Lights, Parties, Festivals. While spring is traditionally filmfest season, this fall will see a healthy roster of local happenings. Kicking things off will be the Independents Film Festival, hosted by The Tampa Bay Arts & Education Network from Sept. 15-17, featuring three nights of movies far outside the Hollywood mainstream. Next up is the 2011 Clearwater Film & Music Festival (Sept. 22-25), which is adding a music festival component. October brings the Tampa International Gay & Lesbian Film Festival (Oct. 6-16), now in its 22nd year of "Celebrating Life in Pictures" with screenings at the Tampa Theatre and St. Pete's Muvico BayWalk. Also in October, Swede Fest Tampa Bay (Oct. 21) will launch at Muvico Centro Ybor with homegrown five-minute remakes of Hollywood blockbusters like Top Gun and Back to the Future. Last but not least, CL's own Reel Terror Film Festival (Oct. 22) will be back at CL Space for a second year of scaring you silly.
Red State slays 'em in Tampa. Kevin Smith's latest is a horror flick in which the killers are a maniacal right-wing religious sect headed by a firebrand preacher (Michael Parks) modeled on world-class asshole Fred Phelps. Smith made Red State completely independent of the studios and took the film on the road for a series of one-off screenings that have already made the film profitable. Unfortunately, the Bay area wasn't on Smith's itinerary, so Red State's September wide release will be local View-Askewers' first shot at seeing what the director claims will be his second-to-last film ever.
Bet on Moneyball. Loved the book. Don't see how they're going to make it into a movie. What can director Bennett Miller (Capote) possibly do to charisma-fy Michael Lewis' fascinating but cerebral account of the front-office machinations of early 2000s Oakland As GM Billy Beane? Oh wait, Brad Pitt's playing Beane? Problem solved.
Tall Tale. Ordinarily, you couldn't pay me to see Dolphin Tale, a kiddie flick about a dolphin with a prosthetic tail that stars such adults as Morgan Freeman, Ashley Judd, Harry Connick Jr., Kris Kristofferson. But Dolphin Tale was shot largely in Clearwater, injecting it with a healthy dose of "Hey, I've been there!" local interest. And if I could sit through The Punisher just to see downtown Tampa…
Movies for the kid in you. Not all kids' movies are created equal, and some can hold as much appeal for the adults in the audience. Such is the case with two potential crossover hits this fall. First up, the relaunch of The Muppets, starring Jason Segel and Amy Adams. Do the little ones still like The Muppets? Who cares? More seats for the adults! Also out this fall will be Hugo, "Greatest Living American Filmmaker" Martin Scorsese's first foray into 3D. Scorsese has always been a master of composition, and I can't wait to see what The Master does when he's got an extra dimension to play with.
Music to your eyes. Two interesting music-centric films drop in the fall. The documentary Pearl Jam Twenty is a career retrospective on the Seattle Grunge survivors that's directed by old PJ friend Cameron Crowe. Also of note is Killing Bono, a dramatized account of the rise of U2 as seen by their competitors in the Dublin rock clubs of yore, written by the team behind The Commitments.
Twilight finally ends (sort of). Starts to, anyway. The first half of the Potter-like two-part finale, Breaking Dawn: Part One will see Bella (the universally reviled Kristen Stewart) and Edward (the universally swooned-at Robert Pattinson) get hitched, get it on, get knocked up and get gory for the birth. I assume Taylor Lautner's abs handle the delivery all by themselves.
Brad Bird goes live-action. Director Brad Bird is the Pixar vet responsible for animated classics like The Incredibles and Iron Giant. Yes, it's a little disappointing that Bird's first foray into live action will be the umpteenth Mission: Impossible sequel, this one subtitled Ghost Protocol and featuring Tom Cruise swinging from the top of the Burj Khalifa (the world's tallest building). Still, early buzz has been positive (and the released shots from high above Dubai are breathtaking), so I'm giving this one the benefit of the doubt. (December 21)
Fincher's new Tattoo. Director David Fincher follows up last year's awesome The Social Network with the America The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. Yes, this is essentially a remake of the widely praised Swedish version that made a star of Noomi Rapace. Fincher cast Rooney Mara and Daniel Craig as the leads, and promises an unforgiving, adult, hard-R version of this challenging material. Look for Tattoo on Dec. 21, because nothing brings out the Christmas spirit like a brutal rape followed by equally brutal revenge.
A double-shot of Spielberg. Boomer auteur Steven Spielberg has released multiple movies in the same calendar year before, but never the same calendar week. The Adventures of Tin-Tin will hit screens on Dec. 23, marking Spielberg's first foray into the world of motion-capture animation. (Think a way more advanced Polar Express.) Then a whole five days later, on Dec. 28, his latest live-action flick, War Horse, rides into theaters with all the weighty Oscar expectations that always accompany a new Spielberg. Who's up for a double feature?
This article appears in Aug 25-31, 2011.