2021 is now in full swing, and film distributors are beginning to understand what a new reality is now. With the latest news about COVID, cinemas remain a small bet - although some films are still being released initially there - as streaming services become increasingly attractive. Oscar nominees will premiere simultaneously in theaters and on HBO Max. This month will also see a theatrical and streaming counterpart to some of the best films from last year.
[article updated April 6, 2021]
So for movie lovers, the choice of what to watch (and how to watch it) remains more diverse than ever. Here's a guide on what's coming soon:
Glitch in the Matrix
February 5th
After the documentary "Room 237" Filmed The Weirdest Theories About Stanley Kubrick's FilmShine" , directed by Rodney Asher returned to the classic sci-fi"Matrix" . In truth, the idea of a "glitch in the Matrix" predates the 1999 Wachowskis movie, but the duo stuck to the idea that we're all living in a simulation. So, in his new film, Usher explores the philosophical idea (and a minor conspiracy theory) that nothing is real, which means everything is permitted.
With the rise of conspiracy theories and magical thinking in recent years, this may have been timely – or unnecessary, based on some of the mixed reactions this film has received from Sundance so far.
Malcolm and Marie
Release date: February 5
This Netflix movie generated hype around him as well as eye-popping value with its depiction of a love story between John David Washington (BlackKkKlansman, Tenet) and Zendaya (Euphoria, Spiderman). This movie was created by the creatorEuphoria Sam Levinson and is his third film after "Killer Nation".
«Malcolm and Marie" shot in black and white, is a decidedly personal project that depicts a novel on the verge of evolution or despair. Malcolm from Washington is a story-driven filmmaker and is on the verge of superstardom after the premiere of his first feature film. Obviously, his life is about to change, but his girlfriend Mari suspects that these changes have not touched her. After his epic night, all that was left unspoken was about to be spoken.
The fall
Release date: February 5
Viggo Mortensen is making his directorial debut with a film that will reportedly be quiet and revealing. Like several other directors this year, Mortensen takes up the topic of parents and adult children who suffer from dementia. However, there has been tension between Willis (Lance Henriksen) and his son John (Mortensen) for a long time in this film, even before the early stages of dementia.
Embarrassed by the fact that John is gay and openly lives with his partner and young daughter, Willis does not want to visit his son's family. But as the aging process begins, both generations will have to come to terms with many things.
Judas and the Black Messiah
Release date: February 12
Since the next Warner Bros. due to be shown on HBO Max the same day it hits theaters, aroundJudas and Black Messiah received a lot of attention, not least because he is very good. As an Oscar nominee film - Daniel Kaluuya has already been nominated for a Golden Globe and SAG Awards for Best Supporting Actor -Judas gives a poignant analysis of the life and times of Fred Hampton, chairman of the Black Panther Party, who was executed by police in 1969.
Told from the perspective of William O'Neill (nervous LaKeith Stanfield), an FBI informant who spied on the Hamptons and the Panthers for law enforcement, this is a unique biopic approach that finally sheds light on the mainstream Hollywood film about the Panthers' struggles and demand. on Black Power. It's brutal and ultimately haunting.
Minari
Release date: February 12
Another big contender for the award, and certainly one of the best films of last year, is Lee Isaac Chang's project, very personal and personal,"Minari". The film, loosely inspired by Chang's own childhood, is about a Korean-American family who immigrate to the US in the 1970s, and after a decade spent in industrial farming deadlock, they try to make it. own small farm in rural 1980s Arkansas.
Presented as a cross-generational tapestry, the film is an incredibly beautiful work told from the perspective of a young boy, his resentful and distant parents (Stephen Yoon and Yeri Han) and his grandmother (Yoon Yoo-jung) who came from Seoul to save the family. . It really is something special and completely American, despite the fact that awards bodies sometimes categorize it as a "foreign language film". Watch it in theaters on February 12th or watch for the video-on-demand release on February 26th.
To all the boys I love: always and forever
Release date: February 12
If you're looking for something a little more romantic this Valentine's Day season, Netflix is completing its trilogy of "To all the boys that I love - or at least completes the film adaptation of Jenny Han Ya's already published novels -Too all the boys I love: always and forever . The film sees Lana Condor return as Lara Jean, a once-clumsy high school student with a series of crushes who now comes into her own by spending her spring break on a whirlwind vacation that sends her to South Korea, New York, and around the world. (It has become clear that this is happening before 2020.) It's an all-ages romance and might be cute in this day and age.
Take French leave
Release date: February 12
Michelle Pfeiffer is one of those rare performers who can make even the most venomous lines sing with playful glee - or turn the screws. She dabbles in both skills in "French outlet" , a dry comedy with over-the-top detachment and a seemingly perfect cast. In Azazel Jacobs' film, Pfeiffer plays Frances Price, a certain age Manhattan socialite who lived long enough to see invitations to high society fade. Worse, she had run out of the legacy she had lived on for decades.
So, Francis moves with his unusual son Malcolm (Lucas Hedges) to a tiny Parisian apartment. Slowly boiling chaos ensues. Well known for Pfeiffer's performance on festival circuits, he's well worth keeping an eye on.
Land
Release date: February 12
Robin Wright has had a remarkable career in film and television, showing us new dimensions on screen again and again. NoseLand she is making her directorial feature film debut behind the camera after directing a few episodeshouse of cards. In the film, Wright plays Edie, a bereaved woman trying to make a fresh start in the Wyoming wilderness. Admittedly, even with its wide-open landscapes, this is history within narrow limits. But there is gold on those hills.
Swindler
Release date: February 19
One of our personal favorites at last year's Toronto International Film Festival, Netflix's "Con» - smart, confused andincredible sardonic dark comedy.Built around the bottomless ambition and greed of Marla Grayson (Rosamund Pike), this is the story of a woman who makes her fortune by persuading the government to freeze senior citizens with large bank accounts, leaving her in charge of her finances.
It's a hell of a hoax until the sweet little old lady (Dianne Wiest) Marla is after is linked to a crime boss (Peter Dinklage). It's evil fun, Pike at his most diabolical since "Gone Girl" , and Dinklage also plays sharply against type. They and the rest of the ensemble, which includes Eiza Gonzalez, are brutally funny in this dark satire of rotten modern American capitalism. Jay Blakeson, director"The Disappearance of Alice Creed" , returned.
Mauritanian
Release date: February 12
Kevin McDonald continues his career in heavy political dramas based on true events, with"Moorish" , a new contender for the award, which documents the real-life court case of Mohamed Ould Salahi, a Mauritanian detained without charge by the US government in 2002. For 14 years, he remained in detention at Guantanamo Bay until he got to trial.
The movie McDonald's documented this legal battle with a large ensemble cast that includes Jodie Foster and Shailene Woodley as lawyers representing Salahi and Benedict Cumberbatch as an American officer suffering from a crisis of conscience. But it was Tahar Rahim who drew the most attention as Salahi in a performance that has already earned him a Golden Globe nomination.
Land of nomads
Release date: February 19
Best Picture contender Chloe Zhao is finally getting a major streaming release on Hulu. FilmNomadland, created Searchlight Pictures is a remarkable achievement, combining the edginess of narrative filmmaking with the sobering authenticity of documentaries. Focusing on the real life culture of American nomads in the modern American West, the film was shot within the community, telling the story of how it happened. Thus, Frances McDormand appears as Fern, a woman who, in 2010, was left with nothing when the Great Recession literally erased her hometown from the map.
Now the middle-aged widow lives in a van on the open road, alienated from the idea of living at one address and at peace with her new community of fellow travelers, who we see gather, sympathize and mourn. It's a powerful film that could lead to the Best Picture Oscar, which is kind of weird to consider when you realize that Zhao's next film will be "Eternals» Marvel.
Tom and Jerry
Release date: February 26
Looks like someone remembered they have a favorite (and relatively ancient) intellectual property just left behind by mothballs, becauseTom and Jerry returned. Hooray? Looking like a holdover from the mid-00s craze for inserting CGI Smurfs into a New York comedy series,Tom & Jerry follows a familiar formula, but at least does so with complex shader-based computer animation. It is very cute.
The premise of this HBO Max tie-in release is that Jerry has set up shop as a mouse in a Manhattan hotel when junior management (Chloë Grace Moretz) introduces a cat to get him out of the house. Unfortunately for her cat Tom. Two old enemies immediately resort to their old habits and destroy a chic establishment right before a high-profile wedding. Maybe she should have called the Ghostbusters?
Cherry
Release date: February 26
Tom Holland and the Russo Brothers are far away from the Marvel Cinematic Universe right now. Indeed, after making the highest-grossing film of all time, Joe and Anthony Russo turn their attention to the US opioid epidemic, offering a stylish portrayal of an addicted Army veterinarian and the fourth bank robbery.
Holland is clearly trying to move away from his wacky Spider-Man persona, and this picture is high quality for Apple TV+. The film also stars Ciara Bravo and Jack Reynor.
United States vs. Billie Holiday
Release date: February 26
This upcoming Hulu release is Lee Daniels' passionate project ("Precious", "Butler"), which aims to shed new light on the life of Billie Holiday. Holiday, one of the greatest jazz and swing singers of the 1940s and 50s, had a unique voice and talent that was commodified by the music industry at the time for her blackness, and then thwarted by the more politicized she was. While Holiday did have a drug problem, it's interesting how the industry seemed to conspire to escalate it instead of urging her to get clean.
Traditional biopic"United States v. Billie Holiday" is now receiving an awards notice starring Andra Day as Billie, which is already earning her a Golden Globe nomination. Not bad for an actor in a first lead role.
Father
Release date: February 26
It's one of the brightest films of 2020... and one of the most depressing. In a role that has already earned him Golden Globe and SAG nominations, Anthony Hopkins plays Anthony, an elderly man who has been living alone for many years since his wife died. But with the advent of dementia and his daughter (Olivia Colman) wanting to move to Paris, there are some difficult decisions to make regarding Anthony's care.
However, what doesFather" What is so effective about Florian Zeller is that it is told entirely from the point of view of Anthony's degrading mind, and as it progresses, it becomes unclear how much of what you see can be believed to be happening - or could have happened. happened many years ago. The hallways in his London flat change, the doors change, and his daughter's boyfriend's face changes or disappears depending on the day. It becomes debilitating and ultimately heartbreaking.
