20. “Julieta”
Director: Pedro Almodóvar
Cast: Emma Suárez, Adriana Ugarte, Inma Cuesta, Rossy de Palma, Nathalie Poza
Synopsis: The life of the titular woman, told between two time periods, 2015 and 1985.
What You Need To Know: There’s little as heartbreaking as when a beloved filmmaker with few black spots on his track record delivers an irredemable turkey, but that’s what happened with Pedro Almodóvar’s last film, the dire, dated comedy “I’m So Excited.” Fortunately, he’s back on far more familiar territory for his latest, “Julieta,” which the director himself has suggested is a return to both the drama, and to the “woman’s picture.” A pair of newcomers to the director’s world split the title role, though fans will be delighted to hear that one of his most regular collaborators, Rossy de Palma, will appear, her first film with him since “Broken Embraces” in 2009. Beyond that, little else is known, though the film will apparently involve mental health issues in part caused by ‘silence’ — the film’s original title was “Silencio,” but Almodovar changed it to avoid confusion with the Scorsese movie.
Release Date: Hits Spanish theaters in March, but with a May 18th date in France, we suspect a Cannes bow is on the cards.
19. “The Unknown Girl”
Directors: Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne (“L’Enfant,” “Two Days, One Night”)
Cast: Adèle Haenel, Olivier Bonnaud, Louka Minella, Jérémie Renier
Synopsis: A young doctor sets out to discover the identity of a patient who died after she refused her treatment.
What You Need To Know: It didn’t win them a third Palme D’Or, but you probably have to consider “Two Days, One Night” one of the biggest successes in the career of Belgian greats the Dardenne Brothers — glowing reviews, healthy box office and an Oscar nomination for star Marion Cotillard. The filmmakers are already back, shooting their latest, “The Unknown Girl,” last year, and while it doesn’t have an international megastar like Cotillard in it, it’s nevertheless as promising as ever. Rising Gallic star Adèle Haenel, winner of back-to-back César Awards for “Suzanne” and “Love At First Fight,” takes the lead role, with Dardennes regular Jérémie Renier also involved after sitting the last one out. Few filmmakers are as consistent as the Dardennes, so this is probably already assured to be one of 2016’s best.
Release Date: 99% certain to be at Cannes — other than breakthrough “The Promise,” every one of their movies has screened there.
18. “It’s Only The End Of The World”
Director: Xavier Dolan (“Tom At The Farm,” “Mommy”)
Cast: Marion Cotillard, Vincent Cassel, Léa Seydoux, Gaspard Ulliel, Nathalie Baye
Synopsis: A writer returns to his estranged family with a powerful secret.
What You Need To Know: Quebecois wunderkind Xavier Dolan upgraded himself from ‘incredibly promising talent’ to ‘major director’ with the glorious “Mommy” in 2014, and it’s led to everyone queueing up to work with him, from Adele (he directed the “Hello” video), to Jessica Chastain, who’ll star in his English-language debut “The Death And Life Of John F. Donovan.” When the latter got pushed back, he found time to squeeze in another project: this adaptation of the play by late French playwright Jean-Luc Lagarce. Fitting into the ‘family reunion’ sub-genre (see “A Christmas Tale,” among many others), it’s seen Dolan attract some of France’s best-known actors to the project, including Marion Cotillard, Vincent Cassel and Léa Seydoux. And though there’s the risk that it could be stagey, he showed with “Tom At The Farm,” also based on a play, that he can open theatrical work up in a thrillingly cinematic way.
Release Date: After his success there with “Mommy,” Cannes seems like a certainty.
17. “Free Fire”
Director: Ben Wheatley (“Kill List,” “Sightseers”)
Cast: Brie Larson, Cillian Murphy, Jack Reynor, Sharlto Copley, Armie Hammer
Synopsis: An Irish gang’s attempt to buy guns from a Boston gang goes swiftly south, leading to blood and bullets.
What You Need To Know: For a while, it seemed like we were getting a Ben Wheatley movie every year, and we couldn’t have been happier about it. But since the release of trippy oddity “A Field In England,” the helmer had been relatively quiet, with only a couple of “Doctor Who” episodes to his name. Fortunately, though, the helmer’s returned to his usual standards of productivity, shooting crime thriller “Free Fire” even before his last movie “High-Rise” had premiered. A return to the crime drama of “Down Terrace” and “Kill List,” this pairs Wheatley regulars like Michael Smiley and Enzo Cilenti with a host of newcomers, including the so-hot-right-now Brie Larson. The set up sounds decidedly “Reservoir Dogs”-ish, but the movie’s already had the thumbs up from another crime cinema master: Martin Scorsese’s on board as executive producer.
Release Date: Wrapped in the summer: Cannes, Venice or TIFF are all possible.
16. “The Nice Guys”
Director: Shane Black (“Kiss Kiss Bang Bang,” “Iron Man 3”)
Cast; Russell Crowe, Ryan Gosling, Margaret Qualley, Kim Basinger, Matt Bomer
Synopsis: An incompetent PI and a hired muscle team up to track down a missing girl in 1970s L.A.
What You Need To Know: Shane Black was a surprising choice to direct “Iron Man 3,” but that he made one of the most distinctive and enjoyable Marvel movies to date and still ended up with a billion-dollar hit might have been more surprising. It bought him a certain amount of latitude, and that’s led to “The Nice Guys,” to all intents and purposes a tonal follow-up to his directorial debut “Kiss Kiss Bang Bang” (one of the best American movies of the ’00s, but a huge flop on release). Russell Crowe and Ryan Gosling are the unlikely buddy-buddy pair this time, and the film’s brilliant trailer suggests we’re in for an enormous treat, like “Inherent Vice” if it was an action-comedy. The marketing this time has been pleasingly confident: could this end up connecting with a much larger crowd than KKBB? We certainly hope so.
Release Date: May 20th
15. “Ghostbusters”
Director: Paul Feig (“Bridesmaids,” “The Heat”)
Cast: Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Leslie Jones, Kate McKinnon, Chris Hemsworth
Synopsis: When ghosts invade Manhattan, four women team up to battle them.
What You Need To Know: A new “Ghostbusters” movie has been discussed for literally decades, but when it was announced, some fans were furious, because Paul Feig’s reboot rejects the all-male line-up of the beloved original in favor of a central team of four women. Those angry fans are man-baby idiots, because Feig has a three-for-three track record of legitimately hilarious, successful satisfying comedies with “Bridesmaids,” “The Heat” and “Spy,” and has four of the funniest women around donning the backpacks (and, brilliantly, Thor playing their receptionist). Barring Rick Moranis, all major surviving cast members from the original are cameoing too. Is a “Ghostbusters” reboot a symptom of a Hollywood out of ideas? Perhaps. But if anyone can make a movie that finds a new approach to the franchise, and delivers the laughs, Feig and his team might have the best chance, and we’re excited to see what he turns out.
Release Date: July 15th
14. “The Light Between Oceans”
Director: Derek Cianfrance (“Blue Valentine,” “A Place Beyond The Pines”)
Cast: Michael Fassbender, Alicia Vikander, Rachel Weisz, Anthony Hayes, Caren Pistorious
Synopsis: A lighthouse keeper and his wife see their lives change when a baby girl washes upon their shores in a lifeboat.
What You Need to Know: Director Derek Cianfrance sure does have a propensity and flair for tragedy and melodrama — his breakthrough “Blue Valentine” was a galvanizing portrait of the disintegration of a marriage, and “A Place Beyond the Pines,” took a look at the consequences and violent actions that reverberate over generations in the lives of two very different families. So “The Light Between Oceans” should prove to be an interesting change of gears: It’s a period piece set in Australia in the years following World War I. Featuring some heavy hitters in the cast and some ace collaborators (“Animal Kingdom” and “True Detective” D.P. Adam Arkapaw will lens the film, and famed composer Alexandre Desplat will be doing the music), the film looks to be another pulverizing, pained look at the moral grey area that distinguishes people’s wants and desires from their actions. Count us in.
Release Date: We reckon a return to Cannes could be in the cards for Cianfrance — the film should certainly be done, having wrapped early last year.
13. “High Life”
Director: Claire Denis (“Trouble Every Day,” “White Material”)
Cast: Robert Pattinson, Patricia Arquette, Mia Goth
Synopsis: A group of criminals agree to go on a suicide mission into space in the hope of finding alternate energy sources, and to take part in experiments in human reproduction.
What You Need To Know: If we could have guessed what arthouse queen Claire Denis would do next after the brutal “Bastards” from a few years ago, we wouldn’t have said ‘sci-fi starring R-Patz.’ And yet here we are, with Denis gearing up to shoot her first English-language movie, one excitingly penned by the great Zadie Smith and her partner, poet Nick Laird, with the ever-adventurous Pattinson and recent Oscar-winner Patricia Arquette starring. Though the subject matter is unusual for Denis, she’s never been afraid to play with genre, and it thematically should be up her street. In fact, the only reason this isn’t higher is that, depending on the amount of effects involved, it’s not entirely certain whether it’ll be ready for this year.
Release Date: Shooting begins shortly, and given that, “Bastards” aside, all of Denis’ recent movies premiered at Venice, that would be the best bet if it’s done in time.
12. “La La Land”
Director: Damien Chazelle (“Whiplash”)
Cast: Ryan Gosling, Emma Stone, J.K. Simmons, Finn Wittrock, Rosemarie DeWitt
Synopsis: Musical following the relationship between a jazz pianist and an actress.
What You Need To Know: Compared to their ’50s/’60s heyday, musicals are pretty rare these days, and when they do, they’re almost always either Broadway adaptations, animated, or jukebox musicals using pre-existing songs. That it’s a completely original musical is just one of the things that makes “La La Land” exciting, the other being that it marks the return of Damien Chazelle, who exploded onto everyone’s radar with the incredible, multi-Oscar nominated “Whiplash.” His ambition was clearly only just getting started, but he does have a history with the form: His debut, “Guy And Madeline On A Park Bench,” his Harvard thesis movie, was also a musical. His composer on that and “Whiplash,” Justin Hurwitz, returns to pen the songs, while A-listers Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone lead. This could be a famous disaster, but if Chazelle can pull it off — and “Whiplash” suggests he can — he’ll pass into legend.
Release Date: July 15th. Could we see it hitting Cannes first?
11. “Untitled Fifth Bourne Movie”
Director: Paul Greengrass (“The Bourne Supremacy,” “Captain Phillips”)
Cast: Matt Damon, Tommy Lee Jones, Alicia Vikander, Vincent Cassel, Riz Ahmed
What You Need To Know: Despite the best efforts of 007, Ethan Hunt, Eggsy and Susan Cooper, Jason Bourne remains the defining face of the spy actioner in the 21st century — but for a while it looked like we might never see him again. Director Paul Greengrass and star Matt Damon walked away from the blockbuster franchise, and a replacement was set up in the shape of Jeremy Renner’s Aaron Cross. But with “The Bourne Legacy” proving a damp squib, Universal went back to Greengrass and Damon, and the result is an as-yet-untitled fifth movie in the series. Little’s known about the story so far, but Damon (who co-wrote the script with Greengrass and the latter’s longtime editor Christopher Rouse: It’s only the actor’s third screenwriting credit since winning the Oscar for “Good Will Hunting”) has promised an adventure that taps into contemporary anxieties around the financial crisis and Edward Snowden.
Release Date: July 29th