What Movies to See in Miami Theaters in September

It's Megalopolis month, everybody! With Francis Ford Coppola's latest epic arriving in theaters, plenty of related films will be screening in Miami around its debut. There's also the return of everyone's favorite ghost-with-the-most, an anniversary celebration for one of the best-ever action films, and some stellar arthouse selections at the University of Miami.

See New Times picks for the film screenings in September that you aren't going to want to miss, and check the local listings and showtimes at miaminewtimes.com/miami/movietimes.

Apocalypse Now: The Final Cut at Coral Gables Art Cinema

No living American director qualifies better for the title of "living legend" than Francis Ford Coppola. The 85-year-old has been using that towering legacy to promote his new film, Megalopolis. (We'll get to that one in a minute.) The most recent trailer for the upcoming epic featured quotes from historical reviews lambasting his most famous, now-classic films like The Godfather and Bram Stoker's Dracula, which were later revealed to have been completely fabricated. Whoops! In any case, Coral Gables Art Cinema is celebrating the new film by screening Coppola classics from the director's '70s heyday. It already screened a new 4K restoration of 1974's The Conversation on Labor Day, but on Thursday, September 26, it will play the "final cut" of Apocalypse Now.

Our Take

Few directors can weave genius from chaos like Coppola, but Apocalypse Now still holds the unofficial record for the most troubled production in cinema. As the director himself famously said when the film screened at Cannes in 1979, "My film is not about Vietnam. It is Vietnam. It's what it was really like." He means that literally: Martin Sheen had a heart attack on set. The Philippine Army kept absconding with the helicopters the crew had borrowed to fight actual Communist insurgents. Marlon Brando showed up overweight and hadn't learned his lines. Cost overruns, difficult actors, and a literal typhoon were just a few of the issues encountered. Somehow, Coppola wrangled the film into a showable form, which has been continuously revised and re-edited over the years into various versions, including this 40th anniversary "final cut." Whatever form it takes, this Vietnam-set take on Heart of Darkness remains one of the most extraordinary, iconic films ever made, a psychedelic war odyssey full of sequences that have entered pop culture lore – the "Ride of the Valkyries" helicopter attack, the murder of Colonel Kurtz set to the Doors' "The End," and so much more. 9:15 p.m. Thursday, September 26, at Coral Gables Art Cinema, 260 Aragon Ave., Coral Gables; 786-472-2249; gablescinema.com. Tickets cost $10 to $11.75.

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice

He's back, baby! Thirty-six years after their comedy spooktacular, Tim Burton and Michael Keaton bring the undead icon Betelgeuse back to life with a belated sequel. Winona Ryder returns as recovering goth girl Lydia, now a mom nurturing a rebellious teenage daughter, Astrid, played by Jenna Ortega. Returning to the long-abandoned haunted house from the original film, Astrid is the one who ends up releasing Keaton's petulant poltergeist from the underworld, and chaos ensues as they try to put him back. This is Burton's first feature since his 2019 live-action remake of Dumbo, although he did direct Ortega as Wednesday Addams in a few episodes of the Netflix series Wednesday. Monica Bellucci, Willem Dafoe, Justin Theroux, and Danny DeVito fill out the cast, with Catherine O'Hara returning from the original film as Lydia's mom. Opens Friday, September 6.

The Front Room

Another racially themed horror movie in the mold of Get Out, this thriller released by A24 is the debut film from Max and Sam Eggers, brothers of The Lighthouse and The Northman director Robert Eggers. Starring 2000s R&B star Brandy, the film follows Belinda, a Black woman and expectant mother forced to accommodate her white husband's elderly stepmother. Older relatives are always tricky, but Solange, played by Kathryn Hunter, is no mere monster-in-law — in fact, there's something downright kkklanish about her. Opens Friday, September 6.

The Gleaners and I, Black Narcissus, and One False Move at Cosford Cinema

Make sure your Sundays are clear for the rest of the year — you'll probably spend them at the Cosford Cinema. The on-campus movie house at the University of Miami just unveiled an astonishingly great lineup of repertory screenings as part of their "Sundays at the U with Movies" series. The best part: They're all free for UM students and only $5 for everyone else. The series started on August 25 with Challengers director Luca Guadagnino's early film I Am Love. French new wave trailblazer Agnes Varda's documentary The Gleaners and I, about the director's time with modern-day scavengers, will screen on September 8. Black Narcissus, a classic adventure-drama from Powell and Pressburger about a group of British nuns living in isolation on a Himalayan mountaintop, will show on September 15. Finally, screening on September 22 is the '90s neo-noir One False Move, directed by Carl Franklin (Devil in a Blue Dress) and starring Bill Paxton as a small-town cop with skeletons in the closet brought on to investigate a big-time interstate murder case with the LAPD. Throughout September, at Bill Cosford Cinema, 5030 Brunson Dr., Memorial Building Ste. 225, Coral Gables; 305-284-9838; cosfordcinema.com. Admission is free for UM students; tickets cost $5 for everyone else.

The Matrix: 25th Anniversary

Ready to take the red pill all over again? Fathom Events is re-releasing the Wachowski sisters' epoch-defining sci-fi masterpiece The Matrix in time for its 25th anniversary this month. There will be two chances to enter the simulation on Thursday, September 19, and Sunday, September 22.

Our Take

Bullet-time, black leather jackets, Bostrom's theory of simulation — all this and more made Lana and Lilly Wachowski's sci-fi action movie a complete and utter phenomenon upon its 1999 release. Starring Keanu Reeves as Neo, a computer programmer who learns his entire life is a simulation generated by nefarious "machines," the overnight success of the film and its digital special effects revolutionized Hollywood's approach to action filmmaking almost overnight. It continues to influence even the way we talk — "taking the (insert color here) pill" is still social media shorthand for a grand, life-altering realization. But aside from the virtuosic, Hong Kong-influenced action and cyberpunk aesthetics inspired by Neuromancer and Ghost in the Shell, the film's narrative, following Neo as he escapes the Matrix and embraces his identity as "The One," is what has allowed it to stand the test of time. Often compared to everything from Plato's "Allegory of the Cave" to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Neo's story of self-actualization and acceptance has led the film to be considered one of the first transgender allegories in mainstream cinema, made by a pair of sibling directors who both transitioned after its release, paving the way films such as this year's I Saw The TV Glow. If you've never seen the movie in theaters, this is a chance to see just how deep the rabbit hole goes. Check local listings.

The Substance

Many would trade everything they have for youth and beauty, especially in Hollywood. That's what The Substance is all about — a miracle cure that ensures the user will stay young forever. Or so it seems. When fading A-list star Elizabeth, desperate to turn back the clock and refresh her career, starts taking the titular Substance, she discovers the mysterious treatment is more transformative than she expected. Earning comparisons to Possession and Showgirls, director Coraline Fargeat's buzzy thriller took this year's Cannes Film Festival by storm; critics compared it to Possession and Showgirls, heaping praise on the film for its shocking body horror and the return of Demi Moore to the big screen after years of semi-retirement. It's a must-see — just don't eat anything beforehand. Opens Friday, September 20.

Megalopolis

Here it is, the most controversial, costly gamble of a film in years. Francis Ford Coppola literally bet the farm on Megalopolis, selling his successful winery business and dropping $120 million of his own money to finance the long-gestating passion project. Stepping back into the director's chair and stacking the cast with stars including Adam Driver, Giancarlo Esposito, and Aubrey Plaza, the high-concept fantasy film about a city planner stewarding the mythical city of New Rome as it suffers a decadent decline and corrupt leadership nearly failed to secure an American distributor after it debuted this year at the Cannes Film Festival. It's been mired in controversy since, mostly stemming from Coppola's alleged inappropriate behavior with female extras on set. Still, it's likely the final film from one of cinema's greatest forces of nature, and that alone makes it a must-see. Opens Friday, September 27.

Lee at Coral Gables Art Cinema

It's not often you see war movies about women in battle, but Lee Miller was different. The photographer and artist had led a glamorous life as a model before falling in with the surrealists in Paris, becoming a protegée of Man Ray and making friends with the likes of Picasso and Jean Cocteau. Everything changed for her when World War II broke out. Miller became the war correspondent for Vogue, keeping its women readers informed on events like the London Blitz. After D-Day, she traveled to France, documenting the liberation of Paris and the concentration camps of Dachau and Buchenwald. She even saw combat during the siege of St. Malo. Her career as a photojournalist would culminate in an iconic photograph of Miller soaking in the bath at Hitler's private apartment in Munich, an iconic image of victory over the Nazis. It's a fascinating life; hopefully, it'll make for a fascinating movie. This month, Coral Gables Art Cinema is screening a new biopic on Miller's life starring Kate Winslet as the celebrated photographer. It's directed by Ellen Kuras, whose credits include the Netflix drama Investigating Anna (about the Anna Delvey scandal) and a 2019 adaptation of Joseph Heller's war novel Catch-22. 7 p.m. Friday, September 27, at Coral Gables Art Cinema, 260 Aragon Ave., Coral Gables; 786-472-2249; gablescinema.com. Tickets cost $10 to $11.75.

Metropolis at Coral Gables Art Cinema

Before there was Megalopolis, there was Metropolis. Much like Coppola, German director Fritz Lang also spent a ridiculous amount of money bringing his own allegorical city to life, and he ended up making one of the greatest, most influential films in the history of cinema in the process. You can (and absolutely should) experience the expressionist masterwork yourself, in all its silent-film glory, at Coral Gables Art Cinema on Sunday, September 29.

Our Take

"Visionary" is an overused word, but nothing short of it can be used to describe Metropolis. It may be a sci-fi story, one of the first visions of the future to grace the silver screen, but it's also the result of Fritz Lang looking around at the tumultuous social forces rippling through Weimar Germany — political strife, labor militancy, the transgressive decadence of Berlin's artistic scene — and blowing it all up to skyscraper heights. Set in a far-off city of tomorrow where workers toil desperately underground, and the ruling class lives in paradise above the clouds, the film follows Freder, the city master's son, and Maria, a graceful working-class girl who symbolizes freedom, as they attempt to break away from their origins and forge a better future. With biblical references and incredible production design, the film has influenced countless generations of filmmakers, with sequences such as the dance of a robotic "false Maria" gaining legendary status among cinephiles. Musicians such as disco producer Giorgio Moroder and techno DJ Jeff Mills (who lives here, by the way) have also tried to put their own spin on the silent film by supplying their own custom musical scores. 1:30 and 9:30 p.m. Sunday, September 29, at Coral Gables Art Cinema, 260 Aragon Ave., Coral Gables; 786-472-2249; gablescinema.com. Tickets cost $11 to $12.75.