March 15, 2024
Even though we are only a few months into the new year, for reasons I will get into shortly, I think it’s safe to say that 2024 won’t live up to the impressive year we just witnessed. But that doesn’t mean there won’t be some excellent choices to see at the theater and at home. Before we dive into my 2024 movie preview, a few words about Christopher Nolan’s coronation at the Oscars.
It’s His Time
I was listening to a podcast recently and they compared this year’s Oscars to 1993’s ceremony when Steven Spielberg was finally recognized by the Academy, winning Best Director and Best Picture for Schindler’s List. No, I am not saying Christopher Nolan is on the same level as Spielberg (yet?) and I am not saying Oppenheimer is better than Schindler’s List. But, this year’s Oscars acknowledged a very talented filmmaker and storyteller for a serious drama after years of making (mostly) blockbuster popcorn movies. Granted, Oppenheimer made almost a billion dollars at the theater, but it’s a good comp, given Spielberg had largely been known for films like Jaws, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, among other giant movies before he finally broke through at the Oscars. Clearly the Academy had this in mind as Spielberg presented the Best Director award to Nolan. It’s still crazy to me that Spielberg delivered Jurassic Park and Schindler’s List in the same year. Almost as impressive as Steven Soderbergh receiving two of the five Best Director nominations for Erin Brockovich and Traffic in 2000. Anyway, on to this year’s ceremony.
Overall, I was pretty happy with all of the winners. There were no big surprises in the major awards, with the only tension being Emma Stone’s win for Best Actress in the bonkers Poor Things. This was a nailbiter and I truly believe she didn’t think she would win. When Lily Gladstone won the SAG award for Killers of the Flower Moon, Stone was ecstatic for her and based on her reaction to winning the Oscar, she clearly thought Gladstone’s name would be announced.
I would have liked to see Celine Song win Best Original Screenplay for Past Lives, but Justine Triet’s win for Anatomy of a Fall was a worthy alternative. And even though an Adapted Screenplay win for Barbie would have been a nice recognition for Greta Gerwig and her co-writer Noah Baumbach, I was thrilled to see Cord Jefferson win for American Fiction. His movie was the opening night selection at the Philadelphia Film Festival and he participated in a very insightful Q&A afterwards. His acceptance speech at the Oscars was outstanding, as he reminded the executives in Hollywood that it’s ok to take risks in making movies. Even $200 million films are risks and he implored them to instead try making ten $20 million films or fifty $4 million films. At the end of the day, it’s about the story and the filmmaker’s vision. Well said, Cord. Well said.
As far as the ceremony itself, I thought it was very good. I liked the earlier start time (great for us old folks), Kimmel was excellent (although the campaigning to name John Mulaney as next year’s host has already begun), the bits were not terrible, and for the most part, I liked the past acting winners acknowledging this year’s nominees. But there’s one aspect of the ceremony we have to address. He may not have won an Oscar, but Ryan Gosling won THE Oscars this year. His performance of I’m Just Ken brought the house down and was fantastic. A true tour de force for someone who is (checks notes) an actor, not a singer. But he clearly has music chops and performed the song with such enthusiasm that the crowd was enthralled. I give him so much credit because it could not have been easy to put that vulnerability on display for millions of people on TV. It’s one thing to risk looking like a fool on the set of Barbie, knowing that you can always get another take. Live TV is a whole other animal (just ask Rob Lowe about the infamous Snow White / Proud Mary Oscar opening in 1989) and Gosling rocked it. My favorite part was his interactions with the audience, including his Barbie posse Margot Robbie, America Ferrera, and Greta Gerwig and (of course) Emma Stone, his co-star in a little musical called La La Land. I’m sure Damien Chazelle was watching at home if he wasn’t in the room. Damien, I know the world didn’t connect with Babylon as much as I did, but Emma and Ryan still have that magic chemistry – maybe a La La Land sequel for your next project? Pretty please?
Ok, now we can officially turn the page to 2024.
A Bumpy Year Ahead
After movie productions were largely back on track last year after the pandemic, with new releases from some of our most talented directors, it looked like we were in a great position. Then the strikes happened. The last half of 2023 was thrown into chaos with the dual strikes by the actors’ and writers’ unions, leading to a broad shutdown of movie and television productions. Over the last few months, projects are getting started again, but it’s going to leave a lot of holes in the release schedule for 2024.
Some films have already pushed back their release dates to 2025, including the next Mission: Impossible installment, Mickey 17 (Bong Joon-ho’s follow up to Parasite), the John Wick spinoff Ballerina, the next animated Spider-Man movie, and the Marvel / DC franchises are in major reboot mode, with limited releases this year. Hell, The Batman sequel with Robert Pattinson just got pushed to 2026! We will see Joaquin Phoenix back as The Joker, this time with Lady Gaga in a movie that may be kind of / sort of a musical? Yikes. And Deadpool & Wolverine is a marquee release this year, but it’s not on my list of anticipated movies for 2024 – I was never into the franchise and I can only take Ryan Reynolds in small doses. He’s with Chris Pratt and Mark Wahlberg on the Mt. Rushmore of actors I just don’t care for. Instead, we’re going to focus this preview on some movies I am excited about. Before I jump in, don’t scroll down looking for Dune Part Two. I’m going to cover my thoughts on that one in my monthly movie report in two weeks. It’s in theaters now and my quick review is to suggest you see it in IMAX as soon as you can. It’s a masterpiece. More to come later this month.
Hollywood’s Next Generation of Superstars
Following the critical and box-office success of Dune Part Two, it’s time to celebrate the next generation of superstars that have arrived, some of whom have films coming in 2024. First up is Challengers, the new picture from director Luca Guadagnino (Call Me By Your Name) starring Zendaya as a tennis pro caught up in a love triangle with two other tennis players, played by Josh O’Connor and Mike Faist. If this one sounds familiar, you probably saw the trailer several months ago. Challengers was originally scheduled to be released in September, but pushed back due to the actors’ strike, primarily because Zendaya wouldn’t have been able to promote it. With her excellent performance in Dune Part Two and because she is Zendaya (duh!) I expect Challengers to be a big hit when it premieres in theaters on April 26th.
Coming off of his Oscar nomination for 2022’s Elvis, Austin Butler plays a frightening villain in Dune Part Two and headlines a talented cast in The Bikeriders. The film is a drama about a motorcycle club in the 1960s and also stars Jodie Comer and Tom Hardy. It received good reviews during its festival run last year and will be released in theaters on June 21st.
One last film from another co-star in Dune Part Two, although she had a very small part. Anya Taylor-Joy may be best known to audiences from her role in The Queen’s Gambit, but she has starred in a number of very good films including The Witch, The Menu, and Last Night in Soho. This year she headlines Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, a prequel to 2015’s Mad Max: Fury Road, playing the title character made famous by Charlize Theron. George Miller is back behind the camera with the fifth installment of this series that began back in 1979 with Mel Gibson starring in Mad Max. The trailer for this one looks as wild as Fury Road and I expect it to be another exhilarating experience. Look for Furiosa in theaters on May 24th.
Speaking of Superstars
One of the biggest surprises from the holiday film season was the box-office success of Anyone But You, a pretty good romantic comedy starring Glen Powell and Sydney Sweeney. There were questions about releasing a “date movie” during December, but it made over $200 million worldwide, proving that audiences are ready for the next generation of movie stars. Sweeney is back in theaters next week with Immaculate, a horror story in which she plays a nun. It recently premiered to decent reviews at South by Southwest.
Powell has two films on tap this year, which should solidify his ability to move past being Maverick’s co-star to leading-man status. First up is Hit Man, in which he plays the title character for director Richard Linklater, who directed Powell in 2016’s excellent college baseball movie Everybody Wants Some!! Hit Man premiered to phenomenal reviews at last year’s Venice Film Festival and was quickly scooped up by Netflix, which is disappointing because I’d love to see this one in a theater. Oh, well. Look for Hit Man on Netflix on June 7th. The following month, Powell leads a strong cast in Twisters, the sequel to 1996’s Twister about a group of tornado chasers and also features Daisy Edgar-Jones in a starring role. The film was directed by Lee Isaac Chung, in a stark departure from his last movie, the wonderful family drama Minari. Could Twisters be a complete replay of the 1996 original? Sure, but I’m game because it looks like a great popcorn movie for a Friday night. Twisters premieres in theaters on July 19th.
Do They Still Have It?
Yes, we love the new generation of stars, but we like our old favorites too. Not a lot is known about Wolfs, except it stars George Clooney and Brad Pitt as two fixers who are hired for the same job. OK, I’m intrigued – they clearly still have acting talent and great chemistry from the Ocean’s movies. Speaking of which, Clooney hasn’t closed the door on a fourth Ocean’s film that would play up the fact that they are all getting older, in the spirit of 1979’s Going in Style with George Burns, Art Carney and Lee Strasburg as senior citizens robbing a bank. I’d rather see Clooney and Pitt pursue other projects, especially if Steven Soderbergh (who directed the original Ocean’s trilogy) doesn’t return. Anyway, Wolfs is directed by Jon Watts, the filmmaker behind the Tom Holland Spider-Man trilogy, and will premiere in theaters on September 20th.
I Have Some Questions
I am not a big fan of movie trailers. Most of them show the entire plot of the film in two or three minutes. Just give me some quick scenes with a flavor for who is in the movie and a taste of the vibe. I don’t need (or want) the whole plot. When my wife and I recently saw a movie, the preview for Challengers was shown. After it ended, I asked her if she wanted to see it, she replied, “I feel like I just saw the whole movie.” Such is the case with The Fall Guy, an action-comedy with Ryan Gosling as the titular character (loosely based on the 1980s television show) portraying a stuntman in a movie directed by his ex-girlfriend, played by Emily Blunt. Great premise, right? Well, the trailer looks like it might not be good? Maybe a little too cute (winking at the audience) humor that really isn’t funny? And, it seems like we saw a lot of the plot in the trailer. That being said, early reviews after its premiere at South by Southwest describe it as a very funny action-romantic comedy. And let’s be honest, Gosling and Blunt’s charm scores are off the charts and they clearly have great chemistry, as witnessed by their recent presentation at the Oscars. Ok, I’ve convinced myself – it’s going to be great. Maybe.
Fingers Crossed
Full disclosure – I never listened to Amy Winehouse. Just one of those artists that passed me by. And I am usually not a fan of biopics, especially music biopics, as I have written about before. With that in mind, I decided to pass on Bob Marley: One Love because it looked too formulaic and I was never a big fan of his music. Of course, it was constantly played in my college dorm (like everyone else), but I was more of a Pearl Jam fan than Marley fan in the early 90s. However, the new film about Amy Winehouse, Back to Black, looks interesting. I decided to give her 2006 iconic album a spin and I liked it. As usual, I am very late to most artists, but will probably see Back to Black, which tells the story of her upbringing, rise to fame, and unfortunate battles with addiction that led to her death at the age of 27 in 2011. English actress Marisa Abela will portray Winehouse in Back to Black, which premieres in theaters on May 17th.
The Man Just Doesn’t Stop Working
Reactions to Ridley Scott’s latest picture Napoleon were mixed. The action sequences were well done, but the relationship aspect of the film felt choppy. That’s not a disparaging comment about the performances of Joaquin Phoenix or Vanessa Kirby, which were both very good. The film just felt disjointed. I’m anticipating the four-hour director’s cut which Scott has promised us, because I am a true movie sicko. While we don’t know when that will grace our Apple TV+ screens, we do know that we are getting Gladiator 2 from Scott later this year. Leading the deep cast of the film will be another member of the next generation of movie stars, Paul Mescal, who portrays the son of Connie Nielsen’s character from the original, and nephew of Joaquin Phoenix’s evil emperor. The cast also includes Denzel Washington and Pedro Pascal, with Nielsen reprising her role as Lucilla. The original film won Best Picture in 2000, and is considered an all-time classic, although Scott lost Best Director to Steven Soderbergh that year. Scott is still looking for his first Oscar at the age of 86 and is showing no signs of slowing down. I’m hopeful that this will be a masterpiece, on par with the original, but I have my concerns, as Scott has been hit or miss in recent years. Could this be Ridley’s year? Gladiator 2 will be released in theaters on November 22nd.
A Family Business
When people hear the name M. Night Shyamalan, their first reaction is probably The Sixth Sense, his breakout hit that is now somehow 25 years old. It would be unreasonable to assume he would ever achieve that kind of box-office or critical success again, but he has made some very good films over the last decade, including last year’s Knock at the Cabin. He will be back this summer with Trap, a thriller starring Josh Hartnett, coming off a strong performance in Oppenheimer. Typical of Shyamalan’s films, not much is known about the plot, except it reportedly takes place at a concert, with the director noting it features a story you may have seen before, but told from a unique angle. Consider me intrigued. We’ll see Trap in theaters on August 2nd, but before that we will see the directorial debut of Night’s daughter, Ishana. The Watchers is described as a supernatural story about a group of people trapped in the woods and stars Dakota Fanning. I saw a teaser trailer for this one recently and it certainly looks creepy. Look for The Watchers in theaters on June 14th.
For True Sickos
After those two picks, we’re officially turning the corner into the wild, weird world of horror. First up are two options that I will admit may not be for everyone. In 2022, director Ti West released X, a horror movie set in the 1970s about a group of people making an adult film on a secluded farm. When the old couple learn of their true intentions, things start to go horribly wrong. Starring in X was the phenomenal Mia Goth who played Maxine, one of the young actors, and Pearl, the old woman (under heavy makeup). While on location in New Zealand filming X, the director and his cast and crew had time on their hands due to the pandemic, so he and Goth decided to write and film Pearl, a prequel to X about Pearl’s younger days, set in 1918. Both movies were excellent and showcased Goth’s talents as an actress and West’s skills as a storyteller. This year they will be back for a sequel to X where Maxine moves to Los Angeles to pursue her career in the adult film industry in MaXXXine. Get it? The new installment features a deeper cast and is set in the 1980s, so it should be a fun throwback to the slasher movies of that era. Look for MaXXXine in theaters on July 5th.
Director Robert Eggers gained a lot of fans with his 2015 Puritan-era horror movie The Witch, starring Anya Taylor-Joy. His next two films were decent, but pretty strange, as The Lighthouse and The Northman appealed to a smaller, more dedicated fan base who love his filmmaking style. I would say that I have admired Eggers’ pictures more than loved them, but I know that he always takes a big swing with his stories. He is back this year with Nosferatu, an adaptation of the Dracula story we’ve seen before. I expect Eggers to bring a unique vision to this classic, which features Bill Skarsgård (who starred as Pennywise in the Stephen King’s It films) as the titular character. Like any classic holiday story (sarcasm), Nosferatu premieres in theaters on December 25th.
Prepare to be Scared
Three more choices for those of you who like a more traditional scary movie. First up is A Quiet Place: Day One, the third installment of the John Krasinski-created series that takes us back to the beginning of the alien invasion that caused the world to go silent to stay alive. Krasinski helped with the story for this installment, but turned over the directing duties to Michael Sarnoski, who was behind the camera for 2021’s excellent Pig with Nicholas Cage. The trailer for this one looks great and features Krasinski and Emily Blunt, but I have a feeling those scenes were from the first film and they are not going to appear in this installment. Leading the cast is Lupita Nyong’o, who will no doubt showcase her strong acting skills trying to survive the invasion. I’m pretty curious to learn how people figured out how the aliens couldn’t see but had supersonic hearing, as well as looking forward to being terrified. A Quiet Place: Day One premieres in theaters on June 28th.
Two years ago, when movie studios were trying to navigate the pandemic and the streaming wars, Paramount Pictures made the decision to take a film that was developed for Paramount+ and put it in theaters. Several months later, after a wonderful marketing campaign, Smile earned over $200 million and a sequel was quickly greenlit. Not much is known about Smile 2 (in fact, that might not even be the title) except writer and director Parker Finn is back again to create a terrifying world that will creep the hell out of us. Just in time for Halloween, Smile 2 (or whatever it’s called) will premiere in theaters on October 18th.
One of my favorite movies from 2022 was Talk to Me, the Australian horror film from first-time directors Danny and Michael Philippou. It was frightening and a huge box-office success, earning almost $100 million. The sequel, Talk 2 Me, was announced last Summer, but not a lot is known about the story or even if it will be out this year (fingers crossed we get a Halloween release). But when it is, I’ll be there opening weekend.
Documentary Corner
A quick bite about two documentaries that premiered at the Sundance Film Festival to strong reviews. The first one I can vouch for and it is fantastic. Skywalkers: A Love Story is about two Russian rooftoppers. What’s a rooftopper? Well, they scale insanely tall buildings around the world, and take incredible photos and videos to share with their social media followers. Most of the time, they are trespassing, so part of the fun is the chase sequences where they are dodging the authorities. Now, I was hesitant to watch this during the virtual Sundance Film Festival because I hate hate hate heights! I mean, I get queasy watching people bungee jumping on The Amazing Race. There were several times watching Skywalkers that I could literally feel my palms sweating. But don’t worry, if I can survive it, so can you and the footage is incredible. I highly recommend you check this one out when it premieres on Netflix later this year.
The second one I didn’t get a chance to see as it wasn’t available as part of the virtual festival, but it received very strong reviews from those who attended its screening in person. Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story tells the story of the talented actor, focusing on his life after his horse-riding accident that left him paralyzed. I expect an emotional and inspiring story about Reeve, who was a champion for disability rights after his accident. Super/Man was acquired by Warner Bros. Studios, so look for a release on Max later this year.
The Biggest of Big Bets
If you are a fan of Yellowstone, you may be wondering when the next season will be coming out. Or perhaps you’ve seen some of the drama surrounding the series, which will be ending after the second half of season five premieres in November. I don’t have enough space to go into all of the drama, except to note that the catalyst was a dispute between Kevin Costner and series creator Taylor Sheridan about how much time Costner needed to be on set for the fifth season. It seems that Costner had ambitions to get back into the filmmaking business, specifically a Western saga told over the course of four movies (not a typo.) He is almost done with the first two (the other two haven’t started production) and they will be released this year in an unconventional release strategy. Horizon: An American Saga will premiere in theaters on June 28th (part one) and August 16th (part two.) Given the phenomenal success of Yellowstone, I think this will be a big box-office success. Will it be good? That’s a separate question.
Think that’s the biggest movie bet of 2024? Think again. Francis Ford Coppola is a legend. No one is denying that. But he hasn’t been very active the last twenty-five years. He hasn’t made a film since 2011 and the last movie I’ve heard of that he directed was 1997’s The Rainmaker. Granted, he turns 85 next month, but there are other directors still delivering great movies in their mid-80s (Scorsese, Scott, Mann). So, it was surprising to hear that he was moving forward with Megalopolis, a science-fiction story set in New York City. The film has been a passion project for Coppola for decades and he reportedly sold part of his winery business to help finance the movie, which cost over $100 million. Coppola has flirted with financial ruin several times during his career, most famously when he made Apocalypse Now. His newest film has a deep cast (who wouldn’t want to work for a living legend?) and is led by Adam Driver. I’m skeptical, but if anyone can pull it off at this age, it’s Coppola. Megalopolis will be released in theaters later this year.
The Highest of High Anticipation
You know what we could use in an election year that will surely be completely sane and not unhinged at all? Yeah, right. No seriously, we could use a nice feel-good movie about our country coming together and acknowledging that things are not totally f*cked and maybe we can be nice to each other. Oh wait. That’s not this movie at all. Civil War is the newest film from Alex Garland, a director that (like Robert Eggers and Ari Aster) I run hot and cold on. Ex Machina is a masterpiece. I liked Annihilation a lot. But his last film, 2022’s Men, was a misguided mess, despite the uber-talented Jesse Buckley in the leading role. For Civil War, Garland has assembled a strong cast led by Kirsten Dunst playing a journalist covering the conflict that is tearing apart the United States. Now, before you think this is a Red State / Blue State story, the trailer mentions the “California-Texas alliance”, so there must be something else at play here. The trailer showcases a film that looks thrilling (and terrifying). The recent reviews following its premiere at South by Southwest were very positive. And I am a huge fan of Dunst and her husband Jesse Plemons, who has a supporting role. We also have Cailee Spaeny (who was wonderful as the leading role in Priscilla) as a photographer covering the war, and Nick Offerman (Ron Freaking Swanson from Parks & Rec) as the President. While it may hit too close to home for the state of our country right now, Civil War is one of my most anticipated films of 2024 and premieres in theaters on April 12th.
That’s all for this week. I’ll be tracking the release calendar and providing updates for coming attractions in my monthly movie report as we go through the year. Speaking of which, I’ll be back in two weeks with my thoughts on the year so far. It’s been a little rough, but there have been some very good films, including the magnificent Dune Part Two, that I will cover. Thanks for reading and if you’d like to be notified of future posts, you can subscribe below