DEVELOPING Milton increases to a Category 4 hurricane as Florida prepares for massive evacuations
Hurricane Milton strengthens into a Category 4 storm, and Florida could see dangerous storm surge, forecasters say.
The seasonal differences of the movie calendar have eroded a little bit with time. Neither of the last two Oscar juggernauts -- "Oppenheimer," "Everything Everywhere All at Once" -- opened in the fall, the traditional launching pad of Academy Awards hopefuls.
And just the same, fall tends to be nearly as stuffed as summer is with sequels, horror thrillers and would-be blockbusters.
Still, some of the old rules still apply. A large percentage of 2024's best movies are set to unspool in the coming months.
So with that in mind, here are some of the most anticipated films of this fall, from large to small and everything in between.
A psychedelic trip makes for an unusual meeting in the latest from director Megan Park ("The Fallout"). After sipping some mushroom-infused tea, 18-year-old Elliott (Maisy Stella) finds herself joined by her future self, played by Aubrey Plaza, on a camping trip on the lakes of Muskoka, outside Toronto. (Sept. 13, in theaters)
When former "Saturday Night Live" writer Harper Steele came out as trans, she sent an email to friends and family. An old friend and "SNL" colleague, Will Ferrell, responded with the suggestion that they travel the country together. The result is this tender and contemplative documentary, by "Barb and Star Go to Del Mar" director Josh Greenbaum, about their 16-day road trip. (Sept. 13; on Netflix Sept. 27)
Christian Tafdrup's 2022 Danish horror film was potent enough that it led to this Blumhouse remake just two years later. James McAvoy, Mackenzie Davis and Aisling Franciosi star in a thriller about how much can go wrong on a idyllic countryside vacation. (Sept. 13, in theaters)
Sebastian Stan stars as Edward, an actor with neurofibromatosis who, after experimental surgery, is cured of his facial disfigurement. But the changes for Edward, who lives next to a friendly playwright (Renate Reinsve of "The Worst Person in the World"), turn out to be a mixed blessing. With a compelling co-starring turn by actor Adam Pearson, who has neurofibromatosis. (Sept. 20, in theaters)
Writer-director Azazel Jacobs' latest stars Carrie Coon, Natasha Lyonne and Elizabeth Olsen as sisters who gather in the New York apartment of their dying father. A highlight of the season, "His Three Daughters" is one of the most memorable tales of siblinghood, and of a death in the family, in recent memory. (Sept. 20 on Netflix)
A hit out of the Cannes Film Festival, Coralie Fargeat's body-horror parable stars Demi Moore as a TV star who's deemed too old by male producers. A mysterious service, though, offers her the ability to change into a younger twin (Margaret Qualley) -- so long as she doesn't remain so for too long. "The Substance" seems sure to go down as a classic satire of Hollywood ageism and youth obsession. (Sept. 20, in theaters)
Brad Pitt and George Clooney play rival fixers who discover they've been hired for the same job in Jon Watts' comic caper. Presumably more charming actors weren't available, so Watts had to suffice with Clooney and Pitt. (Sept. 20, in theaters; Apple TV+ on Sept. 27)
Ian Bonhote and Peter Ettedgui's documentary seeks to capture the full arc of Reeve's life, from the massive stardom that followed 1978's "Superman" to his resiliency following an accident that left him paralyzed from the neck down in 1995. (Sept. 21, in theaters)
This DreamWorks Animation release, adapted from Peter Brown's popular book series, follows a robot (voiced by Lupita Nyong'o) who crash lands in a forested wildness where it, seeking a task, raises a runt goose (Kit Connor) until it's able to fly. (Sept. 27, in theaters)
Francis Ford Coppola's first film in 13 years stars Adam Driver as Caesar, a visionary with dreams of a utopian New York. Giancarlo Esposito, Aubrey Plaza, Laurence Fishburne and Shia LeBeouf co-star in this wildly ambitious epic that has already earned a wide spectrum of reaction. (Sept. 27, in theaters)
Five years after their rabble-rousing Oscar nominated DC Comics blockbuster, director Todd Phillips and Joaquin Phoenix are back for more antihero fun. This time, it's a musical, and Lady Gaga is playing Harley Quinn. (Oct. 4, in theaters)
Saoirse Ronan stars in Nora Fingscheidt's adaptation of Amy Liptrot's memoir of addiction. Ronan plays a young woman just out of rehab and returning home to the Orkney Islands in Scotland. (Oct. 4, in theaters)
Opening just weeks before the U.S. election is Ali Abbasi's portrait of a young Donald Trump (Sebastian Stan) under the tutelage of Roy Cohn (Jeremy Strong). The film, which the Trump reelection campaign has called "pure malicious defamation," is made with some of the '80s aesthetics of its setting. (Oct. 11, in theaters)
What's cooler than a documentary about your life? What about a documentary made with Lego? In this film, directed by Morgan Neville ("Won't You Be My Neighbor?"), Pharrell Williams tells his life story brick by brick. (Oct. 11, in theaters)
While all eyes will be on "Saturday Night Live" on the small screen this fall, the sketch comedy show will also have an origin story in theaters. Director Jason Reitman ("Juno," "Up in the Air") directs this mid-'70s dramatization of the chaotic infancy of the NBC institution, with Gabriel LaBelle as creator Lorne Michaels. (Oct. 11, in theaters)
Florence Pugh and Andrew Garfield star in this human-scaled drama, directed by John Crowley ("Brooklyn," "The Goldfinch") about a relationship charted not always chronologically, through romance, sickness and parenthood. Tissues are recommended. (Oct. 11, in theaters)
Sean Baker ("The Florida Project," "Red Rocket") has long been one of most vital American independent directors. But he takes a step further with "Anora," the Palme d'Or winner at this year's Cannes Film Festival. It stars Mikey Madison as a Brooklyn sex worker whose Vegas marriage to the son of a Russian oligarch prompts a farcical effort by his family's henchmen to have it annulled. (Oct. 18, in theaters)
RaMell Ross' feature directorial debut, selected as the opening night film at the New York Film Festival, adapts Colson Whitehead's 2019 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel about two Black teens (Ethan Harisse, Brandon Wilson) who become wards of juvenile reform school in 1960s Florida. Ross previously directed the Oscar-nominated documentary "Hale County This Morning, This Evening." (Oct. 25, in theaters)
Tom Hardy is back as the most volatile split-personality superhuman: Eddie Brock and his symbiote Venom -- arguably the most captivating double act in comic book movies. In this, the third in the series following 2018's "Venom" and 2021's "Venom: Let There Be Carnage," both are on the run. (Oct. 25, in theaters)
Writer-director Mati Diop ("Atlantics") creates testimonials for a few dozen African artworks taken from the West African kingdom of Dahomey during France's colonial rule in this, the winner of the Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival. Diop dramatizes the artworks' stories through what she's called "magical documentary." (Oct. 25, theaters)
Adam Elliot's stop-motion drama, some 10 years in the making, follows the life of Grace Puddle (voiced by Sarah Snook), who begins collecting snails after her mother's death. After her father dies, too, she and her twin brother (Kodi Smit-McPhee) are separated. (Oct. 25, theaters)
Director Steve McQueen ("12 Years a Slave") returns to World War II for this drama set in a London under siege from Nazi bombs. Saoirse Ronan plays a single mother trying to protect her young son (Elliott Heffernan). (Nov. 1, theaters)
A new Pope is needed. Enter Ralph Fiennes. In director Edward Berger's follow-up to "All Quiet on the Western Front," Fiennes stars as Cardinal Lawrence, one of the Vatican figures who gather for a conclave to choose a new pontiff. When Lawrence uncovers a secret that others would rather stay hidden, the conclave teeters toward going up in smoke. (Nov. 1, theaters)
It's not every day we get a musical about a Mexican drug lord who transitions into a woman. Even more surprising is that French director Jacques Audiard pulls it off. Zoe Saldana, Karla Sofia Gascon and Selena Gomez star in one of the more audacious movies of the year. (Nov. 1 in theaters; on Netflix Nov. 13th)
Robert Zemeckis and Tom Hanks have a long and fruitful history together dating back to "Forrest Gump" and "Cast Away." Less good was 2022's "Pinocchio," so hopefully the pair are back on track in "Here." Appearing to be filmed in one take, Zemeckis' latest chronicles a single spot of land through history. After a home is built on it, Hanks and Robin Wright move in and raise a family. (Nov. 1, in theaters)
Jesse Eisenberg wrote, directed and stars in this buddy dramedy about two cousins (the other is played by Kieran Culkin) who travel to Poland to honor their grandmother. The two are near opposites played to type: Eisenberg is a sensitive neurotic, Culkin a charismatic idler. Together, they create a funny, poignant two-hander. (Nov. 1, in theaters)
British filmmaker Andrea Arnold has dabbled in TV and documentary in recent years, which makes "Bird" her first film since 2016's "American Honey." Here, she returns to a working-class English backdrop for a gritty story laced with fable. A 12-year-old girl (Nykia Adams) who lives with her father (Barry Keoghan) is visited by a peculiar stranger (Franz Rogowski). (Nov. 8, in theaters)
The distance Hugh Grant has traveled from rom-com protagonist seems likely to reach a new peak in this A24 horror thriller from "A Quiet Place" co-writers Scott Beck and Bryan Woods. Sophie Thatcher and Chloe East play a pair of proselytizing Mormon missionaries who knock on the wrong door. (Nov. 15, in theaters)
Payal Kapadia's ode to female friendship, a prize-winner at Cannes, is about two Mumbai nurses (Kani Kusruti, Divya Prabha) striving for love and happiness while working and commuting long hours in the Indian metropolis. (Nov. 15, in theaters)
Twenty-four years after "Gladiator," Ridley Scott is back with more swords, sandals and … a rhino. Yes, that horned mammal makes its way into the Colosseum this time, but it's far from the only new addition. Paul Mescal, Denzel Washington and Pedro Pascal star in this sequel, set several decades following the events of the original movie. (Nov. 22, in theaters)
Before "Wicked" was a Broadway smash, it was a 1995 book and nearly a movie. The big-screen was, perhaps, always the most fitting medium for a "Wizard of the Oz" riff. In this Jon M. Chu-directed film, Cynthia Erivo plays the woman who'll become the Wicked Witch of the West, while Ariana Grande plays Glinda. This "Wicked" will be split in two, with part two arriving in late 2025. (Nov. 22, in theaters)
Washington has set himself the task of bringing August Wilson's plays to the big screen. In this adaptation of Wilson's Pulitzer Prize-winner, he produces while son Malcolm Washington directs, and son John David Washington stars. Led by a powerhouse performance by Danielle Deadwyler, "The Piano Lesson" depicts a Pittsburgh family in 1936 reckoning with a family heirloom, a piano, which doubles as a metaphor for the legacy of slavery. (Nov. 22, on Netflix)
A little "Moana" confusion would be understandable. There's a separate live-action "Moana" in development and this film was originally planned as a series. But "Moana 2" ultimately, came together as a big-screen sequel to the 2016 original. Lin-Manuel Miranda isn't returning on the music front, but most everyone else is, including voice actors Auli'li Cravalho and Dwayne Johnson. The film, set about three years after the original, finds Moana heading back on an ocean adventure, this time with her sister (voiced by Khaleesi Lambert-Tsuda) aboard, as well as several others. (Nov. 27, in theaters)
Hurricane Milton strengthens into a Category 4 storm, and Florida could see dangerous storm surge, forecasters say.
On the anniversary of the Hamas-led attacks in Israel, police departments in cities across Canada are increasing their presence in Jewish and Muslim communities, as well as at the locations of planned protests.
Lawyers for a man who is also under investigation in the 2007 disappearance of British toddler Madeleine McCann called on Monday for him to be acquitted in his trial on charges of unrelated sexual offences.
Christopher Ciccone, a multihyphenate artist, dancer, designer and younger brother of Madonna, has died. He was 63.
Lawyers representing the Ontario man accused of selling hundreds of suicide kits with deadly effect around the globe have filed to intervene in a case in Canada’s highest court, arguing there is no way he can be charged with murder under Canadian law.
A unique form of clouds made an appearance over the skies of Ottawa on Sunday evening.
A man stole a police car and drove it onto the field of an East Vancouver park Sunday morning, placing 'dozens of bystanders in harm’s way,' according to police.
Israelis held sombre ceremonies on Monday to mark a year since the deadliest attack in the country's history, a Hamas-led raid that shattered its sense of security and ignited wars on two fronts with no end in sight.
The Oct. 7 attack by Hamas fighters on Israel last year, and the immediate Israeli retaliation that followed, sent shockwaves throughout the world that have shaken Canada culturally and politically.
Bernie Hicks, known as the ‘Batman of Amherst,’ always wanted to sit in a Batmobile until a kind stranger made it happen.
Bubi’s Awesome Eats, located on University Ave West took to social media to announce the closure on Friday.
Weeneebayko Area Health Authority and the Government of Ontario have awarded a $1.8 billion fixed-price contract to design, build and finance a new Far North hospital.
Some Manitobans are cleaning up Sunday morning, after intense winds barreled through southern parts of the province Saturday.
Avry Wortman, 13, scored two touchdowns on Sunday during her team's win in the under 14 Greater Moncton Football Association.
A gargantuan gourd – affectionately named ‘Orangina’ by the urban gardeners who grew it in the front yard of their Vancouver home – earned the massive honour of being named B.C.’s heaviest giant pumpkin Saturday.
Chantal Kreviazuk is set to return to Winnipeg to mark a major milestone in her illustrious musical career.
From the beaches of Cannes to the bustling streets of New York City, a new film by a trio of Manitoba directors has toured the international film festival circuit to much pomp and circumstance.
A husband and wife have been on the road trip of a lifetime and have decided to stop in Saskatchewan for the winter.