Retrospective 2019- A Year in Film

August

Late Summer Stew

Image sources: Paramount, Universal, EOne & Sony

The culmination of the summer movie season brought plenty of breezy family fare to UK screens with films like ‘The Angry Birds Movie 2’, ‘Playmobil: The Movie’ and ‘Dora and the Lost City of Gold’, juxtaposed with horror flicks ‘Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark‘ and ‘Crawl‘, not to mention some daring irreverent stuff like tweener comedy ‘Good Boys‘ and British relationship dramedy ‘Animals‘. There was also plenty for indie film fans to chew on, including Pedro Almodóvar’s semi-autobiographical latest feature ‘Pain and Glory’ and transformative stories like convict drama ‘The Mustang‘ and biographical addiction tale ‘A Million Little Pieces’—plus more lighthearted fare like Bruce Springsteen-inspired outsider coming-of-age story ‘Blinded by the Light‘.

The month was however undoubtedly defined by one film when Quentin Tarantino’s outrageous ode to showbiz and the end of the classic Hollywood era ‘Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood‘ hit UK screens—as it gloriously re-wrote some rather morbid history, while capturing the essence of the time with memorable performances and daring characterisations which ruffled a few feathers.

Welcome to the House of Mouse

Disney’s D23 Expo

Walt Disney Pictures & Animation Studios

Getty Images

Not content with stealing the show at San Diego Comic-Con the month before, Disney used their own biennial fan expo D23 to underline their domination of the year in film and outline their plans for the near future. The company’s outgoing CEO Bob Iger and Walt Disney Studios chief Alan Horn treated thousands of fans in Anaheim and millions at home with teasers and filmmaker appearances for upcoming live-action releases ‘Mulan’, ‘Maleficent: Mistress of Evil’, ‘Jungle Cruise’, and ‘Cruella’, as well as Pixar/Disney animations ‘Frozen II’, ‘Onward’, ‘Soul’ and ‘Raya and the Last Dragon’—all due for release over the next two years.

Marvel Studios

Getty Images

D23 this year also brought the return of all-conquering superhero film mastermind Kevin Feige, as the Marvel Studios president thanked the fans for an incredible industry-changing decade for the studio, while building on their presence at Comic-Con to tease what the future holds on both the big and small screens for the MCU. He was joined by some of the stars and filmmakers for the likes of ‘Black Widow’, ‘The Eternals’, and ‘Black Panther II’, not to mention upcoming Disney+ shows ‘The Falcon and the Winter Soldier’, ‘WandaVision’, ‘Loki’, ‘What If…?’, ‘Hawkeye’, ‘Ms. Marvel’, ‘Moon Knight’ and ‘She-Hulk’—all to be expected over the next several years.

Lucasfilm

Getty Images

As is becoming tradition since Disney’s purchase of Lucasfilm in 2012, ‘Star Wars’ was a major presence throughout D23 this year, culminating with Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy bringing her writer/director J. J. Abrams and their cast for a teaser presentation for the ninth and final film in the epic Skywalker Saga ‘The Rise of Skywalker‘. There was also a much anticipated chance to get a look at the first live action ‘Star Wars’ TV series ever when showrunner Jon Favreau brought along his co-creator and one of his directors Dave Filoni, plus the cast of ‘The Mandalorian’ to Anaheim.

Disney+

Getty Images

Away from the teasers and celebrity panels, perhaps the expo’s most significant presentation came when the entertainment goliath gave further details about their upcoming streaming service Disney+. A development which will see them directly challenge the dominance of Netflix and major players Apple TV+ and Amazon Prime in the home on-demand space with an offering ranging from Pixar, Marvel and Lucasfilm properties, to National Geographic and the massive film and TV library from their recent 20th Century Fox acquisition—all to be launched in November in North America (March 2020 in Europe) with the premiere of ‘The Mandalorian’.

Those We Lost

Image source: Paramount, Getty, Sony, Warner & CBS

August brought the loss among others of Canadian ‘Star Trek’ favourite Barbara March (65) (Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek Generations), Oscar-winning British-Canadian animator Richard Williams (86) (The Return of the Pink Panther, Who Framed Roger Rabbit) and American counter-culture screen icon Peter Fonda (79) (The Wild Angels, Easy Rider)—plush veteran British-South African actress Sheila Steafel (84) (Tropic of Cancer, Parting Shots) and veteran American TV star Valerie Harper (80) (The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Rhoda).

September next page>

Comments

comments

Comments are closed.