101 films to look forward to in 2023

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101 films to look forward to in 2023 – part one
As we ring in the new year, it's time to look ahead to the cinematic riches that the next twelve months might offer us.

Welcome to the new year! As always, it’s time to look forward to the films we’re hoping to see hit the cinema and festival circuit this year, from blockbusters to indies, and 2023 is shaping up to provide something to satisfy just about every viewer. Let us know what you’re excited to see by tweeting us @LWLies.


1. Sanctuary (Zachary Wigon)

If I had a pound for every time Christopher Abbott plays a man who hires an escort only to find himself in way over his head, I’d have two pounds, which isn’t a lot but it’s funny that it’s happened twice. Margaret Qualley plays the woman in question – a dominatrix who has been serving the meek but wealthy Hal – and things take a turn when her client attempts to end the relationship. This one got a lot of positive buzz out of the Toronto Film Festival and the combination of Abbott and Qualley is certainly appealing, so fingers crossed for distribution soon. Hannah Strong

2. Enys Men (Mark Jenkin, BFI)

Just normal men. Normal, enys-ent men. Actually, it’s pronounced “Ennis Main” as the title of Jenkin’s second feature – following breakout Bait – is Cornish for ‘Stone Island’. Like Bait, the film is shot on 16mm with post-synched sound, but this time Jenkin is working with colour, and the star is Mary Woodvine, who plays a researcher living and working on a remote Cornish island in 1973. She’s studying the local fauna, and seems quite content with her own company until it becomes apparent that past trauma is haunting our unnamed protagonist. It’s less a straightforward narrative and more a sensory experience for the viewer, humming with strange sounds and unusual textures. Jenkin is fast emerging as a unique filmmaking talent, and Enys Men is only further evidence he’s one to keep a close eye on. HS

ETA: 13 January (UK)

3. Dumb Money (Craig Gillespie)

Aussie filmmaker Gillespie traded the big screen for the small one for Pam & Tommy, but he’s back with another ripped-from-the-headlines dramedy centered on the group of Redditors who caused a Wall Street meltdown in January 2021 when they worked against a group of investors who had bet that shares in US retailer GameStop would fall. Think The Big Short with more keyboards. Predictably there’s a starry cast attached: Gillespie reunites with Sebastian Stan, who starred in Pam & Tommy and I, Tonya, with Paul Dano, Seth Rogen, Pete Davidson and Shailene Woodley all slated to co-star. HS

4. EO (Jerzy Skolimowski, BFI)

EO fever has already swept America, and shortly the UK will get the chance to fall in love with the cinema’s newest and pointiest-eared hero. The long-awaited return of Polish virtuoso Jerzy Skolimowski follows a very good donkey as he rambles through Europe: eating carrots; falling in with some soccer hooligans; killing a guy. Mostly, though, he’s bearing witness to the foibles of humanity and bearing the brunt of our imperfection, just like Jesus Christ before him. Re-energizing the premise of Robert Bresson’s Au Hasard Balthazar with startling formal experimentation and a banging EDM soundtrack (not to mention the cameo of the year courtesy of Isabelle Huppert), Skolimowski has made one of his illustrious career’s freest films at the tender age of eighty-four. Charles Bramesco

ETA: 3 February (UK)

5. Knock At The Cabin (M Night Shyamalan, Universal)

The Shyamaniacs will be out in force come February, when M Night’s adaptation of Paul G Tremblay’s apocalyptic horror novel hits cinemas. Jonathan Groff and Ben Aldridge play Andrew and Eric, a vacationing couple whose isolated idyll is rudely interrupted by a gang of weapon-wielding doomsayers (lead by Dave Bautista and Servant star Rupert Grint) who claim that the end is nigh, and in order to prevent it, they have to make the ultimate sacrifice. Having read Tremblay’s harrowing novel, I for one can’t wait to see what tricks Shyamalan has up his sleeve, particularly after the wild ride that was 2022’s Old. HS

ETA: 3 February (UK/USA)

6. Broker (Hirokazu Koreeda, Picturehouse)

Two soulful scumbags steal abandoned babies and sell them on to rich families through black market adoptions in this Hirokazu Kore-eda heartwarmer. Sang-heon, played by Song Kang-ho, owns a small laundry business and runs the infant-pinching side hustle with his friend Dong-so, played by Gang Dong-won – together they pilfer sprogs from the ‘baby-boxes’ (places where people can anonymously leave unwanted children) at a local church. When they’re discovered by a young mother who returns after leaving her baby, the brokers team up with her and embark on a dysfunctional road trip to seek out the best new parents for the kid, all the while unwittingly pursued by a pair of detectives. Broker won the Ecumenical Jury Award at the last Cannes, and Kang-ho was awarded Best Actor – sounds like a tender, sparky story about the families we choose, and as long as it’s not too soppy, always up for one of those. Saskia Lloyd-Grainger

ETA: 24 February (UK)

7. Blue Jean (Georgia Oakley, Altitude)

A Venice breakout and BIFA winner, Blue Jean is the auspicious debut of Georgia Oakley, and concerns a closeted PE teacher living under the bootheel of Thatcher’s reign of terror. Jean (a luminous Rosey McEwan) ekes out a quiet existence, keeping her sexuality a secret from her family, much to the frustration of her girlfriend Viv. When a new student starts at Jean’s school and is the subject of lesbophobic bullying, Jean’s quiet existence is threatened, and she has to choose between love and life as she knows it. It’s a melancholy slice-of-life drama that cuts to the heart of how inhumane the Section 28 era truly was – something worth remembering, given the UK’s current government would probably bring it back given half a chance. HS

ETA: 10 February (UK)

8. Barbie (Greta Gerwig, Warner Bros)

Life is plastic and fantastic in Greta Gerwig’s heavily pap-shotted yet still largely mysterious entrée into the IP game. Surely her take on the perky plaything has a few tricks up its ruffled taffeta sleeve, starting with rumours that stars Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling aren’t the only Barbie and Ken in a universe operating under The LEGO Movie’s metatextual elasticity. If anyone can blaze a path through the studio system while retaining their creative identity, it’s Gerwig, one in a small handful of directors from her generation with name-brand cachet to throw around. Best-case scenario, it’s playtime for the thinking person’s blockbuster. CB

ETA: 21 July (UK/USA)

9. Women Talking (Sarah Polley, Universal)

For Sarah Polley’s first film in a decade, she takes to an isolated Mennonite colony turned into a feminist battleground: the local women have gotten wise to a program of systemic rape and concealment, leaving them with the options to stay and reform a population of cruel and complicit men, or forge out on their own and build a new path to God. Claire Foy, Jessie Buckley, and Rooney Mara give some of the year’s most widely-lauded performances as the spokespeople for the stay, leave, and swing voting blocs. Coming from Polley, a survivor of institutionalised predation who left Hollywood behind to make it in the indie wilds, it’s a thunderously personal statement. CB

ETA: 10 February (UK)

10. Oppenheimer (Christopher Nolan, Universal)

Christopher Nolan has conquered war, dreams, memory, space, time, superhero franchising — all that’s left is the end of the world, and that’s just where the stakes have been set for his latest megabudget epic. The quasi-biopic covers forty-five years in the life of atomic bomb inventor Robert Oppenheimer, as the scientist’s reckless innovation under the Manhattan Project ends World War II and drastically reshapes humankind’s understanding of its own capacity for destruction. Cillian Murphy plays the man responsible for beginning our march toward planetary suicide, joined by a huge, eclectic ensemble including Robert Downey Jr., Florence Pugh, Matt Damon, and Emily Blunt. This summer, we are all sons of bitches. CB

 

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11. Dune: Part II (Denis Villenueve, Warner Bros)

Those curious about what will take place in the second instalment of Denis Villeneuve’s sandy, spicy sci-fi epic can just consult anyone who’s read the novel — the people who have love nothing more than being asked about it. As for the laypeople, there’s still plenty to look forward to in the introduction of new cast members Florence Pugh, Austin Butler, Lea Seydoux, and Christopher Walken, plus the promise of more screen time for the heretofore sparsely-shown Zendaya. Eyes will glow, empires will fall, Timothée Chalamet will probably do that goofy little two-step walk across the desert again. Bring on the giant worms! CB

ETA: 3 November (UK/USA)

12. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse Part One (Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers, Justin K. Thompson, Sony)

Visually playful and non-cringingly self-aware in its multiversal antics, Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse was joyfully faithful to the infinite possibility of intersecting comic book worlds in a way that the Disney-neutered live-action reboots, with their corporately dampened wit, haven’t quite mustered. The sequel Across the Spiderverse, the second in what will be a trilogy, promises to be even more artistically ambitious, incorporating six different dominant visual styles and further stretching the bounds of animation in the mainstream. Miles Morales returns and is reunited with Gwen – and it’s been speculated that Spider-Punk, Spiderman 2099 and the Japanese Spiderman will join the busload of parallel-world Spider-folk for more psychedelic web-slinging adventures. SLG

ETA: 2 June 2023 (UK/USA)

13. Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part One (Christopher McQuarrie, Paramount)

It’s been a long time coming – five years in fact – but soon the dynamic duo of McQuarrie and Cruise will be lighting up our screens again. Dead Reckoning represents the most ambitious entry in the Mission: Impossible franchise to date, with the two films produced back-to-back and serving as a send off to Ethan Hunt, beloved IMF agent, and his motley crew of associates including Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Rebecca Ferguson and Vanessa Kirby. Naturally the plot is being kept tightly under wraps, but it’s guaranteed we’ll be seeing Cruise throwing himself off buildings, out of planes, and battling all manner of ne’er-do-wells. You’ll want to see this one on as big a screen as you can find. HS

ETA: 14 June 2023 (UK/USA)

14. God Is a Bullet (Nick Cassavetes)

Nick ‘Son of John’ Cassavetes has had a fascinating career both on-camera and behind it – while he’s best known as the man behind weepy rom-coms The Notebook and My Sister’s Keeper, for his first film in nine years he’s striking out into action-thriller territory, with a little help from Jamie Foxx, Nicolaj Coster-Waldau and… er, Andrew Dice Clay. Boston Teran’s original novel sees a hardened small-town cop searching for his teenage daughter, who’s been kidnapped by a satanic cult – his only lead is an ex-member, current junkie, who he’s forced to team up with in order to find her. Sure to be a cheery watch then. HS

15. Passages (Ira Sachs)

Here at LWLies, we would follow Franz Rogowski to the ends of the earth, so it’s no challenge to get excited about his next project – starring in a new film from American director Ira Sachs. He plays a filmmaker whose marriage to his husband Martin (Ben Whishaw) is tested when he embarks on a whirlwind romance with Agathe (Adèle Exarchopoulos). Martin begins an affair of his own in retaliation, further complicating matters, and leading the couple to reconsider the boundaries of their relationship. Juicy stuff! HS

16. The Way of the Wind (Terrence Malick)

We have it on good authority that Terry is hard at work on bringing his 11th feature film to audiences, but anyone who knows his films knows you can’t rush the master. Still, we might get to see his take on the life of Jesus Christ at Cannes or even the Venice Film Festival later in the year. What do we know so far? Well, Hungarian actor Géza Röhrig is playing the big JC himself, while Mark Rylance mentioned he’s playing various versions of Satan. All of Jesus’s disciples are expected to feature, including Matthias Schoenarts as Saint Peter and Aiden Turner as Saint Andrew. Ben Kingsley and Franz Rogowski are on the cast list too, but it’s important to remember anyone can end up missing the final cut when it comes to Malick. Still, we couldn’t be more excited to see what the master has been working on. HS

17. Beau Is Afraid (Ari Aster, A24)

Originally reported under the title ‘Disappointment Boulevard’, Ari Aster’s much-discussed third feature stars Joaquin Phoenix as “one of the most successful entrepreneurs of all time”. Way back in June 2020 – on the Midsommar press tour – he described his next project as “a four-hour nightmare comedy”. It’s unclear how much that factors into the finished result. What we do know is that an eclectic cast including Michael Gandolfini, Patti LuPone, Nathan Lane and Richard Kind have been assembled alongside Phoenix, and it’s every bit as likely to divide viewers as Hereditary or Midsommar. HS

18. Poor Things (Yorgos Lanthimos, A24)

Now in full Hollywood mode with his pick of the A-lister litter, Yorgos Lanthimos has tapped a 1992 novel putting a spin on the Frankenstein mythos: a woman (Emma Stone) drowns herself to escape her abusive husband (Ramy Youssef), only to be reanimated by her mad scientist father (Willem Dafoe) with the brain of her own unborn child. Mark Ruffalo, Jerrod Carmichael, Christopher Abbott, Margaret Qualley and Kathryn Hunter also appear in what’s sure to be a grim, deadpan, atmosphere-heavy revision of the horror playbook. The Favourite made him an awards darling — will the mainstream follow him into stranger, grislier territory? CB

19. The Killer (David Fincher, Netflix)

It’s not clear why exactly Fincher’s latest was delayed from 2022 – maybe Netflix are courting a festival premiere, maybe Fincher’s just taking his time in the edit suite – but it’s hard to not be excited about the prospect his return to the dark subject matter that made his name, reuniting with Se7en screenwriter Andrew Kevin Walker. Adapted from the French comic book of the same name about a hardened assassin known only as The Killer in the grips of a psychiatric down-spiral, Michael Fassbender will be terrorising us in due course, alongside Tilda Swinton and Charles Parnell. HS

20. Infinity Pool (Brandon Cronenberg, Neon)

2022 belonged to Cronenberg Sr – 2023 belongs to the brood. Brandon Cronenberg has been carving out a nasty little niche for himself as a purveyor of shocks, while still managing to not lean too heavily on familial influence. Alexander Skarsgård and Mia Goth star in his third film as James and Em Foster, a couple on vacation at an exclusive resort who are invited into a world of depravity for the ultra-elite. In exciting news for sickos everywhere, the film was slapped with an NC-17 rating by the MPAA, which was challenged and upheld. It’s since been re-edited to bag a more palatable (and distributable) R rating, but we’re strapping in for something suitably mind-bending all the same. This one will premiere in January at the Sundance Film Festival. HS

 

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21. On Dry Grass (Nuri Bilge Ceylan)

Turkey’s most esteemed filmmaker returns with another terse, elegant drama plumbing the fissures within the souls of ordinary men. This time around, the great Nuri Bilge Ceylan takes as his subject a teacher, completing a mandatory mission in the snow-dusted hills of Anatolia while he awaits reassignment to the more clement, metropolitan conditions of Istanbul. During this time, he “loses perspective,” per an interview with Ceylan, though that could mean anything from political dissidence to religious crisis. But we can safely bank on painterly compositions of pastoral nature scenes, meditations on moral turpitude, and perhaps a little dialogue expounding on the differences between varieties of yogurt. In any case, a bow at Cannes is practically guaranteed. CB

22. 1976 (Manuela Martelli)

Back in May, Chilean actress Manuela Martelli received positive notices out of Cannes for her directorial debut, a parable with sharp political undertones. Aline Kuppenheim stars as Carmen, a woman off to renovate her beach house and turn a blind eye to the oppressive Pinochet regime, though the ugliness of modern life won’t leave her alone. A priest beseeches her to look after the young man he’s been hiding, and her agreement sets her on a path toward “unexplored territories, away from the quiet life she’s used to.” As of late, Pablo Larraín has been carrying the banner of Chilean cinema on the global stage pretty much solo; it’s heartening to see someone else coming in to expand the world’s understanding of all the national cinema can do. CB

23. Timestalker (Alice Lowe)

Agnes has a problem – every time she’s reincarnated, she falls in love with the wrong man. Sounds pretty inconvenient, but like the premise for a very fun twist on the rom-com. Alice Lowe writes, directs and stars in her second feature, and it’s a welcome return seven years after her criminally underrated debut Prevenge. Her supporting cast are pretty great too: we’ve got Jacob Anderson (currently winning audiences over in the Interview with the Vampire television series), Aneurin Barnard (David Copperfield), Tanya Reynolds (Sex Education) and Nick Frost (you know who he is!) HS

24. Alcarràs (Carla Simón, Mubi)

Critically acclaimed winner of the Golden Bear and Best International Feature Film at the Academy Awards, Carla Simon’s family drama about the decline of peach harvesting in rural Catalonia had one of the best box office turnouts of 2022 in Spain. The Sole family have spent every summer picking peaches from their orchard in Alcarràs, but this tradition is threatened when they face eviction on account of the proposed installation of solar panels. A poignant meditation on family, the sense of longing for a vanished place, and the clash between agriculture and industry, Alcarràs has already moved many. Its success as a Catalan-language film with a cast of non-professional actors and such gentle subject matter, is both laudable and encouraging. SLG

25. Inside (Vasilis Katsoupis)

Those on the lookout for breakout directorial talents would do well to keep an eye on this auspicious feature debut from Vasilis Katsoupis, in which an art thief triggers an alarm that automatically locks him in the penthouse he was ransacking. So the scene is set for an intense specimen of the escape picture, as days of dehydration and starvation force this man to the core of his most primal survival instincts and into the deepest recesses of his unrestful psyche. Willem Dafoe puts on a harrowing one-man show in the lead role, beckoning us to join him in a spiral of madness and desperation — not that we’d expect anything less from the famously intrepid actor. This one’s bound for the Berlin Film Festival in February. CB

26. Super Mario Bros Movie (Aaron Horvath, Michael Jelenic, Universal)

Anyone feeling personally betrayed that star Chris Pratt does not do The Voice as the mushroom-stomping Italian plumber of repute — your experiences are valid. But there’s still a strong curiosity factor to the most famous character in video gaming’s first big-screen outing since the shall-we-say polarising live-action vehicle with Bob Hoskins in 1993. As is tradition, he’s on a mission to save the Mushroom Kingdom from the clutches of reptilian villain Bowser (voiced by Jack Black) and rescue the beloved Princess Peach (voiced by Anya Taylor-Joy), now powered-up with the post-Minions comic sensibility of animation studio Illumination. Whether that’s a good thing or not is up to you, or in many cases, your children. CB

ETA: 7 April 2023

27. Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (James Mangold, Disney)

The less said about Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull the better – it’s time to focus on the future, and hopefully Number 5 will be a more compelling entry into this classic adventure franchise. Set against the backdrop of the Space Race, Indy and his goddaughter Helen (Phoebe Waller-Bridge) will face off against the nefarious former Nazi – yes, Nazis again – Jürgen Voller (Mads Mikkelsen) who “seeks to use the moon landing program for his own good”. Spielberg was originally set to return as director, but he was replaced by Mangold, making this the first Indy flick without him at the helm. Will it all hold together without him? HS

ETA: 30 June 2023

28. Ferrari (Michael Mann, STX)

The aptly named Adam Driver gets to put on his Italian brand dynasty boots again to step into the role of Enzo Ferrari in car-mad Michael Mann’s long-awaited new biopic, co-written with Italian Job writer Troy Kennedy Martin, who died in 2009. Assuming no bloody doors will be blown off in homage, but you never know. Rather than exploring Ferrari’s whole life, the film concentrates on one window in 1957, when things had gone a bit tits up for Ferrari – then nearly 60, so Driver’s aging up – who had lost a son and was skirting bankruptcy. It follows him as he throws caution to the wind and enters the infamous Mille Miglia, a 1000-mile endurance race between Brescia and Rome. Penelope Cruz stars as Ferrari’s wife Laura, Shailene Woodley as his mistress Lina Lardi, Patrick Dempsey as Piero Taruffi, another racecar driver, and the crew features a cluster of Oscar-nominees – Pietro Scalia is editor, Massimo Cantini Parrini is costume designer, and Erik Messerschmidt is director of photography. SLG

29. Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3 (James Gunn, Disney)

James Gunn bids farewell to the MCU with the final installment in his Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy, as he heads off to helm rival studios Warner Bros’ DC division. It’s been quite a wait (by superhero standards) between sequels, and in that time Chris Pratt has managed to obliterate most public goodwill towards him by espousing Republican political views, but there’s no doubt that audiences will turn out for this one, which co-stars Dave Bautista, Karen Gillan, Zoe Saldana, Vin Diesel, Bradley Cooper and Pom Klementieff, with Will Poulter and Chukwudi Iwuji joining as the baddies. Apparently this send-off will explore the origins of the wise-cracking anthropomorphic Rocket Raccoon, and undoubtedly set the set for the next part of Marvel’s Phase Five. HS

ETA: 5 May

30. Untitled Safdies/Sandler Project (Safdie Brothers, Netflix)

Scorsese has De Niro, Almodóvar has Cruz, and the Safdie Brothers have Adam Sandler. After the roaring success of Uncut Gems, it was only a matter of time before they got the band back together, and Netflix boarded the project in October 2022. Of course we don’t know anything about the plot (or the rest of the cast) yet, but while receiving a lifetime achievement award at the Gothams in November, Sandler revealed “I can’t say that I’m gonna look that handsome in it. It’s not a handsome moment…It’s gonna be tough.” HS

 

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31. Maestro (Bradley Cooper, Netflix)

A biopic of musical legend Leonard Bernstein has been in the works for a long while now, and Martin Scorsese was initially tipped to direct, before he decided to work on The Irishman instead. After him, Steven Spielberg was lined up, but he ceded the camera to Cooper after A Star is Born. Cooper serves as director, star and co-writer, with Carey Mulligan playing his wife Felicia Montealegre and Jeremy Strong as the art critic and writer John Gruen, who eventually wrote the biography The Private World of Leonard Bernstein. One of the most respected conductors and composers of all time (and the mentor of Lydia Tár) this one has awards glory written all over it. HS

32. Asteroid City (Wes Anderson, Searchlight)

The obvious cliche term for this one is star-studded. There it is, we said it. Wes Anderson’s newest is just that – with new recruits like the ubiquitous Margot Robbie as well as Brody, Dafoe and all the old chestnuts – and set at a Junior Stargazer astronomy convention in a fictional American desert town, Asteroid City is all about the etoiles. As parents and their heaven-gazing offspring gather for the convention of scientific scholars, their lives begin to interlink in strange and mesmerising ways. Expectations are as ever either extremely high amongst fans for Wes to work his particular magic, or scoffed at from the off by the Anderson-averse – so it’s guaranteed either to please or to edifyingly piss off. It also seems we might get The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar, Anderson’s new Roald Dahl adaptation for Netflix, this autumn. SLG

ETA: 17 June

33. Wonka (Paul King, Warner Bros)

Hot Wonka! He’s Willy Wonka, he’s hot — whaddaya need, a road map? Okay, okay, so there’s some understandable scepticism surrounding this origin picture for the whimsical chocolatier, played as a sprightly young lad by Timothée Chalamet warbling the occasional musical number. But hasn’t director Paul King more than earned the benefit of the doubt on the merit of his two Paddington films? And hey, they made a good Wonka film once upon a time, so it stands to reason it can be done again. One can only assume this kiddie confection will reckon with the dark legacy of colonialism ingrained in the enslavement and displacement of the indigenous Oompa-Loompa population. CB

ETA: 15 December

34. Killers of the Flower Moon (Martin Scorsese)

Delicately titled and overflowing with cinematic heavyweights, Scorsese delivers his first film since The Irishman. Robert DiNiro, Jesse Plemons, Lily Gladstone, Brendan Fraser and Leonardo DiCaprio, who is also a producer on the film, form the central cast. It dramatises the non-fiction book ‘Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the birth of the FBI’, by David Gramm, which explores a series of murders committed in Oklahoma in the 1920s in the Osage Nation, linked to the discovery of oil on tribal land. This leads to a major investigation by the then-newly formed FBI. The budget is reportedly the largest to have ever been spent on an Oklahoma-based production, so this had better be good. SLG

35. Haunted Mansion (Justin Simien, Disney)

In 2003, a few months after Pirates of the Caribbean proved that theme park rides could be translated into head-spinning box-office receipts, the Mouse House tried squeezing a movie out of another one of their attractions. The Eddie Murphy-led comedy set in the spooky old estate from Disneyland came in undead on arrival, but Justin Simien may have cracked it this time around — at the very least, he’s gotten off on the right foot by casting Lakeith Stanfield as a paranormal investigator and Tiffany Haddish as a Cajun psychic, aiding single mom Rosario Dawson as she attempts to purge her New Orleans home of apparitions portrayed by Jared Leto and Jamie Lee Curtis. No hourlong queuing times required! CB

ETA: 11 August

36. Creed III (Michael B Jordan, Warner Bros)

Steel yourself for some personnel changes in this, the second sequel to the most rapturously received reboot of the IP Era. Though he’s stayed on as producer, the previous films’ director Ryan Coogler has ceded his seat to franchise star Michael B. Jordan, behind the camera for the first time. Sylvester Stallone, the OG Rocky Balboa himself, will not get back in the ring for this round. But the space he leaves behind will be more than amply filled by a chiseled-from-rock Jonathan Majors, entering the fray as a new rival to our man Adonis. But however things change, when you get down to it, each match is still a battle of wills between two men fighting for their lives. Put ‘em up. CB

ETA: 3 March

37. M3gan (Gerard Johnson, Universal)

The killer-doll subset of horror cinema enters the 21st century with the cherubic M3GAN, a hunk of dangerously powerful technology that wants nothing more than to be your bestest friend. She can dance! She can run around on all fours like some kind of demon horse! And if any bullies give you a shove, she can murder them with swift and extreme prejudice! Robotics expert Allison Williams has created a monster to hang out with the niece left in her custody following her sister’s passing, a not-so-subtle commentary on the hazards of AI run amok. Twice as fabulous as Chucky and twice as cold as Patty McCormack, M3GAN is a true force to be reckoned with. CB

ETA: 6 January (USA) 13 January (UK)

38. The Exorcist (David Gordon Green)

David Gordon Green is trying to improve on perfection with an Exorcist reboot. What power compelled the director to attempt to make another follow up to the beloved original nearly 50 years after its release in 1973, following the 1977 mega-flop that was The Exorcist 2 and the slightly better third iteration in 1990, is a mystery. But it’s happening. Set to be released on the suitably cursed Friday the 13th of October 2023, the untitled Exorcist film will doubtless draw huge cinema crowds – but who will win their bets, the naysayers or the hopeful? SLG

ETA: 13 October

39. Renfield (Chris McKay, Universal)

One of the many perks of the public domain is that side characters can be spun into protagonists to add to the elastic canon. Whether this shows itself as an entertaining change of perspective or a wince-worthy display of barrel-scraping in the instance of Chris McKay’s imminent Renfield, is all to play for. Nicolas Hoult plays the eponymous fly-munching henchman to Count Dracula, inhabited by the other Hollywood Nicolas, Cage. The premise is that Renfield is revitalised by falling in love with an angry traffic cop, perplexingly dubbed Rebecca Quincy and played by Akwafina, in modern day New Orleans. Written by Ryan Ridley and part of a grand Universal Pictures scheme to reboot the classic screen monsters (again), Renfield leaps into the mix of comedic vampire cinema in April. SLG

ETA: 14 April

40. De humani corporis fabrica (Verena Paravel, Lucien Castaing-Taylor)

Don’t worry about the reports of mass walkouts at the Cannes premiere of the latest project from the boundary-busting Harvard Sensory Ethnography Lab; a select class of strong-stomached viewers will find that it’s actually impossible to look away from this slimy, squelchy, intricately textured collection of footage from French surgical hospitals. With micro-cameras devised specifically for this documentary, we venture into sensitive crannies of the human body for an unprecedentedly intimate view of what makes our biology go, an observational bent that also extends beyond our guts to frame these medical institutions as complex organisms unto themselves. The cathartic final scene already has one entry on 2023’s running list of great needle drops sorted. CB

 

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41. Magic Mike’s Last Dance (Steven Soderbergh, Warner Bros)

Soderbergh and Channing Tatum bid farewell to sweet stripping himbo prince Mike Lane this February, as he leaves the United States for the United Kingdom (hoards of middle-aged women were spotted hanging around Peckham during production). Selma Hayek co-stars, but it doesn’t appear as though any of Mike’s posse will be returning for this trilogy-ender, more’s the pity. Even so, grab your gal pals and a bottle of rosé – there’s nothing that will stave off the winter blues quicker than watching Tatum cavort to the sound of Ginuwine’s Pony. HS

ETA: 10 February

42. The Colour Purple (Blitz Bazawule, Warner Bros)

Steven Spielberg’s adaptation of Alice Walker’s classic novel was a massive success (though famously didn’t win any of the 11 Oscars it was nominated for) but this new version is actually based on the popular Broadaway musical. Ghanian artist and director Blitz Bazawule, probably best known for directing Beyonce’s Black is King, is at the helm, with singer Fantasia in the lead role of Celie Harris Johnson. Colman Domingo, Taraji P. Henson, Danielle Brooks and singer H.E.R co-star. HS

ETA: 20 December

43. Foe (Garth Davis)

In the near future, Junior and Hen live in peace on a remote farm, until their idyll is shattered by the arrival of a stranger who informs them that Junior must travel to a remote space station for two years, and is to be replaced by a biomechanical duplicate until his return. That’s the premise of Iain Reid’s novel which serves as the basis of Garth Davis’ new film, starring Paul Mescal and Saoirse Ronan as the unhappy couple. Anyone familiar with Reid’s other work – I’m Thinking of Ending Things, adapted by Charlie Kaufman in 2021 – will probably know things aren’t likely to end well for the couple in question. This is Davis’ first film in five years, and sounds like it might have more in common with his work on Top of the Lake than his other films. HS

44. Fast X (Louis Leterrier, Universal)

La Familia went to space in Fast 9 – what could possibly top that? Maybe the recruitment of Jason Momoa, who plays the villain in the next installment (whom he’s described as “very sadistic and androgynous and he’s a bit of a peacock…he’s definitely got some daddy issues”). Not enough? How about Rita Moreno as Dom Toretto’s mother? Brie Larson? Then there’s the return of Jason Statham, John Cena, Helen Mirren, Cardi B, Charlize Theron, Sung Kang – actually, just about anyone who’s ever been in a Fast and Furious film apart from The Rock is slated to return for the big 1-0. Start your engines, folks. It’s gonna be in cinemas all summer. HS

ETA: 19 May

45. Saw X (Kevin Greutert, Lionsgate)

Series loyalists weren’t so keen on Spiral, the most recent installment of the long-running Saw torture-thon, which muddled the simple pleasures of bodily mutilation with cop-flick hokum. The reinstatement of actor Tobin Bell as puppet master Jigsaw bodes well for those eager to see a return to form in the tenth go-round, and the involvement of director Kevin Greutert (the fiendish mind behind the sixth and seventh films, as well as editor of the first five) promises another obstacle course chockablock with clever contraptions designed to flense, pierce, shred, or otherwise make lunchmeat of their unlucky victims. Strap in and try not to lose your head. CB

46. The Outrun (Nora Fingscheidt, Lionsgate)

German filmmaker Fingscheidt announced herself in impressive style with System Crasher, but her 2020 follow-up The Unforgivable was a bitter disappointment, so all bets are off with her next drama. We’re hoping for something special, and that might come in the form of Saoirse Ronan. She plays a recovering alcoholic who returns to her native Orkney to get some breathing room, and reconnects with the farmland where she grew up. Based on Amy Liptrot’s bestselling memoir of the same name, this could be another banner performance for Ronan. HS

47. The Meg 2: The Trench (Ben Wheatley, Warner Bros)

The fucking big shark is back! John Turtletaub’s been ditched as director and replaced by Ben Wheatley. With such black comedies as Sightseers under his belt, Wheatley might bring some much-needed gory humour to the large fish saga. Hopefully Jason Statham and co will have a bit more solid script material to work with this time when battling the massive toothy predator. A fair few of the first film’s cast are set to return to their roles, probably excluding those who got munched. Little is known about the plot but judging from a quick glance at what happens in the second Meg book in the franchise on which the films are based, the gang are back in the Trench and there might even be a baby megalodon involved. Cute. SLG

ETA: 4 August

48. Rebel Ridge (Jeremy Saulnier, Netflix)

Fine purveyor of miserable stories that he is, it’s no surprise that the IMDB logline for Jeremy Saulnier’s latest thriller is “A high-velocity thriller that explores systemic American injustices through bone-breaking action sequences, suspense and dark humor.” John Boyega was originally slated to star, but after he dropped out Aaron Pierre (best-known as Mid-Sized Sedan in M Night Shyamalan’s Old, later to be seen voicing Mufasa in Barry Jenkins’ Lion King sequel) stepped in. He stars alongside Don Johnson, James Badge Dale, AnnaSophia Robb and James Cromwell. HS

49. Eileen (William Oldroyd)

Lady Macbeth made waves and introduced the world to Florence Pugh back in 2017 – it’s been a long wait for Oldroyd’s second feature. Based on a story by bestselling Ottessa Moshfegh, Thomasin McKenzie stars in the titular role as a strange young woman who becomes attracted to the glamorous new therapist at the prison where she works (played by Anne Hathaway). Their entanglement leads to a shocking crime with lasting verberations. This one’s also headed for the snowy screening rooms of Park City as part of the Sundance line-up, and hopefully our screens later in the year. HS

50. Lee (Ellen Kuras)

Kate Winslet will be gunning for her second Academy Award with this biopic of model-turned-war-photographer Lee Miller, who was the official correspondent for Vogue during World War Two and gained a reputation for her striking images of life during wartime. She was originally set to reunite with her The Holiday co-star Jude Law, but Alexander Skarsgård has since replaced him in the role of Miller’s husband Roland Penrose, with Josh O’Connor set to play their son (curious to see how that factors into the timeline). Most excitingly, this is Ellen Kuras’ directorial debut – best known for her cinematography work with Michel Gondry and Spike Lee – so we’re hoping for something visually arresting. HS

101 films to look forward to in 2023 – part one

As we ring in the new year, it's time to look ahead to the cinematic riches that the next twelve months might offer us.

lwlies.com

 

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101 films to look forward to in 2023 – part two
Part two of our annual preview heralds the arrival of new films from the likes of Pawel Pawlikowski, Michel Gondry and Kitty Green.

Fifty films down, fifty films to go, and we’ve barely scratched the surface of what we’re hoping to see at the cinema next year. Have we missed something you’re counting down the days until? Let us know by tweeting us @LWLies.

51. Cocaine Bear (Elizabeth Banks, Universal)

He’s a bear. He’s taken a shitload of cocaine. You do the math. Cinema has a rich tradition of creating these strange creature features which go on to be a lot of fun (I’m looking at you, Snakes on a Plane) so don’t count director Elizabeth Banks out yet. This horror comedy claims to be based on a true story, and I suppose that’s true, as a bear did once eat a load of cocaine, but rather than going on a Tony Montana-style rampage through the forest, he just suffered massive organ failure and died. But that’s probably not as cinematic. The wild cast list comprises Keri Russell, Margo Martindale, Ray Liotta, Brooklynn Prince, O’Shea Jackson Jr. and – Hobie Doyle himself! – Alden Ehrenreich. Hannah Strong

ETA: 24 February

52. The Iron Claw (Sean Durkin, A24)

You might not know the Von Erich name if you’re not into pro-wrestling, but they’re considered one of the most famous dynasties within the sport, not least because of the many tragedies that dogged them throughout the 80s and 90s. When patriarch Fritz passed away in 1997, five of his six sons had predeceased him, three by suicide. Sean Durkin is a great pick to bring this sad story to the big screen (go and watch The Nest if you haven’t done so already) and he’s assembled a strong cast in the form of Zac Efron, Harris Dickinson and Jeremy Allen White to play three of the Von Erich boys, while Holt McCallany will play Papa Fritz. HS

53. And (Yorgos Lanthimos, A24)

The hardest-to-Google movie of all time is an anthology of indeterminate nature, though with director Yorgos Lanthimos, it’s a safe bet that the interlocking tales will proffer a darkly comic look at something grim or unspeakable. What we do know is that he’s brought Emma Stone, Jesse Plemons, Willem Dafoe, Hong Chau, Margaret Qualley, Joe Alwyn, and Mamoudou Athie down to shoot in New Orleans, where principal photography is set to wrap before the end of the year. With the Frankenstein riff Poor Things next on Lanthimos’ docket, this one could wind up getting pushed to 2024, but he could just as easily double down with a premiere at Cannes and another at the fall festivals. Charles Bramesco

54. The Island (Pawel Pawlikowski)

The awards-festooned successes of Ida and Cold War may have recent converts to the work of Pawel Pawlikowski thinking of him as a son of Poland through and through, but he relocated to London as a teenager and made his first few films in English. He now returns to our side of the language barrier a bigger-named filmmaker, evident in the casting of global movie stars Rooney Mara and Joaquin Phoenix for the new drama-thriller based on the factual account of a couple who seceded from society to start anew on a remote island. When a European countess gets wind of their little Eden, a private project becomes a public sensation and threatens the idyll they’ve built. Pawlikowski’s fluent in doomed romance, an international tongue if ever there was one. CB

55. The Red Sky (Christian Petzold)

Forest fires and smokin’ gay sex scenes apparently abound in German filmmaker Christian Petzold’s new one. Set one hot dry Summer on the Baltic coast, four young people meet and fall in love as forest fires rage ever closer. The popular if unlikely-sounding synopsis adds that “they doubt, they are afraid – not because of the fires, it is the love that scares them.” Could go absolutely anywhere, in sequences of dreamy friction. Petzold is collaborating again with his muse Paula Beer, so hopefully the result will be as beguiling as his last work, Undine. Saskia Lloyd Grainger

56. Napoleon (Ridley Scott, Apple)

After the bonanza year of 2021, in which The Last Duel and House of Gucci both debuted, Sir Rid’s been hard at work on his long-gestating epic about France’s most famous general. There have been a few pap snaps of Joaquin Phoenix on set as Napoleon, and Vanessa Kirby is set to play the great love of his life, Josephine (replacing Jodie Comer, who dropped out due to scheduling conflicts) but otherwise we don’t have much to go on, aside from the knowledge that no one can mount a large-scale epic like Scott can. After the muted reception to his last few films, could this be the film that puts Ridley back in the Academy’s good graces? He won’t be losing any sleep over it, that’s for sure. HS

57. The Old Oak (Ken Loach)

Ken Loach shot his 26th fiction film in mid-2022, so it’s likely the two-time Palme d’Or winner will be heading to the Croisette come May. He reunites with his Sorry We Missed You star Dave Turner for this migrant drama, alongside newcomer Ebla Mari, and the story follows a Syrian refugee’s experience living in a dilapidated northern mining town. Shot in County Durham (where he also filmed I, Daniel Blake and Sorry We Missed You), the film’s title comes from the pub run by Turner’s TJ Ballantyne. Yara (Mari) and TJ form an unlikely friendship after the unexpected arrival of her group of Syrian refugees in the town, where years of government neglect and economic downturn have taken a toll. HS

58. Les Indésirables (Ladj Ly)

Ladj Ly is back with his second feature after hard Les Misérables, which won the 2019 Jury Prize in Cannes, was nominated for 2020 Best International Film Oscar and upset Emmanuel Macron so much with its very realistic depiction of everyday struggles in Montfermeil after the 2018 FIFA World Cup that he was stirred to try to get his shit together about quality of life in Paris’ banlieues. Les Indesirables will be produced by SRAB films (also behind Happening) and reportedly focuses on a social worker and a mayor who clash over the potential gentrification about a run-down neighbourhood. CB

59. La Retour (Catherine Corsini)

Cannes fixture Catherine Corsini will most likely step out on the Croisette once again for her twelfth fiction feature, a drama about labour, family, and youth. The “forty-something” Kheìdidja (Aissatou Diallo Sagna) must accompany the wealthy Parisian family she works for as nanny to Corsica, the upside being that she’s invited to bring her own daughters along. But this island, which they fled 15 years earlier under unspecified tragic circumstances, dislodges some overwhelming memories for the women as they try to drink in all their surroundings have to offer. If nothing else, a ticket to Corsini’s latest will be far cheaper than a Mediterranean holiday.CB

60. Strangers (Andrew Haigh)

A loose adaptation of Taichi Yamada’s novel of the same name with a queer twist, Haigh’s first film since 2017’s Lean on Pete stars Fleabag heartthrob Andrew Scott as a man who suddenly finds his long-dead parents have come back to life – and appear as they did in their youth (as Jamie Bell and Claire Foy) – following an encounter with his mysterious neighbour (Twitter fave Paul Mescal). This sounds like something a little more fantastical than we usually see from Haigh, and a whole lot lighter in tone than his grim (but very good) miniseries The North Water. HS

 

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61. Challengers (Luca Guadagnino, Warner Bros)

After spotting him in West Side Story, Luca Guadagnino wasted no time in casting Mike Faist in his next film, alongside equally bright young things Zendaya and Josh O’Connor. Together they form the super hot love triangle at the heart of this tennis-based drama, in which a hotshot player suffering from a losing streak goes up against his wife’s ex-lover in a Challengers event. Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross are scoring the film after working with Guadagnino on Bones and All, but this is the first collaboration between the director and playwright Justin Kuritzkes. To wit, the film is described as a “romantic sports-comedy” – humour isn’t usually something associated with Luca’s work, so colour us intrigued. HS

62. The Book of Solutions (Michel Gondry)

We haven’t heard from maestro of off-kilter whimsy Michel Gondry since 2015, but judging by the premise of his unexpected comeback, the intervening years have done nothing to iron out his eccentricities. He’s gone autobiographically meta for his latest feature, following a frustrated filmmaker in the throes of creative block as he struggles to free himself from the demons blocking his process. Cast members Pierre Niney and Blanche Gardin are joined by none other than living legend Francoise Lebrun, currently enjoying a surge in popularity with the re-release of The Mother and the Whore. Could this be Gondry’s 8 ½? CB

63. The Little Mermaid (Rob Marshall, Disney)

To the great chagrin of online racists — many of them adult men, presumably with jobs or even families — Halle Bailey stars as the fish-girl who dreamed of walking in the surface world and macking on the handsome, raven-haired sailor living there. By this point, we all know the drill with these live-action Disney remakes: songs re-recorded with fresh voices, shots recreated with muddier colours, a few new jokes. Even those feeling blase can still work up some interest in Melissa McCarthy as Ursula the Sea Witch or Javier Bardem as King Triton, though it’s hard not to imagine what could’ve been if Sofia Coppola’s planned adaptation had gotten off the ground. Or, er, ocean floor. CB

ETA: 26 May

64. The Beast (Bertrand Bonello)

The onset of the pandemic derailed Bertrand Bonello’s work on this sci-fi opus — in the meanwhile, he made the lockdown snapshot Coma, probably the truest cinematic time capsule of its moment — but he’s back on track and ready to reach a wider audience than ever. The cerebral stalwart of the arthouse tapped stars Léa Seydoux and George MacKay for a project that sounds like it’ll have slightly broader reach, as the two play lovers dipping in and out of each other’s lives over one hundred and thirty years, from the early twentieth century into the nearby future. There, an experimental procedure can remove all emotions, but if we learned anything from High Life, it’s to never trust a sci-fi premise that sounds straightforward. CB

65. Strange Way of Life (Pedro Almodóvar)

Almodóvar revealed details of his “answer to Brokeback Mountain” on pop star Dua Lipa’s podcast (because of course he did), stating that Pedro Pascal and Ethan Hawke play a gunslinger and a sherriff respectively, who reunite after several decades apart. The short is about 40 minutes in length, similar to his Tilda Swinton collaboration The Human Voice from 2020, and while we could happily sit through a film three times that long, we’ll take what we can get with Almodóvar. Slated for a ritzy Cannes premiere and described as a “queer Western, in the sense that there are two men and they love each other”, this one’s guaranteed to send Twitter into a tizzy. HS

66. Last Summer (Catherine Breillat)

Production has long since wrapped on the new film from French lightning rod Catherine Breillat, her first in ten long years, and the intervening time has evidently done nothing to dull her edge. The drama concerns a classic Brady Bunch situation — a combined family forms between Mom (Léa Drucker), her two daughters, Dad (Olivier Rabourdin), and his seventeen-year-old son (Samuel Kircher) — that spins out into incest as the boy shacks up with his lusty stepmom. Ah, the French! Breillat is no stranger to Cannes, which would be an excellent launching pad for her possible comeback picture, and they could always use the scandal. CB

67. Limonov, the Ballad of Eddie (Kirill Serebrennikov)

From the creator of Leto and Petrov’s Flu comes a non-linear biography of Eduard Limonov, radical Russian latter 20th Century tour du force – played by a grubbified, punk-ed up Ben Whishaw. Based on a book by Emmanuelle Carrere, Limonov follows this continent-hopping provocateur raised in present-day Kharkiv, then part of the Soviet Union, from which he escaped to New York, got FBI-ed out of the States and washed up in Paris where he transformed into a literary darling, then crept back into Russia and founded the National Bolshevik party, became a poster boy for dissident Russian youths and was locked up by Putin. Limonov’s bonkers life story has been paralleled by the crazy circumstances of the film’s production – Serebrennikov is still supposed to be serving a three-year suspended sentence, thrown at him by Putin on absurd charges, and was shooting Limonov in Russia when the war broke out. He managed to escape and finish the film in Europe. You couldn’t make this stuff up. SLG

68. Love Lies Bleeding (Rose Glass, A24)

As seems to be the case with so many rising directors these days, Rose Glass made a name for herself in horror (the wrenching Saint Maud) only to pivot out of the genre and explore wilder narrative territories. Fans of watching Kristen Stewart do things will be excited to learn that Kristen Stewart stars as the protective lover of a female bodybuilder (Jena Malone, possibly – her role as of yet unspecified), concerned that her paramour will be chewed up and spat out by the cutthroat world of competitive musclewomen. The press release foretold a “romance fueled by ego, desire, and the American dream” which places this film in the compact, fascinating canon of movies about the US made from a European vantage. CB

69. My Name is Alfred Hitchcock (Mark Cousins)

It’s been 100 years since the scowling colossus of cinema’s first feature, lost and unfinished Number Thirteen, the non-production of which he once described as “a somewhat chastening experience.” To mark this centenary, Cousins has put together a documentary that explores the current relevance of Hitchcock’s work through the director’s own voice, the essence of the narrative device being that the auteur sits down to watch back his own films and we traverse that gamut with him on his sofa. Voiced by Alistair McGowan and billed to be both celebratory and insightful, My Name is Alfred Hitchcock will hopefully offer an innovative and humanising take on a bloke so massively influential that he seems a bit unreal. SLG

70. La Chimera (Alice Rohrwacher)

The murky world of tombaroli (tomb raiders) in the 1980s is the subject of Alice Rohrwacher’s La Chimera, starring Josh O’Connor and Isabella Rosselini. O’Connor plays Arthur, a young English archaeologist involved in the black market trafficking of ancient Etruscan objects. Rohrwacher reunites with multiple frequent collaborators to bring La Chimera into being, including production designer Emita Frigato, costume designer Loredana Buscemi and editor Nelly Quettier. Rohrwacher told Variety that La Chimera forms ‘the final piece of a triptych’ she began with The Wonders and followed up with Happy As Lazzaro, the three films linked by their exploration of the question ‘What to do with the past?’. Philosophy and questions of cultural identity aside, it promises beautiful Tuscan scenery and Rohrwacher’s characteristically delicate magic realism. SLG

 

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71. Evil Dead Rise (Lee Cronin, Warner Bros)

The Evil Dead just won’t darned die – back for a fifth instalment, the viscera-soaked franchise resumes but this time with an entirely new cast and a fresh storyline. Sam Reimi, Robert Tapert and Bruce Campbell are producing the Evil Dead Rise, but alas Campbell won’t be returning as Ash Williams to say ‘groovy’ in that irresistible way he does. Instead, the film has sisters Beth and Ellie’s reunion properly wrecked by the discovery of a mysterious book (haven’t they ever seen an Evil Dead film?) in the basement of Ellie’s L.A. building, which unleashes some really nasty flesh-possessing demon creatures called Deadites. Beth fights to survive, and judging by what Warner Bros have to say about the film’s premise, Ellie’s kids are definitely not alright. SLG

ETA: 21 April

72. Kafka (Agnieszka Holland)

Could the Agnieszka Holland we know and love be back? As of late, the Polish great who apprenticed under Krzysztof Zanussi and Andrzej Wajda has kept her bills paid with work somewhat less prestigious than the likes of Europa Europa. Her sojourns in the wilds of American TV led her to a recent pair of more encouragingly accomplished biopics, which she’ll make a trilogy with her upcoming portrait of Franz Kafka, structured as a series of vignettes stretching from cradle to crypt. However she plays it, she’s unlikely to cover any of the same ground as Steven Soderbergh’s highly conceptual, semi-factual take on the existential titan’s life and times. CB

73. Occupied City (Steven McQueen)

Steve McQueen’s journey into non-fiction is set to begin with Second World War documentary Occupied City, based on the history book ‘Atlas of an Occupied City, 1940-1945’ by writer and filmmaker Bianca Stitger, who also happens to be married to McQueen. The book maps the traces of the war in the capital, as will the documentary. The Netherlands Film Fund, a partner on the NL-UK collaboration, have said in relation to the project that ‘Living in Amsterdam is like living with spirits. It looks like there are two parallel worlds. The past is always there.’ Even as there are fewer and fewer living people recall this time, the war remains present in collective memory – the city is saturated with it. In possession of a $5M budget, Occupied City has the potential for a rich and creative exploration of these lingering ghosts. SLG

74. Un Silence (Joachim Lafosse)

Emmanuelle Devos and Daniel Auteuil star in Belgian director Lafosse’s tenth feature, which focuses on the aftermath of a crime and the silence that surrounds it, as well as the difficulty of speaking out. But don’t just take my word for it – here’s Lafosse’s description: ‘With Un silence, I want to try to show why silence is still so powerful, despite the important place given to this beneficial right. I want to try to show and explain why it’s so difficult to speak out.” His last film The Restless, received a muted response at Cannes 2021, but is well worth a watch, and it’s likely this one will bow on the French Riviera, who love to show support for local(ish!) filmmaking. SLG

75. Coyote vs. Acme (Dave Green, Warner Bros)

Described as a ‘live-action/computer generated legal comedy’, this latest Loony Toon is partly based on an Ian Frazier short story of the same name, that appeared in the New Yorker. Wile E. Coyote decides to hire a billboard lawyer, played by Will Forte, to sue the ACME corporation after he’s outdone by the nifty Roadrunner yet again. The defendant – former boss of ACME corp – is John Cena. Directed by Dave Green, with a screenplay by Samy Burch, the Warner Bros chimera flick is built on the not unsteady grounds that the notion of cartoon characters solving real-life problems, subject to real-world forces like gravity or the law, is automatically hilarious – and come on, it is John Cena… SLG

76. National Anthem (Tony Tost)

Euphoria’s Sydney Sweeney, Richard Jewell himself Paul Walter Hauser, Red Rocket‘s Simon Rex and singer Halsey are set to star in Tost’s directorial debut, who is best known for his television work on series including Longmire, Damnation and The Terror. In what’s sure to be a thorny tale, a group of people compete to get their hands on a valuable Lakota Ghost Shirt (a type of garment sacred to Native American communities). Some have pure intentions, others not so much. HS

77. Club Zero (Jessica Hausner)

Jessica Hausner broke into the Competition section at Cannes with 2019’s Little Joe, a cunning anti-horror picture about a botanist slowly realising that her seemingly ominous surroundings may not be as evil as she presumed. Having launched principal photography back in the summer, the Austrian filmmaker could very well be back with this supernaturally-tinged ensemble piece, in which an educator (Mia Wasikowska) at an elite boarding school forms a strong bond with several students that starts looking a whole lot like a cult. Sidse Babbett Knudsen — another actress with an otherworldly sort of presence — also figures prominently into an off-beat genre piece from a director deserving of a higher profile. CB

78. Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget (Sam Fell, Netflix)

As the children haunted off their KFC by the first Chicken Run become 20-somethings who Deliveroo their own protein, the sequel appears in the form of Dawn of the Nugget. Aardman have partnered with Netflix and French producers StudioCanal to create the follow-up film, which sees Ginger, Rocky, freshly hatched daughter Molly and the flock content on the island they escaped to following their break-out from Tweedy’s farm. Until, that is, a new threat arises in the form of Dr.Fry’s dastardly plan to turn all the chickens in his lab into nuggets. The flock must risk their sanctuary to save their brethren from being battered. Thandiwe Newton, Bella Ramsey, Zachary Levi and Romesh Ranganathan give voice to the plasticine fowl. Is a sequel necessary? We’ll find out. SLG

ETA: June 22

79. Priscilla (Sofia Coppola, Apple)

Last year we got Elvis – now it’s time for a look at the woman behind the man. Putting her Custom of the Country television series on the back burner for now, Coppola has cast relative newcomer Cailee Spaeny as Mrs. Presley, who famously met Elvis when she was 14 and he was 23, and Euphoria’s resident sociopath Jacob Elordi as The King. The couple would eventually marry and Priscilla would give birth to Presley’s only child, Lisa Marie, before they separated in 1973. The script is based on Priscilla’s 1985 memoir, and if there’s anyone who can do justice to the complexities of the Presley story, it’s Hollywood royalty like Coppola. HS

80. The Idea of You (Michael Showalter)

A movie can come from anywhere — for example, an adult woman’s fanfiction about taking her teenage daughter to a One Direction August Moon concert only to so enchant singer Harry Styles Hayes Campbell that they tumble into a May-December romance speculated by readers to be inspired by a certain pop star. Robinne Lee’s markedly Fifty Shades of Grey-ish novel comes to the screen courtesy of journeyman director Michael Showalter, with the cougar protagonist played by Anne Hathaway opposite Nicholas Glitzine, perhaps best known for the controversy-sparking Netflick Purple Hearts. Wish fulfillment is a powerful motivator, so who knows, maybe we’ll have another left-field phenomenon from humble origins on our hands. CB

 

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81. Emilia Perez (Jacques Audiard)

With 2018’s The Sisters Brothers, Jacques Audiard tried his hand at English-language filmmaking with known Hollywood stars — a mode the French festival favourite returns to with a daffy, undoubtedly conversation-generating comedy. To evade the law, a narco on the run gets gender reassignment surgery, but comes to miss her children and re-inserts herself into their lives as a Mrs. Doubtfire-style aunt after ten years away. Oh, and also, it’s a musical. The lead actress Karla Sofia Gascón could have overnight stardom in her future, and early reports have also linked Selena Gomez and Zoe Saldaña to the trans riff on the archetypal cross-dressing comedy. CB

82. The Fabulous Four (Jocelyn Moorhouse)

Susan Sarandon! Megan Mullally! Sissy Spacek! Bette Midler! I could just leave this description right there. What more do you need to shell out for a cinema ticket? Okay, fine – The Fabulous Four is the big comeback for Aussie filmmaker Jocelyn Moorhouse and centers on a trio of friends (Sarandon, Mullaly, and Spacek) who travel to Key West to serve as bridesmaids at the unexpected wedding of their pal (Midler). Moorhouse knows a thing or two about nuptials – she was the producer on her husband’s cult classic Murial’s Wedding. HS

83. True Love (Gareth Edwards)

The best of the remake deluge that flooded the 2010s would probably be Gareth Edwards’ staggeringly-scaled Godzilla, a reconciliation of megabudget IP-servicing with genuine creative ingenuity. Aside from the well-regarded Star Wars spinoff Rogue One, he hasn’t had much chance to follow through on that heartening early example, so all eyes are on this sci-fi project about which little is publicly known. Edwards has been hard at work shooting in Thailand with John David Washington, Gemma Chan, Allison Janney, Ken Watanabe, and Ralph Ineson, but beyond that, it’s one big question mark. Maybe they all keep hearing this mysterious noise and have to figure out where it’s coming from. If it worked once…! CB

84. Master Gardener (Paul Schrader)

It’s another Paul Schrader production, so a few assumptions can be safely made: there will be an intense, ageing man (Joel Edgerton, as a horticulturist hiding an obligatory dark past) with a weird name (Narvel Roth, in this instance) paired with a younger companion (Quintessa Swindell, taking over for Schrader’s initial pick Zendaya) whose soul he must salvage before it’s too late. This time, however, we’ve also got Sigourney Weaver as the wealthy dowager who owns the estate so dutifully tended by Narvel. Sin, penance, and redemption will swirl together in one Protestant shame spiral, as is Schraderian tradition. Who could ask for anything more? CB

85. Butterfly Jam (Kantemir Balagov)

Dashing Russian wunderkind Kantemir Balagov won over a lot of new fans with 2019’s brutal, lush Beanpole, among them Midsommar director Ari Aster, who’s producing Balagov’s first foray into English-language filmmaking. The drama unfolds in a New Jersey enclave of Kabardian immigrants, where a father-son relationship is complicated by the boy’s tendency to imbue his dad with qualities that aren’t really present. The fizzle-out of Balagov’s involvement with the Last of Us HBO series only heightens the anticipation for a new work sure to introduce him to an even wider swath of Western viewers. Whether they’ll be ready for the guaranteed emotional pulverising is a separate question entirely. CB

86. Eric Larue (Michael Shannon)

Making his directorial debut, Shannon teams up with his playwright buddy Brett Nevue for what sounds like a harrowing watch: “Janice, the mother of a high school murderer, prepares to visit her son in prison, and to meet a collection of bereaved local parents.” He’s working with some excellent talent too – Judy Greer is the mother in question, acting alongside Alison Pill, Tracey Letts and Shannon’s Little Drummer Girl co-star Alexander Skarsgård. Fun fact: Skarsgård is gearing up to shoot The Park, his own directorial debut, in 2023 which will feature (his Little Drummer Girl co-star!) Florence Pugh. HS

87. Untitled Ethan Coen Lesbian Road Trip movie

Two paths diverged in the yellow wood of the Coen brothers’ directing partnership, and their first solo projects suggest why; Joel gave us an austere, experimental-theatre-inspired adaptation of Macbeth last year, and soon Ethan will retort with an “action-sex-comedy” road movie chockablock with bawdy, sapphic hijinks. Margaret Qualley and Geraldine Viswanathan play a pair of lesbians traversing the great lattice of American highways circa 1999, encountering along the way a “potpourri of a severed head in a hatbox, a bitter ex-girlfriend, a mystery briefcase, and an evil senator.” Cowritten with Coen’s wife Tricia Cooke under the working title of Drive-Away Dykes, it’s a start to rectifying the urgent issue of not having enough present-day Russ Meyer homages. CB

88. Cat Person (Susanna Fogel)

Every so often an article pops up that really captures the public imagination, and in 2017 it was Kristen Roupenian’s Cat Person, about a 20-year-old cinema worker who engages in a short, unpleasant romantic relationship with an older man. The story was lauded for capturing the power imbalances present in many modern dating situations, although received considerable pushback from the story’s unwitting inspiration. Nevertheless, a film version starring Emilia Jones and Nicholas Braun is dropping sometime in 2023, co-starring Fred Melamed and Isabella Rossellini. We’ll see if the film manages to match the zeitgeist-capturing success of the source material. HS

89. Attack the Block 2 (Joe Cornish)

Talk of a sequel to Joe Cornish’s 2011 action-comedy about a group of teens defending their housing estate from an alien invasion has been going on for years, but it’s finally happening, and the filmmaker will be reuniting with star John Boyega, who played reluctant hero Moses in the first film. Boyega is producing this time as well, and has already hinted that the sequel will tackle London’s gentrification, which has exploded in the past decade, as well as a new alien threat. Allow it! HS

90. 65 (Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, Sony)

From A Quiet Place scribes Scott Beck and Bryan Woods comes a prehistoric action-thriller, starring Adam Driver as Mills, an astronaut who crashlands on a foreign planet only to find himself back on Earth…65 million years earlier than planned. With the resident dinosaurs none too pleased about their new guest, Mills must work with the only other survivor, a young girl named Koa (Ariana Greenblatt) to survive. Sam Raimi is producing, and Danny Elfman has composed the score. Curious. SLG

 

[dontdiedontkillanyone]

91. Havoc (Gareth Evans, Netflix)

Rugged detective wading through the criminal underworld in the wake of a botched drug deal, attempting to rescue the lost son of a politician, exposing a web of dodginess lacing his grimy city? Sounds like Havoc, which will crash onto Netflix in early 2023. The crime drama stars Tom Hardy (also a producer) and is directed by Gangs of London’s Gareth Edwards, who made Indonesian martial arts films like The Raid and Merantau, so it could well be fighty and shooty in a pretty well-choreographed way even if the plot rings a few bells. Shot across various locations in South Wales, it’s unclear where the film is set, but Hardy’s co-stars have been confirmed as Timothy Olyphant, Forest Whittaker and Jesse Mei Li. Havoc isn’t based on any pre-existing material, and may prove refreshing in that sense. SLG

92. Landscape With Invisible Hand (Cory Finley)

After the excellent Thoroughbreds and Bad Education, we can’t wait to see what Finley’s cooked up with this sci-fi drama adaptation, set in the aftermath of an alien takeover of earth. Attempting to scrape a living together, Adam (Asante Blackk) and Chloe (Kylie Rogers) live stream their courtship for an intrigued alien viewer, but things quickly go awry. Audiences at Sundance will be the first to catch this one, but we’re hoping the UK will get a chance soon after. HS

93. The Bikeriders (Jeff Nichols)

Welcome back Jeff Nichols! It’s been too long since Arkansas’ favourite son put a picture together, and his next project takes inspiration from photojournalist Danny Lyon’s 1968 book of the same name, which documented the exploits of a group of motorcyclists. While Nichols’ script is entirely fictional, those images of a very specific moment in American pop culture form the foundation, and one person who’s going to be thrilled this long-gestating project is finally coming to life is Nichols’ friend and collaborator Michael Shannon, who once said: “You’ve been talking about that damn idea for so long. You’re never gonna make that”. Alongside Shannon, Jodie Comer, Austin Butler, Tom Hardy, Boyd Holbrook and Mike Faist star, assembling undoubtedly the hottest cast of 2023. HS

94. May December (Todd Haynes)

Todd Haynes and Julianne Moore’s fourth collaboration seems like a shoo-in for Cannes 2023 – she plays a woman whose notorious romance with a much younger man was the subject of tabloid scrutiny, who is forced to revisit the past when an actress (played by Natalie Portman) arrives to research her for a role. Interestingly, writer Samy Burch is better known as a casting director – May December is his first produced screenplay, though he’s also working on the script for Coyote v. Acme, also on this list. In any case, Portman/Moore is a pairing we’re keen to see. HS

95. Darling (Cattet/Forzani)

The Belgian husband-and-wife directing team of Bruno Forzani and Hélène Cattet have always cultivated a loose relationship with reality in such hyperstylized head trips as Amer, The Strange Color of Your Body’s Tears, and Let the Corpses Tan. They’ll leave the material world behind entirely for their first go with feature-length animation, an adaptation of a controversial Beat novel by Iris Owens about a woman who lives in downtown Manhattan during the swinging ‘60s, and who’s viciously violated one night by a figure with blinding white eyes. Unmoored and drifting into psychosis, she begins prowling the streets in search of her attacker, working her way through a hallucinatory atmosphere redolent of Belladonna of Sadness. And, much to the delight of anime fans, the other primary reference point they’ve named is the work of Satoshi Kon. Dig it, daddy-O. CB

96. The Brutalist (Brady Corbet)

With his directing debut Childhood of a Leader, Brady Corbet tracked the ascendance of fascism in Europe, while his follow-up Vox Lux theorised about the sources and influence of American terrorism. His third film synthesises his transatlantic interests, its subject an immigrant couple (Joel Edgerton and Marion Cotillard) come to America to flee the rubble of World War II. They pursue the ideal of an architectural masterpiece with the help of a mysterious benefactor (Mark Rylance), an “epic saga” sprawling out over thirty years and told in a combination of English, Yiddish, Hungarian, and Italian. Add to the cast Sebastian Stan, Isaach de Bankolé, Vanessa Kirby, and Alessandro Nivola along with Vox Lux stars Raffey Cassidy and Stacy Martin, and a prestigious festival berth is all but assured. CB

97. How to Blow Up a Pipeline (Daniel Goldhaber, Neon)

The breakout success of this year’s Toronto International Film Festival was a pulse-pounding heist thriller informed by a keen sense of political principle, smuggling radical ideology adapted from Andreas Malm’s nonfiction book of theory into the inviting format of first-order Hollywood entertainment. A multicultural cell of young eco-terrorists (led by Ariela Barer, producer and cowriter of the film) plots the controlled demolition of a crude oil pipeline in west Texas, a ticking-clock mission that plays out with the pop sensibility of Ocean’s 11 and the raised-fist irreverence of La Chinoise. Director Daniel Goldhaber married effect and message to spectacular results. CB

98. The Royal Hotel (Kitty Green)

The Assistant was one of the best films of 2019, and reportedly caused quite a ruckus behind the scenes in Hollywood. Emerging talent Kitty Green reunites wth her star Julia Garner for this new social thriller, in which Garner and Jessica Henwick played BFFs backpacking across Oz. When they run out of cash they take jobs working for oddball pub landlord Hugo Weaving, but things quickly go downhill when the girls come up against old-fashioned attitudes in the rural mining town. Could this be Green’s own spin on Wake in Fright? Fingers crossed. HS

99. Die, My Love (Lynne Ramsay)

At any given time Lynne Ramsay’s name is connected to a number of in-development projects, and few of them ever make it to our screens. It’s a little unlikely we’ll see this one any time soon, but the prospect of a Ramsay film starring Jennifer Lawrence should hopefully spur some production company into action. Die My Love is an adaptation of Ariana Harwicz’s cult novel, about a new mother experiencing post-partum depression and psychosis in the French countryside – so fits into Ramsay’s body of work quite nicely. Let’s hope this one gets off the ground. HS

100. Skinamarink (Kyle Edward Ball, Shudder)

A true word-of-mouth success, Kyle Edward Ball’s experimental horror had its premiere at the Fantasia Film Festival, where it generated a modest amount of buzz. Things really started to pick up when social media got a hold of the film via various – ahem – sources, and soon tongues were wagging about a creepy, unconventional haunted house film that defied the usual trappings of the genre. Made on a microbudget and employing creative tactics to overcome shooting constraints, Skinamarink has been hailed as the most exciting horror film of the year, and was promptly snapped up for distribution in 2023 by Shudder. HS

101. I Saw the TV Glow (Jane Schoenbrun, A24)

Schoenbrun’s feature debut We’re All Going to the World’s Fair was one of the great surprises of 2022, so all eyes on her for her second film, which focuses on a pair of teenagers whose reality starts to change after their favourite television show is cancelled. The cast is exciting too: Justice Smith, Brigette Lundy-Paine, Helena Howard and Danielle Deadwyler will star, though it’s the cinematic debut of Phoebe Bridgers that has many tongues wagging on social media. HS

101 films to look forward to in 2023 – part two

Part two of our annual preview heralds the arrival of new films from the likes of Pawel Pawlikowski, Michel Gondry and Kitty Green.

lwlies.com

 

[mike030270]

Damn. There's a lot that I really want to see

Some remakes and sequels that weren't really asked for lol

 

[VIBE]

No 007? I thought Craig has one more this year?

 

[mike030270]

No 007? I thought Craig has one more this year?

Did you watch the last one?

 

[dontdiedontkillanyone]

No 007? I thought Craig has one more this year?

 

[VIBE]

Did you watch the last one?

Nah, I’m about to though..

 

[Blue_London]

Nah, I’m about to though..

I can't wait for your post

 

[Revolver Ocelot]

MF still giving M Night money to make movies.........

 

[Revolver Ocelot]

87. Untitled Ethan Coen Lesbian Road Trip movie.........



But somehow the 4 comicbook movies released this year will be blamed for 90% of this list flopping.

 

[VIBE]

I can't wait for your post

Watching rn.

I was watching Spectre at the time of that last post.

I never seen any of the Craig flicks so I been watching them. Pretty sure bro dies in this