When examining two artists’ work, writers rarely consider jumping across the media barrier to study themes and trends in art as a whole. Artistry isn’t limited to one form of multimedia, and auteurism can be examined between novelists, filmmakers, musicians, and/or playwrights. After listening to Kanye West’s The Life of Pablo and watching Terrence Malick’s Knight of Cups, I couldn’t help noticing similarities in the static energy of both projects, whose many moving parts turned into commotion. Although Malick and West’s creative processes are worlds apart, their evolution as artists can be seen as parallel as they explore spirituality, perfection and challenge the notions of art itself in their polarizing careers. But when comparing their recent output, it seems that they have taken one step beyond the apex of their highest artistic potential. The Life of Pablo and Knight of Cups are problematic works due to how involved they are in their own space, whether it be Malick’s cold, dreamy world or West’s personal heaven—empty of consequences. Both projects present a false sense of grandeur that falls apart on the principle of a weak foundation.

The titles of both The Life of Pablo and Knight of Cups allude to conceptually grand pieces doused in imagery and inspiration. After many assumed that West’s album was alluding to Pablo Picasso or Pablo Escobar, it was a bit of a surprise when West hinted that the titular Pablo may be St. Paul the Apostle. Yet, despite what the album promises, The Life of Pablo gives very little insight into the life of any Pablo, whether it be Picasso, Escobar, the Apostle or an alter-ego of West. In fact, the album meanders from track to track in a shallow and sometimes chaotic way. My first concern when listening to the much tighter 10-track album that premiered at Madison Square Garden was that Pablo wasn’t conceptually innovative unlike Yeezus or My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. That concern is even more grounded in the final album, which includes a lot of songs that feel like bonus tracks.

Knight of Cups central idea is much clearer, but not necessarily better in execution. Malick uses tarot card readings to characterize and split his film into chapters. The Knight of Cups tarot card comes from the “Minor Arcana” deck; when the card is upright it represents opportunities, changes, and new romances, but when the card is turned downward it represents recklessness and a person who has trouble distinguishing right from wrong. Knight of Cups follows Rick as he attempts to flip his attributes while meeting other individuals who represent different cards from the deck. Each of the first seven chapters, all named after a card in the Major Arcana deck, show Rick meandering between romantic flings and family members before finding his inner peace. His turmoil is cleared in the eighth chapter, called “Freedom.” Here, the tarot card concept comes to an abrupt halt—“Freedom” isn’t even a tarot card, yet many of the unused cards could’ve represented the same ideas of Malick’s final chapter. Ultimately, Malick captures the ideas of the cards as superficially as West creates a “Life” for any of his titular “Pablos.” Both works are sprawling and sometimes random, but they’re missing a central, cohesive idea. Though the works never hit a conceptual grandeur, they aren’t thoughtless and have some conceptual ingenuity.

When Knight of Cups and The Life of Pablo reach their thematic potential, they often focus on the same things: spirituality and a quest for perfection or redemption. These are some of the same themes that Malick and Kanye have tackled throughout their careers.

Malick’s work has always been upheld with inspiration from spirituality and religion. The Tree of Life is the epitome of his theological questioning, but To The Wonder and Knight of Cups also examine religion in their exploration of men lost in the worlds they inhabit. Knight of Cups’ spirituality and mystery doesn’t always lend itself to Christianity, but its opening lines come from The Pilgrim’s Progress, a Christian allegory written in 1678 by John Bunyan.

West isn’t unfamiliar to large productions sampling from a multitude of sources; speeches, sermons, and classic songs show up in some form or another throughout The Life of Pablo, along with dozens of other samples. The Life is Pablo’s opening track is “Ultralight Beam,” the most holistic and singular song of the album, which borrows from an Instagram post of a little girl saying, “We don’t want no devils in the house, God.” These words, which open the album, are unexpected from a rap album or a Kanye West album, but they mark a message that is revisited multiple times on The Life of Pablo. “Ultralight Beam” continues in a spiritual direction and, at times, nearly breaks into full gospel, whether it’s because of lyrical content or an actual gospel choir.

In relation to spirituality, West and Malick also explore a divinity in their own characters or personas. In the rap community, West is sometimes viewed as a god. This maybe indicates why The Life of Pablo features an enormous amount of other performers—work from his “disciples.” And while West has stated he’s a Christian, it’s a statement that comes with controversy after tracks like “Jesus Walks” and his album Yeezus, where West often paints himself as a false profit.

On the other hand, Malick takes no claim to be a god among men, but a theme throughout his work is a quest for perfection. This could manifest in striving for a perfect marriage in To The Wonder; a perfect walk with God in The Tree of Life; or Rick’s journey for divinity in Hollywood while finding redemption in Knight of Cups. At Malick’s best, his characters are human and their wonderings are relatable, but this theme of perfection actually provides ammunition to his detractors. Christian Bale wandering through Los Angeles meeting with countless women is, understandably, seen as pretentious and not insightful to the real everyman. Ben Affleck searching for true love through Rachel McAdams or Olga Kurylenko amid airy whispers in To The Wonder comes off as equally shallow and disengaged.

The Life of Pablo and Knight of Cups are hugely spiritual works, albeit in hugely different ways. West’s inward spiritual examination is more on the nose and ironic than Malick’s, yet it is clear that West and Malick take inspiration from a theistic entity—presumably a Christian one—that drives them into exploring divinity or the futility of perfection, respectively. As strong as these ideas were in previous Malick and West joints, it is hard for me to perceive their recent outputs as anything but slight.

Once upon a time, I wasn’t just a casual fan of West and Malick’s work, but their latest offerings have left me questioning their visions and career trajectories. My biggest complaints about their latest work actually relate back to the way the artists react with their audiences when they aren’t behind a camera or a microphone.

Malick’s dissociation from the public eye is evident in his most detached work yet. With Knight of Cups, Malick has lost the touch and understanding of the human condition that actually drove his earlier works. Instead of capturing a relatable story with real characters, Knight of Cups meanders and searches, but the exploration is never more than a surface deep perspective of an uninteresting man.

On the other hand, The Life of Pablo is an album of the moment that’s caught up in the zeitgeist. This is as much of reflection of West’s inward interests as it is a reflection of his every (unfiltered) thought. At times, The Life of Pablo becomes a misaligned musical rant that throws too many half-fleshed out ideas in the form of samples and guests instead of coherence and quality. The album, at its worst, could be compared to West’s twitter persona—scatterbrained, both musically and lyrically.

The Life of Pablo and Knight of Cups both reach moments of grandeur, but these moments only point to a greatness that is usually absent throughout the rest of their works. My initial response to The Life of Pablo was mixed, and as I continue to listen to the album I find it more problematic (but that still hasn’t stopped me from listening). Inversely, my only viewing of Knight of Cups was a chore that left me bored and irritated, but I find myself thinking about it more often than I anticipated.

At the heart of both works is a problem with auteurism. I have previously mentioned that both pieces serve as the strongest sense of vision from the artist, but this vision doesn’t translate into a language most audiences can understand or necessarily want to hear. Yet, on the other side of the spectrum, auteurism bolsters the careers of West and Malick, driving the creativity in both of their recent outputs. The Life of Pablo and Knight of Cups don’t work due to a lack of effort; Malick and West’s visions get lost on a large portion of their intended audience because they are too consumed in their own art.

In his latest movie, Knight of Cups, Terrence Malick asks us to join him, for the third time in a row, on a journey through the meandering thoughts of people lost in life, confessing their innermost moral quandaries to the cosmos as they stumble and crawl across god’s green earth and bask in heavenly sunlight. This time, the setting is Los Angeles, photographed in all its concrete, Art-Deco grandeur by trusted Malick collaborator (and Oscar darling) Emmanuel Lubezki. We follow and listen in on the thoughts of fading movie star Rick (Christian Bale) and, occasionally, his famous friends, as Malick lays out another unbearably thin narrative that’s as deviously frustrating as a 500-piece puzzle with 450 pieces missing. The eminently respected auteur clearly has a firm grip on the art of filmmaking—at his best, he’s one of the greats—but with his work becoming increasingly nebulous and less inviting to audiences, it’s come to the point where patience for his vagaries grows dangerously thin.

In an almost wordless onscreen performance (we hear his voice, but mostly in the form of narration), Bale drifts down the streets of L.A., occasionally jumping in thought to memories from Las Vegas, Century City and Santa Monica. Rick is in a perpetual state of punch-drunk spiritual crisis, surrounded by gorgeous women who glom onto his status, wealth and handsome looks until his emotional ineptness becomes too much to bear, at which point they make way for the next batch of girls to grab at his pants.

Rick’s fleeting romantic partners are played by a dizzying crowd of famous faces: Cate Blanchett, Natalie Portman, Imogen Poots, Teresa Palmer, Freida Pinto, Isabel Lucas and more can now add a Malick film to their resume. The roles are thin—Blanchett plays his ex-wife, Portman plays a fling—but isn’t every role thin in a Malick movie these days? Antonio Banderas makes an appearance a Hollywood playboy who throws a swanky house party littered with real-life celebrities playing themselves (“Look! It’s Joe Manganiello! Nick Kroll! Danny Strong! Wait…Danny Strong? Huh?”). Banderas takes over narration duties for a bit, spouting twisted, misogynist philosophy. “Women are like flavors,” he says in his sumptuous Spanish accent. “Sometimes you want raspberry, but then you get tired of it and you want strawberry.”

Malick does a good job of laying out the monstrous, indulgent allure of showbiz that pulled Rick in and broke him down into the wandering, pulp of a man he is. He’s become a phony, just like all the other soul-sapped leeches overpopulating the trashy town that bred them (to be clear, Angelenos, I mean Tinseltown, or the idea of it, not L.A.). Similarly swallowed by the city is Rick’s brother (Wes Bently), a non-famous drifter whose short temper is inherited from his and Rick’s late father. The particulars of the family drama (and, in fact, most of the particulars of Ricks life) are left for us to imagine on our own, but the quality of Bale and Bentley’s performances helps to form some semblance of an emotional arc.

Some (this writer included) would consider it a duty of a true movie lover to meet the filmmaker halfway when a film’s concepts or ideas are challenging or obscure. But with Malick’s recent work, it feels like he’s not meeting us halfway. We can only give so much of ourselves over to him before his movies start to feel like tedious chores. What’s so tragic about this is that, on a cinematic level, he’s phenomenal: he and Lubezki’s imagery is sweeping, evocative and immaculately conceived. Some moments—like a ground-level shot of Bale taking a knee on the concrete as an earthquake shakes the buildings and people around him—are so exquisite you could cry. But without a deeper sense of cohesion, these cinematic feats start to feel hollow as they pile on top of each other for two hours straight. As with Malick’s last movie, To The Wonder, Knight of Cups topples over, leaving us to sift through a mess of pretty pictures in a desperate search of some morsel of meaning. Like his characters, maybe it’s time for us to wake the hell up.

With today’s announcement of the 2016 Independent Spirit Award nominations and now a new official trailer Terrence Malick‘s highly-anticipated Knight Of Cups, you’ll have plenty to talk about over Thanksgiving dinner with the family this year (wait, Malick isn’t a frequent topic around your table?). Our first glimpse of the film came in the form of a rather cryptic trailer ahead of its world premiere at the Berlin Film Festival. And surprise, this new trailer doesn’t offer a whole lot of new information (this is a Malick film after all). Though that doesn’t make us any less excited for the film, which features performances from Christian Bale, Cate Blanchett, Teresa Palmer, and Natalie Portman.

Knight of Cups opens in theaters on March 4, 2016.

Broad Green Productions announced themselves as a new kid on the indie production block today with their partnership with suddenly prolific filmmaker Terrence Malick. The production and distribution company, formed in 2014, has acquired the U.S. rights to release Malick’s Knight of Cups, which is set to release later this year.

But that’s not all! Broad Green is also working with Malick for his next project, an untitled film that has cast Ryan Gosling, Rooney Mara, Michael Fassbender, Natalie Portman and Cate Blanchett. No timetable has been set for this release.

Though new, Broad Green Productions has already made an imprint on the indie scene with their acquisitions of upcoming films like Jeremy Saulnier’s Green Room, 99 Homes starring Michael Shannon and Andrew Garfield, and 2015 Sundance film A Walk in the Woods.

So 2014 gave us over a 1,000 movies and 2015 may have just as many if not more. That’s a lot of options. Dwindling box office numbers last year lead us to believe you, oh moviegoer, are of a discerning nature. So for those of you looking for a little direction, here are 22 films hot on our radar here at Way Too Indie.

The lineup for 2015 looks too good to be true so far, and who knows what other surprises could be coming down the line! (Seriously…who saw Selma coming last year?) On the way this year are new potential masterpieces from some of the most beloved auteurs of our generation (Tarantino, Herzog, del Toro, Malick), the latest entries in the flourishing careers of today’s indie kings (Baumbach, Wheatley, Nichols, Saulnier), two planet-sized studio blockbusters that’ll have geeks soiling their pants (you know what they are…), and the returns of two powerhouses trying to reclaim their former glory (the Wachowski siblings, Pixar).

Oh yeah…and MAD F*CKING MAX.

We can’t vouch for any of these films yet, but they’re buzzing in our ears and on our lists of must-sees. What movies are you looking forward to? Let us know in the comments and stay tuned to Way Too Indie throughout the year to see whether these films live up to our expectations or make us howl in disappointment (*cough* Mockingjay *cough* Big Eyes *cough*).

Most Anticipated 2015 Films

Far From The Madding Crowd

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Based on Thomas Hardy’s book, Thomas Vinterberg’s (The Hunt) latest film doesn’t exactly look like something we’d expect from him, but because of the novel’s fame as a great love story it certainly seems as if he’s trying his hand at a grander scope. From the film’s first trailer it’s quite lovely to look at, and if there are more like myself, suckers for period pieces focused on a forward-thinking woman taking love into her own hands, then the film’s already got a built-in crowd. Carey Mulligan stars as Bathsheba Everdene, a woman suited by three very different men who offer her three very different futures. Everyone loves a good love triangle, er quadrangle, and it’s been a while since we’ve had a good film version of the novel. The film releases in May, just in time for spring fever, wink wink. [Ananda]

High-Rise

Director Ben Wheatley proved that he is more than adept at making audiences distinctly, yet subtly, uncomfortable with his 2012 film Sightseers, and this is a talent entirely necessary when tackling a novel by J. G. Ballard. Though the author’s most famous work might be Crash, High-Rise is undoubtedly a masterpiece that is eerily relevant even now, 40-years after its publication. As a fan of Ballard’s writing, Wheatley has stated that his plan is to stay true to the author, who is well-known for his dystopian visions of modern life. The plot of the novel revolves around the residents of a luxury high-rise building, and the way the highly developed technology available to them not only isolates them, but does strange things to their psychological states. With a strong cast including Tom Hiddleston, Jeremy Irons, Sienna Miller, Luke Evans and Elisabeth Moss, the film is bound to not only be interesting, but perhaps also one of the most unsettling things we shall see this year. Set in England, High-Rise doesn’t have a release date yet but is expected to be seen in British theaters first. [Pavi]

The Walk

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James Marsh’s Man on Wire is my favorite documentary of all time, and its subject’s story is one of the most amazing I’ve ever heard. The film chronicles the events leading up to French tightrope walker Philippe Petit’s awe-inspiring, death-defying high wire act of a lifetime, when he danced in the sky on a wire stretched between the twin towers in 1974. Petit is the most mesmerizing documentary subject I’ve ever seen, and the film plays out like a heist movie as he and his team describe their intricate plans to break into the heavily guarded buildings and set up the daring spectacle (which was, of course, totally illegal). Robert Zemeckis’ upcoming dramatization of Petit’s story, The Walk, is exciting to me for obvious reasons, but what I’m really hoping for is a return to form for the director, who used to make excellent films but has fallen off in the past decade. Joseph Gordon-Levitt stars as Petit, an actor in whom I have all the confidence in the world. Hopefully Zemeckis can capture the thrill of the artistic caper as well as Marsh did. [Bernard]

The Hateful Eight

I love Quentin Tarantino’s love of film. I love how every second of his films are soaked in that love and I love how palpable it is to his fans. Whenever he announces a new film I get excited, and even though I think Django Unchained is the weakest film he’s made as of yet, and I’m not over the moon that he’s doing another Western, that’s not stopping me from being excited for The Hateful Eight. What I’m most anticipating about ensemble piece is the cast Tarantino has lined up. Channing Tatum, Samuel L. Jackson, Kurt Russell, Tim Roth, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Michael Madsen, and Damien Bichir. Some of the cast have worked with Tarantino before, but how long has it been since Tim Roth or Michael Madsen graced a Tarantino flick? Way too long. Not much is known about the film plot-wise, but when has Tarantino really disappointed in that department? We all know what’s coming our way; lots of cussing, lots of violence, and lots of blood. [Blake]

Mistress America

Noah Baumbach’s already got one comedy coming out this year in While We’re Young (which I caught at Toronto and then again as the Surprise Screening during the New York Film Festival), and while that film’s comedic look into age and identity merits its own selection on a Most Anticipated of 2015 list, we’re intrigued by the prospect of Baumbach’s newer project Mistress America. Premiering at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, the movie features Baumbach re-teaming with his Frances Ha collaborator (and girlfriend) Greta Gerwig, who once again co-writes and stars. The story follows Tracy (Lola Kirke), a lonely college freshman in New York whose university experience is failing to match her expectations. When Lola is taken in by her soon-to-be stepsister Brooke (Gerwig), described on Sundance’s website as, “a resident of Times Square and adventurous gal about town,” Lola gets swept up in Brooke’s adventures around New York City. If Mistress America ultimately resembles a companion piece to Frances Ha we won’t mind (Frances Ha was WTI’s 2nd favorite flick of 2013), but what’s exciting is to see Baumbach return to a street-level look at NYC, where he and Gerwig previously created an enticing, exhilarating perspective on being young amid the overwhelming offerings of big city life. [Zachary]

Ex Machina

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Alex Garland’s career achievements so far have been penning novels and screenplays such as The Beach, 28 Days Later, Sunshine, and Dredd, but now he’s stepping behind the camera with his directorial début, Ex Machina. Set in the near future when artificial intelligence is beginning to make major breakthroughs, a young programmer named Caleb (Domhnall Gleeson) is assigned to evaluate the humanistic qualities of a female A.I. robot. Caleb ends up falling in love with the beautiful robot girl, and she urges him to second guess his boss (played by Oscar Isaac) and question the motives behind the experiment. By the sounds of it, the film would make an interesting double feature with Spike Jonze’s metaphysical romance film Her. Given Garland’s previous writing efforts, there’s a good chance Ex Machina will be an imaginative and trippy thrill ride—exactly the type of sci-fi we like to watch. Those lucky enough to attend this year’s SXSW Film Festival in March will be able to catch the North American premiere. [Dustin]

Sisters

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I think Tina Fey and Amy Poehler have solidly established themselves as the queens of the comedy realm. People want to see (or read) whatever they do. Though their first attempt as a duo in a feature film, Baby Mama, didn’t make a big splash at the box office, with 7 years and (almost) 3 Golden Globes under their belts, they have been perfecting their chemistry since then. What’s really exciting is that adding to their biting wit and snarky banter, they will be directed by Jason Moore, whose job on Pitch Perfect took everyone by surprise and the comedic world by storm. SNL veteran Paula Pell will be handling the script, so we can rest assured that this super basic plot will be taken advantage of in every which way to give us a hilarious trip. I’m really looking forward to seeing the likes of Maya Rudolph, Ike Barinholtz, Kate McKinnon, and Bobby Moynihan make this perhaps the comedy of the year. Though SNL movies in the past have been mainly hit or miss, I’m banking on this one being a home run. [Scarlet]

Jupiter Ascending

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Like many indie cinephiles, I am an unabashed fan of the Wachowskis. After the groundbreaking success of The Matrix and their downfall throughout its sequels, the directing duo have seemed to reset themselves with a series of films that felt more pure while maintaining their incredible bold vision. There are many people that wouldn’t get behind Speed Racer and Cloud Atlas, but these are films I absolutely love for their visual and narrative uniqueness. Jupiter Ascending seems like it could be a slight return to a more mainstream genre exercise, but the Wachowskis are simply too interesting for me to ignore. The film’s delay from late 2014 to February should be a worrisome sign, but it almost feels like a badge of honor—perhaps it isn’t what the studio was looking for and won’t be what they expect as a sci-fi showcase for a mass audience. Even Channing Tatum’s (an actor I very much enjoy) weird blonde goatee isn’t enough to turn me off. Could it be a total garbage fire? Certainly. Then again, as the Wachowski’s have showed more than once, one man’s garbage fire could be another man’s masterpiece. [Aaron]

Queen of the Desert

Oh, the plagues of film production. Werner Herzog’s next feature-length fiction film was all but set and ready to go for last year’s fall festival circuit, until the official announcement came through that the film had met with technical difficulties in post. My heart, along with many others, sunk. Time heals, however, and now that we’re in 2015 I’m hopeful once again. It’s Werner Herzog, someone whom I have a bottomless admiration for (check out WTI’s 20 Herzog Film Retrospective we did last year to mark the man’s birthday). This time around, he’s tackling the biopic genre again (something he’s mastered in the past), and what’s most curious is that it’s a biopic of a woman (fresh!). It recounts the life of British archaeologist and explorer Gertrude Bell, who became instrumental to British imperial policy-making at the turn of the century. Joining Nicole Kidman in the title role (which Herzog reportedly says she nails), are James Franco, Robert Pattinson (both men having proven great with the right material), and Damian Lewis of Homeland fame. But, in truth, all you had to tell me is that it’s a Herzog film set in a desert and I’d be sold. Which I am. No official release yet, but since it’s reportedly overcame its post-production hurdles, expect Queen of the Desert to make an appearance at Cannes. [Nik]

Evolution

Last summer it was announced that French director Lucile Hadžihalilović was starting production on her newest film, and ever since then I’ve been anxiously looking for any news related to Evolution. For those unfamiliar with Hadžihalilović, I insist you go check out her 2004 film Innocence. It’s a little-known film about an all-girl boarding school that feels like an ominous fairy tale come to life. It’s a gorgeous, moody, atmospheric and undervalued work, one that would have established Hadžihalilović as one to watch if she made anything since then. Little is known about Evolution, except that it deals with young boys being the subjects of genetic experiments meant to reverse the stages of evolution. Hadžihalilović has cited The Island of Dr. Moreau as an influence on this film, so it’ll be interesting to see how she handles something more in the realm of horror and sci-fi. Will Evolution be worth the 11 year wait? Based on the strength of Innocence, I won’t be surprised if the answer to that question turns out to be a resounding yes. [C.J.]

Inside Out

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At this point, there is little anyone could say to deter me from being genuinely excited about every little piece of news we discover about the latest Pixar project. Inside Out, the animation that is quickly drawing more and more interest for its characterisation of human emotions—all inside the mind of a young girl—promises not only to uplift our spirits in the way most of Pixar’s original creations do, but also to be one of the most challenging adventures they have taken on to date. With little but the human mind as a backdrop, the film will no doubt be one of Pete Docter and Ronaldo Del Carmen’s most incisive deconstructions of human emotion and behaviour. Not to mention: is there anything more joyful than Amy Poehler being the voice of Joy? What could be more appropriate than Bill Hader voicing Fear? And Mindy Kaling is bound to bring unprecedented levels of sass to the role of Disgust. Announcing Inside Out, Pixar promised an exploration inside the world of the human mind, and with over a year having passed since their last film, it’s safe to say we can expect them to deliver on their promises. [Pavi]

Crimson Peak

My interest in the latest film from Guillermo del Toro was piqued (no pun intended) while at Comic-Con last July. Those in attendance were invited to a sneak preview of del Toro’s highly atmospheric film, and from what I could tell it appears to harbor all the creepiness of Pan’s Labyrinth combined with the ambiance of The Devil’s Backbone (my personal favorite of del Toro’s films). Emphasizing the horror elements was the blood-streaked logo of Legendary Pictures opening the teaser. Tom Hiddelston (master of dark macabre moods) plays the owner of an elaborate and gothic old house to which he has just brought his young bride Edith (Mia Wasikowska). Del Toro says he wanted a film led by a woman who gets the man and then has to deal with life beyond that, though of course it’s not likely most newlyweds’ experience to find themselves in a house alive with secrets and ill intentions. Jessica Chastain and Charlie Hunnam round out the cast for what looks to be a truly frightening and beautifully crafted gothic horror. The film is set for an October release (duh). [Ananda]

Midnight Special

Writer/director Jeff Nichols garnered a significant amount of attention for attaching himself to the McConaissance, just prior to Dallas Buyers Club‘s rise to Oscars prominence, with the filmmaker’s 3rd feature Mud. That intriguing drama about two young Southern boys who cross paths with a fugitive and help him reunite with a mysterious ex-girlfriend illustrated Nichols’ ability to craft personable characters shrouded in secrecy. For my money, it’s his previous film Take Shelter that’s his best, an eerie, low-key thriller about a possibly psychotic man haunted by a series of apocalyptic visions debating how to best protect his family. His upcoming project, a supernatural sci-fi thriller titled Midnight Special, seems to take aim somewhere between those last two movies. The story concerns a man (played by Jeff Nichols’ muse Michael Shannon) and his son Alton (St. Vincent newcomer Jaeden Lieberher) on the run after the father discovers his son’s unique abilities. Also starring Joel Edgerton and Kirsten Dunst in the group trying to keep Alton safe, as well as Sam Shepard and Adam Driver among the villains hunting the child down, Jeff Nichols has described the project as an ’80s style genre flick in the vein of John Carpenter’s Starman. If that brew of ideas sounds enticing, look out for Midnight Special in theaters November 25th of this year. [Zachary]

Avengers: Age of Ultron

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I know, I know. Avengers: Age of Ultron is about as far away from independent filmmaking as it can get, but there are reasons to be excited for it. It gets people to the movies, which is always a good thing. It gives its stars freedom and clout to make smaller films and get smaller films made. It’s also the best at what it is—there’s always room for popcorn as long as it’s good popcorn, and Marvel makes the best popcorn. Most importantly, The Avengers franchise is an unprecedented achievement in storytelling and moviemaking. Until the MCU, film series have mostly been vertical—film one begets film two, then three, and so on. Quentin Tarantino has dabbled in the horizontal, making tangential references among his films, but nothing has been as ambitious in scope as the MCU. Characters routinely crossover from film to film. The events of one film impact others on both axes and everyone assembles for the climax. This ambitious design takes great creativity and vision, but to have the skill to turn that vision into ten (and counting) successful films over the last seven years is a creative feat that gets lost in both the fanfare and the hate. [Michael]

The Lobster

If you’ve seen Dogtooth (if you haven’t, make it your top priority), it will be easy to understand why we’re anxiously awaiting Yorgos Lanthimos’ latest project. Lanthimos, who helped birth the “Greek Weird Wave” movement, will be making his English language début with The Lobster, and he’s lined up a killer cast: Rachel Weisz, John C. Reilly, Ben Whishaw, Colin Farrell, Olivia Colman and Léa Seydoux, just to name a few. The only other things we’ve seen from this film are the amazing photo shown above and a completely bonkers plot-description. And what is that crazy plot-description? Well, the film takes place in a dystopian future where single people are captured, locked in a hotel and given two options: find a partner within 45 days, or turn into an animal and get released in the woods. How can you read that and not want this movie in front of your eyeballs right this second? [C.J.]

Green Room

Jeremy Saulnier’s last film, Blue Ruin, was an out-of-the-blue masterpiece—its success even surprised Sundance, who initially passed on the film. Whenever a début is released that hits such a confident and stylish cord, there will always be pressure on the follow-up. Green Room seems to double-down on the dark and moody tone set by its predecessor. The basic plot has two separately, yet equally awesome, parts: a young punk band who somehow get wrapped up in a horrible act of violence at one of their gigs and a group of neo-Nazis who have some sort of relationship to said band. These groups coming together certainly has a great potential for dark humor and bone-chilling violence, which Saulnier has already wonderfully showcased the ability to meld and morph. But perhaps the most intriguing part of Green Room is the casting of Patrick Stewart, the grandfatherly actor and surprisingly wacky twitter persona, as the head of the neo-Nazi group. Green Room currently doesn’t have a theatrical release date set, but expect it to pop up at Cannes and top film festivals throughout 2015. [Aaron]

Mad Max: Fury Road

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I’m going to be that guy for a second: sorry, but I will never say that Die Hard is the greatest action movie of all time. I firmly believe that the honor belongs solely to The Road Warrior, George Miller’s rough and tough Australian film from the early ’80s. So when I heard that the series was finally getting a fourth film, I naturally started fist pumping until my arms went numb. The film has been in production for seemingly a decade now, long enough for me to pull the ol’, “I’ll believe it’s being made when I see a trailer.” Well, that trailer premiered at Comic-Con last summer and has had fanboys (including yours truly) singing from the rafters ever since. Miller returns to helm the film which is now being led by everybody’s favorite actor of late Tom Hardy, who seems like an excellent choice to play Max, the ever tortured soul of Australia’s barren and wasted Outback. What’s immediately admirable is that Miller has decided to stick with mostly practical effects (crashing cars for real with stuntmen) over digital effects. Because who doesn’t love cars smashing into each other at a 100mph for 2 hours? [Blake]

Joy

David O. Russell’s first collaboration with Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper was 2012’s Silver Linings Playbook. That film went on to great success, earning back six times its budget and collecting Oscar nominations for Russell for writing and directing, Lawrence and Cooper for acting (Lawrence won), and for Best Picture, among others. That turned out to be more than luck. One year later the dynamic trio joined forces for American Hustle to similar results. The film made back four times its budget and earned them another round of Oscar noms (as well as Best Picture, among others). After taking 2014 off (collaboratively, at least), Russell, Lawrence, and Cooper are at it again in Joy. The film is the real-life rags-to-riches tale of Joy Mangano, inventor of the Miracle Mop. Lawrence is playing the title role. Russell, Lawrence, and Cooper are on a hot streak. I can’t wait to see it roll on. [Michael]

Tomorrowland

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Brad Bird is one of my favorite directors currently working (I’m forever grateful for The Incredibles and The Iron Giant), and the fact that he’s helming Disney’s Tomorrowland instills a lot of confidence where, in a lesser director’s hands, I would probably write it off as a throwaway blockbuster with an arbitrary, shoehorned Disney trademark slapped on to inflate profits. I believe in Bird’s skills as a live-action filmmaker (I thought Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol was very good), and from what I saw in the inventive teaser trailer released last year (its highlight is one of the most fun, startling visual effects I’ve seen in a while), he seems to have a clear, fresh vision of the world of tomorrow. According to Disney, the film follows “a bright, optimistic teen bursting with scientific curiosity and a former boy-genius inventor jaded by disillusionment as they embark on a danger-filled mission to unearth the secrets of an enigmatic place somewhere in time and space that exists in their collective memory as ‘Tomorrowland.’” With George Clooney, newcomer Britt Robertson, Judy Greer, Hugh Laurie, and Kathryn Hahn, the film boasts a strong cast to boot. [Bernard]

Star Wars: The Force Awakens

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Adventure. Excitement. A Jedi craves not these things. I, on the other hand, really want this to be full of both of those. I can’t help but struggle, however, with a deep-seated fear…and we all know where that leads. Though our old heroes will be returning in the flesh—the real Han and Luke and Leia—will they bring back that original magic (Disney magic notwithstanding)? Or will they desecrate everything we hold dear? So, when I say this movie is anticipated, it’s an anxious anticipation. I want to love it. I dread the possibility that I will hate it. Some might find my lack of faith disturbing, but I tend to be a Star Wars traditionalist and still have a bitter taste in my mouth from the “special editions” of Episodes 4, 5, and 6 and consider Episodes 1, 2, and 3 to be nothing short of farcical. Though if you enjoyed those films, you’re pretty much guaranteed to enjoy The Force Awakens, so I won’t spoil it. For those in my boat? Well, it’s difficult to see. Always in motion is the future. Nevertheless, we have to know. This movie must be seen. [Scarlet]

Knight of Cups

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For our money, Terrence Malick is one of the greatest auteurs working today, so it’s not a surprise to find his latest experiment (because that’s what his films are) on our most anticipated list. Knight of Cups has run laps in the rumor mill for a couple of years now, so when the trailer finally arrived last month we could breathe a sigh of relief. And judging solely from the trailer, it appears we’re in for another ambiguous story filled with gorgeous cinematography from Emmanuel Lubezki somewhat like The Tree of Life—and if it’s half as good we’ll be thrilled! Knight of Cups sounds as cryptic as it looks, loosely structured as a modern-day fable with Christian Bale as a “young prince” who gets caught up in the celebrity lifestyle of Hollywood, possibly pissing off his father (aka the king) in the process. The film has a huge cast of stars: Cate Blanchett, Imogen Poots, Natalie Portman, Teresa Palmer, Ben Kingsley, and Nick Offerman. Though we know little about the film (typical Malick), all that really matters is that Malick is behind the camera, which is enough for us to eagerly wait in line for tickets. [Dustin]

Macbeth

This is going to be a great year. Part of the reason I believe that is because I’ve had such a hard time trying to decide which two films to write about (after my top choices Knight of Cups and The Lobster were already shot-gunned). It wasn’t long before I remembered Macbeth and got all jittery with excitement. Where to begin? As a student of literature, watching any Shakespeare adaptation (especially when the original text is retained) is like eating homemade apple pie; there’s an intimacy there that’s unrivaled by anything else. And his tragedy about a soldier too ambitious for his own good, succumbing to his own twisted sense of righteousness (twisted, mostly, by his cunning wife), is one of my absolute favorites. I’ve been aching to see what director Justin Kurzel does next ever since he blew me away with his haunting feature début Snowtown, and once I heard that it was Macbeth, with Michael Fassbender and Marion Cotillard in the roles of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, I was hooked in an instant. Working again with his brother Jed Kurzel (who composed the hell out of Snowtown) and True Detective’s cinematographer Adam Arkapaw is like a scoop of delicious vanilla ice-cream next to the pie I would’ve gobbled up regardless. No official release date yet, but it’s been in post for a while so no reason not to think it won’t be ready in time for Cannes. [Nik]

Shortly after the announcement that Knight of Cups would have its World Premiere in competition at the upcoming Berlin Film Festival, the latest project written and directed by Terrence Malick has followed up with a first-look trailer. Full of strangely framed shots from renowned cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki (who last worked with Malick on The Tree of Life, make sure to watch our video essay on the Screen Poetry of Terrence Malick), several of them upside down, the Knights of Cup trailer gives brief glimpses at the infidelity and celebrity status that the film might ultimately be about.

Starring Christian Bale, Cate Blanchett and Natalie Portman, the well-known cast extends well beyond its three leads including names like Brian Dennehy, Antonio Banderas, Freida Pinto, Wes Bentley, Isabel Lucas, Teresa Palmer, Imogen Poots, Armin Mueller-Stahl, the voice of Ben Kingsley and others who may or may not survive the final edit. Knight of Cups’ official synopsis is about as cryptic as the trailer:

Once there was a young prince whose father, the king of the East, sent him down into Egypt to find a pearl. But when the prince arrived, the people poured him a cup. Drinking it, he forgot he was the son of a king, forgot about the pearl and fell into a deep sleep.

Rick’s (Christian Bale) father used to read this story to him as a boy.

The road to the East stretches out before him. Will he set forth?

The Knight of Cups trailer is available online through FilmNation, watch it below:

It’s a new year, and that means new films, right? 2013 gave us some truly wonderful films, but amongst catching up on those that we missed and all the Oscar buzz, we’re also thinking about what’s on offer this year. Narrowing these films down to just a few was an incredibly difficult task, as not only are there so many films set to come out, but some are so clouded in mystery that you just don’t know where to start. Nevertheless, we have selected 10 films that we’re looking forward to the most in 2014, and they come from just about every genre. Let us know if there are any you think we missed, but as far as just these 10 are concerned, the anticipation is killing us.

10 Most Anticipated Films of 2014

Gone Girl

David Fincher makes the movies I love to see. The man seems to have a knack with twisty tales, whether they be completely crazy endings (like Se7en or Fight Club) or characters you love to hate (like The Social Network or Netflix’s House of Cards). Having read the novel, I know Gone Girl has both. And with a great cast that includes power-hitter Ben Affleck playing Nick Dunne, the husband who is unexpectedly thrown into the national spotlight when his wife goes missing, my expectations are pretty high for the film adaptation. Casting for the lead part of Amy, the housewife-gone-missing, took some time to be solidified, with several major actresses in consideration. But Rosamund Pike was finally chosen, which has me quite curious. Pike has played some really soft roles in the past and, without giving any of the story away, Amy is the sort of character that could either show off Pike’s versatility or ruin the whole thing. The book is known for it’s major plot twists and I for one can’t wait to see Fincher put his own mark on the visuality of the story. Slated for an October release, it should be exactly the sort of chilly Fall tale we’ll be craving. [Ananda]

The Grand Budapest Hotel

Wes Anderson is famous for his distinctive visual and narrative style in such films as Moonrise Kingdom, Fantastic Mr. Fox, and The Darjeeling Limited, and will be releasing his latest quirky comedy The Grand Budapest Hotel in March of this year. The film follows the adventures of an infamous concierge at a well-known and well-frequented European hotel. Their experiences are shared with an all-star cast, most of which have worked with Anderson in the past; Jude Law, Bill Murray, Tilda Swinton, Willem Dafoe, Owen Wilson, and Adrien Brody. The Grand Budapest Hotel looks to be quite the dramatic comedy with the charm and flare we all know Wes Anderson films to behold. [Amy]

While We’re Young

Last Year my faith was restored in Noah Baumbach as a filmmaker to be vigilant of again after supplying his delightful indie comedy Frances Ha, a film that landed the #2 spot on our Best Films of 2013. Reuniting with the director again for the first time since 2010’s Greenberg is Ben Stiller, playing the part of a middle-aged filmmaker whose marriage gets more tranquil after making friends with a young free-spirited couple. Joining Stiller as part of the cast are Amanda Seyfried, Naomi Watts, Adam Driver, and Brady Corbet. It will be interesting to see if While We’re Young plays out to be more like his earlier work (The Squid and the Whale), or more like his re in nt work (France Ha). Though a happy medium between the two could be in order. Either way, we are glad to see the uptick in frequency which Baumbach is making films as of late, he even has another film in post-production at the moment. [Dustin]

Nymphomaniac

At this point it’s hard to find someone who doesn’t know about Nymphomaniac. Split into 2 films, and running for 4.5 hours total, Nymphomaniac is Lars Von Trier’s newest film. It tells the story of Joe (Charlotte Gainsbourg), the titular sex addict who explains her life story to a stranger (Stellan Skarsgard) after he saves her life. The eclectic cast includes Shia LaBeouf, Uma Thurman, Christian Slater, Willem Dafoe, Udo Kier and Jamie Bell, just to name a few, and it`s already been widely reported how porn actors were used as doubles for the film`s hardcore sex scenes. The film`s marketing, including ‘appetizer’ teaser clips and a provocative series of character posters, have helped make Nymphomaniac the arthouse event of 2014. The film will be out in theatres and on VOD in March, but Lars Von Trier purists might have to wait even longer. The theatrical version wasn’t put together by Von Trier, and he’s already preparing a 5.5 hour director’s cut that will presumably come out later this year (Volume 1 of the “uncut” version is set to premiere at Berlin, and it won’t be a surprise if Volume 2 pops up at Cannes). [CJ]

Knight of Cups

Just as Flaubert and Joyce understood the need for literary revolution in the face of an unstable society, so did certain filmmakers understand cinematic development as part of a larger social reality: Griffith, Welles, and Hitchcock to name a few, and now, Terrence Malick. Some people are just game-changers, and there is no denying that Malick has changed the world of cinema irrevocably. I could wax lyrical for hours about his conceptualisation of film – his work is nothing short of a feast for the eyes and indeed the very soul – but truly, all you need to do to understand is watch some of his work. His recent association with Brad Pitt and Sean Penn in The Tree of Life brought mainstream audiences just a little closer to Malick’s world, so it’s incredibly exciting to think of what he could have in mind to really show audiences what he is capable of. Knight of Cups is in post-production and has been for a while now; while we’re still not entirely certain it will come out this year, we can but hope. With names like Christian Bale, Natalie Portman and Teresa Palmer on the bill, there’s no doubt Malick has something breathtaking in store for us – I’m certainly going to keep my eyes peeled for this one. [Pavi]

Interstellar

It’s time to let him off the leash again. Christopher Nolan has proven he can sell a movie ticket or two with his Dark Knight trilogy, which has earned him the freedom (granted by big studios like Paramount) to make movies and tell stories on his terms. Based on the theories of relativity physicist Kip Thorne, Interstellar looks to excite the senses and tickle the imagination in the same way Inception did. The film follows a group of scientists who, with their home planet drying up, travel to different dimensions in search of a place to grow crops so that their people can endure. Boasting a killer ensemble cast featuring Michael Caine (surprise, surprise), Anne Hathaway, Casey Afleck, Matthew McConaughy, Ellen Burstyn, Wes Bentley, Jessica Chastain, David Oyelowo, John Lithgow, Bill Irwin, and Mackenzie Foy, Interstellar is sure to get sci-fi geeks all hot and bothered leading up to its November release. Plus, Nolan strapped an IMAX camera to the nose of a freaking learjet. Hold on to your butts! [Bernard]

Journey to the West

Back in September at the Venice Film Festival Tsai Ming-Liang publicly stated that he hoped Stray Dogs would be his last film. The news was disappointing, especially since Stray Dogs was his best film in years (it went on to win the Grand Jury Prize at Venice). It came as a surprise, then, that the Berlin Film Festival announced a new Tsai Ming-Liang film would be premiering in February. There isn’t much information out there on Journey to the West, but from what we know it’s going to be a loose adaptation of the classic Chinese tale. Knowing Tsai’s style, this will probably be a very loose adaptation, but regardless it’s exciting to see him continue to work. Tsai is one of the most distinct filmmakers working today, and while his style may not appeal to everyone (the last two shots of Stray Dogs combined come close to breaking the 30 minute mark) it’s undeniable that no one out there is making films in the same way. [CJ]

Jupiter Ascending

While Cloud Atlas was not the return of the Wachowskis I had hoped for, I’m giving them the benefit of the doubt that it’s because they were working with someone else’s writing, and an incredibly complex novel at that. This time Andy and Lana are back to writing a story of their own, and hopefully tapping into the vein that brought us the complex and sci-fi world of The Matrix. Granted, it has Channing Tatum, and he’s wearing eyeliner. But if there’s anything the trailer proves, it will definitely be up to par with the visual grandeur that we’ve come to expect from the Wachowskis. Similar to The Matrix, Jupiter Ascending is the tale of a girl with a genetic destiny, Jupiter Jones (Mila Kunis). Destined to overthrow the Queen of the Universe, Jupiter is rescued from her life of toilet cleaning by Tatum’s genetically engineered hunter. She discovers the vastness of the universe she lives in and that she has an important place in it. Who doesn’t love a good tale of comeuppance, on an intergalactic scale? Even if it’s got a bit of cheese, it comes out in July when we’ll all be glad for an excuse to escape to the theater, and I for one will gladly splurge to see the Wachowskis first 3D endeavor. [Ananda]

The Double

Richard Ayoade began his career as a comedy actor starring in relatively popular television shows such as The IT Crowd and he Mighty Boosh, before making his incredible feature directorial debut with Submarine. The Double is Ayoade’s sophomore film that stars Jesse Eisenberg as a man who goes crazy after running into this doppleganger. The film already premiered last fall at the Toronto International Film Festival and received a lot of praise for its trippy mind games and quirky comedy–which is exactly the kind of films we kind to enjoy here at Way Too Indie. Make sure that The Double is on your list of films to catch in 2014. [Dustin]

Inherent Vice

Set in 1970s Los Angeles, Paul Thomas Anderson’s Inherent Vice follows the fuck-ups and follies of druggy detective Larry “Doc” Sportello (Joaquin Phoenix), who’s surprised to find that the kidnapped girl of a case he’s investigating is his ex-girlfriend. What’s most exciting to me about the project (aside from the obvious fact that ol’ PT never fails) is that Anderson is reuniting with director of photography Robert Elswit, who helped him make There Will Be Blood look so damn pretty. As per usual for Anderson, everything will be filmed in 35mm film stock. The cast is stacked, with Phoenix being joined by Josh Brolin, Martin Short, Benicio Del Toro, Jena Malone, Reese Witherspoon, Owen Wilson, Kevin J. O’Connor, Maya Rudolph, and more. [Bernard]