My Most Anticipated Films of 2015 (in random order)





Wait (dir: Alex Withrow)




Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens (dir: J.J. Abrams)






Spectre (dir: Sam Mendes)






Knight of Cups (dir: Terrence Malick)





A Second Chance (dir: Susanne Bier)





While We’re Young (dir: Noah Baumbach)





The Duke of Burgundy (dir: Peter Strickland)






The Hateful Eight (dir: Quentin Tarantino)





Flashmob (dir: Michael Haneke)






The Light Between Oceans (dir: Derek Cianfrance)






Love  (dir: Gaspar Noé)





A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence (dir: Roy Andersson)





White God (dir: Kornél Mundruczó)






Ex Machina (dir: Alex Garland)





A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (dir: Ana Lily Amirpour)





Far from the Madding Crowd (dir: Thomas Vinterberg)





That's What I'm Talking About /aka Dazed and Confused sequel (dir: Richard Linklater)






Crimson Peak (dir: Guillermo del Toro)





The Lobster (dir: Giorgos Lanthimos)






Arabian Nights/As 1001 Noites (dir: Miguel Gomes)





Louder Than Bombs (dir: Joachim Trier)





Mistress America (dir: Noah Baumbach)





Dark Places (based on  Gillian Flynn's novel) (dir: Gilles Paquet-Brenner)






High Rise (dir: Ben Wheatley)




Regression (dir: Alejandro Amenábar)





Sing Street (dir. John Carney)





Aloha (dir: Cameron Crowe (2015)





Sicario (dir: Denis Villeneuve)





Wild Tales /Relatos salvajes (dir: Damián Szifrón)




The Dark Horse (dir: James Napier Robertson)





The Lost City of Z (dir: James Gray)





Nobody Wants the Night (dir: Isabel Coixet)





It Follows (dir: David Robert Mitchell)






Equals (dir: Drake Doremus)






Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck (dir: Brett Morgen) (authorized documentary)






Youth (dir: Paolo Sorrentino)





The Witch (dir: Robert Eggers)





World of Tomorrow (dir: Don Hertzfeldt) (short film)





The Seagull (based on Chekhov's play) (dir: Michael Mayer)




Macbeth (dir: Justin Kurzel)






Everest (dir: Baltasar Kormakur)





Inside Out (dir: multiple directors)




Anomalisa (dir: Charlie Kaufman)





A number of these are not necessarily going to be great, win awards, earn millions at the box office, or even be released in the 2015 calendar year.  For a few of the titles, there is no trailer yet, I'm just going by enjoying the director's previous work.
Ultimately, this is just a collection (in random order) of upcoming smaller and bigger films that I am looking forward to the most. 

Films such as Whiplash, Birdman, Selma, Foxcatcher, Goodbye to Language 3D, A Most Violent Year, Mommy, and Inherent Vice, I'm counting as 2014 films, because that was when they had their world premieres. In reality, you could argue they are 2015 films in some areas due to release dates.

Agree or disagree? Which films are you anticipating the most for 2015?

33 comments:

  1. So many great looking films here...I really hope we see them all come to us next year, especially Flashmob!

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    1. @Fisti: Like I wrote in the post, some of these films might not be released in the 2015 calender year, and could see a 2016 release. Anything Haneke puts out and I’m there :)

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  2. Wow dude! Thanks so much for this! I'm truly honored to be listed among so many of the greats. Really excited for you to see the film.

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    1. @Alex Withrow: You’re welcome! And once again congratulations with winning Best Narrative Feature award at Los Angeles Cinema Festival. Really looking forward to seeing Wait

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  3. Lots of interesting movies here. I might be most looking forward to Spectre and The Hateful Eight. More curious than excited for Star Wars.

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    1. @Wendell Ottley: Thanks man! Unless the reviews are bad, then I’ll want to see most of these films eventually.
      Episode 7 could go either way, here’s hoping it’s a return to form for Star Wars !

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  4. Great list! There are many films on here I'd never heard of that look fascinating. Also, I'm excited to hear Dark Places is being adapted to film, since I just finished reading it. If it's well cast and directed, it could be great.

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    1. @Irene McKenna: Glad you think the list is interesting! Poster with the red building is fascinating :)
      Dark Places I read also, was impressed by Flynn’s descriptions of that world. Also, the author did a good job in maintaining the suspense. Fingers crossed they get the adaptation right, the cast has been revealed.

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  5. So many films so little time. I always start a year with so many plans to watch every single blind spot and/or interesting new release, but I rarely ever comes close to the goal. I hope you get to all of these though. Some look very interesting indeed even if I haven't heard of a few until now.
    Nice to see support towards a fellow blogger, when does Alex' film come out and where will it be available? Do you know?
    Happy New Year and best wishes!

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    1. @Niels85: Happy New Year, and thanks for the well wishes! Indeed, I listed 30 new films here I want to see in the next year or two, you have to draw the line somewhere. So many films :)
      Re Alex Withrow’s film, it has just been shown at a film festival. You can follow news about Wait at Alex’s site: http://www.andsoitbeginsfilms.com/p/wait.html

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    2. Hey niels85, thanks so much for your interest about Wait. (And Chris, thank you so much for linking to my articles!)

      I'm hitting the festival circuit with it now, so distribution will depend on how that goes. But believe me, I want to have it out there as soon as possible! Thanks again!

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  6. I haven't heard of most of these, but then I could probably count on one hand the 2015 films I could name without looking anything up.

    Of those few the next Avengers film is the only one I'm really excited to see.

    I'm somewhat dreading the next Star Wars movie because I'm hoping against hope that Abrams won't use his $$%^&^&** shakycam cinematography, but I'm figuring his ego is such that he'll decide putting his "stamp" on the Star Wars saga is more important than the saga itself.

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    1. @Chip Lary: I admit Kornél Mundruczó, Ana Lily Amirpour, James Napier Robertson, and Damián Szifrón are fairly unknown filmmakers. You probably know some of the previous films by the other directors, if you look them up.

      I’m a bit burned out on blockbusters to be honest, so new Avengers is not high on my list. Stars Wars and 007 is where my attention lies in terms of upcoming big budget movies.
      I don’t care for shaky cam either, it was somewhat bothersome in Star Trek reboot, I must admit.
      My main concern is the new Star Wars characters, I’m just hoping they have some personality and are not as bland as in the prequels. At least we have Han Solo and the original cast members.

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    2. That's the other thing - I hope the original characters are more than just glorified cameos.

      And a clarification - I meant I hadn't heard of most of the 2015 movies you were naming, not the directors. The four directors you named in your comment are indeed all new to me, but I did a quick count and there are 15 or so directors whose names I did know.

      Among movie watchers I'm probably in the minority in that who the director for a film is isn't really that important to me. It's the concept/story that will get me interested in a movie. Even today it's common for me to happen to look up a director "new to me" and find out I've seen other films of theirs and just didn't realize it.

      Were it not for doing lists such as TSPDT and 1001 Movies - both of which are more heavily weighted towards certain filmmakers, I probably would not even know as much as I do today about what sets of films certain directors made.

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    3. @Chip Lary: Yes, hopefully not just glorified cameos, Han Solo, Princess Leia, and Luke Skywalker need to have an actual purpose for the film to work, not just there for 10 seconds for the audience to cheer
      It’s all good. You have seen many more films than I have ;) I appreciate your help with the IMDb top 250 yearly additions. I usually put emphasize on directors, but it all starts with a good story/concept. A few of these selections may turn out to not interest me, once I read more about plot, see the trailer, read early reviews.

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  7. Wow, 2015 is already shaping up to be a great year for film. Tarantino, Villeneuve, Noe, Linklater, Trier, Cianfrance... cool to see Alex's film make the list, too!

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    1. Eric @ The Warning Sign: Yes it is. Looking forward to all of those!

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  8. This is a totally excellent list as most of these films are in my 2 previous lists and the one that is still in the works that will include a list of films that no one should see.

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    1. @thevoid99: Thank you! Indeed many of the same choices. You’re anticipated posts were super helpful and far more thorough than mine is. I hope my list is useful to you too. Look forward to your part 3

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  9. Great list! I agree with all of these. I've seen The Dark Horse, and while It's not one of those that everyone will appreciate, it is a truly spectacular film.
    Gee - I hope 2015 is better than 2014. I can count the films that rocked me on one hand for 2014.

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    1. @Lisa Thatcher: Glad to hear you think Dark Horse is spectacular. They have that New Zealand film as #1 on letterboxd’s Ones To Watch in their 2014 Year In Review: http://letterboxd.com/2014/ The Duke of Burgundy is also featured at #5.
      Yep, hope 2015 is a great year for film!

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  10. Definitely untitled cameron crowe project! It seems like forever waiting for it! Most of the movies you mentioned I just discovered reading this post, so thanks for it.

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    1. @Andina: Remember you are a fan of Cameron Crowe. Hope he has a good one in store for us!
      Also, I’m happy you discovered other upcoming films

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  11. Great picks, Chris! Happy New Year. Did you see that the DUKE OF BURGUNDY opening theme music got posted? I think you'll like it. http://thequietus.com/articles/16937-stream-cats-eyes-the-duke-of-burgundy

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    1. @Alex Ramon. Happy New Year! Glad you liked the list.

      Nice track, quite dreamy, I had not heard anything from the soundtrack. Look forward to the film too(which you loved I remember reading)

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  12. Great list. Will have to look a few of these up. The ones I've seen: White God, Wild Tales, A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night and Ex Machina should not disappoint!

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    1. @Pete Turner: Thanks, lucky you’ve seen early press screenings of those, jealous! Noticed on letterboxd your 5/5 score for White God and 4.5/5 for Wild Tales, hope I enjoy them as well.

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  13. Awesome list! We have a lot in common, and some of these, like Nobody Wants the Night, Louder Than Bombs, Regression, Sicario, and Cameron Crowe's film, just missed my list. Forgot about Mistress America, but I'm also looking forward to it.

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    1. @Josh: Thanks for checking out my list! I hope Louder Than Bombs works, sometimes foreign directors struggle to make the transition to English-language productions, Susanne Bier’s Serena (2014) is an example of a failure. I would watch anything Noah Baumback directs :)

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  14. Good list, definitely, some films look really interesting from the very beginning. Regression sounds good, did not know anything about it. Love Watson, so, I'll be watching it this year.

    Did not know Alex's film was set to premiere this year. Definitely waiting for it, cause I am a big fan of him and devoted reader of his blog.

    Thanks for linking this post.

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    1. @Nika: Thanks for reading! I like Amenábar as a director, which is why Regression (2015) has my interest.The synopsis sounds quite disturbing though, so I doubt it will be everyone's cup of tea.

      I too am looking forward to Alex Withrow’s feature length film Wait. Really impressive how it won 3 awards at film festivals(see IMDb)
      You’re welcome!

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  15. I saw and reviewed Ex Machina - really liked it.
    Definitely agree with you on White God, Spectre, Star Wars and Knight of Cups.
    Lots of good films out this year.

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    1. @Lights Camera Reaction: Ex Machina was alright, and I'm open to a rewatch, but it probably won't end up in my top 5 of the year. Glad you really liked it!

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