Looking Forward To... FALL/WINTER

While I found it a bit difficult to get amped up for what the summer had to offer, I never seem to have that problem when it comes to the fall/holiday movie season and this year isn't any different. Without further a due, here are most of the films coming out between today and the end of the year that I'm most interested in...

September is a bit lean, yet still there are many films I want to see. Today is actually the release of one of the films I've been intrigued about since I heard about it. Never Let Me Go stars Carey Mulligan, Andrew Garfield, and Keira Knightley and it's adapted from a book that has gotten rave reviews. Also coming out this week is The Town which is also getting rood reviews and it is starring Jon Hamm, Jeremy Renner, and Ben Affleck. Two comedies that caught my eye this month are Easy A and You Again. The latter stars Betty White, Jamie Lee Curtis, Kristin Chenoweth, and Sigourney Weaver... so clearly that's a must-see film. Easy A has been on my list since I saw the Mean Girls-Saved!-esque trailer a few weeks ago. Finally, Woody Allen offers up his latest with You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger while James Franco partners up with Aaron Tveit in Howl.

October offers a mix of potential Oscar contenders and horror films. In the Oscar contender side there's the much-buzzed about movie The Social Network aka The Facebook Movie which a lot of critics are dubbing as the quintessential film of our times. There is also the Seabiscuit-like film Secretariat starring John Malkovich and Diane Lane, Focus Features' quirky It's Kind of a Funny Story, and The Weinstein's ode to the Beatles with Nowhere Boy starring newcomer Aaron Johnson playing John Lennon. Hilary Swank and Sam Rockwell team up for the dramatic film Conviction while Clint Eastwood tries a little something different with Hereafter starring Matt Damon. Just saw a trailer of the latter and it's definitely... different. Also in the mix, though probably not for Oscars, is Tamara Drew directed by Stephen Frears starring Dominic Cooper and Red, an action comedic film starring Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman, and Helen Mirren based on a graphic novel. For the horror aficionados, there's Let Me In, a remake of the wonderful 2008 film Let the Right One In, and Monsters, which to me looks a little bit like District 9 meets Cloverfield. If both films live up to those films that they remind me of, they should be worth watching.

November is when things start getting serious. Two films getting absolutely stunning reviews and warm receptions are Danny Boyle's harrowing film 127 Hours with James Franco and The King's Speech with Colin Firth, Helena Bonham Carter, and Geoffrey Rush. Both, at the moment, seem to be the two Best Picture front-runners. Then again at this time last year, that spot was held by Up in the Air. Two films which will probably have debatable Oscar traction, yet are near the top of my must-see list, are Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Part I) and Love and Other Drugs starring Anne Hathaway and Jake Gyllenhaal. And while I'm not the biggest Tyler Perry fan, I just saw a trailer for his most recent film For Colored Girls and the cast looks top-notch and I admit, I'm intrigued. A few of the other movies I want to see, but would probably wait until they were out on DVD include Burlesque, Made in Dagenham, Skyline, and Welcome to the Riley's.

Finally, December is do-or-die with every studio seemingly going for broke. There are lots of must-see films this month including Darren Aronofsky's much-awaited Black Swan, Sofia Coppola's recent Golden Lion winner Somewhere, Julie Taymor's The Tempest, and Mike Leigh's Another Year. There's also Miral starring Slumdog Millionaire actress Freida Pinto and my most anticipated film of the year, Blue Valentine, starring Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams. Seriously, I've been waiting for the movie to come up since I heard about the project last year. And yet there are many, many more such as The Fighter with Mark Wahlberg, The Tourist with Angelina Jolie and Johnny Depp, Tron: Legacy with Jeff Bridges, Biutiful with Javier Bardem, and The Debt with Sam Worthington and Helen Mirren. I'll probably wait to see the third Chronicles of Narnia film on Netflix as well as the beleaguered and oft-delayed I Love You, Phillip Morris with Jim Carrey and Ewan McGregor playing lovers.

Whew. That's... a lot. Suffice it to say, I most likely will not end up watching all of these, but I'll do my best, just because I am that insane. That's how many bold-faced movies up there? 38? Taking out my "Netflix movies" and I'm left with around 25-28. So with the average ticket price at around $12.50, if I do end up seeing the movies I truly want to see it would cost me around $312.50-$350. Thud. Well, maybe I'm not looking that much forward to the upcoming weeks after all...