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5 Fantastic 2015 Films for Your Must See List, Including a Johnny Depp Career Resetter

By Cindy Davis | Lists | January 7, 2015 |

By Cindy Davis | Lists | January 7, 2015 |


Remember when we all used to be mad for Johnny Depp? Cry -Baby, Edward Scissorhands, Benny and Joon, Gilbert Grape, Donnie Brasco…HOLD EVERYTHING, remember Chocolat ? We thought he’d just go on killing it forever, but then came the Tim Burton bender, and a Sparrow too far; both career Depp and his public persona drifted into bizarroland. Oh Johnny, we thought we’d lost you forever.

Maybe not? Combing through some of 2015’s lesser known upcoming releases, I discovered Depp’s on-again/off-again dream project is indeed back on, and Johnny’s gone deep undercover. Playing a nearly unrecognizable Whitey Bulger, and with golden boy Benedict Cumberbatch, the brother by his side, maybe we’ll finally catch a glimpse of that breathtaking actor we used to know. And there are a few other gems that should really go on your lists. My one resolution this year is to see more movies.


Black Mass, September 18, 2015

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Directed by Scott Cooper (Out of the Furnace, Crazy Heart), starring Johnny Depp, Benedict Cumberbatch, Peter Sarsgaard, Jesse Plemons, Joel Edgerton, Sienna Miller, Kevin Bacon, Corey Stoll, Adam Scott, Juno Temple, Dakota Johnson, and Julianne Nicholson. Well, that’s a different look than the hobo-Johnny we’ve come to know. But maybe his turn as Irish mobster, Whitey Bulger will herald Depp’s return to his glory acting days of yore (Yore, I said it!). Based on Dick Lehr and Gerard O’Neill’s Black Mass: The True Story of an Unholy Alliance Between the FBI and the Irish Mob, Cooper also wrote the screenplay that details Bulger’s life of violent crime, and his years as an FBI informant. With a fantastic cast, and finally set with financing, hopefully we can consider this Johnny’s divorce from his caricature years.


Trespass Against Us, TBA 2015

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Directed by Adam Smith (Doctor Who, Little Dorritt, Skins), starring Michael Fassbender, Brendan Gleeson, Sean Harris, Rory Kinnear, Killian Scott and Tony Way. Gleeson plays Fassbender’s father in this story about three generations of a family of Irish outlaws hiding out in Britain’s countryside. Gleeson and Fassie butt heads as they try to protect the clan — each in his own way — and the law is on its way. With this brilliant cast surrounding the glorious Gleeson, and The Chemical Brothers score, Smith’s first feature is sure to be grand.


Sicario, TBA 2015

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(photos via Donald Mowat)

Directed by Denis Villeneuve (Enemy, Prisoners) Starring Emily Blunt, Benicio Del Toro, Daniel Kaluuya, Josh Brolin, Jon Bernthal, Jeffrey Donovan and Maximiliano Hernndez. Emily Blunt as a CIA recruited cop paired with a Delta Force mercinary (Del Toro) and an FBI agent (Kaluuya) to track, and take down a Mexican cartel boss. Brolin plays the CIA man in charge of the operation. After her great Edge of Tomorrow and Into the Woods performances, we want to see Blunt in all the things, even if she doesn’t sing (maybe in the shower…pretty please?).


Room, TBA 2015

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Directed by Lenny Abrahamson (Frank, What Richard Did), starring Brie Larson, William H. Macy, Joan Allen and Jacob Tremblay. Based on Emma Donoghue’s award-winning novel about a young boy and his mother, held captive in a small room. Yes, we’re terrified…yes, we’ll watch.


A Bigger Splash, TBA 2015

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Directed by Luca Guadagnino (I Am Love), Starring Tilda Swinton, Ralph Fiennes, Dakota Johnson, Matthias Schoenaerts and Aurore Clément. Guadagnino reteams with Swinton for his English language debut, a remake of 1969’s steamy thriller based on the Alain Page novel (as was 2003’s Swimming Pool). Swinton and Schoenaerts play an American couple vacationing in Italy; Swinton courts danger by inviting a former lover (Fiennes) — who brings his daughter (Johnson) — and, well…bad things happen. But really, Tilda playing sexy games is all we needed to know.


Cindy Davis, (Twitter)