In the last few years, Taylor Sheridan went from being known for acting in shows like Sons of Anarchy to one of Hollywood’s most prolific writers and producers working in television. His shows Yellowstone, Lioness, and Landman are some of his most successful titles, and he doesn’t seem to be stopping anytime soon. Now, Sheridan fans can also get excited about one of his OG films (and best works ever) heading to streaming very soon.

Sicario is about to become available with a Peacock subscription starting on September 1, which is huge news for cinephiles everywhere. Sicario is the first film Sheridan wrote that was made into a major motion picture. The movie is fantastic, and Sheridan’s writing paired with the astounding direction of Denis Villeneuve, makes the film a modern classic.

Many critics agree, as the movie currently holds an impressive 92% score on Rotten Tomatoes. The Sicario cast can't be overstated either, as Emily Blunt, Josh Brolin, and Benicio del Toro give some of their best performances.

For those who haven’t seen the film, Sicario follows FBI agent Kate Macer, played by Blunt, on a top-secret assignment near the U.S.-Mexican border after she has been recruited for a government task force. The team is led by Alejandro, played by Del Toro, under the guise that the team is fighting drug cartels. However, Kate learns there is a lot more going on under the surface. The movie ends up exploring themes surrounding morality and corruption, and the idealism of the American Dream.

Sicario ended up inspiring a sequel, Sicario: Day of the Soldado, which was also written by Sheridan. The film feels like a touchstone for Sheridan’s career, as many of the themes and institutions investigated in the movie are also investigated in his other projects, like Lioness and Mayor of Kingstown -- which are both available with a Paramount+ subscription.

The film was also a huge moment for Sheridan as a creative, as it served as his jumping-off point as a powerhouse behind the scenes. Now, he's the mastermind behind massive hit shows like Yellowstone, and he's even tried his hand at directing. If anyone is a fan of Sheridan’s work, Sicario feels like an integral title on their watchlist.

Sicario returning to streaming isn’t the only exciting thing happening in the Sheridan-verse. There are two spinoffs directly related to Yellowstone in the works. Additionally, the third season of Tulsa King is set for release next month, Landman wrapped its second season and will come out later this year, and Mayor of Kingstown Season 4 will premiere in October. Sheridan writes shows at an unimaginable pace, which is a true testament to his skill and hard work, and is also a true treat for his fans.

He has a lot on his plate, but maybe he will someday have time for a third Sicario film. I have a feeling there is about to be a true audience for one once Sicario is rediscovered in this upcoming streaming run.

You will be able to check out Sicario, as well as other exciting movies heading to streaming on platforms like Peacock, on September 1st. Fans of Taylor Sheridan can also watch most of his projects, including the latest season of 1923 and the upcoming season of Tulsa King on Paramount+.

No one really scrolls the channels looking for something to watch anymore, there are too many great streaming services and other ways to call up your entertainment on demand. Back in the late 20th Century, however, that was the only option, and so, as you flipped endlessly from channel to channel, you could only hope to come across a classic "remote dropper." One of those movies, like The Big Lebowski or The Hunt For Red October, that never gets old is a remote dropper, and those are what this list is all about. The moment you hit on a movie you love, and drop the remote for the next couple of hours.

Die Hard

Die Hard may ultimate Christmas movie to some, but it is always a must-watch, no matter what season it is. There are so many amazing moments in the movie, no matter where it is in the plot, you just have to stop and watch until the end when Al becomes the hero he deserves to be.

GoodFellas

Martin Scorsese's classic Goodfellas is one of those movies where the great performances and amazing dialogue just get better with time. It's a movie that has aged incredibly well, and really, do we need to explain why so many people call this the perfect gangster movie?

Friday

Speaking from experience, I can tell you, if you went to college in the '90s, Friday was part of a regular rotation of movies that were watched over and over and over again. It really introduced Chris Tucker to the world, and it's filled with so many quotable lines from Tucker and the others that my friends and I could basically recite the entire movie. There's a good reason that it is so meme'd today.

Ocean's Eleven

The incredible cast, headlined by George Clooney and Brad Pitt, is so utterly charming in Ocean's Eleven that it's impossible to pass up when it's on. Every viewing will give you a new favorite moment or favorite line. The pace of the movie is perfect as you speed along to the fantastic conclusion. It's a classic heist movie, among the best the genre has ever produced.

Anchorman

Talk about a movie with an endless amount of quotable lines. There aren't many movies out there that have as many as Anchorman. It's ridiculous and hilarious. The comedy is Will Ferrell at his zenith, in my opinion. He's always funny, but Ron Burgundy is his funniest character ever. Including Buddy the Elf.

The Godfather And The Godfather Part II

There is a reason The Godfather and its first sequel are so often ranked as among the finest films ever made. The dense, complex movies are still incredibly watchable. That is a hard combo to pull of, but that's what makes the Francis Ford Coppola's movies so freaking great. They have everything anyone could ever want in a movie. Watching them back to back is a perfect way to spend a rainy day.

Fast Times At Ridgemont High

With an incredible cast of future stars, Fast Times at Ridgemont High will never not be a classic. Some of the jokes have aged poorly, to be sure, but for anyone who grew up with the movie on cable all the time, it will always be a favorite.

Dredd

If you haven't watched Dredd in a while, you should. The Alex Garland-penned superhero based on the classic comic series is an amazing improvement over the first attempt to adapt Judge Dredd by Sly Stallone in the '90s. Whenever I want to watch a movie and can't decide what to watch, there is a good chance I'll fall back on this, since it never gets boring or old.

Malcolm X

I'm a sucker for a great historical biopic and Spike Lee's Malcolm X is truly one of the best. It's also my favorite performance by Denzel Washington, and that is really saying something. Based on Alex Haley's The Autobiography Of Malcolm X, Lee adaptation is fantastic from start to finish.

Raiders Of The Lost Ark

I mean, come on, how could Raiders not be on this list? The Steven Spielberg classic is one of the most fun movies ever made. It's quippy and exciting, and it's exactly the kind of movie that everyone loves to watch. And we all know it so well, you can still get distracted by your phone and not worry about missing any important plot points that you don't already know by heart.

Network

It's almost scary just how relevant a movie like Network, which was released in 1976, is today. Ned Beatty's speech about corporations running the country is so prescient it's crazy. The rest of the movie is just as good.

The Hunt For Red October

This, to me, is the ultimate remote-dropper. It's the movie that inspired this list. It's such a well-made movie, from start to finish, that it just never, ever gets old. The Hunt For Red October is a near-perfect movie in my opinion, and it's easily one of the best movies of the 1990s. Sure, Sean Connery's lack of an accent is a little weird, but he's so great otherwise, it's easy to overlook. Alec Baldwin was born to play Jack Ryan, and I wish we'd gotten more movies with him in the role.

The Big Lebowski

There are many people who, when asked what their favorite movie of all time is, will answer with The Big Lebowski. It's the ultimate shaggy dog story with a cool macguffin (The Dude's rug), and some of the best dialogue ever put on film, courtesy of the Coen Brothers. All the Dude wanted was his rug back, and instead, we got one of the best movies ever.

The Dark Knight

Whenever a director as talented as Christopher Nolan takes on a superhero movie, sign me up. Ultimately, though, it's not Nolan's awesome direction that brings me back again and again; it's Heath Ledger's legendary performance as The Joker in The Dark Knight. It has redefined how the classic character has been portrayed ever since.

The Princess Bride

From the time you're a kid, well into adulthood, The Princess Bride is part of your life. It changes with perspective as you age, but it's always fantastic. The story is so timeless, and the performances are so good, it just never gets old. It would be inconceivable to me to keep scrolling when I see it on TV.

Dazed And Confused

Alright, alright, alright. You knew this one had to be here. The ultimate coming-of-age high school party movie that somehow avoids so many of the tropes of the genre that other movies like it fall into. It helps to have actors like Matthew McCoughnehey, Ben Affleck, Parker Posey, Cole Hauser, and so many more to anchor the movie.

Sicario

I was entranced the first time I saw Sicario. The gripping movie is intense, but incredibly watchable. The performances from Emily Blunt and Josh Brolin are great, but it's Benicio Del Toro who really steals the show as a man on a psychotic mission to avenge his family.

Casablanca

Casablanca is quite possibly the most quoted movie of all time. The first time you see it, it almost feels like a parody of classic cinema because so many iconic lines originated here. Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman are incredible, and the movie has it all, from daring escapes to classic romance to even some wonderful humor. Yeah, it's a misquote, but I'll always "Play it again, Sam."

Apocalypse Now

The opening scene of Apocalypse Now, with the trees exploding and The Doors playing over the sound of a helicopter is one of the most engaging opening scenes in any movie, ever. The movie never lets up from there (unless you're watching the "Redux" version, which I don't recommend). Screenwriter John Milius manages to cram a war movie with so many classic quotes, it's a movie you can recite over and over when you watch.

New Jack City

If we're honest, New Jack City is a bit dated these days, but in its time, it was one of the most rewatchable movies of the era. The Crack Epidemic was very real, and no movie showed it quite like this Wesley Snipes-led classic. Plus, Chris Rock, who was just 19 years old at the time, puts in one of his best acting performances of all time.

Tombstone

Could Tombstone be the most quotable movie ever? It is certainly one of the best Westerns ever. That's before we even get into all the amazing facial hair in the movie. The whole cast is amazing, especially Val Kilmer as Doc Holiday, and that will always make the movie rewatchable.

Once Upon A Time In Hollywood

This one is personal. I love some Quentin Tarantino movies, and I honestly hate other ones. I suppose that's the mark of a great artist. His vision isn't always going to line up with everyone else's idea of greatness. Once Upon A Time In Hollywood is a truly great one, though. There are so many fun moments, great lines, and superb performances that it's easy to watch again and again.

Friends With Benefits

Rom Coms are always great movies to have on in the background as you do your daily chores, and my favorite for that is Friends with Benefits. Mila Kunis and Justin Timberlake have great chemistry, and, honestly, Woody Harrelson's performance is my favorite part of the movie. He's just hilarious.

Iron Man

In a way, Iron Man is on this list to represent the entire MCU. It set such a fantastic example for next three dozen movies that it's hard to imagine any other movie launching the most successful franchise of all time. And it's maybe the most rewatchable of all them.

Beverly Hills Cop

In the 1980s, there was no one funnier than Eddie Murphy, and the peak of that came in Beverly Hills Cop. It's the perfect movie for Murphy's irreverent, foul-mouthed humor, and every single joke in the movie lands perfectly. It also has a great plot that allows for more than just Murphy delivering those jokes.

The Game

Director David Fincher has a slew of movies that could be on this list, like Seven and Fight Club, and even The Social Network, but for me, the one I love the most is The Game. It's a movie I knew nothing about when I first saw it and it blew my mind. I've revisited it many, many times over the years since.

Jurassic Park

The summer of 1993 will forever be known as the summer of Jurassic Park. The movie dominated the box office all summer, and it launched a franchise that is still going more than 30 years later. The most amazing part is how well the visual effects still hold up, and that is why it is on this list. It will be watched until the end of time.

Mean Girls

Talk about quotable movies! Mean Girls is full of classics. Its also one of the most enduring comedies of its era and has even inspired a musical and movie adaptation of that musical.

The Silence of the Lambs

The Silence of the Lambs is the last movie to win each of the "Big Five" Oscars. It won Best Picture, Best Director for Jonathan Demme, Best Adapted Screenplay for Ted Tally, Best Actor for Anthony Hopkins, and Best Actress for Jodi Foster. That pretty much tells you everything you need to know.

True Romance

Tony Scott has a bunch of movies that could fit on this list. Top Gun, Days Of Thunder, Crimson Tide...it's a long list. For me, however, True Romance is his best. The Tarantino-penned classic also features one of the greatest scenes in movie history between Christopher Walken and Dennis Hopper that ends with Hopper's character's death.

American Fiction

The Oscar-winning American Fiction is the newest movie on this list, but it became an instant classic for me. Issa Rae's character never fails to crack me up in her first scene, and Sterling K. Brown delivering the line "I've taken a lover" is my favorite quote in a movie this decade.

Boogie Nights

Paul Thomas Anderson hit the big time with Boogie Nights, and there are a lot of reasons it's on this list. The music is amazing, and every scene is like a self-contained mini-film. No matter where you start, you are sucked right in. The end gets a little dark, sure, but it's still Anderson's most rewatchable film.

Movies scores add so much to films it’s hard to overstate just how important they are. Music can completely change the mood of a movie, or a scene, in ways that little else can. Most movie scores follow a tried and true formula and while we would never discount the importance of such scores, the ones on this list are different. They are meant to be jarring, or at least different enough that they reach new heights in what a film score can be. Here are 32 of the most unconventional film scores we think are among the best of all time. 

Pee-Wee's Big Adventure

We’re all very used to Dany Elfman’s contributions to film scores at this point. He’s been one of the most in-demand composers for decades. That wasn’t always the case, and when Tim Burton brought him in to do the score for Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure, Elfman’s eclectic style wasn’t at all conventional. Elfman came from an art-rock background and by diving into movie scores, he brought a very fresh perspective. It fit Burton’s style perfectly, which explains why they’ve worked together so often since. 

There Will Be Blood

Leave it to Paul Thomas Anderson to think outside the box and bring in Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood to do a soundtrack for him. There Will Be Blood was not Greenwood’s first soundtrack, but it was his first for a major studio production. It’s a haunting, discombobulating soundtrack that adds so much to the movie, that it’s hard to imagine that the film would be as harsh and disturbing as it is without it. 

Birdman

Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s Birdman is unconventional in many ways, not the least of which is the percussion-heavy score by jazz drummer Antonio Sánchez. The pulsing rhythms push the story forward as much as the editing of the movie, meant to be seen as all one take. It’s brilliant. 

No Country For Old Men

Composer Carter Burwell has been scoring the films of the Coen Brothers for decades, but with No Country For Old Men, his score is different, mostly because of how little there is of it. A majority of the movie has no score at all, but that makes the rare times it does appear so much more effective. In all, there are only 16 minutes of music on the soundtrack and even those are minimalist. It evokes a perfect eerieness for the film. 

The Social Network

Trent Reznor had never composed a film score before David Fincher approached him to do the music for The Social Network. Reznor, and his co-composer Atticus Ross, weren’t sure they could do it at first, but Fincher stayed on them and we’re all lucky for it. The pulsating soundtrack, which reminds us of Nine Inch Nails, but definitely isn’t,  is one of the many reasons the movie’s seemingly mundane story crackles to life on screen. 

Tron: Legacy

The original Tron was a groundbreaking film in its use of CGI, and so for the sequel, which was almost three decades in the making, the filmmakers knew they had to make a splash. Hiring EDM legends Daft Punk to score the film was a stroke of genius. While the soundtrack only has fleeting moments of the duo’s signature sound, it’s completely outside the box of what one expects from a soundtrack and fits the movie’s CGI look perfectly. 

28 Days Later

According to director Danny Boyle, he had the post-rock band Godspeed You! Black Emperor “in his head” the whole time he made 28 Days Later. While one of the cult band’s songs, “East Hastings” appears in the film, they did not write the foreboding soundtrack. Still, composer John Murphy's soundtrack evokes GY!BE brilliantly, and it makes for a seriously scary soundtrack, in all the best ways. 

A Clockwork Orange

Groundbreaking composer and musician Wendy Carlos’ first foray into film scoring came in Stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange. The combination of her Moog-heavy electronic sounds with the classical music (mostly Beethoven) in the movie is spot on for the dystopian future the film portrays. Carlos would work with Kubrick again on the eerie soundtrack for The Shining as well. 

Punch-Drunk Love

Classical music critic Greg Sandow calls the soundtrack to Punch Drunk Love “sounds” as much as music in his glowing review. He’s completely right, as composer Jon Brion used field recordings as much as music to create the soundtrack, to amazing effect. It’s unlike any other rom-com soundtrack you’ve ever heard, which is what you expect from a movie directed by P.T. Anderson. 

Dredd

Most of the soundtrack to Dredd has a fantastic heavy synth/industrial sound which is pretty unique on its own, but what sets this soundtrack truly apart from others is the music set to the “slo-mo” scenes. The composer, Paul Leonard-Morgan, took inspiration from a Justin Bieber song he heard that was slowed down so much that one minute represented 10 minutes of music in real-time. The ethereal effect is astounding. 

Requiem for a Dream

Kronos Quartet is one of the most avant-garde classical music so if they are going to agree to perform on a soundtrack, you know it’s going to be interesting. The work they do on composer Clint Mansell’s Requiem for a Dream soundtrack is wild and unsettling, just like the movie. It’s impossible to think of the film with any other music. 

Psycho

Without Bernard Herrmann’s legendary score for Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho, it’s safe to say that it’s a completely different film. It’s easy to watch Psycho today and giggle at what seems like tropes in the filming and the music (the violin screeching in the shower scene), but you have to remember it was all cutting edge in 1960. It’s one of the scariest scores to one of the scariest films ever. 

Metropolis

Metropolis was originally released as a silent movie in 1927, but in 1984, the great composer Giorgio Moroder reimagined the film with an entirely new and modern score. Moroder wrote the music and enlisted some of his friends, like Freddie Mercury and Loverboy, to perform the music. While it was panned at first, it’s gone on to achieve cult status and is definitely a unique take on an old movie. 

Sicario

The music for Sicario first makes its presence felt in a very real way in the scene just before the main characters cross from Texas to Mexico for the first time. “Presence” is the best way to describe it, because audiences feel the music as much as they hear it. The rumbling bass and minimalist music convey the perfect sense of dread the scene needs. 

The Virgin Suicides

The soundtrack for Sofia Coppola’s The Virgin Suicides, composed and performed by the French electronic duo Air, has been hailed by numerous publications as one of the best of all time, and with good reason. Despite the movie, released in 1999, being set in the 1970s, the music is very much of the era in which it was released, and its bright-yet-dark, fresh sound sets a perfect tone. 

Thor: Ragnarok

Marvel movies aren’t the first place most people would think of looking for a unique soundtrack, but Thor: Ragnarok isn’t a run-of-the-mill superhero movie, either. Director Taika Waititi brought in former Devo leader and long-time film composer Mark Mothersbaugh to do the soundtrack. Mothersbaugh is probably best known for his work on Wes Anderson movies but for Thor: Ragnarok, he incorporated more synth than usual and went out of his way to create a different-sounding Marvel movie, and boy does it work.

Blade Runner

Vangelis, a Greek composer whose career started in the 1960s is best known today for his avant-garde work in the early ‘80s on soundtracks like Chariots of Fire and Blade Runner. His electronic sound was the perfect compliment to the dark future presented in Blade Runner and without it, with a more traditional score, the movie would have been very different. 

Flash Gordon

There are a few reasons Flash Gordon has remained a cult classic over the years and one of the big ones is the amazing soundtrack. Written and performed by Queen, it has remained one of the most interesting soundtracks ever made and is just as listenable as an album as it is backing the movie. 

Rushmore

Composer Mark Mothersbaugh and director Wes Anderson have formed one of the most fruitful partnerships in modern Hollywood. Mothersbaugh's quirky music fits Anderson's style to a T and the music has been as much a part of Anderson's style as the production design and camera angles. When you hear a Mothersbaugh score, you know immediately who wrote it. Their first project together was Bottle Rocket but it was on Rushmore that the former member of Devo found his true voice within Anderson's world. 

Hanna

One surefire way to get a unique soundtrack is to task The Chemical Brothers with creating it. Hanna's soundtrack is spectacular and the pulsing rhythms and dream-like movements drive the movie forward like they are part of the main character's psyche. Without the soundtrack, it just wouldn't have the urgency that it has throughout. 

Friday Night Lights

Post-rock band Explosions in the Sky has a big, bold, triumphant sound. It's a style that fits Friday Night Lights perfectly. It's not the kind of music you'd expect to accompany a movie set in West Texas, or about high school football for that matter, but it just works so well. It moves you as much as the movie does. 

2001: A Space Odyssey

The score for 2001: A Space Odyssey is notable on this list because it's the only one that used predominately previously recorded works. It was very rare at the time for movies to forgo original scores and yet Stanley Kubrick did, choosing to use the music that inspired him to make the movie, rather than the original score by Alex North. It's hard to imagine the ending of 2001 with another other than György Ligeti's "Atmospheres"

Suspiria

One of the most underappreciated soundtracks on this list is Suspiria, written and performed by the Italian prog band Goblins. It's like no other soundtrack on this list and is one of the best to listen to on its own if you are a fan of '70s prog rock, though you've probably never heard anything like it. The 2018 remake of Suspiria also features an incredible and unique soundtrack written by Radiohead's Thom Yorke. 

The Amazing Spider-Man 2

The soundtrack for The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is probably the most conventional on this list, but even though it was composed by the great Hans Zimmer, it still falls outside the box of most of his work. Zimmer worked with a supergroup to co-write and record the music that included Pharrell Williams, Johnny Marr, Mike Einziger, Junkie XL, and others. 

The Third Man

In 1949, when The Third Man was produced and released, music in movies was generally written for, and performed by large orchestras. Composer Anton Karas was a zither player, and as such, he wrote much of the music for that unique instrument. It has a jangly, post-war jazz style to it that was very different for its time and it's just lovely. 

The Warriors

The cult classic The Warriors has a soundtrack full of ominous synths and driving beats that composer Barry De Vorzon expertly crafted to fit the style and plot of the movie. While there are a number of pop songs included, it's the score itself that best represents the action on the screen. It is jarring at the best of times and keeps the audience on the edge as the gang navigates the city towards the safety of Coney Island. 

The Revenant

The late Ryuichi Sakamoto was a true pioneer in electronic music. Beginning with the Yellow Magic Orchestra in Japan in the late 1970s, Sakamoto was always pushing the envelope musically, and that includes his work on movie scores, especially The Revenant. For the score, he teamed up with Alva Noto and The National's Bryce Dessner to create something unique and special. 

Forbidden Planet

The soundtrack to Forbidden Planet, written by Bebe and Louis Barron, was like nothing that had come before it. It is considered the first entirely electronic score and it literally set the tone for sci-fi soundtracks for decades. 

Annihilation

The music in Alex Garland's Annihilation is haunting and eerie, just like the movie. Made up more of evocative sounds than a true score, it's still a work of genius by co-composers Ben Salisbury and Geoff Barrow. The two have teamed up a number of times to work with Garland including the incredible 2024 release, Civil War.

Hereditary

Horror films often incorporate interesting and nontraditional scores and Hereditary is a perfect example. It oozes feeling and dread in the best way. Written by multi-instrumentalist Colin Stetson, who is known for his work with bands like The Arcade Fire and TV on the Radio, the soundtrack is sparse but powerful. 

Midsommar

Midsommar's writer and director Ari Aster found inspiration while writing the movie in the music of electronica artist Bobby Krlic, also known as The Haxan Cloak. Aster naturally hired Krlic to compose the score and it's a home run, and not what you would expect from the movie, yet fitting perfectly. 

The Road

Indie music legend Nick Cave is not someone you might expect to compose the music for a dark, post-apocalypse movie like The Road, yet his work, alongside co-writer and fellow Bad Seeds member Warren Ellis, is as haunting, terrifying, and beautiful as the story the movie tells. 

In 2015, Denis Villeneuve brought Taylor Sheridan’s script for Sicario to life with Benicio del Toro, Josh Brolin and Emily Blunt leading the cast. Talk about a dream team. Then, in 2018, Sicario: Day of the Soldado came out. Since then, fans have been wondering if there will be a third installment in this series of movies about a task force battling the war on drugs at the U.S.-Mexico border. Well, we’re here to provide as much of an answer as we can. 

The short answer to this question about Sicario 3 is: sort of. However, the realistic one is that while there’s a want for it and talk about it happening, there’s no confirmation that it’s taking solid steps forward yet. So, with that in mind, let’s break down what we know about this potential film. 

Sicario Producers Want Josh Brolin, Emily Blunt And Benicio Del Toro To Star

If Sicario 3 happens, it’d be nice to see the main trio of Josh Brolin, Emily Blunt and Benicio del Toro back in action. According to producer Trent Luckinbill, that’s the goal, as he told Collider in October 2023:

So, with the objective to get the on-screen band back together, the questions start to circle around if the actors would be willing and available as well as if the top-tier behind-the-scenes crew wants to come back, too. 

Denis Villeneuve Has Nothing To Do With Sicario 3

In the years following the release of Sicario, Denis Villeneuve’s body of work has only grown more impressive, specifically through the releases of 2016's Arrival, 2017's Blade Runner 2049 and the wildly popular and critically acclaimed Dune films that came out in 2021 and 2024. That, mixed with the fact that he has two movies in the works, including Dune 3 and he didn’t direct Sicario: Day of the Soldado, Stefano Sollima did, makes it seem obvious that he won’t be back to helm a third film. 

He confirmed his lack of knowledge about Sicario 3 while speaking with The Playlist in February 2024:

He continued to explain that he was out of the loop on this topic. However, he reiterated that he’ll be excited to see the film, especially if the screenwriter is involved:

Well, lucky for Denis Villeneuve and us, Taylor Sheridan is reportedly attached to the project. However, unlucky for us, it’s unknown if he’ll be penning it. 

Sicario Producers Said Taylor Sheridan And Christopher McQuarrie Are Involved

While the evergrowing list of upcoming Yellowstone shows might have you wondering if Taylor Sheridan has time to write another Sicario movie, producers have explained that the OG screenwriter will be involved with a third film. Along with Sheridan, producer Molly Smith explained that Christopher McQuarrie – the director, writer and producer behind Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation, Fall Out and Dead Reckoning – is involved too, telling Collider:

Now, while this is thrilling news, it’s important to consider just how busy both these men are, specifically Sheridan. Putting all this in perspective, Sicario producer Trent Luckinbill told the same outlet:

It sounds like many folks who have worked on Sicario want a third film to happen, and like these producers, some of the cast, specifically Josh Brolin, are in the same boat. 

Josh Brolin Wants Sicario 3 To Happen 

Between playing Thanos in the MCU and Gurney in the incredibly well-reviewed Dune films, as well as leading the series Outer Range over on Amazon Prime, Josh Brolin has been booked and busy since Sicario's release. However, there’s also still no question that this project is one of Brolin’s best films, and he really wants to return as Matt Graver. Speaking with THR in May 2022 about the possibility of Sicario 3 and whether fans should give up on the film ever getting made, the actor explained:

Considering how all the careers of so many involved with the first Sicario have skyrocketed, I’d imagine getting the troops together for a third film is incredibly hard. However, Brolin clearly has hope that it can happen. That should make fans excited, but Emily Blunt’s thoughts on the possible film will likely even out your feelings. 

However, Emily Blunt Hasn’t Heard Anything About Sicario 3

Emily Blunt, who wasn’t in Sicario 2, put it bluntly on Happy, Sad, Confused in February 2024 when explaining what she knew about a possible threequel. While Brolin has seemingly talked a lot about it, the Oppenheimer actress hasn’t “seen anything,” she explained:

Back when Day of the Soldado was in the works, Taylor Sheridan did tell The Wrap that Blunt’s FBI agent Kate Macer’s story was complete. So, because she wasn’t involved in the sequel – even if it makes sense for the character to come back for a third film – it seems unlikely that she’d come back. 

While it seems like Sicario 3 would be a shoo-in for one of Emily Blunt’s best movies considering the success of the first film and the love for her character, according to her, she hasn’t heard anything about it. 

Overall, the discourse surrounding Sicario 3 is all over the place. While it’s 100% still in the developmental stages, it seems like many on the creative team want to make it happen. However, considering the schedules of the stars, writer and OG director, it looks like we’ll be waiting for quite some time before we find out who is officially writing, directing and starring in the project. 

We’ll be sure to keep you up to date on all things Sicario 3, in the meantime, you can stream Sicario with an Amazon Prime subscription and Sicario: Day of the Soldado with a Hulu subscription. 

Whatever kind of movie you like, Texas has one for you. From teen comedies to horror movies to westerns, of course, Texas will provide. Not only do many of our favorite stars hail from Texas, but dozens of movies have been filmed in, or at least set in, the Lone Star State and its many landscapes. Here is a list of our favorites. 

Dazed And Confused

When it comes to teen comedies, Dazed and Confused ranks near the top of the list of the best ones. The hilarious movie was filmed in Austin and takes place there in the 1970s. Not only is high school football one of the most important activities in the movie, but the famous Moon Tower location is a real place, too. 

Friday Night Lights

Texas' passion for high school football is second to none in the United States and there is no better high school football move than Friday Night Lights. Based on a true story, the movie follows the 1988 Permian High School Panthers season, in Odessa, TX.  

The Last Picture Show

Director Peter Bogdanovich's The Last Picture Show is one of quite a few movies set in Texas to receive a Best Picture nomination. The coming-of-age movie is set in the small town of Anarene, TX. While the town is fictional, its name is taken from the name of a ghost town in northern Texas. It's based on a book by one of Texas' favorite sons, writer Larry McMurtry. 

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre

Who would've guessed in 1974 that the low-budget slasher flick, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre would become one of the most successful and influential movies of all time? It has spawned a franchise with nine entries, inspired countless young filmmakers, and invented tropes that are still leaned on today. As the name implies, it does, of course, take place in Texas. 

No Country For Old Men

One of the best Westerns is the Coen Brothers' No Country For Old Men. Set in dusty West Texas, the movie oozes Texas, just like Fargo oozes Minnesota. It helps that a West Texas native, Tommy Lee Jones, plays the perfect role for him, a Texas sheriff on the hunt for all the bad guys running around his county. 

For A Few Dollars More

It's no surprise that some of the best Westerns of all time have been set in Texas, even the ones that are filmed in Spain, like For a Few Dollars More starring Clint Eastwood and Lee Van Cleef. Set in and around the El Paso area, it's hard to believe it wasn't shot in the Lone Star state. 

The Iron Claw

The Von Erich family was the first family of professional wrestling, and the Dallas-based World Class Championship Wrestling (WCCW) was the alliance the family is most associated with. Patriarch Fritz was born in Texas, and while his five wrestling sons, Kevin, David, Kerry, Mike, and Chris (who wasn't included in The Iron Claw ) weren't all born in the great state, they were all raised there and it's where most of The Iron Claw takes place.  

Office Space

Office Space feels like it takes place anywhere, or nowhere in particular. The movie is universal, but it actually takes place in Texas, where it was also filmed, mostly in and around Austin. 

Blood Simple

Joel and Ethan Coen were raised in Minnesota, but they've often looked to the southern U.S. for inspiration, including for their first movie, Blood Simple, in 1984. Like others on this list, it was filmed in and around Austin, TX. 

Bonnie And Clyde

Only a state like Texas could birth a legend like Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow. The real-life Parker was born in the tiny town of Rowena, TX, while Barrow in the country outside Dallas. The movie Bonnie and Clyde, starring Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty, takes place kind of all over the south, but Texas is a big part of it. 

The 24th

With the ongoing global pandemic at its height in the summer of 2020, The 24th flew under the radar and that's too bad. It tells the true story of Black World War I veterans returning from Europe only to face the racism and bigotry of the Jim Crow south in Houston. The soldiers hit their breaking point and the result is an armed conflict against the Houston police that eventually leads to the execution of some of the soldiers for mutiny. It's an underrated film that more people should see. 

Sicario

Technically only part of Sicario takes place in Texas, more specifically the Texas-Mexico border in El Paso, but it's such an intense scene, and so crucial to the movie, that it belongs on this list. The shootout at the border is the best part of Denis Villeneuve's film. 

Boyhood

Houston, TX is home to the groundbreaking Richard Linklater film Boyhood. Filmed over 12 years, it's a movie like no other as audiences watch Mason grow up, in real time. It's no surprise that Texas native Linklater set another of his films in the great state. 

Reality Bites

Reality Bites may not feel like a Texas movie, but it is. It takes place in Houston, though the city and the state take a backseat to the story. The Ben Stiller-directed flick is a Gen X touchstone that really could have taken place anywhere, but Houston is home. 

Bottle Rocket

Set in Texas, starring Texans, and directed by a Texan, can anything get more Texas? Wes Anderson's debut film is much more straight forward than his later films, after he nailed down his particular style, and plays out more or less like a traditional heist movie, but it's worth watching, especially for Luke and Owen Wilson's film debuts, which they kill. 

True Stories

It's no surprise that Talking Heads frontman David Byrne would make a strange and, frankly, cool movie, even if at times it just feels like a set of weird music videos. True Stories is, however, set in the fictional town of Virgil, TX, not New York City, as you might expect from Byrne. 

Hell Or High Water

Nothing says Texas like a couple of bank robbers being pursued across the state by a Texas Ranger. Hell or High Water, from the mind of writer Taylor Sheridan, might feel the most like Texas of any movie on this list. Jeff Bridges is brilliant, and while Chris Pine might be a little pretty to sell the idea of his character being desperate enough to rob banks, his performance is perfect. 

Ghost Rider

About a year before the Marvel Cinematic Universe was born with the first Iron Man, Marvel Entertainment released Ghost Rider with Nicolas Cage. Set in Texas, its fun to think about how history could have been different if the idea for the MCU had come just a little earlier. 

Happy, Texas

This one is easy, it says it right there in the name, Happy, Texas. This surprisingly funny film takes place in the titular town and features some wonderful performances by Steve Zahn, William H. Macy, and Jeremy Northam. It flies under the radar but comes highly recommended. 

The Highwaymen

The Highwaymen, starring Woody Harrelson and Kevin Costner as Texas Rangers, is the other side of the Bonnie and Clyde story, focusing on the two lawmen pursuing the homicidal bank robbers. While it's a far from perfect movie, the performances are great, and the film oozes "Texas."

The Positively True Adventures Of The Alleged Texas Cheerleader-Murdering Mom

Football may be king in Texas, but only slightly lower on the list of important things is cheerleading. The Positively True Adventures of the Alleged Texas Cheerleader-Murdering Mom highlights just how crazy people can get, telling the true story of Wanda Holloway (Holly Hunter), who tries to put out a hit on her daughter's high school cheerleading rival. Bring it on. 

Rush

Based on a true story and set in Smith County, TX, Rush is an intriguing movie and a very hard watch. It tells the story of undercover police officers, played by Jason Patric and Jennifer Jason Leigh who get in so deep, they become criminals and addicts themselves. Today, the film is most remembered for its soundtrack written by Eric Clapton and featuring his hit "Tears in Heaven."

The Outlaw Josey Wales

Clint Eastwood starred in, and directed, The Outlaw Josey Wales, which follows a Missouri farmer-turned-outlaw in Texas as he's pursued by just about everyone, including the Texas Rangers. It's one of the best Westerns ever made. 

The Old Man & The Gun

What could very well be Robert Redford's final movie, as he's said in the past, The Old Man & the Gun tells the true story of bank robber and escape artist Forrest Tucker. Tucker was a career criminal whose final arrest, as depicted in the movie, happened in Texas, where he later died in prison. 

Old Yeller

If you didn't tear up a little immediately upon reading the name of this film then you likely haven't seen Old Yeller. It's a cultural touchstone, ingrained in the minds of movie lovers everywhere, and it all takes place in Texas. It's almost 70 years old now, but it's still making kids (and their parents) cry today. 

The Searchers

John Wayne, John Ford, and Texas. It's a trio that defines the Western genre and while there are a few movies that combine the three, the best is probably The Searchers. Set in West Texas about a decade after the end of the Civil War, Wayne defines what it is to be a Western star and John Ford defines what the genre can be at its best. It's natural that the Texas desert be the backdrop. 

Jason's Lyric

Jada Pinkett-Smith was a rising talent when she starred alongside Allen Payne in 1994's Jason's Lyric. Set in an impoverished neighborhood in Houston, Lyric (Pinkett-Smith) and Jason (Payne) fall in love and try to escape their violent families with mixed results. It's not a perfect movie, but it is powerful at times. 

Paris, Texas

Sometimes movies are really more about their setting than anything else, and Paris, Texas is one of those movies. Texas is almost like another character in this Sam Sheppard-penned movie from 1984. Starring Harry Dean Stanton, Dean Stockwell, and Nastassja Kinski, the Palme d'Or winner is set in the panhandle town of Happy.

Miss Congeniality

Who can forget the epic conclusion of Miss Congeniality, when Gracie (Sandra Bullock) almost wins a beauty pageant in San Antonio? The surprise smash, a take on My Fair Lady, has become a beloved film over the years and it's easy to see why, as it's charming and fun and full of classic lines.  

Cloak & Dagger

It seems over the last 40 years, many have forgotten about Cloak & Dagger, starring Dabney Coleman and E.T. star Henry Thomas, and that's too bad. It's a really fun kids movie full of exciting action and intrigue, but with an easy enough story for kids to actually follow. Filmed and set in San Antonio, it's a movie that is ripe for a remake. 

Talk Radio

Oliver Stone has made a lot of hard-hitting movies in his career, not the least of which is JFK, which obviously takes place partly in Texas. One of his more underrated movies, though, is Talk Radio starring Eric Bogosian as a radio shock jock who meets with a tragic end. It's loosely based on the true story of Alan Berg, who was a radio host in Denver, but this film is set in Dallas. 

Rollerball

There are a lot of movies about Texas, but only a few are science-fiction, like Rollerball. James Caan, in one of his best roles, stars in this cult classic set in...2018 Houston (the movie came out in 1975). The dystopian future is ruled by corporations and the sport of Rollerball serves as a bread and butter circus for the masses. Actually, maybe it's not that far off from reality. Yikes. 

Everything is bigger in Texas, as they say, and the Lone Star state definitely has an outsized role in American society and that includes the movies that are set in the state, as this list can attest to. 

For the better part of the past decade, there have been a lot of great Taylor Sheridan movies like Wind River and Hell or High Water as well as TV shows like Yellowstone and its various prequel series about the Dutton family. And with so much else in the works, it looks like the actor-turned-filmmaker will be dominating the big screen and small screen for the foreseeable future. 

If you have yet to experience any of Sheridan’s movies and shows outside of the adventures at the Dutton Ranch, look no further, as we have put together a quick yet comprehensive list of the Oscar and Golden Globe nominee’s best movies and shows and how you can watch them.

1883 (2021)

Set more than a century before the events of Yellowstone, The 2021 prequel series, 1883 shows a much earlier generation of the Dutton family long before they became one of the most powerful entities in the American West. The series follows James Dillard Dutton (Tim McGraw) and his wife, Margaret (Faith Hill), John Dutton’s great-grandparents as they navigate the free, fierce, and unforgiving wilderness of the frontier in the years following the American Civil War. Along with characters like Elsa Dutton (Isabel May) and Shea Brennan (Sam Elliott), the prequel further expanded the budding franchise.

1883, though set decades before the events of Yellowstone, very much has the same feeling to it with its tight family bonds, resourcefulness, and deadly power plays between characters who wish to stake their claim and build their legacy. But we’ll have to wait and see if this is the end of the story or if we’ll get a second season of 1883.

Stream 1883 on Paramount+.
Buy 1883 on Amazon.

1923 (2022 - Present)

In 2022, Taylor Sheridan further expanded the Yellowstone universe with 1923, another prequel series that took place during one of the most turbulent times in American history. With Prohibition raging, the Great Depression just beyond the horizon, and a series of radical changes either taking place or waiting around the corner, the series sees a Dutton family, at this point in time led by Jacob (Harrison Ford) and Cara (Helen Mirren), in a state of chaos. However, as we’ve seen with other generations of the family, they are nothing if not resilient and resourceful.

The series was picked up for a second season in February 2023, but a year later, fans are still waiting for those episodes, along with Sheridan’s other Yellowstone shows, to drop on Parmount+. 

Stream 1923 on Paramount+.
Buy 1923 on Amazon.

Tulsa King (2022 - Present)

In 2022, Sylvester Stallone made his long-awaited TV debut with the popular crime series, Tulsa King. The show, which was created by Taylor Sheridan and executive-produced by Terence Winter, follows Dwight “The General” Manfredi (Stallone), a recently paroled mafioso who is sent by his bosses to Oklahoma to expand their criminal enterprise. But like so many movies and shows with this same premise, things don’t go according to plan.

Not long after its first season premiered on Paramount+, the show was picked up for at least another chapter And while we don’t know a whole lot about Tulsa King Season 2 at this point, it’s easy to see why fans are so excited for its return.

Stream Tulsa King on Paramount+.
Buy Tulsa King on Amazon.

Mayor Of Kingstown (2021 - Present)

In November 2021, Taylor Sheridan released Mayor of Kingstown upon the world. Co-created by Sheridan and Hugh Dillon (who also has a major role), the series follows Mike McLusky (Jeremy Renner), the reluctant leader of a powerful family who has long kept peace in the not-so-quiet town of Kingstown, Michigan by serving as an in-between for the various criminal and political elements of the community.

Though not a major hit with critics, the show has consistently been popular with fans, which explains its 90% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes. And fans of Mayor of Kingstown received some great news in January 2024 when Jeremey Renner, who almost died a year earlier in a snow plow accident, kicked off production on Season 3.

Stream Mayor of Kingstown on Paramount+.
Buy Mayor of Kingstown on Amazon.

Special Ops: Lioness (2023 - Present)

Taylor Sheridan created another hit show in August 2023 with the Paramount+ original series, Special Ops: Lioness. Similar to his movies like Sicario and Without Remorse,  Lioness is a spy action thriller that follows Cruz Manuelos (Laysla De Oliveira), a former Marine who is recruited to join a mysterious CIA program to combat global terrorism. Zoe Saldaña and Academy Award winners Nicole Kidman and Morgan Freeman also appear in this thrilling series.

If you’re looking for intricate storylines, dynamic characters, and awesome firepower, Sheridan’s latest TV project is going to be the way to go.

Stream Special Ops: Lioness on Paramount+.
Buy Special Ops: Lioness on Amazon.

Wind River (2017)

While out on patrol on the outskirts of an American Indian reservation, wildlife officer Cory Lambert (Jeremy Renner) discovers the body of a young woman who was brutally raped before freezing to death in the vast openness of Wyoming. In response to the heinous crime, FBI agent Jane Banner (Elizabeth Olsen) is sent in to solve the case, but she soon realizes that her standard way of doing things won’t cut it out here, and they just might get her killed.

Taylor Sheridan, who had already made a name for himself as an excellent screenwriter, made his directorial debut with the 2017 neo-western thriller, Wind River. One of the best murder mysteries in recent years, the movie also features its fair share of tense and expertly-paced scenes, including an anxiety-inducing standoff on an oil drilling site.

Stream Wind River on Freevee.
Rent/Buy Wind River on Amazon.
Buy Wind River on Blu-ray on Amazon.

Yellowstone (2018 - Present)

The Paramount Network original series, Yellowstone, tells the story of the Dutton family, the owners of the largest ranch in the United States, who fight with developers, Indian reservations, the federal government, and even each other as they attempt to protect their land and legacy, one battle at a time.

In 2018, along with John Linson, Taylor Sheridan co-created one of the most talked about shows on TV and introduced millions of viewers to the turmoil experienced by John Dutton (Kevin Costner), his family, and close allies. Although the show hasn’t taken home many awards, Yellowstone has built up a dedicated fanbase and turned Sheridan into one of the most sought-after figures in show business.

Stream Yellowstone on Peacock.
Buy Yellowstone on Amazon.
Buy Yellowstone on DVD on Amazon.

Those Who Wish Me Dead (2021)

Hannah Faber (Angelina Jolie), a wildland firefighter overcoming past failures by working in a fire lookout tower in Montana, is at the right place at the right time when she encounters Connor Casserly (Finn Little), a young boy on the run after witnessing his father’s murder. With a pair of assassins on one end and a massive wildfire on the other, Hannah seeks not only redemption for her past mistakes but also safety for the scared child in her care.

A throwback to action movies of an earlier era, Those Who Wish Me Dead has all of the hallmarks of Taylor Sheridan’s best work: fast-paced and thrilling set pieces, an emotionally damaged protagonist, and a great understanding and use of tension. 

Stream Those Who Wish Me Dead on Hulu.
Stream Those Who Wish Me Dead on Max.
Buy Those Who Wish Me Dead on Amazon.
Buy Those Who Wish Me Dead on Blu-ray on Amazon.

Hell or High Water (2016)

With their family ranch on the brink of foreclosure, brothers Toby (Chris Pine) and Tanner Howard (Ben Foster) come up with a rather unorthodox method of paying off the debt and keeping their childhood home: rob various branches of the bank threatening them, launder the cash at a local casino, and use the proceeds to get out of the red. However, in doing so, they cross paths with Marcus Hamilton (Jeff Bridges), a seasoned Texas Ranger looking to solve one more case before hanging up his boots.

One of the best Westerns of all time, this heartbreaking story leaves you with not heroes and villains, but people doing everything they can to provide a better life not for themselves, but their families, no matter what they stand to lose.

Steam Hell or High Water on Paramount+.
Rent/Buy Hell or High Water on Amazon.
Buy Hell or High Water on Blu-ray on Amazon.

Sicario (2015)

FBI Agent Kate Macer (Emily Blunt) finds herself in a difficult situation joining a task force led by the mysterious and morally ambiguous CIA officer, Matt Graver (Josh Brolin), that has been assembled to root out the ruthless leader of a Mexican drug cartel through any means necessary. Along with prosecutor-turned-hitman Alejandro Gillick (Benicio del Toro) and other members of this elite squad, Kate travels back and forth across the southern border carrying out one job after another. 

Written by Taylor Sheridan and directed by Denis Villeneuve, the 2015 crime thriller Sicario is one of the best movies set in Texas as well as a brilliant exploration of the impact of the United States’ “War on Drugs.”

Stream Sicario on Prime Video.
Rent/Buy Sicario on Amazon.
Buy Sicario on Blu-ray on Amazon.

Sicario: Day Of The Soldado (2018)

When a suicide bombing in Kansas City, Missouri, claims the lives of more than a dozen innocent victims, CIA officer Matt Graver (Josh Brolin) is given the go-ahead to turn up his already questionable practices to get even with the Mexican drug cartels who helped smuggle in the terrorists responsible for the heinous attack. Everyone begins to feel the pressure of the ongoing war between the U.S. government and drug lords, when Alejandro Gillick (Benicio del Toro) kidnaps a cartel boss’ daughter. From there, things only get more complicated.

Sicario: Day of the Soldado didn’t see the return of director Denis Villeneuve or star Emily Blunt, but the 2018 sequel does feature the same intense action, biting dialogue, and tense situations (as well as more of those questions about the morality of the U.S. government’s role in the drug war. 

Stream Sicario: Day of the Soldado on Hulu.
Rent/Buy Sicario: Day of the Soldado on Amazon.
Buy Sicario: Day of the Soldado on Blu-ray on Amazon.

Without Remorse (2021)

Following the murder of his pregnant wife, unborn child, and his closest friends by an elite Russian hit squad, Navy SEAL John Kelly (Michael B. Jordan) sets off on a one-man crusade, not seeking justice, but revenge, only to uncover a plot by forces within the United States government and its interests that could start the war of all wars with Russia. In a race against time and possibly the end of the world, Kelly sets off to avenge his loved ones while also stopping those at the center of this sinister plan, becoming the famed Tom Clancy character John Clark in the process.

Written by Taylor Sheridan and Will Staples, and directed by Stefano Sollima, the 2021 Amazon Studios original action thriller, Without Remorse, serves as an origin story for the late Tom Clancy’s second most famous character, John Clark (only second behind Jack Ryan), in this fast-paced and action-packed revenge thriller. The movie also perfectly sets up a possible adaptation of the military-fiction novelist’s iconic novel, Rainbow Six.

Stream Without Remorse on Amazon.

Sons Of Anarchy (2008 - 2010) (Acting Only)

One of the best FX original series of all time, Sons of Anarchy told the story of the tight-knit group of outlaw bikers commonly known as SAMCRO, as they attempted to legitimize themselves as working members of their fictional town of Charming, California, while also running a successful less-than-legal enterprise on the side. The main focus of the series was on club vice president (and later president) Jax Teller (Charlie Hunnam), the son of the group’s late co-founder, as he attempted to figure out his life both in and out of the club.

Before Taylor Sheridan went off to become an Academy Award-nominated screenwriter and the favored son of Paramount+, he was Charming Deputy Chief of Police David Hale on the first three seasons of Sons of Anarchy. At times at odds with SAMCRO and at others one of their most loyal allies in law enforcement, David Hale was one of the major players in the early goings of the beloved FX series. 

Stream Sons of Anarchy on Hulu.
Buy Sons of Anarchy on Amazon.
Buy Sons of Anarchy on DVD on Amazon.

Veronica Mars (2005 - 2007) (Acting Only)

The mystery drama series Veronica Mars spent four seasons (three on UPN/The CW, a fourth on Hulu in 2019) and one movie diving into the various investigations carried out by the titular teenage private detective played by Kristen Bell. From her days in high school, to college and beyond, the series followed Veronica as she became one of the most iconic characters on TV in the early 2000s.

Veronica Mars had plenty of notable guest stars over the years, including Paul Rudd, Amanda Seyfried, and Jane Lynch, and Taylor Sheridan is among them. Sheridan made his TV acting debut as Danny Boyd, a toned and tattooed character who had connections with some of the less savory characters in Veronica’s investigations. Even though he only appeared in a handful of episodes, Sheridan’s performance opened up plenty of doors and led to a successful career.

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Buy Veronica Mars on DVD on Amazon.

Taylor Sheridan has come a long way since his days of navigating the seedier parts of Neptune, California, on Veronica Mars, and if his momentum keeps up, we'll be watching his movies and TV shows for years to come.

There are plenty of 2021 films coming out soon, but until they do, we're stuck at home, waiting for the next big release. While you could view some of the best films on Netflix or the best films on Amazon Prime right now, I think it's normal to step outside of your movie comfort zone and take a look at international films to see what the world has to offer. That’s why today you’ll get to find out how to watch some of the best Mexican movies, like Roma or Coco, out there right now that you can stream, many from prominent Mexican directors like Guillermo del Toro or Alfonso Cuarón.

Pan’s Labyrinth (2006) - Guillermo del Toro

In this classic dark fantasy film, Pan’s Labyrinth takes place in the summer of 1944, during the early Francoist period. The narrative intertwines with the real world, but is mixed in with a mythical one centered on an overgrown labyrinth and a mysterious creatures, with whom the main character interacts.

I feel like there’s really not a lot I can say with this film without giving too much away. Guillermo del Toro had already begun to make a name for himself with previous releases, but he really exploded onto the movie scene once this film came out. The monsters itself are extremely creative, with some of the best makeup I’ve witnessed in cinema. The story is so much fun and filled with plenty of fantasy moments mixed in with in with phenomenal cinematography - it’s really a treasure of a film that everyone should watch.

Stream Pan’s Labyrinth on Netflix.

Rent Pan’s Labyrinth on Amazon.

Biutiful (2010) - Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu

If you were looking for a psychological drama film, check out Biutiful, a play on the phonetic spelling of beautiful in Spanish. In this film, we follow the journey of a man who is diagnosed with cancer, and given less than a couple of months to live, while he is caught in a world of drugs, trafficking, and so much more.

Already from the premise it feels like this film talks about so much all at once. And truth be told, it does, and it does so beautifully. It’s an exploration into what it means to live your last days fruitfully, but how when you’re trying to get better at the same time, that can lead to some truly strange and chaotic visions and feelings if you’re on certain drugs, which Javier Bardem’s character is on. His performance in Biutiful earned Javier Bardem an Oscar nomination for Best Actor.

Stream Biutiful on IMDBTV/Amazon.

Rent Biutiful on YouTube.

Like Water For Chocolate (1992) - Alfonso Arau

In this romantic drama, Like Water for Chocolate tells the story of a woman named Tita, who lives in the early 1900s, experiencing her struggles with love, her family, and the family tradition.

Ya’ll, when I tell you that you have no idea what the heck is going to happen in this film, I mean it. The director, Alfonso Arau, really knocked it out of the park. While it feels like a standard romantic drama at first, there are so many moments that will make you bring a hand to your mouth in shock because you had no idea something was going to happen. It pulls at your heart and crushes it in the fist of its hand. It’s such a great film, and one you should see if romantic dramas are your favorite film to view.

Stream Like Water For Chocolate on Max Go.

Rent Like Water For Chocolate on Amazon.

Roma (2018) - Alfonso Cuarón

In this Academy Award-winning film directed by Alfonso Cuaron, Roma is set in 1970-71, following the lives of a live-in housekeeper of a middle-class family, in the Roma neighborhood of Mexico City.

Roma really doesn’t play around. This is probably one of the most dramatic films on here and you’ll know it straight out the gate, with its heavy themes that relate to family. Not only that, but the Roma cast is full of talent, with specific focus in on Yalitza Aparicio and Marina de Tavira, whom are both fantastic in the film. Roma became the first Mexican film to ever win the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, and was also nominated for Best Picture. Seriously, you should watch it if you haven’t already.

If you want to check out another awesome film by Alfonso Cuaron, be sure to watch Y Tu Mama Tambien, a Mexican road film. It’s not quite as dramatic as Roma, but tells a beautiful coming of age story.

Stream Roma on Netflix.

Desierto (2015) - Jonas Cuarón

If you wanted a good thriller, then check out Desierto. In this film, a group of Mexican migrants who are attempting to cross the U.S. border illegally are attacked in the desert by a lone gunman.

Directed by the son of Alfonso Cuaron, Jonas Cuaron spares no punches in this thriller film. From beginning to end, you are on the edge of your seat to find out who exactly is hunting down all of these migrants, and wanting their lives to end. Mexican star Gael Garcia Bernal and Jeffrey Dean Morgan lead in this film with great performances, and carry you all the way until the brutal end.

Stream Desierto on Tubi.

Amores Perros (2000) - Alejandro Gonzalez Innaritu

Ah, love is a bitch, ain’t it?

Well, at least to Alejandro Gonzalez Innarito, it is, because that’s what the title Amores Perros translates to. In this psychological drama film, Amores Perros follows three distinct stories, all of which are connected by a car accident in Mexico City. One centers on a teenager in the slums, another on a model who hurts her leg, and the other with a mysterious hitman, with dogs appearing in all three.

I sort of think of this film as the predecessor to films like Crash, where there are several different storylines but all of them have something to do with one big event. And honestly, it’s such a great example of that. Each of the stories in of themselves are compelling and have characters that you are interested about, but the real draw is that you get to see everything come together beautifully to tie into the same event.

Stream Amores Perros on Tubi.

Rent Amores Perros on Amazon.

Cronos (1993) - Guillermo del Toro

Clocking it back to one of Guillermo del Toro’s first films, Cronos is an independent horror drama film written by the director himself, and tells the tale of a mysterious device that was designed to provide its owner with eternal life, that suddenly resurfaces after four hundred years, creating issues in its wake.

Cronos is such a great horror film that I wish that more people had seen. To me, it’s one of the best horror films out there for its simplicity. There isn’t a huge budget, and it’s not that gory, but what Cronos does better than a lot of horror films out there is that it balances the very delicate line between horror and drama so well. You never get too much of either during the film, creating a wonderfully directed and written story that’s truly full of amazing lore and scary moments. 10/10, would watch again.

Stream Cronos on HBO Max.

Rent Cronos on Amazon.

Coco (2018) - Lee Unkrich

In this original Disney Pixar film, Coco tells the story of a young boy who lives and loves to play music, but music has been banned in the family for generations due to how it tore the family apart decades ago. But when Miguel is suddenly thrown into the land of the dead when he steals Hector de la Cruz’ guitar to perform, he has to unite with old family to somehow find his way back to the human world.

I’m not going to lie - Coco is by far one of my favorite Latinx films, and one of my favorite films of all time overall. While it is a Mexican-American film, as it was produced by Pixar, the Mexican culture is displayed wonderfully, from the color scheme to the animation to the music. Plus, don’t even get me started on the story - it’s truly one of Pixar’s best, and shows what the true meaning of family is. If you for some reason haven’t seen Coco yet, be sure to check it out now.

Stream Coco on Disney+.

Rent Coco on Amazon.

Desperado (1995) - Robert Rodriguez

In this neo-Western action film, Desperado tells the story of El Mariachi, a man who is seeking revenge on a drug lord who killed his lover, stopping at nothing to achieve his goal.

Robert Rodriguez had released a set of films back in the '90s as part of his “Mexican trilogy,” and to me, this is definitely my favorite out of the three. Not only is it a standout performance from Antonio Banderas, but this was one of Salma Hayek’s first major breakout roles, and she rocked it. Besides that, the rest of the cast is killer as well, with actors like Steven Buscemi, Danny Trejo and others showing up - I mean, even the moviemaker Quentin Tarantino has a spot in Desperado. Plus, as a western, there are so many awesome fight scenes, you’ll be wanting to watch them over and over again. It’s so much fun.

Stream Desperado on HBO Max.

Rent Desperado on YouTube.

Sicario (2015) - Denis Villaneuve

As the last on this list, Sicario follows an FBI agent who was enlisted by a government task force to try and bring down the leader of a powerful and brutal Mexican drug cartel before they harm more people.

Sicario is such a great film. It’s full of tension and brilliant moments of suspense, and the cinematography is stunning, with so many beautiful shots. The Sicario cast is also star-studded as well, with a cast that includes Emily Blunt, Benecio del Toro, and Josh Brolin taking the lead and creating a satisfying thriller film.

Rent Sicario on Amazon.

With so many options, it’s almost hard to pick just one to stream - why not just stream them all? Regardless of what you choose, you’ll enjoy any pick, whether it’s animated, fantasy, horror, or anything else. Happy streaming!

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If you still have yet to see A Quiet Place Part II (one of the best 2021 movie releases as far as I am concerned) in the movie theater (where the sound design can be appreciated to its fullest extent), don’t sweat. I can understand if you still feel most comfortable streaming from the privacy of your own home, no matter how much of an Emily Blunt fan you may claim to be. Luckily, all of the best Emily Blunt movies are now currently available to stream, rent or buy digitally, or even purchase on a physical copy if you still prefer that method, including the breathtaking predecessor to the British actress’ most recent thrilling blockbuster.

A Quiet Place (2018)

In order to survive a world overrun by malevolent, extra-terrestrial creatures, a family is forced to live in complete silence.

Why it is one of the best Emily Blunt movies: Emily Blunt and her real-life spouse John Krasinski (who also co-writes and directs A Quiet Place) play husband and wife in this heart-wrenching family drama brilliantly crafted wall-to-wall thrills.

Rent/buy A Quiet Place digitally on Amazon.

Buy A Quiet Place on DVD/Blu-ray on Amazon.

Edge Of Tomorrow (2014)

In order to save the world from malevolent, extra-terrestrial creatures, a soldier (Tom Cruise) is forced to overcome his cowardice and train with a fierce special forces veteran (Emily Blunt) while mysteriously trapped in a time loop.

Why it is one of the best Emily Blunt movies: Four years before she won a SAG award for struggling to silently evade alien invaders in A Quiet Place, Emily Blunt played a loud and proud badass warrior taking them out one-by-one in Edge of Tomorrow (also known as Live. Die. Repeat.) - a clever, action-packed fusion of Independence Day with Groundhog Day based on a popular manga called All You Need Is Kill.

Rent/buy Edge Of Tomorrow digitally on Amazon.

Buy Edge Of Tomorrow on DVD/Blu-ray on Amazon.

Looper (2012)

A mafia hitman (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) whose victims are sent to him from the future must go on the run after failing to kill his latest target: his future self (Bruce Willis).

Why it is one of the best Emily Blunt movies: Two years before she helped Tom Cruise fight time-traveling aliens in Edge of Tomorrow, Emily Blunt helped Joseph Gordon-Levitt take on his older, out-of-time counterpart in Looper - a refreshingly original and meticulously crafted fusion of the time travel genre with old school film noir from director Rian Johnson.

Stream Looper on Starz.

Rent/buy Looper digitally on Amazon.

Buy Looper on DVD/Blu-ray on Amazon.

The Adjustment Bureau (2011)

A promising politician (Matt Damon) falls in love with a ballet dancer (Emily Blunt), only to have their affair threatened by a mysterious team of agents who have dictated that the relationship does not fall in line with the path chosen for him.

Why it is one of the best Emily Blunt movies: A year before she and Joseph Gordon-Levitt messed with the flow of time in Looper, Emily Blunt and Matt Damon messed with fate itself in The Adjustment Bureau - a unique and romantic take on the philosophy of predestination inspired from a short story by Phillip K. Dick.

Stream The Adjustment Bureau on Showtime.

Rent/buy The Adjustment Bureau digitally on Amazon.

Buy The Adjustment Bureau on DVD/Blu-ray on Amazon.

Sicario (2015)

A promising FBI agent (Emily Blunt) agrees to help a government task force (including Josh Brolin and Academy Award winner Benicio Del Toro) take on a deadly drug cartel, only to soon question to the true nature of the assignment.

Why it is one of the best Emily Blunt movies: After Emily Blunt proved her worth as an action star with Edge of Tomorrow, Sicario - a smart, stylish crime drama from director Denis Villeneuve, writer Taylor Sheridan, and legendary cinematographer Roger Deakins - helped her solidify that reputation.

Rent/buy Sicario digitally on Amazon.

Buy Sicario on DVD/Blu-ray on Amazon.

The Devil Wears Prada (2006)

An ambitious young woman (Anne Hathaway) gets a crash course in everything she did not know about fashion and the workforce when she is unexpectedly hired as an assistant to the infamously difficult editor of a renowned fashion magazine.

Why it is one of the best Emily Blunt movies: Witness the beginning of Emily Blunt’s road to A-List stardom in the fun, winning comedy The Devil Wears Prada, in which she stars as Emily (coincidentally) - the snarky first assistant to the intimidating (to say the least) editor of Runway Magazine, Meryl Streep’s Miranda Priestly.

Stream The Devil Wears Prada on Starz.

Rent/buy The Devil Wears Prada digitally on Amazon.

Buy The Devil Wears Prada on DVD/Blu-ray on Amazon.

Dan In Real Life (2007)

A successful advice columnist and widowed single father (Steve Carell) begins to finally show signs of living by the standards he preaches after meeting the woman of his dreams (Juliette Binoche), until he discovers she is dating his brother (Dane Cook).

Why it is one of the best Emily Blunt movies: Before she even met her husband, John Krasinski, Emily Blunt appeared in the cute, underrated dramedy Dan in Real Life with his co-star from the Office cast, Steve Carell.

Rent/buy Dan In Real Life digitally on Amazon.

Buy Dan In Real Life on DVD/Blu-ray on Amazon.

Sunshine Cleaning (2008)

A single mother (Amy Adams) forms an unlikely partnership with her estranged, aimless sister (Emily Blunt) in a business that specializes in removing biohazards and cleaning up after crime scenes.

Why it is one of the best Emily Blunt movies: Amy Adams had a short-lived stint on The Office playing John Krasinski’s girlfriend before playing the sister of his future wife, Emily Blunt, in Sunshine Cleaning - the perfect comedy for anyone who thought CSI was a little too dark for them… even though this movie can get a pretty dark, actually.

Stream Sunshine Cleaning on HBO Max.

Rent/buy Sunshine Cleaning digitally on Amazon.

Buy Sunshine Cleaning on DVD/Blu-ray on Amazon.

The Muppets (2011)

A Muppet named Walter teams up with two humans (co-writer Jason Segel and Amy Adams) to bring the titular felt performers back together to take on an oil tycoon who wants to destroy Muppet Theater.

Why it is one of the best Emily Blunt movies: Emily Blunt has a reunion of sorts with Amy Adams and also pokes fun at her role in The Devil Wears Prada by playing Miss Piggy’s receptionist in the delightful, Oscar-winning reboot of The Muppets, which is the also the first film she appeared in with her husband.

Stream The Muppets on Netflix.

Stream The Muppets on Disney+.

Rent/buy The Muppets digitally on Amazon.

Buy The Muppets on DVD/Blu-ray on Amazon.

The Five-Year Engagement (2012)

After a young, smitten couple (co-writer Jason Segel and Emily Blunt) get engaged, they soon begin to suffer a series of circumstances that force them to postpone their nuptials again and again and again.

Why it is one of the best Emily Blunt movies: Emily Blunt has a big reunion with Jason Segel by playing his fiancée in The Five-Year Engagement - a hilarious and heartfelt meditation of why patience is a very important part of love.

Stream The Five-Year Engagement on HBO Max.

Rent/buy The Five-Year Engagement digitally on Amazon.

Buy The Five-Year Engagement on DVD/Blu-ray on Amazon.

Salmon Fishing In The Yemen (2011)

A leading expert on fisheries from Britain (Ewan McGregor) clashes with a determined consultant (Emily Blunt) over her client’s demands to bring the sport of fishing for salmon into his home country.

Why it is one of the best Emily Blunt movies: A year before starring in a rom-com about a love forced to endure a long waiting period, Emily Blunt starred in Salmon Fishing in the Yemen- a romantic dramedy about a love that slowly develops over time and over unusual circumstances from the Academy Award-winner writer of Slumdog Millionaire.

Stream Salmon Fishing In The Yemen on Showtime.

Rent/buy Salmon Fishing In The Yemen digitally on Amazon.

Buy Salmon Fishing In The Yemen on DVD/Blu-ray on Amazon.

The Girl On The Train (2016)

A woman (Emily Blunt) still suffering from the troubling circumstances of her painful divorce becomes obsessed with a young couple she sees everyday while riding a commuter train, which curdles into a nightmarish situation of deadly proportions.

Why it is one of the best Emily Blunt movies: Emily Blunt’s performance is the central strength of The Girl on the Train - a dark melodrama based on a best-selling novel that has nothing to do with Stieg Larsson’s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo series, in case you were wondering.

Rent/buy The Girl On The Train digitally on Amazon.

Buy The Girl On The Train on DVD/Blu-ray on Amazon.

My Little Pony: The Movie (2017)

When an evil, tyrannical force invades Equestria, the Mane 6 must make their escape and seek help to save their land and its magic.

Why it is one of the best Emily Blunt movies: Among the star-studded cast who lend their voices to My Little Pony: The Movie, Emily Blunt actually plays the villain named Tempest Shadow in this surprisingly funny and entertaining feature-length spin-off the popular TV series based on a popular toy line.

Stream My Little Pony: The Movie on Tubi.

Stream My Little Pony: The Movie on IMDb TV.

Rent/buy My Little Pony: The Movie digitally on Amazon.

Buy My Little Pony: The Movie on DVD/Blu-ray on Amazon.

As of now, you still have a little bit of time before you can watch A Quiet Place 2, streaming on Paramount+ eventually, from the privacy of your own home. Fortunately, the rest of these highlights from Emily Blunt’s career should be a fine way to pass the time.

When you really think about it, there are arguably only two popular modern directors who make serious, “grown-up" motion pictures, that are also thrilling, big budget sci-fi movies, and those two directors are Christopher Nolan, and Denis Villeneuve. 

Sure, you could also throw in Ridley Scott (who I much prefer as a historical director over a sci-fi director), but I think most would agree that he’s more of a legendary filmmaker who is STILL pumping out movies, whereas Nolan and Villeneuve are more contemporary directors. 

And, with Dune Parts 1 and 2 finally wrapped up and available to the public (with Part 3 likely still a ways off), I thought that now was as good a time as any to rank every single Denis Villeneuve movie, dating all the way back from the ‘90s to present day. Because he’s seriously been amazing for that long. 

11. Maelstrom (2000)

You want to know a weird film? Maelstrom. Maelstrom is a weird film. And, the thing is, it didn’t have to be! At its core, it’s a story about a woman (played by Marie-Josee Croze) who has an abortion, and her life goes downhill from there. I don’t want to spoil the big twist in the middle, but the strange thing about this film is that it’s all narrated by a talking fish who’s about to get its head chopped off. Like, what? Why?

That’s a pretty good question. Other than the fish, though, the film is a little bland. Don’t get me wrong, it’s dark as all hell in the way that only a Villeneuve film can be. But, besides that, it’s just not as engaging as it could be, which is why it ends up on the bottom of this list. 

10.  Polytechnique (2009)

Polytechnique is about a school shooting in Canada, which is based on a true story. It’s shot in black and white, and disturbs me on an emotional level since I grew up hearing about Columbine. Polytechnique is so stark and horrifying because it doesn’t really have much to say besides the idea that massacres are terrible.

That said, out of the movies that I can think of that center on the topic of school shootings — including Elephant and We Need To Talk About Kevin — this is actually the most hopeful, because it doesn’t focus on the killer or the parents. Instead, it focuses more on the victims (all women), and offers a glimmer of hope that the other movies completely shy away from. I wish it was a bit more complex, but a film of this nature really doesn’t need to be.

9.  August 32nd On Earth (1998)

I have a soft spot for Villeneuve’s debut film, which is about a woman (played by Pascale Bussieres) who gets into a car accident and comes out of it wanting to have a baby. She enlists her best friend (Played by Emmanuel Bilodeau), but he says that the only way he’ll go along with it is if they agree to have the baby in the desert. It’s not the most complex film, but that’s kind of why I like it.

August 32nd On Earth sounds like a sci-fi movie, but it’s really just about how life is short and we really don’t have much time, so we might as well spend it with the people we care about. I like that it’s nowhere near as dark as the rest of Villeneuve’s catalog. Sure, it’s a little slow at times, but I never find it boring.

8.  Sicario (2015)

Who had any idea that 2015’s Sicario would actually become a series (We’re still waiting to see if it will be a trilogy)? Starring Emily Blunt, Benicio Del Toro, and Josh Brolin, Sicario is the story of an FBI agent (Blunt) who goes after a cartel thinking that there is still some good in humanity, while Del Toro’s character doesn’t see good in anybody, and is now an assassin. The film is labeled as a thriller, and it is quite thrilling at times, but it’s also an incredibly dark journey into the human soul, and there really is no light at the end of it all. It’s just dark. Pitch black dark. At times, Sicario is a bit too grim. Blunt’s character, Kate, was definitely the moral compass of the film, and that helped it from becoming entirely bleak. It’s so dismal at times, however, that it becomes less enjoyable as “a thriller” in the process.

7.  Incendies (2010)

Speaking of dark, Incendies may be even darker than Sicario. It’s also not trying to be a thriller, though, so its darkness is more palatable. It’s the story of two twins (Played by Melissa Desormeaux and Maxim Gaudette) who go to their recently deceased mother’s homeland to find a brother they never knew existed. But, there’s a civil war going on in the area, and you get a true sense of what it must have been like for their mother to get her children out of that area and into a much safer environment.

And…well, there’s so much more to it than that. It’s mostly because we get to see what their mother (played by Lubna Azabal) went through, because the movie keeps jumping back and forth in time. What we learn is so disturbing that it recontextualizes everything in the story. I won’t spoil it, but it gave me serious Old Boy vibes. A part of me feels like the film could be a bit more straightforward, but I also think that it might rob the story of some of its oomph if it were. So, it’s great, but a part of me feels like it could be a little bit better.

6. Prisoners (2013)

Prisoners is another thriller from Villeneuve, but I think this one is a lot more effective than Sicario. The story is a parent’s worst nightmare. Two girls go missing, and one of the parents (played by Hugh Jackman) thinks the police aren’t doing enough. Especially once they apprehend a man who’s not all there (played by Paul Dano) and then let him go, as Jackman’s character is certain that he has their daughters.

Prisoners, like most of Villeneuve’s films, is hard to watch. Jackman’s character tortures Dano’s character, and the whole time, we’re never sure if he’s torturing a pedophile or a mentally handicapped man. And he doesn’t know either! You seriously hold your breath the entire film, and by the end of it, you’re still holding your breath. A masterful movie, and definitely one of Villeneuve’s best.

5. Dune: Part 1 (2021)

Dune Part 1 had the thankless job of setting up the characters and world of Arrakis, and… pretty much knocked it out of the park. We said as such in our review at the time, and it also got nominated for Best Picture at the 2022 Academy Awards, which is no small feat as most sci-fi pictures get snubbed at the Oscars (Just ask Ex Machina, or hell, even Godzilla Minus One for a more recent example). 

But, Dune Part 1 is certainly deserving of all the accolades. I mean, it had to sand walk in order for Dune Part 2 to ride a sandworm. In this Part 1 installment, we learn about Paul Atriedes, played by Timothee Chalamet, and the war over the sand planet, Arrakis. A lot of the film is slow-paced, but it’s punctuated by thrilling action sequences, and scary sandworms. 

It’s a great movie, and I liken it to The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring in that it perfectly sets up the next part. That said, since it’s such a set-up picture, it definitely feels lesser than its much broader and more expansive second part, which is why it lands here on this list. 

4.  Blade Runner 2049 (2017)

I’m going to be honest with you. I hate Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner (Even though it’s one of the best sci-fi movies of all time). Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? is one of my favorite books, and it’s a landmark in science fiction, but the movie adaptation is just too slow for me. Not so with Villeneuve’s version. The sequel follows the first film, but it expands upon it tremendously. Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner was great when it came to world-building, but not so great at character development. However, Villeneuve gets a fantastic performance out of Ryan Gosling, and his quest is just so much more interesting than Harrison Ford’s in the original.

Speaking of Ford, he makes another appearance in this one. Honestly, Ford’s section of the film is the weakest part for me since it feels so tacked on, even though it’s essential to the story. Everything else around that is perfection, and it’s one of the few sequels that I believe is superior to the original.

3.  Enemy (2013)

Here’s some more honesty: While I know Enemy is not Villeneuve’s best film, it’s my personal favorite of his. It reminds me of Takashi Miike’s Gozu, if you’ve ever seen that. Jake Gyllenhaal plays two roles in this film, one a professor, and the other an actor who looks just like him. What transpires is a complete head trip that includes the women who love them, and spiders. Lots and lots of spiders.

I really can’t tell you why exactly I find Enemy to be so compelling. It’s more of a mood thing than anything else. I’ve watched it several times, and each viewing brings me deeper and deeper into its story, until it feels like I’m actually trapped in a spiderweb, and I can’t get out. That’s how much I love this film. Like I said, it’s my favorite, but I know he has two other films that most people would consider to be his finest work. 

2. Dune: Part 2 (2024)

Dune: Part 2 is a landmark film, and one that we gave a well-deserved 5 stars in our review. The movie is bigger, more exciting, and even deeper in every way than Part 1, and it covers all of the most exciting moments from the book, such as Paul Atriedes riding a sandworm, and his battle with Feyd-Rautha, played impeccably by Elvis’ Austin Butler. 

The film feels much larger in scope than Part 1, and has so many more characters (With FINALLY more Zendaya). It also has so many more action scenes and explosions, that it’s kind of overwhelming. That said, unlike Dune: Part 1, which was almost all set-up, Dune: Part 2 never feels like it’s taking its time. In fact, it’s enthralling all the way through, which makes me excited for Dune: Part 3 (Which might just come out while I’m still in my 40s, if we’re lucky). 

But, the greatest accomplishment of Dune: Part 2 is probably that it took such an odd-ball story and made it so widely accessible. David Lynch once gave it a go, but it was much-maligned (Even though I really like it!). But, I would argue that Dune: Part 2 is honestly on the same level as a modern day Star Wars, if not better. And, the people have responded in turn, making it a blockbuster success. Dune: Part 2 is everything that you could want in a movie-going experience. That said, I still don’t think it’s Villeneuve’s best movie. That would still be…

1. Arrival (2016)

Here’s my problem with most sci-fi films. You usually only get two kinds: Fun action movies like Men In Black and iRobot, or deep, heady movies like Solaris and 2001. I like both, but I usually find that I want just a tad more intellect in my action, and a sprinkle of better pacing in my head trips. 

But then, you have the incredibly rare, well-paced, cerebral sci-fi movies like Total Recall and Contact. And when it comes to more recent films, Arrival instantly jumps to mind. It’s the kind of sci-fi film that I would recommend to both people who have never watched a thought-provoking sci-fi flick, as well as ardent fans of the medium. It works on both levels.

Starring Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner, and Forest Whitaker, Arrival is the thinking person’s Independence Day. Aliens come to Earth, but instead of being hostile, they just want to talk. The problem is, we don’t know how to communicate with them. Therein lies the conflict, but it’s so brisk and easy to follow that you actually feel smart for enjoying such an intelligent film. Arrival is one of the greatest science fiction films of all time, and one that solidifies Villeneuve as one of the greatest directors of all time.

And, that’s the list. Denis Villeneuve seems like he can do no wrong at this point. And, while it might take awhile before we get the next Dune installment, at least we can look forward to Villeneuve keeping us guessing (and thinking!) in the future with his next project. The adaptation to Nuclear War: A Scenario, can’t get here soon enough! 

More times than not, when someone hears the name Daniel Kaluuya or sees his face, they probably think back to his career-defining performance in Jordan Peele's 2017 satirical dark comedy Get Out. And while his performance as Chris Washington in the Academy Award-winning horror flick will go down as one of the best in the 2010s, there quite a few Daniel Kaluuya movies (and shows) that shouldn't be missed.

From his days in staples of modern British television like Doctor Who, Skins, and Black Mirror, to his truly despicable performance as a Chicago gang leader in Widows, Daniel Kaluuya often steals every scene he's in, even when he's relegated to the hurt and vengeful friend-turned-enemy in Black Panther. Below are just eight of those performances that display the full range and talent of Daniel Kaluuya.

Black Panther (W'Kabi)

Admittedly, whenever I think about Black Panther, my mind immediately goes to the late Chadwick Boseman and his take on T'Calla, aka Black Panther, or Michael B. Jordan's Erik "Killmonger" Stevens, but buried between those two performances is one that's just as great — Daniel Kaluuya's W'Kabi. Watching T'Challa's best friend and second-in-command take a path to darkness and self-righteousness as he turns on the King of Wakanda in favor of Killmonger provides one of the most emotional beats of the Marvel superhero movie and it's hard to think of someone who could bring as much pain to that role than Kaluuya with those eyes full of pain.

Widows (Jatemme Manning)

In Get Out Daniel Kaluuya has this boyish and innocent charm to him, but his character, Jatemme Manning, in Steve McQueen's Widows is anything but. The cold-blooded and oddly intimidating enforcer in his brother's Chicago gang, Kaluuya's Manning is by far the most ruthless and unsettling character in the 2018 heist film. There's a scene where Manning confronts two gang members after they let a band of thieves steal $2 million. Manning forces the two men to rap in an empty gymnasium and acts like he's enjoying the show until he pulls out his pistol and shoots one point-blank in the head while shooting the other in the back as he tries to escape. At that moment, we realize that Daniel Kaluuya is on a whole other level.

Queen & Slim (Slim)

Daniel Kaluuya often plays characters that are men of few words and tends to allow his facial expressions and body language tell the story for him. This is seen in the 2019 modern-day Bonnie & Clyde story, Queen & Slim, in which Kaluuya plays the titular Slim as he and Jodie Turner-Smith's Queen go on the run after killing a police officer. Under the hardened exterior of Slim lies a conflicted and terrified young man whose life changed in the blink of an eye but knows that there's no going back; a "you can't go home again" type of situation. It's a shame this movie doesn't get talked about enough, especially considering the lights-out performance by Kaluuya as a man on the run from his past.

Sicario (Reggie Wayne)

Sometimes it's easy to forget that Daniel Kaluuya was born and raised in London, England, especially after watching him take on the role of rookie FBI agent Reggie Wayne in Denis Villeneuve's 2015 thriller Sicario. He's not in the movie all that much, but whenever Reggie, Emily Blunt's Kate Macer's best friend and partner at the bureau, is on the screen, he provides a sense of calm that almost makes the viewer forget that some terrible stuff involving United States government agents and Mexican drug cartels are about to go down. And that accent, that Texas, red-blooded American accent, makes Kaluuya's performance worth returning to time and time again.

Black Mirror (Bingham "Bing" Madsen)

Several years before Daniel Kaluuya became a major young star in the United States with 2017's Get Out, he was already an established star in Britain after appearing on a number of great television programs, including Black Mirror. Appearing in the Season 1 episode "Fifteen Million Merits," a young Kaluuya portrays Bingham "Bing" Madsen, a man who lives in a room surrounded by screens that dictate his daily routine. When a friend is essentially taken advantage of in a futuristic pornography television show, Bing is driven to madness after not having enough "merits" to skip the show's ads and goes off on a television rant with quite the results. When appearing on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Get Out director Jordan Peele said he cast Kaluuya because of this performance.

Skins (Posh Kenneth)

There was a long-running British teen-drama television series by the name of Skins that ran on the E4 network between 2007 and 2013 that helped propel the careers of young stars like Dev Patel, Nicholas Hoult, Hannah Murray, and even Daniel Kaluuya, who appeared on nearly a dozen episodes in the show's first three seasons. Kaluuya portrayed Post Kenneth, one of the outlying characters who was often seen hanging with the main cast between 2007 and 2009. The character, much like the actor playing him, was known for being able to effortlessly bounce between his character's put-on appearance as an inner-city rapper and his natural, more refined manner of speaking, showcasing what the young, talented actor was capable of pulling off.

The Fades (Michael "Mac" Armstrong)

Daniel Kaluuya has always had this look in his eyes that tells the story better than most actors can through verbal communication, and that's seen in the 2011 BBC Three supernatural drama series The Fades. In the show's first and only season, Kaluuya portrayed Michael "Mac" Armstrong, the best friend of the series lead Paul Roberts (Lain De Caestecker). And although Mac doesn't have the ability to see spirits like his best friend, his character does most of the talking throughout the show and covers a wide range of topics, so much so it seems at times that he doesn't know how to shut his mouth.

Doctor Who (Barclay)

There must be a rule that any young British actor wishing to have a successful career first has to appear in a bit role on a random episode of Doctor Who because so many future stars have crossed paths with the Time Lord (no matter which version). You can add Daniel Kaluuya to that list following his appearance in the 2009 Easter Special titled "Planet of the Dead" as Barclay, a passenger on a bus that got sucked into a wormhole. Barclay would play a key role in the survival of the passengers and getting them back to safety by the time the episode wrapped up. And even though this random episode of Doctor Who probably gets lost in the shuffle, it's a fun reminder of where the future star came from.

Are you familiar with each of these performances from Daniel Kaluuya? If so, sound off in the comments and let us know which one is your favorite. Also, don't forget to let everyone know if there were any great roles from the Get Out star that were left off.

Different actors tend to have different ways of getting themselves into a headspace for a given role. In past interviews, Josh Brolin has referred to this idea as a "hook," which is his way into a given character. However, when I spoke with Brolin to discuss the upcoming release of Sicario: Day of the Soldado, the actor revealed to me that he actually doesn't have a hook for his performance as Matt Graver in the Sicario world, making it different from other projects that he has worked on in the past. Brolin explained:

That's an interesting thing to note for someone like Josh Brolin, who has become known for taking on diverse roles with wildly different personalities in projects like Deadpool 2, Hail, Caesar! and Men in Black III. As he explained to us in the interview, he usually can look at a project that he has worked on and pull out the quality that allowed him to "hook" into a given character, but with his role as Matt Graver in the Sicario films, he wasn't able to do that.

Another interesting thing to note about Josh Brolin's remarks to CinemaBlend during our recent interview is the fact that he apparently thought that he "blew it" when he worked on the first Sicario movie. Despite the fact that Matt's role has been increased with the shift away from Emily Blunt's Kate Macer (who could be brought back for the potential third installment if the stars align), Brolin did not immediately jump to praise his own work on the first film in this series.

Looking for a closer glimpse at CinemaBlend's recent interview with Josh Brolin during the Sicario: Day of the Soldado press day? Check out a clip from our chat, below!

Regardless of the fact that Josh Brolin didn't have a hook into Matt Graver with his work on the Sicario films, the early critical consensus seems to be largely positive. With that in mind, check out our review of the film and make sure to watch out for Sicario: Day of the Soldado when the highly-anticipated sequel debuts in theaters this weekend on June 29.

Whenever a sequel gets made, one of the first questions that some fans inevitably ask is whether or not the sequel even needed to happen in the first place. That question became even more pronounced when it was revealed that Denis Villeneuve's Sicario (a nasty, decidedly non-franchise film) would actually get the franchise treatment. Fans of the original have wondered if Sicario: Day of the Soldado could live up to the brutal legacy of the original, and save for a few narrative pitfalls, we're pleased to announce that Stefano Sollima's follow-up has largely succeeded in deepening this world, while expanding on its characters.

Sicario: Day of the Soldado picks up an unspecified amount of time after (or maybe it's before, we really don't know), Matt (Josh Brolin) and Alejandro (Benicio del Toro) had their last encounter with Kate Macer (Emily Blunt). After a major terrorist attack on United States soil is traced to Mexico, the deadly duo is dispatched south of the border by the government to start a war with the biggest cartel in the region and splinter the criminal underworld in the process. However, when the daughter (Isabela Moner) of a cartel boss becomes a disposable witness, Matt and Alexandro find themselves at odds over whether or not to follow orders and tie off the loose end.

First things first, it needs to be said that Sicario: Day of the Soldado is a great movie that doesn't even feel like a sequel in many respects. It gets audiences up-to-speed quickly, and while knowledge of Matt and Alejandro's relationship from the first movie helps expedite that process, the arcs in the film work incredibly well -- which is a testament to the lead performances, the strength of the writing, and Stefano Sollima's ability to helm realistic action.

That said, are two specific elements of Sicario: Day of the Soldado that make it an inferior movie when compared to its predecessor, and they both have to do with creatives who did not return for the sequel. Specifically, I'm referring to the absence of cinematographer Roger Deakins and composer Jóhann Jóhannsson, who passed away earlier this year. In terms of cinematography, Sicario: Day of the Soldado by no means looks bad, but Dariusz Wolski's landscapes just aren't as sharp or immersive as the terrifyingly-desolate world created by Deakins. That's a high bar to cross, for anyone.

Then there's the music, which definitely makes attempts to honor the work done by Jóhann Jóhannsson in Sicario, but doesn't achieve anything nearly as memorable. In fact, the film eventually does include some specific cues from Jóhannsson's work on the first installment in this franchise, and it serves as a stark reminder of how much better the original score was. Again, this doesn't mean that the work done by Hildur Guðnadóttir is bad; it merely shows that Sicario: Day of the Soldado has downgraded in a few key areas.

That said, the areas that have remained consistent from the first movie are the areas that thrive. Bringing Josh Brolin and Benicio del Toro back for enhanced roles as Matt Graver and Alejandro is a stroke of genius, as both actors explore their newfound space in exciting ways and find new dimensions to their characters. Emily Blunt's Kate Macer was our way into this world in the first movie, and while there were some fan concerns over whether we could get as invested in a story focusing on Matt and Alejandro, Day of the Soldado's impeccable lead performances (Isabela Moner is also incredible as a newcomer to the ensemble) help add new layers of complexity to the world.

Then there's screenwriter Taylor Sheridan, who continues to show that he's one of the most capable and talented screenwriters in the game right now. Once again embracing his knack for blending neo-western ideas with current political ideas, Sheridan's story is nuanced and layered in a way that glosses over some of the inherent machismo in Matt and Alejandro's personas. Without getting too bogged down in its own message, the movie actively acknowledges a political environment that feels VERY 2018, and it provides an even more unflinching look at the drug cartel world than anything seen in the first Sicario.

Some narrative threads don't work, and some eventually lead to dead ends. In fact, the first two acts set up a much bigger story than we ultimately get, with the movie seemingly changing gears at the last second to tell a smaller and more personal tale. However, the bulk of Sicario: Day of the Soldado's 'A' plot is a satisfying continuation of the two characters introduced in the previous film, and leaves them in a spot where we want to know what will happen. It's not that the film necessarily ends on a vague cliffhanger, but the door that it opens in its final minutes stands out as an enticing one that absolutely demands that Sicario 3 happen.

In true sequel fashion, Sicario: Day of the Soldado ups the ante in terms of scale this time around. This enhancement of scope does sometimes come at the cost of the darkly intimate charm of the original film, but in its place, we get a movie with big, bold, and smart action sequences. One that stands out is a long take firefight scene depicted entirely from the inside of a crashed humvee. Not showing the entirety of a showstopper moment like that could seem like a gamble, but Stefano Sollima's deft hand helps keep things moving and provides us with a solid sense of geography that carries the action forward. It's moments like these that remind us that a fair amount of thought went into this sequel, and it's clearly not a cheap cash grab designed to profit off of the Sicario name.

Though not quite as masterful as the film that preceded it, Sicario: Day of the Soldado is a damn-fine sequel that honors the narrative work done by Denis Villeneuve in the first film and allows Taylor Sheridan to build on an already fascinating world. Stefano Sollima's direction of the film's tactical elements are more than competent (which bodes quite well for the Call of Duty adaptation that he's currently involved with), and the result is an engaging thriller that lacks some of the atmospheric charms of the original, but succeeds in keeping audiences invested in the Sicario world. This is the land of wolves, and they are as vicious as ever.

Roger Deakins is not a household name, but if you consider yourself a true blue cinephile, he's a man you need to know. Simply put, Deakins is arguably the greatest cinematographer of all time, and since 1984 has been making some of the most gorgeous films ever made. Sadly, this work spent the longest time not being recognized by the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences - but that all changed tonight. At long last, Deakins is no longer simply an Oscar nominee, but an Oscar winner.

It's pretty unbelievable, but between 1995 and 2017 Roger Deakins was nominated for an Academy Award 13 times (including one year where he was up for two different films), but he always walked away empty handed. It was one of the longest no-win streaks in Hollywood history, but it became a thing of the past this evening. Although Deakins faced some serious competition from Bruno Delbonnel (Darkest Hour), Rachel Morrison (Mudbound), Hoyte Van Hoytema (Dunkirk), and Dan Laustsen (The Shape Of Water), voters agreed that his work on Blade Runner 2049 bested all of them, and they gave him the Best Cinematography prize. It's a remarkably well-deserved award, as the insanely stunning sci-fi feature is arguably the most beautiful movie he's ever made, but now is also the perfect time to look back at the amazing work that didn't win Hollywood's highest honor.

The relationship between Roger Deakins and the Academy began with what many consider to be one of the best films of the modern era: Frank Darabont's The Shawshank Redemption. Despite getting seven nominations, the movie walked away from the 1995 show totally empty handed, and that included Deakins' potential prize going to John Toll for Legends of the Fall. At the time it probably seemed like no big deal, as many could have predicted a long and successful future for the then-46-year-old filmmaker full of nominations, but what that show really did was kickstart a rather terrible losing streak.

Deakins was back at the Academy Awards two years later with Fargo, but that event in retrospect just created a special subcategory in the win-less stretch: collaborations with the Coen brothers that didn't get the big prize. There is no arguing that the cinematographer's work with Joel and Ethan Coen hasn't been spectacular, but it also apparently did Deakins no favors as far as the Oscars were concerned. Of the 13 movies that the three men have collaborated on, Deakins was nominated for six of them - Fargo, O Brother, Where Art Thou?, The Man Who Wasn't There, No Country For Old Men, True Grit and Unbroken (which the Coens wrote) - but he got no love.

In between the work with the Coen brothers, Roger Deakins had the opportunity to work with many other genius directors - but the results didn't include Oscars. It's a list that includes Martin Scorsese (Kundun), Andrew Dominik (The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford), Stephen Daldry (The Reader), and Sam Mendes (Skyfall). All of those films are visually jaw-dropping features, but during their respective years there were movies that the Academy just wanted to reward more.

Thankfully, Roger Deakins' work with Denis Villeneuve has finally changed the narrative. Their first two collaborations, Prisoners and Sicario, are dark, harsh pieces of art that are simultaneously sumptuous, but Deakins lost to Emmanuel Lubezki in both 2013 and 2015 (first for Gravity, then The Revenant). They say the third time is the charm, however, and that finally proved true in this case. Building on the aesthetic created by director Ridley Scott, cinematographer Jordan Cronenweth, and production designer Lawrence G. Paull for the original Blade Runner, Blade Runner 2049 is quite simply one of the most beautiful, audacious, and incredible films ever made, and it finally won Deakins the Oscar that he has been chasing for the bulk of his career.

Roger Deakins is certainly not a filmmaker who has been making movies to win awards, and he has said as much in interviews. That said, one important aspect of award shows is letting fans see their favorite artists get the respect they deserve, and Deakins' win is one that cinephiles have been anticipating for decades now. It was a great moment during an all-around great show, and hopefully it winds up only being the first Oscar that the cinematographer wins before the end of his career.

Denis Villeneuve's Sicario never struck us as a movie that would earn a sequel, let alone spawn a possible franchise. And yet, the characters introduced in the drug-trade drama proved so compelling that audiences looked for ways to return to that world, even if it wasn't seen through the eyes of the damaged FBI agent Kate Macer (Emily Blunt). That's what happens when you work from a screenplay by the brilliant Taylor Sheridan (Hell or High Water). Soldado will be the follow up film to Sicario, with Benicio del Toro and Josh Brolin returning, and the latter had this to say about how the sequel will differ from the original. Brolin says:

The new one is MORE severe that a movie that had Benicio del Toro murdering the children and wife of the drug lord who in turn murdered HIS character's family? Sicario was no walk in the park, but given the fact that it's tackling our country's losing war against the border wars and the drug trade, it never was going to be Mary Poppins -- for that, Emily Blunt fans will have to wait for Mary Poppins Returns in 2018.

Beyond the fact that it's somehow going to be more severe, and emotional to boot, Josh Brolin doesn't spill many more details to Collider regarding the movie's plot... though Blunt will not be back, and her role will give way to several new characters. Brolin and Benicio del Toro return, but they will be joined by Catherine Keener, Matthew Modine, Transformers star Isabela Moner, and Jeffrey Donovan.

We remain excited because Taylor Sheridan is returning to write the screenplay for Soldado, though original Sicario director Denis Villeneuve (riding high on the success of Blade Runner 2049) is passing the torch to Italian filmmaker Stefano Sollima, who worked on the TV series Gomorrah.

Soldado currently is in post-production, and is aiming to hit a June 28, 2018 release date. That's a BUSY year for Josh Brolin, who also will have Deadpool 2 and Avengers: Infinity War in theaters that summer. Visit our 2018 Movie Release Schedule for a complete rundown of movies opening that year, whether they star Josh Brolin or not.

Denis Villeneuve's Sicario has become one of the most unexpected success stories of the last few years. A dark crime thriller with a seemingly self-contained story, the film's success has allowed it to spin out into full blown franchise territory. That idea will take a big step forward with the upcoming release of Stefano Sollima's Soldado -- which will focus primarily on Benicio del Toro's Alejandro and Josh Brolin's Matt Graver -- and now it sounds like the film will go into a far darker realm than anything we saw in the original movie. Soldado screenwriter Taylor Sheridan recently opened up about the project and explained:

Taylor Sheridan's comments to Collider about the direction of this franchise are nothing if not intriguing. In many ways, it almost sounds as if the word "sequel" doesn't even necessarily apply. Sicario was our way into this particular world, but now it is about to evolve in very different (and endlessly more intense) direction. The first Sicario was one of the darkest and most unrelenting movies of the last decade; for Sheridan to say that it now looks "like a comedy" seems to promise something almost unprecedented in the world of crime thrillers.

Another enticing element of Soldado's story is the concept of what the upcoming film will actually remove from the original Sicario narrative. Sheridan spoke out about the movie at Sundance Film Festival and explained that the core premise of Soldado focuses on what happens when the police aspect of the first film is taken away. With Emily Blunt's Kate Macy not returning for another outing, the next installment in this franchise will focus far more heavily on what characters like Alejandro and Matt can do when the rule of law unencumbers them, and how they can truly get their hands dirty. So yeah, something tells us that they are going to get pretty bloody by the end of this one.

CinemaBlend will bring you more information related to Soldado as new details become available to us. The film does not currently have a set release date, but make sure to take a look at our 2017 movie premiere guide for more details on the rest of this year's theatrical releases!

Normally, a sequel has a clear place after its predecessor, much like a prequel would come before said film. It's the natural order of cinema, but as we've seen from time to time, nature is fun to play around with. The folks behind the sequel to Denis Villeneuve's Sicario, are doing just that, as they've constructed a sequel that leaves you guessing as to whether it's a continuation or if it takes place during another time frame altogether.

Producer Basil Iwanyk recently spoke with Collider about the soon-to-wrap follow-up, Soldado, and he made some promising remarks about this new film's content. In particular, Iwanyk says that the new story will delve deeper into both Josh Brolin and Benecio del Toro's characters, and will fit right at home with our current political climate. But as to where it fits in the story, what he had to say was quite perplexing, as Iwanyk made the following statement:

On the bright side, the described approach to Soldado perfectly explains how Emily Blunt's character is not only absent from the film, but isn't really required at all. Still, this isn't the first time that the film has been distanced from Sicario, as director Stefano Solima had previously mentioned that this film is a pure stand-alone. So theoretically, you can enjoy Soldado without even watching Sicario, which is great for people new to the world of Alejandro and Graver. However, this does leave an interesting angle of enjoyment for those who caught the previous film: it challenges them to make it fit into a wider narrative arc.

Through the course of Soldado, there could be context clues that show where it truly belongs in the running order. At the very least, this is likely to spawn fan theories, think pieces and many nights of discussion over drinks or coffee. Movies at their best thrive on this sort of activity, so if Soldado lives up to Sicario's reputation, this could lead to an extended legacy, and quite possibly further follow-ups.

Soldado is set to be released at some point this year, with Sicario already available on Blu-ray, DVD and Digital HD, as well as instant streaming with Amazon Prime.

The fact that Denis Villeneuve's 2015 cartel thriller Sicario has begun to receive the franchise treatment continues to feel like an oddity in the world of cinema. Don't get me wrong, it's most certainly a phenomenal movie, and easily one of last year's standout films; it just seems like an incredibly odd story to continue fleshing out when we consider how it ended. With that in mind we've maintained a certain degree of skeptical optimism regarding the upcoming Sicario sequel, titled Soldado. However, a new statement from Soldado writer Taylor Sheridan seemingly indicates that the second installment in the newfound franchise could seriously up the stakes, we we're definitely on board with that creative direction.

The folks at Collider recently sat down with screenwriter Taylor Sheridan, and he explained that the upcoming Sicario sequel would take all of the gritty, unsavory elements of the original, and crank them up to eleven. He asserts that he tried to make a movie that studios would think twice about producing, and that seems to promise a movie that will undoubtedly double down on the brutality that we all loved about the first installment. He said,

Remember, Sicario had no qualms about showing the sheer savagery on both sides of the war on drugs. We saw bodies packed into the walls of houses, visceral gun fights that didn't skimp on blood or gore, and a climactic showdown that took no issue with adding seemingly innocent people to the film's body count. If Taylor Sheridan claims to have upped the ante this time around, then you better believe that Soldado will look and feel darker than hell at night.

Despite the fact that Soldado will escalate the merciless nature of the original, it won't necessarily concern itself with ideas such as continuity. The narrative of the upcoming film will follow Sicario characters Matt Graver (Josh Brolin), and Alejandro (Benicio Del Toro) as they embark on a brand new mission to exact brutal, American justice, but the film will apparently leave Emily Blunt's Kate Macer behind. While this most certainly seems like a weird choice, it also seems like the right decision from a storytelling perspective, as Kate's arc was more or less wrapped up by the time the credits rolled on the original. Considering the fact that Kate represented the conscience of the original movie, we have a feeling that Soldado will take more time to further highlight Alejandro's insane, Solid Snake-esque skills.

We will bring you all of the gory, gritty, and all around nasty details related to Soldado as more information becomes available to us. An official release date for the Sicario sequel has yet to be announced.

We learned last September that the action-thriller Sicario will soon be getting a sequel, and it’s bringing back some key players. The story is set to focus on the character played by Benicio Del Toro in the first movie, and it’s also been said that Josh Brolin will be returning to reprise his part as CIA agent Matt Graver. As confirmed by a new report, however, one headliner who will not be returning for more action on the Mexican border will be Emily Blunt – the lead of director Denis Villeneuve’s 2015 film.

The Hollywood Reporter has published the latest developments of Sicario 2, which will be titled Soldado, and in addition to revealing that Italian filmmaker Stefano Sollima is now in talks to helm the project, the trade also notes that Emily Blunt will not be one of the actors returning from the first movie. We always knew that the follow-up was going to change the point of perspective to Benicio Del Toro’s character – the stoic and mysterious Alejandro – but it seems that there will be no room for Blunt’s inquisitive FBI agent Kate Macer.

When you think about how Sicario ultimately played out, it’s actually not a huge surprise that Emily Blunt wouldn’t return for Soldado (even if it is still extremely unfortunate). While Kate Macer was the lead of the disturbing thriller for about three-quarters of the story, one of the biggest issues that I actually had with Sicario was the fact that the end of the movie essentially abandons her to instead follow Alejandro as he executes his personal mission on the other side of the border. Benicio Del Toro basically took the lead role of the movie away from Blunt at the end of the movie, and now it seems the filmmakers are taking that idea a step further with the sequel.

There was hope that Denis Villeneuve would be back to take the helm of Soldado, but it seems that the filmmaker was too busy to fit it on to his schedule (he is currently hard at work developing Blade Runner 2). For a while it looked like the directing gig would fall to up-and-comer Jeremy Saulnier - who just earned strong reviews for his thriller Green Room - but he also couldn’t make the movie work. As a result, Lionsgate is turning their attention towards Stefano Sollima, who has spent his entire career in Italy and is actually best known for his television work.

While Emily Blunt won't be starring in Sicario 2, the good news is that she's still one of the industry's most popular actresses, and as such has plenty of projects on the horizon. We just recently saw her in theaters as a key player in The Huntsman: Winter's War, and she will soon be found in the adaptation of the acclaimed novel The Girl On The Train. She also has three voice roles set up over the next few years - Animal Crackers, My Little Pony: The Movie and Gnomeo & Juliet: Sherlock Gnomes - and she has signed on to star in Disney’s Mary Poppins sequel, Mary Poppins Returns.

One of the reasons why we watch the Academy Awards is to see which upstart or underdog comes roaring from behind, out of nowhere, to walk away with Oscar gold. It happens each and every year, and the 88th annual Academy Awards were no exception. Perhaps there was nothing quite as big as Shakespeare in Love beating out Saving Private Ryan, or Crash taking Best Picture over Brokeback Mountain, but there were still a few choices that made you scratch your head and make a puzzled face. In that spirit, here are biggest upsets, shocks, and surprises of this year’s Academy Awards.

Mark Rylance Winning Best Supporting Actor Over Sylvester Stallone

The race for Best Supporting actor was never a foregone conclusion, with tough competition from Christian Bale, Tom Hardy, and Mark Ruffalo. That said, it was Sylvester Stallone, for his performance in Creed, who was the sentimental favorite, and after winning the Golden Globe, he appeared to be the frontrunner. It was a great story after all—it had been 40 years since his last nomination, for playing an older, broken incarnation of the iconic Rocky Balboa. Still, when the envelope was opened, it was Mark Rylance, and his quiet, understated turn as a resigned Russian spy in Steven Spielberg’s Cold War thriller Bridge of Spies, that walked away with the Oscar glory. And it doesn’t hurt that he gave an adorable speech and dressed kind of like a leprechaun.

Ex Machina Winning Best Visual Effects

This is the true surprise of the 88th Academy Awards and the real David versus Goliath story of this year’s ceremony. With a budget of $15 million, Alex Garland’s cerebral sci-fi thriller Ex Machina had roughly one-tenth the funds of the likes of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, The Martian, Mad Max: Fury Road, and The Revenant. But as the underdog showed tonight, it’s not necessarily how much you have, but how you use it. Seamlessly bringing the artificially intelligent android Ava (Best Supporting Actress Winner Alicia Vikander) to life, the subtle, inconspicuous effects are every bit as impressive as the more bombastic, obvious competitors.

Sam Smith’s "The Writing’s On The Wall" Winning Best Song

There have been few songs as polarizing over the past year as Sam Smith’s "The Writing’s On The Wall," the theme to the latest James Bond adventure, Spectre. Though it has won some other awards, most notably a Golden Globe, Smith’s song has been reviled by a large portion of the population (seriously, we wrote a story about the hateful tweets that dropped after Smith won). When it was announced, it seemed especially hard for many to swallow as it came shortly after Lady Gaga totally destroyed it. She floored the entire audience, both those in attendance and those watching around the world, with her performance of "Til It Happens To You," from sexual assault documentary The Hunting Ground, which may be the moment of the night.

Mad Max: Fury Road Dominating The Technical Categories

Perhaps not a total shock, considering how well it was reviewed and how much love it has received, Mad Max: Fury Road slayed when it came to the technical categories, walking away with Oscars for Best Production Design, Best Sound Mixing, Best Sound Editing, Best Film Editing, Best Makeup and Hairstyling, and Best Costume Design. Yes, that’s right, we now live in a world where a Mad Max movie owns six, count them, six Academy Awards. Sure, George Miller didn’t win Best Director, and there was no Best Picture in the cards, but any way you look at it, six Oscars is one hell of haul, and the post-apocalyptic adventure added an impressive collection of hardware.

Roger Deakins Loses Again/Emmanuel Lubezki Wins Again

Roger Deakins is one of the most celebrated cinematographers in the world, racking up an impressive 13 Academy Award nominations. He had, however, never won. Many thought this was his year for his impressive work on the tense, grim drug cartel thriller Sicario. But alas, it was not to, again. It was, however, Emmanuel Lubezki’s year, again. Not only has the Mexican cinematographer been nominated for an Oscar eight times, with his win for The Revenant, he now has three of his very own. And even more impressive, this marks his third consecutive win, a feat only accomplished a handful of times in history.

Spotlight Wins Best Picture Over The Revenant

Spotlight winning Best Picture is easily the least surprising item on this list. Early on, most of the chatter surrounding the big award revolved around The Revenant. It had so much prestige, so many name players doing good things, that it seemed an obvious choice. However, the closer we got, the more precursor awards that came and went, the more momentum Spotlight picked up. An ensemble cast of fantastic actors all doing topnotch work, and a weighty, important, topical subject, based on real life events, it was tailor made for awards recognition. When it won Best Original Screenplay earlier in the night, that was a big indicator that Spotlight could walk away with Best Picture.

You may have heard, but the Academy Awards has been somewhat reprimanded for its lack of diversity over its acting nominations. Just to remind you, for the second year in a row, all 20 nominations in the acting categories went to white thespians.

While none of these oversights were quite as egregious as David Oyelowo missing out for his performance in Selma last year – as that was one of the best performances of the last 25 years – there’s still a hoard of performances that deserved to be recognized in favor of the whitewashing that actually occurred. In fact, here are 6 Academy Award nominations that should have been given to minorities, but were instead overlooked. Can you think of any others?

Best Actor - Idris Elba - Beasts Of No Nation

It was always going to be a long shot that Idris Elba would be recognized for his performance in Beasts Of No Nation. The film itself was released on Netflix – something that the Academy still probably can’t get their head around – while its campaign for recognition never quite built up the momentum it craved. That doesn’t stop Idris Elba’s performance in the war drama from being any less dramatic though, as The Wire actor managed to merge charisma and terror into one intoxicating concoction. Just imagine a more guerrilla-style Last King Of Scotland.

Best Supporting Actress - Tessa Thompson - Creed

Like Straight Outta Compton, the fact that Creed’s one and only Academy Award nomination landed at the feet of Sylvester Stallone is further proof of the Oscars’ problems. Sure, Stallone is actually probably the favorite for the Best Supporting Actor accolade next month, but that doesn’t excuse Michael B. Jordan and Ryan Coogler not claiming Best Actor and Best Director nods, while Tessa Thompson’s lack of a nomination is truly puzzling. Thompson oozes an old-school magnetism, but with modern problems, and she is equal parts stern, sweet, and loving, proving to be the perfect foil to Michael B Jordan’s Donnie. At 32, this is hopefully only the beginning. But Creed would have been the perfect role for the mainstream to have really started celebrating her talents.

Best Supporting Actor - Benicio Del Toro – Sicario

Despite being one of the most blistering and suspenseful thrillers of the last 15 years, Sicario has mostly been overlooked at the Oscars. Sure, it picked up Best Sound Editing, and Best Original Score nods, while there was also the obligatory recognition for Roger Deakins’ Cinematography. But it was the leading trifecta of actors that kept Sicario ticking and captivating. While Emily Blunt and Josh Brolin were admirable, it was Benicio Del Toro who truly excelled and elevated Sicario. He often lingered on the edge of the story before then launching into the film sporadically, instantly injecting it with a visceral, raw, and brutal energy. It’s everything that you want from a supporting performance... unless your name is Oscar.

Best Actor – Samuel L. Jackson - The Hateful Eight

Samuel L. Jackson uttering Quentin Tarantino’s dialogue is one of the most joyful sights in cinema. Sure, after Pulp Fiction, you’d assume that any further collaboration between the duo would just pale in comparison. But Jackie Brown, Django Unchained, and, now The Hateful Eight prove that Jackson continues to pronounce Tarantino’s script with an edge and energy that others just can’t match. Yeah, I’m talking to you Christoph Waltz. While The Hateful Eight might only match, rather than eclipse, the actor's previous QT collaborations, Samuel L. Jackson still deserved to be recognized because of just how damn enjoyable it was to watch him in action.

Best Actress - Mya Taylor/Kitana Kiki Rodriguez - Tangerine

While Tangerine first garnered attention because of the fact that Sean S. Baker shot the entire film using just three iPhone 5s, once people actually sat down to watch the film, the discussion turned to just how unique and enchanting it was. Most of this was because it eschewed the usual privileged, white problems that have become commonplace in the indie landscape, and was invigorated by the leading performances of Mya Taylor and Kitana Kiki Rodriguez. Both deserved nominations, but one would have sufficed. Taylor and Rodriguez trail-blaze their way through Tangerine with a swagger and energy that has hardly been seen before on screen, and you literally can’t take your eyes off them as they do so.

Best Picture - Straight Outta Compton

OK, while not technically a performance, Straight Outta Compton's Oscar nominations breakdown sums up what was wrong with the Oscars this year. I say breakdown, but Straight Outta Compton actually only received one Oscar nomination, and the fact that it went to the all-white foursome of Jonathan Herman, Andrea Berloff, S. Leigh Savidge, and Alan Wenkus for their work on Best Original Screenplay is indicative of the Academy’s problem. Sure, the aforementioned quartet deserved their recognition, but the fact that the entire film wasn’t as equally supported was just plain peculiar. Supporting Actor nominations for Jason Mitchell or Corey Hawkins, as well as a Best Director nod for F. Gary Gray would have been understandable, but the biggest omission was its lack of a Best Picture nomination. Not only did its $28 million gross $200.4 million, but it also stretched to create a visceral, period piece that was epic in it scale and ambitiously depicted one of the most racially charged periods in American history. The Academy should take note.

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A huge chunk of the dazzling, big budget movies are released around the holidays, but January is a time when a lot of films are gaining awards notice, which means there are plenty of movies heading to Blu-ray and DVD before the Oscars air on February 28. Among this month’s big Blu-ray releases are The Martian and The Walk, but there are some excellent Digital movies hitting homes this month, too, including but not limited to Straight Outta Compton, Crimson Peak and Black Mass. Give the full list a look, below.

If you’re still keen to check out December releases, you can see them all here.

January 5

The Walk, Blu-ray

Juggling and street work aren’t enough of an emotional high for Philippe Petit, a real-life tightrope walker who is played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt in the film. Other bit players like Ben Kingsley and Charlotte Le Bon show up as characters supporting Petit in his biggest of big endeavors—aka walking between the Twin Towers on a tightrope—but this is mostly Gordon-Levitt’s rodeo. Overall, Robert Zemeckis’ lengthy story about the makings of a tightrope walker does have one big payoff: the walk itself, which is shot from such angles that the stakes are high and the visual effects are glorious. Having seen it on Blu-ray, I can only imagine what The Walk looks like in 3D, but I'd guess only good things can be said about that copy. If you were inspired by many of the dazzling effects in The Walk, you can catch the Blu-ray bonus features,which explain how very few practical effects had to be built in order to make the Twin Towers and Petit’s very famous walk come to life. The man of the hour even pops up in the extras, and an alternative opening and other deleted scenes provide even more whimsy and character background in the film. You can order your own copy over at Amazon.

Flesh and Bone, Blu-ray

It’s long been assumed that delicate and stunning ballet choreography only comes with a lot of pain. Regardless, the lead in Starz’s ballet drama Flesh and Bone, Claire (newcomer Sarah Hays), is used to a lot more pain than the kind sustained in her feet and ankles. She’s run away from home and her brother (Josh Helman) does not behave in a very brotherly manner toward her. This is one ballet story that’s not particularly romantic. Newcomer Sarah Hay is willing dancer but a troubled young woman and she’s surrounded by a well-acted cast who all play their own distinctive parts in her ultimate tale, including great turns from Damon Herriman as Claire's watcher and homeless neighbor Romeo, Ben Daniels as the compelling ballet head Paul Grayson and Irina Dvorovenko as the aging prima donna Kiira. It’s an overly dark story and often unsettling, but once you turn on the eight-episode series, it’s likely you’ll binge-watch your way through. Starz’s Blu-ray release is a barebones affair, with only a behind-the scenes feature called "Creating the World of 'Flesh and Bone" available with the set to "flesh out" Breaking Bad scribe Moira Waley-Beckett’s limited event series. Order your own copy, here.

True Detective: Season 2, DVD

Few shows elicited such a monumental amount of anticipation as True Detective did in the time between the polarizing Season 1 finale and the equally polarizing Season 2 premiere. With a positively stellar cast that includes Colin Farrell, Rachel McAdams, Vince Vaughn and Taylor Kitsch, the sophomore season of the dark and violent HBO drama centered on the aftermath surrounding the murder of a California land developer with a hand in way too many cookie jars. It came with everything one would expect from a neo-noir, from distinct murders to oodles of smoking to a moodiness so thick you can’t put a bullet through it. The complication-filled season was either ploddingly boring or exceedingly tense, depending on what you were looking for, and audiences were keen on expressing exactly what they thought of it all. The DVD set features a few features that fans will enjoy, including a comprehensive behind-the-scenes look at the city block-spanning shootout centerpiece and a brief overview of the season as a whole. (The location-porn extra compiling overhead shots of California locations was questionable.) I most enjoyed the commentaries with the stars and creator Nic Pizzolatto that accompanied two episodes, including the finale. If this sounds up your gritty alley, go ahead and order your own copy over on Amazon.

Other January 5 Blu-ray And DVD Releases

The Visit

Sicario

Joe Dirt 2: Beautiful Loser

Scouts Guide To The Zombie Apocalypse

The Green Inferno

Sleeping With Other People DVD

Broad City: Season 2 DVD

Condemned

Captive

Agatha Christie’s Partner in Crime

Week of January 5 Digital Releases

Galavant: Season 1 Our Brand Is Crisis

Jem and the Holograms

Straight Outta Compton

Legend

New Girl: Season 5 (January 6)

Sherlock: The Abominable Bride (January 7)

American Crime (January 7)

January 12

The Martian, Blu-ray

Above all else, The Martian is a love letter to problem solving. It’s a big budget, over-the-top reminder that human beings are capable of accomplishing incredible things when they work together and have their backs against the wall. To get stranded Astronaut Mark Watney (Matt Damon) back from Mars, the smart people over at NASA must scheme, bicker, lie, barter and use their incredibly well-developed brains. It’s a gigantic ordeal, and thanks to Ridley Scott’s careful direction, it always feels exciting and understandable. The math may be too complicated for most of us, but the spirit is alive and exciting. Plus, with a slew of incredible supporting performances featuring everyone from Jeff Daniels to Donald Glover to Jessica Chastain, The Martian has as much talent as any film released in 2015. Extras include a gag reel--which I guess makes it more of a comedy?--and some behind-the-scenes featurettes that look at the making of the movie, all courtesy of Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment. Plus, there are some Ares focused extras, many of which can be viewed online. The Martian is absolutely one of a handful of must-own movies that came out in 2015. Own it now.

Hotel Transylvania 2, Blu-ray

Director Genndy Tartakovsky came back for the Hotel Transylvania sequel, and because he and most of the main cast are back, the result is another pretty cute and warm comedy that can be enjoyed by family members of all ages. It’s one issue is that it takes a while to get into the main narrative, as we need to catch up with characters like Dracula (Adam Sandler) and his pals Frankenstein (Kevin James), Wayne (Steve Buscemi), Griffin (David Spade) and Murray (Keegan-Michael Key), not to mention the nuptials between Mavis (Selena Gomez) and Jonathan (Andy Samberg) and a pregnancy before the movie can get to the real story. This is just a speed bump created when Hotel Transylvania 2 decided to tell a story at a much later time than the original movie, but once we get into through the beginning, the pace is quick and entertaining. You’ll have a blast, and so will your kids.

One of the things I really like about Sony Pictures Home Entertainment’s set is that it is pretty interactive. The characters from the movie will talk to you—or preferably your kids—when you pop the disc in, enticing you to stay for a sing-a-long "scary-oke." Some deleted scenes are also included and audio commentary, but the extras that are more kids-geared are always going to be better for this sort of release than commentary from Adam Sandler, Robert Smigel and Allen Covert. Disney has enough of an adult fandom that I don’t think it has quite the same problem, but with this release, stick to the Scary-oke. Order your own copy of Hotel Transylvania 2 over at Amazon.

January 12 Blu-ray And DVD Releases

Sinister 2

Mr. Robot: Season 1

Paranormal Activity 5: The Ghost Dimension

Irrational Man

Sherlock: The Abominable Bride The Devil Wears Prada: The 10th Anniversary Blu-ray

The Stanford Prison Experiment

All of My Heart

Week of January 12 Early Digital Releases

Black Mass

Goosebumps

The Last Witch Hunter

Burnt (January 15)

January 19

The Intern, Blu-ray

Nancy Meyers has made a career out of directing romantic, sentimental movies (and The Parent Trap). This time around, the writer and director ultimately opted to look at a different sort of relationship, creating The Intern, a story about a young woman named Jules (Anne Hathaway) who is just getting her first big experience as a boss and the relationship she cultivates with her retired intern, Ben (Robert De Niro). This seems like a pretty uncomplicated plot, but Meyers’ viewpoint is generally complicated, and Jules’ stressed relationship with her husband Matt (Anders Holm) actively plays into the plot, as well. Luckily, there are plenty of hijinks that come when Ben begins to engage with a bunch of other millenials (loveably played by Adam Devine, Zack Pearlman, Nat Wolff and Christina Scherer). It’s a fun movie and an engaging one, although not one that is meant to be groundbreaking or Awards-worthy. Three featurettes come with Warner Bros. Home Entertainment’s set and do a lot to explain how Meyers came up with the idea for The Intern and hired a lot of young (or at least young-ish) comedians to really add to the script. Another segment looks at the fashion in the movie, but we gotta say, that one's a little less exciting. If you are just finding The Intern or would love to revisit the movie, you can order your own copy of the film, here.

Straight Outta Compton, Blu-ray

Straight Outta Compton is about more than the music that made N.W.A. famous, but the music is also what propels the music biopic film into something a bit more enigmatic and fun. While largely focusing on the rise of N.W.A. and the behind-the-scenes drama that caused problems for the rap crew, the movie also touches on a lot of cultural problems facing Los Angeles in the early nineties, although there are gaps in its narrative. It’s not a fun, feel-good movie, but thanks to solid performances from Paul Giamatti (playing Jerry Heller), Corey Hawkins (playing Dr. Dre), Jason Mitchell (playing Eazy-E), O'Shea Jackson Jr. (Ice Cube) and a solid pace, Straight Outta Compton’s 2 ½ hour runtime flies by. Not only do you get a lot of movie with Universal Studios Home Entertainment’s set, the extras are extensive. A slew of deleted scenes, including on musical performance, exist with the Blu-ray. A ton of behind-the-scenes extras look at the origins of the film and feature both the actors and the real-life musicians who were available to interview and spent time on set (including DJ Yella, Dr. Dre and Ice Cube, who has also had a prolific acting career in the days since N.W.A was a thing). Many of them also were producers on the movie, and seem to be actively involved with production. If you liked the movie, the extras are fascinating; check ‘em out with your own copy over at Amazon.

Other January 19 Blu-ray And DVD Releases

Straight Outta Compton

Everest

The Diary of A Teenage Girl

Continuum: The Final Season (Season 4)

12 Monkeys: Season One

Jem and the Holograms

Week of January 19 Early Digital Releases

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (out of the vault)

Suffragette

Spectre (Friday, January 22)

January 26

Goosebumps, Blu-ray

The cleverest thing about Goosebumps, Rob Letterman’s film adaptation of the kid-horror works of R.L. Stein, is the fact that it adapts almost all of the author’s popular characters and plotlines into one smorgasbord of a supernatural thriller. Like Slappy, the menacing ventriloquist dummy? He’s here. How about the Lawn Gnomes, or the Invisible Boy? They’re here, as well. So is Stine, though the author is played by Jack Black, who needs the help of two teenagers (Dylan Minnette, Odeya Rush) when all of his literary creatures escape from their books. Both funny and fun, Goosebumps succeeds as an introduction to horror, and as a nostalgic tribute for anyone who read every R.L. Stine book growing up. Grab a flashlight, crawl under your covers, and enjoy the Blu-ray. Sony Pictures Home Entertainment’s set comes with a few jazzy extras, including an alternate opening and a blooper reel. However, the really fun ones are the behind-the-scenes extras, which teach the kids at home things like gas and water don’t mix and how to make their own monster masks. If your kids want to look like R.L. Stine’s characters, take a look at "Creaturefied!." You can order your own copy of Goosebumps, here.

Other January 26 Blu-ray And DVD Releases

Burnt

Da Vinci’s Demons: The Complete Third Season

Downton Abbey: Season 6

Legend

Week of January 26 Early Digital Releases

The X-Files (The New Series) (January 25)

Crimson Peak

Truth

Oscar Season is in full swing, and this year looks like a mixed bag as far as nominations go. With so many vastly different films getting Oscar buzz, it’s really a crapshoot to guess which films will be nabbing nominations, as well as the coveted golden statues. 

One method for predicting which films will actually nab Academy Award nominations is by looking to the Producers Guild Award noms. First established in 1990 by the Producers Guild of America, these nominations and awards have been very telling regarding the climate of the film world, and which way the Academy will likely be going. The 2016 PGA nominations have just been announced and the movie nominees are: 

The Darryl F Zanuck Award For Outstanding Producer Of Theatrical Motion Pictures

The Big Short

Produced by Brad Pitt, Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner

Bridge Of Spies

Produced by Steven Spielberg, Marc Platt, Kristie Macosko Krieger

Brooklyn

Produced by Finola Dwyer & Amanda Posey

Ex Machina

This film is in the process of being vetted for producer eligibility

Mad Max: Fury Road

Produced by Doug Mitchell & George Miller

The Martian

Produced by Simon Kinberg, Ridley Scott, Michael Schaefer, Mark Huffam

The Revenant

Produced by Arnon Milchan, Steve Golin, Alejandro G. Iñárritu, Mary Parent, Keith Redmon

Sicario

Produced by Basil Iwanyk, Edward L. McDonnell, Molly Smith

Spotlight

Produced by Michael Sugar & Steve Golin, Nicole Rocklin, Blye Pagon Faust

Straight Outta Compton

Produced by Ice Cube & Matt Alvarez, F. Gary Gray, Dr. Dre, Scott Bernstein

The Award for Outstanding Producer of Animated Theatrical Motion Pictures

Anomalisa

Produced by Rosa Tran, Duke Johnson, Charlie Kaufman

The Good Dinosaur

Produced by Denise Ream

Inside Out

Produced by Jonas Rivera

Minions

Produced by Chris Meledandri, Janet Healy

The Peanuts Movie

Produced by Craig Schulz, Michael J. Travers

Every year I say I’m not going to make another best-of list, and every year, like clockwork, I cave. Part of the motivation this year is how much shit has been talked that 2015 was a terrible year for film. People who say that haven’t watched enough movies, and certainly haven’t watched the right ones. Sure, there was a ton of total garbage out there, but there’s a ton of total garbage every year. But there were also a slew of amazing, interesting, moving motion pictures available for you to see if you cared to look, the kind of movies that make me realize, over and over again, why I love cinema like I do.

My tastes are varied, and the list of my favorite movies of the year reflects that. There are massive blockbusters, no-budget indies, documentaries, dramas, action spectacles, and blood-spurting horrors to be found. Though I’ve watched hundreds of movies this year, there are some that I haven’t seen yet that could very well make the list. But all things considered, I’m confident in my selections, at least for the moment. I hate ranking things, and I’m terrible at it, so the order will most certainly evolve in the future, but rest assured, if it’s on this list in any slot, it blew my hair back in 2015.

10. Brooklyn

Before I watched John Crowley’s Brooklyn a friend described it as like a Baz Luhrmann movie without all the fuss and bluster, and while I didn’t understand that at first, it’s an apt description in retrospect. John Crowley and Nick Hornsby’s adaptation of Colm Toibin’s novel creates a complete, meticulous, immersive world. The story of a young immigrant traveling from Ireland to New York in the 1950s is lush and gorgeous, and the period design is immaculate and flawless in every scene. Saoirse Ronan quietly delivers a career-best performance as Eilis, a shy, timid young woman, and watching her stunning transformation is one of 2015’s greatest pleasures.

9. The Martian

It’s official: Ridley Scott should only be allowed make epic science fiction movies from now on. An adaptation of Any Weir’s best selling novel, The Martian tells the story of an astronaut (Matt Damon). One of the first people to set foot on Mars, he’s about to become the first to die there after his crew is forced to abandon him, presuming he is dead, during a freak storm. Mark’s struggle to survive ranks among the director’s best. It’s a harrowing, moving, way funnier than you expect, story of the steadfast refusal to give up in the face of unprecedented odds, and one of the things that sets this movie apart is a truly hopeful tone. This is a celebration of science, and no movie in recent memory has made being smart look so goddamn cool. People are going to be sciencing the shit out of situations for years to come.

8. Sicario

Almost unbearably tense from end to end, Denis Villenueve’s drug cartel drama, Sicario, a south-of-the-border term for hitman, is grim, gritty stuff. Given the subject matter, you probably guessed this isn’t going to be particularly uplifting fare. Emily Blunt stars as an eager FBI agent who gets in way over her head when she teams up with an interagency task force to combat the epidemic of drugs and violence along the border between the U.S. and Mexico. Filmed with a stunning, poetic eye by the great Roger Deakins, and featuring a ferocious, esoteric performance from Benicio Del Toro, this will leave you breathless and clenching your jaw until the final frame, and is just as morally messy and grey and uncertain as the real life situation that it reflects.

7. The Duke of Burgundy

For all the talk around 50 Shades of Grey earlier this year, the only erotic thriller you needed to watch in 2015 was Peter Strickland’s The Duke of Burgundy. Influenced by Hammer and infused with a giallo sensibility, every syllable uttered, every frame, is sexually charged and full of meaning. This is a movie without a single male character, that is never graphic or exploitative, but that plays like an artistic rendering of a soft core flick exploring power dynamics, both sexual and emotional, in a relationship between two women, one older, one younger. Hypnotically gorgeous and deliberately paced, Burgundy is a small story of extremes and unlike anything you’re going to encounter elsewhere. Strickland crafts a wholly unique film that is both strange and pedestrian, foreign and relatable.

6. Tangerine

Shot on an iPhone, telling the story of two transgender prostitutes stalking the Los Angeles streets on a quest to find a cheating pimp on Christmas Eve, Tangerine sounds like something many will dismiss immediately, which is a damn shame. Sean Baker’s film simply crackles with life and electricity. The story of fucked up, broken people is a moving meditation on friendship, unexpectedly funny, and tender. Add to that the fact that Baker somehow took a goddamn iPhone and made a gorgeous film, and this achievement is even more monumental. His cinematography captures both the beauty and grime of LA, the splendor and the ugliness of the place, and though the movie seems like a dicey idea in almost every way, like it could have spun out of control in numerous directions, it comes together into something spectacular and unique. It's also has the makings of one hell of a left-of-center Christmas movie.

5. The Look of Silence

While watching the Act of Killing is like being punched in the stomach, Joshua Oppenheimer’s follow-up documentary, The Look of Silence, is like having your still-beating heart ripped out of your chest and shown to you while you watch. The first film follows those responsible for the vicious, government-sanctioned mass murders in Indonesia in the 1960s, perpetrated by men who are generally still alive, in power, and have never faced any repercussions. On the other hand, Silence tells a much more personal tale of the same atrocities, following one man, an optometrist, who’s brother was a victim of this violence as he relentlessly searches for answers, from the men responsible. Moving and devastating, The Look of Silence is a true illustration of the power of movies; you walk out of the theater and never look at the world in quite the same way ever again. Heartbreaking, haunting, human stuff.

4. The Revenant

Vicious, punishing, an endurance test, and the most stunning, jaw-droppingly gorgeous movie you’ll see all year, Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu’s Birdman follow-up, The Revenant, is a visceral ride through the depths of humanity, a father’s quest for justice, and a poetic, technical marvel to behold. As star Leonardo DiCaprio—in a physical, feral performance that many seem to think will finally win him an Oscar—is thrashed by a massive grizzly bear, it’s such a raw, animal moment that it’s easy to overlook the sheer artistry, which stands for the entire film at large. This is such an intricately choreographed and executed film, which Inarritu and cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki make look so simple, that it’s easy to get lost in the ruthless story on screen. The Revenant is a savage frontier Apocalypse Now.

3. Deathgasm

There is no single movie that came out in 2015 that is even a fraction as fun as the New Zealand produced horror joint Deathgasm. If someone asked me exactly what I wanted out of a movie, took extensive notes, and then followed that roadmap to the letter, this would very likely be the end result. When a small-town heavy metal band made up of slacker outcasts and nerds plays a song so dark, so evil, that it calls forth the King of the Demons, all hell literally and figuratively breaks loose in their backwater burg. Gore-soaked, profane, and gleefully heretical, Deathgasm is also sweeter and more well rounded than you initially expect. Still, at the end of the day, it’s all about loud-ass music, geysers spraying streams of blood, bros battling demons, and getting awesome, which it most certainly does.

2. Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Star Wars: The Force Awakens has been the hardest movie to place on this list. I’ve had it as low as ten, as high as one, and everywhere in between. Is it the best movie of the year? No, not by a long shot. There are big issues with the script, a mess of plot holes, and other gaffs. Still, for all the flaws, it might be my favorite. I’ve seen it multiple times, and this is one that I’ll be watching many, many times over the years. With the build up and massive response, this has been a singular cultural experience, and no movie this year had as much of an effect on me. J.J. Abrams and company did something the prequels failed to do, they made a Star Wars movie that feels like a Star Wars movie. There’s high adventure, swashbuckling action, and legitimate emotional investment; multiple moments gave me goosebumps or moved me nearly to tears; and the sensation of watching The Force Awakens for the first time is similar to when I experienced the original trilogy as a kid.

But as long as I’ve been waiting for a good Star Wars movie, I’ve been waiting for my number one choice even longer…

1. Mad Max: Fury Road

George Miller’s latest Mad Max movie has been in the works so long that it’s been on my most-anticipated movies list every year since 2012. And as long as we waited, and as troubled as the production was—at one point it looked like God himself was trying to wipe the production from existence—Fury Road was worth every damn second. It took stones to recast such an iconic role as Max Rockatansky, but once Tom Hardy showed up on screen in a nearly mute, borderline feral performance, I never once thought about Mel Gibson. Throw in Charlize Theron as one of the biggest badasses, male or female, we’ve seen in a long, long while; add a more thoughtful, critical look at the modern world through the guise of the post-apocalyptic wastes; and top it off with the most insane practical stunts you’ve ever seen rendered on screen, and you’ve got something. A full-frontal blast of fire from end to end, this is the best action movie in I can’t tell you how long, and the rest of the genre is on notice that the master is back and still has a few tricks to show the youngsters.

The Also Rans

Todd Haynes’ romantic period drama Carol should probably be on this list, and was in fact at various stages. It’s sumptuous, meticulous, and I could watch Cate Blanchett smoke cigarettes all day. It Follows is a creepy, inventive horror joint that shows the potential of what you can still do with the genre. Kingsman: The Secret Service is more fun than it has any right to be. The crazy action of Mission: Impossible—Rogue Nation came close to making the cut, and once again proved Tom Cruise is still a viable action headliner. Creed was an unexpected reinvigoration of one of my all-time favorite franchises from an exciting young filmmaking talent (Ryan Coogler) and shows that Sylvester Stallone can still act his ass off. Cartel Land is a grim, ambiguous documentary about people trying to combat cartel violence along the U.S./Mexico border that makes a strong companion piece to Sicario. Post-apocalyptic send up Turbo Kid is a loving homage to the cheap international Mad Max that proliferated in the early 1980s, one that is also an absolute blast. Neither Pitch Perfect 2 nor Magic Mike XXL is as good a movie at their respective predecessors, but they both might be more fun than the originals, and I’ll likely watch them both more than most other movies on this list.

With 2016 on the horizon, it’s time to sit back and bask in the glory that was 2015. You’re here to fawn over all of the glad tidings that cinema brought our way over the last 12 months. In reality, every year is a good year for cinema. Sure, some years you have to wriggle your way through mountains of turgid mainstream crap in order to find a gem of a film that you can then show off to your friends about. But, this year wasn’t actually like that. This year was different.

This year Hollywood’s biggest films were some of its best. Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Jurassic World, The Martian, Spectre, Ant-Man, and Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation were all bombastically entertaining, while at the other end of the spectrum Room, The Danish Girl, 45 Years, and Carol were tender and heart-breaking. Yet, they all still transpired not to make my list. But which films did? Well, without further ado, here are my top 10 movies of 2015. Enjoy. Despise. Just let me know what you think in the comments section.

10. Furious 7

Sometimes it’s easy to overlook the pure joy that action films can bring to an audience. That’s because in order to reach its fast, furious, and death-defying scenes, we normally have to sit through hackneyed characters uttering awful lines of dialogue from a script riddled with problems. Sure, Furious 7 has these issues, too. But when it came to delivering thrilling action scenes that left you gripping onto your seat in euphoria, nothing came close to matching its two biggest and best scenes; and that includes number 7 on my list.

The mountain top car chase – which saw cars inexplicably being dropped out of a plane in order to catch their target – and the Abu Dhabi tower extravaganza that disregarded everything we’ve ever come to know and love about gravity were over-the-top, ridiculous, and everything that’s great about cinema. As long as you didn’t think about them too much. Because of these scenes, watching Furious 7 was one of the most enjoyable times I had in a cinema all year. And don’t get me started on the Paul Walker tribute.

9. Spotlight

Last year, The Theory Of Everything and The Imitation Game, despite their sublime performance, were still dramatically lightweight. Their drama was presented in an overwrought fashion, with a swelling of emotional music accompanying a prolonged shot of a pained expression all just to prove how serious they were. The dramatic neediness was a real turn off. With that in mind, Spotlight is the prime example of how to tell a real-life story. Sure there are explosions of emotional drama, but the humanity of the characters and those afflicted was always, subtly, at the fore. It’s also a stunning cinematic depiction of journalism; with every scene the equivalent of a jigsaw piece as the film slowly builds together to unveil a truly horrifying picture of abuse and cover-ups. Everyone is at fault, no-one is glorified, and even the heroes come out of the story in disgrace.

Spotlight is not only ensemble cinema at its finest. It also shows that Birdman was just that the start of an exciting new stage of Michael Keaton’s career, reminds you just how great and composed a filmmaker Tom McCarthy is, and, most importantly, proves that the world needs these kinds of films just like it needs Spotlight's team of journalists.

8. Paddington

True story: I decided to watch Paddington in the middle of the summer when I had an unseasonable bout of the flu. It had been recommended to me months earlier, and I was looking for something to fall asleep to as I contemplated my last hours alive. But, instead, Paddington indomitably lifted my spirits. Why? Because it’s delightful. Paddington is the sort of film that you go into with low expectations, only to find yourself charmed within the first five minutes, and then utterly captivated by the time it comes to an end. In fact, chances are, you’ll have a smile plastered to your face throughout its entire running time.

Writer and director Paul King, as well as its co-writer Hamish McColl, give the film a playful energy that makes Paddington restless and cheeky, and it's filled with equal delights for younger and older audience. Meanwhile Ben Whishaw’s loveable performance, its stylish but safe middle-class ambiance, and uplifting message means that it constantly engages. Good natured, Paddington is family fun that should be roundly celebrated for being just that.

7. Mad Max: Fury Road

Stop The Pigeon on speed – just without the killer theme song - Mad Max: Fury Road was the jolt in the arm that the action genre has needed for years. It is also the ultimate proof that the genre should be better. It should be full of unique, artistic spectacle with eye-catching designs, beguiling eccentric supporting characters, and painstakingly choreographed set pieces, all of which leave you agog, rather than the tired, rehashed scenes that we’ve become accustomed to.

It speaks wonders of George Miller’s gloriously hectic bombast that it’s probably easier to explain why it’s so far down my list than why it managed to reach number 7. For me it was just a little too relentless and a bit one note. There I said it. The thing is, since that’s exactly what George Miller set out to achieve, that’s hardly a criticism. In fact, it’s probably a compliment. Jaw-dropping brilliance has never been so visionary, ridiculous, and over-the-top.

6. Slow West

First-time directors aren’t supposed to be so distinctive, astute, and inventive with a genre that most people consider as dead as the dodo. But in Slow West, John M. Maclean – who in a previous life was a member of the Scottish indie-rock outfit The Beta Band – not only breathes fresh life into the American Western with his shimmering yet beautiful visuals, but he does so by shooting only in New Zealand and Scotland, too. It also helped John M. Maclean’s cause that he had three of the best actors in Hollywood to assist him on his adventure, with Kodi Smit-McPhee, Michael Fassbender, and Ben Mendelsohn each given the on-screen freedom to be unhinged in a terrifying, hilarious and rather absurd fashion.

Slow West is a fantastic addition to a dying genre, and while its $230,000 box office return proves just how far the western has fallen, it’s still evidence that films of this ilk deserve to be created.

5. Sicario

Probably the most tense cinematic experience of the year, Sicario has a great director working alongside a luminary cinematographer to inspire a group of fantastic actors. Basically it’s a big fuck you to the Auteur theory. The end result is the sort of thriller that most filmmakers aspire to create at the outset, but which are ultimately diluted down by the creative process.

Sicario is shot with a harsh lens that makes everything seem taut, real, and haunting, but it still explodes with precise and brutal action sequences that have been meticulously orchestrated beforehand and build in an almost Hitchcockian fashion. The complex world that’s created is one of paranoia and ruthless murder, where vengeance is part and parcel of the drug cartel’s business. Emily Blunt and Benicio Del Toro are particularly revelatory as the two agents investigating a case for very different reasons, and Josh Brolin is also in delicious supporting form. All of which merge together to make Sicario utterly riveting as it tantalizingly unfolds.

4. The End Of The Tour

The End Of The Tour is a film about friendship. A budding, but brief, friendship between two like-minded, creative individuals, with varying social skills, who only have a handful of days together. But it’s also about journalism. About intelligence. About rivalry. About legacy. About good conversation. About life. Essentially, it is about being a human being. All of which is presented to us with the spectre of death, specifically a suicide, hanging over it.

The fact that James Ponsoldt -- whose incisive and subtly powerful direction excels -- and screenwriter Donald Marguiles never overly focus on one particular thread and instead allows them to merge and hang there in the way that they do in real life is what makes The End Of The Tour so compelling to watch. Jesse Eisenberg and Jason Segel are superb in the dual leading roles, making each and every word of dialogue uttered integral and loaded. You just wish that the conversation would never come to an end.

3. The Hateful Eight

The Hateful Eight finds Quentin Tarantino toying with his audience in a manner that only he could. It’s gruesome, gory, and overly violent, but it unfolds in a patient and slowly engrossing style that is packed to the brim with surprises and red herrings. It’s basically Agatha Christie meet Sam Peckinpah, and it’s just as awesome as that sounds.

Some might find The Hateful Eight needlessly meandering. But, if you allow it to, The Hateful Eight becomes more and more enjoyable as its three hour and seven minute time runs along. Especially if you see it on the 70mm print that Quentin Tarantino wants you to view it on, with the punctuating overture and intermission only adding to the experience, and giving it an old school elegance. While Quentin Tarantino has never had a problem being exhilarating, The Hateful Eight has a sturdier structural than both Django and Inglorious, and, as a result, it means it’s his best film since Pulp Fiction.

2. Brooklyn

Never has falling in love seemed so integral and complicated. Whether it’s the burgeoning love for a new beau, the love for the home you’ve left behind that’s now over 3,000 miles away, the love for your family and the responsibilities that come in tow, the love for the new life that you’ve built, or the slightly arrogant love of the person that you’ve become. Brooklyn celebrates all of this love, and the complications that come because of them, in an intimate style that expands into an epic because of the conflicts that inevitably arise.

Saoirse Ronan is towering in the leading role as Eilis Lacey. You can see her growing in confidence as her character does, becoming tougher, funnier, and more at ease as she becomes used to her Brooklyn surroundings. But it's Brooklyn’s heart and spirit that really resonates. It’s tender, loving, and poignant, all of which results in Brooklyn being the most uplifting and life-affirming film of the year.

1. Inside Out

Before he died, baseball legend Buck O’Neill insisted that he’d only ever heard a baseball being struck by a bat at its purest on three separate occasions. Watching Inside Out evoked the same feeling, because cinema has never looked so easy and been so enthralling. Writer and director Pete Docter created a glorious, unique world inside Riley’s head, where Joy, Sadness, Fear, Anger, and Disgust then run amok. But he did so in a way that people of all ages could resonate. Every scene builds upon the last all the way to its gripping conclusion, while along the way, as you’d expect from Pixar, the journey is fraught with humour and emotion. I'm never going to be able to look at candy floss the same way again.

Inside Out’s only issue is that it doesn’t last long enough. But think about that: when was the last time you left a film wishing that it was longer? Which proves just how utterly spellbinding it was, and means that a potential Inside Out 2 wouldn’t be greeted with the usual trepidation reserved for sequels, but is now instead a necessity.

A Golden Globe snub doesn’t break someone’s Oscar campaign, but it does disrupt the momentum of a campaign ever so slightly. So when the full list of Golden Globe nominations were announced on Thursday morning, these 10 Academy Awards hopefuls probably were on the phone with their agents, handlers and Oscar-campaign advisors asking what the next step will be, because a lack of Globes nomination indicates a slight step backward.

Some of these are jaw-droppingly surprising. Some of these are understandable. But they ALL are snubs from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, and I think it’s safe to say that the people listed below are more than a little disappointed. They’re probably flat-out pissed.

Johnny Depp

Is this the year Leonardo DiCaprio finally wins his Oscar? That’s one narrative swirling around the race for Best Actor, and the name we often hear as someone who can give Leo a run for his money is Johnny Depp in Black Mass. Except, you have to be in it to win it… and even though the Globes have 10 slots to recognize male performances, Depp didn’t get any of them. (OK, he had no shot at Comedy or Musical, but you get the point.) Team Black Mass has to push harder for Oscar recognition, because Eddie Redmayne, Bryan Cranston and even Will Smith got a bump this morning, and Depp – unfairly – was left out in the cold.

Spotlight Cast

Spotlight is the year’s best film (in my humble opinion). The cast, from top to bottom, is uniformly excellent. It’s masterfully directed, and has an air-tight script. Well, the Globes recognized the film as a Best Picture, with the Best Director, and a Best Screenplay nod. But NONE of the actors received a nom. Not one. Even if the male performers cancelled each other out, Rachel McAdams needs to be in the Best Supporting Actress category. This is a supreme WTF?! In fact, we should have put it on this list.

Straight Outta Compton

Universal had a surprise hit with the gangster-rap biopic Straight Outta Compton, and several Oscar prognosticators have been saying that the film – as well as some of its performers – could work their way into the Oscar conversation. Earlier this week, SAG recognized the film in its Outstanding Performance By A Cast category, giving Universal hope! But then the Globes dashed the dreams of them en who played N.W.A. this morning. Oscar can still respond, but the fact that it didn’t get any Globes nominations is a bit of a hit.

The End of the Tour

This sounds like the end of the road for the awards chances of James Ponsoldt’s loose biopic of novelist David Foster Wallace (Jason Segel). Early buzz for the film had some believing in the chances of the film, as well as Segel, for cleaning up a few key awards categories. So far, though, the Independent Spirit Awards are the only ones to throw some love to Tour, and this morning, the Globes completely overlooked it.

Sicario

Yet another one-time Oscar hopeful took a serious hit when it was overlooked by the Globes on Thursday morning. Denis Villeneuve’s hard-hitting look at the futile war on drugs received fantastic reviews, and likely was hoping to contend in a few year-end categories. Picture and Director would have been nice, but Benicio Del Toro looked like the movie’s best shot for his scene-stealing role as a mysterious law-enforcement agent. As the season wears on, it’s sounding more and more like Sicario’s best chance at Oscar success is in the Cinematography category… if the legendary Roger Deakins can get that damn monkey off his back.

Steve Jobs

Danny Boyle’s Steve Jobs biopic wasn’t completely shut out by the Golden Globes, picking up nominations for Screenplay (Aaron Sorkin), Supporting Actress (Kate Winslet) and Actor – Drama (Michael Fassbender). But it’s the categories it missed that stand out. No Picture and no Director might hurt the film’s chances, overall. Or, this could just be a blip for the calculated drama that still could appeal to Academy members.

By The Sea

Pitting Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt together in a moody prestige picture was supposed to guarantee awards recognition. Sadly, Jolie’s third directorial effort is struggling to make any waves. Reviews have been tepid. The box office is nonexistent. And the Globes failed to recognize its existence. We expect the Academy to follow suit when the Oscar nominations are announced early next year.

Charlize Theron

Mad Max: Fury Road may have picked up a few nominations, but lead actress Charlize Theron wasn’t able to crack the top 5 in what looks to be a solid field of actresses contending for various awards throughout the season. The HFPA fell hard for Carol (rightfully so), giving two of their five nominations to that movie’s leads. Seeing as how Brie Larson, Saoirse Ronan and Alicia Vikander deserve recognition for their performances, Theron might have a very hard time riding the wave of momentum Max might generate. Sorry, Furiosa.

The Walk

Was Robert Zemeckis’ The Walk every really an Oscar contender? Some of us thought so, primarily because the actual tightrope-walking sequence between the Twin Towers is breathtaking. But yeah, the rest of the film falls a little flat, and critics groups aren’t really helping the film’s cause. Today’s whiff with the Globes likely puts the final nail in the Walk Oscar campaign coffin, which is sad, but real.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Likely, Disney and Lucasfilm neglected to show a cut of Star Wars to the HFPA for Golden Globes consideration. And maybe, even if they did, the movie wouldn’t necessarily qualify for year-end awards. It’s probably just a rewarding popcorn blockbuster, and not an awards contender. However, the Globes did recognize Spy, proving once again that when it comes to the HFPA, their choices are anyone’s guess.

Now that November has rolled into December, and the threat of a new year lingers on the horizon, it’s time for critics, Guilds, and boards to band together and figure out what exactly were the best films of 2015. Even though December is just a few hours old, The National Board Of Review hasn’t missed a beat in honouring the finest cinematic achievements of the past 12 months. And, for a change, they’ve actually named, arguably, the best film of year as the best film of the year.

That’s because Mad Max: Fury Road was named as The National Board Of Review’s best film of 2015 on Tuesday, via The Hollywood Reporter. While picking out and highlighting the rousing cinematic achievement that is Mad Max: Fury Road as the cream of the crop, the NBR also decided to round off the top 10 in no particular order. Want to see what they called the best movies of the year? Of course you do.

There is one outstanding omission from this list that NBR wasn’t able to consider, and that is Star Wars: The Force Awakens, though they reportedly saw everything else in contention. However, it’s safe to say that those involved in the latest instalment to the sci-fi franchise won’t be losing any sleep over their decision not to screen the blockbuster for critics. Instead, they’re only allowing them to see it just a couple of days before its wide December 18 release date.

Looking at the list, there’s an argument to be made that while both Creed and Straight Outta Compton are entertaining and generally impressive films their inclusions on this list is a little surprising. Especially since the likes of Joy, Carol, Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation, and Brooklyn were overlooked. But, in all honesty, it’s good to see more ethnically diverse films included in such honors, especially since the Academy inexplicably, and regularly, still fails to recognise their talents.

You won’t find many people arguing about the fact that Mad Max: Fury Road came out on top though. Sure, personally, I can’t look beyond Inside Out as the best film of the year, and, on repeated viewings, I’ve found that Mad Max: Fury Road’s ferocity and relentlessness is actually a detriment. But its overwhelming artistry and its stunning execution of its vast array of actions scenes means that it has pumped new blood into the genre. So much so that I won’t argue its status too loudly.

You can expect to see Mad Max: Fury Road topping plenty more Best Of lists before the end of December. Which will, in turn, hopefully convince Warner Bros. to finance its much touted sequel.

When the arguments over the best films of 2015 come around in just a few weeks, there is going to be one that will feature heavily: Sicario. Director Denis Villeneuve manoeuvres Roger Deakins’ sumptuous camera through a pulsating story, while everyone who stars is on the top of their game. But it almost ended in a completely different fashion, and now Emily Blunt has opened up about how she helped to change the conclusion.

During her interview with HitFix, Blunt spoke about how she and co-star Benicio Del Toro collaborated to alter the final scene. Obviously, I am about to talk about how Sicario ends, so, if you haven't seen it, do yourself a favour and look away now. Also, go and see Sicario, you won’t regret it. 

The scene in question sees Emily Blunt’s Kate Macer forced to sign a contract by Benicio Del Toro’s Alejandro Gillick that confirms all of the antics in Sicario were conducted in a lawful and professional fashion. Even though they obviously were not.

Originally, Kate wasn’t force to sign a document. Instead, the pair became embroiled in a fight, which saw Kate receive a broken nose and ribs. Alejandro then lifts up her top, baring her breasts to the camera, while examining her wounds. 

Blunt, who admitted that the moment really “affected” her, explained the trio “just felt that we wanted to do something different." In order to change the ending, Emily Blunt, Denis Villeneuve, and Benicio Del Toro gave themselves the entire day to figure out what they wanted to do. So they just sat and talked about the relatively small scene for two hours.

The breakthrough came when Blunt became emotional over how her character was effectively “signing her life,” as well as her identity, away, having been systematically broken down over the course of the film. This provoked Benicio Del Toro to declare, “This is the scene, man.”

As you can imagine, Blunt was rather over the moon with the changes they made. She said that it wasn't derivative of anything else, and added:

That’s something that anyone who has seen Sicario can attest to, as it’s the perfect, heart-breaking conclusion character.

But this wasn’t the only alteration made to the ending of Sicario, though. According to Alternate Ending, the scene where Alejandro kills Fausto’s entire family in front of him, before then shooting him, also changed. Originally, it saw Alejandro order the cook to take the children away before giving Fausto the option of living or dying.

Fausto opts to survive, but Alejandro kills him anyway, before telling his wife, “Maybe you take his money and go hide and raise your children far from here.”

It’s interesting to learn how Sicario evolved to its ultimate conclusion. I think we can all admit that the filmmakers made the right choices in altering these scenes, as what actually made the final edit was a much more emotional and stirring than the originals. And these improvements both helped to make Sicario one of the best films of the year. 

Sicario has Emily Blunt, a drug war, awards buzz, The Collector, Thanos, and gun-slinging. But what it doesn’t have that it did originally is some Blunt nudity. According to the actress, the film from director Denis Villeneuve (Prisoners, Enemy) planned to feature a nude scene between Blunt and Benicio Del Toro, but she fought to cut it from the script — and she succeeded. 

Blunt went on The Howard Stern Show (via Yahoo Movies) on Wednesday to discuss a number of topics, which also included her days filming The Devil Wears Prada and a little joke about rescinding her American citizenship that got blown out of proportion. From the chatter emerged this little tidbit about the nude scene in question. She said, 

Who’s "we," you might ask? "My tits," Blunt responded with a laugh. She continued to say that Del Toro, who was also a part of the scene in question, backed up her decision to have it nixed.

Sicario features Blunt as FBI agent Kate Macy, who’s recruited by an elite government task force official (played by Josh Brolin) to aid in the drug war in Mexico. The film premiered at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, during which time she remarked that there’s a tendency to want women to become this ideal "for some mid-life crisis a guy is having." She says she’s been adamant about fighting against this, which we can visibly see now in defending her stance to stay clothed. The specific contents of this scene are unknown, so it's difficult to argue from our standpoint whether the nudity better served the story, but since the producers eventually cut it from the film, it seems as though female nudity wasn't necessary. Though Blunt also said an increased focused on female directors and roles for women also help combat this issue, Sicario is another step in the right direction.

Blunt's statements on Howard Stern come days after The Martian star Jessica Chastain addressed the problem of female action stars and their over-sexualization. Blunt became part of the pack with her role in last summer’s hit Edge of Tomorrow, and Sicario (and the Captain Marvel fan campaign) continues this streak. According to Chastain, who spoke with Radio Times, 

Emily Blunt, in turn, has been fighting the good fight for feminism. She spoke about Sicario with The Belfast Telegraph and said that, although she was surprised someone still had to put their foot down in ensure roles went to women, she was fortunate that the writer, director, and studio backing Sicario were willing to make the film with a female in the main protagonist role. 

The film is playing in theaters this weekend. 

Denis Villeneuve has proven over the past couple of years that he can switch gears at the drop of a hat. With Prisoners, Enemy, and this year's Sicario, the French-Canadian director has proven that he can change up genres and not lose a step. Which makes his ambition to take on the James Bond franchise not only plausible, but a very wise move to be made.

Coming Soon spoke with Villeneuve about his current drug trade thriller, which is slowly rolling into nationwide release. As the conversation started to wind up, the director dropped a perfect hint towards his candidacy for director of Bond 25. His pitch went as follows:

With his work thus far, Denis Villeneuve has shown a flare for good looking genre films that manage to transcend their boundaries and entertain a wide swath of movie audiences and critics. Just ask anyone who was a fan of Prisoners back in 2013, and they'll tell you that the first time they saw the film they were blown away. Even in the way he pitches his candidacy to direct a James Bond film, the man hints towards his ambitions subtly, yet with enthusiasm. At the same time, he links his wishes into how he sees his craft, and shows just how he'd approach his take on 007's iconic legacy.

If Sam Mendes lives up to his word and exits after Spectre, as he's sworn he will, then having another director in the pipeline would be a good idea to keep the franchise flowing properly. Having Denis Villeneuve as that ace in the hole preserves the optimal timeline of, at most, two years between Bond films, while also assuring fans that the action heavy series will be transferring into safe hands. Also, there's a good chance that Hugh Jackman and Roger Deakins could submit their resumes to jump on board with their Prisoners collaborator, and actually land the gig.

The one factor that gums up the works, at least temporarily, is Villeneuve's involvement with the Blade Runner sequel, which is currently in development, but lacks an official release date. Considering how great in scope the task that the Ridley Scott produced project would be for anyone daring enough to tackle it, even Denis Villeneuve's nimble touch will be challenged by trying to juggle it with another project. Still, the man did manage to direct the Jeremy Renner / Amy Adams sci-fi picture Story Of Your Life in time to be released next year, so perhaps he's got the magic in him to go from Deckard to Bond in a blink of an eye.

Sicario is currently in limited release, with a full nationwide release date set for Friday.

Since Emily Blunt showed she could pull off a badass female warrior in Edge of Tomorrow, Hollywood has started to see her in a different light. Blunt has done it all, from independent films to historical dramas to romantic comedies. But now, her upcoming film Sicario has placed her in yet another action-heavy role. So, as an established female action star, Blunt had a few words to say about the current state of female action roles in Hollywood films, and why there desperately need to be more.

While attending the premiere for Sicario at Toronto Film Festival, Blunt took some time to sit down and chat with Indiewire. The conversation touched on Blunt’s previous experiences and her current, but when the actress was asked about the Captain Marvel rumors surrounding her, because of her now two action-heavy roles, Blunt somewhat scoffed. And she continued to explain why this shortlist of actresses rumored for the role, is problematic:

And Blunt makes an important point. When a big action role does come up for a woman, and they are very rare, this shortlist of actresses is created, because they are the only ones that have done it at that capacity before. When we think of the number of female led action films, the big blockbuster ones, there’s probably a handful or two. Now, when you think of the male led action blockbusters, well the number is endless.

Blunt didn’t seem to have a problem being considered for the role, though she admitted she hadn’t been contacted. But really the problem lied in that there are too little of these roles to begin with, so fans and moviegoers can only think of a handful of women that can fit when a new role is created. The more action-heavy female roles that are being created, the more women that can be given the opportunity to show off their badass portrayals. Because they exist in many more minor roles. The X-Men franchise or even the Fast and Furious franchise too. But when it comes to a big budget film, female action roles just aren’t usually at the lead. And though we’d all like to see Angelina Jolie star in every female led action movie (which for a time felt like she was), if there were more out there, it may give the opportunity for another fan favorite to shine.

With one of the most successful summers on record, the book on 2015's summer tentpoles has been closed. Normally, this would worry us, as this is a stereotypical dead zone for theatrical releases. However, 2015 looks like it was so stuffed with quality releases that they've actually scheduled some of this year's better efforts in a time when your choices are limited to either a rock or a hard place. We know the multiplex looks barren right now. Better things are coming, though, and soon! Enjoy this list of 10 great-looking films that are slated to drop within the next 30 days.

Pawn Sacrifice – 9/16

The story of Bobby Fischer's historic chess match against Soviet champion Boris Spassky in 1972 seems like it would be more fodder for a documentary than a narrative film. But with Tobey Maguire and Liev Schreiber playing the roles of Fischer and Spassky in Pawn Sacrifice, a story that highlights the Cold War in one of its most unlikely battle grounds becomes something notable on the box office calendar. The film promises to delve into Bobby Fischer's rather interesting and eccentric behavior on, and off, the chess board; and it looks like some top-form acting is going to be the ultimate result if Maguire's performance in the trailer is anything to go by.

Black Mass – 9/18

With Mortdecai behind him, Johnny Depp could definitely use some films in his "Win" column. Judging by the advanced word we've been hearing, as well as the killer pair of trailers Warner Bros has released for the film, it looks like the story of Whitey Bulger and his reign of terror was just the ticket. Even better still, the rest of the film's cast looks solid as anything, as Joel Edgerton and Benedict Cumberbatch directly flank Depp in the film's all star cast. Black Mass should be – at the very least – fun to watch; but with everyone's favorite Pirate looking scarier and scarier every time we watch the ads for this one – we won't be surprised if he scares up some Oscar gold come next year.

Everest – 9/18

Real-life disasters can make for good drama, but only if those involved remember to keep the subject matter at a reasonable level of spectacle. Baltasar Kormákur's Everest looks like it remembers how to balance the two elements, as well as add in a third factor: heart-stopping fear. One of several entries on this list that manages to use 3D, it looks like if the cast of Everest doesn't impress you, then the visual prowess of the film's use of the third dimension just might pick up the slack.

The Intern – 9/25

While The Intern does have the potential to be a lukewarm experience that's being buried in the September doldrums, all signs point to a charming comedy surprise. While the original pairing of Michael Caine and Tina Fey is too delicious to completely forget, the new teaming of Anne Hathaway and Robert De Niro is nothing to sneeze at. Especially because from the looks of it, Robert De Niro is in "charming old man" mode, and it looks really good on him.

The Green Inferno – 9/25

After a year of being delayed, Eli Roth's controversial horror film The Green Inferno is finally seeing its day in cinemas. How controversial has this film become? Enough that its reputation for grossing audiences out has not only almost landed the film an NC-17 rating, but it also has people supposedly passing out at advanced screenings. Glad to see Eli Roth may not have lost his touch after all this time, though we're intensely curious if this film is as disturbing as folks say it is, or if they just can't handle good horror in a sea of mediocre studio product.

Mississippi Grind - 9/25

Gerry (Ben Mendelsohn) needs a lot of money, and fast – lest his gambling debts leave him unable to walk, or live for that matter. With a crazy plan of traveling down the Mississippi river and hitting all of the gambling action he can – with fellow gambler Curtis (Ryan Reynolds) by his side – what could possibly go wrong? If the fact that Mississippi Grind is the latest film "from the creators of Half Nelson" has anything to say about that, it's that anything and everything will go wrong – and you'll either laugh or cry accordingly.

Sicario – 9/25

Denis Villeneuve 's take on the war on Mexican drug cartels looks to be, at the very least, a star-studded affair – headed up by Emily Blunt's tough FBI agent, Kate Macer. Knowing Villeneuve's pacing and usage of suspense, though (particularly from his work on the highly underrated Prisoners), we're hoping that the action drama Sicario is more of a heart-stopping work of beauty. With Josh Brolin and Benicio Del Toro joining in on the fun, the odds are looking pretty good that we won't be disappointed.

The Walk – 9/30

With Robert Zemeckis making realistic-drama-at-high-altitudes his current thematic obsession (see Flight with Denzel Washington, if you haven't yet), the legendary director has now turned to history to inspire him once more. The Walk tells the true story of Phillipe Petit's wire walk between the Twin Towers in 1974, and while we've seen this recounted in the 2008 documentary Man On Wire, we now get to see Joseph Gordon Levitt take on the story in a more narrative form. If you thought Everest was going to trigger your vertigo, then the 3D possibilities on this flick will definitely have you covering your eyes with your popcorn bucket.

The Martian – 10/2

Matt Damon is going to science the shit out of Mars, and to do it, he's going to need an assorted cast of actors from various disciplines to help him out. With The Martian casting everyone from Kristen Wiig and Donald Glover to Chiwetel Ejiofor and Jessica Chastain (with mainstays like Jeff Daniels and Sean Bean in between), it looks like Damon will have all the help he needs. Drew Goddard's script and Ridley Scott's direction both look in top form, balancing the humor and the gravitas of a film that puts Damon's Mark Watney in the most dangerous spot in the universe – forcing him to carry almost an entire film on his back.

Legend – 10/2

What's better than one Tom Hardy kicking ass and taking names? That's right... TWO Tom Hardys kicking ass and taking names! Take that formula and apply it to the real life story of Ronald and Reginald Kray – the twin kingpins of organized crime in 1960's London – and you've got a concept that doesn't have to try hard to attract viewers. Of course, the overall sweetener is that Legend also boasts a script written and directed by L.A. Confidential scribe Brian Helgeland – and he definitely knows a thing or two about period crime pieces.

Next year just added a new must-see movie to its lineup: the thriller Sicario. This film, directed by Denis Villeneuve, stars Emily Blunt as a cop who recruits two tough mercenaries on a journey into Mexico to stop a drug lord. Earlier, Benicio Del Toro signed on to the project, and now another heavy hitter is about to join the cast, bringing his specific brand of machismo with him.

The Wrap reports that Josh Brolin will co-star in Sicario, which shoots this summer. It also reveals the particulars of each role. The mission is a CIA-fronted one, with Blunt starring as a Tucson SWAT officer who is recruited on a cartel-destroying mission with the aforementioned duo of mercenaries, one of them played by Del Toro. Brolin would play the CIA operative who recruits Blunt, which means there is still one mercenary role left to be cast, and a couple of bad guys who might require big name actors as well. In other words, casting is not be complete for this exciting-sounding project.

Brolin's having a pretty big week. Just yesterday it was revealed that he was the name-acting Marvel had been courting for so long to play Thanos, the big baddie in the next couple films. Brolin's only providing a voice for Guardians Of The Galaxy, but he's shooting Sicario this summer. Given that he's supposed to actually be in Avengers: Age Of Ultron, which is shooting now, you can guess that his part in that summer blockbuster is not very big. Given Marvel's peek-a-boo strategy with this character, he's probably in one shot, walking to the camera, smiling, saying something foreboding, then promising a return in another film years down the line. In other words, Brolin could easily schedule his Avengers part around Sicario. Brolin will next be seen in Inherent Vice and the exploration adventure Everest.

Villeneuve has been busy as of late. Last year he earned attention with Prisoners, which grossed $122 million worldwide, and earlier this year he was back in theaters thanks to the release of the creepy Enemy, which played the arthouse circuit to chilly, unusual responses. He's not one to repeat himself, so it's hard to say what kind of film we'll get out of both Sicario and his next film, Story Of Your Life, a sci-fi thriller starring Amy Adams.

It's interesting that Villeneuve is directing two straight genre pictures starring women. This is actually pretty exciting, particularly given that this is a post-Edge Of Tomorrow Emily Blunt. She is absolutely stacked in that film, and she gives a powerful performance that makes you wish the movie didn't entirely serve the needs of Tom Cruise, Movie Star. Seeing Blunt play off Brolin and Del Toro should be exciting, as should Adams in a pretty intriguing-sounding existential sci-fi mystery.

Lately, Canadian director Denis Villeneuve has been churning out features. Last fall, he released the crime-thriller Prisoners. Then February brought its follow-up, the mystery movie Enemy. Now, he's already looking ahead to his next venture Sicario, and is eying Emily Blunt to headline it.

Variety reports Blunt has entered into negotiations about fronting Sicario, a thriller penned by Taylor Sheridan that follows a Tucson, Arizona-based police officer to the Mexican border on a quest to track down a dangerous drug lord. Joining the cop in this dangerous road trip are a pair of mercenaries. It's a slight description, and one that leaves us with only a vague idea as to which role Blunt might play.

As there is no indication of the gender of the four characters, Blunt could be up for any of the above, though something tells me she might not be super convincing if the drug lord is meant to be a Mexican drug lord. Given that Variety is saying Blunt will star in the feature, it's possible she's up to play the lead cop part. Let's hope so. It'd be a real downer to find out she's some sidekick girlfriend/love interest. She's done that enough. Give her a gun, and let her loose on the hero role.

The title Sicario is a curious one, and a quick Google search led me to a compelling non-fiction book edited by Molly Molloy and Charles Bowden called El Sicario: The Autobiography of a Mexican Assassin. Here's a brief exerpt from its online synopsis:

It should be noted that there is no mention of this memoir in the Variety piece, and "sicario" actually meansis "hitman" in Spanish. But the vague logline seems to share some common ground with the above book, so maybe there is more than a coincidental connection. We'll hear more on Sicario as it nears its summer shoot date. Once it wraps, Villeneuve will leap to another project, the sci-fi feature Story of Your Life, which has Amy Adams in early talks and is looking to lens early next year.

Sicario will probably hit theaters in 2015. In the meantime, you can look for Blunt in the Tom Cruise actioner Edge of Tomorrow and the big Rob Marshall musical Into the Woods later this year.