AS THE HIT SUMMER BLOCKBUSTERS (HELLO, DEADPOOL & WOLVERINE) FADE INTO THE ETHER, THE SCHEDULE OF FUTURE OSCAR WINNERS TRULY BEGINS IN EARNEST. TO THAT END, WE DELVE INTO THE SURGE OF QUALITY (AND DELIGHTFULLY BONKERS) FILMS DESCENDING UPON YOUR LOCAL CINEPLEX AS THE COOLER SEASON SETTLES IN

BY DAN SALAMONE

ANORA

OCTOBER 18

Sean Baker (The Florida Project, Red Rocket) has become America’s finest seriocomic chronicler of the lives of intimacy workers in all their various incarnations. This new film stars Mikey Madison (Scream, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood) as an exotic dancer who falls into a whirlwind romance with the son of a corrupt Russian oligarch. Write-ups about the film from Cannes were nigh-universally glowing. Paul Weissman, Lindsey Normington, and Emily Weider round out the cast.

MEGALOPOLIS

SEPTEMBER 27

Vulture reviewer Bilge Ebiri described this new outlandishly self-financed film by Frances Ford Coppola (The Godfather, Apocalypse Now) as “the craziest thing I’ve ever seen.” Adam Driver plays an architect battling a corrupt mayor in a futuristic vision of an alternate America. Coppola spent $120 million on his boondoggle of love, which took a surprisingly long time to even find a distributor. Decide for yourself which reviews are accurate: the “utterly ridiculous disaster” school or the “spectacular visionary triumph” school.

HERETIC

NOVEMBER 14

Hugh Grant’s undeniable charm in films like Four Weddings and a Funeral and Notting Hill of his early career had a subtle undercurrent of pain and darkness to them. Everything about the actor behind the scenes has confirmed that the darkness is not subtle at all. This new A24 thriller finds the actor playing a psychopath who uses his callow charm to get two Mormon missionaries to enter his home, only to find themselves prisoners of his sadistic games.

VENOM: THE LAST DANCE

OCTOBER 25

The first two silly movies of this series (directed with dull competence by Ruben Fleischer) were a fun watch nonetheless for one specific reason: Tom Hardy. He served as the single actor who innately understood the core goofiness of these films, and set out to give the most enjoyably ridiculous performance with tongue planted firmly in cheek. The absence of Fleischer this time gives modest hope for a great send-off of a beloved Marvel character.

GLADIATOR 2

NOVEMBER 27

This winter release is a long-after legacy sequel (not an entirely promising start), but the early buzz is excellent, with many people saying this will be Paul Mescal’s superstar breakout as the lead. Ridley Scott has returned to take the helm, and the new cast includes a true blockbuster ringer in Denzel Washington as the villain, so optimism is running high for this one.

JOKER: FOLIE A DEUX

OCTOBER 4

For every celebration of Joker as a gritty cinematic masterpiece, there has been a dissenting voice. Some assert it’s a silly pantomime of ‘70s cinematic grit with a kiss of twisted political ideology. (This writer is firmly in the latter camp.) See it for yourself to decide; either way, it boasts a stellar cast, fronted by the Academy Award-winning Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga, who’s proved, many times over, that her entertainment chops extend far beyond the microphone.

SATURDAY NIGHT

OCTOBER 11

Director Jason Reitman had such a promising start to his career with Thank You For Smoking, Juno, Up in the Air, and Young Adult, but his run thereafter has been quasi-disastrous via films like Men Women Children, Labor Day, The Front Runner, and Ghostbusters: Afterlife. Based on the early notices, however, it sounds like the director has found his previous light touch with this behind-the-scenes retelling of Saturday Night Live’s 1975 debut, with pitch-perfect recreations of Lorne, Chevy, Gilda, Jane, Dan, Laraine, and John.