- A Star is Born
It’s a classic showbiz story and this retelling is far better than some scoffers predicted from the directorial debut of Bradley Cooper. His film won a rapturous reception at the 2018 Venice Film Festival and looks set to be a commercial smash. A ‘sing-along’ version is surely inevitable. On general release from 5 October.
- Beautiful Boy
Based on the best-selling memoirs by father and son David and Nic Sheff, Beautiful Boy plunges us into the confusion felt by a loving divorced father (Steve Carell) as his college-age son (Chalamet) struggles with potentially fatal drug addiction. Essentially an acting showcase for both Chalamet and Carell, it is also an eye-opening and empathetic account of a tragedy that could strike any family. Released 12 October in the US, 25 October in Singapore and 31 October in Hong Kong.
- First Man
Chazelle has given himself a tough challenge, that of making us all experience the wonder and nail-biting life-and-death suspense of Nasa’s first moon landing as if for the very first time. Gosling, of course, is astronaut Neil Armstrong, here a square-jawed, emotionally repressed scientist who dared all to blast off into space leaving his wife (The Crown’s Claire Foy) and children back on Earth. With top-level dramatic acting as well as out-of-this-world special effects, it’s definitely one of those movies it pays to watch on the biggest cinema screen possible. On general release from 12 October.
- Can you Ever Forgive Me?
It’s based on the memoir by Lee Israel (played by McCarthy), a cantankerous New York writer on the skids who, in the early 1990s, attempted to earn cash by forging letters from dead authors. A now all too rarely seen on screen Richard E Grant is a delight as her roguish drinking buddy and accomplice. A massive audience hit when it premiered at Telluride earlier this year, it’s already generating plenty of awards buzz. Released 19 October in the US and 2 November in South Africa.
- Halloween
Set 40 years after the events of John Carpenter’s iconic slasher movie and breezily ‘retconning’ (ie ignoring) much of the series’ subsequent mythology, this 11th (!) installment, made with Carpenter’s collaborative blessing, sees Laurie Strode (Lee Curtis), now a steely granny, once again confront masked killer Michael Myers (Nick Castle), who first attacked her as a babysitter on 31 October, 1978. With an approval rating on reviews aggregator Rotten Tomatoes of more than 80%, it’s pretty much guaranteed to be more treat than trick. On general release from 19 October
- Venom
Tom Hardy stars as Eddie Brock, an investigative journalist whose career is derailed by his determination to expose the dodgy experimental doings of brilliant scientist Carlton Drake (Riz Ahmed). In the course of this, Eddie becomes the host of an alien symbiote that causes him to morph into a drooling, needle-fanged black monster known as ‘Venom’. The effects look terrifying, but a top-quality cast – that also includes Michelle Williams as Eddie’s girlfriend – make them worth braving. On general release from 5 October.
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