1. Silence - A new film by Martin Scorsese is always an event, and this looks intriguing. It is based on the prizewinning 1966 novel by Japanese author Shusaku Endo (filmed twice before, by Japanese director Masahiro Shinoda in 1971 and Portuguese director João Mário Grilo in 1996 as The Eyes of Asia). It is the true story of a 17th-century Christian missionary in Japan, played here by Liam Neeson, who was forced to recant his faith. Two younger priests, played by Adam Driver and Andrew Garfield, come looking for him and themselves face the same ordeal.
Here are the five most exciting movies coming out in 2016
1/ 4
2. The Witch - The Witch is 2016’s answer to It Follows: an independent horror film which had festival audiences raving about its cleverness and style as well as its nerve-jangling scariness. The winner of the Best First Feature Award at October’s London Film Festival, Robert Eggers’ directorial debut tells the relentlessly creepy tale of a Puritan family which is exiled from a New England settlement in the 1630s. Forced to build a homestead at the edge of an isolated forest, the family seems to be beset by black magic, but the parents’ own religious zeal is just as menacing. Eggers worked as a production designer before becoming a writer-director and, as outlandish as The Witch is, it looks as authentic as any big-budget period drama. Released February in the US and March in the UK.
2/ 4
3. Hail, Caesar! - Ethan and Joel Coen’s period comedy could well be 2016’s most sumptuous treat, an ice cream sundae of a film comprising the Coens’ favourite ingredients: a kidnapping (The Big Lebowski), the Golden Age of Hollywood (Barton Fink) and George Clooney being a buffoon (O Brother Where Art Thou?). Josh Brolin stars as a studio executive who steps in when Clooney’s matinee idol is spirited away from the set of an ancient Roman epic. The lip-smacking cast includes Scarlett Johansson as an Esther Williams-alike bathing beauty, Channing Tatum doing some Gene Kelly moves, and the stars of A Bigger Splash, Ralph Fiennes and Tilda Swinton. On general release from February.
3/ 4
4. Snowden - It has been a decade or two since a new Oliver Stone film was anything to get excited about, but Snowden sounds like the kind of hard-hitting, argument-starting drama he’s famous for, in that it’s political, controversial, and non-fictional – although some of his detractors might argue with that last category. Joseph-Gordon Levitt stars as Edward Snowden, the former CIA computer whizz who leaked classified information from America’s National Security Agency to the media in 2013. Shailene Woodley plays the girlfriend who flees with him to Russia. Released May in the UK, May in the US and May in France.
4/ 4
5. Neon Demon- After Spike Lee’s impressively angry Chi-Raq, Amazon are set to continue their relationship with daring directors by releasing the latest from Drive’s Nicolas Winding Refn. He’s giving the horror genre a stab with this cautionary tale about beauty-obsessed women in LA. Keanu Reeves, Elle Fanning and Christina Hendricks star.
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8 years ago
