With the 90th Academy Awards kicking things off on the 4th, March is a month of all things movies.
Whether you’ll be tuning in on the big night (I will be – if I can remember to pick up the bucket-load of caffeine I’ll need, that is…), it’s hard not to get caught up in the hype of what is basically Christmas Eve for movie-goers.
And to give you a flavour of what you can expect to supplement your film festivities, here are just some of the films marching into cinemas this month:
Red Sparrow
Director: Francis Lawrence
Cast: Jennifer Lawrence, Joel Edgerton
Release date: Mar 01
Ever wondered what it might’ve looked like had Katniss Everdeen been successfully enlisted into President Snow’s ranks?
Well, Red Sparrow might just be the closest thing we’ll get to an answer. Reuniting Hunger Games director Francis Lawrence with star Jennifer Lawrence, this adaptation of ex-CIA agent Jason Matthews’ novel tells the story of a Russian ballerina recruited into the intelligence service.
Game Night
Director: John Francis Daley & Jonathan Goldstein
Cast: Jason Bateman, Rachel McAdams, Jesse Plemons
Release date: Mar 02
Collect $200 – or, $1m in the case of Game Night – as you pass preview night in North America. A reasonable opening return across the pond, UK audiences won’t get a slice of the action until March 2nd. More Cluedo than Monopoly, Game Night follows a group of friends, who meet regularly to roll dice and play cards, attempting to solve a murder-mystery.
You Were Never Really Here
Director: Lynne Ramsay
Cast: Joaquin Phoenix
Release date: Mar 09
The latest film from We Need to Talk about Kevin director Lynne Ramsay, You Were Never Really Here looks to be a dark, violent, neo-noir thriller. Headed up by the ever-intriguing Joaquin Phoenix, the film follows a traumatized veteran whose days are now spent tracking down missing girls. One case, however, threatens to change everything…
Tomb Raider
Director: Roar Uthaug
Cast: Alicia Vikander
Release date: Mar 14
Yet another popular series to get a Hollywood re-vamp, Lara Croft returns to the big screen after a 15 year, ummm, sabbatical…? hoping to breathe (or kick and punch, rather) new life into the franchise. Will Alicia Vikander be able to fill the boots left by Angelina Jolie and her striking British accent, though?
Peter Rabbit
Director: Will Gluck
Cast: Domnhall Gleeson, Margot Robbie, James Cordon, Daisy Ridley
Release date: Mar 16
James Cordon as the voice of the timeless Potter protagonist. A carrot worth dangling?
I’ll let you decide that one.
A Wrinkle in Time
Director: Ava DuVernay
Cast: Oprah Winfrey, Reese Witherspoon, Chris Pine
Release date: Mar 23
Following the historic feats of both Wonder Woman and Black Panther, A Wrinkle in Time continues the trend by becoming the first live-action film with a budget of over $100m to be directed by a black woman (and only the fourth woman to do so solo). Adapted from the late Madeleine L’Engle’s 1962 novel, and starring Oprah Winfrey, Reese Witherspoon and Chris Pine, there looks to be a sprinkle of (A-list) star dust to go with the fantasy of the film’s narrative.
Pacific Rim: Uprising
Director: Steven S. DeKnight
Cast: John Boyega, Scott Eastwood
Release date: Mar 23
Set 10 years after the events of del Toro’s original, the sequel, Pacific Rim: Uprising, marks the directorial debut of Steven S. DeKnight. The oceans are once again restless, and this time around it’s up to John Boyega and pals to smooth things over.
Unsane
Director: Steven Soderbergh
Cast: Claire Foy
Release date: Mar 23
After the success of Logan Lucky, Steven Soderbergh is back in double-quick time with Unsane – a psychological horror shot exclusively on an iPhone, starring Claire Foy who plays a woman involuntarily committed to a mental institution. Let’s hope Soderbergh remembered to turn off email notifications…
Ready Player One
Director: Steven Spielberg
Cast: Tye Sheridan, Letitia Wright, Simon Pegg, Ben Mendelsohn, Mark Rylance
Release date: Mar 28
Overly long poster leg or no overly long poster leg, the Ready Player One anticipation has been building across the film Twitter-sphere for some time now. On the 28th March, we’ll finally get to see if Spielberg and co. have delivered the goods we so badly crave.
Isle of Dogs
Director: Wes Anderson
Cast: Edward Norton, Bryan Cranston, Liev Schreiber, Greta Gerwig, Bill Murray, Jeff Goldblum, Scarlett Johansson
Release date: Mar 30
Woof woof, woof woof woof? Woof woof. Woof
That’s dog for:
A stop-motion animation about an island of dogs, directed by Wes Anderson? Looks bonkers as hell. We can’t wait.
What's the Motive? 