Fall 2022 Movie Preview
While the first day of autumn isn’t until September 22, the Fall 2022 movie season already kicked off over Labor Day weekend with Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul. And if that’s not the best movie title ever, I don’t know what is.
The satire is the directorial debut of Adamma Ebo, and stars Sterling K. Brown as the pastor of a megachurch who attempts to rebuild his congregation with the help of his wife (Regina Hall) after a sex scandal.
Speaking of scandals… Don’t Worry Darling (opening September 23) from Olivia Wilde has all of them—in real life! Millions (including me) have been obsessed with the behind-the-scenes drama of this dystopian thriller over the past few months, culminating in this week’s “SpitGate,” star Chris Pine’s “astral projecting” and curious standing and seating arrangements at the film’s premiere in Venice a few days ago. If you have no idea what I’m talking about or are intrigued, here’s an amazing thread on Twitter that recaps it all.
But what is the movie even about, you ask? It stars Pine, Wilde, Harry Styles, Gemma Chan and Florence Pugh as residents of a company-sponsored community with many, many secrets. Stay tuned for my review in a few weeks!
At the end of the month comes Bros from director Nicholas Stoller. It follows a podcaster (Billy Eichner) through the ups and downs of his work and personal life, and is getting buzz for its all-LGBTQA+ principal cast.
Families, take note! The live-action adaptation of the beloved children’s book series Lyle, Lyle Crocodile will be out on October 7, and stars Constance Wu, Scoot McNairy, and Winslow Fegley as a family that adopts Lyle (Shawn Mendes).
In mid-October comes 3 biggies, 2 of which are inspired by true stories:
Call Jane, which stars Elizabeth Banks and is about the real-life Jane Collective, a Chicago group that provided abortions when the procedure was illegal in the late ‘60s
Till, starring Danielle Deadwyler, which dramatizes the effort of Emmett Till’s mother, Mamie, as she tries to seek justice after her 14-year-old son is lynched and murdered in 1955
Halloween Ends, the 12th (!!!) Halloween franchise installment, which finds Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) writing a memoir and trying to finally just enjoy life and chill. But you know Michael Myers ain’t gonna let that happen…
Next up on October 21 we have Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson in DC’s Black Adam. The title character (played by Johnson, obvs) is a god of sorts who’s finally free after 5,000 years of imprisonment. Now out and about in modern times, he finds himself on the Justice Society of America’s radar, and must decide whether to go forward with his life as a “good guy” or a supervillain.
A week later comes Armageddon Time, an ‘80s-set coming-of-age tale inspired by director James Gray’s own childhood in the Bronx. I’m not a fan of the weird title, but the cast is intriguing: Anne Hathaway, Jeremy Strong, Anthony Hopkins, Jessica Chastain … OK I’m in!
And finally on November 11 comes the highly anticipated Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, in which Wakandans must defend their country after King T’Challa (played previously by the late Chadwick Boseman) dies. Director Ryan Coogler and stars Letitia Wright, Lupita Nyong’o, Danai Gurira and Winston Duke all reprise their roles in what I’m positive will be a super-charged, emotional rollercoaster of a sequel.
What movie are you looking forward to most this fall?