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W ith Christmas and the excitement of New Year’s Eve over, one can be left with a strange feeling of emptiness post-holidays. That’s why we look forward to publishing this list every year – an expansive preview of all the most interesting new films tipped to hit festivals and cinemas in 2024. Check back tomorrow for part two, and let us know what you’re excited about by tweeting @ lwlies . 1. The Iron Claw (Sean Durkin) The story of the Von Erich family – regarded by many as one of the greatest wrestling dynasties of all time – is one of unthinkable tragedy, brought to the big screen by indie godhead Sean Durkin with an all-star cast. Zac Efron plays eldest son Kevin Von Erich, a sweet Labrador of a man who loves his brothers, wrestling, and his daddy – in that order. He’s joined by Harris Dickinson and Jeremy Allen White as his younger brothers, while the indomitable Holt McCallany plays their domineering, single-minded father Fritz. The wigs are big, the spandex is tight, and ...

I n a 2016 interview with Vanity Fair, Jennifer Garner was asked about her marriage to Ben Affleck, which ended the previous year. “He’s just a complicated guy,” Garner said. “I always say, ‘When his sun shines on you, you feel it. But when the sun is shining elsewhere, it’s cold.’ He can cast quite a shadow.” This could be equally applied to the relationship between Priscilla and Elvis Presley, as depicted in Sofia Coppola’s biographical drama. A filmmaker who has always shown an acute interest in the interiority of teenage girls, and the reality of otherwise picture-perfect romance, Coppola seems uniquely suited to tackle the story of the woman behind the man. As a lonely American teenager living on a US airbase in Germany, Priscilla Beaulieu (Cailee Spaeny) meets Elvis Presley (Jacob Elordi) for the first time at a party. He’s a tall, charismatic presence, who initially mistakes Priscilla for a high school senior. When she tells him she’s 14, he lets out a low whistle. “You’re j...

J oy (Max Eigenmann) is well aware of the fact that she has to suffer in order to keep her head above water as an undocumented migrant in the UK. Luckily for her, there are plenty of upper-middle class families happy to do some cash-in-hand deals for cleaning service in order to avoid taxes or supplemental agency fees. What appeals to the manipulative and domineering Katherine (Leanne Best) is the ability to make up the rules as she goes along. With a pay packet that’s a little higher than the norm, Joy gladly accepts Katherine’s sometimes-eccentric requests for tasks that are a little bit more involved than dusting, hoovering and cooking. There are plenty of films which adopt the vantage of the cleaner or the oppressed home help and show how they’re able to get one up on their snooty masters, but Paris Zarcilla’s nifty film is a little different. This opts instead to rake up the graves of the ghosts of yonder and explore a wider and, in most cases, more violent history of exploitat...

I n Next Goal Wins, Taika Waititi depicts Samoans the same way he depicted Hitler in Jojo Rabbit : as absolutely adorable. It’s based on Mike Brett and Steve Jamison’s 2014 documentary of the same name, about minnow football team American Samoa and their Dutch-American coach Thomas Rongen’s quixotic quest to qualify for the 2014 FIFA World Cup a decade after their infamous 31-0 defeat against Australia. The Samoans Rongen (Michael Fassbender) meets when he gets off the plane are fey, smiling all the time and fussily apologising for themselves; they’re sweetly overemotional and unfailingly polite. They’re too dumb to know when someone is making fun of them. They’re eager to please. They’re goofy little mascots. Rongen arrives on the island at rock bottom, inheriting a team whose striker can barely kick a ball without falling over and whose overweight goalie waddles around like The Mighty Ducks’ Goldberg. Taskmaster Rongen whips them into shape through multiple mock-inspirational tra...

Anton Bitel provides a look at six titles heading to streaming and physical media releases this month that you should add to the top of your viewing list. The Fall of Ako Castle, dir. Kinji Fukasaku, 1989 The true story of the 47 rōnin who took revenge for the death (by seppuku) of their daimyō Lord Asano after he assaulted the powerful court official Kira in response to an insult was regarded as an exemplum for the samurai code of honour known as bushidō, and has been the subject of many plays, television shows and films. Indeed over his career, beloved actor Toshiro Mifune appeared in three different versions of the story — Hiroshi Inagaki’s 1962 film Chūshingara, the 1971 TV series Daichūshingara, and this epic feature from Kinji Fukasaku, where he plays Lord Tsuchiya Michinao. The climax will eventually deliver on the promised violence, including an intense, prolonged sword duel between Fuwa Kazuemon (Sonny Chiba), bodyguard to the rōnin’s leader Ōishi Kuranosuke (Yorozuya ...

I f your ears have ever been blessed by the voice of the late Kevin Conroy – perhaps through any of the countless animated shows, direct-to-video films and video game franchises in which the actor played Batman over the last three decades – you’d quickly be able to recognise that deep, soulful tone of his. For a first-time listener, it’d be easy to mistake the actor’s voice for that of a jazz crooner tucked away in an underground speakeasy rather than a frequent face on the comic convention loop. But for many other people around the world, the mere whisper of his words connotes a whole flurry of emotions, one that evokes both an elusive magnetism and an irreparable sense of grief that have become hallmarks of the Dark Knight character ever since. When Batman: The Animated Series first premiered, there was little indication the show would introduce what is widely regarded today as the definitive take on the hero. Up until that point, the character’s perception in the public eye was a...

T hat’s right: Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom. If ever a first draft holding title ever made it right through all the levels of notes and amends and attempts to think of something just a tiny bit memorable, it’s Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom. Given that most people will likely refer to this film as Aquaman 2, as it is the moderately-delayed sequel to James Wan’s surprise 2018 hit, it’s not really an issue. But it’s handily evocative of pretty much every creative decision in a film which addresses its audience over and over and over again with the words: will this do? Perhaps we should answer the question: will it do? The original was one of the few titles to ring box office tills and garner polite (if hardly spectacular) critical notices within the eternal failson blockbuster franchise that is the DCU. Coming hot on the heels of Shazam! Fury of the Gods (tanked), The Flash (tanked) and Blue Beetle (tanked), it’s hard to know if this film is considered just another piece of corporate ca...

T he apple hasn’t fallen far from the tree in Leo – son of Mike – Leigh’s feature debut as director and writer, as the gently ambling, seriocomic Sweet Sue plays like one of his pop’s early, funny ones. Yet there’s something that doesn’t quite scan with this story of a thrill-seeking middle-aged woman who runs a dismal party goods store and her misadventures on the dating scene. Maggie O’Neill plays Sue as practically-minded and without any airs or graces. She is on the prowl for personal happiness, and if you’re not with her on this mission, you’re against her. Following a contextual prologue which captures her romantic and familial frustrations, she’s whisked away by surly, stacked biker Ron (Tony Pitts), and what initially appears as an ideal connection between two lost souls ends up as something of a nightmare as we meet divorcee Ron’s insane family of grotesques. It all feels very slight, with Leigh apparently undecided if this is a film about the awkward relationship trials o...

I s there anything more stirring than the game of football at its absolute best? To watch the great athletes and teams at work is to be riveted by the geometric intricacy of interplay; the precision of a pass threaded through a seemingly impenetrable mass of bodies; the balletic grace of a fleet-footed dribble; or the superhuman bodily contortion of a spectacular overhead kick. The football pitch is a canvas on which players paint their masterworks, sculpt with space, and craft kinetic poetry, all while a mob of devoted fans compose a raucous symphony from the stands. Yet for all that beauty, movies that do justice to the thrill and spirit of the sport have historically proven elusive. How can a game so replete with visual delights, and so saturated with personal expression, rank amongst the least cinematic of sports? For avid fans of both football and film, it’s as frustrating as it is mystifying that nobody seems to possess the proper instincts to make a football movie that feels ...

S o that’s a wrap for 2023… And it has been a banger. The 30 motion pictures you see in the list below are the result of intense internal deliberations deep in the LWLies secret lair in Shoreditch, and there was some democracy involved, but also a fair bit of common sense and personal lobbying. The list runs from 1 February 2023 to 31 January 2024 (to account a little bit for some early US releases, such as Poor Things and All of Us Strangers ), but we were fairly stringent on the cut-off. For our number one film, there’s something unassuming about it on first watch but, like all great art, it doesn’t just lodge itself in the mind, but demands repeated reappraisal and discussion. 30. Typist Artist Pirate King For better and for worse, we say to Carol Morley: never change. She is someone who, throughout her career, has ploughed her idiosyncratic furrow with passion and intensity. Sometimes, the final products don’t land, but with her new one , a comic dissection of English manne...