This is hot off the press: it looks like some top films are being released in October. We have whittled down the top ten that you should look out for, for better or for worse, and from Hollywood Blockbusters with sexy Gods to sweet arthouse rom coms. Give these your attention, because blink and it will be November. Let’s begin with apocalyptic teen drama How I Live Now…
How I Live Now
Release Date: Friday 4th October
Oh Saoirse Ronan, I wish I liked you more. However I don’t, and so the trailer for How I Live Now, based on the award winning novel by Meg Rosoff, did nothing for me but give me shivers of annoyance.
But if you can abide the actress you may well enjoy it. The film is based on her character Daisy’s survival after a nuclear weapon is deployed, leading to her forcibly separated from her boyfriend Edmond (George MacKay), and her struggle to get back to him in the only place where she was happy.
The To Do List
Release Date: Friday 4th October
Park and Rec’s deadpan Aubrey Plaza bags the starring role in this college comedy about an anally retentive, high strung valedictorian who, on starting college, determines to make a list of sexual experiences to fulfill, and sets her eye on what looks like Aaron Carter’s older, pothead brother.
The film’s strongest feature is definitely Plaza, who may be the saving grace to what looks like a stereotypical, ‘wildcard gets the guy’ rom com, but with up-and-coming Plaza in the lead role, this definitely adds an air of curiosity.
Thanks for Sharing
Release Date: Friday 4th October
Mark Ruffalo stars as Adam, a recovering sex addict whom, along with Mike (Tim Robbins) and Neal (Josh Gad), is part of a 12-step process to stay ‘sober’ when he meets game changer Phoebe (Gwyneth Paltrow) and is reluctant to reveal the truth about his nature to her.
As a comedy-drama, this film looks to be more of a tale about love and acceptance than playing for big belly laughs, with the director Stuart Blumberg described as having made ‘brave choices’ in his direction. To be honest though, the most exciting thing about this film to me, as a musical nerd, is that Josh Gad (Book of Mormon original cast member) is part of the cast, because he is fantastic and a talent to watch out for.
The Fifth Estate
Release Date: Friday 11th October
Benedict Cumberbatch plays the morally ambiguous founder of Wikileaks as he determined to open the world’s eyes to injustice and, as a result, caused major National Security issues.
Based on a book by previous spokesperson of Wikileaks Daniel Domscheit-Berg Inside WikiLeaks: My Time with Julian Assange and the World’s Most Dangerous Website, the film has been vehemently rejected by Assange and Wikileaks, who published the script on their notorious site with the comments that the film is ‘irresponsible, counterproductive and harmful.’
A great ‘based on true events’ thriller steeped in controversy crucial to our time, the film promises to live up to the hype.
Not Another Happy Ending
Release Date: Friday 11th October
Meet Jane Lockhart (Karen Gillan), a chirpy young writer whose debut novel rockets straight to bestseller status. Blessed with fantastic success, a wonderful boyfriend and an all around great life, Jane finds herself utterly happy and content, something that her editor cannot allow as when Jane is happy, she is blocked.
Cue the editor deliberately sabotaging Jane’s life in order to cause her misery and therefore kick-start her fantastic writing. As one of the Official Selection for the Edinburgh International Film Festival, this film looks to be a sweet, kooky rom com that shouldn’t be missed.
Romeo and Juliet
Release Date: Friday 11th October
Our last experience of the tragic love story was in 1997 when Leonardo DiCaprio still had boyish good looks (as opposed to his now ruggish manly ones) and was directed by the great Baz Luhermann, so naturally the whole thing was steeped in spectacle and flamboyance, not to mention that it was set in a strange Shakespearean modern day.
However, this venture into R&J promises as classic a retelling of the story as you can get, with tights and doublets abundant. Romeo is played by the wildly good looking Douglas Booth, and Juliet is played by Oscar nominee Hailee Steinfield. Then, of course, we have Ed Westwick, who is best known for his role as Chuck Bass in Gossip Girl, playing the villain of this piece Tybalt, a fact that I for one am delighted about.
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2
Release Date: Friday 25th October
What looks to be a smart and hilarious follow up to it’s extremely successful predecessor, the film follows protagonist Flint Lockwood in the events after his machine causes food related storms in his hometown of Swallow Falls. Flint is tasked with cleaning up the island, and discovers, to his shock, that his machine has now developed food animals (fanimals, if you will) including watermoelophants, apple pie-thons and, my personal favourite, shrimpanzees.
Flint and his friends, including the excitable Sam, have to stop his machine before the fanimals escape from the island and spread across the world. Just watching the trailer has us eager to inhabit this fantastic world, and we personally can’t wait for its release.
Ender’s Game
Release Date: Friday 25th October
Harrison Ford and Asa Butterfield star in this sci-fi action-packed thriller about a terrible future where an alien race known as ‘Buggers’ have practically succeeded invading the Earth (BSG, anyone?), and now know all of the humans weaknesses. In a move that does not seem to make any sense, humans have combatted this issue by training genius children to become commanders instead, as they apparently think differently from the adults.
This is where our protagonist Ender comes in, a child genius sent to join the Battle School in Space, who is in all respects ‘the chosen one’ of this futuristic world. Ben Kingsley also stars in this perilous tale about the survival of the human race.
One Chance
Release Date: Friday 25th October
James Corden stars in this British film retelling the story of one of Britain’s Got Talent‘s most successful contestants, the Carphone Warehouse working, Opera loving Paul.
Starring Julie Walters, MacKenzie Crook and Colm Meaney, the film looks to be funny, warm and with a fundamentally good heart, rather than just another mechanical ploy for more money from talent show glory. James Corden is the perfect choice for Potts as he is not only an obviously great comic talent, he is also capable of conveying fantastic emotion which is evident in the trailer alone as he emanates Paul’s desire to be talented and successful.
Thor 2
Release Date: Wednesday 30th October
Chris Hemsworth and Tom Hiddleston return as the warring Asgardian siblings in Thor 2. Following the events of The Avengers Assemble, poor Thor is the one that still needs to deal with the issue of Loki (though admittedly it looks like Iron Man and Captain America have been experiencing their own issues as they also have sequels).
This film also brings Thor’s mortal love, the lovely Jane (Natalie Portman) into his world rather than the other way around, highlighting the differences between them and how this will shape their relationship. There’s a very eerie bit in one of the trailers where Jane is floating, then Thor drops to his knees in what is clearly a lot of grief. Could Jane snuff it, or are we being played by the marketing man? The film will be released on October 30th to find out.