Four Movies for Fall 2014

Tracks, rated PG-13

Tracks, which received rave reviews at last year’s Toronto and Venice International Film Festivals, is only now receiving a theatrical release in the United States from The Weinstein Company. Based on a true story, the film stars Mia Wasikowska as Robyn Davidson, who in 1977 traveled nearly two thousand miles across the Australian desert with only a few camels and her dog. Director John Curran (who made the very underrated Stone and The Painted Veil) vividly brings her story to life in this new film.

The Book of Life, rated PG

Opening just before Halloween, The Book of Life is the new animated picture from Twentieth Century Fox Animation. Produced by Guillermo del Toro and directed by Jorge R. Gutierrez, the film follows Manolo (Diego Luna) as he ventures through three worlds heavily influenced by the imagery of Día de los Muertos. The movie looks like a blast.

St. Vincent, rated PG-13

Any movie with Bill Murray in the lead role is cause for celebration, and in St. Vincent he plays St. Vincent de Van Nuys, who becomes a kind of mentor figure for a young boy who moves in next door (while his mother, played by Melissa McCarthy, works days). With a supporting cast including Naomi Watts, Terrence Howard and Chris O’Dowd, there’s no reason to think St. Vincent couldn’t be Murray’s strongest lead role since his masterful performance in Sofia Coppola’s Lost in Translation (2003).

Interstellar, rated PG-13

Christopher Nolan’s original new film Interstellar concerns space travel, and stars Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, Jessica Chastain, Michael Caine, Casey Affleck, Ellen Burstyn and John Lithgow. Nolan is one of the few filmmakers, along with Wes Anderson and a handful of others, who can still get original material green-lit in today’s franchise-driven movie marketplace, so let’s all see Interstellar—not simply because it’s sure to astonish, but because we’ll also be encouraging more original concept, big-budget entertainment. Where was everyone for Edge of Tomorrow?

Jack Kyser is a graduate of Austin High School and New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts.