The Mill Valley Film Festival always showcases many of the most promising prestige films that are scheduled for release during Award Season. It’s the best opportunity for Bay Area film goers to catch an early look at the Big Movies. This year, the film fest is especially rich with Oscar bait:
- Mr. Turner: A period biopic by Mike Leigh (Secrets & Lies, Vera Drake, Another Year). Lots of Oscar buzz for lead actor Timothy Spall. Most of us won’t be able to see this in theaters until January.
- Foxcatcher: Ripped from the headlines psychological drama with possible acting Oscar nods for Steve Carell AND Channing Tatum AND Mark Ruffalo.
- The Homesman: Writer/director/star Tommy Lee Jones takes Hilary Swank on a pioneer road trip.
- Whiplash: J.K. Simmons (Juno) plays the tough love music instructor for drummer Miles Teller (The Spectacular Now). Huge hit at Sundance promises to be one of the Fall’s top audience-pleasers.
- Wild: Reese Witherspoon backpacks solo across the Pacific coast for emotional closure.
- Force Majeure: This Swedish satirical disaster thriller won the Un Certain Regard jury prize at Cannes.
- The Imitation Game: Lots of buzz for Benedict Cumberbatch’s performance as gay WWII code-breaking genius Kenneth Turing.
- St. Vincent: Big crowd pleaser here: Single mom (Melissa McCarthy) leave young son with boozy, lecherous babysitter (Bill Murray). The kid actor is getting raves, too.
- Two Days, One Night: The latest urgent drama from the Dardennes brothers (The Kid with a Bike, The Son). Their movies always make my annual top ten list – and this one features Marion Cotillard.
- The Judge: Mixed reviews so far at Toronto for courtroom drama with Robert Downey, Jr. and Robert Duvall.
Those are the Big Movies, but there’s also a promising assortment of the indies, foreign flicks and documentaries that I usually cover. Here’s the schedule.
The fest runs October 2-11 in Mill Valley, San Rafael and Corte Madera. Tickets are now available to members and will go on sale to the public on September 14.
