By now you know how Hollywood
works, saving its finest films for year’s end, with a couple of non-prestige
(read: fun) offerings counterprogrammed against all that Oscar bait. You’ve probably
also noticed that the studios tend to cluster their most promising submissions
around a holiday. This means that you might find yourself stuck with some
unpleasant downtime, weekends that you’ll no doubt be expected to participate
in social events or rake something.

Not on my watch! This 2011 Fall Movie Preview is designed to
keep you busy through the end of the year,
highlighting one newly released film per week so that you will remain
entertained through the autumn. Because you can’t clean the
gutters if you’re at a movie theater.

“Drive”: After wowing the arthouse
world with 2009’s heart-pounding “Bronson,” Danish filmmaker Nicolas Winding Refn makes the leap to the multiplex with this action noir
about a stunt driver (Ryan Gosling) whose side job as a wheel man goes quite
well! Wait; I mean badly. Co-starring Carey Mulligan, Bryan
Cranston, and the luscious Christina Hendricks. (9/16)

“Moneyball”: Brad Pitt,
Robin Wright, and Jonah Hill star for “Capote” director Bennett Miller in this
Aaron Sorkin/Steven Zaillian-scripted
adaptation of Michael Lewis’ nonfiction bestseller that tells how Oakland A’s
manager Billy Beane fielded a team via sabermetrics, which uses statistical analysis to evaluate
the performances of individual players. (9/23)

“50/50”: Cancer, which is rarely funny, takes center
stage in this candid buddy comedy by director Jonathan Levine (2008’s “The Wackness”) and writer/survivor Will Reiser
about a recently diagnosed young man (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) and his efforts to
conquer the disease. With Seth Rogen,
Anna Kendrick, and Anjelica Huston. (9/30)

“The Ides of March”: Talk about a dream team: Ryan
Gosling and George Clooney lead a top-tier cast — including Philip Seymour
Hoffman, Paul Giamatti, and Marisa Tomei — in this Clooney-directed drama about a young
political strategist in possession of a secret that could derail his
candidate’s presidential campaign. (10/7)

“The Big Year”: It’s that competitive-birdwatching movie you’ve been waiting for, with Owen
Wilson, Jack Black, and Steve Martin starring for “Marley and Me” director
David Frankel in this comedy about three avid birders who compete in a
year-long contest across North America to spot the
rarest fowl. (10/14)

“The Three Musketeers”: My all-time favorite novel
gets its zillionth re-working, this time in 3-freaking-D with Matthew McFadyen, Ray Stevenson, and Luke Evans as the titular
swashbucklers, MillaJovovich
as the double-dealing Milady de Winter, and “InglouriousBasterds” Oscar winner Christoph
Waltz as the evil Cardinal Richelieu. Admittedly, this liberally steampunk interpretation could suck, but I can’t wait.
(10/21)

“Anonymous”: German action auteur Roland Emmerich (“2012”) directs this historical thriller about a
power struggle in the Elizabethan court that addresses the theory that Edward
de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford, was the true author of
Shakespeare’s works. Starring Rhys Ifans,
David Thewlis, and Vanessa Redgrave as the Virgin Queen. (10/28)

“A Very Harold and Kumar 3D Christmas”: After his
stint in the Obama administration, Kal Penn returns
to actual important work, reuniting with John Cho for another go-round as two
of our favorite stoners, this time trying to save the holiday after burning
down Harold’s father-in-law’s prized Christmas tree. Featuring,
of course, Neil Patrick Harris. (11/4)

“Immortals”/”Take Shelter”: Decisions, decisions. On
the one hand you’ve got Tarsem Singh’s follow-up to
2008’s spectacular “The Fall”; this violent 3D adventure-fantasy pits the
peasant Theseus (future Superman Henry Cavill)
against Greek god Hyperion (Mickey Rourke!). But then
there’s the second film from talented “Shotgun Stories” director Jeff Nichols,
reteaming with Michael Shannon as an unsettled husband and father wondering
whether he should protect his family from a looming storm or from himself.
(11/11)

“Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy”:
Gary Oldman stars for Swedish director Tomas Alfredson (“Let the Right One In”) as John le Carrรฉ’s timeless hero George Smiley, here on the trail of
an MI6 mole who could be Tom Hardy (“Inception”), Irish treasure Ciarรกn Hinds, or Oscar winner Colin Firth. (11/18)

“A Dangerous Method”: This pre-WWI period piece finds
Canadian director David Cronenberg exploring the
friendship between psychiatrist Carl Jung (X-Man Michael Fassbender)
and his mentor, Sigmund Freud (Viggo Mortensen),
which complicates following Jung’s affair with a troubled Russian woman (Keira Knightley). (11/23)

“Coriolanus”: The great Ralph Fiennes makes his
directorial debut with this revamp of the Shakespeare tragedy, which retains
the play’s dialogue but modernizes the setting for the story of an exiled Roman
general (Fiennes) who aligns himself with an old enemy (Gerard Butler) for a
little revenge. With Brian Cox and the suddenly everywhere
Jessica Chastain. (12/2)

“The Sitter”: Let’s give David Gordon Green a mulligan
on “Your Highness” and keep our hopes up for his next raunchy comedy, which
stars Jonah Hill as a suspended college student coerced into watching the kids
next door, only to find him and his charges on an odyssey through nighttime New
York City. Co-starring Sam Rockwell
and “Nick and Norah” scene-stealer Ari Graynor.
(12/9)

“Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows”: We finally lay
eyes on Holmes’ nemesis Moriarty (Jared Harris, “Mad Men”) in Guy Ritchie’s
sequel, naturally featuring Robert Downey Jr. as the title sleuth and Jude Law
as the long-suffering Dr. Watson. Now they’re helping a fortune teller (“The
Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” herself, NoomiRapace) being menaced by the malevolent professor. (12/16)

“Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close”: Jonathan SafranFoer’s acclaimed 2005
novel hits the screen in the hands of Stephen Daldry
(“The Reader”), directing Tom Hanks, Sandra Bullock, and newcomer Thomas Horn
in the tale of a young boy searching for the lock to match the strange key left
him by his father, who died on 9/11. (12/25)

Remember: release dates
are never etched in stone.

This article appears in Sep 14-20, 2011.