‘The most devastating movie’: The 16 new films we’re most excited to see

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Now that film festival season has wrapped up in the northern hemisphere, we can get a pretty good look at what’s heading our way in the next few months and what we’ll be talking about come the Oscars (plus a few extras).

One Battle After Another

Leonardo DiCaprio never delivers a bad performance – go on, find me one! – and early reviews suggest he’s done it again in this madcap conspiracy thriller from Paul Thomas Anderson (again, find me a bad PTA movie). DiCaprio plays Bob, a washed-up radical living off the grid with his daughter Willa. When Willa goes missing, Bob reunites with his ex-revolutionary mates to find her. Steven Spielberg has, reportedly, already watched it three times. September 25

The Smashing Machine

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson a serious actor? Apparently, yes, if we are to believe the 15-minute standing ovation he received at the Venice Film Festival. Based on a true story and directed by Benny Safdie, Johnson plays mixed martial arts fighter Mark Kerr who struggles with opioid addiction while he tries to get back in the ring. The New York Times praised Johnson for “resisting big, showy acting choices”, while I give full marks to his wig designer. October 2

A House of Dynamite

Another bolter from Venice, this clock-ticking thriller from the queen of action – director Kathryn Bigelow – follows the race to stop a nuclear missile that has been launched towards the United States. If that all sounds very 1990s, consider the excellent cast (Idris Elba, Greta Lee, Jason Clarke, Rebecca Ferguson) and its five-star review from The Guardian. October 9 (Netflix, October 24)

Roofman

Channing Tatum and Kirsten Dunst star in this comedy about a real-life crook, Jeffrey Manchester, who, you guessed it, broke into businesses via the roof and in one case, even lived in the roof of a Toys-R-Us. Directed by Derek Cianfrance, it’s been described as anti-romcom that will leave you thinking. October 16

Frankenstein

Australia’s tallest movie star Jacob Elordi gets his freak on again, but this time he’s playing an actual monster – in fact, the Creature – in Guillermo del Toro’s adaptation of Mary Shelley’s classic Gothic tale. Oscar Isaac plays Dr Victor Frankenstein, whose experiments bring the monstrous creature to life. After its premiere in Venice, The Guardian called it an “epic bromance” that is both “bombastic” and “watchable”. Colour me intrigued. October 23 (Netflix, November 7)

Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere

Jeremy Allen White channels Timothee Chalamet channelling Bob Dylan to channel the Boss, aka Bruce Springsteen, in this biopic that charts the making of Springsteen’s iconic 1982 album Nebraska. Written and directed by Scott Cooper (Crazy Heart), critics have praised the film for its gritty take on Springsteen’s darkest days. October 23

Bugonia

I will turn up for Jesse Plemons any time he is on screen (Friday Night Lights fans unite!) and director Yorgos Lanthimos appears to feel the same way, as this is the second film in a row that Plemons has worked with both Lanthimos and actor Emma Stone. In a typically bonkers setup, Plemons plays an environmental activist who kidnaps Stone’s corporate type who may or may not be an alien. October 30

Train Dreams

Billed as an “extraordinary story of an ordinary life”, this is another tearjerker centred around loss and Joel Edgerton’s extraordinary performance. Adapted from a novella of the same name, Edgerton plays Robert Grainier, a lonely railroad labourer in early 20th-century America, whose life opens up when he meets Gladys (Felicity Jones). November 6 (Netflix, November 21).

If I Had Legs I’d Kick You

Rose Byrne won the Silver Bear for Best Leading Performance at the Berlin Film Festival in February for this “maternal meltdown drama” (Variety) in which she plays a therapist teetering on the edge of a nervous breakdown. Conan O’Brien and ASAP Rocky also star, in a film The Hollywood Reporter called an “impressively sustained but taxing motherhood nightmare”. Best go see it after the school holidays. November 13

Jay Kelly

George Clooney movies used to be a dime a dozen, but these days he only pops up on screen every few years. In this satire from Noah Baumbach, Clooney plays the titular lead, a movie star who is recognised everywhere he goes. But what has that fame cost him? Probably only Clooney and his co-star Adam Sandler can really answer that question. The critics? Well, they were divided after the film’s Venice premiere. November 20 (Netflix, December 5)

Wicked: For Good

If 160 minutes of Wicked in 2024 wasn’t enough, there is a whole other movie coming. Part two – Wicked: For Good – picks up with Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo) on the run, while Glinda (Ariana Grande) appears to be a patsy for the Wizard (Jeff Goldblum, doing the least). Will it be a happy ending for our witchy besties? The clue is in the title. November 20

Josh O’Connor and Daniel Craig in Wake Up Dead Man.

Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery

This looks absolutely delicious! Our intrepid private detective Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) returns for a third time, this time on the case of a priest who was found dead in a sealed room (“a murder dressed as a miracle,” says our dapper hero). Despite an all-star cast, it’s Josh O’Conner, playing a young priest seeking his salvation, who has attracted all the attention. November 27 (Netflix, December 12)

Song Sung Blue

This didn’t screen at any of the festivals but it is being released in Oscar-bait month, so I’ll hedge my bets on this one, in which Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson play struggling musicians who form a Neil Diamond tribute act. We all know Jackman has a phenomenal voice, could this be the role that gets him the (non-Wolverine) screen glory he has always craved? January 1

Hamnet

Grab your tissues, this adaptation of Maggie O’Farrell’s 2020 book had audiences at the Telluride and Toronto film festivals sobbing. Starring Paul Mescal and Jessie Buckley, the pair play William Shakespeare and his wife Agnes, who are grieving the death of their young son, Hamnet. Directed by Chloe Zhao, who won an Oscar for her 2020 film Nomadland, Vulture called it “the most devastating movie I have seen in years”. January 15

Marty Supreme

If there is a thread to Timothee Chalamet’s career I am yet to find it, because he just keeps pulling out unpredictable films year after year. In this sports comedy from director Josh Safdie, Chalamet and his teeny moustache play Marty Mauser, who has a “calling” to bring table tennis to the US in the 1950s. Someone save Chalamet a seat at the Oscars now. January 22

Wuthering Heights

Round out summer with this steamy romp, starring Margo Robbie as Catherine to Jacob Elordi’s Heathcliff. It is, of course, directed by Emerald Fennell, who got everyone hot and bothered with Saltburn. If the trailer is anything to go by, Fennell is gleefully pushing more buttons here and, for some reason, sticking fingers in the mouths of fish. February 12

What films are you looking forward to? Please tell us in the comments below.

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