WHILE YOU WAIT: AVAILABLE ALTERNATIVES TO UPCOMING FILMS & TV SERIES
by Minwa
Everything from set photos to casting or production announcements on upcoming films leave us excited for upcoming films, and luckily for us, there are some really interesting and worthwhile projects in the works that are sure to be worth the wait - while we wait for some of the biggest and most anticipated upcoming films and television series, here are alternatives you can watch in the meantime to satisfy your cravings!
If you’re excited for Barbie (2023)…. check out Life Size (2000)
Set photos from the upcoming Barbie film have been unavoidable across social media recently, and it’s safe to say we’re all excited! Margot Robbie looks picture perfect as Barbie, and Ryan Gosling’s Ken has been turning heads… but the most surprising element of the film is still the woman behind the camera, Greta Gerwig. Upon hearing Gerwig’s name in relation to the project, all expectations we might have had of the film are immediately shattered. The film that was originally set to star Amy Schumer in a dumb comedy is now an entirely different project! Gerwig’s projects across her entire career have almost entirely offered interesting, insightful, and NEEDED takes on the female experience in our modern world, everything from the craziness of adulthood in Frances Ha and 20th Century Women to the sensitivities of teenagehood and relationships between female family members in Lady Bird and Little Women....
This is going to be a completely different Barbie, and as all we know is to expect something different, it might be comforting to watch a film which is pretty much exactly what would come to mind when hearing of a “Barbie movie” - Life Size. The Disney Channel Original film starring Lindsay Lohan and Tyra Banks of a doll coming to life could not be more of its era, and even if you hadn’t grown up with the film like I have, the nostalgia is sure to be of some comfort.
If you’re excited for Oppenheimer (2023)…. check out Chernobyl (2019)
Christopher Nolan’s next film “Oppenheimer” follows the life and career of theoretical physicist and “the father of the atomic bomb”, J. Robert Oppenheimer. Several elements about the film feel like new ground for Nolan, who has never tackled a biopic before, let alone one with such a stars-studded ensemble cast (including the likes of Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt, Matt Damon, Robert Downey Jr., Florence Pugh, Rami Malek, Benny Safdie, Josh Hartnett, Dane DeHaan, Jack Quaid, Alden Ehrenreich, Kenneth Branagh, and Alex Wolff, Tony Goldwyn, and Gary Oldman). And while that’s pretty much all we know about the film so far, as Nolan himself is writing the screenplay we can be sure to expect writing of a certain standard that is accessible to all despite the somewhat niche topic at hand that many might find uninteresting. It is almost a guarantee that the film will at least be a little bit more interesting and entertaining than you’d expect it to be.
The same can be said for what the HBO miniseries Chernobyl (2019) accomplished, a television show you can check out in the meantime if you’re excited for Oppenheimer.
As you might expect from the title, Chernobyl details the events of Ukrainian nuclear plant disaster in 1986, telling the stories of the people who were involved in the disaster and those who responded to it. The series defied expectations and told a true, grim story in a way that was informative and accessible to modern day audiences while also being dramatic and well-written. That’s exactly what I expect Oppenheimer to do.
If you’re excited for Wicked… check out Into the Woods (2015)
A film adaptation of one of the most successful and popular Broadway musicals, Wicked, is finally in production! A ticket to currently see it on stage is unfortunately undoubtedly pricey and even more inaccessible due to the pandemic, but if the soundtrack just isn’t cutting it and you’re itching to watch a similar film as soon as possible, you’re in luck! Disney released a forgotten film adaptation of playwright Stephen Sondheim’s Into the Woods musical in 2015.
Not only are the two famous Broadway musicals, they’re both complete, creative retellings of classic stories we love! While Wicked tells the story of the witches of Oz, Into the Woods cleverly combines many childhood tales. Both lean towards the darker side of fairy tales, while remaining family friendly and having songs you just won’t forget. And if you’re looking for star power, look no further! While Wicked nabbed Ariana Grande, Into the Woods stars Meryl Streep (who has her own grand musical number) among many others!
If you’re excited for Wonka (2023)…. check out Moulin Rouge! (2001)
Wonka is an upcoming musical starring Timothee Chalamet which serves as an origin story for the chocolatier from Roald Dhal’s classic “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”. It’s very hard to gauge how successful or even actually intriguing this film might be, as it seems…. bizarre - but we’re most certain it’ll likely be camp. I mean…. It just has to be to leave an impact! And if there’s one film that is as unashamedly camp and fun as Wonka should be, it’s Baz Luhrmann’s Moulin Rouge! Moulin Rouge follows a writer (Ewan McGregor) who travels to Paris and falls in love with the star of the city’s biggest nightclub (Nicole Kidman). Moulin Rouge is a jukebox musical, meaning it features music already released and known to the public including songs from Bollywood musicals, Queen, David Bowie, Madonna, Elton John, and Nirvana... With these songs mashed-up, remixed, and performed in elaborate sets… it’s unashamedly camp and over-the-top which is everything Wonka should aim to be.
If you’re excited for Decision To Leave (2022)… check out The Maltese Falcon (1941)
We can never totally expect what we’re getting from a Park Chan Wook film, as we’ve seen with his previous acclaimed films Oldboy and The Handmaiden, but his upcoming mystery film “Decision to Leave”, following a detective who develops feelings for a victim’s wife brings to mind the classic noir film from 1941 starring Humphrey Bogart as a private eye who develops feelings for a femme fatale as he is stalked by an array of villains as he searches for a mysterious statuette.
Critics who have seen Decision to Leave at the Cannes Film Festival, where Park won the award for Best Director, have noted that symbolism plays a major part in the film, as it does in The Maltese Falcon and most film noirs, and even just knowing what I just stated about the film and seeing the teaser trailer, the film seems to share many traits with the noir staple considering the fact that it is a romantic thriller described to be “artistic, multi-layered” and “every frame is like a painting, with hints to character motivation and plot twists (Toronto Star)” - a key element in most film noirs.
If you’re excited for Babylon (2022)… check out Singing in the Rain (1952) and Sunset Boulevard (1950)
It’s hard to tell what to expect from Damien Chazelle’s (director of La La Land. And Whiplash) upcoming film, Babylon - all we know about it is that it’s a drama set in the Golden Age of Hollywood as the industry was shifting away from silent films to “the talkies”. Starring Margot Robbie and Brad Pitt and set to be released at the end of the year, it’s sure to be the talk of the next awards season - Hollywood LOVES films about Hollywood.
While we’re anticipating another hopefully soon-to-be-classic, it’s only essential that we revisit the classics themselves.
Though filmed decades after the shift to sound, Singing in the Rain takes place in exactly the same period as Babylon, showing just how tough the industry had it at the time and the advent of musicals, featuring a musical in a musical with the king of musicals, Gene Kelly! It’s a classic and a favrotie film of mine that I personally think everyone should watch, but I know the musical genre isn’t for everyone and Babylon won’t be a musical, so it’s a good thing there’s another classic just for you. What might be more along the lines of Babylon is 1950’s Sunset Boulevard, a much more serious film which follows an aging silent-screen actor who gets a second shot at fame when a screenwriter agrees to write a script for her. It’s a dark look at fame, the idea of “celebrity”, Hollywood and the impact that can all have on a person. While actress Gloria Swanson didn’t win the award, Margot Robbie’s been topping the Oscar prediction lists already based on test screenings and industry talk, so it’s definitely something that should satisfy your Hollywood cravings until then.
If you’re excited for Daisy Jones and the Six…. check out Almost Famous (2000)
Daisy Jones & The Six is an upcoming TV series based on the book of the same name by bestselling author Taylor Jenkins Reid, following a rock band in the 1970s from their rise in the LA music scene to becoming one of the most legendary bands in the world and their split. Loosely inspired by Fleetwood Mac, the book has been a hit since its release, gaining popularity on TikTok and Youtube, and even before knowing it would be adapted for the screen, it reminded me of a film that already exists: Almost Famous (2000), which follows a teenager in the 1970s who accompanies a rock band on their tour in order to write an article about them, learning about relationships and the world of music along the way. Just like the book, Almost Famous has an extra layer to it as it is semi-autobiographical as director and screenwriter Cameron Crowe himself was a teenage writer for Rolling Stone magazine. And beyond both projects surrounding fictions 1970s rock bands, they both have a journalistic perspective when it comes to the narrative, as mentioned with Crowe’s background, but also as the book is told through a series of interviews and in turn, the television series will be presented in a similar documentary style. Both projects capture the chaos of the 1970s rock music world, which is just as fascinating to watch even if you’re not into the genre of music as they almost serve as peeks at the past from our post-rockstar world .
