What To Watch: AP’s Fall Movie Preview

It’s no secret that your fearless leaders on AP’s editorial staff have a plethora of opinions on the music you should be listening to. But we’ve also got a few thoughts on the movies you should be watching for the rest of 2012, including a tale about a hobbit, singing Frenchmen and seven dudes you don’t want to fuck with. You’re probably asking yourself, “What does this have to do with music?” Nothing at all, and that’s why we’re doing it.

[MC] Matthew Colwell, web editor
[BM] Brittany Moseley, associate editor
[JP] Jason Pettigrew, editor in chief
[BH] Brittany Hill, editorial intern

Django Unchained
Opens nationwide December 25
With credits that include Pulp Fiction, the Kill Bill series and Inglorious Basterds, few movie nuts don’t anticipate a new movie from Quentin Tarantino, and Django Unchained is no different. The plot follows a freed slave and a dentist-turned-bounty hunter as they seek out a ruthless gang called the Brittle Brothers. With names like Leonardo DiCaprio, Jamie Foxx and Samuel L. Jackson on the bill, the spaghetti western is sure to twist and turn with Tarantino’s signature use of sharp dialogue and well-placed violence. [MC]

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Opens nationwide December 14
While it may be three more years until we have the full story of The Hobbit on film just like Lord Of The Rings, getting the first chapters of the classic fantasy novel on the big screen with Peter Jackson at the helm again is nothing short of a visual treat. With Martin Freeman taking the role of Bilbo Baggins, the hobbit’s journey begins as he seeks to reclaim the Dwarf Kingdom of Erebor from the dragon Smaug. Anyone familiar with the Rings series—and Jackson’s stellar use of special effects—should be excited to see how the world of Middle Earth is rendered and the story is interpreted. [MC]

Jack and Diane
Opens nationwide November 2
Don’t be confused by the title. Jack and Diane is certainly not about John Mellencamp’s teenage duo. It is, however, about a pair of teenagers, but with this twosome, there are no chili dogs in sight, if you catch the drift. In the film, Jack and Diane, two teenage girls, meet in New York City, get intimate and fall in love. Sweet Diane (played by Juno Temple) softens the heart of tough-skinned Jack (played by Riley Keough), but the trouble comes when Jack finds out Diane is moving away. It’s your typical teen love story, but with a nice little lesbian twist. Oh yeah, something about Diane’s newly awakened sexual desire causes her to have werewolf-like visions. Should be interesting. [BH]

Life Of Pi
Opens nationwide November 21
When I learned that the beloved young-adult novel, Life Of Pi was going to be made into a movie, I was a tad worried. The book’s author, Yann Martel, crafted a beautiful, imaginative story about a boy named Pi Patel and his 227-day journey lost at sea on a sailboat with a Bengal tiger named Richard Parker. It doesn’t sound like an enthralling movie plot, but then again, Life Of Pi isn’t what it seems. In its simplest form, it’s about a boy, a tiger and a boat. But it’s also about survival, faith and the extraordinary resilience people are capable of when life demands it. Come to think of it, that sounds exactly like the kind of movie I want to watch. [BM]

Lincoln
Opens nationwide November 16
Focusing on the final months of President Lincoln's life, the end of slavery and the Union victory of the Civil War, Spielberg has framed Lincoln as one of the tensest biographical dramas in recent years. Having seen trailers and posters for the film, Daniel Day-Lewis' spot-on aesthetic will no doubt make the film feel that much more real. Politics aside, Lincoln could become one of 2012's best dramas on script alone. [MC]
 

On The Road
Opens nationwide December 21
When On The Road was published in 1957, the book and its writer, Jack Kerouac, became the cornerstone of the Beat Generation. This December, On The Road will firmly cement itself in the cultural hierarchy when the much-anticipated film adaption hits theaters. The movie centers around Sal Paradise (Sam Riley), an aspiring writer who, after meeting ex-con Dean Moriarty (Garrett Hedlund) and his wife, Marylou (Twilight’s Kristen Stewart), decides to hit the road with the rambunctious duo. “The only people for me are the mad ones,” Paradise famously says in the opening chapter of On The Road. More than five decades after the book was published, this new adaption of On The Road is sure to inspire a new generation of young people to grab a notebook, take to the highway and create their own journey. [BM]

Seven Psychopaths
Opens nationwide October 12
Do you have friends that are complete idiots, but you still hang with them? You might want to think again after seeing Colin Farrell agonize over his doofus buds’ (Christopher Walken, Sam Rockwell, Tom Waits) bad moves in the latest from director Martin McDonagh (In Bruges). Farrell portrays a struggling screenwriter who gets mixed up in his pals’ scheme of kidnapping dogs and collecting the reward money. When they snatch the dog of a deranged gangster (played by Woody Harrelson), hilarity and terror ensue. The movie feels like an amalgam of Guy Ritchie bro-fest (Lock, Stock And Two Smoking Barrels) and Coen Brothers tension (Raising Arizona), all peppered with some Quentin Tarantino (Pulp Fiction) black-tempera-dusted humor. [JP]

Skyfall
Opens nationwide November 9
If the far-fetched prediction comes true and the world really does go kaboom come December 21, this final year will be remembered as “The Year Of James Bond.” 2012 marks the 50th anniversary of the film franchise, and what better way to celebrate than with a new James Bond film? Daniel Craig—the sixth man to play the famous British Secret Service agent—reprises his role as 007 in Skyfall. You can expect all the usual  Bond-like things: Bond girls (Naomie Harris and Bérénice Marlohe); a badass villain (Javier Bardem); and Bond explosions and shoot-outs. You can also expect Craig to bring his signature style, dry humor and deadly good looks to the role yet again. Even after 50 years, Bond still has it. [BM]

This Is 40
Opens nationwide December 21
Do you remember Pete and Debbie, the bickering bitch sister (played by Leslie Mann) and the dumb-ass brother-in-law (played by Paul Rudd) from the 2007 film Knocked Up? Well they’re back, this time with their own movie. This Is 40 looks into Pete and Debbie’s lives a few years after the events of Knocked Up. Debbie is turning 40, oh wait, I mean 38 (again) and having the textbook definition of a midlife crisis. Pete is trying to avoid her wrath, as usual, but together they make a point to live better, have more patience, be healthier and build better relationships before it’s too late, all the while spewing hilarity. [BH]