1- MICKEY 17: Bong Joon Ho is finally back directing a new movie after he won Best Picture at the Oscars in 2020 for "Parasite." I read the book that this film is based on, and it's fantastic. Robert Pattinson stars as an expendable clone in the far reaches of space on an ice planet in the future. The gimmick is that any difficult job the colony has they give to Mickey. If Mickey dies then his consciousness is just uploaded into a new clone body, hence why he's the 17th version. The book is pretty much a comedy and the main character is a Ryan Reynolds type of wise cracker, so who knows if they'll play up that sort of comedy with Pattinson in the film. Either way, I'm always excited to see what the best director working today has up his sleeve.
2- NOSFERATU: I guess I was the only one on Earth who thought Robert Eggers' "The Northman" was a masterpiece and by far his best film. Oh, well. He's going the "Dracula" route with this adaptation of "Nosferatu" starring Lily Rose Depp from "The Idol" fame, Willem Dafoe, and Bill Skarsgard. At the very least, the film is going to look fantastic.
3- FURIOSA: George Miller is 78 years old, so this might be his last film. Sadly, the trailer was practically all CGI, which is a shame. That's not too big a surprise, as "Mad Max: Fury Road" was infamous in how difficult and dangerous the production was. Still, Miller always delivers the crazy. This one is an origin story of Furiosa, this time starring Anya Taylor Joy. Chris Hemsworth also stars and it looks like he's just playing Thor.
4- JOKER: FOLIE A DEUX: I didn't even like "Joker." But this sequel sounds batshit insane. Lady Gaga stars as Harley Quinn and supposedly this is a musical. Wha-wha-what? They can't be serious. They probably just said that because Gaga sings like two songs in it or something. I'm more intrigued about this then probably any other movie this year. And Lady Gaga has to do a better job playing Harley Quinn than Margot Robbie, who was just unwatchably annoying as Harley Quinn. Todd Phillips is directing this again. The first time he just did a copy mash-up of "Taxi Driver" and "The King of New York." What's he going to copy this time? Apparently Coppola's epic box office musical dud from 1982, "One From the Heart." Jesus Christ. I can't wait to see this disaster.
5- ALIEN: ROMULUS: Fede Alvarez made a pretty good "Evil Dead" movie (it was perhaps the bloodiest R-rated film I've ever seen). How will he fare in the "Alien" realm? Considering the last good "Alien" movie came out in 1986, the odds are probably against him. This one stars "Priscilla" actress Cailee Spaeny and it takes place between "Alien" and "Aliens." Honestly, this is really the only movie I'm looking forward to this summer.
6- HIT MAN: The New York Times movie critic Mahnola Dargis already reviewed this and said it was one of Linklater's best. It stars Glenn Powell has a guy pretending to be a hit man. Every Richard Linklater film is at least intriguing, so this should be one of the year's better indie films.
7- CIVIL WAR: I feel so sorry for anyone that actually sat in a movie theater and watched Alex Garland's "Men." Especially if it was a packed theater. I'm also shocked that any studio read the script for "Men" and actually threw money at it. Garland is definitely an odd duck. He wrote "The Beach" and the script for "24 Days Later." He also wrote and directed one of my favorite films of this century, "Ex/Machina." But "Men" was just...out there (his novel "Coma" was also too weird). This one is basically what if Trump and the crazy Republicans try to actually take over the U.S. with a civil war. The trailer makes the movie look super expensive, which is kind of a surprise considering the partisan plot. Husband and wife Jesse Plemons and Kirsten Dunst star. It looks pretty wild.
8- CHALLENGERS: I love writer/director Luca Guadagnino. "Call Me By Your Name," "Bones and All," and "A Bigger Splash" were all fantastic. His HBO TV series, "We Are Who We Are," was one of my favorite TV shows of the last five years (and nobody watched it or heard of it). His new film stars Zendaya as a tennis star caught in a love triangle with two men. Zendaya also stars in "Dune: Part 2" but I already named that the #1 Most Anticipated Movie of 2023 last year but it got delayed.
9- DRIVE-AWAY DOLLS: The Coen brothers broke up for no apparent reason, but it doesn't really matter because they hadn't made a good movie together in years. Ethan Coen goes solo with this film starring Margaret Qualley, Matt Damon, and Pedro Pascal. It's about a trio of girls ensnared in a bank robbery or something. Let's all hope this is much, much better than Joel Coen's solo directing debut, the ultra-bore "Macbeth."
10- GLADIATOR 2: There are a ton of sequels coming out this year. Can you believe a sequel to "Twister" is coming out? The first one came out in 1994! Beating that is "Beetlejuice 2." The first one came out in the 1988. While I'm semi-curious about all of these belated sequels ("Gladiator" came out in 2000), "Gladiator 2" will probably at least be the most entertaining. I wasn't a fan of the first one (I called it an "epic disappointment" in my review), but I do like actor Paul Mescal and I do like gladiator fight sequences. This one also stars Denzel Washington. Ridley Scott is directing this. He's 86 years old. How did an 86 year old man direct a film? Did he just sit in a chair and occasionally tell people what to do while the crew really did everything? George Miller is a year older and he directed "Furiosa," so I suppose geizers can direct big-budget action movies. Scott just came out with "Napoleon." Maybe he discovered the secret to eternal youth or something.
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