibal Holocaust (1980)
Eli Roth‘s long-delayed new movie, The Green Inferno, isn’t quite a remake of this infamous exploitation horror film, but it is enough of an homage that it nearly qualifies as a loose update. Not only is the influence very apparent, but Roth actually screened the 35-year-old cult classic to the real-life Amazonian villagers who appear in his movie. Due Date: 9/25
Stonewall Uprising (2010)
Roland Emmerich‘s dramatized telling of the famous Stonewall riots, the most famous events in the history of the gay rights movement, is already being criticized by the LGBT community for its inaccuracies. Best to stick with this documentary and maybe even the bracketing films Before Stonewall and After Stonewall for more of history lessons. Due Date: 9/25
Man On Wire (2008)
Not only is James Marsh‘s film of Philippe Petit and his famous Twin Towers tightrope feat an Oscar winner for Best Documentary, Features, but it’s also on my list of the 10 best documentaries of all time. Aside from the promise of IMAX 3D spectacle in its reenactment of footage we see for real in the earlier work, there’s little reason for Robert Zemeckis‘s dramatic remake, The Walk, starring Joseph Gordon Levitt as Petit. Due Date: 9/30
Freeheld (2007)
Another essential LBGT story can be found in this film by Cynthia Wade, which won the Oscar for Best Documentary, Short Subjects. After watching the real 40-minute version, then you can go see the potentially also Oscar-worthy remake of the same name starring Julianne Moore and Ellen Page as lesbian domestic partners fighting for equal benefits rights. Due Date: 10/2
Peter Pan (1924)
While Disney’s animated version is the more famous adaptation of J.M. Barrie‘s play, and the one most people will be using as the reference point for the new Warner Bros. prequel, Pan, the earlier silent film from Paramount should be seen for a rare case when the character Tiger Lily was played by an ethnic actress. Maybe still not the correct ethnicity, but still, it was a big deal for Hollywood to cast a Chinese-American actress like Anna May Wong for such a significant role. Due Date: 10/9
Jobs (2013) and Steve Jobs: The Man in the Machine (2015)
You’re probably already certain, without ever seeing it, that Ashton Kutcher‘s portrayal of Steve Jobs is not as good as Michael Fassbender‘s will be in Steve Jobs, but you’re better off making sure. And for the real deal to possibly triumph over both, Alex Gibney‘s got a new documentary feature about the late Apple CEO. Due Date: 10/9
Dead Season (1968)
If you can get your hands on this old Soviet spy film, you can see the Glienicke Bridge spy exchange now depicted in Steven Spielberg’s lates, Bridge of Spies, from the other side’s perspective. Rudolf Abel, the guy we handed over (portrayed by Mark Rylance for Spielberg) served as a consultant and makes a brief appearance as himself. Due Date: 10/16
Paranormal Activity 1-4 (2007-2012)
The latest installment in the Paranormal Activity series, Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension, promises to be the last and to provide answers to all our questions. To remind yourself of those questions, head back to the beginning and then continue with the subsequent three sequels (I think you can skip the spinoffs). Due Date: 10/23
What 80 Million Women Want (1913)
We can assume that Meryl Streep also watched this 102-year-old drama based on the UK campaign for women’s right to vote to prepare for her role in Suffragette, which also involves a fictional account of that historical period. In the new movie, Streep plays Emmeline Pankhurst, who appears in What 80 Million Women Want as herself. Due Date: 10/23
Our Brand Is Crisis (2005)
Rachel Boynton‘s film documents the story of the 2002 Bolivian presidential election and James Carville’s firm’s political strategizing for winner Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada, a story now dramatized in a movie of the same name by David Gordon Green. Due Date: 10/30
The Miles Davis Story (2001)
This standard documentary on the life and music of Miles Davis may not wind up being a preferred choice against Don Cheadle‘s new biopic, Miles Ahead — more likely they’ll be of equal worth for fans — but it will at least show you some great footage of the real jazz legend at work. Due Date: TBD
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