I had hoped that this list of the movies I’m most looking forward to this Fall and Christmas Season would be more . . . hopeful. And just a few weeks ago I believed it would be. Black Widow and F9 were raking in mountains of box office cash, tens of millions of people were lining up for their vaccinations and major events that had been cancelled for the past year and half were planning a tentative comeback. It felt like the world was finally in recovery mode and we’d be in the home stretch by the time the fall rolled around..
But we don’t live in the same world we did just a few short weeks ago and the COVID-19 pandemic is still wreaking havoc on Hollywood. Movies may be back in theatres, but according to the dismal box office numbers, paying movie goers aren’t. Once packed to the bursting seems, movie theatres have become virtual ghost towns. Even if lockdowns and country wide quarantines are be a thing of the past (and they may not be), movie studios may decide to push their multi-million dollar movies back even further in hopes that rosier box office days aren’t that far off.
(It’s rare not to see a Disney animated movie on one of these lists. But I’m pretty sure that Disney will push it’s animated Encanto from its current Black Friday release date to the spring or summer of 2022. The Delta variant is particularly dangerous for kids too young to get vaccinated and the situation could be even more dire months after millions of vulnerable children return to school-with a disturbing number of politicians currently refusing to observe any safety mandates.)
My 2020 Spring and Winter list was a casualty of the first days of the pandemic. Could this one be a casualty of the Delta variant?
But let’s leave the negativity and the nay-saying for tomorrow and charge forward like we lived in a perfect, movie loving world. If everything works out (and Labour Day’s box office performance is a beacon of hope so far), these are the ten movies I’ve got circled on my movie going calendar. Let’s cross our collective fingers that the world will be safe enough to enjoy them on the big screen.
Stay safe everyone.
10. The Matrix: Resurrection (Dec. 22nd): While I loved the first Matrix, feeling it was a ground breaking orgy of philosophical exploration and special effects, I felt the sequels were heavy handed and wasted the all the good will the first movie generated. The one thing I felt the trilogy as a whole got right was closing the narrative circle, seeing Neo and other characters sacrificing themselves in the name of saving the world and allowing the audience’s imagination to determine what things would have looked like after the very final credits rolled. So bringing everyone back to life for a seeming unnecessary sequel raises a lot of red flags. The fact that Lily Wachowski isn’t returning to direct is another possible warning sign. But I have to admit that I’m curious what the story will look like and how it plans to resurrect so many pivotal characters. And there’s this persistent, nagging little voice insisting that maybe, must maybe, this relaunch can recapture the lightning the first Matrix bottled. While the odds of that are anemically slim, if they do manage to pull that Herculean task off, I have to be there to witness it.
9. Antlers (Oct. 29th): It’s morbidly amazing that North America has ignored Indigenous mythology despite sitting on the lands that once worshipped it. Sure, there have been some explorations of First Nations folklore here and there, but nothing compared to the likes of vampires, werewolves and zombies. Telling the story of a teacher trying to protect an orphan who may or may not be shackled to a homicidal demon, Antlers wades deep into the darker side of Indigenous folklore. And its monster has an entire town in its grip and feeds mercilessly on anyone it hunts. Or crosses it’s path. Considering the horrific reminders we’ve recently had of Canada’s residential schools-and the unforgivable atrocities they committed against Indigenous children in the name of religious and cultural purity-I’m probably gonna be on the monster’s side for most of this flick.
8. Last Night In Soho (Oct. 29th): It looks like I’m getting treated to a nice little psychological thriller to compliment the aforementioned monster movie just in time for Hallowe’en. Last Night in Soho looks like the supernatural themed, time bending mystery that the last 18 months have prepared us for. While Anya Taylor Joy is already one of Hollywood’s most valuable commodities right now, she looks like she’s exploring a new facet of her range here (that’s actually her singing in the trailer). Of all the movies on this list, Soho has the greatest potential to fall off the tracks. But it also has the most potential to make an unforgettable impression and haunt me for days and weeks afterwards.
7. Malignant (Sept. 10th): The “imaginary childhood friend is actually a murderous supernatural entity that comes back to haunt you as an adult” story has been done until it’s become stale. But Malignant looks like it may at least be slapping a fresh coat of paint on the horror trope. Is the monster in question an obsessed stalker, drawing closer to its beloved prey with every victim? Or are the targets merely a means to an end, each one getting it a step closer to slaughtering the child who may have granted it entry into our world through nothing more than sheer belief? I hope it will be interesting finding out. Using an iPhone during a seance was a nice touch too.
6. Venom: Let There Be Carnage (Oct. 1st): So let’s get this out in the open right off the bat. The only reason I enjoyed the fist Venom was Tom Hardy’s tongue-in-cheek performance. But even Hardy (arguably the finest actor in the world today) could barely mask all of that movie’s warts. Here’s hoping that adding one of the most popular villains in Marvel comics will lift the sequel to better heights (and that Hardy hasn’t lost interest). Let Their Be Carnage will need both Woody Harrelson and the film’s writers to do their brand new villain justice. I have faith in Harrelson. The writers? Let’s just say I have a few doubts. Here’s hoping the sequel puts my concerns to bed and insures Sony continues to have a profitable non-MCU franchise on its hands.
5. Dune (Oct. 22nd): It feels like it’s been a minute or two since we’ve had an ambitious science fiction epic, doesn’t it? And there may not be a sci-fi story as epic as Frank Hebert’s Dune. This is a massive gamble by Warner Bros. Dune‘s fanbase is as militantly passionate as it is massive. And It’s still suffering PTSD from the 1984 adaptation (considered by many to be one of the worst things to ever appear on film). While I was a big fan of Blade Runner 2049, director Denis Villeneuve’s last science fiction vision failed to find traction with audiences and lost Warner a tonne of money. But Dune has assembled a killer cast and the visuals we’ve seen so far are beyond jaw dropping. If Villeneuve can pull this off (and this is movie may only cover the first half the story), it will have been worth the COVID lengthened wait.
4. Spider-Man: No Way Home (Dec. 17th): While the One More Day storyline is one of the most controversial Spider-Man stories ever told (Peter Parker makes a deal with the devil to save Aunt May’s life and make the world forget he’s Spider-Man-but the price he must pay is the love he shares with his soulmate Mary Jane Watson), I always thought it was a brave and creative departure from the generic story telling comics are known for (which is maybe why so many Spider fans hated it?). And while No Way Home isn’t a direct adaptation, it includes a lot of the elements that made that story both tragic and compelling. Leaning hard into the MCU by including Dr. Strange and building on the foundation Multiverse foundation laid by Loki makes this look even more fun. Not to take anything away from Tobey Macguire or Andrew Garfield, but Tom Holland is my favourite web crawler and watching his awkward growth into one of the world’s greatest super heroes is always a treat. And I’ve found Marvel’s trolling the fans by teasing who may or may not turn up from Spidey’s extensive cinematic past nothing short of hysterical.
3. Shang-Chi (Sept. 3rd): Remember how I talked about the original Matrix a few entries back? Well one of the biggest things that movie had going for it was its innovative and purely audacious fight scenes. No one had ever seen anything like it before and they changed how action movies did just about everything after that. Word is Shang-Chi, the MCU’s first Asian super hero movie, does much the same; combining mind blowing fight choreography with super powers and cutting edge special effects. That alone is worth its spot on this list, but I’ll always be first in line for a movie baptizing a new hero into the MCU. What makes Shang-Chi even more interesting is he’s a complete unknown. While Black Panther, Spider-Man and even Captain Marvel starred in or were teased in previous movies with established properties, Shang-Chi is virgin narrative ground. And after having genocidal intergalactic warlords, homicidal androids, malevolent gods and super powered terrorists, the MCU is finally getting dragons? Consider me sold.
2. The Eternals (Nov. 5th): The MCU is the most successful movie juggernaut in history. Nothing else even comes close. Having said that, it’s biggest challenge will be to prevent becoming stale while finding new ways to expand and keep things fresh. It is no small task, especially for something so massive. But it looks like it’s on the right track with The Eternals. Like Shang-Chi, The Eternals are an unknown commodity; recognized by only the most hardcore comic book fans (and even then, they probably couldn’t offer you anything more than the vaguest information). While poses plenty of storytelling challenges, Marvel has proven it can take just about anything and make it a blockbusting movie franchise (Guardians of the Galaxy, anyone?). So far, The Eternals looks like nothing we’ve seen from the MCU and there’s plenty of reasons to believe that Marvel is successfully headed in an exciting new direction. November 5th can’t get here fast enough.
1. Ghostbusters: Afterlife (Nov.11th): I loved Ghostbusters as a kid. I still watch the movies every Halloween and The Real Ghostbusters was easily my favourite Saturday morning cartoon. When the franchise went into a prolonged hibernation, I felt like the world became a little bit dimmer. I was deeply saddened when the 2016 remake (which I liked come, at me) started receiving rabid hated and vitriol the second it was announced. Considering how things went down with Paul Feig’s embattled remake, I was pretty sure the franchise was done. But sometimes movie miracles do happen. Of all the movies that got shuffled and delayed because of COVID-19, the extended wait for Afterlife was easily the toughest pill to swallow. Binding it to the original movies by starring Egon’s grandkids, bringing back the original Ecto-1 and resurrecting the Stay Puff Marshmallow man have got me drooling for this movie’s release. Having Ivan Reitman’s son Jason directing it is a nice little nostalgic bonus. When the time finally comes that I get to drop my butt into a movie seat to see this movie, I’m probably gonna need a bib.
