10. “Poor Things”
Based on the award-winning Scottish novel of the same name, the inimitable Yorgos Lanthimos reteams with Emma Stone for his latest weird ball exercise, “Poor Things,” which also stars Willem Dafoe, Mark Ruffalo, Christopher Abbott, Margaret Qualley, and Rammy Youssef. After drowning herself to escape an abusive relationship, Belle Baxter (Stone) is brought back from the dead via the brain of her unborn child. Okaay… well, sounds about right from the dude who gifted us with “The Lobster” and “The Killing of a Sacred Deer.”
Release Date: TBD, via Searchlight (but an awards season date a la “The Favourite” seem likely) – AB
9. “Disappointment Blvd.”
Following up, “Midsommar,” his phenomenally cathartic purge of grief and utter catastrophe, Ari Aster teams with the always interesting Joaquin Phoenix for “Disappointment Blvd.” (Outstanding title, btw.) Described as “an intimate, decades-spanning portrait of one of the most successful entrepreneurs of all time,” Aster has referred to his movie as “a nightmare comedy.” Formerly titled “Beau is Afraid,” the filmmaker claims he expects his third film to clock in at four hours in length—talk about ambition.
Release Date: TBD, but A24 will probably seek a big festival bow. – AB
8. “The Northman”
Robert Eggers (“The Witch,” “The Lighthouse”) has been building up his reputation as a filmmaker to watch, and his skills were awarded with the outstanding cast of his latest: Alexander Skarsgård, Nicole Kidman, Anya Taylor-Joy, Willem Dafoe, Ethan Hawke, Claes Bang, Bjork, and Ralph Ineson. “The Northman” centers on a 10th Century Nordic prince who sets out on a quest for revenge after his father is slain.
Release Date: April 22, via Focus Features. –RP
7. “Blonde”
A nightmarish adaptation of Joyce Carol Oates’ searing historical account of the troubled life and career of Marilyn Monroe, Andrew Dominik’s “Blonde” feels like the “Chinese Democracy” of auteurist passion projects. Starring Ana de Armas as Monroe with Adrien Brody, Bobby Cannavale, and Julianne Nicholson in support, it’s been delayed, reportedly almost premiered at Cannes this year, and apparently rumored to have alarmed Netflix in how transgressive it is. Oates herself praised a rough cut of the film last year, calling it “brilliant,” “disturbing,” and “an utterly feminist interpretation.”
Release Date: TBD, via Netflix, but Venice seems like a good bet. –RP
6. “Bardo (or False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths)”
Following 2015’s “Revenant,” and back-to-back Best Director wins at the Oscars, Alejandro González Iñárritu finally returns from his roots from his self-imposed break with a Mexican-set philosophical-sounding comedy featuring no Hollywood stars. Daniel Giménez Cacho, Griselda Siciliani and Grantham Coleman star and ‘Birdman’ co-writer Nicolás Giacobone is also back in the fold.
Release Date: TBD, but this feels like a Cannes debut. –RP
5. “Bones & All”
Following his detour into television (2020’s “We Are Who We Are” series for HBO), which failed to make much of a mark, Luca Guadagnino returns to capital-C cinema with a romance-horror cannibalism film starring Timothée Chalamet and breakout “Waves” star Taylor Russell. Co-stars include Mark Rylance, Michael Stuhlbarg, André Holland, Jessica Harper, Chloë Sevigny, and director David Gordon Green.
Release Date: TBD. Venice, perhaps? –RP
4. “Women Talking”
We haven’t had a feature film from Canadian filmmaker Sarah Polley since 2012’s outstanding documentary “Stories We Tell.” And while she’s worked since (writing and producing Netflix’s “Alias Grace,” chiefly), she’s been sorely missed. However, she finally returns with a powerhouse effort, featuring Frances McDormand, Claire Foy, Rooney Mara, Jessie Buckley, and Ben Whishaw. The film centers on an isolated Mennonite religious colony in Bolivia as they struggle to reconcile their faith with a string of sexual assaults committed by the colony’s men.
Release Date: TBD, United Artists Releasing, but it’s shot and sounds like a fall festival player and Oscar contender. –RP
3. “Nope”
With little but an ominously epic poster being revealed so far, Jordan Peele can successfully claim to have taken over the mantle of buzzy filmmakers like M. Night Shyamalan, the very existence of a movie by Peele on the horizon already making it an event movie. Working again with Daniel Kaluuya (“Get Out”), alongside Keke Palmer (“Hustlers”) and the remarkable Steven Yeun (“Minari”), “Nope” looks to be the horror blockbuster of the summer.
Release Date: July 22, via Universal Pictures. – AB
2. “Killers Of The Flower Moon”
Martin Scorsese returns with a $200 million dollar-costing crime drama about Native American tribe members murdered under mysterious circumstances in the 1920s, sparking a major F.B.I. investigation involving J. Edgar Hoover. Jesse Plemons, Lily Gladstone, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Robert De Niro, with Brendan Fraser, Tantoo Cardinal, and a major cast of supporting players. Apple TV+ is footing the bill and is co-releasing the movie with Paramount Pictures.
Release Date: TBD, but awards season and late fall seem like a good bet. –RP
1. “The Killer”
Fresh off the Oscar-acclaimed prestige drama, “Mank,” David Fincher flips the switch and goes back to pulpy movie B-movie thrills with “The Killer.” Shooting now in Paris, and written by Andrew Kevin Walker (“Se7en“), the thriller stars Michael Fassbender as an assassin who begins to psychologically crack as he develops a conscience, even as his clients continue to demand his skills. Tilda Swinton co-stars and not much else is known, but hey, what else do we even need?
Release Date: Shooting now, but Fincher takes a while, so likely end of the year, via Netflix. –RP
