The Best Fall Movies, 2016

46:27

September 30, 2016

“The Girl on a Train,” “Moonlight,” “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.” The best movies of the fall. What you can’t miss.

A collection of stills from some of this fall's most anticipated movies (Clockwise from Top Left): "Fences," "The Girl On The Train," "Moonlight" and "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them." (Courtesy the Studios)

Oh, the summer was light on good movies. "Suicide Squad"? "X-Men: Apocalypse"? Pretty bad. This fall promises to be much better. If you still like to go out to the cinema, sit in the dark, eat popcorn and look up, there is hope. Lots of buzz for Casey Affleck in "Manchester by the Sea." For "Moonlight", set in Miami. For "Loving", on the inter-racial couple who made history. For "La La Land", Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone in a musical. This hour On Point, top critics on best films for the fall. What’s coming. -- Tom Ashbrook

Guests

Grae Drake, senior editor at Rotten Tomatoes, the online film review aggregator. (@graedrake)

Ann Hornaday, chief film critic at the Washington Post. (@AnnHornaday)

From Tom’s Reading List

Washington Post: At the Toronto International Film Festival, the coming film season looks strong -- "The filmmakers, journalists, programmers and entertainment executives who regularly attend the Toronto International Film Festival have come to know one thing for certain when they make their annual pilgrimage: They arrive during the summer, but they leave in the fall. That truism doesn’t just refer to the warm-turned-chilly weather during the 10-day festival. It also refers to the movies themselves."

Vanity Fair: 50 Movies to Watch This Fall — "After a summer of blockbuster disappointments—sour squads and bland Bournes—we’re looking forward to this fall’s slate of movies more than ever. But it’s an eclectic few months of cinema, with very few sure-thing awards hopefuls, a pair of bigger-than-bigger franchise continuations that reach back into the past, and plenty of complete unknowns."

The Atlantic: Farewell to Superheroes: A Fall-Movie Preview -- "This might be hard to believe, but over the next two months of cinema releases, there’s not one superhero in sight. Sure, there are a couple remakes, a half-hearted sequel, and even an attempt to start a young-adult franchise, but the fall movie season looks to be a distinct improvement from the summer. So far, 2016 has been a mixed year for Hollywood: While dollar revenues are steady thanks to inflation and 3D upcharges, actual ticket sales are at their lowest rate in history, and a poorly-received summer of half-baked franchise flops and sequels did nothing to help that. The question now is whether a slate of literary adaptations, true-story recreations, and yes, eventually a Halloween-centered superhero (hello, Doctor Strange!) will be enough to drive audience interest."

Producer's Note: Due to an editing error, a brief section of this broadcast refers to the upcoming film adaptation of playwright August Wilson's "Fences" as instead an adaptation of the entire ten play "Pittsburgh Cycle." "Fences" is, instead, an adaptation of just the play of the same name. We apologize for the confusion.