Coming This Fall, TBD
OK, we know these movies are all arriving this fall sometime, but none of these movies have an official release date as of right now. Most of them should 100% hit before the end of the year, but forgive us if one or two get pushed to spring 2019—it’ll really depend on their performance and showing at the upcoming fall film festival circuit.
“The Irishman”
Martin Scorsese’s “The Irishman” is at the top of many movie lover’s must-see lists for 2019, and with good reason: it appears to be one of the legendary director’s biggest and riskiest projects to date. Scorsese’s latest is the story of Frank “The Irishman” Sheeran, adapted by all-star screenwriter Steve Zaillian from Charles Brandt’s chilling nonfiction work “I Heard You Paint Houses.” Of course, Sheeran did not paint houses, at least not in the literal sense. Instead, the New Jersey-born tough guy was a teamster and labor union official who developed an indifference to murder during an overseas military stint and later worked as a hitman for the New York mob who was eventually linked to the disappearance of his onetime pal Jimmy Hoffa. It’s a particularly juicy story for Scorsese, as well as a return to his iconic mean-streets milieu he’s most well-known for. Even if the movie were nothing more than stylish nonsense, “The Irishman’s” cast – which includes Scorsese muse Robert Deniro playing Sheeran, Al Pacino as Hoffa, Joe Pesci, Ray Romano, Anna Paquin, and Harvey Keitel – should be more than enough to justify the film’s staggering budget. Stay tuned for early reactions out of New York Film Festival, where the film is set to make its U.S. premiere. – NL
“The Laundromat”
Give Steven Soderbergh credit: the guy never makes the same movie twice. This is a director whose last several projects were: a star-studded, country-fried heist movie (“Logan Lucky”), a twisty murder mystery, (HBO’s “Mosaic”), a claustrophobic psychological thriller (“Unsane”), and a dialogue-driven sports-business drama (“High-Flying Bird”). In spite of all that talk of retirement, Soderbergh has committed to finding new outlets for his restless creative spirit – and it would appear that one of those outlets happens to be Netflix. They were behind “High-Flying Bird,” and they’re also behind the director’s considerably glossier, Venice-bound political drama, “The Laundromat.” “The Laundromat” is the story of the Panama Papers scandal, in which a group of journalists dug through a glut of leaked documents linking high-ranking politicians to offshore bank accounts – the kind that allows you to avoid paying considerable amounts of money to the IRS. Meryl Streep will play Ellen Martin, whose vacation takes a surreptitious turn when she crosses paths with shady Panamanian lawyers Jürgen Mossack (Gary Oldman) and Ramón Mora (Antonio Banderas). Returning Soderbergh collaborators Sharon Stone and Alex Pettyfer round out the cast alongside Will Forte, David Schwimmer, and Jeffery Wright, with Scott Z. Burns (“Side Effects,” “Contagion”) writing the script and Soderbergh once again acting as his own editor and cinematographer. – NL
https://twitter.com/ThePlaylist/status/1153670452746866688
“Marriage Story”
Any new movie from writer/director Noah Baumbach is a cause for celebration over here at The Playlist. Baumbach’s last few films – “While We’re Young,” “Mistress America,” and 2017’s radiant “The Meyerowitz Stories: New and Selected” – seemed to mark the beginning of a lighter, slightly less misanthropic chapter in the director’s career. If the early buzz on “Marriage Story,” Baumbach’s upcoming Netflix-distributed marital drama, is any indication, the director’s latest may offer a return to the unsentimental style of mid-career efforts like “The Squid and the Whale” and “Margot at the Wedding.” The film stars Adam Driver and Scarlett Johansson as Charlie and Nicole: a theater director and his thespian spouse who are involved in an emotionally brutal coast-to-coast divorce that gets increasingly, unflinchingly ugly. Baumbach has cited Ingmar Bergman’s “Persona” as a visual inspiration for the new film, while also indicating that “Marriage Story” is possibly one of his most raw and uncomfortably personal works. Netflix’s original feature film lineup from this year has been pretty dismal, so I’m sure they need this one to be good – and we’re confident that it will be, seeing how Baumbach generally doesn’t make subpar movies. Keep your eyes peeled for early reactions once this one bows at TIFF and Venice. – NL
“The King”
For our money, David Michôd is one of the most interesting directors currently working, even if not all of his movies connect with audiences. “Animal Kingdom” is a chilling crime film: a brutal look at a pack of Australian gangsters, spearheaded by what might by Ben Mendelsohn’s most frightening performance (which is really saying something). Michôd’s subsequent films have, unfortunately, had less of an impact. “The Rover” was a stunning post-apocalyptic tone poem that proved to be too bleak for some, while the wacky black comedy “War Machine” was a tonal misfire that squandered a brave but broad performance from the normally more reserved Brad Pitt. “The King,” however, could very well restore Michôd to the heights of his former glory. Timothee Chalamet stars as King Henry V, who must accede to the throne of his father (Ben Mendelsohn, returning from “Animal Kingdom”), thus inheriting all of the treachery, violence, and political backstabbing that comes with his lofty new status. Netflix has picked up the film – which co-stars Robert Pattinson, Joel Edgerton (who co-wrote the script with Michôd), Lily-Rose Depp, and Thomasin McKenzie – for a holiday release, though “The King” will have its premiere in August at Venice Film Festival. – NL
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“Wasp Network”
Olivier Assayas is a director who rarely stays in one lane. He’s not one of those filmmakers like Wes Anderson or Tim Burton whose work you can identify from one frame. Assayas’ filmography is all over the place in the best way: to date, he’s given us coming-of-age classics (“Cold Water”), showbiz send-ups (“Irma Vep”), family melodramas (“Summer Hours”), and low-key ghost stories (“Personal Shopper”). While Assayas’ most recent work, “Non-Fiction,” was one of 2019’s enduring delights, his latest, “Wasp Network,” looks to be more in the vein of his rambling, gorgeously-realized crime miniseries “Carlos” (it certainly doesn’t hurt that the lead of “Carlos,” Edgar Ramirez, also appears in this new film alongside Penelope Cruz, Gael Garcia Bernal, and Wagner Moura of “Narcos”). It’s a spy thriller that takes place in the 1990s, depicting Floridian anti-Castro factions carrying out military attacks in Cuba that result in the creation of the title group, the Wasp Network. Assayas is working from a script based on “The Last Soldiers of the Civil War: The Story of the Cuban Five” by Fernando Morais, and the film is all set for a premiere at Telluride, with international rights being handled by Orange Studios. – NL
https://twitter.com/ThePlaylist/status/1154406110779940866
“Dolemite Is My Name”
Eddie Murphy has had one of the most storied rollercoaster careers in Hollywood history. From his late-teens, blowing up as a stand-up comedian and star of ‘SNL‘ to becoming the biggest comedic actor around thanks to “Beverly Hills Cop,” “48 Hrs.,” and “Coming to America” before fizzling out and reaching a career-low with box office and critical bomb after bomb, Murphy has seen all the highs and lows once can experience in Hollywood. It’s almost fitting that Murphy is attempting to relaunch his career portraying a controversial film legend, Rudy Ray Moore, in director Craig Brewer’s comedic biopic, “Dolemite Is My Name.” The film, as the title suggests, shows Rudy Ray Moore’s rise to stardom as one of the first Blaxploitation filmmakers in the ’70s, after struggling for years to find his way into the celebrity lifestyle. Murphy is hoping that this R-rated, Netflix comedy about a man trying to carve out a place for himself in the film industry is just what the actor needs to help cement his status as an A-lister, once again. – Charles Barfield
“First Cow”
Kelly Reichardt is one of those filmmakers that we’ll always support, no matter where she chooses to go. With poetic, low-key masterworks like “Wendy and Lucy,” “Meek’s Cutoff,” and “Certain Women” under her belt, Reichardt has proven herself to be a sympathetic chronicler of a fading America that doesn’t get depicted all too often in films. We don’t know a whole lot about her A24-produced upcoming feature “First Cow,” but here’s what we do know: the film is a 1800’s-set period drama, loosely adapted from Jonathan Raymond’s “The Half Life,” that follows a woman named Cookie Figowitz who works as a cook for a roving band of fur trappers. When Figowitz happens upon the path of a drifting expatriate named Henry Brown, the two set off on a wandering, desolate voyage that takes them all the way from the Oregon Trail to the burgeoning expanse of China. The film, which is confirmed to star John Magaro and René Murat Auberjonois, will continue to showcase Reichardt’s sensitive portrayal of Native American subcultures, and it looks to be as expansive a canvas as any the director worked with since the grand “Meek’s Cutoff.” No theatrical or festival release dates has been announced yet, but A24 has picked up the film for U.S. distribution. – NL
https://twitter.com/ThePlaylist/status/1158771262564339712
“The Truth”
Last year, Japanese filmmaker Hirokazu Kore-eda gave us “Shoplifters”: a sparkling humanist gem that ended up being one of the most memorable filmgoing experiences of 2018 and eventual Palme d’Or winner at Cannes. Kore-eda’s latest film, “The Truth” is notable for a couple of reasons. It’s the director’s first English-language work, and also his first film set outside of Japan. Like many of Kore-eda’s projects, “The Truth” is a family drama – one that unfolds mostly in one house. The film is also populated by what could be considered the director’s first movie-star cast (screen legend Catherine Deneuve plays a celebrated actress, naturally, with Juliette Binoche co-starring as her daughter and Ethan Hawke as her son-in-law). The film will also open the Venice Film Festival on August 28. Past opening night premieres have included “La La Land,” “Downsizing,” and “First Man” – so, with the exception of “La La Land,” not exactly films that go over like gangbusters at the Academy Awards. But no matter – with Kore-eda’s films, awards are almost secondary to the bliss that comes with watching them for the first time. We’re beyond excited to see the Japanese auteur try his hand at something new, especially with a cast such as this. – NL
And there you have it — plenty of films to keep you busy over the next four months. Technically, we’ve actually named 46 films, but 45 sounds nicer in a headline. Enjoy!
