The 100 Most Anticipated Films Of 2019 - Page 9 of 10

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20. “Radegund”
Director: Terrence Malick (“Badlands”)
Cast: August Diehl, Matthias Schoenaerts, Valerie Pachner, Bruno Ganz, Michael Nyqvist
Synopsis: The story of Franz Jägerstätter, a conscientious objector who refused to fight for the Nazis, and was executed by them.
What You Need To Know: While we welcome Terrence Malick’s new and uncharacteristic prolificness (he’s released more movies since “Tree Of Life” in 2011 than he did in the four decades of his career before then), all but the most hardcore Malickites have had their patience tested by the variations on a theme that have made up his recent work (and the diminishing box office returns have suggested that there are fewer of them). So it’s good news that his new film, “Radegund,” feels so different. There’s a similarly starry cast, albeit entirely of German language-speaking actors (including the final role of the late Michael Nyqvist), but Malick returned to working from a more ordered script, and while we’re sure it’ll share some themes with his other recent pictures, it’s very unlikely to involve Christian Bale or Ryan Gosling wandering around parties looking miserable, so that’s something.
Release Date: Who knows with Malick? Berlin could make sense, given the German connection.

19. “Bergman Island”
Director: Mia Hansen-Løve (“Things To Come”)
Cast: Mia Wasikowska, Vicky Krieps, Anders Danielsen Lie
Synopsis: An American filmmaker couple take a pilgrimage to Bergman’s home on Faro Island to write a pair of screenplays, but find the lines between reality and fiction blurring.
What You Need To Know: Even if her fifth and latest movie, “Maya,” was deemed by most to be one of her more minor efforts, Mia Hansen-Løve still has one of the more formidable strike rates in cinema — minor Hansen-Løve is major anyone else. And her next film, already half-wrapped, might be her most intriguing proposition yet, in that it seems to be something of a tribute/love letter to Bergman (as well as having a premise that reflects her own partnership with Olivier Assayas). A reunion with Greta Gerwig was in the cards until the latter got her “Little Women” gig up and running, but there’s hardly been a downgrade in casting, with Vicky Krieps making the film her first major role since her astonishing breakout turn in “Phantom Thread” (John Turturro was going to play the other director, but also fell away).
Release Date: The film still has to partially shoot (there was a break for the season to change, and Turturro’s replacement has to be found still), so Venice or TIFF are most likely.

18. “Star Wars: Here We Go Again” (or whatever it’s eventually called)
Director: J.J. Abrams (“Star Wars: The Force Awakens”)
Cast: Daisy Ridley, Adam Driver, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Kelly Marie Tran
Synopsis: Jar-Jar Binks and a group of Ewoks have a hilarious “Weekend At Bernie”’s style adventure with the corpse of Luke Skywalker. Or something.
What You Need To Know: It’s an odd thing to say given that we’re still less than a year from “The Last Jedi” making an extraordinary amount of money, but it’s been a rough 24 months or so for the “Star Wars” franchise. ‘Jedi’ was a big hit, of course, but enraged fan-babies to an almost unprecedented degree, while “Solo,” after losing its original directors, was unthinkably a gigantic flop, and killed, for now, other legacy spin-off ideas. And as for “Episode IX,” that similarly saw original director Colin Trevorrow part ways with the movie, with J.J. Abrams soaring to the rescue. And with the tragic passing of Carrie Fisher, all three leads from the original trilogy are now absent from the series. Still, Abrams is the safest pair of hands to right the ship, having done such a solid job with “The Force Awakens,” and there’ll hopefully be plenty of new stuff to maintain interest, including franchise newcomers Naomi Ackie, Richard E. Grant, Keri Russell, Matt Smith and, best of all, Billy Dee Williams returning as Lando.
Release Date: December 20th.

17. “The Truth”
Director: Hirokazu Kore-eda (“Shoplifters”)
Cast: Juliette Binoche, Catherine Deneuve, Ethan Hawke, Ludivine Sagnier
Synopsis: A married couple return to France from the U.S. when the woman’s mother, a famous actress, publishes her autobiography.
What You Need To Know: After “Shoplifters” picked up the Palme d’Or in Cannes this year, and has since proved an international hit, Hirokazu Kore-eda looks to finally be gaining the household name status he, quite frankly, should have had for years. And it won’t hurt that his next movie, already in production, is his first international one, set largely in France and with a starry cast led by the legendary Juliette Binoche, Catherine Deneuve, and Ethan Hawke. Kore-eda has been frank about the challenges he faces in working in another language (“Whether or not to direct the way I do in Japan is something I will think about on the set,” he said), but we imagine the humanity of his films is something that will translate very easily.
Release Date: Cannes would surely love to have him back if he’s done in time. If not, Venice, where “The Third Murder” premiered, is possible too.

16. “Velvet Buzzsaw”
Director: Dan Gilroy (“Nightcrawler”)
Cast: Zawe Ashton, Jake Gyllenhaal, Rene Russo, Daveed Diggs, Toni Collette
Synopsis: A horror-thriller with an expansive cast set in the modern art world.
What You Need To Know: One could argue that if you don’t make a difficult-second-album film, then you’re not really trying. And “Roman J. Israel Esq.” definitely qualifies as a difficult-second-album film. Dan Gilroy had fans and critics eating out of his hand with “Nightcrawler,” but his Denzel Washington-starring second film, while it won its star an Oscar nomination, was mostly greeted with puzzlement (this writer quite liked it, incidentally!). But his new film, backed by Netflix, should return to safer ground, with a reteam with two “Nightcrawler” stars on an Altman-esque art world drama with, apparently, horror overtones. The cast is stacked too, with John Malkovich, Natalia Dyer, Billy Magnussen, and Tom Sturridge joining the above names.
Release Date: Premiering at Sundance, should be on Netflix not long after unless it’s deemed an awards player.

15. “High Flying Bird”/“The Laundromat”
Director: Steven Soderbergh (“Unsane”)
Cast: André Holland, Zazie Beetz, Sonja Sohn, Zachary Quinto, Kyle MacLachlan/Meryl Streep, Gary Oldman, Antonio Banderas, David Schwimmer, Matthias Schoenaerts
Synopsis: A sports agent presents a client with an intriguing proposition during a lockout/A group of journalists uncover a huge financial scandal.
What You Need To Know: His plans to upend the world of film distribution seemingly having stalled before they could start after “Logan Lucky” and “Unsane” both underwhelmed, Steven Soderbergh is nevertheless unbowed. In fact, he’s doubling down, with two movies on the way, both to be hosted by Netflix. The first is a sports drama reteaming him with “The Knick” star Andre Holland, from a script by “Moonlight” co-writer Tarell Alvin McCraney, the second an expansive “Traffic”-like docu-drama about a huge tax avoidance scale, with an all-star cast led by Meryl Streep, working with the director for the first time. After the not-entirely-successful “Unsane” experiment, these sound much more in Soderbergh’s (large) wheelhouse, while still pushing into different territory.
Release Date: “High Flying Bird” has been done for a while, but was curiously absent from Sundance. Berlin maybe? “The Laundromat” is likely to be one of Netflix’s highest awards-season hopes next year.

14. “The Dead Don’t Die”
Director: Jim Jarmusch (“Dead Man”)
Cast: Bill Murray, Adam Driver, Tilda Swinton, Tom Waits, Selena Gomez
Synopsis: A zombie film.
What You Need To Know: Just when you think the zombie movie might be played out — after 57 seasons of “The Walking Dead” and a billion movies, what more could be said? — along comes Jim Jarmusch to, we imagine, upend the genre. Having tackled vampires — brilliantly — with “Only Lovers Left Alive” a few years ago, Bill Murray revealed earlier this year that he was reteaming with Jarmusch for “a zombie script that’s so hilarious.” The film is full of Jarmusch rep players — Driver, Buscemi, Swinton, Waits — plus a few intriguing newcomers including, potentially Daniel Craig (who was mentioned early on but we’re not sure if he’s still in it), Caleb Landry Jones and, uh, Selena Gomez. Expect a zombie film like no other.
Release Date: None yet, but Focus have the rights. Cannes feels likely, though.

13. “Triple Frontier”
Director: J.C. Chandor (“A Most Violent Year”)
Cast: Ben Affleck, Oscar Isaac, Charlie Hunnam, Garret Hedlund, Pedro Pascal
Synopsis: Five friends reunite to take on a South American drug lord
What You Need To Know: Almost every movie has a rocky road to production, but “Triple Frontier” has had a rockier one than most. Nearly ten years in the making — it was originally set to be Kathryn Bigelow’s follow-up to “The Hurt Locker,” and the script remains co-written by her regular collaborator Mark Boal — it’s seen stars including Will Smith, Johnny Depp, Tom Hanks, Channing Tatum, Tom Hardy, Mahershala Ali, Casey Affleck and Mark Wahlberg attach, and then unattach themselves, with Paramount eventually pulling the plug entirely. But Netflix came to the rescue, and Ben Affleck and Oscar Isaac, who were both previously involved but had also dropped off, reentering the picture to headline. But the main reason to be excited? The return of director J.C. Chandor, with his first film since “A Most Violent Year” five years back.
Release Date: Filmed early last year and we hear it’s been test screening, so hopefully fairly soon. Maybe it’ll pop up at Cannes, where Chandor’s “All Is Lost” premiered, depending on what the festival ends up doing about Netflix films this time.

12. “The Lighthouse”
Director: Robert Eggers (“The Witch”)
Cast: Robert Pattinson, Willem Dafoe
Synopsis: A pair of lighthouse keepers in early 20th century Maine encounter strange forces from the sea.
What You Need To Know: Even by the standards of the brilliant debut horror films that have arrived in recent years, “The Witch” might have been a highlight: a genuinely singular and unnerving film that marked big things for director Robert Eggers. It’s taken a minute for him to follow it up (he’d been developing a “Nosferatu” remake, among other things), but Eggers finally filmed this follow up last year, with the tantalizing lead duo of Pattinson and Dafoe. It’s very much under wraps, but the film is apparently in black-and-white, and is “a fantasy horror story set in the world of old sea-faring myths,” which makes us think that either Dafoe or R-Patz are gonna bang a merman.
Release Date: Not at Sundance, so it’ll probably be TIFF at this point. A24 have the rights, anyway.

11. “The Last Thing He Wanted”
Director: Dee Rees (“Mudbound”)
Cast: Anne Hathaway, Willem Dafoe, Ben Affleck, Toby Jones, Rosie Perez
Synopsis: A woman leaves her job as a political journalist to care for her dying father, only to have to take over his work as an arms dealer.
What You Need To Know: It might not have been the film to break through the Best Picture barrier for Netflix, but Dee Rees’ “Mudbound” still helped pave the way for “Roma” and co, winning major nominations including Adapted Screenplay and Cinematography. Clearly, the streaming giant is keen to have the “Pariah” filmmaker stick around, as they’ve snapped up her latest film, which is something of a change of pace, being an adaptation of Joan Didion’s political thriller. If anything, the cast is more impressive, with an A-list trio of Hathaway, Affleck and Dafoe in the lead roles, but it’s Rees’ work that we’re most excited to see here: she’s going from strength to strength, and should be on her biggest canvas to date with this.
Release Date: Filmed last summer — Telluride or TIFF feels like the best bet.