Movies Not to Miss: March 2018

Writer: Casey Lee

Which of these are you going to watch?

March will be an unrelenting month for moviegoers, starting off with many of the main Oscar contenders to coincide with the prestigious awards show taking place earlier in the month.

March also sees some of the most anticipated titles of the year from local and Hollywood blockbusters.

The holiday season may be over but there's going to be no break from these movies not to miss in March!

Red Sparrow

Russian ballerina Dominika Egorova is forced to join the "Sparrow School", a Russian intelligence service where agents are trained to use their body as a weapon. When Dominika is assigned to expose a CIA agent within the Russian ranks, she considers becoming a double agent. Based on the novel of the same name written by a retired CIA agent who plans to spin out an entire trilogy, this project was once about to be handed to Darren Aronofsky and David Fincher to have Rooney Mara to star. This could very much be Jennifer Lawrence's "Atomic Blonde" (co-starring with an equally admired Joel Edgerton) and reunites her with "The Hunger Game: Mockingjay" director Francis Lawrence who knows how to bring out her action chops.

General Release Date: 1 March

Tomb Raider

As the "Cradle of Life" ended with the death of the franchise, this new "Tomb Raider" is based off the 2013 rebooted video game franchise. "Tomb Raider" will also be a reboot of the cinematic franchise that starred Angelina Jolie as Lara Croft, replaced by Oscar-winner, Alicia Vikander, to play as the titular role in this origin story of her first expedition to complete her father's research, played by Dominic West. This would also be a more character-driven venture with Walton Goggins, Daniel Wu and Kristin Scott Thomas also starring.

General Release Date: 8 March

A Wrinkle in Time

Adapted for the silver screen for the first time from the Madalein L'Engle novel of the same name, the daughter of a missing astrophysicist travels through time and space with her friends when she learns that her father is trapped in a distant planet. Coming off from the empowerment of black filmmakers in "Black Panther" is another milestone for black filmmakers. Indie director Ava DuVernay becomes the first woman of colour to helm a production with a budget of over USD 100 million which would undoubtedly be lavished with spectacular visuals and costumes worn by the likes of Oprah Winfrey, Reese Witherspoon and Mindy Kaling. Also in the cast are Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Michael Pena, Zach Galifianakis and Chris Pine, with Storm Reid possibly making a breakthrough with such a major lead role.

General Release Date: 8 March

Pacific Rim: Uprising

March is certainly the month for big mechs. If you are looking for nostalgia, there's "Mazinger Z: Infinity" which is a 3D animated feature that takes place 10 years from the original series. However, one sequel that we've been wanting is 2013's "Pacific Rim". Also taking place 10 years after its former installation, the Kaijus have returned to the world in "Pacific Rim: Uprising" as new Jaegers are deployed to defend humanity once again. This will be the feature directorial debut for "Daredevil" showrunner Steven D. Knight, who has taken over the duties from Guillermo del Toro (for a very good reason), with a mostly new cast starring John Boyega, Scott Eastwood, Cailee Spaeny, Jing Tian, and only Charlie Day and Rinko Kikuchi reprising.

General Release Date: 22 March

Ready Player One

March will have two sides of Steven Spielberg. With "The Post" more catered to the more serious side of Spielberg, fans of his blockbuster sensibilities will be getting an overloaded kick out of "Ready Player One". Adapted from the Ernest Cline novel of a dystopian future where the impoverish population logs into a virtual world to escape from their reality, the young protagonist is on a race to inherit a massive fortune from the creator of the virtual world if only he can overcome a series of challenges called "Anorak's Game". While movies nowadays have plenty of easter eggs stowed away for the sharpest eyes, "Ready Player One" is unabashedly awash with references for those who grew up in the 80s and 90s. Tyler Sheridan leads as the youthful treasure seeker, but all eyes are definitely watching if they can catch all the pop cultural icons that will be sharing the same screen space, made real by the works of Industrial Light & Magic.

General Release Date: 29 March