Coming attractions

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 07/01/2017 (3375 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Even if the movies released in 2016 didn’t constitute an excellent year, they earned excellent box office, pulling in the largest domestic grosses ever in North America, more than US$11.3 billion.

This year will have its money-spinners, to be certain, including entries from DC and Marvel comic universes such as Justice League and Thor: Ragnarok, but the year’s most exciting prospects are always its unsafe bets. With that in mind, here’s a preview of coming attractions in the form of 10 reasons to go to movies in 2017:

1. Locavore cinema: Jan. 27 is a good day to be a Manitoban…

Locally sourced cinematic goodies include A Dog’s Purpose (Jan. 27), an adaptation of the beloved bestseller by W. Bruce Cameron, about a dog who learns his purpose over the course of several reincarnated lifetimes. Directed by Lasse Hallstrom (Chocolat), the film was shot in Winnipeg and southern Manitoba in the latter half of 2015 and stars Dennis Quaid and Britt Robertson. Coincidentally, that very same day sees the première of Winnipeg filmmaker Tyson Caron’s locally shot rom-com Lovesick, starring Jacob Tierney as a 33-year-old shlub unable to move on with his life after being dumped by his dream girl (Jessica Paré). The movie also stars Canfilm fave Jay Baruchel and Manitoba actors including Ali Tataryn, Ross McMillan, Rebecca Gibson and Adam Brooks.

 

2. … and June 23 is a good day to be a woman.

International Women’s Day falls on March 8, but cinematically speaking, it’s June 23. Look at the four films scheduled for release: Battle of the Sexes (tentatively booked in the U.S. for that date) is the fabulously cast story of the 1973 tennis court duel between Billie Jean King (Emma Stone) and ex-champ/tennis hustler Bobby Riggs (Steve Carell). At the time, it was the most watched televised sports event in broadcast history. The Beguiled is a different take on a 1971 Clint Eastwood movie in which a wounded Union soldier takes refuge at a Confederate girls’ school and tries to con his way into the hearts of all the vulnerable women in the place, a plan that ultimately backfires. Sofia Coppola directs the remake with Colin Farrell taking the Eastwood role and Kirsten Dunst, Elle Fanning and Nicole Kidman playing the not-so-genteel womenfolk. Rock That Body, directed by Lucia Aniello (Broad City), offers a feminine spin on a well-worn adult comedy trope when a male stripper ends up dead during a bachelorette party in Miami. The dark-side-of-the-farce stars Scarlett Johansson and comedy It Girl, Kate McKinnon. Last but not least, Wonder Woman, going by its trailer, promises to rescue the hopelessly mired DC comic universe with a different kind of comic book movie, with Gal Gadot authoritatively assuming the role that woke us up during last year’s Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice.

The most empowering thing about all these films? All four were directed (or in the case of Battle of the Sexes, co-directed) by women.

 

3. Exploring the dark side of capitalism in the Age of Trump.

The Founder (Jan. 20) is a kind of warts-and-all — mostly warts — portrait of Ray Kroc (Michael Keaton), who made the McDonalds franchise an international success while shutting out the two McDonald brothers (Nick Offerman and John Carroll Lynch) out of their own innovative business. Gold (Jan. 27) offers up erstwhile dreamboat Matthew McConaughey as a pot-bellied, balding, snaggle-toothed gold prospector who strikes it rich in a complex, shady deal that recalls the Bre-X scandal. Going in Style (April 7) is a remake of a heist-comedy about a trio of seniors (played by Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman and Alan Arkin) who lose their savings to a greedy bank and decide to regain their solvency by robbing said bank.

 

4. A brand new innovation: 3D!

Well, it’s new to Cinematheque at any rate. The local downtown art house, just recently equipped to screen digital 3D, gets the joint jumping at ya in February with an artsy program that includes Wim Wenders’ dazzling 3D dance film Pina (Feb. 17), Werner Herzog’s Cave of Forgotten Dreams (Feb. 18) and Jean-Luc Godard’s Goodbye to Language (Feb. 18). Of course, Cinematheque programmer Dave Barber hasn’t lost his taste for gimmicky retro goodness, which makes us excited to see Arch Oboler’s 1966 3D cult movie The Bubble (Feb. 17).

 

5. Sequels we grudgingly admit to be tantalizing.

InJohn Wick 2 (Feb. 10), Keanu Reeves has a new dog but returns to his old hitman tricks. T2: Trainspotting (March 10) reunites the cast of Trainspotting for a two-decades later jaunt through the Scottish urban underbelly, directed again by Danny Boyle. Goon: Last of the Enforcers (March 17) wasn’t shot in Manitoba like the original movie, but it does offer up the return of Seann William Scott’s lovable lug-on-ice along with Liev Schreiber as his goon nemesis and Jay Baruchel, who assumed directing duties this time. Alien Covenant (May 19) is a bit of a sequel to Prometheus but also promises to be a more fan-pleasing prequel to Alien, with Ridley Scott back in the director’s chair and Prometheus’s Michael Fassbender returning as the vaguely sinister cyborg David. It looks like maybe Colin Firth’s Harrt Hart didn’t die, going by his presence in Kingsman: The Golden Circle (June 16), the sequel to the fun 2014 spy movie, incorporating the Kingsmen’s American counterparts, the Statesmen. After demonstrating his science-fiction chops with Arrival, Quebec’s Denis Villeneuve proved himself worthy to take on the long-awaited sequel Blade Runner 2049 (Oct. 6) starring Ryan Gosling on a hunt for the original’s future gumshoe Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford)… and maybe answering the question: so was Deckard himself a replicant? Yes, Star Wars Episode VIII (Dec. 15) is the swan song for the recently departed Carrie Fisher, but it still needs to answer some compelling questions: what’s the family history of Rey (Daisy Ridley)? What’s Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) doing in exile? And will Finn (John Boyega) and Poe (Oscar Isaac) consummate their bromance?

 

6. Reboots/remakes we grudgingly admit to be tantalizing.

There’s an impressive cast of castaways on Kong: Skull Island (March 10), a 1970s-set monster movie that sees Tom Hiddleston, Brie Larson, Samuel L. Jackson and John Goodman on a remote island that is home to a giant ape and even more deadly prehistoric creatures. Emma Watson and Dan Stevens de-cartoonify a tale as old as time in the respective roles of Beauty and the Beast (March 17). Likewise, a Japanese animated classic gets a live-action treatment in Ghost in the Shell (March 31) starring Scarlett Johansson as the cool cybernautic heroine. And while we may have been surprised at such a fresh reboot, we must admit The Mummy (June 9), starring Tom Cruise, looks to be an impressive-looking action-horror hybrid.

 

7. Superhero movies we grudgingly admit to be tantalizing.

The Lego Batman Movie (Feb. 10), featuring the voice of Will Arnett as the Caped Crusader, looks like an appropriately zany follow-up to the better-than-expected The Lego Movie. Logan (March 3) gives us an older, battle-scarred Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) acting as protector to a Wolverine-like young girl (Dafne Keen) in what may be Jackman’s final farewell to the role. The space-set sequel Guardians of the Galaxy 2 (May 5) is on solid ground as long as it replicates the cheeky attitude of the first film. Spider-Man: Homecoming (July 7) will hopefully be a return to form for the thrice-rebooted webslinger, with Tom Holland assuming webslinger duties in the wake of his appearance in Captain America: Civil War. A guest appearance by Robert Downey’s Iron Man doesn’t hurt. And the main selling point for Thor: Ragnarok (Nov. 3), besides seeing Thor (Chris Hemsworth) and Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) in gladitorial combat, is the guiding hand of director Taika Waititi, whose previous non-superhero films include What We Do in the Shadows and Hunt for the Wilderpeople.

 

8. Offbeat

Director Jim Jarmusch brings Adam Driver to earth as a New Jersey poet/bus driver in Paterson (February). In Free Fire (March 17), Brit director Ben Wheatley wrings thematic order from violent chaos when an underworld gun purchase in Boston goes wrong for participants including Brie Larson, Cillian Murphy and Sharlto Copley. Wilson (March 24) is an adaptation of a graphic novel by Daniel Clowes (Ghost World) starring Woody Harrelson as the title doofus, a middle-aged misfit reuniting with his wife and teen daughter after a long absence. Director Luc Besson looks to be getting back into a Fifth Element/Metal Hurlant groove with Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets (July 21) with a visually rich adventure starring Dane DeHaan as a time-travelling gumshoe. And finally, Edgar Wright (Shaun of the Dead) returns to the director’s chair for his take on the heist movie Baby Driver (Aug. 11) starring Ansel Elgort, Jamie Foxx and Jon Hamm.

 

9. Prestige pics

Silence (Jan. 13) takes director Martin Scorsese from his mean-streets comfort zone to 17th-century Japan, where a pair of Jesuits (Andrew Garfield and Adam Driver) seek their missing mentor (Liam Neeson). Life (March 24) is a science-fiction effort about astronauts (Jake Gyllenhaal, Ryan Reynolds and Rebecca Ferguson) making a discovery of life on Mars… not a good thing as it turns out. Dunkirk (July 21) sees director Christopher Nolan taking on the extraordinary story of the rescue of thousands of Allied soldiers surrounded by the German army during the Second World War. Finally, and appropriate in a year in which Agatha Christie is the author being celebrated in Winnipeg’s annual Master Playwright Festival) comes a remake of Murder on the Orient Express (Nov. 22) starring Kenneth Branagh as Belgian detective Hercule Poirot and a supporting cast including Johnny Depp, Judi Dench, Michelle Pfeiffer and Daisy Ridley.

 

10. Horror with an edge

Dane DeHaan is an executive sent to a sinister Swiss health spa in Gore Verbinski’s wonderfully creepy-looking A Cure for Wellness (Feb. 17). Comic actor Jordan Peele takes to the director’s chair for the story of a black student uncovering a weird racist conspiracy among his girlfriend’s white family in Get Out (Feb. 24). Last year’s scary-clown thing was evidently just a warm-up for the movie remake It (Sept. 28) starring Bill Skarsgård taking on the role defined by Tim Curry, Pennywide the evil clown. A movie initially thought to be titled God Particle is now being referred to as Untitled Cloverfield Anthology (Oct 27) wherein a team of astronauts must fight for survival on a remote space station. Stars include Gugu Mbatha Raw, Chris O’Dowd and Ziyi Zhang.

 

randall.king@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @FreepKing