Shadow and Flame with Magik

It is that time again, let’s see what we can expect in 2023!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_American_films_of_2023

January

House Party, proving all franchises can be rebooted!

Plane, is the first film of the year I’m actually interested in watching. During the trailer for it, I kept expecting to see “Based on a True Story,” but instead, it is just a straight up interesting looking film starring Gerald Butler and Mike Colter.

The Son, a film that proposes that we imagine Hugh Jackman would ever divorce Laura Dern. But that’s movies, I guess. Anthony Hopkins is in this too.

When You Are Finished Saving the World, A24 and Jesse Eisenberg team up to adapt Eisenberg’s audio play that he wrote into a movie. Finn Wolfhard reprises his role of Ziggy. Julianne Moore joins the adaption as Wolfhard’s mother.

Detective Knight : Independence, Bruce Willis concludes his Detective Knight trilogy that I had no idea even was a thing. Should be one of his last roles, sadly. Redemption, the second movie, sounds like a fun action Christmas movie, that I feel I should have been aware of before this moment.

Distant, a science fiction comedy starring Hamilton’s Anthony Ramos, and Naomi Scott and Zachary Quinto.

Shotgun Wedding, sounds super fun, coming to Amazon Prime. Jennifer Lopez and Josh Duhamel’s families come together but the entire wedding party get taken hostage. Sounds like antics will be had! Jennifer Coolidge, Lenny Kravitz, and Cheech Marin also star.

February

Knock at the Cabin, M. Night Shyamalan taking a chance on another apocalyptic psychological horror film. This time he is bringing along Batista, Rupert Grint, and two friends as they harrass Jonathan Groff, his husband and their daughter. Apparently based on a book, so I guess no twist ending?

80 for Brady, this movie looks super fun. Lily Tomlins and Jane Fonda clearly love working together as much as they love not including Dolly Parton. To replace Parton, they recruited Rita Moreno (love that she’s back at it!) and Sally Field as four friends on their way to watch Tom Brady (also in the movie) in Super Bowl LI (51). I’m a sucker for any movie involving four friends. Also in this is Rod Corddry, Bob Balaban, Sara Gilbert, and Ron Funches.

Magic Mike’s Last Dance. All good things really must come to an end. Channing Tatum returns, as does Steven Soderbergh to direct. Salma Hayek will also be in this, so the chances are high that this will be the best one. Doesn’t look like the Wikipedia page lists anyone else returning, but maybe those will be fun surprises. Wikipedia also lists her as Salma Hayek Pinault, which I know she’s been married to Francois-Henri Pinault since 2009, but when did the Wikipedia page start including both last names?

Murder Mystery 2, Netflix reunited Adam Sandler and Jennifer Aniston and I’m reminded we never got around to watching the first movie. My wife and I both huge Clue fans, so we should be up for another comedy mystery film (there are not as many as one would think there should be). Mark Strong and Jodie Turner-Smith also star.

Sharper, an Apple+ comedy thriller (what are more examples of this genre), stars Julianne Moore, Sebastian Stan, Justice Smith, and John Lithgow. Sounds like it a good time. We definitely do not use our Apple+ subscription enough.

Your Place or Mine, sees both Reese Witherspoon and Ashton Kutcher return to the romantic comedy genre. Jesse Williams and Tig Notaro also star.

Winnie-the-Pooh : Blood and Honey, proving the fun of what happens when a work of fiction joins public domain. This is the slasher film based on A.A. Milne’s beloved characters from the Hundred Acre Woods. From what I can tell, Eeyore isn’t making it out alive, which is a real shame. Apparently writer/director Rhys Frake-Waterfield has big BIG plans to adopting other beloved stories into horror films. Let’s see how this one plays out. In theaters in February so that it can be streaming in October? Is this still the practice?

Ant-Man and the Wasp : Quantumania, Marvel’s first film of the year! Going to be so great! Hopefully we get lots of Michelle Pfeiffer in it and maybe some classic Ant-Man and the Wasp action in addition to modern Ant-Man and Wasp action. Looking at the cast list, I’m reminded we were treated to Randall Park in the second Ant-Man film, how quickly I have disassociated him from Ant-Man. Bill Murray is in this in a mysterious role.

Cocaine Bear, the movie that is already winning people’s hearts! Whichever streaming service gets this movie is going to get so many additional subscribers! In addition to the bear, Keri Russell, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Margo Martindale, and Ray Liotta in his final role, co-star.

Jesus Revolution, we saw the trailer for this before She Said. Nice to see Kelsey Grammer physically working again.

March

Creed III, as big of a Rocky fan as I am, I have yet to venture into the Creed films, or the last Rocky film, that launched these films. I do find it odd that Creed keeps finding ways to fight the sons of his father’s previous opponents. Weird how that keeps working out. If I lived in Creedverse, I would never stop talking about it. He must fight other people between bouts, right?

Scream 6, I’m so excited! Even knowing Neve Campbell isn’t coming back, at least that means she’s safe. Unlike Courtney Cox who I worry will be murdered in the opening minutes. Hayden Panettiere returns, and Dermot Mulroney & Henry Czerny (from ABC’s Revenge, remember that show?) join the cast.

Shazam! Fury of the Gods, I’m excited for more Mary Marvel and Marvel Jr time, but if we waited until it came to HBO Max, I’m okay with it.

John Wick : Chapter 4, I really need to watch these movies!

A Good Person, written and directed by Zach Braff, who I’m a huge fan of Garden State. Starring Florence Pugh, Morgan Freeman, Molly Shannon and Zoe Lister-Jones, so it should be amazing! I should watch Going in Style which also featured Freeman, and might as well watch Wish I Was Here.

Dungeons & Dragons : Honor Among Thieves, looks like a fun romp, but probably wait until it streams.

April

The Super Mario Bros. Movie, should be a lot of fun! I do worry with how much content they are putting into the film, that they are already planning on this being a one-and-done.

On a Wing and a Prayer, a drama staring Heather Graham sounds amazing. Jesse Metcalfe is in this as is Dennis Quaid.

Next Goal Wins, directed and co-written by Taika Waititi, based on the 2014 documentary of the same name, wherein Coach Thomas Rongen (played by Michael Fassbender) tries to get the American Samoa national football team to the 2014 FIFA World Cup. Will Arnett, Elizabeth Moss, and Rhys Darby also star. I can tell you now, that I’ll rather just watch the documentary, which it is streaming on Amazon Prime. That’s just how I rather watch anything based on a True Story. But Fassbender makes me want to watch this after that.

Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret, is being adapted for film. Abby Ryder Fortson, the original Cassie Lang, is the titled, Margaret. Rachel McAdams and Kathy Bates also star. The team that brought us The Edge of Seventeen, James L. Brooks and Kelly Fremon Craig (who is directing this) are making the adaption, so that feels pretty good.

May

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3, I’m so jazzed for this! The firs trailer looks like it film is going to have all of the feels.

Fast X, I have still yet to see any of these films.

The Little Mermaid, my wife is super excited about this movie. Probably watch it twice, and I’m already planning on buying her the full line of Pop Funkos that come out of this film. We’ve laughed at all of the other life adaptions just being a thing to be, but now we’re invested.

June

Spider-Man : Across the Spider-Verse, so happy they dropped the Part One from the title, let’s have fun with these titles. For any Fortnite players, June is probably when Miles finally comes to the game.

Transformers : Rise of the Beasts, is it a reboot, a soft reboot, who knows, but the trailer looked legit good. Probably wait until it streams again. By the time Beast Wars came out, I was completely out of the loop with the franchise.

Strays, I accidently clicked on it and now I have information. Live-action adult animated comedy, so we’ll have to see the trailer to believe it. Will Ferrell and Jamie Foxx lend their voices for the dogs, and Will Forte is Ferrell’s former owner. Isla Fisher and Randall Park are in it as well. Voices are physically, who knows?!

Elemental, the next Disney/Pixar joint. Probably wait until it is on Disney+. The teaser trailer looked fun.

The Flash, I’ll believe this when I see it actually coming out. Be nice if they can incorporate the Michael Keaton scenes from Batgirl to be in this so that people can at least see that footage.

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, I’m still not wow-ed by the title, but we’re just going to refer to it as the last one, so that’s okay. I’m super hyped for this! We’ve been meaning to buy the Indy films on VUDU, but I keep putting it off as we might as well buy the set.

July

Mission Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One, again, change the next movie’s title, please. I still haven’t seen MI:IV, and I really need to get on that.

Oppenheimer, Christopher Nolan is back! I have yet to see Tenet, and I need to work on that, but this should be pretty good. So many stars are in this movie! Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt, Matt DAMON, Robert Downey Jr., Florence Pugh, Rami Malek, Josh Harnett is back, Dane DeHaan for some reason, Jack Quaid, Matthew Modine from the Jones Brothers’ What a Man Gotta Do music video, David Krumholtz, Michael Angarano, Kenneth Branagh (those had to be fun days), Josh Peck, Tony Goldwyn never stopped acting, Gary Oldman, Casey Affleck, and James D’Arcy are all in this!

Barbie, directed and co-written by Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach also co-wrote it. I still can’t tell if this is an all ages movie or is it mostly aimed at adults. Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling are the leads in it, he’s Ken. Apparently this movie has quite the cast too! America Ferrera, Simu Liu, Kate McKinnon, Alexandra Shipp (who keeps being in my favorite things!), Michael Cera, Rhea Perlman, Will Ferrell, and Doctor 15 – Ncuti Gatwa.

The Marvels, we’re getting spoiled with Marvel movies! Can Jean Grey show up to round out the Marvels?

August

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles : Mutant Mayhem, I’m still on the fence with this, but I’m excited about all of the Turtles content we are going to get out of this. Sounds like Nickelodeon and Paramount have big BIG plans for the film with a series of one shot villain episodes leading up to this and a series to launch from this, so the film itself has a lot riding on it. If they can continue the Cowabunga collection of games that includes the 2007 game, that’ll be amazing!

Haunted Mansion, Disney just keeps trying to make movies based off of this attraction, which the first attempt came in 2003 with Eddie Murphy, and then they tried it with the Muppets in 2021. This film stars Rosario Dawson and Owen Wilson, so their Disney contracts are quite strong. Also starring is Tiffany Haddish, Danny DeVito, Jared Leto for some reason, Jamie Lee Curtis now that she’s ended Halloween she has time for other projects (I still need to watch those three films), Winona Ryder and Dan Levy.

The Last Voyage of the Demeter, straight from the Bram Stoker novel, Dracula. I’ve been interested in this film since David Dastmalchian discussed it on Inside of You with Michael Rosenbaum. Should be pretty intense.

Gran Turismo, PlayStation Pictures finally got a film studio and they went with Gran Turismo to start. No, Uncharted was their start, but here they are continuing it. The games are nice, but I’m not much of a racing guy. Apparently the plot is based on a true story of a video game player who used the games to become an actual race car drive, which is pretty cool, as I’ve always heard that’s how realistic these games are. The film will star Archie Madekwe as the teenager, David Harbour, Orlando Bloom, Djimon Hounsou, and Geri Halliwell-Horner (yes, that Geri Halliwell!)

Blue Beetle, DC’s other film out in 2023. Sounds like they are making a fun film featuring Xolo Mariduena as Jaime Reyes. George Lopez and Susan Sarandon also star.

September

A Haunting in Venice, continuing Kenneth Branagh adapting Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot character. We finally watched Death on the Nile, but we still need to watch Murder on the Orient Express. This third film still features a great cast : Jamie Dornan, Tiny Fey, and Michelle Yeoh.

The Expendables 4, I still need and want to watch these movies. I’m not sure what’s been stopping me besides the films don’t just come to where I am.

October

Kraven the Hunter, I guess they not only claimed to be making this movie, but actually went and did it! I still hope the plan is to make this like a First Hunt film, then we’ll get a Sinister Six film, then a Kraven’s Last Hunt and have ourselves a nice little trilogy. Probably watch this once it is streaming somewhere. Ariana DeBose as Calypso is fun, and I like that’s how she was going to follow up her Oscar win in West Side Story with Kraven the Hunter. That’ll show them, that’ll show them all! Fred Hechinger as the Chameleon so hopefully J.M. DeMatteis and Sal Buscema get a credit at some point. Russell Crowe is also going to be in this.

We’re getting another Exorcist film, but this one with Leslie Odom Jr., so this should be amazing. Apparently they are going Halloween with it and this will work as a direct sequel to the first movie.

PAW Patrol is getting a sequel, that makes sense.

Saw X, now I have to catch up with these films as I’m not sure where I left off with them. Which one had Beverley Mitchell in it? Saw II, but I’m pretty sure I saw Saw V, as I thought I saw the Donnie Wahlberg trilogy of films.

November

Dune : Part Two, will I make it past the first 30 minutes?

The Hunger Games : The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, I have completely forgotten this movie was coming, it is a prequel to the other movies of which, I should rewatch the last one again as I don’t quite remember where we left off with it all. The original triology took place over the 74 and 75th Hunger Games and this movie is involving the 10th one, so everyone is either not born yet or super young in this movie from the original movies. Rachel Zegler, Jason Schwartzman, Peter Dinklage, Viola Davis, and Burn Gorman star in this. I can’t tell if this is a done-in-one or a planned trilogy.

Trolls 3, now that’s how you turn around with these films! Two years instead of four years.

Wish, Disney’s 62nd theatrical animated film, stars the voice talents of both Ariana DeBose and Alan Tudyk, so should be plenty of singing and jokes.

December

Wonka, Disney is giving us a Wonka origin story starring Timothee Chalamet. So it shouldn’t have any Oompas and be mostly about his war with Slugworth, right? Pretty good cast : Keegan-Michael Key, Rowan Atkinson, Matt Lucas, and Rich Fulcher. We’ll probably wait until it is streaming on Disney+.

The Color Purple, so I guess we are remaking Steven Spielberg movies while he’s alive? I thought him and Bill Murray were in the same category. Spielberg and Oprah are producing the movie, so it isn’t like they were not consulted. Probably be more based on the musical, right? All star cast : Fantasia, Taraji P. Henson, Danielle Brooks, Halle Bailey (getting the most out of her Disney contract), Louis Gosset Jr., David Alan Grier, and Deon Cole.

Ghostbusters Afterlife : Ever After (not the real title) is due out. Hopefully it is like Extreme Ghostbusters but with Winston instead of Egon and in live action. So far only Mckenna Grace is attached, so I guess they haven’t even started filming it yet?! Expect this to be pushed back.

Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, so Marvel and DC are releasing three films in 2023, that’s pretty exciting. Oh, apparently both Affleck and Keaton are in this movie, so that’s interesting.

As far as I can tell, no Christian Bale movies in 2023. That’s a real shame.