30. “War For The Planet Of The Apes”
Director: Matt Reeves (“Cloverfield”)
Cast: Andy Serkis, Judy Greer, Woody Harrelson, Steve Zahn, Gabriel Chavarria
Synopsis: With the apes and humanity firmly at war, Caesar wrestles with his darker instincts as he’s drawn into conflict with the human leader, the ruthless Colonel.
What You Need To Know: What could have been another brain-free, cynical reboot — of a series that had already had one rotten re-do thanks to Tim Burton — has, after “Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes” and “Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes,” evolved into one of the smartest and most unconventional blockbuster franchises we’ve ever had. Aided by ground-breaking performance capture technology and a mighty lead performance by Andy Serkis, the films have flipped the story on its head, with a most non-verbal, non-human lead character and a rooting interest that, if not against humanity, is certainly pro-primates. The third installment, which sees ‘Dawn’ director Matt Reeves returning, is most under wraps right now, but given politics at the minute, by the summer, monkey apocalypse will probably look like idealistic escapism rather than horrifying dystopia.
Release Date: July 14th
29. “A Ghost Story”/“The Old Man And The Gun”
Director: David Lowery (“Pete’s Dragon”)
Cast: Rooney Mara, Casey Affleck/Robert Redford, Sissy Spacek
Synopsis: An elderly bank robber and serial prison escapee looks to get back in the thieving game.
What You Need To Know: David Lowery is one of the busiest directors around right now, and with good reason: he’s an enormously talented filmmaker who has celluloid running through his veins. And off the back of his excellent “Pete’s Dragon” in the summer, we could well get a double dose of him in 2017. First up, at Sundance, is “A Ghost Story,” a movie he shot quietly last summer with his “Ain’t Them Bodies Saints” stars Casey Affleck and Rooney Mara (with Will Oldham also popping up), while in the spring he’ll shoot “The Old Man And The Gun” with Affleck and his “Pete’s Dragon’ star Robert Redford, who’ll play a real-life elderly bank robber, and has said that the film may be his last on screen appearance. If that is the case, with Lowery at the helm, it should be a fitting finale.
Release Date: “A Ghost Story” bows at Sundance next month, while “The Old Man And The Gun” shoots soon after, and we imagine will aim for an awards season berth if it’s ready in time.
28. “Lean On Pete”
Director: Andrew Haigh (“45 Years”)
Cast: Charlie Plummer, Travis Fimmel, Chloe Sevigny, Steve Buscemi, Steve Zahn
Synopsis: A fifteen-year-old in Oregon begins working at a stables and forms a friendship with a black stallion.
What You Need To Know: If there was any doubt that Andrew Haigh was one of our most talented young directors — and “Weekend” and “Looking” certainly suggested he was — 2015’s masterful “45 Years” should have put that to rest — it was an accomplished and assured a movie as we’ve seen in recent years. He takes another left-turn with his next movie, steering into full-on Americana with an adaptation of a novel by Richmond Fontaine frontman Willy Vlautin, which might sound like a heartwarming kids flick, but assuming it stays close to the source material, is likely to be anything but. At this point, we’d be excited about Haigh’s next movie even if he was making a “Transformers” film, but this sounds like it should play to his strengths beautifully.
Release Date: Didn’t wrap until September, so Sundance and Berlin might be a bit early, but we wouldn’t be shocked to see Haigh making his Cannes or Venice debut with the film.
27. “Under The Silver Lake”
Director: David Robert Mitchell (“It Follows”)
Cast: Andrew Garfield, Riley Keough, Jimmi Simpson, Topher Grace, Zosia Mamet
Synopsis: A noir set in modern day Los Angeles
What You Need To Know: David Robert Mitchell already seemed like a major talent after his feature debut “The Myth Of The American Sleepover,” but no one was expecting that he’d be able to translate the woozy charms of that into genre fare, and yet “It Follows,” which took the retro coming-of-age vibes of ‘Myth’ and added one of the most original horror conceits in years, proved a triumph. As such, expectations are much higher for Mitchell’s next picture, which sees him switch gears again to attempt a fresh take on the neo-noir. Not much is known beyond that, but A24 have snapped the rights up, which bodes well, and he’s assembled a superb cast, and also Topher Grace.
Release Date: Unclear: Cannes, where “It Follows” bowed, seems early, so look for it at TIFF instead.
26. “The Square”
Director: Ruben Ostlund (“Force Majeure”)
Cast: Elisabeth Moss, Dominic West, Claes Bang, Terry Notary
Synopsis: An artist sets up a space in a European town square where people are meant to follow a shared common interest.
What You Need To Know: Though savvy cinephiles knew his name from the festival circuit for a long while, Swedish filmmaker Ruben Ostlund found his widest audience to date with 2014’s “Force Majeure,” a savage, yet oddly human, comedy of manners about a man’s cowardly reaction to an avalanche in a ski resort. His follow up’s taken a little while, but with a couple of big-name English-language stars in Elisabeth Moss and Dominic West, this should bring even more fans of his work. The premise, apparently inspired by a real-life incident that Ostlund went through with a beggar, sounds very much in his territory in terms of examining human morality, but we’re perhaps most intrigued by the presence in the cast of Terry Notary, a performance capture expert on “Avatar” and the ‘Apes’ movies.
Release Date: Expect it at Cannes.
25. “Downsizing”
Director: Alexander Payne (“The Descendants”)
Cast: Matt Damon, Kristen Wiig, Christoph Waltz, Alec Baldwin, Jason Sudeikis
Synopsis: Realizing that his life has gotten out of hand, a man agrees to shrink himself.
What You Need To Know: We’ll be completely honest: the more Alexander Payne’s work gets embraced by the establishment, as with the Oscar-friendly “The Descendants” and “Nebraska,” the less we like it. He has a particular world view that sings in hard-edged dark comedies like “Election” and “Citizen Ruth,” but plays less well in more would-be heart-warming stories. Which is why we’re psyched about “Downsizing,” which seems in some ways to be a return to the kind of spiky social satire that he made his name with initially, albeit with a fantastic conceit, heavy special effects use, and a starry cast. It’s the kind of idea that could go horribly wrong, but Payne should bring the best out with it.
Release Date: December 22nd
24. “Loveless”
Director: Andrey Zvyagintsev (“Leviathan”)
Cast: Unknown
Synopsis: An estranged couple in the midst of divorce must search for their 12-year-old son when he disappears.
What You Need To Know: Andrey Zvyagintsev already made a good case for being one of world cinema’s foremost talents — and certainly Russia’s best living director — thanks to films like “The Return” and “Elena,” but he cemented that reputation with 2014’s masterpiece “Leviathan,” a wrenching state-of-the-nation epic. He’s been touting this project since then, but, while it’s harder to know these things for sure away from the eyes of the trades, we believe he’s been in production on his new movie, and it should be ready to go this year. He’s reuniting with most of his “Leviathan” behind-the-camera team for the movie, and it sounds like the scope will be more intimate this time, but details remain thin on the ground.
Release Date: Cannes seems likely, if it’s done in time.
23. “Golden Exits”
Director: Alex Ross Perry (“Listen Up Philip”)
Cast: Jason Schwartzman, Mary-Louise Parker, Chloe Sevigny, Analeigh Tipton, Emily Browning
Synopsis: A foreign girl spending time in New York upsets the status quo in two Brooklyn families.
What You Need To Know: With the one-two punch of “Listen Up Philip” and “Queen Of Earth,” Alex Ross Perry went from being seen as a hugely promising up-and-comer to demonstrating he was one of the best filmmakers we have. And when he’s not been writing “Winnie The Pooh” for Disney (yes, you didn’t dream that announcement), he quietly filmed his fourth movie, not revealing its existence until it was wrapped. This seems to mark a move into more Baumbachian territory for the director (maybe it’s just the casting of former Beastie Boy Adam Horovitz), but one of the great things about him is that you never quite know what you’re getting.
Release Date: It’s in competition at Sundance next month.
22.“Zama”
Director: Lucrecia Martel (“The Headless Woman”)
Cast: Daniel Giménez Cacho, Lola Dueñas
Synopsis: The lonely existence of the greedy, paranoid Don Diego de Zama, a Spanish civil servant posted to Paraguay in the 1790s.
What You Need To Know: Across a remarkable run in the ’00s, Lucrecia Martel proved herself to be one of the finest filmmakers working today. But since her widely acclaimed “The Headless Woman” in 2008, we’ve had nothing from the filmmaker. We were expect her latest, “Zama,” her biggest in scope and scale yet, last year, given that it started shooting in the summer of 2015, but clearly it wasn’t ready yet. Still, the extra time can only have helped the movie, and has certainly heightened the anticipation for it, even if we still don’t know all that much about it (beyond that Pedro Almodovar’s producing).
Release Date: We said this last year, but Cannes seems a certainty. Don’t rule out Berlin, though.
21. “Suburbicon”
Director: George Clooney (“Good Night And Good Luck”)
Cast: Matt Damon, Julianne Moore, Oscar Isaac, Josh Brolin, Woody Harrelson
Synopsis: After a home invasion results in an act of terrible violence, a suburban family in the 1950s sink into a swamp of betrayal, adultery and blackmail.
What You Need To Know: George Clooney seems to go by the “Star Trek” odd/even rule when it comes to his directorial efforts. “Confessions Of A Dangerous Mind,” “Leatherheads” and “Monuments Men,” his first, third and fifth films? NOT GREAT, BOB. But “Good Night And Good Luck” and “The Ides Of March,” his second and fourth? Pretty damn good, particularly the former. So that’s reason one to be excited about his sixth. Reason two would be a script from the Coen Brothers, and reasons three through seven would be the cast. Now, previous Coens discards like “Gambit” haven’t turned out that well, but we’re confident, given the cast, that this’ll be something special.
Release Date: Nothing firm, but it’ll be sometime in the fall, likely with a big festival bow at Venice or NYFF first.