The return of the Joker, Beetlejuice and ‘Gladiator’ highlight the fall’s 10 must-see movies

What a difference a season makes.
When this year’s crop of summer films began rolling out a few short months ago, there were fears of a shortage of quality cinema and interested moviegoers due to last year’s Hollywood strikes and lingering COVID concerns.
A pair of billion-dollar blockbusters later — “Deadpool & Wolverine” and “Inside Out 2” — plus other big-screen successes, film fans are heading into the fall season with restored faith in the seventh art and a lot to look forward to.
Here are my 10 picks for the movies most worthy of seeing from Labour Day weekend to U.S. Thanksgiving. As always, release dates are subject to change:
It’s been so long — 36 years — since Michael Keaton played the smart-ass title spectre you’d expect him to be even more of a walking corpse. Keaton’s crypt escapee actually looks pretty much as he did in the 1980s, when he was trying to scare the Deetz family out of their home while also making moves on their daughter Lydia (Winona Ryder). Director Tim Burton picks up where he left off, with Beetlejuice still haunting the house, bugging the Deetzes and generally rocking the afterlife. Ryder and Catherine O’Hara return from the first movie. New cast members include Jenna Ortega as Lydia’s teen goth daughter plus Monica Bellucci, Willem Dafoe and Justin Theroux.
See it if you like The first “Beetlejuice” and other Burton films, Keaton comedies, Ortega’s withering glances and possessed lip-synching to famous pop tunes.
George Clooney and Brad Pitt just need to show up to make a movie an event — witness their “Ocean’s” caper comedies. This one sounds right in their wheelhouse: two lone-wolf professional “fixers” of dirty deeds find themselves forced to work together after they’re hired for the same high-stakes gig. Sounds like fun and there are promising complications from characters played by Amy Ryan, Austin Abrams and Poorna Jagannathan.
See it if you like The “Ocean’s” franchise, Clooney and Pitt cracking wise together and action comedies.
In director Coralie Fargeat’s chilling body horror tale for the Ozempic era, Demi Moore plays an aging star battling sexism, who uses a mysterious new drug to create a younger clone (Margaret Qualley). They must adhere to a strict body-sharing regimen, leading to unforeseen — and extreme — complications as each vies for control. The Midnight Madness opener at TIFF ’24 and a screenplay winner at Cannes ’24, the film tramples boundaries while making a grotesque corporeal commentary on Hollywood’s youth obsession.
See it if you like David Cronenberg’s movies, gross-out flicks and late-night screenings of “All About Eve.”
“Let’s give the people what they want,” says Lady Gaga’s Harley Quinn in Todd Phillips’ sequel to his 2019 killer clown psychodrama, which won Joaquin Phoenix an Oscar. Pleasing the public is generally a good policy for any entertainer, but do the people want a blood-soaked love story and musical? That’s what they’re in for with this unconventional sequel, but it’s best not to bet against this formidable pair. Few would have guessed the first film would do as well as it did. 
See it if you like The first “Joker” film, “Birds of Prey,” “Suicide Squad” (and “The Suicide Squad”), edgy romances and oddball musicals.
For generations of TV comedy fans, there is a “before” and “after” Oct. 11, 1975. That’s the date when Canada’s Lorne Michaels and his Not Ready for Prime Time Players unveiled “Saturday Night Live,” the irreverent sketch show that made it seem as if comedy subversives had taken over the NBC network for 90 minutes — and in many ways, they had. Jason Reitman’s dramedy promises to show the chaos and concerns before the first “Live from New York, it’s Saturday Night!” call to mayhem. He’s working with a crack cast that includes Gabriel LaBelle, Finn Wolfhard, Willem Dafoe, Ella Hunt, Rachel Sennott and J.K. Simmons. Bonus: Unlike the perennial complaint about the TV show, nobody will be moaning that this “Saturday Night” was so much funnier last year.
See it if you like “Saturday Night Live,” Reitman movies, sketch comedy and humour that sticks it to “the Man.”
Sean Baker’s knack for creating gritty characters, in movies like “The Florida Project” and “Tangerine,” achieves maximum friction in this lively screwball comedy, winner of this year’s Palme d’Or at Cannes. Mikey Madison, known for her role as a Manson Family member in “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood,” brings bold charisma to Anora, a sharp-tongued Brooklyn sex worker. In this cockeyed Cinderella story, she meets Vanya (Mark Eydelshteyn), a sheltered son of a Russian oligarch, and they impulsively marry in Vegas, much to his father’s furious disdain. As worlds collide, Madison captivates with her character’s resourcefulness and rough charm.
See it if you like Screwball comedies, “The Florida Project,” “Tangerine” and art-house films with a genre sensibility.
A Pope dies and cardinals from around the world gather in Vatican City to elect a new spiritual leader. Secret conclaves have been a Roman Catholic tradition for centuries, but filmmaker Edward Berger (“All Quiet on the Western Front”) finds high drama and intrigue in this fictionalized account of what goes on beneath the towering Bernini columns and glowering Michelangelo masterpieces. Tasked with conducting a conclave following a sudden papal death, Cardinal Lawrence (Ralph Fiennes) must wrestle with liberal and conservative clergymen and a simmering conspiracy that threatens the very existence of his beloved church. Stanley Tucci, John Lithgow and Isabella Rossellini all feature in a cast that’s clearly angling for the biggest of blessings: Oscars.
See it if you like Backstage dramas, conspiracy thrillers, Oscar bait and anything with Fiennes in it.
Ridley Scott returns to his Oscar-winning “Gladiator” story 24 years after the original film with an almost entirely new cast, risking the giant audience shrug that greeted George Miller’s Mad Max-free “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga” back in May. But what a cast Scott has: Paul Mescal (“Foe”), who plays the title warrior Lucius Verus, the haunted son of the original film’s Maximus; Denzel Washington (who reportedly makes a great villain); Pedro Pascal; and Connie Nielsen, returning as Lucilla, mother of Lucius. 
See it if you like “Gladiator,” sword-and-sandal epics, Mescal and Washington.
“Wicked,” the first of two films from director Jon M. Chu (“In the Heights”) based on the Broadway musical of the same name, zooms into theatres with a starry cast that includes Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba (aka the Wicked Witch of the West), Ariana Grande as Galinda (aka Glinda the Good) and Jeff Goldblum as the Wizard of Oz. Mirroring the action of the stage musical, the film tells the back story of how Elphaba went from being a social misfit to a cackling witch in Frank L. Baum’s 1900 source novel “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.” Chu says he wants viewers to experience what it would be like to actually visit the Emerald City. To that end, he built physical sets, growing nine million real tulips and constructing a 16-ton train. If this isn’t a hit, then I’ll be a flying monkey.
See it if you like “The Wizard of Oz,” Broadway musicals and big-screen dazzlers.
Disney reunites two beloved Polynesian characters from 2016’s hugely successful, Oscar-nominated “Moana.” Once again, Auli‘i Cravalho plays the title character, and Dwayne Johnson reprises his role as Moana’s old friend Maui. The seafaring sequel begins when Moana gets an unexpected call from her ancestors that requires her to venture “beyond the horizon to save her island.” She recruits a crew for her vessel, and, accompanied by her pets, Pua the pig and Heihei the rooster, she and Maui battle new enemies and a challenge from the underworld goddess Matangi. With easygoing chemistry between Cravalho and Johnson, lush animation, and a propulsive score by Mark Mancina and Opetaia Foa‘i, the film looks to be another family-friendly hit from the Mouse House.
See it if you like “Moana,” Disney movies, big-screen animation and girl-power adventures.