By: Lance
2015: The Year We Make Contact. Actually, it was the year 1997 that Robert Zemeckis made Contact. But in 2015, Zemeckis will again make another live-action film called The Walk. I’m thrilled to learn that Zemeckis is directing films with people set against real backgrounds again after he proved he still had that human touch in 2012’s Flight. I’m also thrilled about all the directors mentioned below getting the chance to make more movies. This is a list mostly comprised of my eagerness to see second, third, fourth and, in the case of Quentin Tarantino, eighth entries from my favorite filmmakers next year. This is not a list containing those huge films that the studios are already expecting all of us to see like Star Wars Episode VII, Jurassic World, etc. Although I will probably catch those flicks in the multiplex too, I don’t actually get overly excited about them as much you’d think. What I truly look for in films I spend my money and time on are bold visions from the most-credited person behind the camera: the director.
So although I know these films are coming out soon and although I can kind of already predict what they’re going to be like given the reputations of each director, I’m still expecting to be completely surprised and blown away like I never saw that film coming.
Honorable Mention: Entourage, dir. Doug Ellin. Release date: 6/5
Allow me just one moment to divert from the director angle. I’m so pumped to see the Entourage movie that I can barely contain myself. It’s more out of curiosity than anything else. Is it going to suck? Is it going to suck not that much? As a committed viewer of the entire TV series on HBO, which was at its high points extremely enjoyable and at its low points extremely dull, I’d be cheating myself if I didn’t at least spend a couple more hours with cutthroat agent Ari Gold, film star Vincent Chase, and his best friends as they take over Hollywood. Here’s hoping they “hug it out” on the big screen.
15. Legend, dir. Brian Helgeland. Release date: TBA
One Tom Hardy was enough to make Locke a fascinating film. This movie has two Tom Hardys portraying twin gangsters in 1950s London. It’s directed by Brian Helgeland, who’s been attached as a writer to two of the best crime films in the past 20 years: L.A. Confidential and Mystic River. As a director, he’s still got the goods. The director’s cut of Payback was wickedly good and A Knight’s Tale, starring the late Heath Ledger, took a medieval setting and made it tremendously fun.
14. Blackhat, dir. Michael Mann. Release date: 1/16
Get ready for more crime from the master himself, Michael Mann. Born and raised in Chicago, Mann can tell a gritty story like no one else. Heat, Collateral, and The Insider all made my heart skip a beat with their loads of tension and atmosphere. Blackhat involves Nicholas Hathaway (Chris Hemsworth) taking down a cyber criminal in Hong Kong. The trailer doesn’t look as promising as I had hoped for from such a titan in the action-drama world, but hopefully the always-tight camerawork and Hemsworth can catapult this picture into at least Manhunter territory.
13. Ex Machina, dir. Alex Garland. Release date: 4/10
There’s another writer getting his hands dirty with directing and his name is Alex Garland. Garland is responsible for the ideas for 28 Days Later and Sunshine, as well as for penning the amazing adaptation of Dredd. If I had the funds, I’d throw them all at a Dredd sequel. But for now, I’ll spend 12 bucks on this film, featuring Domhnall Gleeson and Oscar Isaac as computer guys involved in an experiment with a new brand of artificial intelligence (played by Swedish actress Alicia Vikander).
12. Straight Outta Compton, dir. F. Gary Gray. Release date: 8/14
They’re producing an authorized biopic on the rise and fall of rap group N.W.A.? Sign. Me. Up. It helps too that in the director’s chair is F. Gary Gray, whose Friday and The Negotiator each have a quality to them that no matter what I’m doing, I have to stop and watch them if they happen to be on TV.
11. The Hateful Eight, dir. Quentin Tarantino. Release date: TBA
The much-touted screenplay for The Hateful Eight got leaked online almost a year ago, and thankfully that didn’t stop Quentin Tarantino from deciding to actually make the film. He rounded up a brilliant cast including stock players Samuel L. Jackson, Tim Roth, and Michael Madsen as well as QT newbies Channing Tatum, Bruce Dern, and Jennifer Jason Leigh. The story, concerning bounty hunters in post-Civil War Wyoming, sounds a lot like Django Unchained on the surface. But like the “D” at the front of Django, I’m looking forward to The Hateful Eight leaving us silent… and happy, not hateful, that we came along for the ride.
10. Jane Got A Gun, dir. Gavin O’Connor. Release date: 9/4
Production troubles aside, I can’t pass up this Western from Gavin O’Connor. Warrior was a masterpiece and will someday get the credit it deserves. Joel Edgerton returns for O’Connor’s sixth round as a feature film director and Natalie Portman and Ewan McGregor join him as co-stars. Portman is a woman who asks her ex-lover for help in order to save her outlaw husband from a gang out to kill him. It took just one look at Natalie Portman holding a rifle and I was hooked.
9. The Revenant, dir. Alejandro González Iñárritu. Release date: 12/25
What’s with all the Westerns in 2015? Hey, I’m not complaining. This one is actually even higher profile, with names like Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hardy, and Alejandro González Iñárritu to be seen on the poster. Iñárritu redeemed himself with 2014’s artistic and relevant Birdman (21 Grams and Babel were hot messes). The Revenant follows a frontiersman named Hugh Glass, who in the 1820s sets out on a path of vengeance against those who left him for dead after a bear mauling. The Western genre will be a change of pace for Iñárritu, so he’ll either end up quick or dead. That’s a Leonardo DiCaprio reference. You’re welcome.
8. The Light Between Oceans, dir. Derek Cianfrance. Release date: TBA
After making two vastly different films, the romantic tragedy Blue Valentine and sprawling fatherhood epic The Place Beyond the Pines, Derek Cianfrance translates M. L. Stedman’s novel into movie form. Michael Fassbender, arguably the best actor of his generation (see Frank and Shame if you don’t know what I mean) takes on the role of a lighthouse keeper who, along with his wife, played by the elegant Rachel Weisz, raises a baby they rescued from a drifting rowboat in Western Australia. Having never visited the West side of Australia, I heard nothing but good and beautiful things. I expect to hear the same about this film.
7. Carol, dir. Todd Haynes. Release date: TBA
I once listened to an interview with Todd Haynes who responded to a question regarding the frequency of his films. He said he’s constantly working but the reason he doesn’t release that many films is because they’re independent and filmmaking is such a long process that by the time the films get released, it’s 3-4 years between each of them. I’m just thankful for more work from Todd Haynes, who cares how long it takes? Safe, I’m Not There, and Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story were all successful experiments in filmmaking. Carol, set in 1950s New York and showing the life and times of a department-store clerk falling for an older, married woman, appears to be in the Far From Heaven range, which is a good sign because that film was remarkable.
6. The Sea of Trees, dir. Gus Van Sant. Release date: TBA
Yes we are currently in the McConaissance and, oh, what a terrific time it is to be in. Matthew McConaughey will not be in Magic Mike XXL, which I’m still mad about, but he will be in this mystery film about an American man who attempts suicide in Japan’s “Suicide Forest,” then meets a Japanese man (Ken Watanabe) who is there for the same reason. Gus Van Sant has way more hits (To Die For, Good Will Hunting, Elephant, Milk) than misses (Psycho, Last Days) and he should continue to come close to the target with this one.
5. Crimson Peak, dir. Guillermo del Toro. Release date: 10/16
After re-watching Pan’s Labyrinth not too long ago, I am in awe by the creations of Guillermo del Toro. I wasn’t so stoked about Pacific Rim, but we won’t talk about that here. What we will talk about is Mia Wasikowska, Tom Hiddleston, Jessica Chastain, and the underrated Doug Jones. These all-stars all star in this 19th century piece about a young author who discovers her charming new husband is not who he appears to be. Del Toro’s signature and sophisticated brand of fantasy horror ensues.
4. Joy, dir. David O. Russell. Release date: 12/25
Working again with actors Jennifer Lawrence, Bradley Cooper, and Robert De Niro, the same principal cast from his two previous and nearly perfect films, American Hustle and Silver Linings Playbook, you might think David O. Russell is afraid of stepping out of his comfort zone. Not so, as this film tells the true story of Joy Mangano, a struggling Long Island single mom who became one of the country’s most successful entrepreneurs. It will be cool to see what Russell does with this, as Mangano was the woman who invented the Miracle Mop and dramatizing that will be a difficult task. I’m sure Russell is up to the challenge.
3. Midnight Special, dir. Jeff Nichols. Release date: 11/25
In my opinion, Jeff Nichols is the most interesting filmmaker out there today. His first three films are astonishingly good, with exceptional praise for Take Shelter. Here is the plot for Midnight Special: A father and son go on the run after the dad learns his child possesses special powers. The level of my excitement: 10 (on a scale of 1 to 9). The thing I like most about his films is that they keep you guessing until the very end.
2. Tomorrowland, dir. Brad Bird. Release date: 5/22
I have no idea what this film is about and the trailer made me think I knew even less than nothing about it. But with director Brad Bird, who seamlessly transitioned to live-action films with the phenomenal Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, I have no doubts. Well, that’s false. My one concern is Bird sharing writing duties with Damon Lindelof. Not being a fan of Lost, I only have Prometheus and Cowboys & Aliens as works I’ve seen on his resume. Let’s just say those two films were disappointments and leave it at that.
1. The Last Face, dir. Sean Penn. Release date: TBA
#1 on anybody’s list is cause for debate, so I understand the confusion you must be experiencing right now. However, I am such a fan of Sean Penn’s startling Into the Wild and the complex The Pledge that a new project from him is the film I am most anticipating for 2015. The description for The Last Face reads: A director of an international aid agency in Africa meets a relief aid doctor amidst a political/social revolution, and together they face tough choices. Charlize Theron and Javier Bardem lend their incredible acting chops to the film. I can’t wait!
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