Notice how we are currently going through a dire movie year. Literally none of the major studios have released what could be qualified as something “great.” No, so far this year you had to dig deep to find diamonds in the ruff; indies such as “The Killing of Two Lovers,” “PVT Chat,” and “The Truffle Hunters” are very much worth your time, but they are so under-the-radar that not only are they struggling to find an audience, but not many film critics have actually reviewed these films. Seek them out.
Regardless, I do come as the bearer of good news. The coming fall movie season looks like it’ll be one for the ages. All the delayed Oscar contenders from this and last year are set to be released between September and December. One of them, Denis Villeneuve’s “Dune,” was just confirmed for the Venice Film Festival, which is happening in 3 months time.
What will likely make it to Venice this year? Check out this potential lineup I put together:
“Blonde” (Andrew Dominik)
“Power of Dog” (Jane Campion)
“Soggy Bottom” (Paul Thomas Anderson)
“Tragedy of Macbeth” (Joel Coen)
“Dune” (Denis Villeneuve)
“The Hand of God” (Paolo Sorrentino)
“The Card Counter” (Paul Schrader)
“Fire” (Claire Denis)
“The Whale” (Darren Aronofsky)
“Decision to Leave” (Chan-wook Park)
“Il buco” (Michelangelo Frammartino)
“C’mon C’mon” (Mike Mills)
“Benediction” (Terrence Davies)
”Spencer” (Pablo Larrain)
“Nightmare Alley” (Guillermo del Toro)
“Untitled” (Michel Franco)
“Il Buco” (Frammartino)
“Mona Lisa and the Blood Moon” (Ana Lily Amirpour)
Legendary Pictures and Denis Villeneuve have a lot of pressure to “get it right” when it comes to their upcoming reboot of Frank Herbert’s “Dune.” The adaptation even got the blessing of Brian Herbert (son of Frank), and as we greatly anticipate that epic’s December release, there will no doubt be lots of comparisons to David Lynch's lackluster 1984 version.