Filmic Forays 2020 Preview - Top Ten Most Anticipated

Off we go! (Mary Poppins Returns)

In the same way that everyone's favourite magic nanny anticipated wonderment before splashing into a fantasy world via the Banks family bathtub (watch the charming 2018 Poppins sequel if you don't get the reference), so we film fans are embarking on a new and potentially enthralling adventure in cinema. It's called 2020 and if the year just past is anything by which to judge, we dare hope for greatness. Our cinema screens brought us surprise and delight during 2019 and while quality mid-budget movies were in their usual danger of getting squeezed out by blockbusters, Netflix came to the rescue as an alternative platform. (The Irishman, Marriage Story and Bird Box all leap to mind as examples of the Netflix movie coming-of-age.)

As of today (early January) it's the big studio projects which are monopolising my attention. Well they would, since they're the ones with the advance publicity and carved-in-stone release dates. By the end of the year a host of smaller projects will have come into my radar and some of them may well be in my Top Ten. But for now here are the ten higher profile movies that really have me salivating - you know, the ones where the only way from my expectations is down.

(Quick note - all release dates in question relate to the United Kingdom.)

1. 1917 (10th January)

Already released in the US to many ecstatic reviews, 1917 has that enticingly simple premise - a vital two-man mission on the Western Front, playing out over two hours in real time in what appears to be a single shot. With the double whammy of Sam Mendes and Roger Deakins - that's the Oscar-winning director of American Beauty at the helm and the Oscar-winning cinematographer of Blade Runner: 2049 behind the lens - this promises nothing short of greatness. Oh, and composer Thomas Newman's score for Tolkien recently moved me to tears, so... I should be a goner this time around.
 
Verdict: 10/10. I virtually never give out top scores on a first viewing, but could do anything other in this instance. Mendes, Deakins and co did not let me down and the film's depth of emotion matches its technical prowess. I've already been back to see it again and - yup - wow.

2. The Personal History of David Copperfield (24th January)

Literary purists will no doubt balk at this one, but frankly they can go... watch a different adaptation. Armando Iannucci has written and directed this take on Charles Dickens' sprawling classic and that's all I need to know. The man who lampooned UK politics in The Thick of It before similarly ripping through US politics in Veep (not to mention satirising totalitarian power struggles as a whole in The Death of Stalin) has taken time out to give Copperfield his uniquely witty spin. The always likeable Dev Patel takes the lead role, surrounded by more dream casting choices (Tilda Swinton as Betsy Trotwood - yes!; Peter Capaldi as Mr Micawber - yes!) than you could shake a parasol at. With all these mutual friends on board I'm having a hard time managing my great expectations. 

Verdict:7.5/10. A pacy re-telling and then some, this has Iannucci spin a-plenty, with an energetic central performance from Patel and all else orbiting around him in a solar system of bright Dickensian colour. Highly enjoyable like I'd hoped.


3. The Lighthouse (31st January)

Here's another one that's been provoking critical exuberance Stateside. And it's got an impressive audience rating on IMDb, particularly for a 'scary'. But then the A24 production company do a nice line in arty horror, one example being Lighthouse director Robert Eggers' previous feature The Witch. The premise of two keepers - the salty old hand and the new guy - trying to retain their sanity on a bizarre island off the coast of New England is irresistible. Also it's shot in that austere monochrome - just look at the poster. I have it on good authority that it's a horror experience unlike any before. And I love me a horror experience unlike any before. Ship me to that creepy island now!

Verdict: TBA

4. A Quiet Place Part II (20th March)

There's a degree of trepidation mixed in with my excitement here. 2018's A Quiet Place was so unique in its effect on cinema audiences (hands stalled en route to popcorn so intense was the silence) that I wanted it to remain a standalone. But I'm undeniably intrigued to imagine what will happen to the Abbott family next, as they attempt to dodge those hearing-enhanced predatory aliens. Emily Blunt is heading up the fight for survival and her husband John Krasinski is on full writing as well as directorial duties this time around, all of which bodes well. The insular world of the first film is about to open up, with Cillian Murphy and Djimon Hounsou joining the struggle. That could mean this film will lose the tautness of the original, or find some gripping new direction. Keep the noise down and hope for the latter.  

Verdict: TBA

5. No Time to Die (2nd April)

Daniel Craig's fourteen-year tenure as James Bond has had highs (Casino Royale, Skyfall) and not-just-so-highs (Quantum of Solace, Spectre), but no actual Roger Moore/Pierce Brosnan-style lows. (I'm thinking of you, Moonraker and Die Another Day, and it's making me sigh.) That's thanks in no small measure to Craig's level of in-role commitment, even if he did swear off playing the spy ever again following his 2012 mission. Here's hoping that with the MI6 team all on board, backed up by the director of True Detective Season 1 and a writing team that includes Phoebe Waller-Bridge, they can give the reluctant fifth-time Bond a rousing and resonant send-off. The trailer suggests classic 007 tropes with a heavy dose of paranoia and some potent malice in the form of Rami Malek's villain. Expect to be satisfied, stirred and maybe a little bit shaken. It's definitively the conclusion - so anything could happen.
   
Verdict: TBA

6. Black Widow (1st May)

Look, I'm an Marvel Cinematic Universe fan, so of course I'll be watching this on opening night. But there's a particular kind of intrigue as to what a standalone Black Widow movie can offer in the light of the character's dramatic Avengers: Endgame fate. Flashing back to pre-Infinity saga times, it will reunite her with comrades from her 'red ledger' days in what looks to be a Bourne-esque spy thriller (with added superhero stuff). Flavour-of-2019 Florence Pugh will play her 'sister' (blood or otherwise remains to be seen), with Rachel Weisz and Stranger Things' David Harbour rounding out the team, the latter as a rather portly Russian version of Captain America. Fingers crossed for a rattling ensemble adventure with a few tantalising hints regarding the MCU's future.
 

Verdict: TBA

7. Tenet (17th July)

It's a new Christopher Nolan's film. Enough said. Okay, I'll say a little more. It's a new Christopher Nolan film with a substantially bigger budget than Interstellar. It's a new Christopher Nolan film that promises to be more mind-bending conceptually than Inception. It's a new Christopher Nolan film involving international espionage, time travel and John David Washington in his first leading role since BlacKkKlansman plus the (probably) new Batman, Robert Pattinson. Did I mention it's written and directed by visionary British film-maker Christopher Nolan? Enough. Said. My anticipation is off the freaking chart for this one.

Verdict: TBA

8. Last Night in Soho (18th September)

I know even less about Last Night in Soho than I do about the above Tenet. What I do know is that it's co-written and directed by Edgar Wright, who so far hasn't made a film that dips below the 'very good indeed' line. I also know that it follows Baby Driver in a move away from the pure comedies (Shaun of the Dead, etc.) of his younger days, this time into science-fiction-tinged horror. Oh, and that his co-writer is Krysty Wilson-Cairns, who had script duties on 1917 (also above) and acclaimed and gory period TV series Penny Dreadful. Yes, and that it boasts a cast including Anya Taylor-Joy, Matt Smith and the Weasley twins. Okay, I do know quite a bit about it after all - and everything I know is good.

Verdict: TBA

9. Eternals (6th November)

It's the MCU again, and this time they're showing similar daring to when they introduced the Guardians of the Galaxy back in 2014. Eternals has no apparent links with the Avengers et al. It's a whole new departure for fans, albeit one with an impressive and diverse cast of immortal characters. Angelina Jolie is in there, along with The Big Sick's Kumail Nanjiani, Humans' Gemma Chan and two of the Winterfell boys from Game of Thrones. This potentially vast space opera is also being directed by Chinese director Chloe Zhao, of critically lauded 2017 western drama The Rider. She's an interesting, offbeat choice, and her presence means that precisely 100% of Marvel Studio's 2020 movie output is directed by women. (Australian Cate Shortland is helming Black Widow - didn't I mention that above?) When a studio has raked in $5 billion from its worldwide box office the previous year with only three movies, they have no excuse for playing things safe. And with Eternals, no such excuses are being made. It's an unknown quantity for most of us and that's making me smile.

Verdict: TBA

10. Dune (18th December)

Mind if I recycle the phrases 'visionary film-maker' and 'vast space opera'? Denis Villeneuve is one of those and is currently finishing off this prime example of the other. Frank Herbert's multiple world-spanning science-fiction saga has been adapted twice before. If anyone has a shot at capturing its mind-melting immensity and diversity, however, it's the man who gave us the haunting close encounter of Arrival in 2016, following it up with Blade Runner: 2049's dystopian beauty two years later. He's backed up by the cinematographer of Star Wars TV hit The Mandalorian, the music of fellow-genius Hans Zimmer and a cast that gets more awesome by the announcement. Rebecca Ferguson, anyone? Timothee Chalamet? Josh Brolin? Javier Bardem? Seriously? With no Star Wars or Aquaman-equivalent being released in December this year, Dune will have the science-fiction/fantasy audience all to itself - but can it capitalise? For what it's worth, my seat is as good as booked.  

Verdict: TBC

For fear of overwhelming you and myself I'm not even getting into the host of other 2020 UK releases I'll most certainly be watching - like Pixar's Soul, Top Gun: Maverick and Bill & Ted Face the Music. (Bill and Ted are returning in middle-age!!!) There's only so much cinematic promise I can deal with at one time and right now I'm feeling quite overwhelmed. Check this post as the year progresses to see whether or not my Big Ten deliver. 

2020 you have so much filmic potential. My hands are clasped to the heavens on your behalf...