THE MOVIES NOT TO MISS IN 2021
ANDY LEA reveals the films you need to see this year
AFTER a disastrous 2020, the cinema industry is hoping for a far more prosperous 2021. Pandemic permitting, this will be the busiest movie schedule in years with postponed blockbusters from last year competing with a raft of new movies.
And for those who have grown accustomed to staying indoors, there will be plenty of big-budget treats on booming home-streaming platforms.
Here are 10 films to look out for…
NOMADLAND
Release date: February 19
THE bookies’ current favourite for the Best Picture Oscar sees Three Billboards actress Frances Mcdormand join a nonprofessional cast in a touching, beautifully shot drama set among a community of elderly travellers.
After losing her husband and her home, Fern (Mcdormand) lives and travels around America in her van, picking up seasonal work and catching up with fellow “nomads”.
She discovers companionship and beauty in a challenging lifestyle which has apparently become popular with cash-strapped pensioners since the financial crisis.
JUDAS AND THE BLACK MESSIAH
Release date: TBC
DANIEL KALUUYA and Lakeith Stanfield star in a gritty drama based on the life of Fred Hampton, chairman of the Black Panther Party in late 1960s Chicago.
The film follows Stanfield’s car thief William O’neal as he’s recruited by Jesse Plemons’ FBI agent to infiltrate the Panthers and act as an informant.
The plot thickens when O’neal gets a job on Hampton’s security team and FBI boss J Edgar Hoover sees a chance to take Hampton out. With strong performances, this is also tipped for Oscar success.
THE KING’S MAN
Release date: February 21
DIRECTOR Matthew Vaughn decided to make the third film in his Kingsman spy series a prequel.
Set during the First World War, the plot sees Rhys Ifans’ mad monk Rasputin recruiting the world’s worst criminals to help him take over the planet.
Ralph Fiennes is our new dapper hero, a former Army officer who, as in the first film, inducts a young recruit (Harris Dickinson) into a secret society of immaculately turned-out gentlemen spies.
COMING 2 AMERICA
Release date: March 5,
Amazon Prime
AFTER a hilarious comeback in 2019’s Dolemite Is My Name, Eddie Murphy has been handed a sequel to his hit 1988 fish-out-of-water comedy about an African prince who travels to the States to find a bride.
Arsenio Hall will return as his loyal sidekick Semmi, while Murphy has endured the make-up chair again to reprise his other characters including Sexual Chocolate frontman Randy Watson.
And there are roles for Wesley Snipes, who was also excellent in Dolemite, and Tracy Morgan.
NO TIME TO DIE
Release date: April 2 ARE you sick and tired of hearing about this one ne yet? After an exhausting g publicity campaign, this s spring we should finally y see Daniel Craig hang up his dinner jacket in the oft-postponed 25th Bond film.
Bohemian Rhapsody’s Rami Malek is the main villain, but Christoph Waltz’s Ernst Blofeld will also make a return. To be fair, this had me at the first trailer with that eye-popping motorcycle leap.
GHOSTBUSTERS: AFTERLIFE
Release date: June 11 THIS new instalment of the spooky series imagines 2016’s reboot never even happened, something I’ve been trying to do for the past four years.
This direct sequel to the films of the 80s is set in the modern day.
Grandchildren of the late Ghostbuster Egon Spengler (Finn Wolfhard and Mckenna Grace) find the Ecto-1 car under a tarpaulin.
Paul Rudd plays a science teacher, while Dan Aykroyd, Bill Murray and Sigourney Weaver reprise their original roles.
CANDYMAN
Release date: August 27 THIS is the one that horror fans have been screaming about.
Co-writer and producer Jordan Peele has brought Tony Todd’s hook-handed ghoul back to life for a sequel to the 1992 original.
Yahya Abdul-mateen II (who starred in Peele’s Us) plays a Chicago artist who foolishly decides to investigate a spooky local legend.
TOP GUN: MAVERICK
Release date: July 9
AFTER nearly a decade in development, the sequel to Tom Cruise’s 1986 hit will finally land in cinemas.
Cruise’s Pete ‘Maverick’ Mitchell is now a flight instructor at the Top Gun fighter pilot academy where he’s taken hotshot Bradley Bradshaw (Whiplash star Miles Teller), the son of his late pal Goose, under his wing.
Val Kilmer returns as Maverick’s rival Tom “Iceman” Kazansky, and Jennifer Connelly stars as the love interest.
DUNE
Release date: October 1 ARRIVAL director Denis Villeneuve has learned from his predecessor’s mistakes with this new adaptation starring Timothée Chalamet, Rebecca Ferguson and Oscar Isaac.
Cleverly, the script covers the first half of the 1965 novel which follows Paul Atreides (Chalamet), whose family is in command of the “spice”producing planet of Arrakis.
ETERNALS
Release date: November 5
MARVEL’S superheroes return this year with six movies.
Scarlett Johansson goes solo with Black Widow; Tom Hardy stars in Venom 2, while Tom Holland takes Spider-man out for another spin. Elsewhere, Jared Leto gets his teeth into the vampiric Morbius and Michelle Yeoh makes her debut in Shang-chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.
But 2021 will be all about Eternals, with Angelina Jolie, Kit Harington, Salma Hayek and others starring in a new superpowered team.