October Movie Preview (2023)

tbd Anatomy of a Fall

Drama/Thriller - directed by Justine Triet
In theaters October 13

French writer-director Justine Triet (Sibyl) won the Palme d'Or at this year's Cannes Film Festival for this courtroom drama co-written with her spouse, actor Arthur Harrari, the director of Onoda: 10,000 Nights in the Jungle. Sandra Hüller (Toni Erdmann) stars as Sandra, a writer living with her husband and visually impaired son in a remote house in the French Alps. When her husband falls to his death, Sandra is put on trial for murder, and her son proves to be a key witness. Despite excellent reviews, the film, as much an investigation of a marriage as is it of a death, will not compete for Best International Feature Film at this year's Academy Awards: France chose The Taste of Things as its official submission instead.

tbd The Burial

Drama - directed by Maggie Betts
In theaters October 6 / streams on Prime Video October 13

For her latest feature, Novitiate writer-director Maggie Betts adapted (with co-writer Doug Wright) a New Yorker article by Jonathan Harr about charismatic attorney Willie E. Gary, who helped funeral home owner Jeremiah O'Keefe (Tommy Lee Jones) take on the Loewen funeral company after a handshake deal turned bad for O'Keefe. Jamie Foxx leads this crowd-pleasing David vs. Goliath story as Gary, who faces off in court against June Smollett's Mame Downes, the lawyer for Bill Camp's Ray Loewen. It's a courtroom drama played to the cheap seats, and all the more entertaining for it.

tbd The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial

Drama - directed by William Friedkin
Streams on Paramount+ With Showtime October 6
Airs on Showtime October 8

The final film directed by the late William Friedkin (The French Connection, The Exorcist) is also the latest feature film adaptation of Herman Wouk's Pulitzer Prize-winning WWII novel The Caine Mutiny. That book previously spawned Stanley Kramer's 1954 hit film adaptation and Wouk's own play based on that novel. The latter is the touchstone for Friedkin's film, though the director has re-set the events of the story in the 21st century Persian Gulf. Kiefer Sutherland, Jake Lacy, Jason Clarke, Monica Raymund, Jay Duplass, and the late Lance Reddick star. Reviews were fairly positive when Caine Mutiny premiered at the Venice Film Festival in early September.

tbd The Delinquents (Los delincuentes)

Foreign/Comedy/Drama - directed by Rodrigo Moreno
In theaters October 18

Argentinian writer-director Rodrigo Moreno's three-hour reinvention of the heist film follows Morán (Daniel Elias), a Buenos Aires bank employee, whose desire for freedom leads him to a simple scheme: steal from his employer, do the time, get out and retire comfortably. But for the plan to work, he must convince his coworker Román (Esteban Bigliardi) to hide the money for him. With excellent reviews from Cannes, The Delinquents promises to be one of the more effortlessly beguiling pictures of the year.

tbd Dicks: The Musical

Comedy/Musical - directed by Larry Charles
In theaters October 6 (limited) / October 20 (nationwide)

What screenwriters and stars Aaron Jackson and Josh Sharp began as a boundary-pushing show at New York's Upright Citizens Brigade theater has transitioned to the big screen with a few new songs, co-written with Karl Saint Lucy, and a cast of stars willing to do anything for a laugh. Dicks finds Jackson and Sharp playing long-lost identical twins who try to reunite their divorced parents (Nathan Lane and Megan Mullally). Directed by Larry Charles (Borat), the film also stars Megan Thee Stallion, Bowen Yang (as God), and two puppets known as the Sewer Boys (don't ask, just go see the film).

tbd The Exorcist: Believer

Horror - directed by David Gordon Green
In theaters October 6

Fifty years ago, The Exorcist, director William Friedkin's adaptation of William Peter Blatty's 1971 novel, terrified audiences with its story of Chris MacNeil (Ellen Burstyn) trying, with the help of two priests, to save her possessed daughter (Linda Blair). Two sequels followed in 1977 (Exorcist II: The Heretic) and 1990 (The Exorcist III, directed by Blatty; the film, originally titled Legion, was retrofitted to include an exorcism). The 2000s brought a pair of prequels, using some of the same footage. Director Paul Schrader, who stepped in after John Frankenheimer left the project due to health concerns, did not please the studio with his slower approach to the material, so his film, Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist, was shelved until 2005, while Renny Harlin was hired to make a more straightforward horror film released in 2004 with the title Exorcist: The Beginning. Now, it's David Gordon Green's turn, and he's taking the same approach he did with his recent Halloween films. He's ignoring anything made after the original film and making a direct sequel with Burstyn's Chris MacNeil coming to the aid of two families whose daughters are possessed. Leslie Odom, Jr., Lidya Jewett, Olivia Marcum, Ann Dowd, and Jennifer Nettles star.

Bonus pick:
tbd The Exorcist (1973)

Horror - directed by William Friedkin
Returns to theaters for event screenings on October 1 and October 4

Not a believer in the new Exorcist? Why not revisit Friedkin's original when it returns to select theaters this week in honor of its 50th anniversary.

tbd Four Daughters

Foreign/Documentary/Drama - directed by Kaouther Ben Hania
In theaters October 27

The latest from Tunisian writer-director Kaouther Ben Hania (The Man Who Sold His Skin, Beauty and the Dogs) is a formally daring look at a true story. Seven years ago, Olfa Hamrouni's two eldest daughters left Tunisia to join the Islamic State in Libya. To explore their motivations for doing so, Ben Hania casts professional actresses to play the missing daughters and interact with Olfa, her remaining daughters, and Hind Sabri, the actress cast to play Olfa. This radical approach leads to re-enactments of pivotal moments in the family's lives, resulting in surprising moments of honesty in a film awarded the L'Oeil d'Or (Best Documentary) in Cannes this year.

tbd The Holdovers

Comedy/Drama - directed by Alexander Payne
In theaters October 27 (LA/NY) / November 3 (others) / November 10 (wide)

According to early reviews from the fall festivals, writer-director Alexander Payne has returned to form after the minor misstep of 2017's Downsizing. Set in 1970 and written by David Hemingson, The Holdovers follows three characters forced to remain on the campus of a New England prep school during Christmas break: a bad-tempered instructor (Paul Giamatti, reuniting with his Sideways director), a troublemaking student (newcomer Dominic Sessa), and the school's cook (Da'Vine Joy Randolph), whose son recently died in Vietnam. According to critics, the holiday film feels like an artifact of its time period with a deft balance of heart and humor.

tbd The Killer

Action/Drama/Thriller - directed by David Fincher
In theaters October 27 / streams on Netflix November 10

David Fincher's first feature film since 2020's Mank reunites him with his Seven (or, if you prefer, Se7en) screenwriter, Andrew Kevin Walker. Their new collaboration finds Walker adapting the graphic-novel series The Killer by French writer Matz and illustrator Luc Jacamon. Michael Fassbender stars as an assassin whose strict code is tested when, for the first time, he misses his target. The film sends Fassbender around the world seeking revenge on the people who hired him. While not regarded as one of Fincher's best films by critics at the fall festivals, an encounter between Fassbender and Tilda Swinton gives The Killer a memorable face-off.

tbd Killers of the Flower Moon

Drama/Thriller - directed by Martin Scorsese
In theaters October 20 / streams on Apple TV+ tbd late 2023

Martin Scorsese's adaptation (co-written with Eric Roth) of David Grann's true-crime book about the murder of members of the oil-rich Osage Nation in 1920s Oklahoma shifts the focus to the divided loyalties of Leonardo DiCaprio's Ernest Burkhart, the nephew of wealthy cattle rancher Bill "King" Hale (Robert DeNiro) and husband of Lily Gladstone's Mollie Kyle, and away from the subsequent investigation by FBI agent Tom White (Jesse Plemons). At the age of 80, Scorsese has made a three-hour-and-twenty-six-minute crime epic that was almost unanimously praised when it premiered in Cannes. Expect plenty of award-season buzz over the next few months.

tbd Nyad

Drama/Sports - directed by Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi
In theaters October 20 / streams on Netflix November 3

Directors Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin, who helmed recent adventure documentaries Free Solo and The Rescue, make the jump to narrative filmmaking with this dramatization of 64-year-old Diana Nyad's attempt to complete the 110-mile open-ocean swim between Cuba and Florida in 2013. Annette Bening stars as the single-minded Nyad, and Jodie Foster plays her friend and coach Bonnie Stoll. Written by Julia Cox, this inspirational movie earned solid reviews and strong notice for both actresses when it screened it Telluride and Toronto.

tbd The Persian Version

Drama/Rom-com - directed by Maryam Keshavarz
In LA/NY October 13 / more cities to follow

Writer-director Maryam Kesharvarz's third feature, following 2011's Circumstance and 2018's Viper Club, is a decade- and country-spanning look at the relationship between the queer, pregnant Leila (Layla Mohammadi) and her mother Shireen (Niousha Noor), who immigrated from Iran and became a successful realtor in America. Winner of the Audience Award and the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award: US Dramatic at this year's Sundance Film Festival, this thoughtful and energetic film uses flashbacks, dance numbers, and plenty of pop music to tell a heartwarming tale about being yourself and belonging to a family.

tbd The Pigeon Tunnel

Documentary - directed by Errol Morris
In theaters October 20 (streams on Apple TV+ the same day)

Errol Morris (The Fog of War, The Thin Blue Line) directs a profile of the life and career of former British spy David Cornwell. Doesn't ring a bell? Cornwell later became much better known as a spy novelist writing under the pen name John le Carré. The documentary, which spans six decades and is based on le Carré's own best-selling memoir of the same name, includes the final interview given by the author prior to his death in 2020.

tbd The Royal Hotel

Thriller - directed by Kitty Green
In theaters October 6

Writer-director Kitty Green reunites with Julia Garner, the star of her 2019 film The Assistant, for this story of two American friends, Hanna (Garner) and Liv (Jessica Henwick), who take a job at a remote pub called The Royal Hotel to earn some money while backpacking through Australia. The bar's owner (Hugo Weaving) and patrons give the girls an unnerving introduction to the Outback's drinking culture and misogyny. Co-written with Oscar Redding, this thriller is based on Pete Gleeson's 2016 documentary Hotel Coolgardie.

tbd Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour

Documentary/Music - directed by Sam Wrench
In theaters October 13

If you couldn't get a ticket to Taylor Swift's Eras Tour, here's the next best thing: a concert film version of the star's international tour directed by Sam Wrench (Halftime). Already breaking AMC's single-day advanced ticket sales record (something that scared off other films, including the aforementioned Excorcist sequel, from their planned release dates), this cinematic take on a history-making tour will ride the wave of Swift and Travis Kelce rumors to the top of the box office. While Tom Cruise might have saved Hollywood with Top Gun: Maverick and the Barbenheimer phenomenon rescued the summer box office, maybe Taylor can help movie theaters by sending concert films back to the big screen instead of streaming. (And Beyonce won't be far behind her; her own concert film opens in theaters on December 1st.).

And if you're looking for a pop-star double-bill, Britney Spears (and Zoe Saldana) will be back in theaters with the re-release of Crossroads on October 23 and 25, syncing up with Spears' new memoir, The Woman in Me, hitting shelves on the 24th.

tbd Totally Killer

Horror/Comedy - directed by Nahnatchka Khan
Streams on Prime Video October 6

In this horror-comedy from director Nahnatchka Khan (Always Be My Maybe) and writers David Matalon, Sasha Perl-Raver, and Jen D'Angelo, Kiernan Shipka stars as 17-year-old Jamie, who ignores her mother's warnings and goes out on the 35th anniversary of the murder of three teens by the Sweet Sixteen Killer. While running for her life, she time-travels to 1987 and teams up with her teen mom (Olivia Holt) to take down the killer and get back to 2023. Early reviews indicate the film leans more toward knowing satire of '80s culture and time-travel tropes than scares.

tbd When Evil Lurks

Horror - directed by Demián Rugna
In theaters October 6 / streams on AMC+ and Shudder October 27

A horror film that puts a twist on the classic possession story, writer-director Demián Rugna's feature follow-up to Terrified follows brothers Pedro (Ezequiel Rodriguez) and Jimmy (Demian Salomon) as they discover a mutilated corpse in their small, rural Argentina town. Further investigation leads to the spread of evil through demonic infection and plenty of blood being spilled. Writing for /Film, Rafael Motamayor sums up the film thusly, "This is a movie that is both familiar and fresh. Scary, yes, but mostly disturbing, gory, smart, quite expansive, and all around created in the bowels of hell itself."

Additional content by Jason Dietz.