Now that one week has passed since Everything Everywhere All At Once's triumph at the 95th Oscars, it's time to set what awaits us this cinematic year. Personally, I must admit I am particularly excited about Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 3 or the soon to be released Ben Affleck's Air (but it's kinda of a "too close" release to be considered in this post). Scream VI, Creed III and Knock at the Cabin would also make very deserving picks but they have already been released - in fact it is an exciting year in terms of early releases.
So, what makes a movie highly antecipated? Well, I would say the amount of talent involved. Many great movies have a lot of award potential that might (or might not) materialize considering multiple factors: from distribution to campaign priorities, a movie's award recognition can be too much of a "marketing thing". Still, I picked what I consider to be the most interesting and potentially greatest movies of the year based on film festival reviews, names involved in the movie's production and cultural impact.
Here are my 10 most antecipated movies for 2023:
Wes Anderson's last movie - The French Dispatch - didn't get as much love as his previous efforts, but it still received a couple of prize mentions and it was well-received by art-house audiences. This year, he brings Asteroid City, a comedy-drama that assembled an all-star cast led by Jason Schwartzman and Scarlett Johansson and it seems to promise a more heartfelt tone than The French Dispatch. Some of Anderson's regulars are back: from Swinton, Wilson, Brody or Wright in the cast, to Yeoman, Desplat, Stockhausen or Milena Canonero in the technical fields. Seems promising and Anderson has never disappointed me - and Focus Features was granted the distribution rights!
The Sundance champion A Thousand and One is also on the radar. A tale of black lives and motherhood, it got rave reviews during the film festival and it got picked by Focus Features (a major distributor and award campaign-builder) and it is anchored by a Teyana Taylor's (said to be) magnetic performance that will draw her Best Actress buzz attentions and the movie as well (as a direct consequence). Another tale of Black lives is The Color Purple, the cinematic adaptation of the Broadway musical of the same name, it seems to have everything to be remembered as a near-perfect (such as Steven Spielberg's adaptation of the source novel) - a fantastic ensemble cast, a black vision behind the camera and a whole new dimension thanks to the songs. The show was a big hit at Broadway, Fantasia Barrino is reprising the lead role of Celie (which earned her rave reviews for her Broadway debut) and I am rooting for one great movie here!
A project that I find truly intriguing is Greta Gerwig's Barbie - first, the subject might sound dull, but considering Gerwig took on the project and she and Noah Baumbach wrote the script, I have to give it a chance. Right now, the teaser trailer made it look fantastic and fresh and the on-screen charms of Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling sure can make wonders, but... a Barbie movie?! No matter what, it will have cultural impact in the awards conversation (and Film Twitter will love to discuss this movie!) and I trust Gerwig to deliver a feminist tale.
On the other hand, Dune: Part II is expected to reach the same heights as the first movie - an epic sci-fi adventure with great direction, a very fine script, solid cast and amazing technical achievements in filmmaking. As a big fan of the first movie (that I consider it was able to elevate the source material), I consider myself on Dune Part II's team and I am really rooting for the Academy to apologize Denis Villeneuve for that atrocious Best Director snub for the first movie.
Big names will be back this year: the Academy Award winners Martin Scorsese and Rob Marshall; the Academy Award nominees Bradley Cooper (not a Best Director nominee, considering his surprise Best Director omission for A Star Is Born) and Christopher Nolan; and then there's the directorial debut of Celine Song, the auteur behind Past Lives - one of the movie sensations of Sundance Film Festival and Berlin International Film Festival (in competition for the prestigious Golden Bear).
Martin Scorsese brings the delayed Leonardo DiCaprio & Robert DeNiro starrer Killers of the Flower Moon, an epic western backed by Apple, which is still fresh from CODA's Best Picture win in 2022 and it is likely to give Scorsese's latest the "top priority" treatment when awards season starts. Still, regardless of its award perspectives, a Scorsese movie is always a cinematic event - he's one of the greatest filmmaking masters alive. Another master: Christopher Nolan, who brings something outside of the sci-fi dominion - the follow-up to Tenet is... a biopic called Oppenheimer about the man who created the atomic bomb. The teaser trailer screams "prestige picture" and it features an amazing (and large) ensemble cast led by the great Cillian Murphy, who might (finally) have found his big awards vehicle he's overdue for. Some Nolan's regulars are back for this one: Jennifer Lame in the editing room, Ludwig Göransson for score, Hoyte van Hoytema in cinematography and DNEG in the visual effects. Looks like a winning project on paper to me.
Rob Marshall's triumph with Chicago seems to have been a one-timer, but he achieved some bits of greatness with Memoirs of a Geisha and he did good with Into the Woods and Mary Poppins Returns... this time he's back with another musical adaptation - The Little Mermaid, starring Halle Bailey in a controversial casting decision that might have generating a lot of talk, but also opened discussion about POC artists' opportunities. A CGI-heavy movie considering what we see in the trailer, it also seems like an eye-candy cinematic piece considering the eye-popping visuals. I would dare to say it will be a box-office success for sure and I dare to say it will be remembered as the start of a promising career as an actress for Bailey.
Bradley Cooper's Maestro might be the movie that earns Cooper the Oscar of... Best Actor? Here he plays Leonard Bernstein, the conductor behind West Side Story or On the Waterfront who lived a turbulent marriage to dispel rumours about his homossexuality. This kind of biopics of closeted homossexuals might be controversial and can easily fall into cliché storytelling, but Cooper has already proven he is a fine director and he knows how to handle a narrative. Carey Mulligan is also involved in the project as Bernstein's wife and it might also be a juicy role for one of the most talented actresses out there. Plus, the AMPAS loves biopics about Hollywood figures, so... unless it fails completely, I believe Maestro is a safe awards bet from Netflix.
The last movie is Past Lives... it's a directorial debut, I don't know the leading actress' previous work or Teo Woo and it gives me some "Lost In Translation vibes" (a movie I consider perfect and untouchable), but the enthusiastic reception it got in both Sundance and Berlin made me curious about it and then the trailer made me think I will absolutely love this one. Plus, it is a A24 production, which means a lot these days!
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