And January kicked-off with two of them!
Yeah, even if studios like to play the ‘let’s stick movies we don’t want to bank on in January’ baloney, this year actually started with two female helmed major releases which we dug and has us excited for the year in movies not directed by dudes.
The line-up includes happy returns from the likes of Sofia Coppola with The Beguiled and Patty Jenkins with our most anticipated DC movie AKA Wonder Woman. We also get great feature introductions to the growing crop of talent that we want to see at the reins of bigger and wider-audience released things in the future.
Here’s our list of film’s we’ve seen so far and the ones we’re looking forward to this year that you should definitely try to check out!
Seen:
Underworld: Blood Wars
Okay, look the Underworld franchise is one of the two major motion picture franchises starring a woman that have gone to spin off into more films over the past 13 years. (The other being Resident Evil, which also opens this month but was not directed by a lady). If dudes can get their endless random franchises and endless action movies that all look the same and star Jason Statham, we can get more Kate Beckinsale serving some vampiric realness in leather. Starring as Selene, the gun toting vengeance seeker, Beckinsale is back to figure out the key to finding her family and getting some more powers to make sure she can protect the only family she has left. She slays and we are here for it. The film is directed by Anna Forrester, who previously served as the cinematographer for White House Down, and is out now!
The Bye Bye Man
A new horror boogeyman makes his debut in this January from director Stacy Title. The PG-13 romp shows some restraint for teen audiences, (thanks studio system) but still manages to invoke some creepy urban myth making with The Bye Bye Man. The film centers on a group of college kids who are unlucky in speaking into existence a dangerous entity that threatens their reality in some very spooky ways that will follow you home. The powerhouse that is Carrie-Anne Moss (Matrix,Jessica Jones) appears at the detective in the film and there’s a special appearance from the legendary Faye Dunnaway.
Unseen:
XX
XX is an all-female directed horror anthology that seeks to break in new blood into the boys club that’s currently horror. Annie Clark (St. Vincent), Karyn Kusama (The Invitation), Roxanne Benjamin (Southbound), Jovanka Vukovik and Sofia Carillo all collaborate to provide their unique voices that are much needed in the genre. Hopefully this raises awareness to the lack of female representation in horror and not only inspires more of this but also an equal amount of ladies in anthologies that are currently predominantly just dudes. The film opens in limited release in February after it’s Sundance debut.
RAW
Julia Ducournau’s feature debut has generated a lot of buzz in the festival circuit. It’s not for the weak of stomach, that’s for sure, as it’s left audiences with quite an impression on their gag reflexes through the limits it pushes in the tale of a vegetarian who develops a taste for human flesh after a hazing incident. The film opens March 10th if you stomach it, but hey we gotta support women in film so take one for the team!
The Zookeeper’s Wife
For something pretty different though, Niki Caro brings us a World War II historical fiction narrative. Starring Jessica Chastain, The Zookeeper’s Wife, takes creatively adapts the story of real-life heroine Antonia Zabinski, who helped hide many Jews during the Holocaust. What’s sure to be an emotional tear-jerker opens wide on March 31st.
Wonder Woman
Yaaaaasss!! Finally, we get more of the only Justice League character we really care about. Patty Jenkins brings us the first feature film centering on Wonder Woman starring Gal Gadot. We’ll see her backstory in this 1920’s era set prequel which introduces us to her family the Amazons and her love interest Steve Trevor (played by the swoon-worthy Chris Pine). We’ve waited so long for this movie and it’s finally here!!
Rock That Body
Directed by Broad City’s Lucia Aniello, the feature debut centers around a bachelorette party gone wrong. Scarlett Johansson, Kate McKinnon, Zoe Kravitz, and Jillian Bell star as women who accidentally kill their male stripper in this dark comedy set for a June 16th release. We can’t wait for this. The cast is amazing we need the trailer like YESTERDAY!
The Beguiled
Hitting theaters in late June is Sofia Coppola’s remake of the 1971 Don Siegel/Clint Eastwood Civil War-set drama The Beguiled. The film’s ensemble includes Kirsten Dunst, Elle Fanning and Nicole Kidman. Also, why are there no set pics or trailer. WE NEED TO SEE the return of Coppola’s aesthetic and these ladies living it.
Pitch Perfect 3
I love the Pitch Perfect movies. It’s amazing that writer/creator Elizabeth Banks has passed the directing mike to another lady. This time Trish Sie takes over the franchise and will bring us more funny and music with some of our favorite funny ladies. Pitch Perfect 3 opens this December.
To The Bone
Director and screenwriter Marti Noxon of Buffy the Vampire Slayer fame directs a feature starring Lily Collins, Keanu Reeves, Carrie Preston and Lili Taylor. Collins stars as a 20-year old battling severe anorexia and who goes into an group recovery home in a journey of self-discovery that’s sometimes scary and sometimes funny when it comes to seeing if life’s worth living. Release TBA
