Cinema Romantico 2020 Movie Preview: THRILLERS & DRAMAS ONLY

There were few 2019 films I anticipated more than “21 Bridges.” Wait, you’re understandably thinking, “21 Bridges”? That was a movie to anticipate? But then, if you’re a loyal frustrated follower of Cinema Romantico you should know how frequently I lament the middlebrow, middle-class thriller and drama being squeezed out as Hollywood does nothing but pitch tents for tentpoles, to quote Jack Black, leaving everyone else to pack up what few belongings they have left and plant their flags in the art house. So when I see something like “21 Bridges”, I get giddy. That I waited until early March of 2020 to see it rather than catch it when it was released in November of the previous year, well, why in the world was “21 Bridges” released in late November, in the middle of the awards rush? It screams early March release! And so, as I watched it in early March (review to come), my mind drifted toward more early March-ish movies.

Movie preview listicles on the Internet run deep. And if you’re looking for a preview of the new Christopher Nolan, of the Lin Manuel movie musical, of Wonder Woman teaming up with Cyndi Lauper and Laura Branigan to go on tour (that is what “Wonder Woman 1984” is about, right?), well, go elsewhere. But if you’re looking for the next “Runaway Jury”, which is what Cinema Romantico is always looking for, then look no further; we have the 2020 movie preview for you.

Cinema Romantico 2020 Movie Preview: THRILLERS & DRAMAS ONLY

Spenser Confidential. Peter Berg directing. Brian Helgeland writing. Mark Wahlberg & Winston Duke crouched behind the hood of a car holding guns on the poster. A tagline like “The Law Has Limits. They Don’t.” That’s like the baseline for this preview. We give it... 3 Runaway Juries

Stillwater. Per Variety: “Stillwater follows an American oil-rig rough neck from Oklahoma, played by Damon, who travels to Marseille to visit his estranged daughter who is in prison for a murder she claims she did not commit.” An oil-rig rough neck in France? In prison for a murder she didn’t commit? INJECT IT INTO MY VEINS. We give it... 4 Runaway Juries

Greenland. Here I will simply offer director Ric Roman Waugh’s testimonial to CheatSheet: “It’s about a comet that is going to supposedly come by the Earth and be a big Super Bowl Party, the closest thing since Haley’s Comet.” He continues: “It doesn’t do what they think and they suddenly realize it’s a belt of comets, a belt of fragments. Now they know within 24 hours, planet killers are behind it and we are very close to the next extinction period.” So, it’s like “Melancholia” meets Roland Emmerich. Did I greenlight this movie? 4 Runaway Juries

The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard. The title alone yields 3 Runaway Juries and brings us that much closed to my longstanding dream of a middling thriller titled The Father’s Brother’s Nephew’s Cousin’s Former Roommate.

Vivarium. “A young couple,” explains IMDB, “looking for the perfect home find themselves trapped in a mysterious labyrinth-like neighborhood of identical houses.” I’m intrigued but also put off by astringent notes of the Dharma Initiative. 1 Runaway Jury

Cut Throat City. This isn’t just a heist movie, see, but a heist movie with Wesley Snipes. 3 Runaway Juries

Greyhound. May 6. Tom Hanks as American Naval Commander dealing with pesky U-boats during you-know-what sounds pretty good but is also a bit too prestige-ish for this list. Plus, Oscar winner Elisabeth Shue is in the cast as what I will go ahead and assume is Hanks’s archetypal Supportive Spouse on the homefront for, like, three scenes and what, Hollywood, are you doing to Elisabeth Shue? 2 Runaway Juries

No Time to Die. James Bond returns, yes, but in a movie that almost runs almost three hours with a villain who, rumors suggest, might be Dr. No which sounds like superhero movie subterfuge, which is NOT what we want in our middling thrillers. 1 Runaway Jury

The Woman in the Window. I admit, I wasn’t keen on this forthcoming adaptation of the bestselling A.J. Finn novel until, as I lodged my bi-weekly complaint about how there are not middlebrow John Grisham movies anymore, my friend Jaime rebutted that these movies – your “Woman in the Window”, your “Gone Girl”, your “Girl on the Train” – are the new middlebrow John Grisham movies. And, I mean, yeah. Adams/Oldman/Moore/Leigh is sort of our modern equivalent of Hackman/Weisz/Hoffman/Cusack. 4 Runaway Juries

Red Notice. Apparently, after some distributional shenanigans, this action comedy thriller currently does not have a release date. IMDb, in fact, suggests it might not be expected until 2021. But, people. The Wikipedia entry breaks it down like this: Dwayne Johnson is the world’s greatest tracker, Gal Gadot is the world’s greatest art thief and Ryan Reynolds is the world’s greatest con-man. I don’t care if it’s a year away, I want this, more and more of this. 5 Runaway Juries

Deep Water. Like George Costanza eating an eclair out of the garbage, Adrian Lyne is back, baby, and so it’s time to ignore your vegetables and eat some trash. 5 Runaway Juries