(10) Cocaine Bear
Ever since the day we saw the trailer, we’ve been hooked. We have howled with laughter every time we see the black bear, deep in the woods of Georgia, swallow that package of cocaine and then run amok among families with children, forest rangers and gang criminals. It’s tragic, really. That some poor animal gets colated, and we know it did because Cocaine Bear is based on a real-life incident where a drug courier crashed his plane and lost the entire cargo. But at the same time, you can’t get away from the fact that the trailer is hysterically entertaining. Something that of course makes us raise our hopes before the premiere and what makes the film extra interesting is that, unlike what you might expect, it is not directed by someone like Kevin Smith but by Elizabeth Banks of all people. It is also not Seth Rogen who runs around in the hills and shouts and nests in the forest, but instead, high quality actors are offered, such as Ray Liotta, Margo Martindale and The Americans couple, Matthew Rhys and Keri Russell. It feels like this could go either way.
(9) A Quiet Place: Day One
We know basically nothing about the upcoming prologue to John Krasinski’s remarkably awesome thriller except that the guy who directed Pig (which we loved) will be behind the camera and that Lupita Nyong’o and Joseph Quinn will star. Filming started last week in London and it is rumored that the story revolves around a couple fighting for survival from day two after the invasion and this makes us at Gamereactor hungry for more quiet monster mash.
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(8) Ferrari
Adam Driver has time and time again proven to be one of the most interesting and multi-faceted male actors currently working in the industry and after House of Gucci, Marriage Story and The Last Duel, we are very curious to see what he can achieve under Michael Mann’s direction. Early images gossip about a Driver who bears an uncanny resemblance to his character Enzo Ferrari, one of the most controversial and influential personalities ever to figure in the automotive world. A role the actor seems cut and ready for, and while Ferrari isn’t one hundred percent guaranteed to be released this year, we’re just a little too excited and curious not to include Mann’s Italian drama on the list. Because between this and Gran Turismo, there’s plenty of potential for a fast-paced year for all car geeks.
(7) Oppenheimer
When we see Christopher Nolan’s name in a film project, expectations rise significantly. Then they lie up in the roof and bide their time, and when the premiere is called, they are almost always released. It’s just the way it is. He’s there, at that level now, behind editorial favorites like Inception, Interstellar and The Dark Knight. Sure, he’s got bottom too, we’re looking at you Tenet but what director doesn’t and while it was a weak film it wasn’t a complete disaster. But if your name is Christopher Nolan, a mediocre reel stands out like a tepid box wine among vintage bottles. A film about J. Robert Oppenheimer doesn’t really sound very exciting. A biography can of course be purely fantastic, but we also know that it can be hypnotically dull, despite magnificent acting. We fondly remember Lawrence of Arabia and Schindler’s List, but we also remember sleeping pills like Lincoln and J. Edgar. But it can easily happen that a depiction of an entire life on the big screen doesn’t always seem as exciting as reality. However, when Cillian Murphy is to portray the father of the atomic bomb, we are as tense as violin strings, close to bursting from physical strain, because judging by the trailer, this looks really good. That Nolan de facto recently came out with the fact that he filmed the first nuclear test in New Mexico, completely without CGI does not make us less hungry, or impressed.
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(6) Gran Turismo
When the director behind District 9 and Elysium makes a feature film of Polyphony Digital’s best-selling, trend-setting, ground-breaking racing series, well, at least we at Gamereactor are properly tagged. The story is based on the true story of Gran Turismo player Jann Mardenborough who won the Nissan Academy and got the chance to go from TV player to real racing driver and did very well in the Nissan pro stable.
(5) Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning, Part One
We are willing to say that there is no other actor active in Hollywood right now with the same drive and passion as Tom Cruise. The living swiss army knife of life with more talents under his belt than should be possible. Personality traits that naturally marry almost obscenely well with fictional super spy Ethan Hunt and Cruise’s ability to constantly escalate the stakes have propelled the Mission Impossible movies to stratospheric levels. Something this seventh installment in Hunt’s espionage escapades promises even more of and after the colossal success of Top Gun: Maverick, we can hardly help but finally see more of Cruise in his right element. Larger than life itself, jumping between rooftops, defying death by throwing himself down mountain cliffs, performing the most impossible of maneuvers in helicopters and of course, what he does better than anyone else; run. We’re more than ready to fire up the stove once again and let ourselves be overwhelmed by the unbridled, furious action.
(4) Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
Movie discussions lately have often been dominated by scathing superhero criticism, with Marvel’s make and DC’s insecurities often deserving of some booting. However, there’s still hope for at least one completely brilliant superhero film this year, and right now we’re giddy with delight when we think about what Sony’s animators can pull off with Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, the sequel to perhaps the best superhero movie ever released. last ten years. From the few trailer clips we’ve seen, there’s no reason to worry, as Across the Spider-Verse seems to screw up everything that made its predecessor so successful, and if our already high expectations are correct, we can expect Sony once again unleashes a firework of colors, styles, genres and emotions. Even though we don’t know much more of the plot, other than Miles getting into multiverse trouble, we’re counting on an at least as dizzying and exuberantly stylish comic book homage showing the rest of the tri-rollers where the locker should be…
(3) Killers of the Flower Moon
Film legend Martin Scorsese, behind influential masterpieces such as Taxi Driver and Goodfellas. Screenwriter Eric Roth, who is behind blockbusters such as Forrest Gump and Dune. A cast that includes Oscar winner Leonardo DiCaprio, icon Robert De Niro and comeback darling Brendan Fraser. A fantastic book publisher by The Lost City of Z author David Grann. Do we really need to list more reasons why we’re so hooked on Apple TV Plus upcoming westerns? The film, which revolves around a series of murders of Native Americans in 1920s Oklahoma, sounds like a film buff’s wet dream given that Scorsese is not only reteaming with De Niro and DiCaprio – he’s also reuniting with his faithful Oscar-winning editor Thelma Schoonmaker and the Wold of Wall Street photographer Rodrigo Prieto. We firmly believe that Killers of the Flower Moon will be one of this year’s strongest candidates when it comes time to choose the best of 2023.
(2) The Super Mario Bros. Movies
The trailer for Dumma Mej studio’s upcoming perpetual project based on Nintendo’s beloved Mushroom World is so cool that several of us on the editorial staff have seen it more than 50 times by now. The first official feature film starring Mario in over 30 years looks to capture the tone, design and charm of Super Mario in the best possible way and from what we’ve seen it looks like Chris Pratt will do a brilliant job as the corpulent plumber.
HOTTEST MOVIE OF THE YEAR 2023:
(1) Dune: Part II
Denis Villeneuve made the impossible possible in 2021 and we already understood long before Dune’s film premiere that Frank Herbert’s sturdy science fiction bible was in safe hands. The result, as expected, was nothing short of awe-inspiring and monumental, making it unsurprising that our most anticipated film this year is the second installment of the Dune saga. We want nothing more than to dream away to the endless seas of sand again, ride majestic sand worms and hear Hans Zimmer’s extraterrestrials while we disappear 10,000 years into the future. We’re dying to see the characters who survived Harkonnen’s merciless onslaught and see where it all leads in the end, something we think will seal Dune as perhaps the greatest sci-fi saga of modern times. Usually we dislike when book interpretations are split over films like Deathly Hallows and The Hunger Games, but in Dune’s case it felt like a wise decision to first establish the futuristic world and then plunge the viewer into the madness that is Herbert’s brain-wrenching nightmare world – something that we believe Part II will succeed with. Christopher Walken as Emperor Shaddam IV is so cleverly cast that we are left speechless and we believe Elvis actor Austin Butler will steal the spotlight as rival Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen as Paul embraces his true destiny in November.
What are the movies you’re most looking forward to right now?
