Best of Fall 2012: five of the season’s most anticipated blockbusters

THE MASTER Paul Thomas Anderson’s sixth feature, set in the 1950s, examines the relationship between the charismatic leader (Philip Seymour Hoffman) of a new cultish organization called the Cause and his unhinged, alcoholic right-hand man (Joaquin Phoenix). Any resemblance to L. Ron Hubbard’s founding of the Church of Scientology is, of course, entirely coincidental. Sept. 14

SKYFALL This year, 007 officially turns 50, and he’s never looked so good. Sure, Sean Connery’s the sexiest Bond and Roger Moore’s a campy fave, but as the last two Bond films proved, Daniel Craig is undeniably the hunkiest. The latest instalment, also starring Ralph Fiennes and Javier Bardem, delves deeper into the agent’s dark psyche. Nov. 9

LIFE OF PI Yann Martel’s breakout bestseller—about the shipwrecked son of a zookeeper stuck on a lifeboat with a 450-pound Bengal tiger—is arguably the most beloved Canadian novel of the last decade. Director Ang Lee has turned it into a wondrous 3-D movie. You’ll swear those flying fish are slapping you upside the face. Nov. 21

THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY All your favourite Middle Earthlings are back: Gandalf, Frodo and, yes, Gollum. In Peter Jackson’s prequel to his Lord of the Rings trilogy, they’re joined by the young Bilbo Baggins (played by the appropriately nebbishy Martin Freeman) as he warily teams up with a pack of dwarves to reclaim their stolen treasure. Dec. 14