It’s easy to get caught up in the January blues. Your kidneys and wallet still recovering from the festive period and your self-hating friends refuse to drink. The low hanging sun quickly recedes forcing you back inside. You sit dormant, a new year that began momentarily full of promise has already proved itself to be the same as all the others. How nïeve it was to think anything different. You sit at your computer and a video appears posted by the Netflix YouTube channel titled ‘coming attractions of 2023’, you click to see what the streaming service has slated for this year in a half-hearted attempt to lift your spirits.
What is this? I haven’t heard of any of these films. ‘Extraction 2’, ‘Murder Mystery 2’, ‘Luther: The Fallen Sun’. What are these films? Has everyone lost their minds? ‘Lift’ an action film staring Kevin Hart and ‘Damsel’ a fantasy action film staring Millie Bobitty Brown. You quickly close your laptop realising cinema has in fact died. That those days Martin Scorsese had warned of have finally arrive. You go to retrieve your gun from the glass case that reads ‘smash in case of cinematic emergency’. You place the barrel in your mouth. However, before pulling the trigger you, as the loyal reader you are, check splatzine.com to see if theres any new content you would otherwise miss out on on the other side.
Huzzah! A new article telling me all the new bits of cinema coming out this year to look forward to. Perhaps all is not lost. Perhaps your forgone conclusion of filmic apocalypse were a tad too hasty.
So the good news is yes there are a lot of films to look forward to this year! The bad news is I don’t think that these films will solve your deeply rooted mental problems and please seek emergency medial help immediately. But before you do here are, in no particular order, all the films to look forward to in the coming calendar year:
Showing Up
Kelly Reichardt follows up her 2019 Western ‘First Cow’ with ‘Showing Up’. Reteaming with Michelle Williams for the fourth time the film follows an artist as they prepare for a new exhibition. From watching the trailer the film seems slightly more conventionally presented than the rest of Reichardt’s filmography although admittedly that may just be the way the trailer is edited. Never the less, there are few filmmakers who are at the height of their power in the same way Reichardt has been in the last two decades in creating such methodic, hypnotising tone poems of middle America.
Hitman
Rickard Linklater’s rotoscoped film released on Netflix last year about the moon landings titled ‘Apollo 10 and a half’ seemed to fall under most peoples radar, my own included. He is now set to release a new film this year based on the real events of a man who acted as an uncover hitman for the Houston police department. Although having the potential to be interesting I’m much more fascinated by the other films Linklater has in the pipeline including a Bill Hicks biopic and an adaptation of a Sondheim musical titled ‘Merrily We Roll Along’ which he plans to film over the next 20 years.
Killers Of The Flower Moon
Although I said this list is in no particular order this is unequivocally my most anticipated film of the year. Martin Scorsese’s 27th film is his first Western, and if that isn’t exciting enough it is his first time pairing De Niro and DiCaprio together. The film will be based on the David Elliot Grant book that centres around a native American community experiencing a series of unexplained murders. The film will also star Lily Gladstone who was phenomenal in Kelly Reichardt 2016 film ‘Certain Woman’. ‘Killers Of The Flower Moon’ boasts an impressive if not slightly oddball cast including Jesse Plemons, Brendan Fraser and John Lithgow as well as Jack White for some reason. I often think how lucky we are to still have Scorsese and Thelma Schoonmaker working consistently and really experimenting with filmic language with every successive project.
Master Gardener
From Scorsese to his close collaborator and insane Facebook poster Paul Schrader. Completing Schrader’s trilogy of angry men on posters starting with the immaculate ‘First Reformed’ which was followed up by ‘The Card Counter’ which I was quite lukewarm on. He completes his trilogy with ‘Master Gardener’ starring Joel Edgerton and Sigourney Weaver about an ex-marine right wing gardener who work for a wealthy family. The film, in classic Schrader style, has been received quite contentiously but am excited to see what transcendental Bresson inspired madness he has in store.
Wonka
Heyyy I’m Wonka here! Ok hear me out, I think this has the potential to be quite good. Directed by Paul King, who made the Paddington films, Wonka stars Timothée Chalamet as the titular William Wonka as he becomes the chocolate making recluse. What excites me about the film apart from the director and star is that it look to be an unabashed high budget musical, and if this can only be financed by attaching some sort of recognisable intellectual property to it then so be it.
Barbie
Another ip based nightmare that may turn out to be something revelatory. Barbie, directed by Greta Gerwig and written by herself and Noah Baumbach and starring Margo Robbie as the titular doll, looks to be an utterly batshit piece of commercial filmmaking. After seeing last years swing and a miss ‘White Noise’ by Baumbach I’m slightly more hesitant about this one but will no doubt be interesting and making a film for children that also gets film nerds excited is always a plus. The trailer seems to know its audience, parodying the opening of ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’ and showing off the impressive scale and colour that is sorely missing from much of modern film. Gerwig has directly stated that Jaques Demy is a major influence on the film, something I’m sure he would find both baffling and flattering to differing degrees.
Oppenheimer
After a rather public break up with Warner Brothers Christopher Nolans first film as part of a lucrative deal with Universal is a biopic about the inventor of the atomic bomb. I have always had a rather tumultuous relationship with Nolans filmography and find him best suited to more historically contained work, with Dunkirk being by far his greatest output in this regard, which in turn gives me a reason to be excited. Whats more, it’s filmed in black and white on imax camera, a combination that seems bizarre. It has also been widely publicised that Nolan dropped a fake atomic bomb for the film so Universal seem to really be letting him do whatever.
Asteroid City
Wes Anderson’s back at it again. This time he turns his twee lens to a story about a junior stargazers convention. His usual rogues gallery of character actors are all present, except Bill Murray, and adding some new and old faces into the mix including Maya Hawke, Tom Hanks and Steve Carell.
Next Goal Wins
Taika Waititi has had a turbulent couple years and decides to return to his smaller scale comedy roots with ‘Next Goal Wins’, a film about the American Samoa football team. This has the potential to be a real return to form for Waititi as the plot seems to be right up his street reminding me of his early films like ‘Boy’ and ‘Hunt for the Wilder People’ in its off-kilter decidedly culturally specific narrative. The film will also star Michael Fassbender who seems to have been hiding for a while so will be nice to see him on our screens again.
And
Greek filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos had a prolific couple for years between 2015 and 2018 which reached a climax with the historical epic ‘The Favourite’ being nominated for 10 Oscars and nabbing Olivia Coleman her iconic win . After a small hiatus he returns with ‘And’ starring Emma Stone. Very few details about the film can be gleaned but whatever it is I’m sure it will be a nice surrealist blend of insane line delivery and beautiful cinematography.
Beau Is Afraid
I have a distinct memory of seeing a behind the scenes photo for this film last year of Joaquin Phoenix in old man prosthetics and becoming incredibly excited. Any film that makes me think about ‘Synecdoche New York’ is already off to a good start but the trailer released last month shows some really spectacular visuals and seems to stray away from the A24 horror aesthetic Ari Aster is now forever associated with, which reached saturation point with the accidental parody by Alex Garland’s ‘Men’ from last year. ‘Beau is Afraid’ on the other hand seems to be more fantastical than horrific with a ‘Wizard Of Oz’ look to some of the sequences. Also if I haven’t already sold you on it Nathan Lane is also in it.
Napoleon
Ridley Scott is finally making his long fought for passion project, a gritty reboot of Napoleon Dynamite. I haven’t seen much of Ridley Scotts recent output but this has the potential to be interesting and to be quite honest I only put this on the list so I could make that joke.
Stone Mattress
This is a film that I had no idea was coming out until doing research for this list and since have thought of nothing else. A new film by the one and only Lynn Ramsey! And if that isn’t exciting enough its starring Julian Moore and Sandra Oh. The film is based upon a Margret Atwood short story described as a revenge film set in the arctic.
Blitz
Another film from one of my favourite filmmakers that I had no idea was coming out. This time Steve McQueen brings us a film about World War Two Britain which, when seeing for the first time, made my big film history nerd brain do a summersault. McQueen did such an excellent job at making history both personal and tactile with the 2020 ‘Small Axe’ series which created such a sensory version of 60s Britain, particularly his Lovers Rock short which I recommend anyone see who hasn’t.
Untitled Ethan Coen Sex Comedy
Whenever I hear the phrase sex comedy I immediately think of Austin Powers and am then inevitably let down. I’m not even sure what a sex comedy really means, like is it something raunchy or just involves sex? Either way the new Ethan Coen solo joint seems to be a sex comedy which is quite funny seeing as his brother has gone off to do Shakespeare. Also after some minor digging I think the reason its untitled is because its a script that has been floating around since 2005 and previously had a slur in the title which isn’t very cool Ethan, have a google at your own discretion.
Challengers
I’ve heard very mixed things about Luca Guadanino film from last year ‘Bones and All’ but remain excited for ‘Challenger’, a film about a tennis competition with Zendaya in the lead. The main reason for my excitement is Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross are doing the score and when asked about it Guadagnino said he told them to make music that would make the audience want to get up and dance, which is such a funny way to describe a piece of composition.
The Bike Riders
For a while now I have been a fan of the work of Jeff Nichols, ever since seeing the spectacular ‘Take Shelter’ from 2011. Since then I have attentively seen all his projects all of which haven’t quite stuck the landing, although I would also recommend his debut ‘Shotgun Stories’ . He now returns after 7 years for a massive piece of ensemble filmmaking about a motorcycle gang which includes Tom Hardy, Austin Butler, Michael Shannon and Jodie Comer. ‘The Easy Rider’ comparison obviously jumps to mind and I think Nichols could definitely pull off some truly fascinating filmmaking here.
Megalopolis
I wanted to end with this one because by god this can be an article all by itself. The story that has taken on a life of its own is that Francis Ford Coppola has indeed taken 100 million of his own money from his wine company to self finance his passion project about an architecture rebuilding New York after a disaster. This will be on record the biggest independent production ever, or at least since I suppose ‘Apocalypse Now’. Although, people forget that after going broke while making ‘Apocalypse Now’ Coppola got co-financing from United Artists which some what crippled them. Of course the result was a film that is now remembered as one of the greats and I have no clue if he can do it again seeing as he hasn’t made a film in 12 years and his last film ‘Twixt’ looked as if it were made by someone who has never seen a camera. Whats more, almost all of Coppola’s buddies; De Palma, Lucas, Zemeckis have failed to adapt to the modern techniques of filmmaking to varying degrees of embarrassment. Apparently Coppola has fired all of his visual effects team and his production designer has quit. I have this image in my head of someone trying to explain CGI to Coppola and it ending in an argument that leads to like 2 dozen people getting sacked. Coppola himself has denied that the set of this film is chaos, as has star Adam Driver. Coppola has made a career out of being written off, being backed into a corner only to then put all his chips on himself and it massively paying off. A gamblers only as good as they are perceived to be but I don’t think Coppola cares what people think anymore. He’s been disenfranchised since ‘One From The Heart’ toppled his image of an independent film industry that American Zoetrope had promised. Again, I could go on about this film forever it feels like one of those once in a generation productions and I’m utterly fascinated to see how it will end.
