The most anticipated films of 2019: 1-10
1. Greed
Steve Coogan stars in this comedy from Michael Winterbottom about a ghastly retail mogul throwing a wild 60th birthday party in Greece. Isla Fisher is his wife, David Mitchell a journalist. Any resemblance to Philip Green is strictly coincidental.
2. Ammonite
Francis Lee follows 2017’s acclaimed “Yorkshire Brokeback” God’s Own Country with a tale of 1840s lesbian palaeontology starring Saoirse Ronan as famous fossil hunter Mary Anning and Kate Winslet as a gentlewoman sent to convalesce by the sea.
3. Sorry We Missed You
With thoughts of retirement seemingly well forgotten, Ken Loach continues to churn them out, arguably hitting a career high with benefits-assessment drama I, Daniel Blake. Now Loach turns his attention to another relevant-as-tomorrow’s-newspapers topic: the gig economy, specifically a self-employed van driver struggling to keep his and his family’s heads above water.
4. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
Hippie-era LA … Brad Pitt and Loenardo DiCaprio star in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. Photograph: Columbia Pictures/Zuma Press/PA Images
After having his say in the western and blaxploitation genres, Quentin Tarantino turns to true crime and the gruesome Tate-LaBianca murders in 1969. While QT has not covered himself in glory in the #MeToo era, his film has attracted a stellar cast (DiCaprio, Brad Pitt, Margot Robbie) and carries itself as a homage to hippie-era LA.
5. Memoria
New one from Apichatpong Weerasethakul? Yes please. Starring Tilda Swinton? Absolutely. About a Scottish woman travelling in Colombia who “begins to notice strange sounds”, then “begins to think about their appearance”? Just try and stop us.
6. Us
Get Out director Jordan Peele returns.
Jordan Peele’s follow-up to Get Out is a supremely creepy-sounding horror about a family holiday by the beach upset by uninvited guests. Big scissors feature heavily in the promotion. Elisabeth Moss and Lupita Nyong’o star.
7. Little Women
Director Greta Gerwig reunites with Lady Bird’s Saoirse Ronan and Timothée Chalamet for yet another version of the Louisa May Alcott yarn. Still, this one has serious pedigree: they’re joined by Emma Watson, Florence Pugh, Laura Dern and Meryl Streep.
8. The Irishman
Mob rule … Robert De Niro gets rough in The Irishman. Photograph: James Devaney/GC Images
Arguably Netflix’s most high-profile capture to date, this passion project of Martin Scorsese’s reunites Pacino, De Niro, Joe Pesci and Harvey Keitel and takes aim at the mafia-union wars of the 70s. De Niro plays mob hitman Frank Sheeran and Pacino corrupt teamster union boss Jimmy Hoffa; the film is based on Sheeran’s book in which he claimed responsibility for Hoffa’s murder.
9. The Souvenir
Joanna Hogg had a slight wobble with her third film, Exhibition, back in 2013, but this belated new one, due to premiere at Sundance next month, looks much more promising. Honor Swinton-Byrne stars as a young film student in the early 1980s who begins an affair a dubious older fella (Tom Burke). Swinton-Byrne’s real-life mother, Tilda, plays her mother; Martin Scorsese executive produces.
The most anticipated films of 2019: 11-20
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10. Untitled Roger Ailes movie
Life moves pretty fast in showbiz. In May 2016, Fox boss Roger Ailes fell fast from grace after allegations of sexual misconduct from employees. After briefly serving as an advisor to Donald Trump, he died in May 2017; next year this very starry story of his ignominious end arrives, with John Lithgow in the lead, Malcolm McDowell as Rupert Murdoch, and Nicole Kidman and Charlize Theron as two of high-profile accusers: Gretchen Carlson and Megyn Kelly.
This article was amended on 28 December 2018. An earlier version referred to Ammonite as featuring archaeologists. That should have said palaeontologists.