editorial

Season’s Tickets

We are such slaves to the sun. The colour of our clothes, our schedules, and even our moods change based on how many hours of sunlight we can suck through our pores each day.

In summer we wear pastels and bright hues, think nothing of meeting a friend for coffee at 9 p.m., and feel light and free. Come fall and winter, we swaddle ourselves in brown and black, have trouble leaving the house after dinner and tend to feel introspective, even glum.

The sort of entertainment we choose also changes as darkness creeps in. Movies like Knocked Up and Superbad, so light and funny in those halcyon days of vitamin-D overload, seem strangely out of place. Instead we start buzzing about films that deserve Oscar consideration — you know, the serious flicks.

That doesn’t mean you can’t find a funny movie or a family-friendly film this time of year — two of the three movies we spotlight in this, our Fall-Holiday Preview Issue, fall into those categories. It’s just that, overall, we have to think a bit more at the movies from now until New Year’s. But the payoff is usually worth the effort.

In our Fall-Holiday Preview you’ll find info on almost every movie coming to theatres in the next three months, and I defy you to find a theme. Unlike past years, there’s no predominance of fantasy flicks or sequels or comic-book spin-offs. It’s truly a mixed bag.

Ben Stiller’s The Heartbreak Kid is one of the first fall films out of the gate, opening October 5th, and represents a last kick at slapstick comedy before we become entirely reflective. Read our interview with Stiller to find out why this actor known for working with the same people over and over again felt it was finally time to re-team with his There’s Something About Mary cohorts, The Farrelly Brothers.

We talk to Harvard grad Natalie Portman about acting like a kid again to play the clerk at a magical toy store in November’s Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium.

And Will Smith ushers in the dark days of winter with December’s lonely and atmospheric sci-fi I Am Legend. Check out our Will Smith interview to find out what Star Wars had to do with his decision to play the last man in New York — perhaps the world — not infected with a virus that turns people into bloodsucking monsters.