As the spring 2022 season dawns, it seems likely that the films scheduled for release over the next few months will open into the most normal — or normal-seeming — moviegoing environment of the past two years. This has come about so gradually that it takes an effort to step back and appreciate it, but here we are, with lots of interesting motion pictures that will play in indoor cineplexes before live audiences.
Some of these entries I’m genuinely looking forward to, some make me curious, and some are just too huge and anticipated not to mention. Every one of them, however, has the potential of a newborn — to be great and original, or not even close.
Here are 11 films that give some of the range and flavor of what we can expect to see on the big screen:
‘Everything Everywhere All at Once’
A middle-aged woman (Michelle Yeoh) finds herself to be the only person who can save the multiverse in this sci-film, which requires that our heroine access the power of all her various selves across many simultaneous incarnations.
The trailer looks fun. Ke Huy Quan — but best known as Data from “The Goonies” — has a co-starring role.
In theaters Friday, March 25.
‘Mothering Sunday’
This seems to be the story of an orphaned British servant woman (Odessa Young), working in a wealthy household in the 1920s. She has a big appetite for life and an aspiration to be a writer, and one day, when her employers (Colin Firth and Olivia Colman) leave the house for the day, she has a merry romp with a young man from the upper class.
That’s all that can be discerned from the trailer, but the acting values appear to be strong.
In theaters Friday, March 25.
‘Morbius’
Superhero movies — are we ready to face it? — are pretty much played out (though still making bundles at the box office). And vampire movies? They’ve been old news for years. So leave it to Marvel to resurrect, from its endless archive, a superhero who is also — wait for it — a vampire; but a vampire with a difference, alivingvampire.
Apparently, Dr. Morbius was in a laboratory, trying to develop a cure for a blood disease, and he accidentally gave himself a bigger problem. He must consume the blood of others in order to live. From the trailer, he seems like a good guy who goes bad, or a good guy who goes bad and comes back. In any case, he’s played byJared Leto, who can go in all directions.
In theaters April 1.
“野蛮人”
This is the first directorial effort of Charles Dorfman, who has previously been known as a producer (“The Lost Daughter”). It’s a dark comedy/thriller that starts off as a simple dinner party between two couples, before escalating into a nightmare of violence.
Colombian actress Catalina Sandino Moreno and Welsh actor Iwan Rheon (“Game of Thrones”) star as the unsuspecting couple who invite the wrong friends over to their new home.
In theaters and video on demand April 1.
‘Cow’
English filmmaker Andrea Arnold has made a documentary about two dairy cows, following them as they go about their lives. The film received a rapturous response when it debuted at Cannes Film Festival last summer, and looks to be one of the most distinctive and moving documentaries of the year.
If you’ve ever spent any time around cows, you know how soulful and soothing they can be. This one is high on my list of anticipated movies.
In theaters and video on demand April 8.
‘The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent’
Nicolas Cage plays a movie star by the name of Nicolas Cage. In need of cash, he agrees to accept $1 million as payment for attending the birthday party of his biggest (and richest) fan, who lives in Spain. As it happens, the Spanish fan is also a major drug dealer, and what sounded like easy money turns out to be a dangerous adventure.
If it’s as good as the trailer, this should be a lot of fun.
Also stars Neil Patrick Harris, Pedro Pascal and Tiffany Haddish.
In theaters April 22.
‘Petite Maman’
At this point, any film Celine Sciamma makes is worth a look, just based on past performances in films like “Girlhood,” “Water Lilies” and “Portrait of a Woman on Fire.” Her latest is the story of a little girl who goes to the house of her grandmother, who has recently died, to help her mother clean out the dead woman’s possessions. In the woods adjoining the property, she meets a little girl her own age, who looks remarkably like her. Could she be a visitor from the past?
In theaters April 22.
‘Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness’
If you feel you’ve already seen this movie, you probably have — in another universe, where you’ve been doing all kinds of amazing things. The multiverse is suddenly all the rage, and who better to visit it than Benedict Cumberbatch, who already dabbled in some multiverse activity in the Marvel hit“Spider-Man: No Way Home.”
The fun begins when Dr. Strange (Cumberbatch) utters a spell that opens the various universal portals, and soon the whole world is in peril. But he got us into it; he’ll probably get us out.
In theaters May 6.
‘Downton Abbey: A New Era’
At this stage, the question of quality is almost irrelevant when it comes to “Downton Abbey.” If it’s good, it can’t be that good. But it can’t be that bad, either, because the world within it is cozy and pleasant.
In the first film, which picked up where the hit series left off, the king and queen visited the estate. This time it’s movie royalty, when a feature film is shot on the premises. Also, Violet (Maggie Smith) announces that she owns a piece of property, a villa in the South of France, so expect a little of that. Should be a nice escape.
In theaters May 20.
‘Top Gun: Maverick’
This is the last of the huge 2020 movies whose release dates were pushed back several times in order to escape the pandemic. Finally, after two years, we will get to see Tom Cruise’s latest, in which he reprises his role from the original 1986 “Top Gun.”
It’s 34 years later — actually, by now, it’s 36 years later — and Maverick is now a flight instructor on a military base. The trailer doesn’t give away much of the story, but he does seem to have maintained his hotshot daredevil ways deep into his 50s.
In theaters May 27.
‘Jurassic World Dominion’
Nothing could re-enact the wonder of the original 1993 “Jurassic Park,” or how it felt for audiences to be seeingrealdinosaurs for the first time. But over the years, the films in this series have been, on average, pretty good.
The latest brings together Laura Dern, Sam Neill and Jeff Goldblum with Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard — an all-star cast from theprevious installments.
From the trailer, it appears that mankind no longer has dominion over nature and is about to lose their hold over our large friends.
In theaters June 10.