The 100 Most Anticipated Films Of 2016

80. “Batman V. Superman: Dawn Of Justice”
Director: Zack Snyder (“Watchmen,” “Man of Steel”)
Cast: Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill, Gal Gadot, Jesse Eisenberg, Amy Adams, Jeffrey Dean Morgan
Synopsis: An embittered Batman, suspicious of the Man of Steel’s invincibility, goes toe-to-toe with Superman in a clash of superhero ideology, while a new threat looms in the form of Doomsday.
What You Need To Know: Dread is a kind of anticipation, right? Fine, the oncoming juggernaut that is DC doing the shared universe thing, under the all-seeing chin cleft of Zack Snyder (he’s also going to direct the two “Justice League” movies) may not exactly be our bag, but there’s no way we can beat it, so at this stage we might as well kind of join it. And while there are plenty of things in the more recent trailers to give us pause (the design of Doomsday, the CGI of Doomsday, the presence of Doomsday) there are some hopeful aspects too, like Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman and Ben Affleck doing a decent fed-up Wayne/Batman. And let’s not forget that in a time of endlessly repetitive savior stories, this one always had the potential to be a bit different and a bit more thoughtful about the whole superhero phenomenon at large. Maybe.
Release Date: March 25th

79. “X-Men: Apocalypse”
Director: Bryan Singer (“The Usual Suspects,”“X-Men,” “Superman Returns,” “X-Men: Days of Future Past”)
Cast: James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Nicholas Hoult, Oscar Isaac
Synopsis: When the first and most powerful mutant, the immortal Apocalypse, awakens, he finds he is disgusted by the modern world (of 1983) and sets about “cleansing” humanity, with only the X-Men, led by Raven and Professor X to stop him.
What You Need To Know: The relaunched prequelly retconned “X-Men” franchise has improved with each entry, and with series director Bryan Singer at the helm, and the terrific stacked cast all returning with the no-slouch addition of Oscar Isaac, there’s no reason this entry shouldn’t be as much or more fun than the last, ‘Days of Future Past.’ One of the best aspects of this relaunch idea has always been the period trappings, and this time out the early ’80s seems like it could provide a lot of nice flourishes. In fact, the only hesitation we have is around the first trailer, with its by-the-numbers-looking scenes of CG destruction, but let’s just chalk that up to first-trailer syndrome and hope for the best.
Release Date: May 27th

78. “Belgica”
Director: Felix Van Groeningen (“The Broken Circle Breakdown”)
Cast: Stef Aerts, Tom Vermier
Synopsis: Two brothers start up a bar and get caught up in its fortunes as part of Belgium’s nightlife scene.
What You Need To Know: It’s a great shame that just not enough people saw Felix Van Groeningen‘s last film, the almost preternaturally affecting, beautifully observed “The Broken Circle Breakdown,” which won the Panorama award at the Berlinale and the screenplay award at Tribeca, among many other plaudits. (Our own review is here, and the film comes highly recommended). In that story of the rambunctious and ultimately heartbreaking relationship between two Belgian Bluegrass performers, his talent with actors and with stories giving an insider-y, lived-in sense of authenticity to the subcultures of Flemish Belgium, from where he hails, were more than proven. If they translate to this next film too (and the storyline, as much as we know of it, suggests they might), this could be something very special, and if so should kick Van Groeningen’s stateside profile up deservedly higher.
Release Date: Announced for Sundance, so not long to wait.

77.“The Magnificent Seven”
Director: Antoine Fuqua (“Training Day,” “King Arthur, “Olympus Has Fallen,” “The Equalizer,” “Southpaw”)
Cast: Denzel Washington, Chris Pratt, Haley Bennett, Vincent D’Onofrio, Ethan Hawke, Cam Gigandet, Peter Sarsgaard, Byung-hun Lee, Martin Sensmeier, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo
Synopsis: The young widow of a murdered man hire seven gunfighters to exact revenge on the villain and his gang responsible.
What You Need To Know: There’s no point getting up in arms about a remake of John Sturges‘ 1960 classic, when that film was itself a remake of Akira Kurosawa‘s “Seven Samurai.” And in this case the simple, classic lines of a familiar story might actually work in the film’s favor: Antoine Fuqua is not a name immediately associated with narrative originality, but there’s no denying he elicits great performances (Jake Gyllenhaal was terrific in the otherwise formulaic “Southpaw“; Denzel Washington won an Oscar for “Training Day“) and knows his way around a tough, masculine action scene. Reuniting Fuqua with the two stars of his best film (Washington and Hawke from “Training Day”) and fleshing out the cast with some interesting lesser-known actors too, can’t hurt. And as an added footnote, this will also feature the late James Horner’s last score — to everyone’s surprise he had completed it ahead of schedule, just before his death.
Release Date: September 23rd
76.“The Discovery”
Director: Charlie McDowell (“The One I Love”)
Cast: Rooney Mara, Nicholas Hoult
Synopsis: A love story set a year after the existence of the afterlife has been scientifically proven.
What You Need To Know: With an intriguing, clever premise and red-hot cast, “The Discovery” would have piqued our interest even before we knew it was coming from McDowell, whose last film, the highly original Elisabeth Moss-starrer “The One I Love,” was also a relationship story with slightly fantastical elements. This time out, there seems again potential for a provocative take on boy-meets-girl: Just how would knowing that you’re going to live on after death affect your relationships while alive? Mara (who has incidentally been dating McDowell since 2010), if there’s any justice, will be hot off an Oscar nom for “Carol,” while McDowell’s star is in the ascendant anyway — the son of Malcolm McDowell and Mary Steenburgen (I know, right?), he already parlayed a successful comedy twitter account (Dear Girls Above Me) into a book deal and is currently finishing up on a Sarah Silverman TV project.
Release Date: None yet, but it sounds very festival friendly.
75. “The Commune”
Director: Thomas Vinterberg (“Festen,” “The Hunt,” “Far From The Madding Crowd”)
Cast: Urich Thomsen, Fares Fares, Trine Dyrholm, Julie Agnete Vang
Synopsis: In Denmark in the 1970s, a married couple set up a commune in a big rambling house, but must deal with the pressures and stresses of collective living as well as its joys and freedoms.
What You Need To Know: Thomas Vinterberg‘s “Far From The Madding Crowd” didn’t find much of an audience, which is unfair. But he is back in more familiar territory, directing this film from a script he co-wrote with regular collaborator Tobias Lindholm, based on a play Vinterberg also co-wrote. It’s a personal story, and a really interesting one, especially coming from a team who proved themselves so acutely insightful about the machinations of small communities in the scorchingly provocative “The Hunt.” Oh, and the trailer looks fucking terrific, beautifully shot with a mood that seems to fall somewhere between “Festen” and Bergman, as the serpents of jealousy and possessiveness enter this idealistic idyll.
Release Date: No US date yet and more surprisingly, no festival slot booked. But it’s dated Jan 16th in Denmark and Feb 24th in France, so could it show up as an international premiere in Berlin?

74. “Neruda”
Director: Pablo Larrain (“Tony Manero,” “Post Mortem,” “No,” “The Club”)
Cast: Gael García Bernal, Luis Gnecco, Alfredo Castro, Antonia Zegers
Synopsis: In 1940s Chile a dogged inspector is tasked with hunting down Nobel-winning poet Pablo Neruda, who is in hiding due to his communist affiliations.
What You Need To Know: Between the premieres of this film and “Jackie,” as well as the U.S. release of the brilliant “The Club,” 2016’s going to be a Pablo Larraín-filled year, which is absolutely A-OK by us. And while we’re very excited for his U.S./English language debut, we’re certainly confident that this story is right in his existing wheelhouse, especially as it stars great previous collaborators in Gael García Bernal (“No“), Antonia Zegers (who appeared in all three of Larrain’s ‘Pinochet Trilogy’ and is a standout in “The Club”) and the increasingly indispensible Alfredo Castro (again star of the ‘Pinchet Trilogy’ and “The Club,” as well as of Lorenzo Vigas’ Venice Golden Lion winner “From Afar”).
Release Date: None yet, but Larraín has relationships with all three major European festivals, so, depending on its readiness, expect to see it crop up at one of those.

73. “Mascots”
Director: Christopher Guest (“Waiting for Guffman, “Best In Show,” “A Mighty Wind,” “For Your Consideration”)
Cast: Jennifer Coolidge, Parker Posey, Harry Shearer, John Michael Higgins, Jane Lynch, Bob Balaban, Fred Willard, etc. (aka the Christopher Guest repertory company)
Synopsis: A behind-the-scenes look at the cutthroat world of mascotry as competition hots up for the World Mascot Association’s Golden Fluffy Awards.
What You Need To Know: A Netflix mockumentary from the team who already mocked folk music, dog shows, acting-awards races and the theater scene, set in the already daft world of people who dress up in plush fabric costumes and do cartwheels for a living is such a no-brainer that it almost feels like it’s already been done. But while it might be the softest (and cuddliest) of targets, Guest and his collaborators are always worth checking out, as much for the chemistry between them all as for any particularly original plotting. The films are hit-and-miss, but the set-up here seems closest to “Best in Show,” which is a certifiable classic. Plus, it’s been 10 years since the last Guest movie (he had an underrated TV show “Family Tree” in the meantime) so with luck he’s reenergized and raring to go.
Release Date: No word yet.

72. “War on Everyone”
Director: John Michael McDonagh (“The Guard,” “Calvary”)
Cast: Alexander Skarsgård, Tessa Thompson, Michael Peña, Theo James, Stephanie Sigman
Synopsis: Two extremely corrupt New Mexico cops bite off more than they can chew when they try to blackmail a high-level criminal.
What You Need To Know: When a writer/director comes to attention with a very specific style or milieu, it’s both an exciting and a dangerous thing to see them leave it to spread their wings into other worlds. McDonagh’s previous two features, the hilarious “The Guard” and the excoriating “Calvary,” have both starred Brendan Gleeson, and both been set in rural Ireland, mining a brilliantly well-observed vernacular and sensibility. “War on Everyone” sees him far out of that comfort zone, with a cop comedy set in New Mexico, but we’re betting he can pull it off, especially given the good-looking (in all sense of the word) cast. Skarsgård was so good in “The Diary of a Teenage Girl;” Peña’s been a favorite of ours for ages and stole “Ant-Man” completely; while Tessa Thompson, fresh from “Dear White People,” “Selma” and “Creed,” deserves to take another step up. Definitely looking forward to this one.
Release Date: Already announced for the Berlinale in February.

71. “Arms and the Dudes”
Director: Todd Phillips (“Old School,” “Starsky and Hutch,” “The Hangover”)
Cast: Jonah Hill, Miles Teller, Ana de Armas, JB Blanc, Brenda Koo
Synopsis: Two American arms dealers secure a $300-million-dollar contract to arm U.S. allies in Afghanistan, soon finding themselves in dangerous geo-political waters.
What You Need to Know: Bro-maestro Todd Phillips has been mucking around in the world of “The Hangover” since 2009 (with his only non-Wolfpack-related effort in that time being the uneven buddy comedy “Due Date”) and to increasingly diminishing returns. So the idea of him venturing outside his frat-comedy wheelhouse is an intriguing one. He’s also got two of Hollywood’s hottest comedic leading men at his disposal, and an eyebrow-raising true-life story to draw upon. We can see this being a smuttier, more politically charged riff on a John Candy-style buddy farce, just as we can see Hill’s wound-up self-regard bouncing nicely off Teller’s unwound, smirking cool. Here’s to hoping that “Arms and the Dudes” will be the gonzo, go-for-broke yarn that might finally silence the director’s many critics.
Release Date: August 19th