Eyes Wide Open, Heart on Hold

As we wilt from the summer heat, a cool autumn breeze flows through the cinematic community by way of the major film festivals that have announced the movies they will showcase. The 71st Venice International Film Festival takes place from August 27th to 6th September 2014; the 39th annual 2014 Toronto Film Festival takes place September 4 to the 14^th; and the 52nd New York Film Festival follows on September 26 to October 12th.

Michael Keaton in Birdman - Willem Dafoe in Pasolini - Isaac & Chastain in A Most Violent Year 

Just reading the titles, directors, actors and topics covered by the films showcased in these festival gives us film lovers the air we need to make it through the doldrums produced by the summer blockbusters!  The films are a little tilted towards parading famous late forty to early seventy year old male actors, but otherwise, there seems to be a bit every type of genre lover.  Here’s a taste of the goodies (we hope) to come:

Title	Director	Featuring	Plot
Big Eyes	Tim Burton	Amy Adams, Christopher Waltz, Jason Schwartzman	The story of painter Margaret Keane
Pasolini	Abel Ferrara	Willem Dafoe	A look at the final days of director Pier Paolo Pasolini
Inherent Vice	Paul Thomas Anderson	Joaquin Phoenix, Josh Brolin, Benicio del Toro	The investigation of a former girlfriend.
Miss Julie	Liv Ullman	Colin Farrell and Jessica Chastain	Adaptation of the Strindberg play
The Equalizer	Antoine Fuqua	Denzel Washington	Kidnap drama
Birdman	Alejandro González Iñárritu	Michael Keaton	An actor who once played a superhero mounts a Broadway play
A Most Violent Year	JC Chandor	Oscar Isaacs, Jessica Chastain, David Oyelowo	Thriller set in NY in 1981.
A Little Chaos	Alan Rickman	Alan Rickman, Kate Winslet and Stanley Tucci	Period piece about King Louis XIV
The Reach	Jean-Baptiste Léonetti	Michael Douglas	A thriller about a ruthless businessman who tries to cover up a homicide while on safari
The Drop	Michaël R. Roskam	James Gandolfini, Tom Hardy and Noomi Rapace	A robbery gone awry and entwined with the past of a neighborhood
The Humbling	Barry Levinson	Al Pacino, Greta Gerwig	Relationship between an aged, suicidal actor and a younger woman
Time Out of Mind	Oren Moverman	Richard Gere	A homeless, drunken man tries to reconnect with his daughter
Love & Mercy	Bill Polhad	Paul Dano	A Beach Boys biopic
Good Kill	Andrew Niccol	Ethan Hawke, January Jones	A soldier questioning his work dispatching drones to Afghanistan
This Is Where I Leave You	Shawn Levi	Rose Byrne, Jason Bateman	A husband juggling bereavement and infidelity
The Judge	David Dobkin	Robert Downey Jr., Robert Duval	A man trying to clear his father of a homicide
Black and White	Mike Binder	Kevin Costner and Octavia Spencer	A custody battle over their grandson
Nightcrawler	Dan Gilroy	Jake Gyllenhaal	A crime drama set in LA
Pawn Sacrifice	Edward Zwick	Live Schreiber, Peter Sarsgaard, Tobey Maguire	A movie about chess master Bobby Fischer
While We’re Young	Noah Baumbach	Ben Stiller, Amanda Syefried	A documentary filmmaker and his wife who befriend a younger couple
The Theory of Everything	James Marsh	Eddie Redmayne	A Stephen Hawking biopic
The Imitation Game	Morten Tyldum	Benedict Cumberbatch, Keira Knightley	A biopic about enigma code breaker Alan Turin
Samba	Olivier Nakache	Charlotte Gainsbourgh	Senegal
Men, Women and Children	Jason Reitman	Adam Sandler and Emma Thompson	A sexually frustrated father
Still Alice	Richard Glatzer	Julianne Moore and Kristen Stewart	A movie dealing with early onset Alzheimer’s
Cake	Daniel Barnz	Anna Kendrick and Jennifer Aniston	A chronic pain support group
Mangelhorn	David Gordon Green	Al Pacino	A locksmith and love
Trash	Stephen Daldry	Martin Sheen, Rooney Mara	Set in the third world, three children discover something in a garbage dump.
Fury	David Ayer	Brad Pitt, Shia LaBeouf	World war II
Into the Woods	Rob Marshall	Johnny Depp, Emily Blunt	A witch
Unbroken	Angelina Jolie (written by Joel and Ethan Coen)	Jack O’Connell	Louis Zamperini, an Olympic runner who was taken prisoner by Japanese forces during World War II.
Far from the Madding Crowd	Thomas Vinterberg	Thomas Hardy, David Nichols	Remake of 1967 movie
Gone Girl	David Fincher	Ben Affleck	Based on the best-selling crime novel

Pacino in The Humbling and Manglehorn