Most Anticipated Movies 2023
Though the COVID pandemic can still be referenced within the film realm as the recent Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery does, the movie industry itself has now seemingly fully recovered from those lockdown days and we now get to enjoy the full might of Hollywood and indies yet again. As such 2023 is proving to be a stacked yet for movies. There’s a lot of them! So many! Many of which will most likely be crap, but here I am listing the ones I am most excited for. Again, come end of 2023 and prepped for disappointment for a lot of these, but as of right now I am full of hopes and dreams! So, in no particular order...
HONOURABLE CURIOUS MENTIONS: Oppenheimer, Next Goal Wins, The Old Way, Wonka, Mission Impossible - Dead Reckoning: Part One, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
John Wick: Chapter 4 - It simply doesn’t get better than seeing Hollywood sweetheart the beautiful Keanu Reeves plays an unkillable hitman who is able to kill a man with a single pencil or a book or any item at his disposal, let alone give him a gun. Those headshots then come at the speed of a Call of Duty pro-player! So obviously I want to see what’s next for Mr Wick.
Killers of the Flower Moon - Let the Brendan Fraser renaissance continue! It’s been absolutely adorably awesome seeing him back and looking so happy and pleased to be appreciated for how amazing he is! I mean, yes Killers of the Flower Moon also happens to be a new crime drama from one of cinema’s greats Martin Scorsese featuring a cast including Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert de Niro, but honestly I’m just happy seeing Fraser getting solid work again. Go get them tiger!
Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre - Technically this was originally slated as an early 2022 release, however due to distribution issues it has been moved a year later. Regardless, Guy Ritchie always makes slick gangster flicks, with his recent The Gentlemen being especially cool and badass, so I’m willing to see Ritchie continue making these types of films as many times as he wants, as long as his dialogue stays sharp and Hugh Grant keeps saying “Darling” during every appearance.
The Super Mario Bros. Movie - Setting aside the controversial lack of effort that Chris Pratt is putting into that Mario voice, this animated effort from Universal and Illumination is actually looking surprisingly enjoyable. The animation looks great and there are some great nostalgic call backs to the games, and even the voice cast (aside from Pratt) are all sounding great. That Bowser voice from Jack Black - woah!! Can’t wait to hear more of that!
Napoleon - Ridley Scott is doing a movie about Napoleon, and Napoleon himself is played by Joaquin Phoenix. Great director, superb actor, an integrally interesting historical figure at the narrative centre... what’s not to be excited for!
Knock at the Cabin - M. Night Shyamalamalamalamadingdong is back with another plot twist. Look, M Night is very hit-and-miss, and when he’s great he’s great, but when he’s bad he’s bad in a fun way. His last film Old was filled with plot-holes, inconsistencies and ridiculous narrative choices, yet I had a ball watching it and pointing out all the obvious foreshadowing. And then Shyamalan is also responsible for The Happening, which, well, happened. Anyway, new Shyamalan film - gimme gimme gimme!
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 - Before James Gunn fully takes over the running of DC films (though he already took Henry Cavill as Superman away from us the monster!!!) he still has one Guardians film from Marvel left for us. And though I was not a fan of Vol. 2, the recent Holiday Special has reinstated my hope in this ragtag space-travelling group of outcasts, and Gunn himself has been on a roll with The Suicide Squad and Peacemaker, so they’ve got this. Also Rocket has an otter girlfriend in this one so I’m ready to witness some animal loving.
Barbie - Okay, so it’s okay for a guy to look forward to a Barbie movie?? What’s so wrong with that?? It’s not weird! I don’t have a thing for dolls if that’s what you’re thinking. Nope, in fact I am more hoping that similar to how The Lego Movie managed to take a famous toy and create a superbly meta entertaining movie classic, Barbie shows promise to also go against conventional genre tropes and do something different weird. At least judging from that 2001: A Space Odyssey piss-take of the teaser, Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach have created something real unique. Also Ryan Gosling as Ken.....either the greatest casting choice or the worst decision ever. We’ll see...
Renfield - Nicolas Cage is a worldwide treasure, and one thought that him playing himself in a movie was the craziest thing yet. Nah, now he’s playing Dracula. Yep, THE Nicolas Cage is playing THE Count Dracula! And this time he really is a vampire!
Cocaine Bear - It’s a bear that’s high off it’s tits on cocaine and is going on a murderous rampage whilst trying to get more cocaine. I don’t need this to be a good movie. I don’t need it to win any awards. I just want there to be bears, I want there to be cocaine, and ideally those two to be connected for the entire time. What’s more is this is based on the real life story of a 175lb black bear who ingested a duffel bag of abandoned cocaine in northern Georgia in 1985. I mean yes that bear died fairly quickly, but in the movie they’ve evidently taken some creative choices (and definitely the correct ones!!) and instead this bear is simply killing everyone left and right and being high as a kite. And from that recent trailer from the very first appearance you can tell that this bear is on cocaine. That is all I want.
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Okay I know this post will gain absolutely zero traction but the more I think about it the more I want to cry about it??
slight spoilers for one of the character arcs in Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre ahead,,,
So I saw Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre in the cinema today. I was alone, it was reasonably full, the film technically only opened two days ago, and it's wider release isn't for another week, but I had time to kill and it was the only thing that piqued my interest. It sits in an interesting spot tonally, comparative, I'd say, to Netflix Exclusive Michael Bay movie 6 Underground, though to use a more recent marker I'd drop it somewhere near Bullet Train (though it's definitely much closer to 6 Underground). All this context to say that I went into this Jason Statham-lead espionage action movie with zero expectations and almost completely blind.
So please believe me when I say I was truly blindsided with joy to have canonical, casual queer representation in this Jason Statham-lead espionage action movie.
Maybe it's that I don't watch a lot of media now, but it's something I noticed while watching Glass Onion too, both with Benoit and Hugh Grant (ha, put a pin in that) and especially with the character of Peg, and it makes me a bit teary and excited when I think about it. There's something to be said for how far we've come, to the point that Casual Queer Rep is even possible. There's something about watching Peg get all flustered talking to Helen and knowing that it's because she has a crush, without it having to be flagged, spelled out, or otherwise othered by the film or its writing.
It's normalised.
Which I know shouldn't be a big deal, but right now, to me, it is. I didn't realise I could feel this way; to see a full character who just so happens to be gay, where the plot doesn't revolve around her being gay, but that part of her identity is still made clear?? I love Peg so much holy shit.
But Glass Onion is the second in a series that has established itself as a forerunner for casual diversity. Let me tell you about how Operation Fortune made me want to YELL in theatres.
It's the 8th of January, and it might be a bit early to call it, but Danny Francesco might be my favourite character of the year.
Is he perfect? God no, he's objectively not a great person; he's sleeping with his sister-in-law, he's a Hollywood diva, he's demanding, and he (spoilers, seriously) ends up engaged to a war criminal. Who happens to be the main antagonist. Who happens to be Hugh Grant. Danny is the light of my life, however, and I love him with my whole heart.
So in the beginning we're told that Danny turned down $10m because he didn't want to jump out of Greg (Hugh Grant)'s cake and sing Happy Birthday; whatever, I thought, Greg is a rich, eccentric with an obsession with celebrities, and Danny is the biggest star right now, I shouldn't read anything into it because Sometimes Rich People Just Do Things For Status Reasons. We're also told, and subsequently shown, Greg tries to take celebrity's partners/girlfriends. Cue Sarah (Aubrey Plaza) in a bright red dress that I will dream about for the next month.
Also, in the scene where Danny, Sarah, and Orson (Jason Statham) are joining the fancy party, there's some distinctly fruity vibes between the three of them, but I'm not here to push my Orson/Sarah/Danny polycule agenda, just know that I have one.
So obviously Greg is excited to see Danny, but later makes a Very Distinct Pass at Sarah, inviting both her and Danny to stay with him for the weekend, with an implied Wink Wink Nudge Nudge.
While they end up taking him up on that offer, Danny, who started the film having refused Greg's Rich Weirdo Request, and now having to spend time with him for the job, finds that he actually genuinely likes Greg, who appears to genuinely like him back, doting on him, even giving him gifts.
When Danny says to Sarah "(I'm paraphrasing, about Greg) he's really into you! If you don't take him up on his offer then I might!" my eyeballs were Out Of My Head. Like sure it sounds like a joke that would be written in to simply highlight Danny's materialism, a whole 'gay for pay' joke, something about his vanity, or even just an offhand joke that I might hear one of my straight friends who were super comfortable and confident in their sexuality say about their best friends, I was So primed for this to be something that the audience could laugh off or dismiss in hindsight. Like in my mind that solidified my headcanon of Danny as bi, but I was so used to queerbaiting and years of being told I was reading into things.
So as the plot continues, Danny's fondness for Greg goes on, turns into something incredibly genuine, and looking back, he clearly has a hero-worship crush on Greg by the end of the film.
The last shot we see of Danny and Greg is the pair of them getting into an elevator after Greg pulls a stone cold power move on the films secondary antagonists, which he had Danny assist with for flare after Danny asked specifically to stay with him for that event. In the elevator, Danny tells Greg that that was "the coolest thing he's ever seen someone do" and that's the last we physically see of them.
HOWEVER!! THE ICING!! THE CHERRY!!
At the very end of the film, one of the protagonists mentions how he's gone into the film industry, and the response he gets is;
"You better not be talking about Danny Francesco and his fiancee Greg Simmonds!"
an accurate depiction of me as the credits began to roll;
WE WIN THESE!!
BOTH DANNY AND GREG ARE CANONICALLY BI/PAN IN THIS JASON STATHAM-LEAD ESPIONAGE ACTION MOVIE IN THE YEAR OF OUR LORD 2023!! THEY BOTH LIVE UNTIL THE END!! THEY'RE ENGAGED!! THEY'RE BOTH ABSOLUTE DISASTERS!! THEY'RE BOTH FULL, ROUNDED CHARACTERS WHO HAPPEN TO BE QUEER!!
I get choked up thinking about it now, considering how quietly overwhelmed I felt in the theatre realising that Danny and Greg's comments and moments throughout the film weren't some elaborate joke, the dialogue that reminds me of my friends, the moments that felt true to my life as a queer person, they werent the setup for any kind of homophobic mixup, miscommunication, or microaggression; no, I finally, actually felt like I saw a part of myself, of my community represented in media.
Everyone in that movie is terrible in their own way, but Danny and Greg just happened to be terrible people who are also queer. Are they perfect representation? No! Thank fuck! I think we deserve more dumbass, disaster, unethical queers in media.
Even if I don't necessarily recommend this movie (it's pretty okay if you're a fan of the genre I suppose), I subjectively love it and especially it's characters, with my whole entire heart.
Danny Francesco is canonically a dumbass, bi disaster who fell for his sugar daddy, war criminal Hugh Grant. Good for him. It's what he deserves. 🥰🥰🥰
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