Sept. 6
Hanna
Joe Wright (Atonement, Pride & Prejudice) switches gears for this arty action fairy tale about a young girl (Saoirse Ronan) raised in the remote wilderness by her father (Eric Bana) and trained to fight, kill and survive. Although there are a handful of excellent action sequences during her quest for vengeance against a cold-hearted government agent (Cate Blanchett), the real strength of the movie is Hanna’s relationship with a normal, non-killing-machine girl she meets on the road and the nuanced ways the movie contrasts her tragic life to that of a modern media-saturated teen. Ronan, Bana and Blanchett are all great, and the Chemical Brothers provide an eerie score. BT
Sept. 6
Parks and Recreation: Season 3
The bar for comedy excellence is set high in the first episode when Ron Swanson (Nick Offerman) unveils his Pyramid of Greatness (e.g., “Crying: Acceptable at funerals and the Grand Canyon”). The season goes on to sustain that greatness as the Pawnee Parks Department resurrects a beloved town tradition and several employees become romantically entangled. The already fantastic ensemble reach maximum chemistry, joined by Rob Lowe as a high-functioning city manager and Adam Scott as a former wunderkind politician turned auditor. Amy Poehler anchors the group with a charming can-do attitude. JK
Sept. 6
Fringe: Season 3
What in the first season seemed like a fairly derivative (yet entertaining) X-Files knockoff has become a crazily ambitious sci-fi epic. Embracing its inherent absurdity, navigating alternate universes and facing gross monsters, the show hasn’t forgotten to give us flawed, relatable, human protagonists—none more so than mad scientist Walter Bishop (John Noble), who must contend with a life of moral sidestepping in the name of science, and one selfish act that may be the catalyst for the destruction of the universe. KC
Sept. 9
X-Men: First Class
You don’t have to throw out what you already know about the X-Men to appreciate this new chapter. The story takes place years before the first X-Men movie and follows young Professor X (James McAvoy) and Magneto (Michael Fassbender) as they work together to build the team from the ground up. This early group of mutants features some familiar characters and some new ones who serve as good eye candy, alongside solid effects. MP
Sept. 13
Conan O’Brien Can’t Stop
“I don’t quite know what it’s going to be. I just know I always like being in front of an audience. That’s all I know.” Molded from the ashes of the War for Late Night, Conan O’Brien’s Legally Prohibited From Being Funny on Television Tour served both his sincere desire to put on a show for loyal Team Coco followers and his seemingly insatiable need to entertain. Director Rodman Flender captures the show’s cathartic humor as well as its effects on Conan himself, who exudes drive, ego, gratitude and exhaustion as he travels across the country working through his demons. JK
Sept. 13
Meek’s Cutoff
Kelly Reichardt’s Meek’s Cutoff is ostensibly a measured, simmering drama about pioneer settlers on the storied Oregon Trail. It’s also an allegory for the ways in which poor leadership, ill-informed policy and, most of all, plain old fear have led us as a people into the present situation from which we may not be able to extricate ourselves. This is one of the very best films of this year—simple but intelligent and demanding. ML
BY KEVIN CLARLE, JEN KOOGLER, MARC PALM and BRYAN THEISS
