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The Fabelmans

Released 27th January

There are a couple of films out this month designed to appeal to the cineaste. The first is Sam Mendes Empire of Light that is set partially in an old movie theatre in Margate but I’m more excited about Steven Spielberg’s heavily autobiographical story of a teenager growing up in post war Arizona and discovering a love for watching and making movies. It looks like a wonderful hymn to the escapist capacity of films and if anyone knows about that it is Spielberg.

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Women Talking

Released 10th February

This one I have already seen and the escaping is a lot more literal here. Based loosely on a real events that took place in Bolivia in 2009, this actually works as an allegory in which the full nature of violence against women is explored and, as the title suggests, discussed. It sounds heavy but I would choose instead to use the word powerful and there are actually moments of real joy and levity here too. It is a superb film and I am very keen to see it again.

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The Little Mermaid

Released 26th May

Lots of people are getting over excited about James Cameron’s new under the sea adventure at the moment but this one stands to be so much more important, Avatar’s fumbled environmental message notwithstanding.

Generally I am not a fan of the Disney live action remakes (and I don’t know if the fact that I really love the original here makes it better or worse) but my main criticism is that these new versions are always a bit pointless. In this case though the decision to cast a black actor in the lead role gives this all the reason it needs to exist.

This was made clear with the wonderful reaction clips that circulated after the trailer came out in September and having just spent the last week arguing with ignorant homophobes on line following the release of Strange World on Disney+ (prompted by my post about it), I welcome anything that challenges ignorant prejudice again. The trailer sadly but inevitably generated about as much hate as it did love with the most idiotic people objecting on the grounds that in real life mermaids are not black. There were those that simply suggested that we shouldn’t be making established white characters black we should be writing new black characters. The second half of this is true of course but it also totally, totally misses the point as those aforementioned videos show:

There are some gender issues with the 1989 The Little Mermaid too and I look forward to seeing how they deal with this as well.

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Spider-Man: Across the Spider verse

Released 2nd June

Race is similarly a big part of Sony Animation’s Spider-Verse movies of course, the second of which comes out in the Summer, but outside of that this also follows a masterpiece of animation, character and imaginative storytelling. They are going to have to mix things up all round to give us anything that compares to the first one but that is exactly what they are promising to do.

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Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part 1

Released 14th July

There are a number of blockbuster films coming out this year; Ant-man 3, Guardians 3, Captain Marvel 2 and Fast 10 and two weeks before this, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny. What I am most looking forward to though is the one that is part of American cinema’s most consistent action franchise. Top Gun: Maverick did well for Tom Cruise last year (it’s still currently holding Avatar 2 off the top box office position for the year) but the Mission: Impossible movies have become his landmark series and they continue to be great spy thrillers to rival Bond.

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Barbie

Released 21st July

So there’s a Barbie movie coming out which wouldn’t normally be cause for great celebration but this one is directed and co-written by Greta Gerwig who last gave us the wonderful Little Women and it stars Margot Robbie who is clearly always seeking strong characters to portray on screen. No one quite knows what to expect from this, even after the witty trailer that riffed on Stanley Kubrick, but it does look to take on an iconic figure that is questionable in terms of its representation of women and turn it into something properly feminist. I mean it has to, right? This is either going to be one of the year’s greatest treats or one of its biggest disappointments.

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Oppenheimer

Also released 21st July

Coming out on the same day as Barbie is different film about an American icon who could not be further away in terms of what they represent. J. Robert Oppenheimer had a interesting career trying to control what he was instrumental in inventing and there is a fascinating story to be told here. I’m more drawn to the man who is telling it though. Any Christopher Nolan film is always going to make it on any most anticipated list I write and my gut tells me that after closing the book on films that play with different concepts of time with Tenet, he is moving into a new stage of his career. He has done historical settings before but never biography and it will be interesting to see if he will play it straight.

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Dune: Part Two

Released 3rd November

I was a little cooler on the first of Denis Villeneuve’s Dune films than most but that doesn’t mean I’m not excited to see the second one. My biggest objection to the last part was that it needed this one before I could properly judge it. There have been some great additions to that already impressive cast too, including Christopher Walken and Florence Pugh.

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Untitled Ghostbusters Afterlife sequel

Scheduled for release 20th December

It’s a little early to know if this release date will be met, we don’t even have a name for the film yet. Ghostbusters: Resurrection or Renaissance or something like that would be the most obvious title as the famous New York business promises to reopen its doors with the new recruits from the last movie. Maybe it will simply be Ghostbusters: Who Ya Gonna Call?. I’m hoping for Ghostbusters, What Do You Want? Either way, I loved the last one and I’m in for the sequel.

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Saltburn

No published release date

I really don’t know if we are likely to see this one in 2023 but we might and I’m excited by the prospect. This started principal photography last Summer and Emerald Fennell’s first film as director, Promising Young Woman, was shot in just twenty three days and debuted at the Sundance Film Festival just ten months later, so her follow up could feasibly arrive in cinemas by the summer of this year. The other thing you need to consider about Promising Young Woman is that it announced Fennell as one of the boldest and most exciting feminist film makers to emerge for years. We might still be here in twelve months talking about this one being on the way but we’ll see.