ach season I come up with a reason why you should eschew the outdoors for the comfy confines of a cinema; it's not always easy (remember February?). In autumn, the watchful eyes of a golden bald man make the task simple. Familiar comedies and big budget action flicks fade as leaves begin to crunch underfoot. Prestige flicks and post-Fest(s) curios return to theatres, titillating and intriguing. The best time of year to be a cinephile has commenced. Here's what you should see.

Rachel Getting Married
Opening October 3, 2008
This time of year, beautiful prodigals return to cinemas in droves. Anne Hathaway takes yet another shot at stardom as Kym, a model turned rehab survivor that returns home for her clean-cut sister's wedding; baggage airing, bickering, and hugging begins. Hathaway is a better actress than you think and she has been close to breaking free of her squeaky Disney-sponsored image before. This time, there's no Emily Blunt or Heath Ledger to distract from her. Director Jonathan Demme is beyond due for a hit and, evidently, Deborah Winger is still alive. Who knew? -S.T.



Blindness
Opening October 3, 2008
There is an inherent irony to taking sight away from players in a visual medium and it is heightened by the fact that actors can not see you anyway. The conceit is intellectually intriguing. However, making it cinematically interesting can prove problematic. Blindness has a fantastic pedigree: José Saramago wrote the book, the fantastic Don McKellar (if you have not seen Last Night, stop reading and go rent it) scripted, and it stars the divine Julianne Moore, the charismatic Mark Ruffalo (see You Can Count on Me), and the prettier-than-thou Gael García Bernal (The Motorcycle Diaries). Following a sudden and unexplained outbreak of blindness in an urban centre, Moore is the only one left sighted and must navigate the impending atrocities and Lord of the Flys-style societal breakdown that engulfs her. Despite the tantalizing creative team, the film took a critical bashing after debuting at Cannes. Regardless of its slightness, any film by Fernando Meirelles (City of God, The Constant Gardener) will have a visual panache, even if it is ironic. -S.T.



How to Lose Friends and Alienate People
Opening October 3, 2008
Spend two seasons starring in and co-writing Spaced and you get my allegiance forever. Therefore, Simon Pegg gets a pass for starring in a couple of stepping stone flicks (i.e. Run Fatboy Run and this forthcoming adaptation of Toby Young's memoir of the same name). This conceit has been trodden more than the path to Mecca: outside struggles to make it in a superficial world, getting charmed by fruit-baring beauties in the process. Here, Pegg's Sidney Young is an alt UK writer imported into the mainstream magazine world of New York. Hopefully hilarity ensues. The supporting cast is strong, with the always reliable Jeff Bridges and a pair of underrated actors in Gillian Anderson and Danny Huston. Kirsten Dunst shows up as the love interest and Megan Fox is appositely the it-girl. -S.T.