Top 5 Can’t Miss Fall Blockbusters 2018

You know the signs: the humidity drops to tolerable levels, commercials for the trendiest kids clothing infects the television, and the fall lineup of movies limps around with a summer blockbuster hangover.  Often, we catch the big budget action coming out in June, and rest on our laurels come September. Well, I have been sent here to inform you that ignoring the following fall line-up at your local theater would be a grave mistake indeed.  Here’s five movies you should keep an eye on for that rainy and cold weekend when the fall colors have abated and the trees look like depressed stick skeletons.

Venom 

Another superhero movie?  Oh, man. If only that were so, you could comfortably skip this one and wait for streaming.  That yard ain’t gonna rake itself, right? Wrong! Venom promises to be a beautiful mix of Marvel and dark violence, a superhero movie with horror overtones.  Tom Hardy is an absolute monster as Eddie Brock, aka Venom! He is quickly shooting up the ranks in my book of cool. Remember the bad guy in The Revenant? He acted Leo right off the damn screen.  He’s a legit talent, and when you couple that talent with the complex and complicated story of Venom… fireworks shall ensue. My prediction is that Marvel enthusiasts will place this one firmly in the top five of all Marvel movies made to date.  You heard it here, folks!

Venom opens in theaters on October 5th.

The Predator

Katz, you’re gonna put a Marvel movie and a creature reboot movie in your list?  What the boogers? Valid points to be sure, but hang on a minute and let me ‘splain to you just why The Predator is going to be every bit as good as the original.  Director Shane Black has apparently made great efforts to connect the essence of what makes for good Predator franchise movies with the new visually orgasmic technologies in Hollywood.  The trailer offers a great deal of plot information, and more than a few spoilers, but you know as well as I do that creature movies worth a damn are few and far between, and woe is the poor schmuck that misses a chance to see them on the big screen.  Don’t you wish you could go back in time and sneak off to see the original Predator even though your mom specifically forbade it? Maybe that’s just me…

The Predator opens in theaters on September 14th.

Bad Times at the El Royale

“The El Royale… no place for a priest.”  Here’s where I just get to tell you that this movie sells itself.  At no point should you watch this preview and say, “Ehhhh, that looks okay…”  I believe those to be fighting words.  What we have here is a movie that’s all accelerator and no brakes, and with the jaw-dropping cast list, there’s just no mathematical or scientific formula that would find this movie to be anything but amazing.  I also catch some hints at metaphorical characters (Chris Hemsworth as the devil, maybe?) and supernatural forces at work. Don’t mess around with this one: just go see it.

Bad Times at the El Royale opens in theaters on October 5th.

Arizona

Oh, boy… The meteoric rise of Danny McBride has led us to the promised land.  With a role seemingly written specifically for him, McBride showcases his perfect conversational timing and finely-tuned physical comedy.  Wrap that up in a tortilla shell of dark, socially important subject matter and you have yourself a cinematic burrito of goodness that promises to deliver on flavor and fullness.  I hit the quick rewind on David Allen Grier — “Who’d I shoot?” — in the preview no less than a dozen times. If the little things come together for this film, I believe we’re talking about it during Oscar selections.  It’s Danny McBride’s time to leave the world of James Franco backup and enter the stratosphere of superstar. Arizona will be the launch point.  

Arizona is currently in select theaters and available on VOD & Digital HD.

Dragged Across Concrete

This one has a few caveats.  One, a rather secretive and quiet campaign has led to a total lack of information.  Two, the release dates for cinema in America and the locations Dragged Across Concrete will play in is also hidden in shadow.  However, this is up-and-coming director S. Craig Zahler’s (Bone Tomahawk, Brawl in Cell Block 99) latest addition to an already impressive resume.  The film opens early September in Venice, and will probably cross the pond and be available for the rest of us in early October. If you are lucky enough to have this one grace a theater near you with its presence, be sure to put your big kid pants on and bring something sturdy to hold on to.  Zahler makes face-melting cinema, and with Mel Gibson on board, we can assume Vince Vaughn will also be on the top of his game.

Stay tuned to Movienooz.com  for additional information, especially when we finally get a glimpse at a preview!