“Hustlers”
Cast: Jennifer Lopez, Constance Wu, Keke Palmer, Lili Reinhart
Synopsis: Inspired by a New York Magazine article by Jessica Pressler that went viral, former strip club employees band together to turn the tables on their Wall Street clients.
What You Need to Know: Best known for her 2012 romantic tragedy “Seeking a Friend for the End of the World,” director Lorene Scafaria may be the greatest indicator of the promise of the upcoming “Hustlers.” In Scafaria’s hands, the film looks to be wildly entertaining without ever exploiting its subjects. Featuring a fabulously eclectic cast of actors and non-actors alike—musicians Lizzo and Cardi B both make appearances—the film will make its premiere at the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival. If nothing else, the trailers suggest the stars (particularly Jennifer Lopez in a leading role) will be given the chance to work on the kind of material they’ve deserved for a long time.
Release Date: September 13
“Ad Astra”
Cast: Brad Pitt, Tommy Lee Jones, Ruth Negga
Synopsis: A man journeys across a lawless solar system to find his missing father, a renegade scientist who poses a threat to humanity.
What You Need to Know: Don’t let this go the way of so many other cerebral science fiction films—or James Gray films, for that matter—and get yourselves out to the theaters. Going by the early reactions from the Venice Film Festival, this could very well be an all-time great. “Ad Astra” may have had trouble conveying its tone through marketing so far, but with Gray at the helm, we can probably expect an exploration of humanity masked in genre filmmaking. Our critic wrote that Gray’s film melds the “anxiety of the unknown and the fear of who we truly are at our core” to create an experience that is simultaneously “deeply personal, thought-provoking, and thrilling.”
Release Date: September 20
“Judy”
Cast: Renée Zellweger, Jessie Buckley, Rufus Sewell
Synopsis: Legendary performer Judy Garland arrives in London in the winter of 1968 to perform a series of sold-out concerts.
What You Need to Know: It’s truly surprising that it’s taken until now for a filmmaker to recount the tumultuous life of icon Judy Garland. With such a stratospheric—and notoriously abusive—rise to fame, and a grand legacy left in her wake, it would seem that there is plenty of material to build upon. “Judy” premiered at this year’s Telluride Film Festival and offers star Renée Zellweger a much deserved “comeback” moment. Directed by Rupert Goold (“The Hollow Crown,” “True Story”), the film may lack some of the sharpness needed to make a biopic rise above the standard, but our critic still found plenty to enjoy. They wrote that while too many aspects of Garland’s life go unexplored, “Zellweger’s poise and presence make the entire affair more than worthwhile.”
Release Date: September 27
“The Death of Dick Long”
Cast: Virginia Newcomb, Michael Abbott Jr., Andre Hyland
Synopsis: Dick died last night, and Zeke and Earl don’t want anybody finding out how. Unfortunately, news travels fast in small-town Alabama.
What You Need to Know: Best-known as one of the directors behind the wonderfully eccentric and surprisingly poignant “Swiss Army Man,” Daniel Scheinert returns solo this time for the delightfully titled “The Death of Dick Long.” Promising the same kind of absurd streak audiences found in “Swiss Army Man,” “Dick Long” made its debut at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival. Our critic, thankfully, had a lot of nice things to say. “Scheinert’s latest is a dark, but gut-bustingly hilarious, good time at the movies,” they wrote, “all due to his gift for infusing tonally perfect humor with sincere and seriously drawn narrative momentum.”
Release Date: September 27
“The Day Shall Come”
Cast: Marchant Davis, Jim Gaffigan, Anna Kendrick, Kayvan Novak
Synopsis: An impoverished preacher who brings hope to the Miami projects is offered cash to save his family from eviction. Unbeknownst to him, his sponsor works for the FBI and plans to turn him into a criminal by fueling his madcap revolutionary dreams.
What You Need to Know: Director Chris Morris (“Veep,” “Four Lions”) has an understanding of messy tones and pieces of storytelling that aren’t always easily slotted together. His latest film has a similar offbeat tone, using comic actors such as Jim Gaffigan, Anna Kendrick, and Kayvan Novak in leading roles to play with some deeply unsettling themes. Our critic who saw it at SXSW observed that the film doesn’t always blend the ideas and tones harmoniously, noting that the film ultimately argues that “not all lives matter, many are disposable, and while lacerating in all the right ways, this tragic prank of ruinous consequences is ultimately no laughing matter.”
Release Date: September 27