35 Most Anticipated Movies of 2019

2019 looks to be another exciting year in film and it’s now time to count down the films I’m most anticipating for 2019.

 

35. The Goldfinch

Director: John Crowley (“Brooklyn”)

Cast: Ansel Elgort, Nicole Kidman, Sarah Paulson, Finn Wolfhard, Luke Wilson, Aneurin Barnard, Luke Kleintank, & Jeffery Wright

Synopsis: As a child, Theodore Decker (Ansel Elgort) survives a terrorist bombing at an art museum, that kills his mother. From there, he tumbles through a series of adventures that finds him living in Las Vegas with his deadbeat father (Luke Wilson) and, later, involved in art forgeries.

Why You Should Look Out For It: John Crowley is following up his quite great Brooklyn with an adaptation of a novel of the same title. This time joined with legendary cinematographer, Roger Deakins. Along with a pretty solid lead in Ansel Elgort and a screenplay penned by Peter Straughan (“Tinker Tailor Solider Spy” & ” Frank”), as well a premise with a lot of potential for Crowley to dive into.

Release Date: October 11, 2019

34. Honey Boy

Director: Alma Har’el

Cast: Lucas Hedges, Shia LaBeouf, Noah Jupe, Maika Monroe, & FKA Twigs

Synopsis: A child actor (Lucas Hedges & Noah Jupe) works to repair his relationship with his alcoholic and law-breaking father (Shia LaBeouf).

Why You Should Look Out For It: This film is written by LaBeouf and is supposedly very autobiographical, with LaBeouf playing his father and with both Hedges and Jupe playing a role very similar to younger LaBeouf (names are changed). So this sounds pretty fascinating from purely a performance standpoint, especially with LaBeouf fully transforming (pic above).

Release Date: It’s premiering at Sundance in January, so expect to see it sometime possibly in the second quarter of the year.

33. Star Wars: Episode IX

Director: J.J. Abrams (“Star Wars: The Force Awakens”)

Cast: Daisy Ridley, Adam Driver, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Domhnall Gleeson, Mark Hamill, Keri Russell, Carrie Fisher, Richard E. Grant, & Matt Smith

Synopsis: The conclusion of the new Star Wars trilogy, that takes place one year after The Last Jedi.

Why You Should Look Out For It: I think you know why, it’s Star Wars and it’s capping off the trilogy.

Release Date: December 20, 2019

32. Triple Frontier

Trailer: https://youtu.be/Fo3yRLLrXQA

Director: J.C. Chandor (“All Is Lost” & “A Most Violent Year”)

Cast: Oscar Isaac, Ben Affleck, Charlie Hunnam, Pedro Pascal, & Garrett Hedlund

Synopsis: Five military veterans reunite to rob a South American drug lord, which leads to a chain of unintended consequences.

Why You Should Look Out For It: This brings a very strong ensemble with an interesting filmmaker like J.C. Chandor and a very intriguing screenplay from Chandor and the solid Mark Boal (“Zero Dark Thirty” & “The Hurt Locker”).

Release Date: Comes to Netflix in March.

31. Little Women

Director: Greta Gerwig (“Lady Bird”)

Cast: Saoirse Ronan, Emma Watson, Florence Pugh, Eliza Scanlen, Meryl Streep, Laura Dern, & Timothée Chalamet

Synopsis: Exploring the lives of four sisters in 1860s Massachusetts.

Why You Should Look Out For It: Yes, we’ve seen many adaptations of Little Women over the years, but according to producer Robin Swicord, this adaptation will focus more on the sisters young adult life after they’ve left home. And combining that with  Greta Gerwig’s screenplay and direction, along with a phenomenal ensemble, I think this could be something special.

Release Date: December 25, 2019

30. Ford v. Ferrari

Director: James Mangold (“Walk the Line” & “Logan”)

Cast: Christian Bale, Matt Damon, Caitriona Balfe, Jon Bernthal, Tracy Letts, & Josh Lucas

Synopsis: The true story of the battle between Ford and Ferrari to win Le Mans in 1966.

Why You Should Look Out For It: It’s James Mangold’s follow up to the fantastic Logan, and he’s brought on a solid overall cast, but an even stronger two leads in Christian Bale and Matt Damon.

Release Date: June 28, 2019

29. The Laundromat

Director: Steven Soderbergh (“Traffic”, “Erin Brockovich”, & “Ocean’s Eleven”)

Cast: Gary Oldman, Meryl Streep, Antonio Banderas, Matthias Schoenaerts, Alex Pettyfer, Jeffery Wright, & David Schwimmer

Synopsis: A group of journalists discover 11.5 million files, linking the world’s most powerful political figures to secret banking accounts to avoid taxes.

Why You Should Look Out For It: Simply for Soderbergh teaming up with a very strong ensemble and a politically charged story.

Release Date: It will be hitting Netflix sometime in 2019.

28. Untitled Noah Baumbach Project

Director: Noah Baumbach (“The Squid and the Whale” & “Frances Ha”)

Cast: Scarlett Johansson, Adam Driver, Laura Dern, Azhy Robertson, Merritt Weaver, & Ray Liotta

Synopsis: An unfolding divorce that spans from New York City to Los Angeles.

Why You Should Look Out For It: It’s yet another familial drama from Noah Baumbach and this one has the signs of being another strong one.

Release Date: It will be hitting Netflix sometime in 2019.

27. Untitled Roger Ailes Project

Director: Jay Roach (“Meet the Parents” & “Trumbo”)

Cast: Charlize Theron, Margot Robbie, Nicole Kidman, Connie Britton, John Lithgow, Allison Janney, Malcolm McDowell, & Alice Eve

Synopsis: Centers around the stories of various female Fox News personnel and their interactions with founder Roger Ailes (John Lithgow).

Why You Should Look Out For It: It’s a very timely story with Charles Randolph (“The Big Short”) behind the screenplay. But the film as well brings an assortment of talent in its cast.

Release Date: 2019

26. Gemini Man

Director: Ang Lee (“Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon”, “Brokeback Mountain”, & “Life of Pi”)

Cast: Will Smith, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Clive Owen, Benedict Wong, & Linda Emond

Synopsis: Henry Brogen (Will Smith), an aging assassin seeking to retire finds himself going against a younger clone of himself, who can predict his every move.

Why You Should Look Out For It: We are seeing Ang Lee stepping into another blockbuster and this time around with a very intriguing concept. I could see this film becoming corny and very on-the-nose, but I do have trust in Ang Lee and Will Smith to make it not so.

Release Date: October 4, 2019

25. Wendy

Director: Benh Zeitlin (“Beasts of the Southern Wild”)

Cast: Tommie Lynn Milazzo & Shay Walker

Synopsis: Set on a mysterious island where aging and time have come unglued, this mythological story tells the tale of two children from different worlds fighting to maintain their grip on freedom and joy.

Why You Should Look Out For It: Benh Zeitlin is following up his very acclaimed and Oscar nominated Beasts of the Southern Wild with another fantastical journey. And yet again he’s bringing forth two unknown first time actors, and if he can repeat his success of last time, we’ll be in for a treat.

Release Date: 2019

24. Waves

Director: Trey Edward Shults (“Krisha” & “It Comes at Night”)

Cast: Lucas Hedges, Sterling K. Brown, Kelvin Harrison Jr., Taylor Russell, & Alexa Demie

Synopsis: Two young couples experience growing up and falling in love.

Why You Should Look Out For It: This film supposedly relies heavily on music, possibly in the vein of something like Baby Driver. With that being said the fact that Trey Edward Shults will be attempting that next is beyond intriguing. Then you add that he has A24 backing him, and has Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross scoring the film, only just add to the anticipation.

Release Date: 2019

23. Where’d You Go, Bernadette

Trailer: https://youtu.be/Em1onUCArxs

Director: Richard Linklater (“Dazed and Confused”, “Boyhood”, & “The Before Trilogy”)

Cast: Cate Blanchett, Emma Nelson, Judy Greer, Kristen Wiig, Billy Crudup, & Laurence Fishburne

Synopsis: After her anxiety-ridden mother, Bernadette (Cate Blanchett), disappears, 15-year-old Bee (Emma Nelson) does everything she can to track her down, discovering along the way of her troubled past in the process.

Why You Should Look Out For It: Naturally any Linklater project is intriguing and the ensemble cast here helps boost that as well. I will say that the multiple push backs didn’t help and the trailer gave it a tone I wasn’t expecting, but through it all it’s my trust in Linklater that keeps it on this list.

Release Date: March 22, 2019

22. A Rainy Day in New York

Director: Woody Allen (“Annie Hall”, “Crimes and Misdemeanors”, “Midnight in Paris”)

Cast: Timothée Chalamet, Elle Fanning, Jude Law, Diego Luna, Liev Schreiber, Rebecca Hall, & Selena Gomez

Synopsis: Two young people (Timothée Chalamet & Elle Fanning) arrive in New York for a weekend where they are met with poor weather and a series of unexpected adventures.

Why You Should Look Out For It: This films production began to conclude during the start of the Me-Too movement, which saw the resurgence of accusations against Woody Allen, and since Amazon has shelved the film indefinitely. For me personally, I very much believe in separating the art from the artist, and with that being said I feel Amazon should just release the film, as it is fully completed, and because it sounds like it carries much potential of being a real solid film.

Release Date: Hopefully 2019

21. Chaos Walking

Director: Doug Liman (“The Bourne Identity” & “Edge of Tomorrow”)

Cast: Tom Holland, Daisy Ridley, Mads Mikkelsen, Demián Bichir, Cynthia Ervio, David Oyelowo, & Nick Jonas

Synopsis: In a dystopian world, Todd Hewitt (Tom Holland) has been brought up to believe that a viral germ has killed all women in a colony world and unleashed something referred to as “Noise”, the special ability to read people’s and animals’ minds. Later, he comes upon a patch of silence and soon discovers the source of the silence: a mysterious woman named Viola Eade (Daisy Ridley). And together on the run, they learn more about the true history of the New World.

Why You Should Look Out For It: Doug Liman is following up his great Edge of Tomorrow with yet another sci-fi adventure. This time adapting the first book of a trilogy, with a great cast and a screenplay, though with five writing credits, one of them is the great Charlie Kaufman.

Release Date: For some reason the film is still scheduled for a March 1, 2019 release date, even when it’s been announced that heavy reshoots are coming early 2019, so that will undoubtedly be changed soon. So I’d expect it to arrive late 2019.

20. Parasite

Director: Bong Joon-ho (“Memories of Murder”, “The Host” & “Snowpiercer”)

Cast: Song Kang-ho, Lee Sun-kyun, Cho Yeo-jeong, Choi Woo-sik & Park So-dam

Synopsis: A peculiar tale about two families who are worlds apart yet somewhat alike that portrays a striking reality of the world we live in.

Why You Should Look Out For It: Simply because it’s another Bong Joon-ho film, that’s bringing another collaboration between himself and actor Song Kang-ho.

Release Date: 2019

19. The Last Thing He Wanted

Director: Dee Rees (“Mudbound”)

Cast: Anne Hathaway, Willem Dafoe, Ben Affleck, Toby Jones, Edi Gathegi, & Rosie Perez

Synopsis: Elena McMahon (Anne Hathaway), a reporter for the Washington Post, quits her job covering the 1984 Presidential race to care for her father (Willem Dafoe) after her mother dies. In an unusual turn of events, she inherits his position as an arms dealer for the US Government in Central America.

Why You Should Look Out For It: It’s Dee Rees’ follow up to the Oscar-nominated Mudbound, and here she is bringing an adaptation of a novel of the same title with an assortment of talent and a highly intriguing premise.

Release Date: It’ll be hitting Netflix sometime in 2019.

18. Jojo Rabbit

Director: Taika Waititi (“What We Do in the Shadows”, “Hunt for the Wilderpeople” & “Thor: Ragnarok”)

Cast: Roman Griffin Davis, Scarlett Johansson, Thomasin McKenzie, Taika Waititi, & Sam Rockwell

Synopsis: Jojo “Rabbit” Betzler (Roman Griffin Davis) is a young boy living during World War II. His only escapism is through his imaginary friend, an ethnically inaccurate version of Adolf Hitler (Taika Waititi), who pushes the young boy’s naïve patriotic beliefs. However, this all changes when he discovers his mother (Scarlett Johansson) is hiding a young Jewish girl (Thomasin McKenzie), who then challenges his views and causes him to face his issues.

Why You Should Look Out For It: Simply from the premise alone, you can tell that you’re going to be in for a wild ride. Tack on that Taika Waititi is both behind and in front of it all and we’ll be for sure in for something special.

Release Date: 2019

17. The King

Director: David Michôd (“Animal Kingdom” & “The Rover”)

Cast: Timothée Chalamet, Joel Edgerton, Robert Pattinson, Ben Mendelsohn, Lily-Rose Depp, Sean Harris, & Thomasin McKenzie

Synopsis: It’s expected to be an adaptation of Shakespeare’s plays: “Henry IV”, parts 1 & 2 and “Henry V”.

Why You Should Look Out For It: Though Michôd is coming off his worst film yet in War Machine, he still has shown to be more than a competent director and here he has a project unlike anything he’s done before. Along with his good friend Joel Edgerton, Michôd has penned a screenplay that condenses a lot of material, that as well has Brad Pitt’s Plan B Entertainment backing him and with that one hopes this film will join the likes of other great Shakespeare adaptations.

Release Date: It’ll be hitting Netflix sometime in 2019.

16. Toy Story 4

Director: Josh Cooley

Cast: Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Joan Cusack, Patricia Arquette, Michael Keaton, Jordan Peele, Keegan-Michael Key, Tony Hale, & Keanu Reeves

Synopsis: When Woody’s (Tom Hanks) kid, Bonnie, adds a reluctant new toy called “Forky” (Tony Hale) to her room, a road trip adventure alongside old and new friends will show Woody how big the world can be for a toy.

Why You Should Look Out For It: It’s yet another chapter in the saga and they had me locked in, with just simply announcing that they’ll be continuing.

Release Date: June 21, 2019

15. Ad Astra

Director: James Gray (“The Immigrant” & “The Lost City of Z”)

Cast: Brad Pitt, Tommy Lee Jones, Ruth Negga, & Donald Sutherland

Synopsis: Roy McBride (Brad Pitt), an Army Corps engineer, travels through the solar system searching for his missing father (Tommy Lee Jones), who twenty years prior left for a one-way mission to Neptune to search for signs of extra-terrestrial intelligence.

Why You Should Look Out For It: It’s a space epic from visionary director James Gray, who this time is collaborating with cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema. Gray has slowly been spreading the scope of his stories and here will very likely be his most ambitious project yet.

Release Date: May 24, 2019. It will very likely be premiering at Cannes as well.

14. Knives Out

Director: Rian Johnson (“Brick”, “Looper” & “Star Wars: The Last Jedi”)

Cast: Daniel Craig, Chris Evans, Ana de Armas, Michael Shannon, Lakeith Stanfield, Toni Collette, Christopher Plummer, Jamie Lee Curtis, & Don Johnson

Synopsis: A modern murder mystery in a classic whodunit style.

Why You Should Look Out For It: This film contains genuinely one of the best ensemble casts I’ve ever seen and just the idea of Rian Johnson doing a whodunit murder mystery is fascinating.

Release Date: November 27, 2019

13. Joker

Director: Todd Philips (“The Hangover Trilogy” & “War Dogs”)

Cast: Joaquin Phoenix, Zazie Beetz, Robert De Niro, Shea Whigham, Bill Camp, Marc Maron, Brett Cullen, & Glenn Flesher

Synopsis: In 1981, a failed stand-up comedian (Joaquin Phoenix) disregarded by society and turns to a life of crime and chaos in Gotham City.

Why You Should Look Out For It: It’s expected to start off the non-universe, one-off films for DC. And the fact they convinced the magnificent Joaquin Phoenix to take the helms is extremely exciting.

Release Date: October 4, 2019

12. Velvet Buzzsaw

Director: Dan Gilroy (“Nightcrawler” & “Roman J. Israel, Esq.”)

Cast: Jake Gyllenhaal, Rene Russo, John Malkovich, Billy Magnussen, Toni Collette, Natalia Dyer, & Daveed Diggs

Synopsis: A thriller set in the contemporary art world scene of Los Angeles, where big money artists and mega-collectors pay a high price when art collides with commerce.

Why You Should Look Out It: This film reunites Jake Gyllenhaal and Rene Russo with writer-director Dan Gilroy following the fantastic, Nightcrawler. This film is set to as well feature a lot of horror elements, which is something Gilroy hasn’t dabbled with much before.

Release Date: It will be premiering at Sundance in January, then hitting Netflix, February 1, 2019.

11. The Dead Don’t Die

Director: Jim Jarmusch (“Dead Man”, “Only Lovers Left Alive”, & “Paterson”)

Cast: Adam Driver, Tilda Swinton, Bill Murray, Steve Buscemi, Tom Waits, Chloë Sevigny, Selena Gomez, Caleb Landry Jones, & Austin Butler

Synopsis: A deadpan zombie comedy

Why You Should Look Out For It: Jim Jarmusch is taking another stab at horror creatures, following the vampire centric, Only Lovers Left Alive. This time with zombies, that brings along a stacked cast, that will almost undoubtedly take full control of Jarmusch’s signature deadpan comedy.

Release Date: 2019

10. Waiting for the Barbarians

Director: Ciro Guerra (“The Wind Journeys” & “Embrace of the Serpent”)

Cast: Mark Rylance, Johnny Depp, Robert Pattinson, Joe Alwyn, & Harry Melling

Synopsis: An honest magistrate (Mark Rylance) in a small outpost of a large empire has a crisis of a conscience and tries to lead a resistance when a military commander (Johnny Depp) shows up to torture and murder natives who pose no threat.

Why You Should Look Out For It: Ciro Guerra is another extremely intriguing director, with a very solid filmography so far in his career. And with him adapting a novel of the same title from Nobel Prize winning author, J.M. Coetze, just rises my excitement. Though many literary acolytes have been upset with Depp’s casting, and to be fair they have a good reason, as Depp hasn’t turned in a good performance in years. But here’s to hoping he reminds us of his talents again, i.e. Black Mass.

Release Date: 2019

9. The Devil All the Time

Director: Antonio Campos (“Simon Killer” & “Christine”)

Cast: Tom Holland, Chris Evans, Robert Pattinson, Mia Wasikowska, Mia Goth, & Tracy Letts

Synopsis: In a place called Knockemstiff, Ohio, a forgotten backwoods town, we see out of desperation to save his dying wife, our protagonist Willard Russell (possibly Letts) turns to prayer which succumbs to sacrifice. His son Arvin (Tom Holland) is growing from a kid bullied at school into a man who knows when to take action. The cast of characters includes a serial killer couple (possibly Pattinson & Wasikowska), a faith-testing preacher (also could possibly be Letts) and a corrupt local sheriff (Chris Evans) in a story told across two decades.

Why You Should Look Out It: Antonio Campos is one of the most intriguing directors we have today, and here he’s brought on one of the most unique ensembles I’ve seen in a while, that will take Evans and Holland far from their Marvel material.

Release Date: Production begins in February, so here’s to hoping we get it before 2019 concludes.

8. Midsommar

Director: Ari Aster (“Hereditary”)

Cast: Jack Reynor, Florence Pugh, & Will Poulter

Synopsis: A couple (Jack Reynor & Florence Pugh) travels to Sweden to visit their friend’s rural hometown for its fabled mid-summer festival. What begins as an idyllic vacation quickly turns into an increasingly violent and bizarre competition at the hands of a pagan cult.

Why You Should Look Out For It: Ari Aster is following his frankly brilliant directorial debut, Hereditary, this time going international to Sweden. He brings along a few of the finest young talent around to another A24 backed film. Here’s to hoping this isn’t a sophomore slump for Aster.

Release Date: August 9, 2019

7. Us

Trailer: https://youtu.be/hNCmb-4oXJA

Director: Jordan Peele (“Get Out”)

Cast: Lupita Nyong’o, Elisabeth Moss, Winston Duke & Tim Heidecker

Synopsis: A mother (Lupita Nyong’o) and a father (Winston Duke) take their children to their beach house expecting to unplug and unwind with friends (Elisabeth Moss and Tim Heidecker). But as night descends, their serenity turns to tension and chaos when some shocking visitors arrive uninvited.

Why You Should Look Out For It: Jordan Peele is as well following up his brilliant directorial debut, Get Out. This time with another social thriller, that does sound very The Strangers-esque, but I expect Peele has something that’s simmering under that.

Release Date: March 15, 2019. Could also possible make a surprise premier at Sundance in January.

6. Radegund

Director: Terrence Malick (“Badlands”, “The Thin Red Line”, & “The Tree of Life”)

Cast: August Diehl, Valerie Pachner, Michael Nyqvist, Jürgen Prochnow, Matthias Schoenaerts, & Bruno Ganz

Synopsis: Austrian Franz Jägerstätter (August Diehl), a conscientious objector, refuses to fight for the Nazis in World War II and was executed by them in 1943.

Why You Should Look Out For It: It’s Terrence Malick, supposedly working with his tightest script in over a decade. He is as well working with a new cinematographer, Jörg Widmer, who has been a long time member of Malick’s camera department. Though Malick is coming off his worst film yet, Song to Song, he has more than shown to be one of the finest directors to ever stand behind the camera, and because of that I will always watch anything Malick ever does.

Release Date: One hopes it’ll possibly premier at Berlin, with the German connection. But who ever really knows with Malick.

5. The Lighthouse

Director: Robert Eggers (“The Witch”)

Cast: Willem Dafoe & Robert Pattinson

Synopsis: A pair of lighthouse keepers (Willem Dafoe & Robert Pattinson) in early 20th century Maine together encounter strange forces from the Sea. Also being refereed to as “a fantasy horror story set in the world of old sea-faring myths”.

Why You Should Look Out For It: Robert Eggers is yet another director following up a great directorial debut in, The Witch. This film is being shot on 35mm black and white film stock, which is practically unheard of nowadays, as most films are shot in color then converted to B&W in post-production. Eggers has already shown to be a near-master at creating an unnerving atmosphere, then when you combine that with two stellar performers, you’re guaranteed for something to behold.

Release Date: Will possibly be premiering at TIFF, depending on if A24 is going to push it for awards. So sometime in 2019.

4. I’m Thinking of Ending Things

Director: Charlie Kaufman (“Synecdoche, New York” & “Anomalisa”)

Cast: Brie Larson & Jesse Plemons

Synopsis: Centers on Jake (Jesse Plemons), who is on a road trip to meet his parents on their secluded farm with his girlfriend (Brie Larson), who is thinking of ending things. When Jake makes an unexpected detour leaving her stranded, a twisted mix of palpable tension, psychological frailty and sheer terror ensues.

Why You Should Look Out For It: It’s the first live-action film for Kaufman in over a decade and here he seems to find some material from Ian Reid’s novel of the same title, that he can dive into. Kaufman has shown to be one of the finest screenwriters in all of cinema and for him to take on a horror-thriller just boosts the anticipation.

Release Date: It’s expected to be hitting Netflix some time in the last quarter of 2019.

3. Uncut Gems

Director: Josh & Benny Safdie (“Heaven Knows What” & “Good Time”)

Cast: Adam Sandler, Pom Klementieff, Lakeith Stanfield, Idina Menzel, Judd Hirsch, Eric Bogosian, Kevin Garnett & The Weeknd (latter two are expected to be very small roles)

Synopsis: Set in the diamond district of New York City and follows Howard (Adam Sandler), a jewelry store owner and dealer to the rich and famous must find a way to pay his debts, when his merchandise is taken from one of his top sellers and girlfriend.

Why You Should Look Out For It: The Safdie’s have showed to be some of perennial talent in younger directors and here they’ve brought on their biggest movie star yet in Adam Sandler. From what seems to be Sandler’s turn as a antihero in a way, but we shall see. Also expect this film to look great, as the Safdie’s have brought on the great Darius Khondji to shoot the film.

Release Date: Could possibly be premiering at Cannes, but while A24 owns the domestic rights, Netflix owns the international rights so that could cause a problem. Also the film has Martin Scorsese and Scott Rudin producing so a possible awards push could be there as well.

2. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

Director: Quentin Tarantino (“Pulp Fiction”, “Inglorious Basterds” & “Django Unchained”)

Cast: (*Prepare yourself*) Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt, Margot Robbie, Kurt Russell, Dakota Fanning, Al Pacino, Timothy Olyphant, Scoot McNairy, James Marsden, Tim Roth, Emile Hirsch, Luke Perry, Damian Lewis, Bruce Dern, Michael Madsen, Zoë Bell, Maya Hawke, Clifton Collins Jr., Lena Dunham, Damon Herriman, Dreama Walker, Mike Moh, & Rumer Willis

Synopsis: In 1969 Los Angeles, a fading Western TV star (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his longtime stunt double (Brad Pitt) become unraveled in the Manson Murders and begin on an odyssey to make a name for themselves in the film industry.

Why You Should Look Out For It: Simply being a Tarantino film gets many butts in seats and I’m one of them. Tarantino continues here to bring an insane amount of talent to his films, and here might be his biggest cast yet. This will as well be his first time in diving into a film industry story, with the likes of Damien Lewis and Mike Moh both playing iconic Hollywood figures, Steve McQueen and Bruce Lee. This will be Tarantino’s first film with Sony after leaving the Weinstein company behind, which will unlikely make a change in Tarantino’s work, but one hopes it will only elevate it.

Release Date: July 26, 2019

1. The Irishman

Director: Martin Scorsese (“Goodfellas”, “Taxi Driver”, “The Wolf of Wall Street”)

Cast: Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Joe Pesci, Jesse Plemons, Harvey Keitel, Anna Paquin, Bobby Cannavale & Ray Romano

Synopsis: Frank Sheeran (Robert De Niro), a labor union official with mob connections, recalls his involvement in the murder of American labor union leader, Jimmy Hoffa (Al Pacino).

Why You Should Look Out For It: This is quite possibly Scorsese’s most ambitious film yet, as it spans multiple decades and will be using de-aging CGI technology on its key cast members, with some of them being de-aged as young as 30. It’s Scorsese’s first crime film since The Departed and this time he’s collaborating with Netflix, which this will be both Netflix’s and Scorsese’s most expensive film yet, with a budget of around $175 million. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous about the de-aging work, as it has been hit-or-miss so far throughout multiple films. But they’re putting a lot of time into it as a bulk of the film was shot in 2017 and wrapped early 2018, so let’s hope the time put in pays off.

Release Date: I’d expect it to be a big awards player, so I’d expect it to arrive on Netflix in the last quarter of 2019.