This morning we got our first look at the lineup for the 2022 Venice Film Festival and it is an embarrassment of riches. Several of the world’s best filmmakers will be represented both in and out of competition. It’s exciting considering Venice has quite the knack for premiering eventual Academy Award winners. Films like “Nomadland”, “Marriage Story”, “Joker”, “Roma”, “The Power of the Dog”, and “Dune” were all highlights at the festival and went on to make a lot of noise at the Oscars.

This year’s batch of big names and big debuts begins with Noah Baumbach’s black comedy, “White Noise” which stars Adam Driver and Greta Gerwig. Two-time Best Director Oscar winner Alejandro González Iñárritu is premiering his new comedy, “Bardo”. Todd Field directs his first film in 16 years with “Tár”. Joanna Hogg follows up her “Souvenir” movies with “The Eternal Daughter”. Christoph Waltz and Willem Dafoe team with director Walter Hill in the Western “Dead for a Dollar”. Also premiering in Florian Zeller’s “The Son”, his much anticipated second film after 2020’s superb “The Father”.

Also making headlines at the festival, Paul Schrader’s “Master Gardener”, Jafar Panahi’s “No Bears”, Olivia Wilde’s “Don’t Worry Darling”, Ti West’s “Pearl”, Luca Guadagnino’s “Bones and All”, Darren Aronofsky’s “The Whale”, Martin McDonagh’s “The Banshees of Inisherin, and Andrew Dominik’s “Blonde” among others.

There will plenty of competition for this year’s Golden Lion when the festival kicks off August 31st. Check below for a full list of all the films from this year’s Venice Film Festival.

Competition

“White Noise” – Noah Baumbach (Opening Night Film)

“Il Signore delle Formiche” – Gianni Amelio
“The Whale” – Darren Aronofsky
“L’Immensita” – Emanuele Crialese
“Saint Omer” – Alice Diop
“Blonde”- Andrew Dominik
“Tár”- Todd Field
“Love Life” – Koji Fukada
“Bardo” – Alejandro González Iñárritu
“Athena”- Romain Gavras
“Bones and All” – Luca Guadagnino
“The Eternal Daughter” – Joanna Hogg
“Beyond the Wall” – Vahid Jalilvand
“The Banshees of Inisherin” – Martin McDonagh
“Argentina, 1985” – Santiago Mitre
“Chiara” – Susanna Nicchiarelli
“Monica” – Andrea Pallaoro
“No Bears” – Jafar Panahi
“All the Beauty and the Bloodshed” – Laura Poitras
“A Couple” – Frederick Wiseman
“The Son” – Florian Zeller
“Our Ties” – Roschdy Zem
“Other People’s Children” – Rebecca Zlotowski

Out of Competition – Fiction

“The Hanging Sun” – Francesco Carrozzini (Closing Film)
“When the Waves Are Gone” – Lav Diaz
“Living” – Oliver Hermanus
“Dead for a Dollar” – Walter Hill
“Call of God” – Kim Ki-duk
“Dreamin’ Wild” – Bill Pohlad
“Master Gardener” – Paul Schrader
“Siccita” – Paolo Virzi
“Pearl” – Ti West
“Don’t Worry Darling” – Olivia Wilde

Out of Competition – Non Fiction

“Freedom on Fire: Ukraine’s Fight for Freedom” – Evgeny Afineevsky
“The Matchmaker” – Benedetta Argentieri
“Gli Ultima Giorni Dell’Umanita” – Enrico Ghezzi, Alessandro Gagliardo
“A Compassionate Spy” – Steve James
“Music for Black Pigeons” – Jorgen Leth, Andreas Koefoed
“The Kiev Trial” – Sergei Loznitsa
“In Viaggio” – Gianfranco Rosi
“Bobby White Ghetto President” – Christopher Sharp, Moses Bwayo
“Nuclear” – Oliver Stone

Out of Competition (Series)

“The Kingdom Exodus” – Lars von Trier
“Copenhagen Cowboy” – Nicolas Winding Refn

Horizons/Orizzonti

“Princess” – Roberto de Paolis
“Victim” – Michal Blanko
“On the Fringe” – Juan Diego Botto
“Trenque Lauquen” – Laura Citarella
“Vera” – Tizza Covi, Rainer Frimmel
“Innocence” – Guy Davidi
“Blanquita” – Fernando Guzzoni
“Pour La France (For My Country” – Rachid Hami
“A Man” – Kei Ishikawa
“Bread and Salt” – Damian Kocur
“Luxembourg, Luxembourg” – Antonio Lukich
“Ti Mangio IL Cuore” – Pippo Mezzapesa
“To the North” – Mihai Mincan
“Autobiography” – Makbul Mubarak
“La Syndicaliste (The Sitting Duck)” – Jean-Paul Salomé
“World War III” – Houman Seyedi
“The Happiest Man in the World” – Teona Strugar Mitevska
“The Bride” – Sérgio Tréfaut

Horizons/Orizzonti Extra

“Origin of Evil” – Sébastien Marnier
“Hanging Gardens” – Ahmed Yassin Al Daradji
“Amanda” – Carolina Cavalli
“Red Shoes” – Carlos Eichelmann Kaiser
“Nezouh” – Soudade Kaadan
“Notte Fantasma” – Fulvio Risuleo
“Without Her” – Arian Vazirdaftari
“Valeria Is Getting Married” – Michal Vinik
“Goliath” – Adilkhan Yerzhanov

Marvel Studios had quite a showing at this year’s San Diego Comic-Con, revealing their cramped release schedule all the way to 2025. While some of their trailer reveals were kept behind closed doors and shown exclusively to those in attendance (conventions have long loved doing that), they did release a tease for one of their most anticipated films of the year, “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”.

Obviously with the heartbreaking passing of star Chadwick Boseman, the sequel to 2018’s “Black Panther” was going to be a challenge. The new trailer gives us a little insight into how the MCU plans on handling things. Despite Boseman’s family saying Chadwick would want T’Challa recast and the character’s story continued, Marvel has chosen to write off T’Challa and instead follow his family’s quest to cope with their loss and protect Wakanda. The trailer leans heavy into the emotion which is sure to be felt throughout the film. It also gives us first look at Namor. While all of these things are obvious crowdpleasers, there are still some big question marks. Hopefully director Ryan Coogler can pull it all together.

“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” hits theaters November 11th. Check out the trailer below and let me know if you’ll be seeing it or taking a pass.

Without a doubt, my most anticipated movie of 2023 is Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer”, a biography of J. Robert Oppenheimer who became known as the “Father of the Atomic Bomb” due to his work on the Manhattan Project. Seeing Nolan tackle a period biopic with this type of subject matter is really exciting, and I’m anxious to see what he brings to a movie like this. We still have a while to wait, but we did get a nice treat earlier today – the film’s latest poster. It’s a simple yet great design and very fitting. I can’t wait to see and learn more from “Oppenheimer” leading up to its release next year. So what do you think of the new poster?

DIRECTOR – Christopher Nolan

WRITER – Christopher Nolan

STARRING – Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt, Matt Damon, Robert Downey Jr., Florence Pugh, Benny Safdie, Rami Malek, Josh Hartnett, Dane DeHaan, Jack Quaid, Matthew Modine, Alden Ehrenreich, Kenneth Branagh, Gary Oldman, Scott Grimes, Casey Affleck, James D’Arcy

RELEASE – July 21, 2023

A rather cryptic yet unnerving brief teaser for “Smile” hit theaters a few weeks ago. A few days later, Paramount gave us the first full trailer for this creepy looking horror movie from writer-director Parker Finn. This is the feature film debut for Finn who is adapting his own 2020 film short titled “Laura Hasn’t Slept”. His new trailer is an interesting mix of the familiar and the fresh. I’m anxious to see how the movie actually turns out.

Built around a still mysterious premise, this New Jersey-set chiller looks to center around a doctor named Rose (Sosie Bacon) who begins witnessing eerie behavior from her patients. Before long, she begins to wonder if it’s her own mind that’s playing tricks on her. The trailer features lots of creepy laughing and a few unexpected angles that could make this a surprising little horror film. Oh and that jolt at the end…well done!

“Smile” hits theaters September 30th. Check out the trailer below and let me know if you’ll be seeing it or taking a pass.

As I lay here mending from COVID-19 that I was unlucky enough to pick up during our Disney World trip, I received a really nice surprise via email. Rotten Tomatoes sent me a message telling me I’m now individually approved as a Tomatometer critic. All of my reviews for our newspaper were already included on RT. But individual certification means that even reviews from this little old website we be part of the Rotten Tomatoes meter. It was a nice bit of news.

Thanks Rotten Tomatoes!

I enjoy doing this ‘First Glance’ feature. It’s a chance to inform folks about upcoming movies on the horizon by showcasing new trailers. But this is the first installment where I’ve highlighted a movie while issuing this warning – You may not wan’t to watch the attached trailer! I say that because it’s an unfortunate case of the studios revealing waaaaay too much (at least I think so). In it we see a seemingly noteworthy reveal that (I’m guessing) plays a significant part in the movie. I’ll let you decide for yourself.

I’ll dance around the plot, but without spoiling things the story revolves around a young woman named Evie (Nathalee Emmanuel) who learns she has some extended family she’s never met. She travels to England to meet her newfound second cousin, Oliver (Thomas Doherty) who invites her to attend a family wedding. Evie is hesitant at first but agrees and that’s where the movie takes its sinister turn. The movie is directed by Jessica M. Thompson who co-wrote the script with Blair Butler. They certainly seem to have a knack for atmosphere and tension. I’m interested to see how this one turns out.

“The Invitation” drops exclusively in theaters on August 26. Check out the trailer below (at your own risk) and let me know if you’ll be seeing it or taking a pass.