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No Other Choice

January 23rd

There are lots of great looking films coming out this month; Hamnet, Rental Family, H is for Hawk, Nouvelle Vague, but for me there is no other choice. Park Chan Wook is a phenomenal director and his last three films have all ended up in the top five of my annual top tens.

If you’ve ever been up for a job and joked about who you need to bump off to ensure you get it then this could be the movie for you. This is reportedly more openly comedic than a lot of Chan Wook’s other work and it looks to bear comparisons to the Ealing Comedy Kind Hearts and Coronets or Ben Wheatley’s Sightseers, only in the director’s own incredible style.

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Wuthering Heights

Feb 13th

While I may have thought Saltburn was flawed in its apparent desire to be shocking just for the sake of being shocking, I am still a great admirer of Emerald Fennell’s first film Promising Young Woman. When I list my movies of the decade in five years time (I do love my rankings) I am sure it is going to be a contender for the top position.

What I am also a big fan of is Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights which may well by my favourite book, decades schmecades.

This one immediately piqued my interest then. I have to confess that I was one of those who thought the casting was a bit off when I heard that Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi where playing Kathy and Heathcliff but since seeing the trailer I am in. I think I’m going to love this. 

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Project Hail Mary

March 20th

The last time Drew Goddard adapted a book by Andy Weir, we got The Martian which was great. This one also centres on a man alone in space but rather than trying to get home, this time he is trying to save it. Soon enough though he is no longer by himself as it seems our planet is not the only one in jeopardy and someone else has come from somewhere else on a similar mission. As well as a couple of great writers this also has a good cast in Ryan Gosling, Milana Vayntrub and Sandra Hüller, and interesting directors in Phil Lord and Chris Miller. Lord and Miller were bumped off the Han Solo movie and here we might get an idea of what we missed there. 

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Ready or Not: Here I Come

April 10th

2019’s Ready or Not was a surprisingly good comedy slasher/thriller and after directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett followed Jenna Ortega and Melissa Barrera and left the Scream franchise that they all ably reinvigorated, they returned to this. They made Abigail in the interim and every one of these projects has made me interested to see what they do next. 

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The Mandalorian and Grogu

May 22nd

At its height in Season 2 The Mandalorian was unmissable TV, especially for fans of the Star Wars world it was set in. It has had a couple of lesser seasons since but Star Wars has long had its ups and downs on the big screen and the small and some of us have stayed faithful. I have seen every Star Wars movie in the cinema and since The Phantom Menace that been on opening night so that’s not changing now.

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Disclosure Day 

June 12th

Stephen Spielberg has made another film about alien visitors. I mean what else is there to say?

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The Odyssey

July 17th

Christopher Nolan has made another film, again what else is there to say? Let’s just add that Nolan has long been a director of epic movies and now he is taking on the most epic story of all. What is also interesting here is that Nolan has never really done creatures before because while he’s done sci-fi he’s never done fantasy, and even then he has strived for realism among the outlandish ideas. I cannot wait to see how he handles the Cyclops, Scylla, Sirens and Poseidon. 

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Flowervale Street

August 14th

In every year there are a few significant movies that you just didn’t see coming. My prediction is that this might be one of them. 

I don’t know a huge amount about it other that it is a sci-fi where couple played by Anne Hathaway and Ewan McGregor discover strange things happening in their street, involving among other things dinosaurs. 

There are also some whispers of an interesting release pattern just like producer J.J. Abrams did with Cloverfield. Let’s wait and see.

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Sense and Sensibility

September 25th

Not wanting to be eclipsed by her long time rival Emily Brontë, Jane Austen is back pushing one of her stories into cinemas this year as well. Despite a number of TV adaptations, there are actually comparatively few Austen adaptations for the big screen. This one was last done by Ang Lee in 1995 with Emma Thompson and Kate Winslet, and here the older Dashwood sisters are played by Daisy Edgar Jones and Esmé Creed-Miles. The director is Georgia Oakley who was widely celebrated for her debut Blue Jean in 2022, which featured a teacher struggling to cope when her sexuality is exposed. Appropriate relationship expectations, social reputation and female agency are what Austen was all about so this could be a great fit. 

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The Social Reckoning

October 9th

Last time writer Aaron Sorkin turned his attention to Facebook we got story of how it was created in The Social Network. Now in this timely companion piece we get the tale of how it became corrupted and misused. Sorkin is always one to watch, even if his skills as a director do not match those at the keyboard. Let’s see how he does with both here.

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Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew

November 26th

Greta Gerwig has directed three films to date and all of them were nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars. Now, after Barbie, she is heading to the original multiverse to adapt C.S Lewis’ sixth Narnia book. This is actually a prequel to The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe so both the Lion Aslan and the Witch Jadis feature prominently. Meryl Streep is rumoured to be voicing Aslan which has some patriarchal purists up in arms but I’m looking forward to what will all round no doubt, despite that title, be a strongly feminist take on this typically puritanical world. 

It is due to land on Netflix on Christmas Day, which is actually perfect scheduling, but it is in cinemas for a month before this. 

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Jumanji 4 (Not the final title)

December 11th

Since Barbenheimer there have been a few attempts to make a cultural event out of other movies being released at the same time. None of them have caught on though, not Gladdington and not Saw Patrol. At the end of 2026 however we might have one with Avengers: Doomsday and Dune Part 3 both coming out on 18th. 

Even then it is not Dunesday that I am most excited about for the end of the year. I worry in particular that Marvel is trying too hard to recreate past glories. Nope, I am more looking forward to the return of Dr. Smolder Bravestone and Ruby Roundhouse than I am Captain America and Thor. The last two Jumanji movies were huge fun and this third or fourth, depending on where you count from, should be an equal treat. 

It is also in cinemas concurrently with The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping so maybe we can make The Jumanger Jimames a thing.