Here are 2023’s most tantalising flicks…
Another year, another impending smorgasbord of films. With everything on offer so far (not to mention the films that are yet to be confirmed), if nothing else, 2023 certainly has a lot to give on the cinematic front. From the cocaine-consuming bear of (the aptly titled) Cocaine Bear, to Dune: Part Two, to Greta Gerwig’s Barbie, to the big screen return of Brendan Fraser in The Whale and Martin Scorsese’s long-awaited Killers of the Flower Moon, there is well and truly something for everyone. Here are the films we can’t wait to see in 2023.
Cocaine Bear (February 23, 2023)
Set to be the most cooked of all the films this year, Cocaine Bear is based on the true story from 1985 of a black bear who ate a duffel-bag worth of cocaine after a drug runner’s plane crashed in the US state of Georgia. Directed by American actress and filmmaker Elizabeth Banks (Pitch Perfect, Charlie’s Angels), the film features the likes of Keri Russell (The Americans), Alden Ehrenreich (Solo: A Star Wars Story) and Jesse Tyler Ferguson (Modern Family), promising to deliver the cocaine/bear extravaganza you never knew you needed.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f58Uol5H-aI&ab_channel=UniversalPicturesAustralia
Dune: Part Two (November 3, 2023)
Dune: Part One was a highlight of 2021, with the Denis Villeneuve-directed flick (based on the groundbreaking 1965 sci-fi novel of the same name) taking out six Oscars at last year’s Academy Awards. Full of big fanged worms and precious spicey space drugs, the sequel is set to reach cinemas this November, with Timothée Chalamet, Rebecca Ferguson, Zendaya (and more) reprising their roles in all their blue-eyed glory.
Adding to an already star-studded cast, there’ll also be a few new faces, including Austin Butler, Florence Pugh and Christopher Walken. If Part One is anything to go by, Part Two is set to be a big sandy showstopper.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7WdkPwJTnQk
Beau Is Afraid (April 21, 2023)
We love an A24 film and we love Joaquin Phoenix, and Beau Is Afraid ticks both those boxes. Directed by Ari Aster (known for horror sensations Hereditary and Midsommar), Beau Is Afraid follows the story of a “paranoid man who embarks on an epic odyssey to get home to his mother”, encountering physical, surreal and supernatural obstacles along the way (with some inter-dimensionality thrown in for good measure). Promising to be a “surrealist comedy horror”, Beau Is Afraid is sure to have it all (and be a certified mindfuck).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lF4LKxUVjiQ&ab_channel=MovieTrailersSource
Barbie (July 21, 2023)
The internet was sent into a spiral last September when on-set photos were leaked of heartthrobs Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling as Barbie and Ken in matching fluorescent pink and green outfits, complete with rollerskates. Director Greta Gerwig (Little Women, Lady Bird) has said of the movie: “Whatever you’re thinking, we’re going to give you something totally different – the thing you didn’t know you wanted.”
Whatever you *are* thinking, this movie promises to be nothing short of an explosion of peroxide, pink and PVC plastic.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8zIf0XvoL9Y&ab_channel=WarnerBros.Pictures
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (June 30, 2023)
This year we are finally getting the fifth and final instalment of the Indiana Jones saga, more than forty years after the original 1981 Raiders of the Lost Ark. Directed by James Mangold, and with a script penned by Steven Spielberg (who’s also on board as producer), the film will see the return of Harrison Ford to play the iconic, titular character for the very last time.
With a cast featuring the likes of Phoebe Waller-Bridge (Fleabag), Antonio Banderas (Pain and Glory) and John Rhys-Davies (Raiders of the Lost Ark), Dial of Destiny is set to be an iconic end to an iconic chapter of cinema history.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZfVYgWYaHmE
65 (March 9, 2023)
Adam Driver returns for the kind of science fiction thriller that’s unlikely to disappoint, created by some of the writers behind 2018’s post-apocalyptic horror flick, A Quiet Place. 65 sees two astronauts crash-land on earth, only to discover they’re 65 million years in the past (oops). Needless to say, this film is full of dinosaurs (and Adam Driver) which honestly seems to be exactly what the people want.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bHXejJq5vr0&ab_channel=SonyPicturesEntertainment
Oppenheimer (July 20, 2023)
Years in the making, Christopher Nolan’s World War II historical drama, Oppenheimer, is finally here. With frequent Nolan collaborator, Cillian Murphy, in the titular role, the film follows the true story of American theoretical physicist Robert Oppenheimer (nicknamed the “father of the atomic bomb”) during the Manhattan Project, which ultimately led to the creation of the first atomic bomb (and the inevitable fallout of its detonation).
From the cinema mastermind behind the likes of Inception, Interstellar and Tenet, Christopher Nolan’s latest offering is sure to be a work of grand proportions.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bK6ldnjE3Y0
When You Finish Saving The World (January 20, 2023)
The feature-length directorial debut from actor Jesse Eisenberg (perhaps most famous for his portrayal of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg), When You Finish Saving The World promises to hit the coming-of-age comedy-drama sweet spot. Starring Julianne Moore and Stranger Things’ Finn Wolfhard, the film traces the at-times precarious relationship between a mother and a guitar-wielding, alternative-folk-rock-loving teenage son. Plus, it’s A24.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XbgJPKFxHXI&ab_channel=A24
The Whale (February 2, 2023)
Brendan Fraser’s disappearance from Hollywood following the success of The Mummy franchise did not go unnoticed by fans. But lucky for all of us, the beloved actor is finally returning to the big screen for the Darren Aronofsky-directed drama, The Whale. The movie, which is said to have garnered a six-minute standing ovation at the Venice Film Festival, is based on a Samuel D. Hunter play, and follows the attempts of a high school English teacher to reconnect with his daughter, all the while suffering from an eating disorder and grappling with his own mortality.
The Whale is due out in cinemas on February 2, 2023.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWiQodhMvz4&ab_channel=A24
Killers of the Flower Moon (May 2023)
Martin Scorsese’s twenty-sixth film has been in the works for a few years now, and it was originally slated for release in 2022. No such thing came to pass, and while no exact date has been confirmed, it’s looking like the film will come out in May of this year. A Western crime drama based on David Grann’s nonfiction book of the same name, Killers of the Flower Moon follows a series of real-life murders of members of the Native American Osage tribe in 1920s Oklahoma – and the ensuing FBI investigation.
