‘The Idea of You’ (May 2, Amazon Prime Video)

Based on the book by Robinne Lee, ‘The Idea of You’ centers on a mother of a teenager daughter, Selene (Anne Hathaway), who stumbles into a real-life fantasy when she meets and then begins to date the lead singer of a popular boy band (Nicholas Galiztine). The two’s chemistry is off the charts but can a real relationship thrive under the glare of the spotlight? The fanfic-y premise has plenty of depth here thanks to a script by Jennifer Westfeldt and Michael Showalter (who also directs). It’s an updated, gender-swapped version of ‘Notting Hill’ — and another signal that rom-coms have some life in them yet. —ES

‘Evil Does Not Exist’ (May 3, theaters)

Ryûsuke Hamaguchi retreated into a rural village outside of Tokyo to make ‘Evil Does Not Exist,’ his first film following the global success of ‘Drive My Car,’ which won the 2022 Best International Feature Oscar. The Japanese director found himself perhaps uncomfortably in the worldwide spotlight after being known for indies like ‘Asako I & II’ and ‘Happy Hour,’ and so ‘Evil Does Not Exist,’ winner of the 2023 Venice Silver Lion and FIPRESCI prizes, is a return to minimalist basics — an ecological parable wrapped up with unexpected thriller elements, and a movie he shot in secret.

‘Evil Does Not Exist’ follows the modest-living Takumi (Hitoshi Omika, previously an assistant director on Hamaguchi’s ‘Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy’) and his daughter Hana (Ryo Nishikawa), living off the land in Mizubiki Village, where its townspeople become aware of a corporation’s plan to build a glamping site on their grounds. Two of the company’s representatives arrive from Tokyo to hold a town meeting, playing out in a long take in which villagers air their grievances about the encroachment and its potential impact on their water supply. It’s the water that nourishes the area’s wild wasabi, and cooks the noodles at their beloved local udon restaurant. Meanwhile, the tourism company’s mixed intentions collide with an unsettling series of events that upend Takumi’s already precarious bucolic life. —RL

‘The Fall Guy’ (May 3, theaters)

Finding the perfect alchemy between action, comedy, and romance is no easy feat, but ‘The Fall Guy’ has all three in spades. David Leitch’s film is a love letter to the art of being a stuntman, showing us how the sausage is made but doing so in a way that doesn’t skimp on spectacle and doubles as a clever commentary on Hollywood (no, they don’t give Oscars for stunts, the film at one point reminds us). While it’s a stretch to believe that Ryan Gosling might just be the faceless, anonymous body double for a less hot movie star (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), he has impeccable chemistry with Emily Blunt and isn’t just doing Ken, either. Universal moved ‘The Fall Guy’ to the start of the summer after ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ vacated the slot, and Gosling and Blunt should turn this one into a hit. —BW

‘I Saw the TV Glow’ (May 3, theaters)

Following ‘We’re All Going to the World’s Fair’ with another, richer, and even more explicitly trans meditation on the role that media can play in revealing people to themselves, Jane Schoenbrun’s astonishing new film manages to retain the seductive fear of their micro-budget debut and deepen its thrilling wounds of discovery even while examining them at a much larger scale. If ‘We’re All Going to the World’s Fair’ was a 360p snapshot of dysphoria in motion, ‘I Saw the TV Glow’ — which stars Justice Smith and Brigette Lundy-Paine as a pair of suburban teens who are convinced their favorite TV show is hiding urgent truths — is an intimate landscape shot with the ultra-vivid resolution of a recurring dream. 

This Sundance standout marries the queer radicality of a Gregg Araki film with the lush intoxication of a Gregory Crewdson photo, and finds Schoenbrun holding on to every inch of their vision as they make the leap from outsider artist to A24-stamped auteur. Unlike the lo-fi creepypasta of Schoenbrun’s previous feature, ‘I Saw the TV Glow’ is a movie that knows it will be seen by a wide audience, and yet it’s only so powerful because it also knows how the things people watch can have the power to see them in return. Even the parts of themselves they might be hiding from. Even the parts of themselves they aren’t ready to name yet. The good news is that it’s coming out very soon. The bad news is that the summer movie season might just peak in the first weekend of May. —DE

‘Unfrosted: The Pop-Tart Story’ (May 3, Netflix)

So what’s the deal with Jerry Seinfeld making a movie about Pop-Tarts? Seinfeld has said ‘Unfrosted’ is inspired by what he has hoped is his definitive bit about Pop-Tarts. In Jerry’s words it’s a toaster treat the same shape as the box it comes in and with the same nutrition as the box it comes in, and it can’t go stale because it was never fresh. Breakfast is over. You lost, Mom. But while there really was a rivalry between Kellogg’s and Post to be first to market with their toaster pastry, ‘Unfrosted’ has about as much to do with being historically accurate as ‘Weird’ is actually about Al Yankovic’s life story. The Netflix film has a litany of guest stars, a song by Jimmy Fallon and Meghan Trainor, and even Seinfeld trotting out his best ‘Newman line reading for a joke about xantham gum. —BW

‘Gasoline Rainbow’ (May 10, theaters; May 31, streaming on Mubi)

Bill and Turner Ross’ semi-scripted road trip movie, which follows a group of high school grads wandering through Oregon in the kind of pointless adventure that only youth can facilitate was one of the most unexpected delights of the 2023 fall festival season. The loosely structured movie, which features improvised dialogue over a real outline as the cast of first-time actors explores the coast before finding themselves walking 500 miles to Portland after their van breaks down, plays like a series of sketches about discovering the simple pleasures of adulthood for the first time. But despite its minimalistic story, ‘Gasoline Rainbow’ represents the kind of pure, undiluted cinematic expression that materializes too rarely to be missed. —CZ

‘Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes’ (May 10, theaters)

Taking over for Matt Reeves, Andy Serkis, and the stellar trilogy of ‘Planet of the Apes’ reboots is no easy task. But ‘Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes’ dives into the ape society years after Caesar came to power and made apes the Earth’s dominant species. The film is made to grapple with the same power dynamics and questions about who writes history as some of the ‘Apes’ films that have come before it. ‘The Maze Runner’ filmmaker Wes Ball is behind the camera for this one, and the early look at CinemaCon came loaded with a lot of energy and some impressive world-building. —BW

‘Babes’ (May 17, theaters)

Calling it ‘Bridesmaids’ for pregnancy doesn’t quite do ‘Babes’ justice. Minute for minute, Ilana Glazer and Josh Rabinowitz’s script has more raunchy, gross-out riffing and laughs than likely any film you’ll see this year. But Pamela Adlon’s film aims to elevate the material by framing it as a love story between two best friends. ‘Babes’ begins as a pregnant Dawn (Michelle Buteau) is sitting down for an enormous Thanksgiving feast at an upscale restaurant after her water has broken and then sees her best friend Eden (Glazer) get pregnant herself after a one-night stand (why it’s a one-night stand is its own surprise). It’s a film about Eden’s own journey into motherhood — mushroom trips included — while trying to maintain a friendship with someone increasingly consumed by her own family. —BW

‘Back to Black’ (May 17, theaters)

While it may seem like anything Amy Winehouse is hallowed ground never to be treaded by anyone other than the late Grammy winner, the iconic singer-songwriter has received her first narrative feature spin thanks to Sam Taylor-Johnson’s ‘Back to Black’ biopic. ‘Industry’ breakout star Marisa Abela sings, dances, and falls in love as Winehouse for the feature that captures Winehouse’s rise to fame and the creation of her titular 2006 album.

Director Taylor-Johnson reunites with ‘Nowhere Boy’ scribe Matt Greenhalgh to center on Winehouse’s tumultuous relationship with both the paparazzi and her ex-husband Blake Fielder-Civil, played by Jack O’Connell. Eddie Marsan and Leslie Manville also star as Winehouse’s father and grandmother, respectively. Winehouse’s music was licensed for the feature, with Abela undergoing vocal lessons to croon onscreen. The actress also endured ‘Amy boot camp,’ which consisted of dieting and weight-training to shrink down to emulate Winehouse’s petite stature in part due to her eating disorder and drug addiction. Winehouse died at age 27 from alcohol poisoning. The funeral-esque title of ‘Back to Black’ echoes the real-life singer’s heartbreaking story, which is now adapted for better or worse to the big screen. —SB

‘In Our Day’ (May 17, theaters)

You’d be forgiven for not having seen every Hong Sangsoo movie. The South Korean director, known for films like ‘On the Beach at Night Alone,’ ‘Claire’s Camera,’ and ‘The Novelist’s Film’ has released 29 features, and often more than one in the same year. So was the case for 2023, which saw the festival circuit premieres of ‘In Water’ and ‘In Our Day.’ And as of writing, Hong already has another movie that premiered at the Berlinale, ‘A Traveller’s Needs.’

Here, Sangwon (Kim Minhee), an actress recently returned to South Korea, is temporarily staying with her friend, Jungsoo (Song Sunmi), and her cat, Us. Elsewhere in the city, the aging poet Hong Uiju (Ki Joobong) lives alone, his cat having recently passed away. On this ordinary day, each of them has a visitor: Sangwon is visited by her cousin, Jisoo (Park Miso) and Uiju, by a young actor, Jaewon (Ha Seongguk). Each of them wants to learn about a career in the arts. But they also have bigger questions. —RL

‘Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga’ (May 24, theaters)

It’s been nine years since ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’ premiered, instantly becoming one of the most acclaimed action movies of all time and spawning immediate demand for a Furiosa spinoff. With her shaved head, mechanical arm, and formidable demeanor, Charlize Theron created one of the great 21st century blockbuster characters.

Now, a prequel spinoff has finally happened. But director George Miller says that when he saw the CGI youthening effects in ‘The Irishman’ he knew the technology was not there yet… so he decided to recast Furiosa. A bold choice given how closely associated she was with Theron. But in stepped Anya Taylor-Joy, who read for the part by performing Peter Finch’s ‘mad as hell’ monologue from ‘Network’ for Miller over Zoom. This origin story will show how Furiosa went from an idyllic childhood in The Green Place, ruled by many mothers, one of the few oases in the post-apocalyptic ‘Mad Max’ universe Miller created, to becoming a ruthless imperator for warlord Immortan Joe — while subverting the hyper-macho dystopian order along the way. In her crosshairs? A villainous, prosthetic-nose-wearing Chris Hemsworth, who may finally get to fully flex his comic sensibilities while also portraying something new for the actor: Menace. —CB 

‘Hit Man’ (May 24, theaters; June 7, Netflix)

Richard Linklater and Glen Powell have been working together since the rising Hollywood leading man was just a kid — really! Powell was just 14 when Linklater first cast him in his ‘Fast Food Nation’ — but their partnership has only deepened in the years that followed. Powell caught plenty of attention in Linklater’s ‘spiritual sequel’ to his seminal ‘Dazed & Confused’ and charming hang-out joint ‘Everybody Wants Some!!,’ and he’s only going to get more eyeballs on him with the upcoming ‘Hit Man.’

Linklater and Powell co-wrote the fact-based comedy together, with Linklater directing Powell and breakout co-star Adria Arjona in this sexy, funny, and clever festival hit. After debuting at Venice, the film did quite the circuit: TIFF to NYFF to Sundance, delighting audiences at every stop. This summer, audiences will get to check it out both in a limited theatrical release (it’s very fun with a big group) and streaming at home. The feature follows Powell as everyman Gary Johnson, who moonlights with the New Orleans Police Department (a philosophy professor by trade, Gary is also a skilled tech wonk) and is eventually tasked with going undercover as a fake hitman, meant to capture would-be clients desperate to pay a hefty fee to off the baddies in their lives. —KE

‘Robot Dreams’ (May 31, theaters)

In case you think you are having deja vu: Yes, this is the same film that Neon qualified for last year’s Oscars and was nominated for Best Animated feature alongside ‘The Boy and the Heron’ and ‘Across the Spider-Verse’ — and you know what, it belongs in the same breath as those two great films. 

Spanish director Pablo Berger’s (‘Blancanieves’) first foray into animation is a love letter to the silent clowns (Chaplin), New York City of the 1980s (East Village), the Ligne Claire animation style (original ‘Tintin’ books), and those special friendships you hold dear long after they are over.  Adapted from Sara Varon’s graphic novel, it’s the story of how a lonely dog and his robot become inseparable companions, become separated, and their struggle to reunite. Told without dialogue, the film’s use of sound and music (at times descending into the territory of a musical) is incredible, with characters so fully expressed in their movement that you might not even realize there are no words. As sweet as it is sad. If you want to leave the cinema with your heart feeling so full it might explode, this is your movie. —CO

‘Young Woman and the Sea’ (May 31, theaters)

Long before there was Diana Nyad, there was Trudy Ederle. While Netflix’s Oscar-nominated ‘Nyad’ may have picked up some late awards season attention last year, don’t count out Joachim Rønning’s upcoming Disney feature to catch its own wave when it arrives in theaters (after initially planning a streaming-only run) early this summer. In presenting the film’s first trailer at CinemaCon in April, producer Jerry Bruckheimer told the crowd that the feature is his highest-testing film ever (uh, what about ‘Top Gun’?), and the hitmaker is definitely on to something: ‘Young Woman and the Sea’ is a real crowd-pleaser. 

Daisy Ridley stars as Ederle, who started swimming competitively when that was very much not a thing nice young ladies did. The plucky daughter of bootstrap German immigrants, Ederle and her older sister Margaret (Tilda Cobham-Hervey) swam for fun as kids in the early part of the 20th century, before Trudy started breaking all kinds of records. While she eventually made it to the Olympics, she’s best known for becoming the first woman to swim across the English Channel. Not familiar with her? That’s exactly what Rønning’s film attempts to correct, as the lightly fictionalized — and very family-friendly — feature takes us on a fantastic voyage through the exploits of a heroine whose name we all should know. —KE 

‘The Watchers’ (June 7, theaters)

Horror icon M. Night Shyamalan is passing the torch to his daughter Ishana Night Shyamalan, who makes her feature directorial debut with the novel adaptation of thriller ‘The Watchers.’ Dakota Fanning stars as a woman lost in the woods who finds herself trapped with three other creepy strangers; together, they must outrun flesh-eating monsters that prey only at night. Who is really watching whom?

‘Barbarian’ star Georgina Chapman, Oliver Finnegan, and Olwen Fouere co-star, with director Shyamalan also penning the script. And don’t just count Shyamalan as a nepo baby: She’s already proven her chops on (granted, yes, her father’s series) ‘The Servant,’ helming a trio of episodes. She also directed second unit on her dad’s ‘Old’ and ‘Knock at the Cabin,’ yet another novel adaptation. —SB

‘I Used to Be Funny’ (June 7, theaters)

Rising director Ally Pankiw, who has topped IndieWire’s Female Filmmakers to Watch list, helms Rachel Sennott dark comedy vehicle ‘I Used to Be Funny’ which follows an au pair (Sennott) who dreams of becoming a famous stand-up comedian. But this isn’t an ‘Obvious Child’ or even ‘Joker’-esque take: ‘I Used to Be Funny’ more so parallels Sennott’s breakout performance in ‘Shiva Baby,’ with her stand-up character Sam Cowell balancing her PTSD with a ‘Search Party’ style mystery involving missing teen girl Brooke (Olga Petsa) that she used to nanny.

The film is split between the past and present, where the memories of Brooke make it more difficult to ignore her glaring open case. Director Pankiw has helmed ‘Black Mirror’ episodes plus a buzzy fashion ad campaign starring Aubrey Plaza, but ‘I Used to Be Funny’ is her highly anticipated first feature. Jason Jones, Sabrina Jalees, Caleb Hearon, Ennis Esmer, and Dani Kind also star. —SB

‘Ghostlight’ (June 14, theaters)

‘Saint Frances’ duo Kelly O’Sullivan and Alex Thompson return with another delicate charmer, this one starring real-life acting family Keith Kupferer, Tara Mallen, and Katherine Mallen Kupferer as a family dealing with tragedy in unexpected ways. The cure: community theater Shakespeare. Really!

We know things aren’t right in the Mueller family long before O’Sullivan and Thompson ever-so-delicately dole out the details of a tragedy that still pulls at the trio. It involves a looming lawsuit, the sense the family is incomplete, unsaid feelings, and an ultimate reveal too artfully handled to be spoiled here. O’Sullivan and Thompson are aces at tucking themes, concepts, and ideas into their films that, in other directors’ hands, might feel a bit cheesy or chintzy. Instead, the duo handles them with the utmost respect and care. Audiences may eventually start to see where this is heading and how it will all braid together, but that doesn’t dilute the joy of seeing it actually unfold.

O’Sullivan and Thompson gently fold their story together, finding humor and heart at every turn, leading to the kind of ending that somehow inspired the film’s very first audience at Sundance to laugh and cry. Again, we know how this sounds, but — it’s funny! and good! And a reminder of how bright a light one story can shine on everyone. —KE

‘Inside Out 2’ (June 14, theaters)

All your favorite emotions are back Joy (Amy Poehler), Sadness (Phyllis Smith), Anger (Lewis Black), Fear (Tony Hale), and Disgust (Liza Lapira), but with a sequel that goes inside a boy turning 13 they are joined by Anxiety (Maya Hawke), and her support team Envy (Ayo Edebiri), Ennui (Adèle Exarchopoulos), and Embarrassment (Paul Walter Hauser). Needless to say there will be some drama in the already delicate balance of emotions raging inside Riley (Kensington Tallman) as he off to hockey camp. Pete Docter (now the head of Pixar) hands over the reins to first-time director Kelsey Mann, who was head of story on ‘Onward.’

To learn more about the film, make sure to check out the report from IndieWire’s Bill Desowitz, who went up to Pixar to see the first 35 minutes. —CO

‘Janet Planet’ (June 21, theaters)

Ten years after winning a Pulitzer Prize for ‘The Flick,’ a brilliant play about the everyday mundanities facing movie theater ushers working in front of a movie screen we never actually see, Annie Baker is taking her talents to the other side of the projector with her film debut ‘Janet Planet.’ The film, which premiered at the 2023 Telluride Film Festival before landing a June release from A24, stars Julianne Nicholson as an acupuncturist who navigates raising her daughter in a hippie community while forming transient relationships with three different men over the course of a summer. As a playwright, Baker is revered for basking in volume-speaking silences punctuated by perfectly terse interruptions of dialogue that don’t reveal an iota of information more than what’s absolutely necessary.

‘Janet Planet’ is a clear extension of that creative ethos, but the medium of film gives Baker the freedom to examine minuscule details and present her work with a level of precision that would never be possible in live theate. It’s a bold debut that could position her to follow Celine Song as the next great playwright-turned-filmmaker and seems destined to become one of the summer’s must-see indie films. —CZ

‘Summer Solstice’ (June 14, theaters)

Brooklyn-based filmmaker Noah Schamus’ ‘Summer Solstice’ follows trans man Leo (‘My Animal’ star Bobbi Salvör Menuez), an actor in New York City tumbling through auditions, working as a barista, and situationships that never turn into anything more. But when Leo’s college best friend, the cis straight Eleanor (Marianne Rendón) invites Leo an on impromptu trip upstate, the pair find themselves navigating familiar, old feelings. Eleanor is becoming acquainted with Leo for the first time since he transitioned, making for a weekend getaway that brings them closer to buried secrets and untapped emotions while exploring the newfound gender dynamic between them. ‘Summer Solstice’ has played the Provincetown and Deauville film festivals to acclaim, and was an official selection of last year’s Newfest. —RL

‘Ultraman Rising’ (June 14, Netflix)

The Netflix Animation/Tsuburaya Productions co-production marks the 44th film in the ‘Ultraman’ franchise, and one of the most anticipated animated features of the year. First-time director Shannon Tindle (creator of ‘Lost Ollie’) has fashioned a thrilling and heartwarming superhero film that he designed with a colorful and graphic 2D sensibility organic to the DNA of the anime franchise. Industrial Light & Magic (the Oscar-winning ‘Rango’) handled the animation with wonderful flourish.

The film’s about the difficulty of balancing career and family, achieving success, and embracing legacy. With Tokyo under siege from rising kaiju attacks, Dodgers baseball superstar Ken Sato (Christopher Sean) reluctantly returns home to take on the mantle of Ultraman with a lot of emotional baggage. But he gets sidetracked when he reluctantly adopts a 35-foot-tall, fire-breathing baby kaiju. Sato must cast aside his enormous ego to manage both his new baseball career and parenthood while protecting the baby from a defense authority bent on exploiting her and destroying him. —BD

‘The Bikeriders’ (June 21, theaters)

Yes, you’ve seen this one before. The last time we highlighted ‘The Bikeriders,’ it was on our 2023 Fall and Winter Preview, in which this writer noted: ‘it’s telling how very much we’re also anticipating the release of a new Jeff Nichols joint. It’s been seven years since such a treat — in 2016, we were gifted the two-fer of ‘Midnight Special’ and ‘Loving’ — and it seems as if Nichols himself would likely agree his ‘The Bikeriders’ was worth the wait.’ We did not, however, know just how long we’d have to wait for this one to be available to eager audiences.

While the film was initially set for a December 1, 2023 release from 20th Century Studios after premiering at Telluride, the strikes and other business machinations eventually led to Focus Features picking up the film for a summer release. It was still worth the wait.

A long-gestating project for Nichols — the ‘Take Shelter’ filmmaker has wanted to make a film about ’60s-era bikes for nearly decade — ‘The Bikeriders’ finally took shape in 2022, pushing Nichols to leave ‘A Quiet Place: Day One’ (which would have ruled) and take on a story that eventually found its center in Danny Lyon’s photo-book of the same name, which followed a Midwestern motorcycle club. Nichols’ take is more sprawling, following the club through many permutations, and with a jaw-dropping cast on board (perpetual Nichols star Michael Shannon, plus Tom Hardy, Jodie Comer, Mike Faist, Austin Butler, and Boyd Holbrook). —KE 

‘Green Border’ (June 21, theaters)

The Polish opposition in October 2023 won victory over populism, with pro-European former prime minister Donald Tusk now set to become the next president after a tense election that’s put nationalism at the fore. But freedom of speech issues remain a concern: Mere weeks prior, Poland’s exiting conservative leadership vilified the latest homegrown release from one of the country’s best filmmakers, Agnieszka Holland’s urgent migrant crisis epic ‘Green Border,’ as anti-Poland in its depiction of refugees caught in the titular zone between Poland and Belarus. It’s here at this green border that Middle Eastern and African refugees attempt to make it to the European Union, only to become pawns of geopolitical war.

This nearly three-hour black-and-white film takes an unflinching look at corruption among Polish border guards as a Syrian refugee family tries to make safe passage. Holland was inspired by a 2021 incident in which Belarus’ dictator Alexander Lukashenko threatened thousands of people stranded at the green border; Holland and screenwriters Maciej Pisuk and Gabriela Łazarkiewicz-Sieczko poured hours of research into making the film as documentary-like as possible, and it shines a harsh but needed light on the untenability of the migrant crisis. —RL

‘Kinds of Kindness’ (June 21, theaters)

The Yorgos Lanthimos/Emma Stone partnership is the gift that keeps on giving. Very hot on the heels of last year’s ‘Poor Things,’ the dream team returns with ‘Kinds of Kindness’ (formerly known as the even less SEO-friendly ‘And’), a supposedly three-hour triptych of stories about an unnerved policeman, a passive bystander who tries to assert some control of his life, and a woman in search of the world’s next great spiritual leader. How those stories will overlap and/or inform each other remains to be seen, as does how an all-star cast including Stone, Jesse Plemons, Willem Dafoe, Margaret Qualley, Hong Chau, and Joe Alwyn, will be split between them, but the flashy, New Orleans-centric teasers suggest the movie will be another unexpected swerve for the increasingly unpredictable Lanthimos. We’ll find out when ‘Kinds of Kindness’ premieres in Competition at Cannes in May. —DE

‘Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1’ (June 28, theaters)

During the Western’s heyday in the 1960s, the genre primarily lived in two forms: sweeping cinematic epics and endlessly popular (if lowbrow) weekly TV shows. Kevin Costner has given the latter form a massive resurgence in recent years thanks to his role in Taylor Sheridan’s ‘Yellowstone,’ and now he’s hoping that his latest directorial passion project can help bring back the former. Costner directs and stars in ‘Horizon: An American Saga,’ his two-part self-financed Western epic about American westward expansion during the Civil War that he began writing in 1988. The massive film, which is set to premiere at Cannes next month, is one of the summer’s biggest gambles. But Costner appears to be confident in its success, as he’s already preparing to shoot a third and fourth film in the series later this year. —CZ

‘Last Summer’ (June 28, theaters)

‘Fat Girl’ provocateur Catherine Breillat is back in explosive rare form with the tantalizingly erotic and (typical for Breillat) problematic forbidden romance, ‘Last Summer.’ The Cannes 2023 premiere stars the great actress Léa Drucker as a defense attorney for juvenile assault victims who goes to bed with her 17-year-old torment of a stepson, Théo (Samuel Kircher). Anne’s life is promptly blown up by their affair and away from the oblivious eyes of her older husband (Olivier Rabourdin), away on business. The seemingly bucolic setting of the family’s summer home juxtaposes eerily against the destructive relationship playing out within its walls and on its lawns. It doesn’t end well for anybody, but this is an enormously entertaining and dangerous movie without any tidy moral judgments. —RL

‘MaXXXine’ (July 5, theaters)

In the age of so-called elevated horror, what a treat that Ti West has delivered his trilogy dedicated to the disreputable aspects of the genre and where it intersects with that other industry so disreputable it has to be outright marginal, even while making billions of dollars: porn. After ‘X’ and prequel ‘Pearl,’ ‘MaXXXine’ closes things out by bringing Mia Goth’s adult film actress Maxine Minx, already with a trail of bodies in her wake, into the VHS ‘80s of L.A., terrorized by serial killer The Night Stalker. While trying to be in more than just adult films — and apparently taking quite the tour of Universal Studios’ Bates Motel and mansion — Maxine ends up crossing paths with the killer. Or a killer, at least.

This time, Goth appears opposite Kevin Bacon, a gumshoe with a gumbo-think accent, Giancarlo Esposito as an agent for the adult film industry, Elizabeth Debicki as director of the in-universe horror movie ‘The Puritan II,’ and Lily Collins, seen only in a brief closeup screaming her head off. West seems to be offering a neon-lit night journey with this one, and a reminder that bad taste can taste really good. —CB 

‘Sing Sing’ (July 12, theaters)

Colman Domingo is on an incredible run this year considering his Best Actor Academy Award nomination for ‘Rustin.’ ‘Jockey’ filmmaker Greg Kwedar directs ‘Sing Sing,’ which follows the true story of a leader of a theater troupe in prison and how they use acting to escape the realities of their incarceration, putting on a play all while Domingo’s character is seeking parole. The film is based on a real-life rehabilitation program, and the movie even features a cast that includes formerly incarcerated actors. Domingo leads the cast that also includes Paul Raci, an Oscar nominee for ‘Sound of Metal.’ —BW

‘Longlegs’ (July 12, theaters)

At this point, the only question that remains about Oz Perkins’ ‘Longlegs’ at this point is: Can it possibly be as good as the slow-burn, hyper-cryptic marketing campaign that Neon has been rolling out over the last few months? For a horror movie so shrouded in secrecy, its basic plot seems pretty digestible: Set in 1974, the story follows an FBI agent played by ‘It Follows’ star Maika Monroe as she tracks a serial killer who looks a lot like Nicolas Cage, has ties with her past, and may or may not have a weird kink for the occult. But if the teaser trailers are any indication, Perkins has inflected that familiar premise with all manner of unflinching menace, and Neon — fresh off the success of ‘Immaculate’ — might have an even bigger and more nightmare-inducing genre hit on its hands. —DE

‘Skywalkers: A Love Story’ (Netflix, July 19)

Hype for this documentary at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival was as sky-high as its subjects. Jeff Zimbalist’s ‘Skywalkers’ is a cross between ‘Man on Wire’ and ‘Fire of Love’ that showcases the love story of two law-breaking, death-defying Russian stuntpeople who sneak to the tallest skyscrapers and traverse the tippy tops, sharing photos of their escapades. The film follows rooftopping influencers Angela Nikolau and Ivan Beerkus as they traverse harrowing heights and share their story with the world, with the film featuring stunning footage likely to induce vertigo even on the small screen streaming on Netflix. —BW

‘Twisters’ (July 19, theaters)

Twenty-eight years ago, the greatest blockbuster of the ‘90s was released: An elemental tale of the elements, a searing portrait of pure science versus the desire to monetize what we all know to be the highly lucrative field of meteorology, a showcase for Phillip Seymour Hoffman to lustily declare his desire for ‘Food. Food! FOOD!’

I’m talking about ‘Twister,’ Jan de Bont’s Wagnerian tale of marital breakup set against a backdrop of F5 tornadoes and the Valkyrie-like storm chasers who pursue them. At last, a sequel is here, and in the extremely capable hands of Lee Isaac Chung, who already delivered a memorable tornado scene (or at least a scene of panic over a potential tornado) in his 2020 best picture nominee ‘Minari.’ Hoffman and star Bill Paxton are now chasing the thunder in the sky, and, as far as we know, co-star Helen Hunt hasn’t returned — nor has Todd Field, alas — but a new group of storm chasers is on hand to finish what they started. Glen Powell, Daisy Edgar-Jones, and Anthony Ramos appear to have their own version of ‘Dorothy,’ the unique collection of sensors from the first movie that can map the interior of a tornado.

They hope to find a way to dissolve twisters outright. Powell, with his rictus grin and Stetson hat, fits right into this slice of Tornado Alley Americana, and it looks like this time, an especially high wind advisory will need to be declared for a rodeo. Like the 1996 original, cue the CGI cattle! Or to quote Hunt in her inimitable deadpan: ‘Cow.’ —CB 

‘Crossing’ (July 19, theaters)

In “Crossing,” the new film from “And Then We Danced” director Levan Akin, the earthy spirit of Italian icon Anna Magnani is channeled by not one but two actresses who resemble her. There’s Mzia Arabuli as Lia, a retired schoolteacher on a journey from Batumi in Georgia to Istanbul in Turkey to find her missing trans niece, and Deniz Dumanli as Evrim, the trans NGO lawyer the movie dupes us into thinking is Lia’s niece. The two women are as far apart on the joie de vivre spectrum as any pair could be — Lia has calcified into an emotionless stone who gives away nothing, while Evrim lives freely and sexually liberated in an otherwise LGBTQ-challenged country — yet “Crossing” movingly bridges the space between them as Lia gets closer to locating her niece with the help a Gen Z Georgian teenager named Achi (Lucas Kankava). —RL

‘Didi’ (July 26, theaters)

2024 Best Live Action Short Oscar nominee Sean Wang (‘Nǎi Nai & Wài Pó’) tackles the excruciating ups and downs of being 13 years old in the year 2008 with ‘Didi.’ This sensitively drawn but blunt coming-of-age story set in Southern California in the age when MySpace was just starting to give way to Facebook, but the pitfalls and pratfalls of adolescence stayed the same, won the Audience Award in the U.S. Dramatic Competition at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival. It’s not hard to see why, as this irresistible comedy centered on Chris (Izaac Wang) and his Taiwanese-American family (led by ‘Twin Peaks’ cult icon Joan Chen as the no-nonsense matriarch) delivers slice-of-life laughs and relatably painful moments in equal measure.

In the puberty-addled, pock-marked summer between middle and high school, a brace-faced Chris experiences his first crush, terrorizes his college-bound sister (Shirley Chen), and makes prank videos with his friends — before abandoning them for a newer, quote-unquote cooler crowd. Director Wang, raised in Fremont, based the film on his own background as the Taiwanese-American son of immigrant parents. It’s a great summer crowdpleaser and should expect to get some indie awards love toward year’s end. —RL

‘Cuckoo’ (August 9, theaters)

There’s no flying over this nest for domestic drama horror film ‘Cuckoo.’ ‘Euphoria’ breakout star Hunter Schafer plays Gretchen, a teen determined to escape her awkward new family dynamic after her father (Márton Csókás) relocates to a resort in the German Alps with his new wife (Jessica Henwick). Yet it’s her dad’s boss, Mr. Konig (Dan Stevens), and his obsession with Gretchen’s mute half-sister (Mila Lieu) that frighten Gretchen more than just tense family meals. Her paranoia leads to mysterious visions, strange noises, and the belief that perhaps Mr. Konig’s resort is haunted by ancient spirits. The Neon release is ‘Luz’ writer/director Tilman Singer’s sophomore film, with ‘Cuckoo’ having debuted at the 2024 Berlin International Film Festival and making its U.S. premiere at SXSW. Schafer is also appearing in a flurry of projects ranging from Yorgos Lanthimos’ follow-up to Oscar-winning ‘Poor Things’ with anthology feature ‘Kinds of Kindness,’ and David Lowery’s queer rock film ‘Mother Mary’ starring Anne Hathaway and Michaela Coel. —SB

‘My Old Ass’ (Theaters, August 2)

Elliott (Maisy Stella) is ready for her life to start. The last 18 years? That’s been killing time, practice, kid stuff, and as we meet the teen on her 18th birthday, mere weeks before she’s about to leave her cozy Canadian lakeside community for college in Toronto (read: the real world!), Elliott is hellbent on leaving that stuff behind. In Megan Park’s warm-hearted ‘My Old Ass,’ Elliott is forced to grapple — most unexpectedly, most literally — with the past and the present and the future, and all the iterations of her that will populate those time periods.

First, there are the mushrooms. Elliott and her best pals Ruthie (Maddie Ziegler) and Ro (Kerrice Brooks) ingest the hallucinogens to celebrate that key birthday, an experience that sees Ruthie talking to animals and Ro dancing to music only she can hear… and Elliott? She finds herself. More correctly: her old self finds her. Park, who also wrote the film’s script, builds her sophomore feature (following the far darker but just as sensitively told SXSW winner ‘The Fallout’) around a banger of a concept: What if you met your elder self during a turning point in your life, and she kinda/sorta advised you on what to do next?

Oh, and said elder self was played by the wise-cracking, perpetually sardonic, and always-welcome Aubrey Plaza? (While Plaza and Stella don’t quite look alike, they share a similar vibe, a winking energy with a raspy voice; it’s plain great casting.) Our teenage Elliott can’t quite believe it when the elder version of herself appears while Ro and Ruthie trip around her, but the lady does know some stuff, and she’s got scars to match Elliott’s (physical and, as we slowly learn, emotional too). —KE 

‘Good One’ (August 9, theaters)

A slight but sensitive and fantastically assured debut that unfolds with the pointillistic detail of a great short story, India Donaldson’s “Good One” is a coming-of-age story that jettisons all of the genre’s most familiar trappings in favor of a long walk in the woods.

Donaldson’s script doesn’t waste any time setting its terms, even if her film has the discipline and patience to wait for more than an hour before it finally activates them. Modest and casual until the exact moment when the film’s master plan suddenly clicks into place like the hammer of a gun transforming a neutral tool into a deadly weapon, “Good One” is the kind of movie that tightens its complete lack of tension into a knot in the pit of your stomach. It often reminded me of Julia Loktev’s little-seen but seldom-forgotten “The Loneliest Planet” in that sense. Wilson Cameron’s serene nature cinematography and Celia Hollander’s airy, Joanna Newsom-esque score don’t quite disabuse us from the notion that something terrible is eventually going to happen, even if they both play against the suspense (this doesn’t feel like a thriller until you start to project its family dynamics onto your own parents and/or children, at which point it becomes thoroughly harrowing), and when the worm finally turns it’s almost a relief that we can put it behind us. It’s sad and unfair, but also liberating in a way. —DE

‘Trap’ (August 9, theaters)

M. Night Shyamalan’s 16th feature asks the question: What would happen if a serial killer was a Swiftie? ‘Trap’ follows a dad (Josh Hartnett) who takes his teen daughter to the concert event of her life. But when he goes to the bathroom, he notices something strange afoot with cops surrounding the building and cameras being set up everywhere. A merchandise clerk lets him in on a secret that the whole concert is a ruse to lure out a murderer known only as The Butcher. But Shyamalan is always good for a twist, and rather than father and daughter trying to escape a deadly situation, the film’s trailer revealed Hartnett himself is actually The Butcher now calculating his escape route. We’re guessing things only get more interesting from there. —BW

‘Alien: Romulus’ (August 16, theaters)

For those of us who are still pissed off that Ridley Scott was never given a chance to finish his prequel trilogy (and we number in the dozens), the prospect of another, unrelated ‘Alien’ movie feels like something of a double-edged sword, and the fact that it’s directed by ‘Evil Dead’ helmer Fede Álvarez suggests that ‘Romulus’ might lean harder towards the unrelenting slaughter of ‘Aliens’ than the foreboding mystery of Ridley Scott’s contributions to the series. 

But that isn’t necessarily a bad thing! ‘Aliens’ is one of the best action films ever made, and Álvarez’s horror bonafides make him a much better fit for this franchise than he was for ‘The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo’ (or ‘The Millennium’ franchise or whatever you want to call it). More reasons to get excited: ‘Romulus’ is set between ‘Alien’ and ‘Aliens,’ which is fertile Weyland-Yutani territory to mine, and it co-stars ‘Priscilla’ breakout Cailee Spaeny and ‘Industry’ highlight David Jonsson, both of whom are worthy to pick up the mantle left behind by the likes of Sigourney Weaver and… Ian Holm? Paul Reiser? The exact nature of Jonsson’s role is still unclear, but what’s an ‘Alien’ movie without a few unanswered questions. —DE

‘Y2K’ (Summer 2024, theaters)

Kyle Mooney’s directorial debut is a madcap riff on the Y2K fiasco that reimagines the infamous false alarm as a computer glitch that turns every machine on Earth into a killing machine that’s determined to ruin New Year’s Eve for everyone. Rachel Zegler and Jaeden Martell lead an ensemble cast of high schoolers trying to survive the night in a goofy comedy that combines B-movie practical effects with self-aware ‘90s nostalgia. The crowd-pleasing formula received an uproarious response at SXSW, so there’s reason to believe ‘Y2K’ could turn into a sleeper hit once A24 gives it a release date. —CZ

‘Sleep’ (Summer 2024, theaters)

Jason Yu doesn’t waste any time when it comes to his riotous feature directorial debut, ‘Sleep.’ Picture it: We’re in a cozy apartment in the middle of the night, and someone (in this case, ‘Parasite’ actor Lee Sun-kyun) is gently snoring away in bed beside his pregnant wife (Jung Yu-mi). Suddenly, there’s a bang, or a shuffle, or a yelp, enough to pull Soo-jin (Jung) out of her slumber and out into the apartment. It’s scary — dark apartment, nighttime, weird noise, all bad — but set against the backdrop of Lee’s happy snoozing, it’s also quite amusing.

And then Hyun-su (Lee) sits up, still asleep, and utters the two words no one would want to hear in such a situation, let alone his high-strung wife: ‘Someone’s inside.’ Instantly, it’s terrifying. But as Yu manically — and that’s not to say messily, not at all — seesaws between the funny and the scary, ‘Sleep’ starts to take on its highly entertaining shape. Even freaked totally out of her mind, Soo-jin goes looking (for what? for who?) in the far reaches of their apartment, only to discover — via the rarest of horror tropes, an actually well-earned jump scare — there’s nothing to fear. Or is there?

While Yu, who also wrote the film’s script, piles on a few obvious elements — don’t get too attached to the couple’s cute dog; don’t overlook the mystical beliefs Soo-jin’s mom touts — much of what he’s put on the page translates cleverly to the screen. Upon close expectation, Yu is weaving a tight, taut thriller that knows the value of both jumping in fright and tittering in delight. Mostly set in the film’s apartment, which undergoes its own changes over the course of the feature, ‘Sleep’ is a close, claustrophobic gem, instantly immersive and constantly evolving. —KE