28 Fall movies

The weather’s turning cooler, back-to-school shopping’s all done and, sure, you could rake the leaves, but wouldn’t it be more fun to escape to your local cinema?

We’ve got you covered. Everything from rom-coms to heist flicks, a sports/horror mashup, a pair of Broadway musicals, a biopic of The Boss, festival award winners, and lots of showbiz sagas — all curated by NPR critics.

We’ll see you at the movies.

Twinless, Sept. 5 (out now)

The second film from writer/director James Sweeney vindicates my admiration for his first film, Straight Up, which was funny, smart and sweet — but not too sweet. In Twinless, two young men (Sweeney and Dylan O’Brien) meet in a support group for people who have lost a twin. There’s more to the story, of course, and Sweeney handles the various revelations adroitly, but he knows that stories like this live or die not by their twists alone, but in what happens after the truth comes out. — Glen Weldon

Riefenstahl, in limited theaters across the country this fall

Arguably the most controversial director in film history, Nazi propagandist Leni Riefenstahl always denied having known about the Holocaust. She repeated those denials to producer Sandra Maischberger in a 2002 interview. When she died at 101 in 2003, Riefenstahl left 700 boxes of letters, film excerpts and other material to a foundation, and Maischberger offered to organize and catalog them if she could use them
in a documentary
. This more complete portrait also serves as a commentary on current events. — Bob Mondello

The History of Sound, Sept. 12

Music conservatory students Lionel (Paul Mescal) and David (Josh O’Connor) meet in 1917, bond over folk songs, and fall into a passionate, life-altering affair in Oliver Hermanus’ elegiac period romance. Based on a short story by Ben Shattuck, the film shares narrative DNA with Annie Proulx’s short story “Brokeback Mountain,” but sings an altogether different tune, as the music-besotted pair traipse through ravishingly-shot hill country to capture folk songs before they disappear using wax cylinders. — Bob Mondello

The Long Walk, Sept. 12

One of Stephen King’s bleakest stories is this 1979 tale (published under his pseudonym, Richard Bachman) of a competition in which a group of young men starts out walking, each having only one goal: walk longer than everybody else, because when you slow down, fall down, or misbehave, you’ll be executed. An impressive cast including Cooper Hoffman, David Jonsson and Mark Hamill seems promising, even though the story itself could not be more hopeless. Even for Stephen King, this one is dark. — Linda Holmes

Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale, Sept. 12

The bustling saga that seemed destined to go on forever is apparently coming to an end, which is not to say the Crawleys will go out with a whimper. Lady Mary (Michelle Dockery) is handed the reins of the household, but is also involved in a public scandal; there’s bad news from the American side of the family, and to add a bit of spectacle, the whole crowd heads for the races at Ascot. — Bob Mondello

A Big Bold Beautiful Journey, Sept. 19

Colin Farrell and Margot Robbie play strangers who connect and take a road trip, only to stumble upon a door in the middle of the woods. That door, and others, lead them to revisit their respective memories and, presumably, confront some heavy emotional baggage. If anyone can make this work, it’s director Kogonada, whose previous films Columbus and After Yang proved him adept at finding moments of poignancy and resonance. — Aisha Harris

Him, Sept. 19

Selling point 1: Exec-producer Jordan Peele who, based on promos, is not just slapping his name on here for visibility — he seems genuinely excited about it. Selling point 2: Marlon Wayans as a football legend who’s now, apparently, the mentor from hell. He runs a training camp that looks grueling and creepy, and like the kind of place you might not make it out of alive. Is this Suspiria for football? The protagonist, a rising quarterback (Tyriq Withers), is about to find out.. — Aisha Harris

One Battle After Another, Sept. 26

Paul Thomas Anderson loosely adapts another Thomas Pynchon novel; this time it’s Vineland. The movie’s official logline reads: “When their evil enemy resurfaces after 16 years, a group of ex-revolutionaries reunites to rescue one of their own’s daughter.” It stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Teyana Taylor, Regina Hall, and Benicio del Toro. I don’t need any more convincing. Do you? — Aisha Harris

Plainclothes, Sept. 19

Plainclothes, the debut feature from writer/director Carmen Emmi, features Tom Blyth as a closeted undercover cop in ’90s New York City who’s part of a sting operation that entraps and arrests gay men cruising for sex. He finds himself drawn to one of his potential targets, played by Russell Tovey. Critics out of Sundance were split on the film — some found Emmi’s stylistic flourishes distracting — but Tovey and Blyth reportedly keep things grounded, emotional … and sexy. That, too. — Glen Weldon

All of You, Sept. 26

It seems like the perfect moment for a Brett Goldstein rom-com, given his strong and funny showings in Ted Lasso and Shrinking. Here, Goldstein and Imogen Poots play best friends who think they might just want to be more, but a futuristic test that can identify soul mates tells them no — they are not meant to be. For years, they wonder whether to take the machine’s word for it. With more and more people turning decisions over to robots, expect more and more stories like this. — Linda Holmes

The Smashing Machine, Oct. 3

Dwayne Johnson stars as the champion MMA fighter Mark Kerr, whose professional moniker gives the film its title. But the name that sets this biopic apart is that of Benny Safdie, the occasional actor and (with his brother Josh) director of the Adam Sandler stunner Uncut Gems. This solo directing effort is, if reviews from the Venice Film Festival are to be believed, more nuanced and intriguing than a conventional biopic. — Bob Mondello

Kiss of the Spider Woman, Oct. 10

This is the second film to adapt Manuel Puig’s 1976 novel — although this latest version is technically an adaptation of the Tony-winning musical with a book by Terrence McNally, and music and lyrics by writing team Kander and Ebb. Two political prisoners in Argentina (Diego Luna and Tonatiuh) bond amid fantasies of a silver screen diva (Jennifer Lopez)(!). I’m hopeful, but keep in mind that writer/director Bill Condon wrote Chicago (great) and directed the live-action Beauty and the Beast (inert) — so this could go either way. — Glen Weldon

The Woman in Cabin 10, Oct. 10

Keira Knightley stars in the Netflix adaptation of Ruth Ware’s thriller about a travel writer who finds herself trapped on a fancy yacht where something is very wrong. Specifically, she is certain a passenger was thrown overboard in the middle of the night, but no one seems to be missing. Ware just published a sequel called The Woman in Suite 11 (and both books are a lot of fun), so if this goes over well, expect to see Knightley back in this role before long. — Linda Holmes

Roofman, Oct. 10

Whenever Channing Tatum’s wielding power tools, I’m interested — so count me in for this dramedy where he plays a real-life man who robbed dozens of restaurants by drilling holes in their roofs. By most accounts he was an amiable thief and no one was physically hurt, and the film’s tone appears to be on the lighter side. Throw in a stacked supporting cast — Kirsten Dunst, Peter Dinklage, Uzo Aduba — and the chances of an entertaining time at the movies are through the (ahem) roof. — Aisha Harris

After the Hunt, in limited theaters Oct. 10, wide release Oct. 17

A popular college professor (Andrew Garfield) is accused of sexual assault by a promising grad student (Ayo Edebiri), in Luca Guadagnino’s #MeToo drama. But the lynchpin in the drama is the student’s mentor who is also the professor’s closest friend (Julia Roberts). She’s angling for tenure, and must decide what the optics are before she decides where to throw her support. — Bob Mondello

The Mastermind, Oct. 17

According to the positive reviews out of Cannes, the title of Kelly Reichardt’s new heist movie is meant to be wry — Josh O’Connor plays an out-of-work suburbanite in the 1970s who turns to stealing art for cash, but has zero aptitude for thievery. With Reichardt though, we’re always in capable hands, so this — along with a cast that includes Alana Haim, Bill Camp, Gabby Hoffman, and John Magaro — is a must-watch. — Aisha Harris

Blue Moon, in limited theaters Oct. 17, wide release Oct. 24

Lyricist Lorenz Hart (Ethan Hawke), who’d penned many Broadway shows (Pal Joey, Babes in Arms) and hundreds of songs (“My Funny Valentine,” “The Lady Is a Tramp”) with composer Richard Rodgers, is drowning his sorrows at the legendary showbiz hangout Sardi’s on March 31, 1943. Why sorrows? Because it’s opening night of Oklahoma!, the start of Rodgers’ new partnership with Oscar Hammerstein II, and the birth of a new breed of musical that will eclipse everything Hart’s ever done. Richard Linklater’s been mulling this one for years. — Bob Mondello

Hedda, in theaters Oct. 22, on Prime Video Oct. 29

The actress Tessa Thompson starred in Nia DaCosta’s impressive feature debut, Little Woods, and afterwards she appeared in DaCosta’s The Marvels. It’s nice to see them link up again in a non-superhero project. For this pairing they reimagine Henrik Ibsen’s classic play Hedda Gabler, in which a general’s daughter feels suffocated by her marriage and acts out in destructive, messy ways. Thompson’s played a stifled wife in a period drama brilliantly before (the criminally underseen Passing), so we’re almost certainly in for a treat. — Aisha Harris

Bugonia, in limited theaters Oct. 24, wide release Oct. 31

This U.S. remake of 2003’s Save the Green Planet!, an incredibly dark, violent and twisted sci-fi comedy from Korea, will be directed by … (checks notes) … Yorgos Lanthimos. Which, you know. Makes sense. Two conspiracy theorists, convinced that a powerful CEO (Emma Stone) is an alien bent on destroying the Earth, kidnap and torture her. Dunno how, or if, the film will work once the truly unhinged original story gets filtered through Lanthimos’ chilly aesthetic. But I’ll be there to see. — Glen Weldon

Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere, Oct. 24

If Timothée Chalamet can learn to play guitar and sing as Bob Dylan, how could The Bear‘s Jeremy Allen White to do anything less while prepping to play New Jersey’s blue-collar troubadour. Scott Cooper’s biopic centers on the creation of Springsteen’s iconic 1982 album Nebraska, during what was a troubled period for the singer. White reportedly spent months training with music coaches, and his efforts earned him a “sings very well” from the Boss himself after an on-set visit. — Bob Mondello

Nouvelle Vague, in theaters Oct. 31, on Netflix Nov. 14

It doesn’t always go great when someone decides to make a movie about the making of a widely beloved and iconic movie (see: Hitchcock), but Richard Linklater’s projects are consistently intriguing, at the very least, and quite often, great. The inventive filmmaker turns his focus to Jean Luc-Godard’s Breathless, with Guillaume Marbeck playing the influential director, and Zoey Deutch and Aubrey Dullin as Jean Seberg and Jean-Paul Belmondo. And of course, it’s shot in gorgeous black and white. — Aisha Harris

Nuremberg, Nov. 7

In this drama based on Jack El-Hai’s nonfiction book The Nazi and the Psychiatrist, Russell Crowe plays Hitler confidant and Nazi leader Hermann Göring, and Rami Malek is Dr. Douglas Kelley, the U.S. army shrink tasked with determining whether Göring is mentally fit to stand trial. Director James Vanderbilt, having penned scripts for David Fincher’s Zodiac and the crowd-pleasers White House Down and The Amazing Spider-Man, is turning a page here — appropriate, as the book is a page turner. — Bob Mondello

Sentimental Value, Nov. 7

Filmmaker Joachim Trier’s follow up to the clear-eyed and unsparing The Worst Person in the World re-teams him with that film’s co-screenwriter (Eskil Vogt) and its star (Renate Reinsve). Reinsve plays the estranged daughter of a filmmaker (Stellan Skarsgård) who reenters her life to offer her a starring role in his next movie. The catch: She’d be playing her own grandmother, who died by suicide. It’s a lot, but I trust Trier to pilot these emotional waters without sliding into sentimentality. — Glen Weldon

Now You See Me: Now You Don’t, Nov. 14

The cast keeps expanding in this magic-centric rob-from-the-rich-give-to-the-poor heist franchise, as if the writers saw Ocean’s 11-13 and thought, “we could do that.” New kids Justice Smith, Dominic Sessa and Ariana Greenblatt join original Horsemen (and hangers-on) Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Dave Franco, Morgan Freeman and Isla Fisher in pursuit of a priceless diamond. — Bob Mondello

Keeper, Nov. 14

We don’t know much about director Osgood Perkins’ follow-up to Longlegs and The Monkey, but what we do know is creepy as hell. Tatania Maslany and Rossif Sutherland play a couple who repair to a secluded cabin in the woods on their anniversary in a desperate attempt to reignite the romantic spark. What could possibly go wrong? I’m not as sold on Perkins as a lot of my fellow critics are, but I’m always intrigued by his command of the bones of horror — the infrastructure of a good scare. — Glen Weldon

Jay Kelly, Nov. 14

Director Noah Baumbach has surrounded George Clooney’s title character with some heavyweight supporting talent — Laura Dern, Billy Crudup, Adam Sandler, Patrick Wilson, Riley Keough, and Stacy Keach among others — but the film is all Clooney’s from start to finish. It’s about a movie star in his 60s who’s suave, relaxed, always seems to be playing himself, and gives off a definite Cary Grant vibe — who is, in short, a lot like George Clooney. — Bob Mondello

Wicked: For Good, Nov. 21

The longest intermission in the history of musical comedy comes to an end Thanksgiving weekend when the second half of this Wizard of Oz origin story finally arrives at cinemas. Broadway audiences wait 15 minutes; movie audiences will have waited a year to find out what happens to Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo), Glinda (Ariana Grande) and assorted hangers-on. To make it worth the wait, composer-lyricist Stephen Schwartz has crafted two new songs. — Bob Mondello

Hamnet, in limited theaters Nov. 27, wide release Dec. 12

This movie comes with a serious pedigree: The
terrific 2020 novel
it’s based on won the National Critics Book Circle Award. Author Maggie O’Farrell co-wrote the screenplay with director Chloé Zhao. It stars Jesse Buckley and Paul Mescal as Agnes and William Shakespeare as they grieve the death of their young son. Zhao’s films are quiet and meditative — two words that may not slot easily into Eternals’ superhero action but that resonate strongly with the emotional topography of loss. — Glen Weldon

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