8. Sicario
Release Date: September 18 (US) / September 25 (UK)
What It's About: Taking place largely in the border region between the U.S. and Mexico, Sicario follows American FBI agent Kate Macy (Emily Blunt) as she teams up with a team of mercenaries led by the mysterious hitman Alejandro (Benicio Del Toro) to bring down a Mexican drug lord.
Why It Can Save Hollywood: Denis Villeneuve made his stunning English-language debut with 2013's Prisoners and followed it up with the beguiling Enemy the very same year. He's back with a suspense thriller that
critics are already calling one of the year's best films and an early Oscar contender following its premiere at Cannes. Of particular praise has been Villeneuve's sinewy direction, an apparent career-best turn from Emily Blunt, Roger Deakins' characteristically gorgeous cinematography, and the sort of unpleasant moral ambiguity which will make film play less favourably with more mainstream audiences but ultimately make it a more compelling movie overall. Villeneuve has shown with his two English-language films so far that he's extremely adept at melding Hollywood formula with his own art-house twist, and from what's been said about Sicario so far, it sounds like he's done it again. This is how you transition from foreign fare to Hollywood: he's totally killing it.