60. “The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent”
So, Charlie Kaufman didn’t write it, but the script sounds very “Being John Malkovich” and uber-meta: a cash-strapped Nicolas Cage reluctantly agrees to make a paid appearance at a billionaire super fan’s birthday party but is really an informant for the CIA since the billionaire fan is a drug kingpin and gets cast in a Tarantino movie. Cage, Pedro Pascal, Sharon Horgan, Tiffany Haddish, and Neil Patrick Harris star.
Release Date: April 22, via Lionsgate. – RP
59. “Everything Everywhere All At Once”
Directing duo Daniels (“Swiss Army Man”) certainly love their absurdist tendencies. Their latest, a reteam with A24, featuring the Russo Brothers as producers, is a sci-fi adventure comedy about a 55-year-old Chinese woman trying to finish her taxes. Michelle Yeoh and Jamie Lee Curtis star in the film. As an executive producer, one minor hiccup could be Scott Rudin, but don’t be surprised if his name eventually vanishes from the picture.
Release Date: TBD, via A24, but it feels like a Sundance or SXSW premiere. – RP
58. “The Brutalist”
Actor-turned-director Brady Corbet likes to make challenging, provocative movies (see “Vox Lux” and “The Childhood of a Leader”) that are not for everyone. But they are clearly for many, as the cast of his latest is nuts: Vanessa Kirby, Marion Cotillard, Sebastian Stan, Joel Edgerton, Mark Rylance, among many others. The film centers on an architect who emigrates to the U.S. in 1947 and spends the next three decades developing his masterpiece. One problem, it got delayed due to COVID and didn’t shoot this year, so who knows if it’s actually coming soon?
Release Date: TBD – RP
57. “Peter Pan & Wendy”
Perhaps modeling himself after Steven Spielberg’s “one for them, one for me” filmmaking mentality, David Lowery follows up his boldly unique adaptation of “The Green Knight” with a new spin on “Peter Pan & Wendy.” Starring Jude Law as Captain Hook, Alexander Molony as Peter, Ever Anderson as Wendy, and Jim Gaffigan as Smee, Lowery has already proven his family film chops with “Pete’s Dragon,” and we’re excited for him to whoosh us off to Neverland.
Release Date: TBD Disney – AB
56. “The Listener”
While best known for his character roles in Coen Brothers films, Steve Buscemi has long been a reliable talent behind the camera. “Trees Lounge” is an underrated classic, and Buscemi helmed one of the classic ‘Sopranos’ episodes, “Pine Barrens,” alongside working on many other series and directing a few features. Pairing with Tessa Thompson for “The Listener,” described as a “contained film… [featuring] only one on-screen role.” Thompson plays Beth, a helpline volunteer who must field calls from a broken American landscape.
Release Date: TBD – AB
55. “The Pale Blue Eye”
Director Scott Cooper swung and missed with his horror foray, “Antlers,” but he’s already moved on. His latest is a crime horror about a veteran detective who investigates murders, helped by a detail-oriented young cadet who will later become a world-famous author, Edgar Allan Poe. What’s more, it’s been shooting this fall, stars Christian Bale, Gillian Anderson, Harry Melling (as Poe), Lucy Boynton, Toby Jones, Robert Duvall, and Charlotte Gainsbourg and was bought by $55 million by Netflix who clearly have high hopes for it.
Release Date: Late fall 2022 (possibly?) via Netflix – RP
54. “The Gray Man”
Joe and Anthony Russo aim to turn their Marvel spy movie success onto a different demographic with “The Gray Man,” a $200 million production based on author Mark Greaney’s debut novel. Ryan Gosling stars as Court Ventry, a CIA vet known by the ominous titular moniker. Paranoid patriot games ensue when a former agency partner (Chris Evans) is sent to hunt him down. It sounds very ‘Winter Soldier,’ and Netflix has put considerable resources behind it.
Release Date: TBD, via Netflix. – AB
53. “The Son”
Playwright/theater director turned filmmaker Florian Zeller had a good little screenwriting career going. Still, he went supersonic in 2020 with his feature-length directorial debut “The Father,” which earned Anthony Hopkins an Oscar for Best Actor. Its success gave him the clout to write and direct another adaptation of his own play, “The Son,” It attracted a superstar cast: Hugh Jackman, Laura Dern, Vanessa Kirby, Zen McGrath, and Anthony Hopkins. It’s not a sequel, FYI, but it is another family drama.
Release Date: Sony Pictures Classics are all over this one again, it’s shot, and maybe this will be another major awards contender? – RP
52. “God’s Creatures”
Following up her remarkable original debut film “The Fits,” director Anna Rose Holmer takes on another psychological drama with “God’s Creatures,” teaming up with filmmaker Saela Davis behind the camera. Set in a “rain-swept Irish fishing village, and [focusing] on a mother who lies to protect her son and the devastating impact that choice has on her community, her family, and herself,” with Emily Watson and Paul Mescal starring.
Release Date: TBD, via A24. – AB
51. “Landscape With Invisible Hand”
A hotly anticipated adaptation of M.T. Anderson’s National Book Award winner, “Landscape With Invisible Hand,” follows an artist (Asante Blackk, “When They See Us”) living in a future where a species called the Vuvv charitably offer the human race unfathomable technological advancements and cures for terminal disease. Co-starring Tiffany Hadish and written and directed by Cory Finley (“Bad Education”), ‘Landscape’ is described as a “heightened comedy set in a deeply stratified, alien future.”
Release Date: TBD, via MGM. – AB
