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These are notable films opening between now and the Friday before Thanksgiving. These are national release dates and the movies may open later in the Bay Area. In addition, release dates may change.
Sept. 21
"Dredd 3D": In a dystopian East Coast megalopolis, a futuristic cop and his rookie trainee take on a ruthless drug lord and her clan. With Karl Urban, Olivia Thirlby, Lena Headey and Wood Harris. Written by Alex Garland. Directed by Pete Travis. In 3-D.
"End of Watch": Two ambitious young LAPD officers patrol a gang-ridden slice of South Los Angeles. With Jake Gyllenhaal, Michael Pena and Anna Kendrick. Written and directed by David Ayer.
"Hello I Must Be Going": Recently divorced and facing an uncertain future, a woman moves back in with her parents in suburban Connecticut and begins an affair with a 19-year-old actor. With Melanie Lynskey, Blythe Danner, Christopher Abbott and John Rubinstein. Written by Sarah Koskoff. Directed by Todd Louiso.
"House at the End of the Street": A recent divorcee and her daughter move into a dream house in an upscale town, only to find that their new home hides dark secrets. With Jennifer Lawrence, Elisabeth Shue, Max Thieriot and Gil Bellows. Written by David Loucka. Directed by Mark Tonderai.
"How to Survive a Plague": A documentary about the AIDS activist groups ACT UP and TAG and their efforts in the 1980s and '90s to bring attention to the AIDS epidemic.
"The Master": A
"The Perks of Being a Wallflower": A high school freshman with dark secrets befriends two misfit seniors and navigates the pitfalls of adolescence. With Logan Lerman, Emma Watson, Ezra Miller and Mae Whitman. Written and directed by Stephen Chbosky. Opens in San Francisco on Sept. 28.
"Trouble With the Curve": An aging baseball scout and his daughter, an ambitious young lawyer, join forces on an important recruiting mission. With Clint Eastwood, Amy Adams, Justin Timberlake and John Goodman. Written by Randy Brown. Directed by Robert Lorenz.
"War of the Buttons": The children of two neighboring villages in the French countryside wage a ruthless play war while the real horrors of World War II begin to creep into their lives. With Jean Texier, Clement Godefroy, Theophile Baquet and Louis Dussol. Written by Christophe Barratier, Stephane Keller and Thomas Langmann. Directed by Barratier.
Sept. 28
"Hotel Transylvania": In this animated film, Dracula has his hands full with a birthday for his daughter at his monster resort, and things get complicated when an ordinary human stumbles onto the scene. With the voices of Adam Sandler, Andy Samberg, Kevin James and Selena Gomez. Written by Peter Baynham and Robert Smigel. Directed by Genndy Tartakovsky. In 3-D.
"Liberal Arts": A nostalgic college admissions counselor returns to his alma mater to speak at an old professor's retirement dinner and connects with a precocious sophomore. With Zac Efron, Josh Radnor, Elizabeth Olsen and Richard Jenkins. Written and directed by Radnor.
"Looper": In the future, a low-level hired gun who disposes of mob targets sent back in time has to chase down an escaped target -- a future version of himself. With Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Bruce Willis, Emily Blunt and Paul Dano. Written and directed by Rian Johnson.
"Stars in Shorts": A program of original narrative short films of different genres. With Judi Dench, Jason Alexander, Kenneth Branagh and Lily Tomlin. Multiple writers and directors.
"Won't Back Down": Two determined mothers take on a bureaucracy and try to transform their children's failing inner-city school. With Maggie Gyllenhaal, Viola Davis, Holly Hunter and Oscar Isaac. Written by Brin Hill and Daniel Barnz. Directed by Barnz.
Oct. 5
"Butter": After her husband, a long-reigning butter-carving champion, is pressured into retiring from competition, a woman steps forward to try to follow in his footsteps. With Olivia Wilde, Ashley Greene, Hugh Jackman and Jennifer Garner. Written by Jason A. Micallef. Directed by Jim Field Smith.
"Frankenweenie": When his dog unexpectedly dies, a boy does some tinkering and uses science to bring his beloved pooch back to life. With the voices of Catherine O'Hara, Martin Short, Martin Landau and Charlie Tahan. Written by John August. Directed by Tim Burton. In 3-D.
"The Oranges": Two neighboring families have their comfortable suburban lives upended when the twentysomething daughter of one household returns home and strikes up an affair with the middle-aged husband of the other. With Hugh Laurie, Leighton Meester, Catherine Keener and Oliver Platt. Written by Ian Helfer and Jay Reiss. Directed by Julian Farino.
"The Paperboy": In a muggy Florida backwater, an idealistic reporter enlists his hotshot writing partner, his aimless younger brother and a sexpot death-row groupie to investigate the case of a convicted killer. With Matthew McConaughey, Zac Efron, David Oyelowo and Nicole Kidman. Written by Pete Dexter and Lee Daniels. Directed by Daniels.
"Pitch Perfect": An introverted college freshman is persuaded to join an all-girls a cappella group and helps enliven its old-fashioned approach to performing. With Anna Kendrick, Brittany Snow, Anna Camp and Rebel Wilson. Written by Kay Cannon. Directed by Jason Moore.
"Sinister": After discovering a box of mysterious old home movies at his family's new home, a true-crime novelist unleashes an evil supernatural presence. With Ethan Hawke, Vincent D'Onofrio and James Ransone. Written by Scott Derrickson and C. Robert Cargill. Directed by Derrickson.
"Taken 2": Having saved his daughter from a European sex slave ring, an ex-CIA agent is targeted for revenge and must once again fight to protect his family. With Liam Neeson, Famke Janssen and Maggie Grace. Written by Luc Besson and Robert Mark Kamen. Directed by Olivier Megaton.
"V/H/S": A group of misfits are hired to retrieve a videotape from a deserted house, where they encounter a corpse and a surplus of cryptic footage. With Joe Swanberg, Adam Wingard, Sophia Takal and Kate Lyn Sheil. Multiple writers and directors.
Oct. 12
"Argo": During the 1979 Iran hostage crisis, a CIA agent leads a daring mission to rescue six U.S. diplomats by disguising them as members of a Hollywood film crew. With Ben Affleck, Bryan Cranston, Alan Arkin and John Goodman. Written by Chris Terrio. Directed by Affleck.
"Here Comes the Boom": An apathetic biology teacher and erstwhile college wrestler moonlights as a mixed martial arts fighter to raise money for his flagging school. With Kevin James, Salma Hayek and Henry Winkler. Written by James and Allan Loeb. Directed by Frank Coraci.
"Seven Psychopaths": A frustrated screenwriter inadvertently gets mixed up with the criminal underworld when his friends kidnap a gangster's dog. With Colin Farrell, Sam Rockwell, Christopher Walken and Woody Harrelson. Written and directed by Martin McDonagh.
"Smashed": A young married couple whose bond is based on a shared love of alcohol have their relationship tested when the wife decides to get sober. With Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Aaron Paul, Octavia Spencer and Nick Offerman. Written by James Ponsoldt and Susan Burke. Directed by Ponsoldt.
Oct. 19
"Alex Cross": A homicide detective and psychologist matches wits with a serial killer and tries to keep his family safe. With Tyler Perry, Matthew Fox, Edward Burns and Rachel Nichols. Written by Marc Moss and Kerry Williamson. Directed by Rob Cohen.
"Nobody Walks": The arrival of a New York artist, a friend of a friend working to finish a film, disrupts the equilibrium of a laid-back Los Angeles household. With John Krasinski, Olivia Thirlby, Rosemarie DeWitt and Justin Kirk. Written by Ry Russo-Young and Lena Dunham. Directed by Russo-Young.
"Paranormal Activity 4": The arrival of new neighbors coincides with the advent of strange phenomena that are captured on video. Directed by Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman.
Oct. 26
"Chasing Mavericks": A young surfer under the tutelage of a local legend aspires to surf Northern California's most dangerous wave. With Jonny Weston, Gerard Butler, Elisabeth Shue and Abigail Spencer. Written by Kario Salem. Directed by Curtis Hanson and Michael Apted.
"Cloud Atlas": Six separate but interlocking stories unfold across the globe and over centuries. With Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Jim Broadbent and Hugo Weaving. Written and directed by Lana Wachowski, Andy Wachowski and Tom Tykwer.
"The Expatriate": An ex-CIA agent tries to thwart an insidious international conspiracy targeting him and his daughter. With Aaron Eckhart and Olga Kurylenko. Written by Arash Amel. Directed by Philipp Stolzl.
"Fun Size": On Halloween night, a high school girl's social standing is jeopardized when she has to look after her kid brother instead of attending the best party of the year. With Victoria Justice, Thomas Mann, Thomas McDonell and Thomas Middleditch. Written by Max Werner. Directed by Josh Schwartz.
"Sassy Pants": A recent home-school graduate struggles to break free from her perky, smothering mother and deadbeat gay father to attend fashion school. With Ashley Rickards, Anna Gunn, Haley Joel Osment and Diedrich Bader. Written and directed by Coley Sohn. Phase 4 Films
"The Sessions": A 38-year-old man confined to an iron lung enlists a therapist and a priest to help him lose his virginity. With John Hawkes, Helen Hunt and William H. Macy. Written and directed by Ben Lewin. Scheduled to open in San Francisco Bay Area on Nov. 5.
"Silent Hill: Revelation 3D": On the eve of her 18th birthday, a young woman troubled by nightmares and the disappearance of her father is transported to a demonic realm. With Sean Bean, Deborah Kara Unger, Radha Mitchell and Adelaide Clemens. Written by directed by Michael J. Bassett. In 3-D.
Nov. 2
"The Details": A family of hungry raccoons threatens a suburban husband's perfectly manicured yard and his struggling marriage. With Tobey Maguire, Elizabeth Banks, Laura Linney and Ray Liotta. Written and directed by Jacob Aaron Estes.
"Flight": A seasoned airline pilot is hailed as a hero after miraculously crash-landing a malfunctioning plane, but questions arise as to who or what really caused the accident. With Denzel Washington, Kelly Reilly, John Goodman and Don Cheadle. Written by John Gatins. Directed by Robert Zemeckis.
"Jack and Diane": Two teenage girls -- one a tomboy, the other a bubbly young lady -- meet and quickly fall for each other, but their newfound feelings are soon tested. With Juno Temple, Riley Keough, Cara Seymour and Jena Malone. Written and directed by Bradley Rust Gray. "
"A Late Quartet": Four members of a renowned string quartet struggle to stay together as the adversities of life overcome their art. With Philip Seymour Hoffman, Christopher Walken, Imogen Poots, Catherine Keener. Written and directed by Yaron Zilberman.
"The Man With the Iron Fists": In a village in feudal China, warriors, assassins and a lone blacksmith clash over a fortune in gold. With Russell Crowe, Rza, Lucy Liu and Rick Yune. Written by Rza and Eli Roth. Directed by Rza.
"This Must Be the Place": An aging former rock star returns from Dublin to New York and carries on his deceased father's quest to seek revenge on an old Nazi tormentor. With Sean Penn, Frances McDormand, Judd Hirsch and Eve Hewson. Written by Paolo Sorrentino and Umberto Contarello. Directed by Sorrentino.
"Vamps": Two ageless vampire party girls struggle with love as one falls for the son of a vampire hunter and the other encounters an old flame. With Alicia Silverstone, Krysten Ritter, Sigourney Weaver and Richard Lewis. Written and directed by Amy Heckerling.
"Wreck-It-Ralph": Tired of playing the bad guy, a disgruntled video game character embarks on a journey to prove he has what it takes to be a hero. With the voices of John C. Reilly, Sarah Silverman, Jack McBrayer and Jane Lynch. Directed by Rich Moore. In 3-D.
Nov. 9
"Lincoln": Daniel Day-Lewis stars as the president in a drama set during the last four months of his life. With Sally Field, David Strathairn, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, James Spader, Hal Holbrook and Tommy Lee Jones; Steven Spielberg directed from a screenplay by Tony Kushner.
"Luv": A neglected Baltimore boy spends a day with the uncle he idolizes -- and discovers he isn't quite the man he believed him to be. Sheldon Candis directed; with Common, Michael Rainey Jr., Dennis Haysbert, Danny Glover, Charles S. Dutton and Michael Kenneth Williams.
"Nature Calls": Patton Oswalt as an assistant scoutmaster who drags a bunch of kids away from a television-themed slumber party for a real adventure in the woods. With Johnny Knoxville, Rob Riggle, Maura Tierney, Patrice O'Neal and Darrell Hammond; Todd Rohal directed.
"Skyfall": James Bond No. 23, as directed by Sam Mendes. With Daniel Craig, Ralph Fiennes, Helen McCrory, Javier Bardem, Judi Dench and Albert Finney.
Nov. 16
"Anna Karenina": Joe Wright ("Atonement") directs Tom Stoppard's adaptation of Tolstoy's novel, with Keira Knightley in the title role and Aaron Taylor-Johnson as her lover, Count Vronsky. With Kelly Macdonald, Jude Law, Emily Watson and Olivia Williams.
"The Comedy": Relieved of financial worries because of an impending inheritance, a Brooklyn man (Tim Heidecker) passes his time contriving elaborate, boundary-pushing games with his friends (including Eric Wareheim, Mr. Heidecker's co-star in the series "Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!"). Rick Alverson directed.
"Rust and Bones": He (Matthias Schoenaerts) is a single father living uneasily with his sister and her husband in Antibes, France; she (Marion Cotillard) is a whale trainer at the nearby Marineland. A tragic accident brings them close together. Jacques Audiard ("A Prophet") directed.
"The Twilight Saga: Breaking Down -- Part 2": Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner return for the final installment in the gothic romance franchise. Bill Condon directed.
