Most Anticipated Films Of 2019
Each new year brings a new batch of films to get excited about. While some, like Glass, won’t live up to the hype that the fans and media place on them, there’ll always be a handful that meet or surpass our initial expectations. Here’s a quick rundown of the films that we’re most excited about this year!
Climax
Release Date: 3/1/19
Summary: French dancers gather in a remote, empty school building to rehearse on a wintry night. The all-night celebration morphs into a hallucinatory nightmare when they learn their sangria is laced with LSD.
Why We’re Excited: Gaspar Noé is a modern technician of mesmerizing and unsettling cinema. While his films tend to focus on dark subject matter, he’s not yet undertaken a straight up horror film, which is enough to get excited; however, Climax's blend of psychological terror with Step Up style dance choreography has us the most intrigued.
Us
Release Date: 3/22/19
Summary: A mother and father take their kids to their beach house, expecting to enjoy time with friends, but their serenity turns to tension and chaos when some visitors arrive uninvited.
Why We’re Excited: After Get Out, we’ll follow Jordan Peele wherever he wants to led us, and Us looks to be a cerebrally twisty good time with a hearty mystery at its center. At this point, we’d hate to read too much into it or know too much about it; we want to be somewhat blindsided. We’ve crossed everything hoping that Peele doesn’t fall into the sophomore slump!
The Beach Bum
Release Date: 3/29/19
Summary: The Beach Bum follows the hilarious misadventures of Moondog (Matthew McConaughey), a rebellious rogue who always lives life by his own rules. Co-starring Snoop Dog, Zac Efron, and Isla Fisher, THE BEACH BUM is a refreshingly original and subversive new comedy from director Harmony Korine (Kids, Gummo, Spring Breakers).
Why We’re Excited: Here at Viddy Well, we LOVE Harmony Korine. We realize he’s hit or miss for most, and he’s hated by some, but to us, he’s a true American visionary that has always been interested in pushing boundaries and filling cinema with colorful images and characters than didn’t exist previously. With The Beach Bum, it seems cut from the same Floridian cloth as Spring Breakers (maybe there’s a Florida trilogy in store for us), which is slightly disappointing because its the first time in his 20-year career where he appears to be repeating himself, but a Harmony Korine stoner comedy seems long overdue. Not to mention, Matt McConaughey as the leading stoner; well, alright alright alright…
High Life
Release Date: 4/12/19
Summary: Monte (Robert Pattinson) and his baby daughter are the last survivors of a damned and dangerous mission to the outer reaches of the solar system. The crew, comprised of death-row inmates, is led by a doctor (Juliette Binoche) with sinister motives who has vanished. As the mystery of what happened onboard the ship is unraveled, father and daughter must rely on each other to survive as they hurtle toward the oblivion of a black hole.
Why We’re Excited: After 2017’s Good Time, Robert Pattinson has captured our full attention, and seeing him act alongside an infant is very intriguing. Add to the mix that the film comes from the mind of visionary director Claire Denis and appears to be a cerebrally unhinged sci-fi thriller, and you’ve got something we can wholeheartedly rally behind.
Godzilla: King of the Monsters
Release Date: 5/31/19
Summary: The new story follows the heroic efforts of the crypto-zoological agency Monarch as its members face off against a battery of god-sized monsters, including the mighty Godzilla, who collides with Mothra, Rodan, and his ultimate nemesis, the three-headed King Ghidorah. When these ancient super-species — thought to be mere myths — rise again, they all vie for supremacy, leaving humanity's very existence hanging in the balance.
Why We’re Excited: The Trick ‘r Treat and Krampus writer/director gets to make a Godzilla film?! We are so so down. I mean, we were already down for Godzilla, but Michael Dougherty’s involvement gives us even more to rally behind. We expect it to be nothing short of epic!
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
Release Date: 7/26/19
Summary: Quentin Tarantino's ninth feature film is a story that takes place in Los Angeles in 1969, at the height of hippy Hollywood. The two lead characters are Rick Dalton (Leonardo DiCaprio), former star of a western TV series, and his longtime stunt double Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt). Both are struggling to make it in a Hollywood they don't recognize anymore. But Rick has a very famous next-door neighbor...Sharon Tate.
Why We’re Excited: You can always count on Tarantino to stand and deliver, and we’re hoping Once Upon a Time in Hollywood harks back to Pulp Fiction’s serial of narratives that mosaic together to paint a full picture. We’ve been charting this one since the announcement, but much of the film is being kept under lock and key, which is all for the better (if you need our opinion). With QT’s hip vision and a dynamite cast, there’s very little chance that this one could fail.
Under the Silver Lake
Release Date: 8/8/19
Summary: Sam (Andrew Garfield) is a disenchanted 33-year-old who discovers a mysterious woman, Sarah (Riley Keough), frolicking in his apartment's swimming pool. When she vanishes, Sam embarks on a surreal quest across Los Angeles to decode the secret behind her disappearance, leading him into the murkiest depths of mystery, scandal, and conspiracy in the City of Angels.
Why We’re Excited: Though it was originally scheduled to be released in the United States on June 22, 2018, but was pushed back in June to December 7, 2018 and again to April 19, 2019, Under the Silver Lake has been making waves with its division, but that’s just kinda piqued our intrique. We’re always down for a quirky and cerebrally disorienting film noir, and David Robert Mitchell’s follow up to It Follows, Under the Silver Lake, looks like it’s right up our alley. We’re more than happy to roll the dice here.
Midsommar
Release Date: 8/8/19
Summary: A young woman reluctantly joins her boyfriend on a summer trip where things quickly go awry.
Why We’re Excited: Very little has been released about Ari Aster’s follow-up feature to last year’s phenomenal Hereditary, but we’re wholeheartedly on board. Aster’s referred to the film as a “Scandinavian folk horror” and “a dark break-up movie that becomes a horror film.” Apparently, he claims that it’ll be his last for a long time, so we’ll be sure to savor this experience. With A24 backing Aster again and the phenomenal Florence Pugh signed on to star, we’re ready to be scared.
Joker
Release Date: 10/4/19
Summary: Joker centers around the iconic arch-nemesis and is an original, standalone story not seen before on the big screen. The exploration of Arthur Fleck (Joaquin Phoenix), a man disregarded by society, is not only a gritty character study, but also a broader cautionary tale.
Why We’re Excited: We love the joker, and we adore Joaquin Phoenix. We’ve been muttering under our breath for years that he (and Nicolas Cage) would make a great Joker, so we were ecstatic when it finally came to fruition. We’re big fans of Alan Moore’s The Killing Joke, which it looks like Todd Philips has definitely drawn inspiration from, so we’re hoping this one goes off with a BANG!
Dolor Y Gloria (Pain and Glory)
Release Date: TBD
Summary: A film director reflects on the choices he's made in life as past and present come crashing down around him.
Why We’re Excited: It’s been a few years since we’ve heard from Pedro Almodóvar, and while little is known currently about his latest film, it appears that the filmmaker is channeling his inner Fellini, a la 8 1/2, and that’s never a bad thing. Knowing Almodóvar, there’ll be a lot below the surface and a good twist and turn embedded somewhere.
The Lodge
Release Date: TBD
Summary: A soon-to-be-stepmom is snowed in with her fiance's two children at a remote holiday village. Just as relations finally begin to thaw between the trio, strange and frightening events threaten to summon psychological demons from her strict religious childhood.
Why We’re Excited: Yet another one we’re looking forward to that stars Riley Keough (can’t go wrong there), this one wasn’t even on our radar until it made a big splash as Sundance. Allegedly, The Lodge (from the duo that brought us 2014’s Goodnight Mommy) is this year’s Hereditary, which definitely captured our attention. We see you, and we are waiting.
Are you excited? Did we leave the film you’re looking forward to out of our article? We want to know. Share your thoughts and feelings, and as always, remember to viddy well!