Flickreel’s Top 5 Films to See in September 2015

5. Me and Earl and the Dying Girl

Ah, a teen drama about cancer – didn’t we just have to go through that with The Fault in Our Stars? While the answer to that question is yes, that doesn’t take anything away from Alfonso Gomez-Rejon’s absorbing, moving, and tremendously funny feature Me and Earl and the Dying Girl. Managing to be profound without being mawkish or twee, this film also marks the first excellent performances from promising youngsters Thomas Mann, RJ Cyler and Olivia Cooke.

4. The Martian

Ridley Scott has had an illustrious career, and much of his best work has fallen into the science fiction genre – with the likes of Blade Runner and Alien illuminating the silver screen. While we conveniently decide to ignore Prometheus, it’s terribly exciting to see the esteemed filmmaker turn his attentions to Mars, adapting Andy Weir’s bestseller, telling the tale of a man, presumed dead, left to fend for himself on our neighbouring planet. Matt Damon takes on the lead role, while a supporting cast consisting of Jessica Chastain, Kristen Wiig, Jeff Daniels and Chiwetel Ejiofor further add to our excitement. The blockbuster season may be over, but things now seem to really be hotting up. Geddit?

3. Everest

We’ve had our fair share of sea storms, hurricanes, earthquakes and volcano eruptions in cinema, to create a good old-fashioned disaster movie, but rarely do we delve into the realm of the avalanche – which provides the setting for Baltasar Kormakur’s latest thriller, Everest. With a cast consisting of Jake Gyllenhaal, Keira Knightley, Robin Wright, Josh Brolin, Jason Clarke, Sam Worthington, Emily Watson and John Hawkes – it’s just a shame they couldn’t attract any real stars to this project, eh?

2. Irrational Man

It’s September, and you know what that means – it’s Woody Allen time. Continuing on his remarkable inclination to bring out a film every single year – something he’s done consistently since a rare break in 1981 (slacker!) his latest, Irrational Man sees the venerable filmmaker team up with one of the very best in the business, Joaquin Phoenix. He plays a tormented college professor who is being pursued by his student played by Emma Stone, which comes with familiar, and hilarious ramifications, while there remains a wickedly dark streak running right the way through this indelible feature.

1. Life

While eyebrows were certainly raised at the surprise casting of Dane DeHaan as the Hollywood icon James Dean, it’s proven to be an inspired selection, as the actor embodies the actor perfectly, capturing that charisma with perfection. He’s matched at every turn by Robert Pattinson, who is also doing a mighty fine job in showing people that there’s a few more strings to his bow many would have given him credit for. This is how biopics should be.