2020 Movie Preview

In no particular order, here are some of the potentially best films of 2020:

Ghostbusters

Directed by Jason Reitman

Starring Paul Rudd, Finn Wolfhard & Carrie Coon

Earlier this summer the above trailer dropped out of nowhere with the familiar music and the reveal of Ecto 1, sending fans into a frenzy. Jason Reitman son of the original 1984 Ghostbusters Ivan Reitman takes director's chair for what we believe to be a continuation set in the same universe as the original film.

One of the biggest failures of Paul Feig's female-fronted reboot was putting many of the original Ghostbusters cast into small cameo roles playing different characters than they had previously. Even when the first trailer for that film came out there was confusion over if this film would be tied to the original. If the studio had had the conviction to let Feig and his cast tell a new story unfettered by lip service to the original film then they might have had more success.

So after Feig's failure we assumed it would all go quiet on the Ghostbusters universe for a while until the above trailer dropped earlier this year.

What do we know for certain... not much. Plot details are under wraps so all we have is casting news andm as confirmed from multiple sources onlinem almost all the original cast (including Bill Murray) are back playing their original roles. Murray is joined by Dan Ackroyd, Ernie Hudson, Annie Potts & Sigourney Weaver with new additions to the cast Paul Rudd, McKenna Grace, Finn Wolfhard and Carrie Coon.

If we are going to speculate, it's a decent bet that Rudd could be playing Oscar the grown up son of Dana & Venkman and Grace could be playing his daughter? Stranger Things Wolfhard might be a little too young to be the son of any of the original characters so its possible he could be a grandson?

Hopes are obviously high for this one and I just hope the studio lets Reitman tell the story he wants to tell without trying to tie it to the failed reboot or spending too much time trying to set up a Ghostbusters universe! Just give the fans the film they want and then IF its a success move forward with a new younger cast.

Dune

Directed by Dennis Villeneuve

Starring - Pretty much everyone

I've already written an article in the casting of Dune here: https://vocal.media/futurism/dune-casting-update, and now we know the first part of Villeneuve's adaptation will be be filling the lucrative pre Christmas slot next year.

Warner Brothers are clearly very high on Villeneuve's vision for their burgeoning franchise with a spin off TV series (pilot to be directed by Villeneuve as well) Dune: Sisterhood. With the first book being split into two movies, I'm assuming set a year apart, there is a ton of sequel and 'universe' material from Herbert's original books and the countless expanded Dune-verse content that has sprung up from it.

Villeneuve is a fantastic director who, while not always commercially successful, is always critically lauded. Blade Runner 2049 was highly regarded by the critics, yet was too cerebral for the masses and ironically failed at the box office, much like the original Blade Runner.

While the themes of Dune are heavy with race, religion, slavery, jihads, etc. I think Villeneuve also has to balance that with some massive sci-fi action set pieces, and we know he is capable of amazing action scenes from direction on Sicario & Blade Runner 2049. However, with Dune the film, it will have to be a commercial success as well as critical as its been posited that Dune is essentially a more adult version of Star Wars with deeper themes than Lucas was ever capable of producing.

Last Night In Soho

Directed by Edgar Wright

Starring Anya Taylor Joy, Thomasin McKenzie, Matt Smith, Diana Rigg & Terence Stamp

'A young girl, passionate in fashion design, is mysteriously able to enter the 1960s where she encounters her idol, a dazzling wannabe singer. But 1960s London is not what it seems, and time seems to fall apart with shady consequences.'

More importantly its a new Edgar Wright film and there is no sign of Pegg/Frost or a cornetto in sight. What we do know is that it is a time travel psychological horror thriller taking place in the modern day and the 1960s.

While Wright's previous works have leaned more towards the comedic than outright horror, don't be surprised to see him blend genres once again with him recently commenting that the film had elements of Nic Roeg's classic Don't Look Now & Polanski's Repulsion.

Bill & Ted Face the Music

Directed by Dean Parisot

Starring Keanu Reeves, Alex Winter, Samara Weaving, Bridgette Lundy-Paine & William Sadler.

Excellent! The sequel that none of us ever thought we'd see is being filmed and set for release in 2020. Galaxy Quest's Den Parisot takes the helm for our third time-travelling adventure with Bill S. Preston Esq. & Ted 'Theodore' Logan.

One of the main concepts of the Bill & Ted movies was that they were eventually going to a write a song that would save the world; however, now they are in their 50s and still haven't achieved it, the doubts start to creep in. With George Carlin's passing Kristen Schaal steps in as an observer from the future with a message for our heroes.

In what smells like a soft new franchise launch this time Bill & Ted are joined by their daughters Billie & Thea, and yes, of course, they would name their daughters after themselves! Samara Weaving will be playing Thea Preston and arguably has the larger profile at the moment to her well-received performance in last year's Ready or Not. Bridgette Lundy-Paine playing Bille Logan is known for Netflix's Atypical & The Glass Castle.

Rounding out the cast are the returning Bill Sadler as Death, with my money on Anthony Carrigan's unnamed character being Death's son. Missy (I mean Mom!) Amy Stoch is back, as is Hal Landon Jr. as Ted's father, while unfortunately the bodacious princesses have both been recast from the original films.

So its only taken 29 years since the original film but Bill & Ted will finally face the music next August!

The Many Saints of Newark

Directed by Alan Taylor

Starring Alessandro Nivola, Jon Bernthal, Vera Farmiga, Corey Stoll, Micahael Ganolfini & Ray Liotta

Original creator David Chase has penned this Sopranos prequel movie set in Newark, New Jersey in the late 1960s/early 1970s. Plot details are as usual under wraps but we do know Alessandro Nivola will be playing 'Dickie Moltisanti' father of Michael Imperioli's Christopher, so this at least hints that we will see one generation removed from the characters we knew from the show with younger versions of some characters being cast.

Most notably, the son of late James Gandolfini, Michael will be playing a younger version of his own father in the film which should be a fitting tribute, as you can definitely see the family resemblance from the picture above.

The rest of the cast is rounded out by The Punisher himself Joe Bernthal, Vera Farmiga who could potentially be a young Livia Soprano Tony's mother, Corey Stoll, Billy Magnussn and Goodfellas own Ray Liotta.

Don't go in expecting a typical gangster movie as we know from the show, creator David Chase loved to mess with the conventions of the genre and take the plot in direction no one ever saw coming.

Tenet

Directed by Christopher Nolan

Starring Robert Pattinson, Elizabeth Debicki, John David Washington, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Kenneth Branagh & Michael Caine

A new Christopher Nolan movie is always an event these days and the secretive Tenet is no different. With a budget of $225 million and an all star cast, very little is still known about the film, of course Inception was marketed in much the same way and went on to become a massive success.

Nolan placed a teaser trailer before some screenings of Universal's Hobbs & Shaw back in the summer but the trailer was never placed online, and only a few poor quality cam versions of the trailer were uploaded before they were immediately taken down. Savvy marketing or a sign that more work was needed?

The one minute teaser showed one shot of John David Washington sat in a room wearing some kind of medical mask over his face with the text 'Time has come for a new kind of protagonist' and 'Time has come for a new kind of mission.' Make of this what you will but I'm guessing time travel might be involved.

The James Bond producers have been trying to get Nolan to make a Bond film for years now, probably due to parts of Inception looking like one! However Nolan has always been able to walk his own path and it looks like we are in for a globe trotting espionage action thriller, with potential time travel elements. Or could we be looking at a stealth Inception sequel?

No Time To Die

Directed by Cary Joji Fukunaga

Starring Daniel Craig, Rami Malek, Lashana Lynch, Christoph Waltz, Ana De Armas, Ralph Fiennes & Jeffrey Wright

The long awaited 25th film in the Bond franchise finally arrives next year after a catalogue of issues behind the scenes from Craig initially having to be persuaded to come back one more time, to Director Danny Boyle quitting over creative differences with the producers, and countless reported rewrites. During the shoot in Jamaica Craig injured himself in a stunt shutting down production and then there was an explosion gone wrong at Pinewood that left a crew member injured.

The good news is that True Detective Director Cary Joji Fukunaga came in at the last minute and that Phoebe Waller-Bridge was brought in to do a polish on the script at the personal request of Craig, who was said to say the script was 'too dry.'

Bond films are in a strange place thematically these days as any filmmaker is hamstrung immediately by a litany of iconography that the film has to adhere. The films were struggling with their somewhat dated depictions of women and simplistic villains that felt out of touch with the modern world. Craig's introduction as a new 007 in 2006 Casino Royale was another reboot of the franchise to compete with the Jason Bourne's and Ethan Hunts of the world who seemed to be taking Bond's mantle.

There is talk that Lashana Lynch's character is to be introduced as the new 007 and I'm guessing on reaction this is most definitely a way of introducing a female 'Bond' by stealth without it being the same character. If the audience rejects this then it will be time to hit the refresh and give us another Bond, but once again there will be outcry if a non-white actor is given the role such as Idris Elba or Henry Golding.

The producers had recently said they wouldn't have a female James Bond, but they didn't say anything about a female 007! They quite rightly said in my opinion that they agree there should be an ass kicking female super spy so someone should go and write one rather than co-opt an existing character to tick certain boxes. One just has to look at the Mission Impossible franchise and the introduction of Rebecca Fergusons 'Ilsa Faust' over the last two films, so is that placed as Tom Cruise's equal, and never outwardly portrayed as a love interest. That is the kind of character that the Bond producers need to craft if they want the public to accept a female 007.

A Quiet Place 2

Directed by John Krasinski

Starring Emily Blunt, Cillian Murphy, Noah Jupe, Millicent Simmons & Djimon Hounsou

A Quiet Place came out of nowhere to be one of the best cinematic experiences of the year and I had never been in a cinema rendered so quiet by the tension of a film. People stopped eating their popcorn and slurping their drinks waiting for a brief break of the unrelenting silence so they could breathe out.

Written, directed and starring Krasinski, the film was an immediate classic ratcheting up the tension to an explosive finale that seemed to resolve the films main plot-lines to a satisfactory conclusion. However this is Hollywood and therefore a sequel was demanded. Krasinski has taken his time making sure he had the right to story to tell before he committed to the project as writer and director again.

All the original surviving cast are back, as well as new characters played by Djimon Hounsou and Cillian Murphy. It's safe bet to say I will be surprised if Murphy is not a villain in the film. Plot details are still under wraps, but as a couple of kids figured out how to beat the aliens at the end of the first film, hopefully the scale of the next film will be slightly bigger. Though judging by the small cast once again, I feel the film may retread similar ground to the first film.

The King's Man

Directed by Matthew Vaughn

Starring Matthew Goode, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Gemma Arterton, Stanley Tucci, Ralph Fiennes & Charles Dance

Vaughan returns to his franchise for the third time, but after the mediocre response to Kingsman: The Golden Circle this time he heads into prequel mode to give us the story of how the Kingsmen were originally formed.

All we know of the plot is that 'one man and his protege race against time to stop the world's worst tyrants who are plotting a war to wipe out millions.' I'm guessing Ralph Fiennes will be that 'one man' and Vaughan has assembled a great cast, however I'm slightly apprehensive on this film for a number of reasons.

Firstly the initial trailers while decent didn't have the same 'wow' factor the original film's trailer had and the trailer shows very little in the way of set pieces or plot for the film. While too many trailers these days give away the whole plot in the trailer, perhaps The King's Man gives too little a sense of what the film is actually about?

Also the release date has been put back three times now until September 2020, never a sign of confidence in a film by the studio.

My main concern for the film is that we are just going to get a retread of the first film but set earlier in the story's timeline. Also the trailer seems a little too serious in tone compared with the other Kingsman films.

By making this a prequel you lose all the characters from the original films, most tellingly Taron Egertons 'Eggsy' who was the audience's surrogate for the first two films, which really focused on the class dynamic between him and Colin Firth's character. At their best they had kinetic directing by Vaughan and a sense of disruption to the Spy genre just like Vaughan did with Kick Ass and the super hero film.

However this is the only time Vaughan has returned to for a third film in a franchise, let alone a second film, and on his past track record I'm more than willing to give him a chance here.

Free Guy

Directed by Shawn Levy

Starring Ryan Reynolds, Jodie Comer, Taika Waititi, Channing Tatum, Joe Keery

The always dependable Ryan Reynolds headlines an action comedy about a bank teller named Guy who comes to realise he is an NPC (non-playable character) in a violent open world video game. Director Levy has been on a hot streak after getting involved with the Duffer Brothers on Stranger Things. Adding in Taika Waititi in an acting role and Killing Eve's Jodie Comer in her first major US role as the brilliantly named 'Molotov Girl' and you have my money!

This sounds like it could be a more adult version of Wreck It Ralph with a smidgen of The Lego Movie, but even from the clip above you can see the chemistry already within the cast and I can't wait for the Reynolds/Waititi double act. Deadpool & Korg together onscreen at last!