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8 Must-See Fall Movies

Hollywood gets real as based-on-fact flicks flourish

  • Tom Hanks in 'Sully'
    Keith Bernstein/Courtesy of Warner Bros.

    ‘Sully’ (Sept. 9)

    Nobody plays a hero like Tom Hanks (Saving Private Ryan), and nobody brings heroism to the screen more vibrantly than director Clint Eastwood (Flags of Our Fathers). They make the perfect team to tell the story of airline pilot Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger, who safely landed his crippled airliner on the Hudson River in 2009, saving 155 lives. Laura Linney costars as Lorraine Sullenberger.

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  • Joesph Gordan-Levitt in 'Snowden'
    Keith Bernstein/Courtesy of Warner Bros.

    ‘Snowden’ (Sept. 16)

    The world wants to know: Will director Oliver Stone make an unqualified hero of NSA whistle-blower Edward Snowden (Joseph Gordon-Levitt)? Or will this be a more complex portrayal, along the lines of Stone’s unexpectedly nuanced take on George W. Bush in W.? The fine cast includes veterans Nicolas Cage, Melissa Leo, Tom Wilkinson and Joely Richardson.

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  • Mark Wahlberg in 'Deepwater Horizon'
    David Lee/Courtesy Lionsgate

    ‘Deepwater Horizon’ (Sept. 30)

    Almost lost in coverage of the 2010 eco-disaster that followed the Deepwater Horizon oil-rig explosion was the fact that 11 people lost their lives. Another 110 survived, thanks to heroic acts by rescue teams and fellow crew members. Director Peter Berg (Lone Survivor) calls on John Malkovich, Mark Wahlberg and Kurt Russell — costarring for the first time with Kate Hudson, daughter of his longtime partner, Goldie Hawn — to tell this very human story.

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  • Rachel Weisz in 'Denial'
    David Lee/Courtesy Lionsgate

    ‘Denial’ (Sept. 30)

    In 1996 American historian Deborah Lipstadt was sued for libel by notorious Holocaust denier David Irving, a British writer. Denial brings alive that sensational court case, starring Rachel Weisz as Lipstadt and Timothy Spall (Wormtail in the Harry Potter movies) as Irving. Two-time Movies for Grownups Award winner Tom Wilkinson costars as Lipstadt’s lawyer.

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  • A middle aged caucasian couple look at a map outdoors with text that reads keep life fun and your calendar full.

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  • Nate Parker in 'The Birth of a Nation'
    Laurie Sparham/Bleecker Street

    ‘The Birth of a Nation’ (Oct. 7)

    It’s no accident this film shares its title with the most racist Hollywood film ever made — D.W. Griffith’s 1915 paean to the Ku Klux Klan. Playing Nat Turner, the literate slave who led a bloody slave rebellion in 1831, cowriter-director-star Nate Parker thoroughly demolishes any last traces of nostalgia for the Old South. Armie Hammer costars as the plantation owner who comes to regret letting Turner learn to read.

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  • Anna Kendrick and Ben Affleck in 'The Accountant'
    Courtesy Fox Searchlight Pictures

    ‘The Accountant’ (Oct. 14)

    Some of our favorite actors have played accountants: Gene Wilder in The Producers, Ben Kingsley in Schindler’s List. Now Ben Affleck stars in this tense thriller as a gifted number cruncher who cooks the books for mobsters, and J.K. Simmons is the Fed pressuring him to work for the good guys. Jeffrey Tambor and John Lithgow costar.

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  • Tom Hanks and Felicity Jones in 'Inferno'
    Chuck Zlotnick/Courtesy Warner Bros.

    ‘Inferno’ (Oct. 28)

    Wish we’d paid closer attention in art appreciation class: Tom Hanks returns as author Dan Brown’s globe-trotting art expert, Robert Langdon — this time tearing around Florence, Italy, to decipher clues that can stave off a worldwide plague. Ron Howard directs his third Langdon caper; Felicity Jones plays a doctor who may or may not be on the side of the angels.

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  • Ruth Negga and Joel Edgerton in 'Loving'
    Jonathan Prime/Courtesy Sony Pictures

    ‘Loving’ (Nov. 4)

    Loving v. Virginia was the 1967 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that declared it unconstitutional to ban racially mixed marriages. Joel Edgerton and Ruth Negga play Richard and Mildred Loving, the Virginia couple who changed the course of history by refusing to let racism write the final chapter of their love story. Directed by Jeff Nichols (Mud).

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