WINTER MOVIE PREVIEW
Time for more interesting releases
FOREIGN GOLD
January is often when the best of foreign cinema comes to Canada, and the next two months feature the release of three Oscar-shortlisted movies: The Salesman (Feb. 3), about an Iranian couple performing in Death of a Salesman; Land of Mine (Feb. 24), set in Denmark immediately after the Second World War; and Toni Erdmann (Jan. 27), a riotous German comedy. There’s also Sieranevada (Jan. 27), a drama from Romania; and Maliglutit (Jan. 13), an Inuk drama set and filmed in the Far North.
DRAMA — AND POETRY
Matthew McConaughey plays a businessman lured to the jungles of Indonesia by the promise of gold in Gold (Jan. 27), while Chris Evans finds himself raising a super-smart child in Gifted (April 12), and Annette Bening heads up a talented female cast in 20th Century Women (Jan. 13). Meanwhile, Adam Driver plays a Paterson, N.J., bus driver named Paterson in Paterson (Jan. 13). With all that repetition, is it any wonder he’s also a poet?
SEQUELS, THREEQELS AND SEXTEEQUELS
They don’t have handy numbers in their titles, but Underworld: Blood Wars (Jan. 6) and Resident Evil: The Final Chapter (Jan. 27) are each the sixth instalment in its series. “This has been my whole life,” says Milla Jovovich’s character in the trailer for the latter, and we get what she means. Meanwhile, xXx: The Return of Xander Cage (Jan. 20) marks the return of Vin Diesel, 12 years after the last xXx movie. And Keanu Reeves is back in John Wick: Chapter 2 (Feb. 10); no explanation required.
ANIMATED ANTICS
If you want something noisy, the semi-animated Monster Trucks (Jan. 13), about a truck with an actual monster under the hood, should rev your engine. Those looking for a more subdued experience may enjoy the dialogue-free The Red Turtle (Jan. 27), which won a special jury prize at Cannes; or Window Horses (March 10), a Canadian film about a poet invited to perform her work in Iran. And for the kids, there’s The Boss Baby (March 31), featuring the voice of Alec Baldwin; and Smurfs: The Lost Village (April 7).
JUST IN TIME FOR VALENTINE’S DAY
Fifty Shades of Grey wasn’t loved by critics, but audience numbers were enough to green light Fifty Shades Darker (Feb. 10). And for less conventional romances, there’s the lesbian love story Below Her Mouth (Feb. 10); a royalty/commoner match in A United Kingdom (Feb. 17); and a live-action Beauty and the Beast (March 17). And boys are (literally) from Mars, girls are from Earth in The Space Between Us (Feb. 3).
BASED ON THE BOOK
Literary adaptations continue to be a hot commodity. This year’s batch includes Dennis Lehane’s Live By Night (Jan. 13), adapted by Ben Affleck; Groundhog Day meets graduation day in Before I Fall (March 3); Julian Barnes’ The Sense of an Ending (March 17); wartime stiff-upper-lipped-ness in Their Finest (March 24); high-tech paranoia based on a Dave Eggers novel in The Circle (April 28); and a long-awaited sequel with T2 Trainspotting (Feb. 3).
BASED ON THE TRUTH
Mark Wahlberg and director Peter Berg (Deepwater Horizon, Lone Survivor) reunite again with Patriots Day (Jan. 13), about the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing. Michael Keaton starts a little hamburger joint called McDonald’s in The Founder (Jan. 20). And DisneyNature gives us another adorable animal story with Born in China (April 21).
LAUGHTER
If you haven’t yet had enough of Anna Kendrick, she also stars in Table 19 (Jan. 20), about a placement of misfit wedding dinner guests. And if you still find Robert De Niro funny after Dirty Grandpa (a dubious prospect) you can catch him in The Comedian (Feb. 3). Also, Shirley MacLaine tries to write her own obituary in The Last Word (March 10); and Jay Baruchel steps back on the ice and behind the camera to direct Goon: Last of the Enforcers (March 17).
LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION
Summer is the usual time for action-packed blockbusters, but just to keep the genre ticking over in the colder months there’s King Arthur: Legend of the Sword (March 24); and another sequel to a tale of vehicular mayhem and jocularity that puts the “8” in “fate,” The Fate of the Furious (April 14). Meanwhile, direct from China, but starring Matt Damon, is Zhang Yimou’s The Great Wall (Feb. 17). And Britain’s Ben Wheatley delivers Free Fire (March 17), which seems to be about a gunfight that never ends.