Dramatic films dominate fall season

Fall brings colder weather across the Northern Hemisphere and Hollywood's major studios will usher into theaters cool action thrillers, chilly horror movies and some dramatic Oscar hopefuls looking for a head start on awards season.

From new James Bond flick "Skyfall" to another scary "Paranormal" installment and the long-awaited Paul Thomas Anderson Scientology drama, "The Master," there is plenty for cinephiles to dissect in the season, which begins after this weekend's US Labor Day holiday and runs roughly to Thanksgiving.

The pace of movies is slower than the US summer when the studios bring out blockbusters like "The Avengers" and "The Dark Knight Rises" weekly. But don't let the pace fool you; fall 2012 is neither short on quality nor quantity, experts say.

"Early fall can often be a little bit of a lull at the movies, but it can also be a time when real quality films can take advantage of a quiet marketplace and really stand out," Entertainment Weekly writer Dave Karger said.

The season kicks into high gear on September 21, with Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Pena playing Los Angeles police battling a ruthless drug cartel in "End of Watch," from writer/director David Ayer.

Ayer, whose previous LA cop flick, "Training Day," earned Denzel Washington a best actor Oscar, said the film shows "what it's like to work the streets in a way very few films have ever shown," pulling back the curtain on the cops' lives, personal and professional.

"It's not your typical Hollywood movie. It's very grounded, very real - almost a pseudo documentary. You'll walk out of this movie wanting to hug a cop," he said.

Guns continue to blaze on September 28 when Bruce Willis and Joseph Gordon-Levitt play the same person - only 30-years apart - in the time-travel flick "Looper" about assassins killing targets sent back from the future.

Liam Neeson is back as the CIA-trained, overly protective father in "Taken 2" (October 5) when the kidnappers who swiped his daughter in the first "Taken" movie return for revenge.

The best-selling Alex Cross crime novels get a reboot with Tyler Perry taking the lead role previously inhabited by Morgan Freeman in "Alex Cross" (Oct 19). This time, the detective psychologist takes on a hitman played by Matthew Fox.

Odds Travel Sports Top four vegetables that help lose weight in autumn Seven foods that enrich your blood Sweet drinks may cause seven diseases Three "poisons" that destroy men's health Five 'super' foods you cannot miss in summer Tips for 'Stopping the Heat'