Staying Fit
(Left to right) Julia Roberts and Ethan Hawke in "Leave the World Behind," Joaquin Phoenix in "Napoleon" and Taraji P. Henson in "The Color Purple."
Jojo Whilden/Netflix; Apple TV+; Ser Baffo/Warner Bros. Pictures
The days grow cold and dark — but the winter movie outlook is getting brighter! Hollywood is coming back to life, and many of what are apt to be the best films of the year are coming to screens big and small. Check this page regularly, since some movies could get bumped to next year, and other good ones may be added to the schedule. Put these on your calendar, and don’t forget to pass the popcorn!
Coming in October
Killers of the Flower Moon (in theaters Oct. 20)
In the 1920s, the world’s wealthiest people per capita were Oklahoma’s oil-rich Osage — but cattle baron and philanthropist William “King” Hale (played by Robert De Niro, 80) had a plan to murder and rob the Native Americans, and perhaps his dimwit nephew (Leonardo DiCaprio, 48) was mixed up in it. It was the first big case for FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, and now it’s a 3½-hour prestige movie by Martin Scorsese, 80.
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Sight (in theaters Oct. 27)
Ming Wang, M.D., 63, escaped from Mao’s China to America with $50 in his pocket, got degrees from Harvard and MIT, and as a laser eye surgeon helped improve vision for thousands, including Charlie Daniels, Naomi Judd and Nicole Kidman, 56. He’s played by Terry Chen, 48 (Almost Famous), with Little Miss Sunshine’s Greg Kinnear, 60, as his friend and mentor Misha Bartnovsky.
Pain Hustlers (on Netflix Oct. 27)
If you liked The Big Short and The Wolf of Wall Street, try this flick about high-stakes crime and ghastly greed. Oppenheimer star Emily Blunt, 40, plays a desperately unemployed single mom recruited by a pharmaceutical firm to hawk deadly drugs in a racketeering scheme. Costars include Catherine O’Hara, 69 (Schitt’s Creek), and Andy Garcia, 67. Though it’s directed by Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts auteur David Yates, 59, it’s not entirely fantasy: It’s loosely inspired by the 2019 Insys Therapeutics scandal.
Coming in November
Priscilla (in theaters Nov. 3)
Over-50 viewers made Elvis a $288 million hit. Now his widow, Priscilla Presley, 78, and cowriter-director Sofia Coppola, 52, tell her side of the legendary love story, with Cailee Spaeny and Euphoria’s Jacob Elordi as the Presleys.
Rustin (in theaters Nov. 3, on Netflix Nov. 17)
Producers Barack Obama, 62, and Michelle Obama, 59, present the story of civil rights giant Bayard Rustin (Colman Domingo, 53), whose expert organizing made Rosa Parks famous. Remember Martin Luther King’s 1963 “I Have a Dream” speech? Rustin was a driving force to make that historic demonstration a reality. But Rustin was gay, attacked by pro- and anti-segregationists alike, and died largely forgotten. The all-star cast includes Jeffrey Wright, 57, as Rustin’s nemesis Adam Clayton Powell Jr., Chris Rock, 58, as Roy Wilkins, Audra McDonald, 53, as Ella Baker and NCIS: New Orleans’ CCH Pounder, 70, as Anna Hedgeman.
The Holdovers (in theaters Nov. 3)
Director Alexander Payne, 62, made star Paul Giamatti, 56, famous in their 2005 wine-country comedy Sideways. They reunite in a record-setting Toronto Film Festival hit about a curmudgeon (Giamatti’s specialty) who teaches at a New England prep school and is stuck on campus to babysit a few students over Christmas break.
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