Three post-Oscar movie releases to prepare yourself for
With the film world firmly focused on next week’s Oscar hopefuls, it’s easy to forget the outstanding movie lineup after February 26. Here’s three releases to look forward to after the big night.
Beauty and the Beast (March 23)
Disney pushes on with its remaking efforts, this time with a live-action take on the 1991 Oscar-winning “tale as old as time”. Starring Emma Watson as Belle, Dan Stevens as the brooding Beast, and Kevin Kline as Belle’s father Maurice, this new retelling brims with voicing talent for everyone’s favourite characters. Ewan McGregor joins Sir Ian McKellen as the charming, quibbling duo of ‘Lumiere’ and Cogsworth, with Stanley Tucci as Cadenza, and Emma Thompson as the motherly Mrs Potts. Beauty and the Beast also promises both new recordings of the original music, in addition to brand new songs written by multi-Oscar winners Alan Menken and Tim Rice.
It’s a curious time for Disney fans, as modern ‘re-imaginings’ of its classic animated features now take their place among the studio’s annual lineup. Beauty and the Beast follows on from Jon Favreau’s The Jungle Book in 2016, which received a mostly positive critical reception. With a live-action remake of Mulan slated for November next year, we can expect the trend to continue for the foreseeable future.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (May 5)
‘Star-Lord’ and his unusual team of heroes return to their galaxy-saving ways, this time in a personal search for answers to his family origins. Original stars Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Bradley Cooper, and Vin Diesel are joined by Nathan Fillion and Kurt Russell as new Marvel characters ‘Wonder Man’, and ‘Ego the Living Planet’.
The second outing of the Guardians of the Galaxy kick-starts quite a year for Marvel fans, and the use of colons in movie titles apparently. Spider-Man: Homecoming and Thor: Ragnarok are set to hit cinemas toward the end of 2017, as Marvel gears up for its biggest year yet, with the long-awaited Avengers: Infinity War hitting cinemas in May 2018.
Despite the inundation of comic book movies over the last few years, Guardians really has felt like the most fun of the Marvel releases, and there’s no reason why it won’t continue on May 5.
Dunkirk (July 21)
In 1940, the fate of Europe lies on the beaches of northern France, as thousands of weary Allied forces await rescue from the unstoppable advance of the German war-machine. This is Dunkirk, the new Second World War drama from Christopher Nolan, and his first film since 2014’s brilliant Interstellar. Starring Tom Hardy, Cillian Murphy, five-time Oscar nominee Kenneth Branagh, and 2016’s Best Supporting Actor Mark Rylance, there’s certainly no shortage of acting prowess, and should be worth the price of admission alone.
Dunkirk also sees Nolan’s first time tackling an historical subject. Best known for his mind-bending, nonlinear productions like Inception and Memento, and of course his incredible The Dark Knight Trilogy, it should be interesting to see how he approaches one of the most pivotal events of the war. Yes it’s still terribly early to be considering Oscar chances (it’s still in post-production) but if Nolan’s past directorial achievements are anything to go by, we should be hearing much more about Dunkirk in the months ahead.
