2015 Winter Preview

So, just as we enter the autumn we find ourselves faced with another bunch of amazing movies. Here are the ten that I’m looking forward to the most so without any more stalling or taking up valuable (that’s one word for it) post space I’m starting the countdown with… some honourable mentions that didn’t quite make the list. These include ‘The Visit’ M Night Smymalan is riding a very, very cold streak, but his latest film is riding the success of his TV series ‘Wayward Pines’ and played well to audiences at SDCC so you never know, ‘Black Mass’, ‘Suffragette’ features Meryl Streep as Emely Pankhurst (or in other words Oscar nomination number 20) ‘Pan’, ‘Mockingjay Part 2’, ‘Carol’, ‘The Good Dinosaur’, ‘The Danish Girl’ looks poised to give Redmayne a shot at a second Oscar in two years, ‘Youth’, Macbeth’, ‘In the Heart of the Sea’ and especially ‘High Rise’ were all close, but here are the final ten. (Plus one more at the end)

10: Crimson Peak - Trailers have proclaimed it as Guilmero Del Toro’s masterpiece and that is no small feat from the man who brought us other gothic fantasies such as ‘Hellboy’ and ‘Pan’s Labyrinth’. It’s also Del Toro’s first American horror film and features the god himself Tom Hiddlestone, fear awaits.

9: The Martian - It may look like an ‘Interstellar’ prequel but Ridley Scott’s story of an astronaut stranded in isolation on Mars allows Matt Damon to really flex his acting muscles and after a cold streak consisting of ‘Prometheus’ and ‘Exodus’ is this a return to form for the maker of ‘Alien and ‘Blade Runner’.

8: Creed – Not, as some people have branded it, Rocky 7, this next generation boxing story promisies to launch a new franchise to take the mantle of the Italian Stallion and provide Michael B Jordan with the next icon of sports in film, will it work? We’ll wait and see.

7: Spectre – James Bond is back yet again and after the hyper success of ‘Skyfall’ it’s hard to imagine this one disappointing (but be braced for anything) Mendes returns to direct, Craig starring again and it feels like Christoph Waltz’s entire career has been building towards playing a Bond Villain.

6: The Walk – Based on the incredible true story and Oscar winning documentary ‘Man on Wire’ Robert Zemeckis recounts the story of the man who broke into the World Trade Centre, strung a wire between the two towers and walked across it. As we’ve seen with ‘Flight’ Zemeckis can use 3-D and IMAX technology to their full and awe inspiring potential. ‘The Walk’ promises to be a pure cinematic experience.

5: Bridge of Spies – Directed by Spielberg, written by the Coen brothers and starring Tom Hanks, need I say more? Well yes, because it involves Hanks as a lawyer assigned with negotiating the exchange of a Soviet and American spy at the height of the cold war, interested, yes you are.

4: Everest- Based on the most notorious disaster ever to occur on the slopes of Mount Everest, this movie has promised a tale of chilling horror and astonishing bravery and an ensemble cast that includes Jason Clarke, Josh Brolin, John Hawkes, Robin Wright, Emily Watson, Keira Knightly, Sam Worthington and the one and only Jake Gyllenhaal. Expect epic things.

3: The Revenant – Fresh from his triple Oscar victory of ‘Birdman’ Innaritu has now turned his sights to the western revenge genre as Leonardo DiCaprio is left for dead only to set out for vengeance after his attacker Tom Hardy. As we saw with his previous efforts, Innaritu’s directing could herald something very special, and maybe at long last an Oscar for Leo?

2: The Hateful Eight – It’s been a long three years since ‘Django Unchained’ and for a worrying moment Quentin Tarantino’s latest western appeared to be closed down for good, but it’s nearly here and what else needs to be said, a conscious throwback to his earlier works of ‘Reservoir Dogs’ and shot in glorious 70mm (Tarantino is using the exact same lenses they used for ‘Ben-Hur’ and the last major film to use the format was ‘Lawrence of Arabia’) and by his side are legends like Kurt Douglas, Tim Roth, Channing Tatum and of course, as always, Samuel L Jackson.

1: Sicario - This morally corrupted drama not only astonished top critics at the Cannes film festival but is the latest film from Dennis Villeneuve, director of ‘Prisoners’ and the future director of the ‘Blade Runner’ sequel. Centring around the war on drugs in Mexico the film sees Emily Blunt tracking down drug dealer Bennico Del Toro. It’s sure to be a complex tale of fear, power and corruption and it’s the film I’m most looking forward to over the coming months. Or is it…

Star Wars: The Force Awakens – I excluded this one from the list because it was always going to come out on top. Why wouldn’t it? Rest assured there will not be a more anticipated film this decade. We don’t know much about it, but it will pass $1 Billion easily, if it’s great then all I can say is watch out ‘Avatar’. It’s got a lot to live up to, and we’re hoping the perfect mix of classic ‘Star Wars’ with new spins, but can JJ Abrams deliver? Can ‘The Force Awakens’ be all things to all people? Only time will tell.
So what films are you most excited for this year? Leave a comment below to let me know and as always you can recommend this blog on Google using the icon at the top of the page, thanks and bye.