The one thing we know for sure is that we never know, but I am reasonably certain all 10 of the films listed below will be released this year. The same could not be said last year at this time, when Hollywood was embroiled in dual strikes by the Screen Actors and Writers guilds. Never in recent memory, not even during COVID, had the the future of film been so uncertain as between May 2 (the beginning of the writers strike) and Nov. 9 (the end of the actors strike) of last year.
Important battles were won, but the war continues. Every day, we see the way artificial intelligence encroaches on the uniquely human act of artistic creation. We see the conglomeration, consolidation, and concentration of power in the media landscape. We see profit put before people and technology before talent. The long-term future of the movies is hardly secure, but for today and probably tomorrow, we have the cinema.
With that in mind, let’s talk about what we have to look forward to in the rest of 2024. I would call the first eight months of the year a little soft, but as with any year, the greatness is there to be discovered by those willing to search. Similarly, as tends to happen once festival season arrives and we draw nearer to the Academy Awards, the search gets a little easier. If you happen to live in or near one of the cities with a major fall festival, I encourage you to check it out. They are always loaded with gems and one-of-a-kind experiences.
The films below are a mix of movies that will be premiering at those fall festivals, some that premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, and a couple blockbusters that won’t need the shine a festival can sometimes offer. In other words, it’s a grab bag. This list is not a prediction of what I think will be the best of the year – there are always surprises that missed my radar and, unfortunately, disappointments that miss the mark – but rather what I am most excited for over the next four months.
Before we get there, a few words on some of the other movies that just missed the top 10:
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice – a belated sequel to a movie that defined a lot of people’s childhoods (and beyond); as you might imagine, I was a Beetlejuice kid; I am cautiously optimistic for this one, but all will be revealed next week.
We Live in Time – director John Crowley’s last feature was the abominable bomb The Goldfinch; a film that disastrous usually kills a career; but a romantic drama from the guy who made Brooklyn, starring Andrew Garfield and Florence Pugh, just might be enough to revive it.
Conclave – I finally caught the trailer for this before a screening yesterday; it looks fun! It does not appear to have the heft, shall we say, of director Edward Berger’s previous work, the massively accomplished All Quiet on the Western Front, but how many films do?
Also: Jesse Eisenberg’s Sundance hit A Real Pain, with what appears to be a tremendous Kiernan Culkin performance; Mati Diop’s Dahomey, in which she cashes her Atlantics blank check to make a documentary about repatriating plundered artifacts; James Mangold’s A Complete Unknown, a Bob Dylan biopic with Timothée Chalamet from the guy who made Walk the Line; Robert Zemeckis’ Here, which I know, I know – he’s let us down a lot lately, but this looks cool; and Marielle Heller’s Nightbitch, featuring a tremendous logline and hopefully the return to prominence of Amy Adams (she owes us for Hillbilly Elegy).
Now, on with the show, Last Cinema Standing’s 10 Most Anticipated Movies of Fall 2024:
10. Maria, directed by Pablo Larraín
Release date: TBA
Larrain's tragic women trilogy – featuring Jackie and Spencer before this – comes to a conclusion here with a festival-lauded performance by Anjelina Jolie as opera legend Maria Callas. It is too early to talk Oscars, but Jolie will be in the conversation, I have no doubt. Jackie is one of the most beautifully directed films of the past 10 years, and while I wasn't fully sold on Spencer, Larraín certainly knows his way around this material. Callas, though famous, is not in the same realm as Jacqueline Kennedy and Princess Diana, so it will be interesting to see how the director and star bring us into the subject’s world.
9. The End, directed by Joshua Oppenheim
Release date: TBA
No one knows too much about this one yet, but I’m going to go out on a limb and imagine that the apocalyptic musical from the director behind two of the most important documentaries of the 21st century, starring Tilda Swinton (more from her later!) and Michael Shannon is going to be something we’re going to want to see. If you have not seen the one-two punch of Oppenheim’s The Act of Killing and The Look of Silence, do yourself a favor and get on it. They are devastating but vital works.
8. Moana 2, directed by David G. Derrick Jr., Jason Hand, and Dana Ledoux Miller
Release date: Nov. 27
There is every reason in the world not to be excited for this. The original directors are gone. Lin-Manuel Miranda did not write the songs, though Opetaia Foa’i and Mark Mancina are back from the first film. And Disney has a terrible track record with sequels. That can all be true, but I know how I felt the first time I saw Moana in theaters. If this film can approximate even a fraction of that feeling, then it’s worth anticipating.
7. The Room Next Door, directed by Pedro Almodóvar
Release date: Dec. 20
Almodóvar is one of the best directors of actresses in the world. From Talk to Her to Julieta to the three films that comprise Penelope Cruz’s finest work, Almodóvar just knows what he’s doing. So, for him to partner with Julianne Moore and (again with) Tilda Swinton on his English-language feature debut, these are the moments for which cinema is made. I don’t know word one about this film, but those three names are enough to get me in the theater on opening night.
6. The Piano Lesson, directed by Malcolm Washington
Release date: Nov. 8
Denzel Washington continues to do the lord’s work (or the gods of theater, anyway) in helping bring playwright August Wilson’s Century Cycle to the screen. The Oscar winner directed and starred in Fences and produced Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom. He returns as producer for The Piano Lesson, directed by his son, Malcolm, and starring his other son, John David. As these productions tend to do, the project has drawn an incredible cast, also including Samuel L. Jackson and Danielle Deadwyler, who gave one of the performances of the century in 2022’s Till.
5. Gladiator II, directed by Ridley Scott
Release date: Nov. 22
As I am sometimes wont to do, in order to write this fairly short blurb, I did a little deep dive into the cinema of the year 2000. Of the Best Picture nominees that year, I would have given the award to Steven Soderberg’s Traffic. As for the actual best film of the year, I don’t know what I would have thought at the age of 12, but today, I would say to take your pick among Dancer in the Dark, Bamboozled, Requiem for a Dream, Werckmeister Harmonies, or Songs from the Second Floor. I know Yi Yi and In the Mood for Love are favorites, as well, and I appreciate them both.
Anyway, the point is Gladiator won Best Picture that year, and while there are better films, I have seen Scott’s swords and sandals epic more times than I’ve seen the rest of those above-mentioned movies combined. It’s a thrilling historical drama of the sort most folks don’t make anymore – Scott, himself, excepted. So, I can’t vouch for whether I think this will be great art, but I can already tell it’s going to be a great time at the movies.
4. Rumours, directed by Guy Maddin
Release date: Oct. 18
You never forget your first time with Maddin. It was My Winnipeg for me, and it absolutely floored me. I had to share it with as many people as possible as quickly as possible. Then, I dug in: Brand Upon the Brain!, The Saddest Music in the World, Dracula: Pages from a Virgin’s Diary. Maddin is among the most singular filmmakers out there, and he has not made a feature since the 2017 Alfred Hitchcock pastiche The Green Fog. He returns with Rumours, for which he brings along some help in the name of Cate Blanchett. Sign me up.
3. The Substance, directed by Coralie Fargeat
Release date: Sept. 20
I don’t know too much about this movie beyond a vague outline, and frankly, I don’t want to know more than that. I missed Fargeat’s debut feature, Revenge – a mistake I will soon rectify – but reports out of Cannes, where this won best screenplay, are that The Substance is one wild ride. I’m also here for the Demi Moore renaissance, as well, whatever we want to call it. I vote Demi-ssance.
2. Anora, directed by Sean Baker
Release date: Oct. 18
Call this the Palme d’Or slot. For obvious reasons, the Cannes Film Festival winner tends to make my list, and this is the third time in the most recent five installments of the list that the Palme winner has ranked No. 2. The company should be familiar to anyone who reads this site: Ruben Ostlund’s 2017 art world satire The Square and Ostlund’s 2022 lifestyles of the rich and famous satire Triangle of Sadness. For those curious, the movies that ranked ahead of them: Todd Field’s masterpiece TÁR and Woody Allen’s not-masterpiece Wonder Wheel. I believe this year’s No. 1 will lean more toward the TÁR end of the spectrum.
But, enough about other movies. Anora. If you have seen the trailer, you know star Mikey Madison practically explodes off the screen – a tendency that will be familiar to fans of Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood, Scream 5, or the TV series Better Things. Baker is a perfect director to give her the showcase she so richly deserves, and if he brings even half of the energy and pathos he brought to films like Tangerine and The Florida Project, then this will be a film to be remembered.
1. Blitz, directed by Steve McQueen
Release date: Nov. 1
Exactly one year ago to the day, I wrote these words in this space: “I don’t have a ton of information on what lies ahead for movies in 2024, but if I had to put money on what will be my No. 1 most anticipated film of next year, I would guess Blitz.” And, here we are. Nothing has supplanted it. Nothing could supplant it. This is one of the best directors in the world taking on his biggest project to date.
Not only that, but McQueen has brought along Saorise Ronan, possibly the finest actress of her generation, give or take a Pugh or Mia Goth. Ronan will also have the highly anticipated The Outrun in theaters this fall, and it is nice to have her operating at the top of her game again. Joining her will be Harris Dickinson, who will also have Babygirl out this fall and is quickly establishing himself as an actor to watch.
Still for me, this is McQueen’s show. Few filmmakers have his patience for storytelling and faith in the audience to come along. Pair that with his penetrating social lens, put to brilliant use in his monumental Small Axe, and you have a recipe for something truly special. What I wouldn’t give to be at the closing night of the New York Film Festival for this one. But, I’ve waited a year. I can wait a little longer.
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