90. “The Flash”
Having gone through about a bajillion alternate iterations over the years, Erza Miller’s “The Flash” will soon get his first standalone adventure. Loosely inspired by the comic book “Flashpoint,” Barry Allen travels back in time to prevent his mother’s death, accidentally causing timeline/multiverse problems as a result. With DC throwing continuity out the window, ‘Flash’ provides a way to course-correct and reset, both Ben Affleck and Michael Keaton reprising their role as Batman. Think ‘Spider-verse’/’No Way Home’’ for DC.
Release Date: November 4 via Warner Bros. – AB
89. “Bros”
Billed as a rom-com with an “all LGBTQ+ cast,” “Bros,” directed by Nicholas Stoller and produced by Judd Apatow, likely aims to update the 2000s bromance formula in a literal sense. Billy Eichner and Luke Macfarlane star as two gay friends who are “maybe, possibly, probably, stumbling towards love.” Stoller’s “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” remains one of the best movies of its kind, and “Bros” should be similarly hilarious and heartful.
Release Date: August 22 via Universal. – AB
88. “The Good Nurse”
Based on the book of the same name, Danish director Tobias Lindholm (“Another Round”) takes on an American crime thriller about the search for serial killer Charles Cullen (Eddie Redmayne), who may have murdered around 300 patients over a 16-year medical career tenure. Also starring Jessica Chastain, Nnamdi Asomugha, Noah Emmerich, and Kim Dickens, “The Good Nurse,” produced by Netflix, should turn many heads, both cinephilic and casual.
Release Date: TBD, via Netflix – AB
87. “Jackass Forever”
The “Jackass” movies are what they are—immature, prankster slapstick—and have a very particular demographic. Odds are, if you turned up for the last three films, you’ll buy a ticket again this time. The cast from previous flicks are almost all back—save Bam Margera (who was allegedly fired from the movie) and Ryan Dunn (who died in 2011). “Some people never learn” is “Jackass Forever’s” tagline, Jeff Tremaine and Johnny Knoxville fully embracing the bygone era of MTV gross-out indecency.
Release Date: February 4, via Paramount – AB
86. “Jurassic World Dominion”
Life found a way. “Jurassic Park’s” original trio—Sam Neill, Laura Dern, and Jeff Goldblum—all return in Colin Trevorrow’s follow-up to “Jurassic World” and ‘Fallen Kingdom.’ “Jurasssic World Dominion” (they’ve really run out of titles) will complete Universal’s new franchise trilogy, with Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Omar Sy, and BD Wong returning. Coming full circle on self-reflective awareness, the amusing teaser trailer—a drive-thru theater invasion by T-Rex—rings very wide-eyed Spielberg.
Release Date: June 10, via Universal. – AB
85. “Kitbag”
While Sir Ridley Scott continues to throw royal shade at those who shit talk period accuracy, he’s re-teaming with the amazing Jodie Comer for “Kitbag,” in which Komer will play Josephine Bonaparte opposite Joaquin Phoenix as Napoleon. As evidenced by both his 2021 releases, Scott still knows how to make a movie, and with Stanley Kubrick’s long-dormant Napoleon script also being adapted for TV, it looks like the French military leader is about to become a popular Hollywood subject.
Release Date: TBD, via 20th Century Studios (though 2023 doesn’t seem out of the realm of possibility) – AB
84. “Deep Water”
Filmmaker Adrian Lyne, he of many ‘80s and ‘90s erotic thrillers (“Fatal Attraction,” “Unfaithful”), returns to the erotic thriller genre with the hot duo of Ben Affleck and Ana de Armas. The movie centers on a well-to-do husband who allows his wife to have affairs in order to avoid a divorce, who then becomes a prime suspect in the disappearance of her lovers. Tracy Letts, Rachel Blanchard, and Finn Wittrock co-star. Comeback time for Lyne?
Release Date: Originally set for early January, the film was pulled to a TBD date, via 20th Century Studios. – RP
83. “Dark Harvest”
Based on Norman Partridge’s fantasy-horror novel of the same name, “Dark Harvest,” director David Slade’s Midwestern folk-tale follows a town cursed by a phantom called “Sawtooth Jack,” a nightmare that arises each fall from the cornfields. Starring Casey Likes, E’myri Crutchfield, and Jeremy Davies, Slade is one of the industry’s go-to directors, having helmed TV shows ranging from “Breaking Bad” to “Hannibal” and “Dark Harvest’s foreboding material fits his creative strengths.
Release Date: September 9, via United Artists Releasing – AB
82. “Where the Crawdads Sing”
Is the mid-budget drama dead, you say? Sony’s $43 million-costing adaptation of Delia Owens’ celebrated books suggest otherwise. Written by Lucy Alibar (“Beasts Of The Southern Wild”) directed by Olivia Newman, about a Southern woman who becomes a suspect in the murder of a man she was once involved with, features “Normal People” breakout star Daisy Edgar-Jones, Harris Dickinson, and David Strathairn. Reese Witherspoon is a producer and clearly betting big on DEJ.
Release Date: June 24, via Sony Pictures, showing some major summer alt-programming confidence. – RP
81. “Bubble”
Like a topical, current, meta film with a huge cast? Judd Apatow‘s got you. He’s making a movie about the production of a movie during the COVID-19 pandemic which almost sounds like a put-on brain twist. Audiences could super reject this idea in 2022 if we do actually get “post-COVID” for real, but who knows? Either way, there’s a huge cast involved including Karen Gillan, Iris Apatow, Rob Delaney, Fred Armisen, Maria Bakalova, David Duchovny, Keegan-Michael Key, Leslie Mann, Pedro Pascal, Vir Das, and Peter Serafinow among many others.
Release Date: TBD via Netflix. – RP