What To Watch In September

August turned out to be a relatively slow month at the cinema following from the box-office breaking phenomenon that was Barbenheimer. The biggest release of the month worldwide was the Jason Statham starring The Meg 2: The Trench, with Disney’s Haunted Mansion and DC’s Blue Beetle massively underperforming at the global box office. Hopefully with some notable releases and with National Cinema Day, September will see bigger turnouts at the cinema.

Cobweb (15)

Dir: Samuel Bodin

Cast: Lizzy Caplan, Woody Norman, Cleopatra Coleman, Antony Starr

After a busy August with two theatrical releases of Joy Ride and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg’s Point Grey pictures show no signs of slowing down with the release of the horror thriller ‘Cobweb’.

The film follows a young boy named Peter (Woody Norman), who is plagued by a mysterious, constant noise from inside his bedroom wall – a tapping that his emotionally distant parents (Lizzy Caplan and Antony Starr) insist is his imagination. As his fear intensifies he, he starts to believe that his parents are hiding a terrible and dangerous secret.

Sound of Freedom (15)

Dir: Alejandro Monteverde

Cast: Jim Caviezel, Mira Sorvino, Bill Camp

One of the biggest films to be released in September is a relatively surprising one. This truth based action film has become a huge sleeper hit since it was released in the U.S. in July, becoming one of the most successful independent films of all time – grossing almost $200 million.

The film is a retelling of the true story of Tim Ballard, a former U.S. government agent who embarked on a dangerous mission to Colombia to rescue children from sex traffickers as part of Operation Underground Railroad.

Passages (15)

Dir: Ira Sachs

Cast: Franz Rogowski, Ben Whishaw, Adele Exarchopoulos

After receiving stellar reviews at its premiere at Sundance earlier in the year ‘Passages’ was picked up by Mubi for distribution in the U.S. and the United Kingdom. When the Motion Picture Association gave the film an NC-17 rating in the States, director Ira Sachs criticised the decision, calling the rating censorship of LGBT themes, calling the decision disappointing.

The film follows long-time male couple Tomas (Franz Rogowski) and Martin (Ben Whishaw), and the fallout caused when Tomas has an affair with his female friend Agathe (Adele Exarchopoulos).

The Nun II (15)

Dir: Michael Chaves

Cast: Taissa Farmiga, Jonas Bloquet, Storm Reid, Anna Popplewell

September will see the latest release in the long running The Conjuring Universe. The horror series has had multiple spin-offs from the central films including the Annabelle films and The Curse of La Llarona.

This ninth instalment of the franchise serves as a direct sequel to The Nun (2018). Set four years after the events of the first film, ‘The Nun II‘ follows Sister Irene (Taissa Farmiga) as she once again comes face to face with demonic force ,Valak, a.k.a. The Nun (Bonnie Aarons), at a boarding school in France

Past Lives (12A)

Dir: Celine Song

Cast: Greta Lee, Teo Yoo, John Magaro

One of the most anticipated movies of the month is the early awards season favourite, ‘Past Lives‘, the feature directorial debut by South Koreas-Canadian filmmaker, Celine Song. The film had its world premiere at Sundance earlier in the year where it was picked up by A24. After rave reviews, the film has been seen as one of the biggest contenders at the upcoming Academy Awards.

The films follows Nora (Greta Lee) and Hae Sung (Teo Yoo), two deeply connected childhood friends who are separated when Nora emigrates from South Korea. Twenty-four years later, Nora is married to Arthur (John Magaro), when Hae Sung comes to New York City to reunite with Nora for one fateful week.

A Haunting in Venice (12A)

Dir: Kenneth Branagh

Cast: Kenneth Branagh, Kyle Allen, Camille Cottin, Jamie Dornan, Tina Fey, Jude Hill, Ali Khan, Emma Laird, Kelly Reilly, Riccardo Scamarcio, Michelle Yeoh

Kenneth Branagh returns to direct, and star in, his series of adaptations of the classic Agatha Christie novels following the world famous detective Hercule Poirot. The film follows on from the moderate successes of Murder on the Orient Express (2017) and Death on the Nile (2022).

Based on Christie’s 1969 novel Hallowe’en Party, we follow the now retired Belgian sleuth as he must solve the murder of a guest at a séance he has attended. Like the previous two films in the franchise, the film features an all star cast, including: Camille Cottin, Tina Fey, Kelly Reilly, Michelle Yeoh and Branagh’s fellow Belfast alumni, Jamie Dornan and Jude Hill.

El Conde (15)

Dir: Pablo Larrain

Cast: Jaime Vadell, Gloria Munchmeyer, Alfredo Castro

Pablo Larrain is a filmmaker who manages to split his audience and his critics. His two most notable films to date are the biographical dramas Jackie (2016) and Spencer (2021), which document the troubling times of huge public figures Jackie Kennedy and Princess Diana of Wales, respectively.

His latest “biopic” is a more fantastical dark comedy than a by-the-books retelling. The film is a dark satire that portrays Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet as a 250-year-old vampire seeking death. The film will be released on Netflix on the 15th September, four days after the 50th anniversary of the coup d’état, in which Pinochet seized power.

Expend4bles (15)

Dir: Scott Waugh

Cast: Jason Statham, Sylvester Stallone, Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson, Megan Fox, Dolph Lundgren, Tony Jaa, Iko Uwais, Randy Couture, Jacob Scipio, Levy Tran, Andy Garcia

The latest instalment in the increasingly ludicrous action franchise from Sylvester Stallone hits the big screen with a bang in September. Nine years after the last entry was released in 2014, a handful of the iconic action stars return for yet another action packed adventure that no body was asking for.

This time round, The Expendables are assigned on a mission to stop Rahmat (The Raid‘s Iko Uwais), who runs a terrorist organization, from smuggling nuclear warheads that will ignite a conflict between Russia and the U.S.

Dumb Money (TBC)

Dir: Craig Gillespie

Cast: Paul Dano, Pete Davidson, Vincent D’Onofrio, America Ferrera, Nick Offerman, Anthony Ramos, Sebastian Stan, Shailene Woodley, Seth Rogen

Seth Rogen has been a busy man this summer, he may not be producing but he will be starring as American businessman Gabe Plotkin in this quite unbelievable true story of corporate greed and online investments.

Directed by Craig Gillespie, whose recent works include I, Tonya (2017) and Cruella (2021), the film tells the story of a rag-tag group of investors led by real life financial analyst Keith Gil (Paul Dano), who banded together to put the squeeze on at least two that had a bet that GameStop shares will fall. Gillespie will be hoping to reach the level off success achieved by fellow corporate comedy, The Big Short in 2015.

Spy Kids: Armageddon (TBC)

Dir: Robert Rodriguez

Cast: Gina Rodriguez, Zachary Levi, Everly Carganilla, Connor Esterson, Billy Magnussen, D. J. Cotrona

Twenty-two years after the release of the very successful Spy Kids, a childhood favourite of mine, Robert Rodriguez is back to write and direct the fifth instalment of the family action franchise.

The latest release which will be streamed on Netflix will consists of an entirely new cast including: Zachary Levi (Shazam) and Gina Rodriguez (Jane the Virgin) who will play the worlds’ greatest spies. When their children unwittingly help a powerful Game Developer unleash a computer virus that gives him control of all technology, they too must become spies to save their parents and the world

Cassandro (15)

Dir: Roger Ross Williams

Cast: Gael Garcia Bernal, Roberta Colindrez, Perla De La Rosa, Joaquin Cosio, Raul Castillo, El Hijo del Santo, Bad Bunny

‘Cassandro‘ is an upcoming wrestling biopic, which had its world premiere at Sundance in January. The film received stellar reviews, and is the debut feature film for writer-director Roger Ross Williams, who previously told Cassandro’s story in the 2016 documentary short The Man Without a Mask.

The film tells the story of gay wrestler Saúl Armendáriz in the 1980’s. He lived in El Paso, Texas and regularly crossed the border into Mexico to participate in lucha libre wrestling matches.

The Creator (12A)

Dir: Gareth Edwards

Cast: John David Washington, Gemma Chan, Ken Watanabe, Sturgill Simpson, Madeleine Yuna Voyles, Allison Janney

Definitely the biggest release of the month in terms of scale and budget is the latest sci-fi from British filmmaker, Gareth Edwards. Edwards rose to prominence in the genre with the releases of Monster (2010), Godzilla (2014) and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016).

This original sci-fi epic is written by Edwards himself and explores a future war between the human race and the forces of artificial intelligence. John David Washington stars as a hardened ex-special forces agent who is recruited to hunt down and kill the Creator, the elusive architect of advanced AI.

Saw X (TBC)

Dir: Kevin Greutert

Cast: Tobin Bell, Shawnee Smith, Synnove Macody Lund, Steven Brand, Michael Beach, Renata Vaca

The tenth, and hopefully final, instalment in the long-running horror franchise is set between the events of Saw and Saw II, in what is already a very convoluted timeline.

With the film serving as a prequel to the latter films, both Tobin Bell and Shawnee Smith are able to return, despite their characters dying during the events of Saw III. This time round, Bell’s iconic character Jigsaw is testing out his deadly traps on a number of experimental medical professionals who fail at removing his cancerous brain tumour in Mexico.