October 2019’s Blockbusters: Joker, Maleficent & More –

The fall season is thriving — in the movie scene, of course. We have quite a few highly anticipated films on the list, a Disney movie (as is the trend every few months), a superhero genre movie (as is the trend every few months), an A24 horror movie (seems like a trend, no?) and a zombie movie. Well, there are actually two zombie movies this month, but I could only choose one for this article.

However, Little Monsters, a zombie movie starring Lupita Nyong’o, deserves a mention as well. It currently has a score of 93% on Rotten Tomatoes, with the film described as a fresh take on the zombie trope. So if you feel you need more than one zombie movie to tide you over for the month, Little Monsters comes eating its way into cinemas on October 11, 2019.

 

1. Joker | 4th October 2019

No offensive to Marvel’s Avengers: Endgame, but this is the movie I have been waiting for the whole year. This eagerness was compounded after the Venice Film Festival awarding the film The Golden Lion (the highest prize given to a film at the festival), before deflating after the Toronto International Film Festival reviews reflected disappointment. Joker is the origin story of Arthur Fleck, and his descent into villainy, which seems to be ascribed to an apathetic society and struggles with mental illness. With a movie as divisive as this, the only way to know if it’s good or not is to watch it for yourself.

 

2. Gemini Man | 11th October 2019

Gemini Man is a technical feat – it is hard to argue otherwise. Ang Lee embarked on the ambitious project of de-ageing Will Smith, so that he could create the character Junior, a cloned version of Smith’s older character in the film, sent back in time to kill this older self.

We have glimpsed effects like this in small doses, like Robert Downey Jr’s scene in Captain America: Civil War where there is a younger version of himself, but for this to be done for an entire movie seemed impossible – unless you are Ang Lee and have two years to spend on this. After a released screening to a group of reporters, the director’s main preoccupation is whether they believed in Junior as a living, breathing person, since the audience’s buy-in with regard to Junior as a real person is the element the film depends on.

I have always admired how visionary Ang Lee is, with a film history that has such variety and risk, so I hope this bold effort pays off.

 

3. The Lighthouse | 18th October 2019

After Robert Eggers’ The Witch, the world awaited his next film project, and now it’s finally here. A24’s The Lighthouse stars Wilem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson, who play two lighthouse keepers on a mysterious New England island. Are they plagued by the supernatural? Or are their minds breaking from the estrangement to the world?

The answer is obviously both, with the supernatural elements used to symbolise the social detachment and the mental fraying that results. The trailer also boasts Dafoe running around with an axe like a mad man, so that’s something to look forward to.

 

4. Maleficent: Mistress of Evil | 18th October 2019

Maleficent is the live action remake that started the Disney rolling wheel of live action remakes. It’s no Snow, Glass and Apples (Neil Gaiman’s short story which turns Snow White’s stepmother from antagonist to protagonist), but it is a good revisioning of the tale, and it subverts the insta love trope we had in the original. How can Philip offer Aurora a true love’s kiss when he met her for like a minute?

With Michelle Pfeiffer as a key player in the sequel as Queen Ingris (Prince Philip’s mother), just her interactions with Jolie’s Maleficent alone should give the movie enough entertainment to make it worth the watch. It is also revealed in the trailer that Maleficent is not the last of her species like she originally believed, which gives Disney much content to work with for a third movie – this is obviously where it’s headed, isn’t it?

 

5. Zombieland: Double Tap | 18th October 2019

After 10 years, finally we are getting our much awaited sequel. The all-star cast of Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg, Abigail Breslin and Emma Stone are back to entertain once more, with their characters still trying to find the levity in a post-apocalyptic zombie world.

The sequel is a labour of love, with the original director and writers also returning. There are new faces rounding up the cast as well, with the likes of Rosario Dawson, Owen Wilson and Zoey Deutch joining the gang for their zombie shenanigans. It’s time to nut up, or shut up, or have a Twinkie (always go with the Twinkie option).

MORE MOVIES:
– 35 Best Zombie Movies of the 21st Century
– 67 Best Modern Horror Movies of the 21st Century
– 15 Best Japanese Movies of All Time