Yes, 2020 will be yet another year full of sequels, prequels, spinoffs and remakes, only a few of which we’re actually looking forward to, writes Jack Cline. So here’s a trawl through the movies next year that look a lot more promising than the next Conjuring or Fast & Furious…
ALL NEW: Sam Mendes’ 1917 is an astonishingly well-made and deeply involving WWI adventure starring George MacKay, Andrew Scott and Benedict Cumberbatch. Recounting the true story of female harassment at Fox News, the riotously entertaining Bombshell features knockout performances from Charlize Theron, Nicole Kidman and Margot Robbie. Perhaps the most original filmmaker working today, Christopher Nolan returns this summer with Tenet, an action drama involving espionage, time travel and Robert Pattinson. And then there’s Jack Whitehall playing gay in a Disney movie. Jungle Cruise is based on a theme park ride, but it looks like a comical African Queen remakewith Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt.
INTRIGUING REMAKES: It’s been 35 years since David Lynch took a stab at Frank Herbert’s epic novel Dune, and now another awesome filmmaker Denis Villeneuve (Arrival) has filmed it, starring Timothée Chalamet. And Disney’s live-action remake of Mulan looks like something special: a proper full-on Chinese action movie that’s earthier and a lot more exciting than the cartoon was. They’ve even ditched the annoying comedy dragon.
SEQUELS & PREQUELS: Probably the most hotly anticipated film of the year, Daniel Craig is back as Bond one more time in No Time to Die, with Rami Malek as the villain. Superhero women make a welcome return to action in Black Widow and Wonder Woman 1984. And if extremely old franchises are your thing, you’ll be excited to see Tom Cruise still playing beach volleyball (we can hope) in Top Gun: Maverick, plus Ghostbusters: Afterlife and Bill & Ted Face the Music (excellent!). As for prequels, Kingsman gets a backstory starring the gorgeous Harris Dickinson in The King’s Man, and the Sopranos get a backstory in The Many Saints of Newark.
SONG & DANCE: The gayest musical heading our way is Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, about a Yorkshire teen who wants to be a drag queen. Before Hamilton, Lin-Manuel Miranda wrote the musical In the Heights, about neighbours living in north Manhattan. The movie version looks great. And Steven Spielberg directs a new film of iconic musical West Side Story starring Ansel Elgort (aka Baby Driver).
AND FINALLY, if waiting for those seems like too much work, these terrific films arrive on VOD this month: François Ozon’s powerful true abusive priest drama By the Grace of God (6 Jan), Almodóvar’s gorgeously introspective Pain and Glory (13 Jan), the sexy gay French romp The Shiny Shrimps (13 Jan), the gay-tinged biopic Judy (27 Jan), the fabulously pink-washed satire Greener Grass (27 Jan), and tough gay Austrian thriller Nevrland (27 Jan).
2019: Best & Worst by Jack Cline
BEST FILMS
Pain and Glory
The Irishman
The Blond One
Wild Rose
Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood
Sauvage
By the Grace of God
Amazing Grace
Kanarie
Rocketman
WORST FILMS
Rambo: Last Blood
Godzilla: King of the Monsters
Isn’t It Romantic
Escape Plan 3
Triple Frontier
Stuber
Dark Phoenix
Tell It to the Bees
The Laundromat
Red Joan
HUNKS OF THE YEAR
The Shiny Shrimps
Carlos Acosta in Yuli
Mena Massoud in Aladdin
Carloto Cotto in Diamantino
Tom Holland in Spider-Man:
Far From Home
MEMORABLY FULL FRONTAL
Jack Reynor in Midsommar
Luke Evans in Ma
Cesar Vicente in Pain and Glory
Aaron Taylor-Johnson in
A Million Little Pieces
Jake Phillips Head in
The Souvenir
MOST IMPORTANT FILMS
Sorry We Missed You
For Sama
Are You Proud?
A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood
Hail Satan?
LGBTQ FILMS
OF THE DECADE
Moonlight (2016)
Weekend (2011)
A Fantastic Woman (2017)
Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019)
Carol (2015)
Pain and Glory (2019)
Tangerine (2015)
It’s Only the End of the World (2016)
God’s Own Country (2017)
The Kids Are All Right (2010)
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