Summer movies
All the films you don’t want to miss this season
1The Good Liar Dec 5
An ageing con artist (Ian Mckellen) targets a wealthy widow (Helen Mirren), but his plans go south in Bill Condon’s adaptation of Nicholas Searle’s bestselling crime novel. See this if you liked: The Talented Mr Ripley
2Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker
Dec 19
Old friends and enemies return as the Star Wars
nonology draws to a close. Major questions set to be resolved in Episode 9 are: “Who is Rey, really?”, “Will Luke Skywalker come back as a ghost warrior?”, “Was Snoke the Emperor Palpatine all along?” and “Will toxic fandom kill off Star Wars for good?”
See this if you liked: Star Wars: The Force Awakens
3Jojo
Rabbit Dec 26
Taika Waititi plays an imaginary Führer in his comedy about a Hitler Youth who learns his mother (Scarlett Johansson) is hiding a Jewish fugitive in their house. The film’s irreverent tone has polarised critics, however.
See this if you liked: Life Is Beautiful
4Portrait of a Lady on Fire Dec 26
In 1760, an artist, Marianne, arrives on an island off Brittany to paint the portrait of a young woman, Héloïse. Céline Sciamma’s queer costume romance puts feminine selfdiscovery centre stage.
See this if you liked: Blue Is the Warmest Colour
5Sorry We Missed You Dec 26
Veteran leftie filmmaker Ken Loach has been going into battle for working-class folk since the 1960s. His latest film, about a van driver screwed over by the gig economy, has been acclaimed as one of his all-time best.
See this if you liked: I, Daniel Blake
6Little Women Jan 1
Louisa May Alcott’s beloved coming-of-age novel about the four March sisters and their Marmee gets a new, all-star adaptation under director Greta Gerwig. Saoirse Ronan, Laura Dern and Timothée Chalamet star, with Emma Watson, Meryl Streep and Bob Odernkirk.
See this if you liked: Lady Bird
7The Gentlemen Jan 1
Matthew Mcconaughey stars, and Hugh Grant plays well out of his comfort zone as a cockney crime figure, in director Guy Ritchie’s return to his comedic London thriller roots. Downton Abbey’s Michelle Dockery co-stars.
See this if you liked: Snatch
81917
Jan 9
Two British soldiers (George Mckay and Dean-charles Chapman) race against time to save a battalion during World War I. Director Sam Mendes has shot the film to seem like it’s all one continuous take, and Colin Firth and Benedict Cumberbatch round out the cast. See this if you liked: Dunkirk
9Bombshell
Jan 16
The story of the downfall of sleazy Fox News CEO Roger Ailes (John Lithgow) is the first big-screen #metoo dramatisation and stars Charlize Theron, Nicole Kidman and Margot Robbie as mad-as-hell victims who fought back.
See this if you liked: The Big Short
10Birds of Prey Feb 6
Despite the poor reception to Suicide
Squad, Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie), the film’s distaff Joker, has gotten her own movie. The feature debut of director Cathy Yan, it has Quinn at loggerheads with crime lord Black Mask (Ewan Mcgregor).
See this if you liked: Sucker Punch
11Fantasy
Island Feb 13
The cheery, escapist TV show from the 1970s has been reimagined as a horror scenario by scaremeister producer Jason Blum ( Get Out et al). Expect holiday resort-gone-wrong vibes in the Jurassic Park/westworld vein, with Michael Peña playing the ringmaster.
See this if you liked: The Cabin in the Woods
12Dark
Waters Feb 20
Carol, I’m Not
Director Todd Haynes (
There) tries his hand at a true-life legal thriller, this one starring Mark Ruffalo as environmental lawyer Rob Bilott, who took on chemical giant Dupont over their poisoning of groundwater.
See this if you liked: Erin Brockovich
13Miss Fisher and the Crypt of Tears
Feb 26
Flapper crimebuster Phryne Fisher (Essie Davis) makes the leap to the big screen in an adventure that takes her and Inspector Jack Robinson (Nathan Page) to the Middle East.
See this if you liked: Murder on the Orient Express
14The Invisible Man Feb 26 Saw,
Aussie Leigh Whannell ( technothriller Upgrade) directs Elisabeth Moss as a woman who believes her husband has faked his own death and is invisibly stalking her. See this if you liked: Hollow Man