Depressed lesbian poets, debauched New Yorkers, and reckless teenage queens are just a few subjects tackled in this fall’s slate of movie releases.

By Ken Knox

If the summer movie season is a time typically given to fun, lightweight fluff, then fall is a time for thoughtful reflection. Indeed, with the beginning of awards season just around the corner, Hollywood uses the autumn movie season as a time to butter up audiences—and Oscar voters—with more “serious-minded” fare. The fall movie season is packed with the usual array of period pieces, dark dramas, and fact-based biopics. Luckily, there are also several promising comedies and a handful of gay-themed flicks to round out the menu.

Here’s our sampling of the films to be on the lookout for.

The Covenant
Director: Renny Harlin
Starring: Steven Strait, Sebastian Stan, Toby Hemingway, Chase Crawford, Toby Kitsch
Release Date: Sept. 8
The Story: Four teenage warlocks end up at war with each after they unwittingly unleash an evil force into the world in this supernatural thriller from action director Harlin.
Why We Want to See It: Can you say Twink Heaven? Seriously, it’s only a matter of time before the youthful hotties in this movie end up on some angsty teen drama on the CW network. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

The Black Dahlia
Director: Brian De Palma
Starring: Josh Hartnett, Scarlett Johansson, Hilary Swank, Aaron Eckhart, Mira Kirshner
Release Date: Sept. 15
The Story: Two detectives (Hartnett, Eckhart) probe the case of a desperate aspiring actress (The L Word’s sultry Kirshner) found sliced and diced in this noir mystery (based on the novel by L.A. Confidential author James Ellroy) about the seedy underbelly of Hollywood.
Why We Want to See It: Apart from the fact that this marks director De Palma’s return to form, Oscar winner Swank finally gets to sex it up when she appears as a femme fatale, who may or may not have been the deceased’s lesbian lover.

Jackass: Number Two
Director: Jeff Tremaine
Starring: Johnny Knoxville, Steve-O, Bam Margera
Release Date: Sept. 22
The Story: No story. Just more gut-wrenching, side-splitting, vomit-inducing pranks and pratfalls from Knoxville and his band of rowdy (and dare we say randy?) stuntmen.
Why We Want to See It: Because Knoxville is a true friend to the gay community. Why else would he make sure that he and his crew do so many of their silly frat-boy stunts in their underwear?

The Science of Sleep
Director: Michael Gondry
Starring: Gael García Bernal, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Alain Chabat
Release Date: Sept. 22
The Story: A young man’s dream world collides with real life in this trippy fantastical romance from Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind screenwriter Gondry.
Why We Want to See It: Because the mix of stop-motion and CGI animation, psychedelic visuals, and sincere romance adds up to one heckuva fun trip to the local cinema. Well, that and García Bernal’s full-frontal nude scene.

Children of Men
Director: Alfonso Cuarón
Starring: Clive Owen, Julianne Moore, Michael Caine, Chiwetel Ejiofor
Release Date: Sept. 29
The Story: A former activist (Owen) hooks up with his revolutionary ex-wife (Moore) to deliver the last pregnant woman on Earth to safety in this futuristic thriller set in the year 2027.
Why We Want to See It: Because the premise alone is pretty creepy—and because director Cuarón did such a good job turning on audiences of all sexual persuasions with his bisexual road trip movie Y Tu Mamá También (and giving the Harry Potter series a much-needed revamp) that we’re dying to see what he does with a sci-fi extravaganza like this.

The Queen
Director: Stephen Frears
Starring: Helen Mirren, Michael Sheen, James Cromwell
Release Date: Sept. 30
The Story: Queen Elizabeth II (Mirren) and Prime Minister Tony Blair (Sheen) struggle with tragedy in the aftermath of Princess Diana’s untimely death.
Why We Want to See It: Because Mirren is a powerhouse actress who’s always best when playing royalty. And because, nine years on, Diana’s death still lingers prominently in the hearts of gay men.

Broken Sky
Director: Julián Hernández
Starring: Miguel Angel Hoppe, Fernando Arroyo, Ignacio Pereda
The Story: The relationship of two young men in love begins to crumble after one of them strays in this virtually dialogue-free festival favorite.
Why We Want to See It: Because director Hernández knows how to tell a story without the use of words. OK, and because he fills in the gaps between what little dialogue there is with plenty of extended love scenes featuring his hot leading men. Happy now?

Shortbus
Director: John Cameron Mitchell
Starring: Sook-Yin Lee, Paul Dawson, PJ DeBoy, Raphael Barker
Release Date: Oct. 4
The Story: Actors engage in real sex in director Mitchell’s follow-up to cult favorite Hedwig and the Angry Inch, about a group of New Yorkers (of various sexual persuasions) dealing with various romantic (and otherwise) tanglings.
Why We Want to See It: Please. Like you have to ask!?

Infamous
Director: Douglas McGrath
Starring: Toby Jones, Daniel Craig, Sandra Bullock
Release Date: Oct. 13
The Story: Truman Capote (Jones) struggles with his conscience during the writing of his final novel, the fact-based In Cold Blood, in the second of two movies (the other being last year’s Oscar-winning Capote) covering the same story.
Why We Want to See It: Because Capote is one of the most fascinating personalities of the last century, and because this one digs even deeper into Capote’s glittery Manhattan nightlife.

Wild Tigers I Have Known
Director: Cam Archer
Starring: Malcolm Stumpf, Patrick White, Fairuza Balk,
Tom Gilroy
Release Date: Oct. 4
The Story: A 13-year-old boy (Stumpf) wrestles with the feelings he has for the “cool kid” at school in this tender gay coming-of-age story.
Why We Want to See It: Despite being yet another coming-of-age story, the film was warmly received at both Sundance and Outfest, and is said to feature a great performance by Fairuza Balk.

The Prestige
Director: Christopher Nolan
Starring: Hugh Jackman, Christian Bale, Scarlett Johansson, David Bowie
Release Date: Oct. 20
The Story: Two rivaling magicians (Jackman and Bale) duke it out in Victorian London at the turn of the 20th century.
Why We Want to See It: Nolan did wonders with resuscitating the ailing Batman franchise, so there’s no telling what the talented auteur might do with this star-studded period piece. And, oh yeah: David Bowie’s in it!

Marie Antoinette
Director: Sofia Coppola
Starring: Kirsten Dunst, Jason Schwartzman,
Rip Torn, Judy Davis
Release Date: Oct. 20
The Story: Teenage queen Marie Antoinette (a perfectly cast Dunst) struggles with her role in history in Coppola’s polarizing take on the events leading up to the French Revolution.
Why We Want to See It: Three words: Lost in Translation.

Babel
Director: Alejandro González Iñárritu
Starring: Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett, Gael García Bernal
Release Date: Oct. 27
The Story: The frustration of communication is explored in this drama of interlocking—and probably depressing—stories from the director of Amores Perros and 21 Grams.
Why We Want to See It: Because we needed another heavy-hitting drama on this list. And because it’ll be nice to see Pitt playing a role other than world’s greatest adulterer-turned-noble-father-of-three.

Wrestling with Angels
Director: Freida Lee Mock
Starring: Tony Kushner, Mark Harris, Marcia Gay Harden, Meryl Streep
Release Date: Nov. 3
The Story: Three years in the life of openly gay playwright Tony Kushner, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Angels in America.
Why We Want to See It: Because director Mock brings the same studied technique that won her an Oscar for Maya Lin: A Clear Strong Vision to her documentary of one of the gay community’s most important voices.

Casino Royale
Director: Martin Campbell
Starring: Daniel Craig, Judi Dench, Eva Green, Jeffrey Wright
Release Date: Nov. 17
The Story: That operative named Bond—James Bond—is sent on his very first double-0 mission in this radical franchise makeover that has had tongues wagging for over a year.
Why We Want to See It: Because the Bond films were becoming increasingly outlandish and silly, hunky Craig’s fresh take could be just what the Doctor No ordered.

For Your Consideration
Director: Christopher Guest
Starring: Christopher Guest, Eugene Levy, Harry Shearer, Catherine O’Hara, Parker Posey, Jennifer Coolidge
Release Date: Nov. 17
The Story: Comic hilarity ensues after a small indie picture garners out-of-nowhere Oscar buzz and turns its cast and crew into a group of preening Hollywood narcissists.
Why We Want to See It: Anyone who’s seen Waiting for Guffman, Best in Show, and/or A Mighty Wind will understand. ‘Nuff said.

The History Boys
Director: Nicholas Hytner
Starring: Richard Griffiths, Stephen Campbell Moore, Samuel Barnett, Frances de la tour, Dominic Cooper
Release Date: Nov. 24
The Story: Eight college-bound British lads pursue sex, sport, and higher learning in this film version of Alan Bennett’s Tony-winning play.
Why We Want to See It: The play (also directed by Hytner) was one of the best of last year’s Broadway season; the film version features all the actors, and was adapted by the playwright. And for the gays, there’s cutie Barnett as a teen struggling with his sexuality.

The Fountain
Director: Darren Aronofsky
Starring: Hugh Jackman, Rachel Weisz,
Ellen Burstyn
Release Date: Nov. 22
The Story: Over the course of 1,000 years, a bunch of people fall in and out of love, search for the Fountain of Youth, and get the Aronofsky treatment in the director’s follow-up to Requiem for a Dream.
Why We Want to See It: If he can apply the same visual flair that made Requiem so compelling to this centuries-spanning love story, we’re totally there.

Fur
Director: Steven Shainberg
Starring: Nicole Kidman, Robert Downey Jr., Harris Yulin, Jane Alexander
Release Date: Nov. 3
The Story: Nicole Kidman plays influential photographer Diane Arbus in a fantastical study of what might have been the three months leading up to the snapping of the photographer’s first photo.
Why We Want to See It: Kidman continues to make interesting career choices and many of Arbus’ most famous works featured the LGBT community.

Volver
Director: Pedro Almódovar
Starring: Penélope Cruz, Carmen Maura, Lola Dueñas
Release Date: Nov. 3
The Story: A dead woman (Maura) returns to her hometown to wrap up the loose ends of her life.
Why We Want to See It: Because the openly gay Almódovar is one of the most inventive directors of his generation—Spanish or otherwise. And because this is said to be close in tone to his 1999 masterpiece, All About My Mother.

Running with Scissors
Director: Ryan Murphy
Starring: Joseph Cross, Annette Bening, Brian Cox, Joseph Fiennes, Gwyneth Paltrow, Evan Rachel Wood, Alec Baldwin
Release Date: Oct. 27
The Story: After his mentally unbalanced mother (Bening) goes off in search of her inner lesbian poet, a young Augusten Burroughs (Cross) is sent to live with la mére’s shrink (Cox) and his, um, crazy extended family.
Why We Want to See It: Because, quite frankly, apart from out director Murphy and that awesome cast, Burroughs’ best-selling memoir (upon which this fact-based film is based) is one of the funniest—and most inspirational—tales of a dysfunctional childhood ever put on paper.

Borat
Director: Larry Charles
Starring: Sacha Baron Cohen, Pamela Anderson
Release Date: Nov. 3
The Story: After coming to America to film an educational documentary, a Kazakhstani TV personality relentlessly pursues Pamela Anderson on a cross-country quest to make the blonde bombshell his wife.
Why We Want to See It: No one is safe from the hilarious Cohen’s equal-opportunity political incorrectness.