18 Most Anticipated Movies of 2018: Part 1 of 2
Bird Box dir. Susanne Bier
I just love Susanne Bier and will pretty much give a shot to anything she decides to direct. Bird Box, adapted from a novel of the same name, also had a really cool concept. It’s about one woman struggling to survive after aliens land on earth. Aliens that make humans go insane and start destroying themselves and others if they even catch a glance of these creatures. The always charming Sandra Bullock also will star in the lead role. Yay for more women directed scifi!
The Darkest Minds dir. Jennifer Yuh Nelson
Look I’ll be honest. I’m not really a fan of YA (go see my rant on To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before). But how fucking refreshing in 2018 to finally see big budget scifi films written and directed by woc. Good on Amandla Stenberg for signing up to work with mostly women directors over the last few years. I really can’t wait to see what Jennifer Yuh Nelson (making her transition from animation to live-action) does with this series about a group of teenagers with superpowers battling against an oppressive regime (timely and topical!)
Destroyer dir. Karyn Kusama
My mother was a huge fan of Nicole Kidman when I was a kid, she used to rent her movies and let me watch no matter how inappropriate they were. So I still have a soft spot for Kidman as the actress who helped introduce me to so many great directors through her work. And for people having that intro now, how lucky are they to be following Kidman now that she’s made a firm commitment to working with more women directors?
Kusama is honestly a great director and I can’t wait to see what this pair do together with the story of a cop (Kidman) who gets a second shot at taking down the cult that wrecked her life many years ago.
Fast Color dir. Julia Hart
So despite the excellent things I’ve heard about writer/director Julia Hart I’ve yet to see one of her films. I was excited right away about the concept for this film though which is about a woman with superhero abilities who has been on the run from the government for years. The film stars the always excellent Gugu Mbatha-Raw who I am dying to see break out in a major way. Her other two films of 2018 The Cloverfield Paradox and Irreplaceable You have been forgettable duds. Here’s hoping Fast Color breaks that trend.
High Life dir. Claire Denis
Any film by Claire Denis would automatically make my most anticipated list but High Life sounds extra exciting. Denis, whose films so far have mostly been quiet realist character dramas, is making her first foray into scifi with High Life. The film stars Robert Pattinson and is about a prisoner who is sent into space where experiments are performed on his body.
I Think We’re Alone Now dir. Reed Morano
More scifi! Morano is on fire right now and rightly so. The cinematographer turned director’s debut Meadowland slipped by unnoticed but she rightfully picked up accolades for her work directing the first three episodes of The Handmaid’s Tale.
I Think We’re Alone Now features Elle Fanning and Peter Dinklage as the lone survivors on earth after something (a virus? a plague?) wipes out all other life forms. I love low-key scifi like this and I love the actors. I’m in.
The Land of Steady Habits dir. Nicole Holofcener
I don’t know what this movie is about and to be honest I don’t really care. Some directors and writers are just people you connect with and after working my way through all of Holofcener’s filmography she’s just someone I trust to put out a good movie. No doubt she is once again interrogating the lives of upper middle class white Americans, but Holofcener always applies such a charming lens to her characters and digs deep into who they are in a way that make her low-key films into something unforgettable. I will say that the big shock of the movie is that Holofcener’s muse Catherine Keener will NOT have a role in the film, the first time in her 6 film career that spends over 20 years that this has happened!
Lazzaro Felice (Happy Lazzaro) dir. Alice Rohrwacher
Rohrwacher’s latest deals with a man on the fringes of society who discovers he can travel through time (so much scifi on this year’s list! I love it!) I’ve loved watching Rohrwacher grow as a filmmaker, the Italian director definitely has an eye for finding wild beauty in the most basic settings. Her last film won a big prize at Cannes, hopefully this film will debut there as well.
Leave No Trace dir. Debra Granik
Consider this: Jennifer Lawrence may feel like an established superstar at this point but she first came to prominence in Granik’s Winter’s Bone in 2010. Since then Jlaw has rocketed to stardom and earned two more Oscar noms. Granik…released a little seen documentary and finally put out her first feature film since Winter’s Bone this year. It’s tough out there for indie writer-directors!
I have deliberately not been looking too hard at promo for Leave No Trace because I am going to see it no matter what, but the film seems to see Granik returning to examine the lives of forgotten Americans, this time through the relationship of a father and daughter who have turned their back on society and live a reclusive hermitic existence.
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