We Can't Wait 2015. The Complete Series
Saturday, March 21, 2015 at 2:00PM 
In the We Can't Wait series, just wrapped, we looked at our team's most anxiously awaited movies for the 2015 film year that's just begun. ("It's March!" you cry. It's okay. You're new. Our calendar goes Oscar to Oscar.) For the curious, the team decided and yours truly (Nathaniel) looked at the list -- essentially a top 20 at that point -- and voted only on the finalists... which amounted to a couple of "executive saves" I suppose you could say. Here's to hoping that all 15+ of these movies provoking Pavlovian drooling in our corner of the cinephile blogosphere satisfy.
Now that the list is fully up, I wonder how much of the next Oscar battles for Best Actress & Supporting Actress we've inadvertently prophesied what with Blanchett, Streep, Moore, Page, Cotillard, Winslet, Swinton, Rampling in juicy leading roles and Mara, Paulson, Chastain, Wasikowska, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Judy Davis and Dakota Johnson all featured (we assume) prominently in these 15 features, too. (yes, first our Oscar predictions arrive in April)
What movies DIDN'T we cover for the summer and following prestige season that you're most excited about? And which movies on our list did we properly whet your appetite for?
Lady MacBeth (Marion Cotillard) and her would be king (Michael Fassbender)
We Can't Wait
#1 Carol in which Blanchett ♥ Mara and her husband does not ♥ that
#2 Ricki & The Flash in which Streep rocks out / returns home
#3 Macbeth in which Fassbender seeks the crown whilst Cotillard tries to remove that damn spot and though we've had enough Shakespeare they're both too irresistible to deny
#4 Mad Max: Fury Road in which all post-apocalyptic hell breaks loose
#5 The Lobster ...who knows but electic cast and Dogtooth director intrigue
#6 Crimson Peak in which del Toro goes Gothic with scrumptious cast
#7 45 Years in which Andrew Haigh (Weekend) directs Rampling ♥ Courtenay
#8 Bridge of Spies Spielberg + Hanks ÷ The Coen Bros
#9 Taxi in which Jafar Panahi continues to make movies despite the ban
#10 Freeheld in which Moore ♥ Page and they reenact a true LGBT rights story
#11 A Bigger Splash gets the I Am Love team back together for erotic drama
#12 The Dressmaker in which Kate Winslet seeks revenge... with fashion!
#13 The Hateful Eight in which it's Tarantino so... our best guess (we don't read bootleg scripts) is sausage party mayhem + elaborately poetic shit-talking. One thing that's an absolute certainty: not enough actresses. Contrary to Hollywood's entire western genre, women made up half of the population back then, too.
#14 Knight of Cups in which we view Hollywood sellouts through a Malick prism?
#15 Arabian Nights in which Miguel Gomes (Tabu) makes a 6½ hour political fable
Related Sidebars & Prologues
You didn't see that coming?"
Animated Films
Tomorrowland
Jake Gyllenhaal & Franchise Returns
Avengers: Age of Ultron
Magic Mike XXL
Reader Comments (32)
sausage party mayhem + elaborately poetic shit-talking
^ best summation of Taratino, ever.
I'm really surprised that Ricki is so hotly anticipated by the team. I mean, every film has the potential to be a massive entertainment, but this one just doesn't read that way on paper. Not when compared to 45 years, A Bigger Splash or Magic Mike XXL
How close was the voting and what were the other 5 films that didn't make the cut?
@Henry
They worship Streep. Nothing more to investigate. The fact she's working with a provocative screenwriter is a first for her since Adaptation. They're excited because this inevitable nomination will feel more competitive than obligatory. That of course if the whole thing is not a missed opportunity like August Osage County.
Contrary to Hollywood's entire western genre, women made up half of the population back then, too.
Men outnumbered women in the old west.
With regard to the Best Actress nominees, I think you're missing Jennifer Lawrence in Joy. I know she and David O. Russell are divisive, but I'm surprised it didn't make the list, particularly since he's teaming with Annie Mumolo for the screenplay.
And Nathaniel, I already know you're going to say she's too young for the part - but Streep seems a bit too old for that Ricki part, frankly.
Love that poster!!!
Suzanne: Hey, Keith Richards is still touring, so let's table that judgment.
I posted these in the Carol thread. My most anticipated.
1. Demolition
2. Crimson Peak
3. Sea Of Trees
4. A Bigger Splash
5. Dark Places
Also adding Far From The Madding Crowd (I'm reading the book now)
I'm hoping for a nomination for Naomi Watts in Demolition, in whatever category. Also, would love to see a Helena Bonham Carter nomination for Suffragette, and maybe even a Keira nomination for Everest. To see all those three on the Red Carpet would be phenomenal.
I'm also want to see Far From The Madding Crowd. The trailer was good, it looks gorgeous, and I like Mulligan, Sheen and Schoenaerts.
Really? Star wars isn't even in the top 15? That's a film made for a list like this, even if it ultimately ends up disappointing.
I'm also currently looking forward to the below (among others).
Ex Machina
Midnight Special
Dark Places
The Good Dinosaur
Spectre
The Martian
American Ultra
The three on your list that I am least looking forward to are The Dressmaker, The Lobster and Knight of Cups.
Not on your list:
Suffragette
Far from the Madding Crowd
Pan
Tulip Fever
Ex Machina
I think it will be a big year for Carey Mulligan, I think Suffragette will be a bigger hit then Far From The Madding Crowd, but it will earn her some bonus points.
Pan is a Joe Wright film, and even though a re-working of Peter Pan wasn't high on my list, he is always interesting. Hugh Jackman in costumes by Jacqueline Durran.
Tulip Fever was written by Deborah Moggach, a great writer, and she did the adaptation of Pride & Prejudice. Has an enviable cast, including Alicia Vikander who is in Ex Machina.
Just wanted to add "Brooklyn" with Saoirse Ronan and Domnhall Gleeson, which got rave reviews at Sundance. This is likely to be both a popular and critical success.
Great series, thanks. And you covered most of what I'm looking forward.However where's the double dose of Gyllenhaal in Southpaw and Demolition? Plus Everesr has an interesting premise and is full of actors I like. And I'm intrigued by the Woody Allen pairing of Phoenix and Stone in Irrational Man.
That poster for The Dressmaker is all kinds of gorgeous.
I also want to see Brooklyn. I like that Saoirse Ronan continues to get good roles.
What is she doing with her arms?
murtada -- Jake Gyllenhaal is in the "related" postings below the list.
ladyedith -- brooklyn is really good.
anonny -- like i said i didn't really vote on this list but i'm surprised star wars ranks so high outside this site on people's anticipatory list. It's like everyone has agreed to have collective amnesia about how bad and disappointing the last three films were.
Henry - i'll have to let Amir answer that. I believe it was very close for 9-20. not so much the stuff above it.
Murtada, you saw Far From the Madding Crowd didn't you? Did you like it?
I wanted to see Carol, Macbeth, and The Hateful Eight.
Now I also want to see The Dressmaker, and Crimson Peak.
The non- mentioned ones I want to see are Testament of Youth with Alicia Vikander (always meant to read that trilogy but was too intimidated), Suite Francaise with Michelle Williams (meant to read that one too).
On the male leads side I want to see The Water Diviner with Russell Crowe, I Saw The Light with Tom Hiddleston playing Hank Williams (can't wait!), and Miles Ahead with Don Cheadle playing Miles Davis.
" i'm surprised star wars ranks so high outside this site on people's anticipatory list."
Lists like this are about films you are most flat out excited about - not a cold weightings of the probabilities what could go wrong and what could go right. Let's face it, a film set in the Star Wars universe is very exciting for a lot of (most?) movie lovers.
If they do this right, these films will soar. And with Lucas off the reigns, the odds have increased substantially. So the excitement is about the potential moreso than the odds of greatness.
Henry- Beyond what you see here, everything was super close. Nathaniel has mentioned executive saves, and one place that came into the process was for #15, where we decided to save Arabian Nights instead of Magic Mike XXL (they were tied on points), simply because we cover that film plenty elsewhere.
As for how close it was for the films you see here, I'll have to dig into my records to find the exact numbers. What I do know off the top of my head though is that Carol was so completely ahead of the competition that 70% of the way through the voting, I had to send emails asking the team to not include Carol on their ballots, because statistically it was impossible for it not to come first at that stage.
Thanks Amir. I totally get Carol being #1. It was what followed that surprised me. Were there parameters as to what sort of film to consider? I would have expected Spectre, Star Wars or Magic Mike to rank higher than some of the ones you list (I'm not criticizing the choices you made, just trying to understand how they came to be).
No parameters whatsoever. Any potential 2015 release that hasn't been released yet qualified.
I'm really not sure how certain films ranked so highly, but my only guess is that since I changed our usual top 10 ballots to top 5s for this, a lot of the consensus options that always show up on every ballot nearer to the bottom were absent in favour of passion votes.
Blanchett, Moore and Streep are pretty much safe
Rampling, who so deserves a first nomination (and probably win)
Cotillard (it's hard to get a nom for Shakespeare role these days) or Winslet (if she knocks it out of the ballpark)
For those who can't stop
hating onadoring Madame Streep:http://cdn.hitfix.com/photos/5989361/SuffragetteCast_blog_landing_large.jpg
What a great series, thanks. You have me excited for Freeheld and The Dressmaker. Other 2015 releases not on the list I am looking forward to are The Martian and Room.
Anon - I liked Madding Crowd. Schoenaerts smolders and Mulligan's great in the central role. I think she's a much better Bathsheba than Christie. One of the 3 interlocking stories doesn't quite workout but I think they might've fixed it since I saw almost a year ago. That must be reason for the long post production.
Thanks. That's good to hear. I heard somewhere that Vinterberg was still working on the editing in the summer so it has probably been edited down since you saw it.
I guess I assumed that the top 15 list had something to do with Oscar Love or nomination potential hence no Star Wars, Hunger Games etc.
Following up on Amir: having just five spots is exactly why I didn't want to "waste" a vote on any of the "well, sure, who isn't excited?" releases like The Force Awakens or the new James Bond, or the two Pixars. Or Carol, for that matter, given that it was our #1 last year.
The movie I'm most looking forward to in 2015 is Apichatpong Weerasethakul's Love in Kon Kaen.
I think Far From the Madding Crowd is going to be a surprise summer hit, something along the lines of 2005's Pride & Prejudice. And though it's early obviously, I'll include that I think, like P&P, its lead actress stands a good chance at an Oscar nomination.