The late and legendary screenwriter (and Highland Park native) William Goldman delivered the scripts for “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,” “Marathon Man,” “All the President’s Men,” “The Princess Bride” and “Misery,” yet one could argue Goldman’s most quoted line through the decades is from his book, “Adventures in the Screen Trade,” in which he wrote:
“Nobody knows anything … not one person in the entire motion picture field knows for a certainty what’s going to work. Every time out it’s a guess and, if you’re lucky, an educated one.”
That has never been truer than in recent years. Hollywood was virtually shut down during the pandemic. At times it seemed as if the gigantic streaming services were going to swallow theatrical releases whole. Strikes by the WGA and SAG-AFTRA have highlighted the increasing and very valid concerns about the use of AI. Over the last decade-plus, some of the best directors and most decorated actors of our time have turned to prestige limited series, with superhero movies and action franchises dominating the theatrical scene.
And then along come “Barbie,” and “Oppenheimer,” two GIGANTIC global hits, and the movies are back in a big way.
Nobody knows anything — but one of the few constants year after year is we can count on the holiday movie season for a bounty of awards-bait movies that on paper (or on your computer screen) look to be great, or near-great, or at least damn interesting failures. That’s the case once again in 2023, and with that, here are my 10 most anticipated late-year releases.
‘Saltburn’ (Nov. 21)
Actor-filmmaker Emerald Fennell’s follow-up to the electric and brutal “Promising Young Woman” (2020) is a psychological thriller starring Barry Keoghan (who killed in “The Banshees of Inisherin”) as Oliver, a working-class student who gets drawn into the decadent and dangerous world of one Felix Catton (Jacob Elordi of “Euphoria”), who invites Oliver to spend the summer at his family’s estate, Saltburn. Shades of “The Talented Mr. Ripley”?
‘Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé’ (Nov. 30)
It’s “Renaissance,” and it’s a film by Beyoncé. If it’s anywhere near as glorious and exhilarating as “Homecoming: A Film By Beyoncé” (2019), it will be one of the best concert films of this century.
‘Poor Things’ (Dec. 8)
Yorgos Lanthimos (“The Favourite”) directs an all-star cast including Emma Stone, Mark Ruffalo, Willem Dafoe, Ramy Youssef and Margaret Qualley in a dark comedy/fantasy based on the novel by Alasdair Gray. Expect bawdiness. And ribaldry. Maybe even some farcical romping.
‘The Boy and the Heron’ (Dec. 8)
The legendary animation innovator Hayao Miyazaki adapts the 1937 novel about a young boy who is grieving the death of his mother and enters a fantasy world shared by the living and the deceased. Miyazaki, 82, has retired from filmmaking more often than Sinatra retired from singing. If this is indeed his last film, the clips and trailer promise yet another beautifully drawn, haunting and memorable masterpiece.
‘Rebel Moon: Part One — A Child of Fire’ (Dec. 22)
Zach Snyder (“300,” “Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice,” “Army of the Dead”) knows how to put on one hell of an action show, and this particular sci-fi epic about the obligatory mysterious stranger helping the obligatory peaceful villagers defend themselves against the obligatory tyrannical forces is so big it’s getting the two-part treatment, as I cleverly deduced from the “Part One” in the title. Featuring a fantastically interesting cast that includes Sofia Boutella, Djimon Hounsou, Charlie Hunnam, Anthony Hopkins and Ed Skrein.
‘The Iron Claw’ (Dec. 22)
Part of me was hoping “The Iron Claw” would be the story of a bunch of animated toys in an arcade game that come to life when the coin-operated iron claw tries to snatch one from the pile, but that’s a movie for another day. This is the fictionalized story of the real-life Von Erich family, a clan of wrestlers in the 1960s who popularized the legendary iron claw hold. Zac Efron, Jeremy Allen White, Harris Dickinson and Lily James star.
‘American Fiction’ (Dec. 22)
The People’s Choice Award winner at the Toronto Film Festival is yet another adaptation of a novel coming our way this December; in this case, it’s 2001 work “Erasure” by Percival Everett. The always reliable Jeffrey Wright is getting major buzz for his performance as an English professor and writer in this social/literary satire from writer-director Cord Jefferson.
‘The Color Purple’ (Dec. 25)
Nearly 40 years after Steven Spielberg’s acclaimed adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Alice Walker novel, the musical version comes to the big screen, with Fantasia Barrino and Danielle Brooks reprising their Broadway roles and powerful talents such as Halle Bailey, Taraji P. Henson, Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, Corey Hawkins, Colman Domingo, David Alan Grier and Louis Gossett Jr. front and center.
‘Ferrari” (Dec. 25)
The one and only Michael Mann (“Thief,” “Heat,” “Collateral”) has spent years developing this biographical sports drama about Enzo Ferrari, the founder of … well, Ferrari. As you’d expect, an A-list cast is along for the ride, with Adam Driver as Ferrari and a supporting team that includes Penélope Cruz, Shailene Woodley, Jack O’Connell and Patrick Dempsey.
‘Boys in the Boat’ (Dec. 25)
Another biographical sports drama, and what great source material in the story of the University of Washington rowing crew that represented the United States at the 1936 Summer Olympic games in Berlin. Actor/filmmaker/tequila guy George Clooney directs, with Callum Turner and Joel Edgerton starring. Until the publication of Daniel James Brown’s book of the same name in 2013, which became a surprise best seller, this was one of the lesser-remembered stories from those 1936 Games. It’s an incredible and inspirational tale that deserves the big-screen treatment.
