SCIFI AND MORE IN 2024

Grab your popcorn, folks, and join me in the front row of some of my most anticipated cinematic rollercoasters.

DUNE – PART 2

With ‘Arrival’, ‘Blade Runner 2049’ and ‘Dune – Part 1’, Denis Villeneuve has proven to be the modern master when it comes to the world of cinematic science fiction. Villeneuve’s ‘Dune’, a reimagining of the 1965 epic science fiction novel by Frank Herbert, was one of my personal favorites of 2021.

‘Dune – Part 2’ will pick up where the last left off with Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet) looking to avenge his family with the help of the Fremen. The movie has an amazing cast (Christopher Walken!), director and source material. My schedule is already cleared for February 28^th!

Villeneuve already has ideas for how he’ll expand the saga and I for one can’t wait for the story to unfold further.

A QUIET PLACE – DAY ONE

O, how I so enjoyed the 2018 post-apocalyptic horror film ‘A Quiet Place’. If you haven’t heard of this phenomenon, ‘A Quiet Place’ (part 1) is a sci-fi horror movie, directed by John Krasinski, starring himself and (his actual wife) Emily Blunt. The plot revolves around a mother (Blunt) and father (Krasinski) who struggle to survive and raise their children in a post-apocalyptic world, after an alien invasion by deadly creatures. What made this movie such a special experience, was the absence of sound in a lot of scenes. The deadly aliens don’t have vision, but an acute sense of hearing, having the characters being extra careful not to make any sound whatsoever. What a movie screening that was! I saw people actually afraid to open their bag of chips, because that sound would have been deafening in an utterly quiet movie theatre.

We saw a continuation of the story in ‘A Quiet Place: Part 2’, but this time around we don’t get to see ‘Part 3’. This new installment in Krasinski’s franchise (but directed by Michael Sarnoski) is actually a prequel to the saga, with new characters and a wonderful Lupita Nyong’o as the main lead. Although this movie is a part of the saga, it’s going to be quite a different one from the previous movies. I can’t wait to hold my breath!

FURIOSA

This year sees the fifth movie to be set in the crazy car-filled universe of Mad Max. The 1979 movie ‘Mad Max’ by George Miller depicted a bleak future for near-future Australia amid societal collapse, due to widespread oil shortages and ecocide. Mel Gibson starred as “Mad” Max Rockatansky, a police officer turned vigilante and continued to do so for two more sequels. And then 2015’s ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’ came along and brought George Miller’s post-apocalyptic franchise roaring vigorously back to life. Although it didn’t have Mel Gibson (for some obvious reasons) and was actually more about another main character than Max himself, it took me by surprise, and I had a lot of fun with this movie.

Furiosa will center around the origin story of Furiosa (played by Charlize Theron in 2015’s Mad Max) and how she became the badass rebel from ‘Fury Road’. Anya Taylor-Joy plays the younger version of the character who falls into the hands of a great Biker Horde led by Chris Hemsworth’s Warlord Dementus. I’m hoping for a lot of old-school stunts!

INSIDE OUT 2

I’m a bit of a sucker for animation. I love me a good Ghibli, think that ‘Spider-Man: Into The Spider-verse’ is the best Spider-Man movie all-round and I always look forward to the new Pixar. Their movies can be a hit or a miss as it comes to the topics and screenplays, but 2015’s ‘Inside Out’ gave us something different. It showed us what things are like inside of a young girl’s head. The movie that gave us insight into the workings of intrapersonal processes and (according to the world’s most renowned social psychologists) illustrates this in a relatable and identifiable way. It is one of the best pieces of the modern Pixar era.

Now how can Pixar raise the bar? By using a simple and logic next step: letting our young girl grow up. In the 2024 sequel, we will dive into Riley’s teenage mind and see how she deals with Anxiety and other new emotions. I wonder if we’ll smell some teen spirit?

CIVIL WAR

Why I put this American-made action movie that, judging by the trailer looks like something we’ve seen so many times, on this list for Belgian cinemas? Two reasons: independent film company A24 and British filmmaker Alex Garland.

Alex Garland is a horror and science fiction writer/director who left his mark on recent movie history. From his screenplays for ’28 Days Later’, ‘Sunshine’, and ‘Never Let Me Go’, to his own movies ‘Ex Machina’, ‘Annihilation’ and ‘Men’. He uses a subversive storytelling style and brings uniqueness to his movies. I wouldn’t go as far as to say that I love all his movies, but they’re always challenging, and he has a knack for making aspects of the movie linger for days to come (whether it’s a certain psychological trait of the main character or a near-future possibility based on the current state of our society/world).

Garland’s next (other kind of) nightmare comes in the form of a sci-fi action thriller where America breaks out into a modern-day civil war, due to the actions of the president (played by Nick Offerman) and the dystopian dictatorship that the government has become. We follow a team of journalists (including Kirsten Dunst) as they travel across the United States amid this massive civil war.

And as for film company A24: they dare to take some risks in releasing a controversial movie without the constraints of our current cancel-culture.

HONORABLE MENTIONS