2021 films: The movies to look forward to - including the new James Bond (finally)

Dare we hope that this is the year cinema comes back? In the spirit of optimism, here are the films that (fingers crossed) we’ll be popping the popcorn for
Charlotte O'Sullivan18 December 2020

Blithe Spirit

Noel Coward’s impish little play gets a revamp, with Dan Stevens as desperate crime novelist Charles Condomine, Leslie Mann as the ghastly ghost of his late wife and Judi Dench as surprisingly potent medium, Madame Arcati. Dench is hilarious in the trailer. Let’s face it, after Cats and Artemis Fowl she really deserves a hit.

Jan 15

News of the World

Expect true grit from both leads
Universal

Paul Greengrass directs Tom Hanks and new-kid-on-the block Helena Zengel, in a dreamily handsome Western that covers transracial adoption, workers’ rights and fake news. Zengel was stunning as the feral urchin in German indie drama, System Crasher. Expect true grit from both leads and the sort of landscapes that make you wish you lived in Texas.

Jan 29

Cinderella

Sony’s modern fairytale is a musical rom-com directed by the brilliant Kay Cannon. It’s based on an idea by James Corden. Luckily, Corden won’t be playing the fairy godmother (two words: The Prom). The sublime Billy Porter will fill those shoes, with singer-songwriter Camilla Cabello in the title role and Idina Menzel as the heroine’s toxic stepmother. Sounds like a ball.

Feb 5

The King’s Man

This prequel explains how the Kingsman intelligence agency came to be, with Ralph Fiennes, Djimon Hounsou and Gemma Arterton the spruce spies tasked with welcoming newest member, Conrad (Harris Dickinson). Many of the baddies are historical figures and, in the trailer, Rhys Ifans’ Rasputin makes, er, quite an impression. If underacting is a crime, Rhys must have a very clear conscience.

Feb 12

Promising Young Woman

Careful how you go…
AP

Renaissance woman Emerald Fennell wrote series two of Killing Eve and her directing debut is as dark and funny as you’d expect, providing a killer role for Carey Mulligan, as Cassie, a vengeful med-school dropout who targets deceptively “nice” men. Cassie’s furious with the world and if it’s not always easy to like this mad woman it’s a thrill to root for her. Super-duper, mind-melting, stuff.

Feb 12

Nomadland

The film stars real-life nomadic souls
AP

Topical and timeless, Chinese director Chloe Zhao’s third feature revolves around sixtysomething Fern (Frances McDormand, a shoe-in for a Best Actress Oscar nomination). Our heroine is forced to look for work, miles from home. Once on the road, Fern keeps on drifting and her encounters with other questing souls (including real-life, anti-wealth guru, Bob Wells) prove gently shattering.

Feb 19

The Mauritanian

The Mauritanian Film Trailer

Kevin Macdonald’s conspiracy thriller is based on the true story of Mohamedou Ould Slahi (A Prophet and The Serpent’s Tahar Rahim), a North African held in Guantanamo Bay for over 14 years. Benedict Cumberbatch and Jodie Foster play lawyers, cut from different cloth, who take up Slahi’s cause. Foster hasn’t looked this alert since The Panic Room. A must-see, even - and especially - if confined spaces bring you out in a cold sweat.

Feb 26

The Father

The fracturing of dementia is reflected in the film’s form
Lionsgate

Looks like writer-director Florian Zeller, adapting his own ingenious play about Alzheimer’s, has pulled it off. Anthony Hopkins and Olivia Colman are apparently superb as Anthony and Anne, a father and daughter doomed to mis-connect. Anthony’s flat is a labyrinth in which all corridors lead to confusion; try watching the trailer without welling up.

March 12

Supernova

Colin Firth and Stanley Tucci play long-term lovers in Harry Macqueen’s elegant, elegiac romance. Sam and Tusker take road trip that involves them stopping off in the Lake District. Tusker’s written a beautiful speech. It’s Sam who delivers it, however, because Tusker has early onset dementia. These two characters give co-dependency a good name and the chemistry between the actors is glorious.

March 5

No Time to Die

No Time To Die
Will he, won’t he?
Nicola Dove/Danjaq, LLC/MGM/PA Wire

We’ve been bigging up this blockbuster for so long it’s starting to feel like Groundhog Day. As you surely know by now, Daniel Craig’s last outing as Bond sees him facing a new enemy (Rami Malek’s Safin). Phoebe Waller-Bridge worked on the script. Billie Eilish blasts out the theme song. There can’t be a new Bond till we’ve waved off the old one. Dagnammit. We need closure!

April 2

A Quiet Place II

Deaf actress Millicent Simmonds has a bigger role in the sequel
Paramount Pictures

A horror sequel tailor-made for cinemas. As well as evading creatures that hunt by sound, widower Evelyn Abbott (Emily Blunt) and her three kids must now protect themselves from predatory humans. Advance info suggests director-writer, John Kraskinski, gives 17-year-old Millicent Simmonds (a deaf actress, playing a deaf character) even more to do this time. Michael Bay’s still on board as a producer. Which is weird, because this quietly confident franchise is everything he’s not.

April 23

Last Night in Soho

Stylish and scrumptiously sordid
Focus Features

Edgar Wright’s homage to 60s London (and movies set in 60s London) is a horror fest starring Anya Taylor-Joy, Diana Rigg, Rita Tushingham, Terence Stamp and Margaret Nolan. Everything about it sounds stylish and scrumptiously sordid. Assuming it gets rave reviews, how tragic that Rigg and Nolan (who died in 2020) won’t be around to enjoy them.

April 23

Black Widow

In which Marvel superhero Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow finally strikes out on her own. In teaser footage, Scarlett Johansson looks wickedly at home with Rachel Weisz, David Harbour and Florence Pugh (as Natasha’s Russian mum, dad and little sis). It’s a golden age for female warriors and Natasha’s fit to lick the boots of Diana Prince and Carol Danvers, which sounds kinkier than it was meant to. Anyway, black comedy plus butt-kicking. Yay!

May 7

Cruella

Cruella intentions
Disney

Emma Stone has Cruella intentions in this live-action Disney prequel/reboot. Or does she? Director Craig Gillespie has to make this origin-story work for kids and presumably Stone’s Cruella, like Jolie’s Maleficent, is kinder than she looks. Though if the character’s too cute, catty adults may feel they’ve been sold a pup. Either way, the cast (including Emma Thompson as new character “the Countess”), not to mention the 70s London setting and punk-tastic frocks, are sure to be fab.

May 28

Fast & Furious 9

The Fast and the Furious 9
You know the drill by now
Universal

So Helen Mirren and Charlize Theron are still in this car-y, kid-friendly franchise and the new spanner in the works is Dominic Toretto’s kid brother, Jakob (John Cena. There’s also a small role for Cardi B). Jakob, wouldn’t you know it, is an ace assassin who teams up with Theron’s Cipher because he doesn’t think blood is thicker than water. Da fool! Fam is what fuels this irresistibly over the top series

May 28

Luca

Another original cartoon from Pixar (following the incredible Soul), this time a tale of friendship on the Italian Riviera, between two creatures who look like boys. Actually, Luca is a boy - but Alberto is a sea monster. If that makes it sounds like Disney’s The Little Mermaid and/or Studio Ghibli’s Ponyo, don’t worry. Pixar tend to avoid copy-cat moves so there’ll probably be plenty of extra twists.

June 18

In the Heights

Lin Manuel Miranda and Jon “Crazy Rich Asians” Chu have transferred Miranda’s acclaimed, 2008 musical about gentrification to the big screen. The glowing, hi-energy trailer implies the three days we’ll spend in a Latino ‘hood will put the fun into financial insecurity, but Miranda’s a sly boots so don’t be surprised if he strays beyond the sunny side of these streets.

July 30

The Beatles: Get back

Fab friendship

Peter Jackson has got his hands on never-before-seen footage of the fab Four and the resulting documentary, almost entirely concerned with the recording of the album “Let It Be”, aims to show how well the members of the band got on. As in They Shall Not Grow Old, the archive film has been given a make-over. Paul, John, George and Ringo are back and, thanks to Jackson’s wizardry, it’s like they’ve never been away.

Aug 27

Dune

Denis Villeneuve has always been dead serious about his adaptation of the Frank Herbert’s sci-fi novel; he probably wouldn’t laugh if you called it Game of Thrones in space. Now cast and crew (including Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya and Oscar Isaac) are horrified that the film will appear on HBO Max, at the same time as it’s released in US cinemas. According to Villeneuve, an epic like this deserves the biggest of screens. Warners’ cruel verdict: stream on!

Oct 1

Respect

This Aretha Franklin biopic has an awesome cast: Jennifer Hudson as Franklin; Forest Whitaker as her dad; Mary J Blige as Dinah Washington. Luckily, too, there was no shortage of drama in the Detroit legend’s life. In the documentary Amazing Grace we watch Aretha’s sexy dad sweat at the pulpit, while his diva-ish mistress faints in the aisles. If Liesl Tommy’s film can harness that energy, what’s not to respect?

Oct 8

Eternals

This Marvel super-hero romp marks a change of pace for Chloe Zhao (the woman behind Nomadland; see above). A race of immortals put aside their differences to save humanity from the Deviants. The cast includes Angelina Jolie, Salma Hayek, Kit Harington, Barry Keoghan, Gemma Chan and Kumail Nanjiani (who spent months in the gym, because he didn’t want “the first Pakistani superhero in a Marvel movie... to be the first schlubby superhero).” If this doesn’t turn out to be a classic, we’ll be gutted.

Nov 

Mission Impossible 7

Tom Cruise’s real-life mission is to save cinema from Covid and if MI7 gets released on time the actor/producer will be hailed as a hero, if a somewhat shouty one (a recording of him bollocking his crew, because some of the technicians broke the Covid restrictions, went viral this week). The last instalment was massively enjoyable and how cool that Vanessa Kirby’s haughty-naughty Alanna Mitsopolis will be sticking around for both this and MI8.

Nov 19

West Side Story

WEST SIDE STORY
We can’t wait
Photo by Niko Tavernise

Steven Spielberg’s take on the Bernstein/Sondheim musical isn’t about A-list stars. Tony and Maria are played by Ansel Elgort (quite famous) and Rachel Zegler (not famous at all). That said, the profile of Ariana DeBose - aka Anita – has recently gone through the roof. The actress/singer may not be as spiky as the 1961 movie’s Anita, Rita Moreno (who has a cameo here). But DeBose has a lovely voice and we can’t wait to hear her belt out “America”.

Dec 10

Untitled Spider-Man: Far From Home sequel

The gestation of this threequel has been complicated and, for a while, it looked as if Tom Holland’s superhero might be pulled out of the MCU. But that’s all been sorted and the multiverse is really coming together, with planned appearances from Jamie Foxx (Max Dillon/Electro) and Benedict Cumberbatch (Dr Strange). Holland is the loveliest live-action Spidey and he’s found the perfect partner in Zendaya’s MJ. Though the title could be snappier, Jon Watt’s blockbuster is the one to beat in 2021.

Dec 17

Matrix 4

Director Lana Wachowski could have made a prequel and stuffed it with hot young stars. Instead, she’s opted to stick with the original team (minus Laurence Fishburne and Hugo Weaving). That means Neo and Trinity are back, despite dying in Matrix 3 (details, details). It’s never a chore to watch Keanu and it’s about time someone resurrected Carrie-Anne Moss’s film career. She’s got such a winning scowl.

Dec 22