50. “The Glass Castle”
Director: Destin Daniel Cretton (“Short Term 12”)
Cast: Brie Larson, Woody Harrelson, Naomi Watts, Max Greenfield, Sarah Snook
Synopsis: The true story of Jeanette Walls and her poverty-stricken, nomadic upbringing with her alcoholic, mentally troubled parents.
What You Need To Know: Though she was already well on the way, Brie Larson’s path to her current Oscar-winning, superheroic status owes a major debt to her extraordinary performance in 2013’s “Short Term 12.” So that she’s reuniting with the director of that film, Destin Daniel Cretton, can only be good news. It’s an adaptation of Jeannette Walls’ best-selling memoir, with Woody Harrelson and Naomi Watts taking the sure-to-be-baity roles of her parents, so a return to awards season for Larson might well be in the cards. And while the source material sounds like it could be misery-memoir-y, but we trust Cretton to find the texture and humor amongst it, given his impressive debut.
Release Date: Nothing firm yet, but look for it in awards season, most likely.
49. “John Wick: Chapter Two”
Director: Chad Stahelski (“John Wick”)
Cast: Keanu Reeves, Common, Ian McShane, Laurence Fishburne, Ruby Rose
Synopsis: Now he’s firmly out of retirement, legendary hitman John Wick travels to Rome to help an old colleague take over an international assassin’s guild.
What You Need To Know: Few movies in recent memory were as pleasantly surprising as John Wick, a stylish, beautiful, utterly kick-ass action movie that was the best role that Keanu Reeves has had in years. Sequels tend to have diminishing returns, especially those that come after a surprise sleeper action hit starring an actor on a bit of a downward slide (think of the Liam Neeson/”Taken” model), but we have faith that ex-stunt director Chad Stahelski can bring the goods again, especially with an impressive trailer having already debuted. If nothing else, expect a lot of people in suits to get shot through the brain.
Release Date: February 10th
48. “Good Time”
Director: Joshua & Ben Safdie (“Heaven Knows What”)
Cast: Robert Pattinson, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Buddy Durress
Synopsis: A bank robber tries to avoid the law closing in on him.
What You Need To Know: Say what you like about Robert Pattinson, but he’s made a really impressive effort to find smart, auteur filmmakers to work with in a way that few actors of his generation have, from David Cronenberg to, coming up, Olivier Assayas. This year, his major project looks to be with The Safdie Brothers, who made a stunning breakthrough a couple of years back with the gritty magic of addiction drama “Heaven Knows What.” This film, described as ‘neo-grindhouse,’ looks to put them into more genre-flecked territory, and we’re excited to see how that works out.
Release Date: Shot last January, so Sundance seems the most likely. A24 have the rights, so look for it not long after.
47. “Beat-Up Little Seagull”
Director: Andrew Dosunmu (“Restless City”)
Cast: Michelle Pfeiffer, Kiefer Sutherland, Babs Olusanmokun
Synopsis: A fragile woman must find a foothold in life after her mother dies, as she tries to hide her grief from her new lover.
What You Need To Know: While other black filmmakers who emerged at the same time, like Ava DuVernay, Ryan Coogler and Dee Rees, have found wider audiences and leapt up to bigger fare, Nigerian-born, American-based filmmaker Andrew Dosunmu has mostly remained on the fringes, despite some gorgeous work with “Restless City” and “Mother Of George.” But expect that to change with his latest, “Beat-Up Little Seagull” (which may or may not be called “Where Is Kyra?” instead), which sees him work with big-name cast members for the first time. Michelle Pfeiffer, who has the lead role, is due for a big comeback year between this and Darren Aronofsky’s “Mother,” so expect a lot of attention for this, and it’ll be beautiful too, as the great Bradford Young is shooting it.
Release Date: Expect it at Sundance
46. “The Death Of Stalin”
Director: Armando Iannucci (“In The Loop”)
Cast: Jeffrey Tambor, Steve Buscemi, Andrea Riseborough, Olga Kurylenko, Michael Palin
Synopsis: After the death of Soviet leader Joseph Stalin in 1953, his underlings jockey for power and deal with the fallout.
What You Need To Know: Correlation is not causation, but we’re just saying that in the year where Armando Iannucci left “Veep” and wasn’t doing “The Thick Of It,” the world’s politics went completely batshit crazy. So the news he’s back, with his first big-screen movie in eight years, is great, particularly given that it’s about the timely subject of despotism and repressive regimes. Based on a biography of Stalin, but given the dark comedy that is his trademark, it’s also seen Iannucci assemble an absolutely killer ensemble: aside from the names above (Buscemi as Khruschev!), we also get Timothy Dalton, Toby Kebbell, Simon Russell Beale, Paddy Considine, Rupert Friend and Jason Isaacs, among others. We can’t really see how this isn’t great.
Release Date: Shot early in the summer, so could be an outside bet for Cannes, but TIFF is more likely.
45. “Three Billboards Outside Of Ebbing, Missouri”
Director: Martin McDonagh (“In Bruges”)
Cast: Frances McDormand, Woody Harrelson, Sam Rockwell, Abbie Cornish, Peter DInklage
Synopsis: When her daughter is murdered and the local cops seem to cover up the death, a Missouri woman goes to war against the authorities.
What You Need To Know: After winning an Oscar for his short “Six-Shooter,” and making a killer feature debut with “In Bruges,” playwright Martin McDonagh had something of a misstep with his next film, the somewhat misunderstood, but nevertheless flawed “Seven Psychopaths.” But the hit play “Hangmen” looks to have put him back on track, and there’s every reason to believe that his third film, another pitch-black comedy-drama, will put him back on track. A few McDonagh regulars — Rockwell and Harrelson, namely — return, but Frances McDormand has the lead role, and it’s a while since we’ve seen the “Fargo” Oscar-winner with something that promises to be as meaty as this.
Release Date: Shot in May, so could be ready as soon as Sundance or Berlin, though later in the year is more likely. Fox Searchlight will release it.
44. “War Machine”
Director: David Miçhod (“Animal Kingdom”)
Cast: Brad Pitt, Topher Grace, Meg Tilly, Scoot McNairy, Will Poulter
Synopsis: A veiled biopic of Stanley McChrystal, the so-called Runaway General who was put in charge of the war in Afghanistan by President Obama but who quickly alienated his allies and bosses.
What You Need To Know: Netflix’s dips into producing movies have so far mostly consisted of comedies with Adam Sandler or Kevin James, “Beasts Of No Nation” aside, but 2017 sees them really enter the market in a big way, with Will Smith vehicle “Bright,” Bong Joon-Ho’s latest (see below) and this, a $60 million budgeted movie starring one of the biggest stars on the planet, Brad Pitt. It teams the star with Australian director David Miçhod, a major talent thanks to “Animal Kingdom” and “The Rover,” and the cast’s great — Emory Cohen, Lakeith Stanfield and John Magaro are also involved. We were expecting this last year, and we’ve heard some slightly troubling buzz about the film, which is why it’s dropped down the list, but we still trust that Miçhod can pull something great together.
Release Date: We imagine Netflix will want a big festival bow for the film, likely Berlin or Cannes.
43. “Ismael’s Ghosts”
Director: Arnaud Desplechin (“A Christmas Tale”)
Cast: Mathieu Amalric, Marion Cotillard, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Louis Garrel, Alba Rohrwacher
Synopsis: A film director about to make a new movie who still mourns the death of his lover 20 years ago is stunned when she returns from the dead.
What You Need To Know: Arnaud Desplechin is one of our favorite working filmmakers, and if we were concerned he’d gone off the boil with his misguided English-language debut “Jimmy P,” he came roaring back to form with the sublime “My Golden Days,” and we’re hopeful that his run will continue with his latest. Centering on a filmmaker (played by Desplechin’s usual surrogate Mathieu Amalric) with seemingly some supernatural/magic realist elements, it also has maybe Desplechin’s starriest-ever cast, with a number of big-name French stars including Marion Cotillard. Maybe this’ll be the crossover hit he’s long deserved?
Release Date: Cannes shockingly and senselessly rejected “My Golden Days” (the film premiered at the Directors’ Fortnight sidebar instead), but unless Desplechin bears a grudge, we imagine this will bow on the Croisette anyway.
42. “The LEGO Batman Movie”
Director: Chris McKay (“Robot Chicken”)
Cast: Will Arnett, Michael Cera, Ralph Fiennes, Zach Galafianakis, Rosario Dawson
Synopsis: He’s the toast of Gotham, but Batman remains deeply lonely inside, until he adopts a young boy who’ll become his sidekick.
What You Need To Know: We feel that even if “Batman V. Superman” and “Suicide Squad” hadn’t stunk worse than a fish head behind a radiator, a certain amount of Bat-fatigue might be starting to set in, so the idea that we’re getting a third Bat-movie in eleven months is sort of a horrifying one at first. Until you realize that it’s an animated spin-off of “The Lego Movie,” focused on the Caped Crusader character voiced by Will Arnett who was the stand-out character in Lord & Miller’s 2014 surprise gem. They’re not directing here, but this still looks like a potential delight, with trailers that had more gags than most full comedies in the last year, and while the risk of putting the spotlight on a breakout character (see the “Pirates” sequels, for instance) can lead to problems, this looks to be both a loving tribute and a deserved jab at the Bat-franchise. Your move, Affleck.
Release Date: February 10th
41. “Molly’s Game”
Director: Aaron Sorkin
Cast: Jessica Chastain, Idris Elba, Michael Cera, Kevin Costner, Chris O’Dowd
Synopsis: A former Olympic hopeful skier establishes a high-stakes international poker game that brings her to the attention of the FBI.
What You Need To Know: After an Oscar and a whole bunch of Emmys, Aaron Sorkin has been talking about making his directorial debut for a while — he wanted to do it with “The Social Network” initially, and was developing a John Edwards biopic for a while too. But it’s finally happening with “Molly’s Game,” an adaptation of a best-selling memoir by Molly Bloom, who became a mover and shaker on the underground poker scene before coming a cropper with the law. Unsurprisingly, given Sorkin’s reputation, actors are lining up to work with him, and he’s gathered a doozy of a cast together. Not every actor can make Sorkin-ese sing, as “The Newsroom” proved, but this bunch should be more than up to the task.
Release Date: STX snapped up the rights – expect an awards season bow of some kind.