The Projector #24: New Year, New Movies, Same Old Newsletter (Patreon)

(Photo because the movie Real Steel is set in 2020)

by Keith Phipps

Hello, we’re back after a short break with your regularly scheduled The Next Picture Show. Did everyone have a good break? Watch a lot of movies? Argue about The Rise of Skywalker? Good. It’s probably time to put 2019 to bed, however (once you’ve listened to me and Scott name the 10 best movies of the year in our new bonus episode, of course). So what about 2020? I asked Scott, Tasha, and Genevieve to offer up their most anticipated 2020 projects. Here’s what they gave me.

Scott:

Lots of exciting-sounding movies coming from old favorites, including Edgar Wright’s Last Night In Soho, a thriller reportedly inspired by Repulsion and Don’t Look Now; Spike Lee’s Da 5 Bloods, which sounds like an African-American Treasure of the Sierra Madre set in Vietnam, and Wes Anderson’s The French Dispatch, which is described as “a love letter to journalists” and thus will flatter me even more than usual. But I’ll call attention to a couple more that caught my eye: Annette, an English-language musical by French director Leos Carax (Holy Motors), starring Adam Driver and featuring songs by Sparks, and Dick Johnson is Dead, Kirsten Johnson’s follow-up to her great documentary Cameraperson, this one about preparing for her father’s death through a creative collaboration with him.

Genevieve:

I’m going to second all of Scott’s “old favorite” callouts, and add what I can only assume is a regrettable oversight on his part in the form of Christopher Nolan’s Tenet, whatever the hell it ends up being — the trailer does little to clarify what the movie actually is beyond “a Christopher Nolan thriller,” and honestly, what more do you want? Also in the “what more do you want” column, I’ll add three simple words: “Denis Villeneuve’s Dune.” 

2020 will also see a trio of women-helmed superhero films that I am varying degrees of excited for on an individual basis — Cathy Yan’s Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) has the makings of a mess, given its roots in the abysmal Suicide Squad, but Margot Robbie’s Quinn was the lone bright spot in that film, and the trailer, frankly, slaps, so I’m there; Patty Jenkins’ Wonder Woman 1984 is poised to lean into the best parts of its record-breaking predecessor and then top it off with the bonus of Chris Pine in a fanny pack; and while Marvel’s The Eternals has most recently generated buzz for Kumail Nanjiani’s physical transformation for the film, I’m still most excited about the involvement of director Chloe Zhao — but I am most excited by the fact that, once again in case you missed it the first time, there are THREE major studio superhero films directed (and in all but one case, written by) women coming out this year. 

Hopping over to the Disney realm and its many arms, the trailer for Mulan has me reconsidering my personal boycott of all the Disney live-action remakes; and how could I not be excited for the Pixar double-header that is Onward and Soul, though the latter so far looks much more enigmatic and interesting than the former’s seemingly straightforward adventure story. There are also a couple of high-profile feature musicals on the horizon to wipe Cats from our collective memory, in the form of Jon M. Chu’s adaptation of Lin Manuel Miranda’s In the Heights and Steven Spielberg’s remake of West Side Story — I’m currently trending more toward the “cautious” end of “cautiously optimistic” on that second one, but we have almost a full year of hype for that one ahead of us, so we’ll see how things shake out come Christmas 2020. 

And finally, a couple of wild cards, which I am fully prepared to see fizzle out, but am holding out hope for a pleasant surprise: the Jordan Peele-produced Antebellum, of which I know almost nothing other than it stars my forever fave, Janelle Monaé, and looks intensely stylish, so I’m hoping this one won’t end up being too scary for me to endure; and Downhill, an English-Language remake of Ruben Ostlund’s Force Majeure that is almost certainly unnecessary, but also stars Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Will Ferrell, which is a combination I simply can’t pass up, particularly when applied to a premise as good as Force Majeure’s.

Tasha:

Genevieve's thorough rundown has hit a lot of my highlights — particularly Onward, Soul, and In the Heights. On the more serious side, I'll add in Raya and the Dragon, an original animated Disney fantasy starring Awkwafina (the concept art for this has been particularly gorgeous), and Black Widow, the long-awaited solo outing for Scarlett Johansson's Marvel Cinematic Universe character. And Chaos Walking, the first in a series of adaptations of Patrick Ness' powerful YA novels, isn't dated yet, but should be out this year, and I have perhaps unwarranted high hopes for it.

But there's some trashier, possibly more ironic fare that I'm actually looking forward to: the first animated Trolls movie was a weirdly trippy surprise, and the sequel Trolls: World Tour looks equally over-the-top insane. Blumhouse's Fantasy Island reboot/re-think similarly could be a lot of ridiculous fun.

But I'm most looking forward to a Spanish indie called The Platform, a wildly imaginative speculative dystopic film I saw at multiple festivals in 2019. It's coming to Netflix at some point this year, and I can't wait for other people to share that experience. It's a brutal class metaphor couched in a riveting science-fiction future story, and it's the kind of film I love sharing with other people.

Keith:

That’s… a lot. And I’m not sure what I can add to it except to say my favorite film of any given year tends to be one that’s not even on my radar in January. Except, whoa, I’m not sure how everybody (especially you, Genevieve) could have overlooked a Bob’s Burgers movie. How could that not be delightful?

What are you most looking forward to? Let us know in the comments. (And please do let us know. We always read the comments.)

Other stuff: There’s a new episode in which talk about Uncut Gems and The Killing of a Chinese Bookie out… well, right now. Here it is! Next week we’ll begin talking about life during wartime by way of Children of Men and 1917.

And, finally, here’s a few pieces to read.

At Screencrush, our pal Matt Singer wrote about learning to love Star Wars again thanks to his daughter.

For Vanity Fair, Jordan Hoffman talked to the great Randy Newman about A Marriage Story music and more.

Speaking of A Marriage Story, for Vulture, Hunter Harris wrote about the one line she couldn’t shake from that movie.

Finally, here's a piece about how Christopher Nolan, Patty Jenkins, Martin Scorsese and others are trying to make the world safe from motion-smoothing via a Filmmaker Mode setting.