Out October 1
The Martian
(USA, action/adventure/sci-fi)
Director: Ridley Scott
Starring: Matt Damon, Jessica Chastain, Kristen Wiig
What's it about?During a manned mission to Mars, Astronaut Mark Watney is presumed dead after a fierce storm and left behind by his crew. But Watney has survived and he finds himself stranded and alone on the hostile planet. With only meagre supplies, he must draw upon his ingenuity, wit and spirit to subsist and find a way to signal to Earth that he is alive.
Attack on Titan Part 2: End of the World
(Japan, action/sci-fi)
Director: Shinji Higuchi
Starring: Kiko Mizuhara, Kanata Hongô, Rina Takeda
What's it about?Eren and the others set out on a mission to restore the Wall that had been destroyed by a colossal Titan, but they’re suddenly faced with a quagmire when they’re attacked by a horde of Titans. Shikishima, the Titan-slaying captain of the Scout Regiment, arrives to save the day, but the Titans show no sign of letting up. The last counterattack to save human civilisation is about to begin.
Macbeth
(UK/France/USA, drama/war)
Director: Justin Kurzel
Starring: Michael Fassbender, Marion Cotillard, Elizabeth Debicki
What's it about?Set in war torn Scotland, Australian director Justin Kurzel's (Snowtown) new movie is the story of Shakespeare's fearless warrior and inspiring leader brought down by ambition and desire. Macbeth, a duke of Scotland, receives a prophecy from a trio of witches that he will be King. Consumed by ambition and spurred to action by his wife, Macbeth murders his king and takes the throne for himself.
Watch trailer
Read review: Fassbender and Cotillard in a fearsomely visceral rendition
The Intern
(USA, comedy)
Director: Nancy Meyers
Starring: Anne Hathaway, Robert De Niro, Rene Russo
What's it about?Seventy-year-old widower Ben Whittaker has discovered that retirement isn't all it's cracked up to be, and decides to get back in the game. His opportunity comes in the form of an internship at an online fashion site, founded and run by Jules Ostin, a career-driven young woman. Ben quickly becomes popular with his younger co-workers, and his charm, wisdom and sense of humour helps him develop a special bond and growing friendship with Jules.
Out October 8
Learning to Drive
(UK/USA, comedy/drama/romance)
Director: Isabel Coixet
Starring: Patricia Clarkson, Ben Kingsley, Grace Gummer
What's it about?Wendy, a middle-aged Manhattan writer, is shattered when her husband leaves her. In order to visit her daughter upstate, she takes driving lessons from a Sikh instructor who has troubles adjusting to his new life after an arranged marriage. The two form a friendship, which will help them find the courage to get their lives back on track.
Read: Learning to Drive is an exercise in feminist cinema
Black Mass
(USA, biography/crime/drama)
Director: Scott Cooper
Starring: Johnny Depp, Benedict Cumberbatch, Dakota Johnson
What's it about?Johnny Depp stars as Irish mobster Whitey Bulger, who collaborated with the FBI in order to eliminate their common enemy: the Italian mob. The biopic tells the story of this unholy alliance which spirals out of control, allowing Whitey to evade law enforcement while consolidating his power and becoming one of the most ruthless and dangerous gangsters in Boston's history.
Johnny Depp mined his 'inner evil' to play gangster Bulger in 'Black Mass'
Miss You Already
(UK, comedy/drama/romance)
Director: Catherine Hardwicke
Starring: Drew Barrymore, Toni Collette, Dominic Cooper
What's it about?Milly is the woman who has everything: a successful career, a rock-star husband and two beautiful children. Her best friend is Jess who works in a community garden, lives in a boathouse with her boyfriend and desperately wants a baby. But when Milly is diagnosed with breast cancer, it doesn't take long for their friendship to be put to the test.
Out October 15
The Walk
(USA, adventure/biography/drama)
Director: Robert Zemeckis
Starring: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ben Kingsley, Charlotte Le Bon
What's it about?The Walk is the true story of a young dreamer, Philippe Petit, and a band of unlikely recruits who together achieve the impossible: an illegal wire walk in the immense void between the World Trade Center towers. With little more than nerve and blind ambition, Petit and his ragtag crew overcome daunting physical obstacles, betrayals, countless close calls and overwhelming odds to beat the system and execute their mad plan.
Watch trailer
Watch Man On Wire, the documentary that inspired the movie, at SBS On Demand
Crimson Peak
(USA, drama/fantasy/horror)
Director: Guillermo del Toro
Starring: Mia Wasikowska, Charlie Hunnam, Jessica Chastain
What's it about?This new movie by Guillermo del Toro (Pan's Labyrinth) follows a young woman who, after falling in love with a seductive stranger, is swept away to a house atop a mountain of blood-red clay: a place filled with secrets that will haunt her forever. Between desire and darkness, between mystery and madness, lies the truth behind Crimson Peak.
Watch Pan's Labyrinth at SBS On Demand
Legend
(USA, action)
Director: Brian Helgeland
Starring: Tom Hardy, Emily Browning, Taron Egerton
What's it about?The film tells the story of the identical twin gangsters Reggie and Ronnie Kray (both played by Tom Hardy) - two of the most notorious criminals in British history - and their organised crime empire in the East End of London during the 1960s.
Watch trailer
Read review: Hardy's double duties a revelation
UnIndian
(Australia, comedy/drama/romance)
Director: Anupam Sharma
Starring: Brett Lee, Tannishtha Chatterjee, John Howard, Stephen Hunter, Heather Maltman
What's it about?Beautiful divorcee and single mother of one, Meera is an Australian of Indian origin. Smart and independent, she has carved out a successful life for herself and her daughter... despite family pressure to find 'a nice Indian match'. But when Meera falls in love with Will, a tall, blonde Australian man with a charming smile, it's not only considered scandalous, it's "unindian".
Brett Lee and Tannishtha Chatterjee talk to us from the set of UnIndian
Out October 22
Paranormal Activity: Ghost Dimension
(USA, horror)
Director: Gregory Plotkin
Starring: Chris J. Murray, Brit Shaw, Ivy George
What's it about?The Ghost Dimension follows a new family, The Fleeges - father Ryan, mother Emily and their young daughter Leila - who move into a house and discover a video camera and a box of tapes in the garage. When they look through the camera's lens, they begin to see the paranormal activity happening around them - including the re-emergence of young Kristi and Katie.
The Lobster
(Ireland/UK/Greece/France/Netherlands, comedy/romance/sci-fi)
Director: Yorgos Lanthimos
Starring: Léa Seydoux, Colin Farrell, Rachel Weisz
What's it about?In a dystopian near future, single people, according to the laws of The City, are taken to The Hotel, where they are obliged to find a romantic partner in forty-five days or are transformed into beasts and sent off into The Woods. In that setting, one man escapes into The Woods and falls in love with a Loner, despite the rules.
Alex & Eve
(Australia, comedy/romance)
Director: Peter Andrikidis
Starring: Richard Brancatisano, Andrea Demetriades
What's it about?Alex is a handsome school teacher in his mid thirties and his parents want him to marry a good Greek girl. Alex falls hopelessly in love with the gorgeous Eve, a lawyer, whose parents are Lebanese Muslim. Like oil and water, the two should never mix, only how can they stop themselves from falling in love?
Bridge of Spies
(USA, drama/thriller)
Director: Steven Spielberg
Starring: Tom Hanks, Alan Alda, Amy Ryan
What's it about?This thriller directed by Steven Spielberg and written by Matt Charman and the Coen brothers stars Tom Hanks as James B. Donovan, an American lawyer, who is recruited by the CIA during the Cold War to help negotiate the release of Francis Gary Powers, a pilot whose U-2 spy plane was shot down over the Soviet Union.
Burnt
(USA, action)
Director: John Wells
Starring: Bradley Cooper, Sienna Miller, Omar Sy
What's it about?A two-star Michelin rockstar with the bad habits to match, Chef Adam Jones had it all – and lost it. In an attempt to rebuild his life and his career he returns to London, spearheading a top restaurant in the hope of one day owning his own restaurant and gaining that third elusive Michelin star. He will need the best of the best on his side, including the beautiful Helene.
Out October 29
Our Brand Is Crisis
(USA, comedy/drama)
Director: David Gordon Green
Starring: Sandra Bullock, Zoe Kazan, Billy Bob Thornton
What's it about?A feature film based on the 2005 documentary of the same name, Our Brand Is Crisis focusses on the use of American political campaign strategies in South America. In 2002, Bolivian politician Pedro Gallo hires American political consulting firm to help him win the presidential election. Jane Bodine is brought in to manage the campaign in Bolivia and using American political campaign strategies to lead Gallo to victory.
The Last Witch Hunter
(USA, action/adventure/fantasy)
Director: Breck Eisner
Starring: Vin Diesel, Rose Leslie, Elijah Wood
What's it about?An immortal witch hunter is tasked with the job of coming between the covens of New York City and their goal to destroy humanity by way of a horrific plague. To accomplish this he must partner up with a beautiful female witch, something he thought he would never do.
Collide
(UK/Germany, action/thriller)
Director: Eran Creevy
Starring: Nicholas Hoult, Felicity Jones, Ben Kingsley
What's it about?In order to save his girlfriend from an evil drug lord, an American backpacker gets involved with a ring of drug smugglers as their driver, though he winds up on the run from his employers across Munich's high-speed Autobahn.
Mistress America
(USA, comedy)
Director: Noah Baumbach
Starring: Greta Gerwig, Lola Kirke, Seth Barrish
What's it about?Tracy is a lonely college freshman in New York, having neither the exciting university experience nor the glamorous metropolitan lifestyle she envisioned. But when she is taken in by her soon-to-be stepsister, Brooke - a resident of Times Square and adventurous gal about town - she is rescued from her disappointment and seduced by Brooke's alluringly mad schemes.
Watch trailer
Read interview: Greta Gerwig is a woman with a plan
Watch Frances Ha at SBS On Demand
The Dressmaker
(Australia, drama)
Director: Jocelyn Moorhouse
Starring: Kate Winslet, Liam Hemsworth, Hugo Weaving
What's it about?A glamorous woman returns to her small town in rural Australia, following years spent in Paris, Milan and London as a successful fashion designer. She's come home in order to take care of her mentally unstable, alcoholic mother. With her sewing machine and haute couture style, she transforms the women and exacts sweet revenge on those who got her banned from the town as a disgraced ten-year-old.
Watch trailer
Read review: Haughty couture revenge fable is daft fun
The Perfect Guy
(USA, thriller)
Director: David M. Rosenthal
Starring: Sanaa Lathan, Michael Ealy, Morris Chestnut
What's it about?After a painful breakup, successful lobbyist Leah Vaughn jumps into a passionate relationship with a charming stranger. When her ex-boyfriend resurfaces in her life she has to figure out who she should trust and who she should fear.
