Pleased fall, Polygon readers! September is upon us, and which means it’s time time to mud off your favourite sweater and dapple a bit pumpkin spice in your morning espresso. We’ve bought a complete slew of latest films, tv and books to stay up for within the coming weeks and months, to not point out all of the thrilling new movies arriving on streaming this month.
Our roundup for September consists of Denis Villeneuve’s 2016 sci-fi thriller Arrival, the 2013 sci-fi motion movie Riddick starring Vin Diesel, William Friedkin’s supernatural horror basic The Exorcist, and extra.
Let’s dive in and see what this month has in retailer.
New on Netflix
Arrival
![Amy Adams wearing an orange hazmat suit and holding a dry erase board with the word “human” written on it in Arrival](https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/PTLLykSr_UADh2IYnLNdM3502RY=/0x0:780x520/1200x0/filters:focal(0x0:780x520):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/9375257/amy_adams.jpg)
Picture: Paramount Photos
12 months: 2016
Style: Sci-fi thriller
Run time: 1h 56m
Director: Denis Villeneuve
Forged: Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner, Forest Whitaker
Primarily based on Ted Chiang’s 1998 quick story “Story of Your Life,” Arrival is Dune director Denis Villeneuve’s first foray into onerous science-fiction and simply ranks as one in every of his finest.
Starring Amy Adams and Jeremy Renner, the movie facilities on Louise Banks (Adams), a linguistics professor enlisted by the US authorities to guide a staff of investigators on a primary contact expedition when twelve mysterious spaceships contact down throughout the planet. With a lovely rating composed by the late Jóhann Jóhannsson — his final collaboration with Villeneuve earlier than his dying in 2018 — and a transferring premise targeted on the intrinsic energy of language and communication, Arrival is an intimate sci-fi love story for the ages. —Toussaint Egan
Stand By Me
![Wil Wheaton, River Phoenix, Corey Feldman and Jerry O’Connell in Stand By Me.](https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/4Lpc72P2Z77JxLymreaI-_g867s=/0x0:1500x996/1200x0/filters:focal(0x0:1500x996):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23131940/rs_stand_by_me01_4fe82db8_ca20_430c_8353_760337b644ba.jpg)
Picture: Columbia Photos
12 months: 1986
Style: Coming-of-age drama
Run time: 1h 29m
Director: Rob Reiner
Forged: Wil Wheaton, River Phoenix, Corey Feldman
One of many nice Stephen King variations, Stand by Me is a coming-of-age movie about 4 12-year-old boys who got down to discover the physique of a lacking child. The boys trek throughout the Oregon forests, operating into native hoodlums and rushing trains. However regardless of the hazards, the actual thrill of the film comes from the transformative energy of childhood friendships. The principle character closes the film with a line that principally sums all of it up: “I by no means had any associates in a while like those I had once I was 12. Jesus, does anybody?” —Petrana Radulovic
New on Hulu
A Knight’s Story
![Heath Ledger and Rufus Sewell in A Knight’s Tale](https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/EmtxKPdVMgA16Sx2eGGO8jnp8ds=/0x0:1000x563/1200x0/filters:focal(0x0:1000x563):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22887572/A_Knights_Tale_1.jpg)
Picture: Columbia Photos
12 months: 2001
Style: Medieval motion comedy
Run time: 2h 20m
Director: Brian Helgeland
Forged: Heath Ledger, Mark Addy, Rufus Sewell
Impressed by Geoffrey Chaucer’s “The Knight,” Brian Helgeland’s semi-anachronistic medieval journey comedy A Knight’s Story stars Heath Ledger as William, a younger peasant with a present for jousting who poses as a knight and embarks on a quest for fame and glory alongside his associates Roland (Mark Addy) and Wat (Alan Tudyk). Alongside the way in which the trio meet Geoffrey Chaucer himself (Paul Bettany), a loquacious author with a present for theatrics who aids William on his journey of self-made fame and notoriety. An oddball comedy full of shocking needle-drops, colourful characters, and a smoldering romance plot that includes Shannyn Sossamon as William’s love curiosity, A Knight’s Story could have bombed when it premiered again in 2001, however has since turn into a cult favourite amongst a loyal contingent of followers. —TE
Melancholia
![Kirsten Dunst getting space fingers in Melancholia](https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/vGNfMAjAZSQEI-FqlpRKLeoL_Xo=/0x0:1280x720/1200x0/filters:focal(0x0:1280x720):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23193545/melancholiajpg_281132e051aa4600.jpg)
Picture: Magnolia Photos
12 months: 2011
Style: Apocalyptic drama
Run time: 2h 16m
Director: Lars von Trier
Forged: Kirsten Dunst, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Alexander Skarsgård
Kirsten Dunst (Maria Antoinette) is Justine, a younger bride who experiences a depressive episode on the eve of her wedding ceremony. When a rogue planet generally known as Melancholia seems hurtling in the direction of Earth on a crash-collision course, Justine’s sister Claire struggles to take care of composure within the face of imminent catastrophe, whereas Justine navigates an odd euphoric resignation that washes over her within the planet’s final days. Melancholia is an achingly lovely, somber, and harrowing journey by way of despair and ennui and one in every of Lars von Trier’s most interesting extra touching movies. —TE
New on Prime Video
Kids of Males
![Clive Owen and Clare-Hope Ashitey in Children of Men (2006)](https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/6oJhAFigwwRN2nbiTaYEiOi1BMw=/0x0:2048x1291/1200x0/filters:focal(0x0:2048x1291):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22966615/merlin_135409254_372f0f13_29f2_4aef_bbb6_ff7c6cc73ea8_superJumbo.jpg)
Picture: Common Photos
12 months: 2006
Style: Dystopian motion thriller
Run time: 1h 49m
Director: Alfonso Cuarón
Forged: Clive Owen, Julianne Moore, Michael Caine
Alfonso Cuarón’s 2006 dystopian sci-fi drama Kids of Males has been hailed in recent times as a prescient depiction of up to date world strife and battle. Set in 2027, nearly twenty years after the final human little one attributable to inexplicable worldwide infertility, Cuarón’s movie finds activist-turned-government-pawn Theo Faron (Clive Owen) unexpectedly entrusted with guaranteeing the secure passage of Kee (Clare-Hope Ashitey), an asylum seeker and the primary lady to turn into pregnant in over 18 years. Kids of Males is a blea, and completely convincing depiction of a future through which there appears to be no future, a drama through which the final glimmer of hope for humanity rests within the fingers of man who has all however misplaced religion in it. —TE
Deja Vu
![Denzel Washington as Special Agent Douglas Carlin viewing a past projection of his dead wife in Deja Vu.](https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/i1IPxASOKfRbllcuOsOPHjIS1zM=/0x0:1280x720/1200x0/filters:focal(0x0:1280x720):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22804684/Deja_Vu_featured_image_1280x720.png)
Picture: Touchstone Photos
12 months: 2006
Style: Sci-fi motion
Run time: 2h 6m
Director: Tony Scott
Forged: Denzel Washington, Val Kilmer, Paula Patton
Lengthy earlier than John David Washington’s main position in Christopher Nolan’s Tenet, his father Denzel Washington starred in his personal time-twisting sci-fi motion movie directed by the late Tony Scott. Washington stars as Doug Carlin, an ATF agent who joins a top-secret authorities program within the wake of a terrorist assault on a New Orleans ferry that claims the lifetime of his spouse. Utilizing cutting-edge expertise within the type of an experimental headset, Carlin friends by way of the folds of space-time to research the occasions of the fateful day as they’re occurring with a purpose to discern the identities of these accountable and produce them to justice. Washington’s second collaboration with Scott following 2004 ‘s Man on Hearth is an exhilarating whodunnit filled with explosive motion, surprising twists, and frenetic pulse-pounding cinematography that’s effectively value a revisit. —TE
Riddick
![A bald man (Vin Diesel) sits on a throne, dressed in elaborate metallic armor and surrounded by elaborate technology with no clear purpose in The Chronicles of Riddick](https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/3GnMmgLBSqvgberTFZWBgdn9eZk=/0x0:1385x577/1200x0/filters:focal(0x0:1385x577):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24388227/riddick_2013_by_riddick00x_d737ww0_pre.jpg)
Picture: Common Photos
12 months: 2013
Style: Sci-fi motion
Run time: 1h 59m
Director: David Twohy
Forged: Vin Diesel, Jordi Mollà, Matt Nable
Richard B. Riddick is principally Vin Diesel’s reply to “Mad” Max Rockatansky: A sci-fi motion position meant to be as singular because the made-up world round him. David Twohy’s 2013 movie picks up 5 years after the occasions of 2004’s Chronicles of Riddick, and is actually a reprise of 2000’s Pitch Black, serving as a mushy franchise reboot within the mould of Mad Max: Fury Highway.
Which is to say: It’s a lean, imply, back-to-basics sequel that sees Diesel’s semi-blind, karambit-wielding apex predator compelled to as soon as once more staff up with a band of unlikely allies as they fend off a horde of murderous mud creatures to flee the planet alive. It’s bought nice particular results, higher cinematography, and extra fascinating motion choreography than Pitch Black, however is nonetheless a movie that advantages from having watched the prior two live-action installments within the sequence (each of which can be found to hire on VOD platforms). For those who haven’t seen the prior movies, although, Riddick is nearly as good a spot as any to begin earlier than working your means backward at your personal leisure. —TE
New on Max
Cat Individuals
![Simone Simon answers the phone in Cat People](https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/jXnDHmfYoAVyUq6YDC2RJ1U7JNA=/0x0:1488x1080/1200x0/filters:focal(0x0:1488x1080):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23985427/Cat_People_032.jpg)
Picture: Warner House Video
12 months: 1942
Style: Supernatural horror
Run time: 1h 13h
Director: Jacques Tourneur
Forged: Simone Simon, Tom Conway, Kent Smith
Jacques Tourneur’s basic horror film is a darkish and attractive story of a lady (Simone Simon) who believes that if she is ever stimulated sexually, she is going to flip right into a murderous panther. When she falls in love with a marine engineer (Kent Smith), she struggles to stability her needs along with her beliefs.
There’s a tense sequence on this film the place one character stalks one other. Tourneur lets the strain construct to an insufferable degree earlier than shocking the viewers with the sudden look of a bus. The sequence led to a method coined the “Lewton Bus” after producer Val Lewton, and it’s usually thought-about the originator of the fashionable soar scare. Cat Individuals is an indelible a part of horror movie historical past and, at 73 minutes, a lean good time. —PV
Cat Individuals is obtainable to stream on HBO Max.
The Exorcist
![A frightening face looms out of the darkness in The Exorcist.](https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/B2qhISKn9fJWBq6JzKXAx1McMoc=/0x0:2220x1248/1200x0/filters:focal(0x0:2220x1248):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/21716922/TheExorcist.png)
Picture: Warner Bros.
12 months: 1973
Style: Supernatural horror
Run time: 2h 2h
Director: William Friedkin
Forged: Ellen Burstyn, Max von Sydow, Linda Blair
The late William Friedkin’s masterpiece The Exorcist is simply as terrifying now as when it precipitated a gentle nationwide panic on launch in 1973. When a younger woman (Linda Blair) begins behaving very unusually, her mom tries something and all the pieces to get her assist, resulting in… effectively, you already know the title of the movie. The realism of a mom’s need to maintain her daughter secure in an uncontrollable world set in opposition to a supernatural battle pulls you proper in from the very starting, and retains its maintain on you far past the tip of its two hour run-time.
The sixth entry within the franchise, helmed by David Gordon Inexperienced after his latest Halloween trilogy, comes out this October. The franchise has a formidable hit charge, particularly so far as long-running horror franchises go, so hopefully this new one can sustain. Both means, there’s no beating the unique, and there’s no higher time to observe it as we head into fall. —PV