20. “Free State of Jones”
Director: Gary Ross (“Seabiscuit,” “The Hunger Games”)
Cast: Matthew McConaughey, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Mahershala Ali, Keri Russell, Brendan Gleeson
Synopsis: The true story of the Knight Company, a group of anti-slavery Confederate deserters who turned to the union side, and their leader Newton Knight’s romance with a freed slave.
What You Need To Know: With the first big cinematic noise of 2016 being made when Nate Parker‘s slavery rebellion epic “Birth of a Nation” brought down the house at Sundance, it’s possible that Gary Ross’ passion project, made with the clout that the “Hunger Games franchise gave him, could feel a little second-string or old-fashioned, considering it comes from a white director and features a white star. But advance word on “Free State of Jones” is strong, and not only is McConaughey still pretty golden (no one saw “Sea of Trees,” after all) but his co-star Gugu Mbatha-Raw is a rapidly rising actress who could well give the breakout performance here. At the very least it will be interesting to see what Ross does with his relative creative carte blanche, as his heartfelt dramas “Pleasantville” and “Seabiscuit” were more than solid and he did make “The Hunger Games” into one of the more bearable YA adaptations.
Release Date: June 24th
19. “Dheepan”
Director: Jacques Audiard (“A Prophet”)
Cast: Antonythasan Jesuthasan, Kalieaswari Srinivasan, Claudine Vinasithamby
Synopsis: A makeshift family of three Sri Lankan Tamil immigrants tries to integrate into French society, but finds cultural divisions and their troubled histories hard to overcome, until a bruising climax in which the violence they thought had ended with the civil war in their homeland comes to their doorstep.
What You Need To Know: “Dheepan” winning the 2015 Palme d’Or was greeting with puzzlement in some areas (though not by us: Oli’s review of the film marked it out as one of the strongest in the competition) and it was widely regarded as a compromise choice by the jury. Whatever the case there, the film is more than worthwhile, bringing Audiard’s trademark muscularity and sobriety to a little-seen corner of the topical immigrant debate, but also building to a violent, explosive and gripping climax — which needs to be seen as much for its divisiveness as its visceral appeal. And within a cast of unknowns, Audiard who is simply a terrific director of actors across all his features, gets stellar performances from his three leads, as the sham family struggles to become something like a real one.
Release Date: May 13th
18. “Finding Dory”
Director: Andrew Stanton (“Wall-E”) and Angus MacLane (“Toy Story Of Terror!”)
Cast: Albert Brooks, Ellen DeGeneres, Diane Keaton, Ty Burrell, Idris Elba
Synopsis: Six months after Nemo was found, short-memoried Dory remembers something about her lost family, and sets out with her friends to find them.
What You Need To Know: Pixar has an up-and-down record with sequels, with the highs of the two ‘Toy Story‘ follow-ups balanced out by the lows of “Monsters’ University” and “Cars 2.” But on the foot of a risky year of original filmmaking that saw unquestioned triumph “Inside Out” win the Best Animated Feature Oscar, while “The Good Dinosaur” underperformed, perhaps it’s to be expected that the company would next slate in as close to a sure thing as they can imagine: they’ve not always scored with critics, but even their least popular sequels have done gangbuster business. The follow-up to the widely beloved “Finding Nemo” this time following Nemo’s daffy friend Dory there are other new additions to the cast including Eugene Levy, Kaitlin Olson, Ed O’Neill and Dominic West , but the main reason for hope is that this is ‘Nemo’ director Andrew Stanton’s return to the Pixar fold and after the disastrous “John Carter,” he has something to prove.
Release Date: June 17th
17. “Sausage Party”
Director: Greg Tiernan & Conrad Vernon
Cast: Seth Rogen, Jonah Hill, Kristen Wiig, Edward Norton, Salma Hayek
Synopsis: A sausage, a hot dog bun and their foodstuff friends dream of being chosen and taken to the afterlife, but when they learn that they’ll be horribly tortured and devoured, they plan an escape.
What You Need To Know: Given that it’s essentially just a different way of telling a story, it’s a little depressing that mainstream animated film in America is so focused on family fare. But this summer, “Sausage Party” stands a pretty good chance of being the first R-rated animated hit since “South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut.” Penned and produced by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, backed by Megan Ellison’s Annapurna, and with ex-Dreamworks guy Conrad Vernon co-directing, it looks like a big studio animation, but with all the scatology and filth of a post-Apatow comedy. And has all the cast members you might expect — with James Franco, Michael Cera, Danny McBride, Paul Rudd and Bill Hader joining the names above, plus a few surprises. A work-in-progress version bowed at SXSW and didn’t impress our Charlie Schmidlin, who called it a “brisk disappointment,” but others were wowed and we’re sure it’ll be a big talking point if only for its already-legendary closing orgy sequence
Release Date: August 12th
16. “Star Trek Beyond”
Director: Justin Lin (“Furious 6“)
Cast: Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Karl Urban, Zoe Saldana, Simon Pegg, Anton Yelchin, Idris Elba
Synopsis: Finally underway on their mission to explore the final frontier, the crew of the USS Enterprise are stranded on a distant planet where they’re attacked by a fearsome new enemy.
What You Need To Know: Fans seemed to full-on hate the trailer for the new “Star Trek” film, the first from “Fast and Furious” franchise director Justin Lin, since JJ Abrams found himself preoccupied with a different series of interstellar space opera blockbusters. It certainly does feel jokier than the terminally turgid second installment ‘Into Darkness,’ but anything that sets it apart from that mess has to be a good thing. And while Lin might seem like a step down from Abrams, actually there’s a good chance he’s got some juice saved up now that he’s slipped the “Fast & Furious” shackles, and we should also remember that while James Wan delivered the most successful incarnation of that franchise, it’s still Lin’s “Fast Five” that remains the best. And with Simon Pegg co-writing and Idris Elba on bad-guy duties (unhampered by any silly “he’s definitely not Khan” red-herring nonsense), we’ll be happy if this is nothing more than a return to the frothy fun of the original reboot.
Release Date: July 11th
15. “Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising”
Director: Nicholas Stoller (“Neighbors”)
Cast: Seth Rogen, Rose Byrne, Zac Efron, Chloe Grace Moretz, Lisa Kudrow, Dave Franco, Kiersey Clemons
Synopsis: Mac and Kelly have to recruit the help of previous fratboy nemesis Teddy when a sorority moves in next door and proves even more troublesome than the boys had been.
What You Need To Know: There’ve been a number of surprisingly good studio comedies emerging over the past decade, mostly from the Feig and Apatow stables, but recently none has been quite so unexpectedly great as Stoller’s “Neighbors.” Despite a premise that seems directly lifted from a lame mid-80s cliche-fest, the writing was fresh and funny and most winning of all were the characters, who were granted an unusual degree of nuance. Especially insightful about the plight of the young new parent who believes they’re still cool, as well as giving Rogen and Efron their best roles in ages, it showcased comedy goldmine Rose Byrne (also insanely good in “Spy“) and with this outing focussing on a sorority, we’re hopeful she’ll play an even more central role here. Moretz and “Dope” breakout Clemons numbering among the other women in the cast can only be a good thing too.
Release Date: May 20th
14. “Maggie’s Plan”
Director: Rebecca Miller (“The Private Lives of Pippa Lee”)
Cast: Greta Gerwig, Ethan Hawke, Julianne Moore, Bill Hader, Maya Rudolph
Synopsis: A woman’s plan to have a child by herself is scuppered when she falls for a married man, and he leaves his family for her.
What You Need To Know: We’d be looking forward to a new film from “The Ballad of Jack and Rose” and “The Private Lives of Pippa Lee” director Rebecca Miller even if it didn’t star our crush du jour Greta Gerwig and even if Kevin, reviewing the film in TIFF, hadn’t fallen for the film quite so hard. But it does and he did (calling it “heartwarming and heartbreaking), and with Gerwig surrounded by an enviable supporting cast and playing a role that is tailored to her strengths but also subtly differentiated from the characters she plays (and co-writes) in her Noah Baumbach films, we’re only surprised this didn’t make more noise at the festival than it did. Maybe a breezy relationship comedy is just not regarded as serious enough fare in that environment, but it sounds like an absolute tonic to us.
Release Date: May 20th
13. “Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping”
Director: Akiva Schaffer (“The Watch”) and Jorma Taccone (“MacGruber”)
Cast: Andy Samberg, Akiva Schaffer, Jorma Taccone, Imogen Poots, Sarah Silverman
Synopsis: After his last album flops, a rapper reluctantly sets out to put his old boy band back together.
What You Need To Know: Honestly, we’d give this film a spot on this list for its subtitle alone — they basically had us at ‘Never Stop Never Stopping.’ That’s quite a feat too, as the comedy-musical-spoof genre isn’t exactly overpopulated with thigh-slapping classics, but if anyone can turn us on to it, it might be the guys behind Lonely Island, who’ve perfected that very schtick after years on ‘SNL.’ The Judd Apatow production also represents the best chance for the Lonely Islanders, who comprise co-directors Schaffer and Taccone and perpetual big-screen nearly-man Andy Samberg, to make a proper splash in theaters: Schaffer’s “The Watch” fared dismally, Taccone’s “MacGruber” flopped and only recently found its culty niche, while Samberg’s only ever really connected as a TV star. But mainly, it’s called ‘Never Stop Never Stopping’ and that joke may actually be worth the price of admission all by itself.
Release Date: June 3rd
12. “A Bigger Splash”
Director: Luca Guadagnino (“I Am Love“)
Cast: Tilda Swinton, Matthias Schoenaerts, Ralph Fiennes, Dakota Johnson
Synopsis: A rock star and her boyfriend welcome an old flame of hers and his sultry teenage daughter to their holiday home for a week of sunny frolics and sexual jealousy that builds to a dark climax.
What You Need To Know: A very enjoyable, ever so slightly trashy remake of Jacques Deray’s “La Piscine,” which starred Alain Delon, Romy Schneider and Jane Birkin, “A Bigger Splash” is a sundrenched treat, featuring some terrific against-type performances from greats Tilda Swinton and Ralph Fiennes and further proof, if it were needed after “Fifty Shades of Grey“, that Dakota Johnson can make even the most underwritten role a sly pleasure to watch. It doesn’t have quite the richness of Guadagnino’s previous collaboration with Swinton, “I Am Love,” but its decayingly sensual Patricia Highsmith-esque vibe is nicely achieved and then totally undercut by the inescapable sense that the cast are all having an absolute blast, especially Fiennes in a borderline revelatory role as the irrepressible, life-devouring yet somehow tragic buffoon who knocks the whole little ecosystem out of kilter. It’s a messier and less clinical affair than the original, and, per our review from Venice all the more endearing for it.
Release Date: May 6th
11. “De Palma”
Director: Jake Paltrow (“The Young Ones”) and Noah Baumbach (“Frances Ha”)
Cast: Brian De Palma
Synopsis: Documentary on the career and work of director Brian De Palma.
What You Need To Know: It doesn’t feel like a documentary made by two filmmakers about another filmmaker should be one of the most entertaining movies of the summer season. But that’s exactly the case with “De Palma,” Jake Paltrow and Noah Baumbach’s tribute to the helmer of, among others, “Phantom of The Paradise,” “Carrie,” “Scarface” and “Mission: Impossible,” which Jess called “the fastest, funniest and most exhilarating hour and forty-seven minutes” she saw at Venice last year. Blasting through the director’s filmography at a speedy pace, with De Palma serving as the only talking head, it’s a funny and genuinely revelatory film made by two filmmakers who are clearly enormous admirers of its subject, “a hit of garrulous cinephile cocaine so pure you want to do a Tony Montana, fall face-first into it and inhale it all in one go.” Could this be the rare cinema-history doc to crossover to a wider crowd
Release Date: June 10th
