Now that 2016 is here, we asked around the office for what we’re looking forward to in the new year. For this week’s 24 Frames gallery, we present 12 movies and 12 TV shows we want to see.
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
Release: November 18
After an interminable, deathless five year hiatus, J.K. Rowling gives us the keys back to the
Harry Potter movie world with Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. Set well
before the time we spent at Hogwarts, Fantastic follows Newt Scamander and his adventure
through America after he accidentally unleashes an assortment of dragons and monsters.
Outlander
Season premiere: March or April
After the gut-wrenching second half of the first season, temporally displaced heroine Claire escapes
to prevent the Battle of Culloden, which we know will end in disaster for her husband Jamie and his
cause. This second season focus also promises a shift in setting: Paris!
Hail, Caesar!
Release: February 5
The Coen brothers set their acerbic phasers to “skewer” in what looks to be a glamarous send-up of
classic Hollywood. George Clooney plays the buffon once more for the bros as a vainglorious actor in a
crappy swords-and-sandals epic who gets abducted by a cabal known as The Future.
The X-Files
Series premiere: January 24
After the slipshod I Want to Believe movie threatened to end The X-Files journey on
a sour note (as if the last few seasons of the show didn’t do that enough), Mulder and Scully return
to the paranormal fold with a six-episode miniseries on FOX. Not only do David Duchovny and Gillian
Anderson reprise their roles, but so do key creative personnel Cris Carter, Darin and Glen Morgan, and
James Wong.
The Witch
Release: February 26
A Puritan family faces an unseen dimension of evil lurking in the woods in what looks to be an
exquisite horror tale. The critics consensus so far? “As thought-provoking as it is visually
compelling, The Witch delivers a deeply unsettling exercise in slow-building horror that
suggests great things for debuting writer-director Robert Eggers.”
Legends of Tomorrow
Series premiere: January 21
In our current comic book exploitation explosion, TV has gotten some fun, more lighthearted shows
(The Flash, Supergirl) and ones more grounded in reality (Agents of
S.H.I.E.L.D., Heroes). So now its time for a superhero show with a huge cast of fully
costumed characters like Legends of Tomorrow, featuring DC classics like The Atom, Hawkgirl,
and Hawkman, and promises of crossovers with The Flash and Arrow.
Doctor Strange
Release: November 4
For those who wondered how Marvel could adapt the psychedelic strangeness of…well, Doctor Strange
need not look further than the subatomic climax of last year’s Ant-Man. Now that the Marvel
Cinematic Universe has established its stake from Valhalla to micro-atoms and everything in-between,
the stage is set for Benedict Cumberbatch to don the cape and stache as the mirthless mystic. Sanctum
Sanctorum, here we come!
The Dresser
Release: 2016
Based on the celebrated Ronald Harwood play, The Dresser presents Norman, a tragic and
passionate figure (Sir Ian McKellen) who has spent his life in service to a venerated but aging stage
actor (Anthony Hopkins) as they prepare for a King Lear performance. This BBC adaptation
premiered in the UK in October, and the U.S. gets it later this year on Starz.
Midnight Special
Release: March 18
After Take Shelter and Mud, family bonds are tested once again in Jeff Nichols’
latest, Midnight Special. Taking on a sci-fi bent, Special stars Nichols regular
Michael Shannon as a father who goes on the run once his young son develops mysterious, possibly
kinetic powers.
Westworld
Premiere: 2016
Produced by Jonathan Nolan and J.J. Abrams, HBO’s adaptation of the 1973 movie takes us into a futuristic amusement park where paying customers’ desires and fantasies are brought to life via robots. While the original was a straightforward thriller, this series positions itself as Ex Machina meets Truman Show, where the robots become sentient with all the theoretical and ethical issues in tow.
The Neon Demon
Release: 2016
Nicolas Winding Refn’s follow-up to the flabbergasting Only God Forgives (an awesome or horrible movie depending on who you ask) returns to the streets of Los Angeles, in a horror-inflected story of a young model who has to fend off other women who want her youth and joie de vivre.
Luke Cage
Premiere: April
After Daredevil and Jessica Jones, Netflix looks to continue its improbably good run with Marvel properties with Luke Cage, starring Michael Colter as the muscle-bound crimefighter. Sweet Christmas!
Michael Jackson’s Journey From Motown to Off the Wall
Release: January (Sundance Film Festival)
Following his Certified Fresh comeback Chi-raq, Spike Lee continues forward with a documentary of Michael Jackson’s early career, from childhood to his groundbreaking 1979 album Off the Wall.
Agent Carter
Season premiere: January 19
Now that Peggy Carter has finally moved on from lost love Steve Rogers, she’s packing her bags and heading out west to Los Angeles. World War II has ended and the atomic age is setting in and it’s not just nuclear families and white picket fences that’s getting set up. There’s bold new threats and Agent Carter once again rises to the occasion.
The Lobster
Release: March 11
After the Oscar-nominated Dogtooth, Greek director Yorgo Lanthimos has certainly branded himself as a provocateur of, um, unique social experiments. Along the same line comes The Lobster, starring Colin Farrell and Rachel Weisz in the near-future where singles have 45 days to find a romantic partner or turn into an animal. Ann Landers, eat your heart out.
Angie Tribeca
Premiere: January 17
From Steve and Nancy Carell, Angie Tribeca is a procedural spoof in the vein of Police Squad! starring Rashida Jones of LA’s Really Heinous Crimes Unit. Taking a page out of the Netflix playbook, TBS will air the entire first season straight starting January 17.
The Zookeeper’s Wife
Release: 2016
Based on the Diane Ackerman book, Jessica Chastain stars as the real-life Antonia Zabinska who, during World War II, saved lives by hiding people from Nazis. Niki Caro directs, following up last year’s critical and commercial success McFarland, USA.
Better Call Saul
Season premiere: February 15
There were skeptical murmurings of a spin-off series to Breaking Bad but all doubts were laid to rest with the fun but equally grim Better Call Saul. Season 2 looks to explore the evolution of Jimmy (Bob Odenkirk) into Saul Goodman, along with his relationship with Mike Ehrmantraut (Jonathan Banks), who had a most excellent episode last season with “Five-O.”
River of Grass
Release: March 11
Just a little after its twentieth anniversary, the first film by Kelly Reichardt (Meek’s Cutoff, Old Joy, Night Moves) is getting restored and re-released by Oscilloscope. Barely seen the first time around after Sundance in 1994, River of Grass is a road trip movie about a disaffected housewife who goes on the run with a seedy guy after believing they shot and killed another man.
Game of Thrones
Season premiere: April
Is he coming back or is he not?! We haven’t seen such ‘will they or won’t they’ drama since Ross and Rachel.
Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie
Release: July 1
It’s certainly been a while hasn’t it, ladies? After six seasons spread across 10 years, Edina and Patsy are back for more high life living in their own theatrical movie, with Jennifer Saunders and Joanna Lumley reprising their roles.
Preacher
Premiere: Mid-2016
A long-gestating adaptation of the Vertigo comic series that ended in 2000, Dominic Cooper stars as Custer, a preacher who becomes possessed by a spirit, both equally evil and good, and sets off on a journey to literally find God. The 10-episode series is being put up by AMC, who is no stranger to translating adult comic books.
La La Land
Release: July 15
All that jazz! Damien Chazelle’s follow-up to Whiplash doesn’t stray far from that musical territory, starring Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone (won’t these two ever get a room?) as a jazz pianist and an actress who fall for each other in the City of Angels.
Vikings
Season premiere: February 18
Not only do we get to continue on in Ragnar Lothbrok’s raiding party, but History is promising us a double Norse order for season 4, upping the episode count from 10 to 20!
