We are back and more than ready to show you the newest and most intriguing movie and TV series trailers, this time accompanied by cool facts! It will take a while before the festival circuit comes out of hibernation, so this month’s recommendations cover only productions that will be released in cinemas or on streaming platforms in the next period.

Running in cinemas

Fishbone (drama, dir. Dragomir Sholev)

Bulgarian cinema offers some pleasant surprises every year, and in 2022, the usual suspect is this new film by Dragomir Sholev, which addresses an issue very much present in Romania as well, that is, the chasm between the citizen and authorities, when normally the latter should step in to assist the former. It all starts when the bullet-riddled body of a dolphin is found on the Bulgarian shores of the Black Sea by Ivo, the manager of the local campsite. Since this is not the first time that has happened, the hero is determined to find out the culprit, but he will soon have to face the indifference of the authorities. Both locals and the tourists in the campsite will get involved in the increasingly absurd investigation.

Cool Fact: Fishbone was co-produced by the Romanian production house Hi Film Productions.

Coming out in cinemas on March 25.

Death on the Nile (crime, mystery, dir. Kenneth Branagh)

Five years after Murder on the Orient Express, Kenneth Branagh returns as Hercule Poirot in a new screen adaptation of a famous Agatha Christie crime novel, also serving as the director of the film. The premiere takes place more than a year after the initial date, after several delays caused by both the pandemic and allegations of sexual abuse and misconduct that destroyed Armie Hammer’s career, here in a consistent role. Interestingly, it’s almost impossible to spot Hammer in the trailer, in an effort to shield the film’s promotion from the scandal in which the actor is involved. As so many times in Christie’s novels, we are dealing with a murder and the certainty that the killer is part of a small group of people sharing a rather limited space.

Cool Fact: Gal Gadot, Annette Bening and Rose Leslie are just three of the famous actresses making the film’s credits.

Coming out in cinemas on February 11.

Nightmare Alley (horror, fantasy, dir. Guillermo del Toro)

Guillermo del Toro can’t stay away from bizarre stories, and his latest feature, based on the novel of the same name by William Lindsay Gresham, is clear proof of that. The action begins in 1939, when the young Stan Carlisle (Bradley Cooper) starts working for a traveling carnival, swearing to become one of its great attractions, only that his unlimited ambition and the interactions with a number of shady people will jeopardize his future.

Unfortunately, the simultaneous release of Spider-Man: No Way Home and limited access to movie theaters due to the pandemic turned this critically acclaimed film into a resounding box office failure, grossing just $15 million on a $60 million budget. Martin Scorsese even published an article in the Los Angeles Times, urging the public to go see Nightmare Alley in cinemas, but to no avail.

Cool Fact: Another adaptation of the novel had been filmed once before, in 1947, starring Tyrone Power, a very popular actor at the time for his roles in adventure films.

Coming out in cinemas on February 25.

Streaming online

Against the Ice (adventure, drama, dir. Peter Flinth)

At a time when the globe was full of uncharted territories, many explorers sacrificed themselves in their rush to the most inhospitable and mysterious reaches of the planet. Such a sacrifice is the focus of Against the Ice, a film produced by Baltasar Kormákur (who always seems to return to stories where the unforgiving cold is the biggest villain) and starring Nikolaj Coster-Waldau. The action takes place in 1909, when Denmark has to act immediately after learning that the United States considers part of Greenland to belong to them, and an expedition led by explorer Ejnar Mikkelsen (Coster-Waldau) will do everything possible to contradict the Americans’ claims to the unforgiving territory, where death can arise at every step.

Cool Fact: Lead actor Nikolaj Coster-Waldau is also co-writer of the film.

Netflix premiere on March 2.

My Brilliant Friend: Season 3 (drama series, created by Saverio Costanzo)

Not many TV series based on books can boast of becoming as popular as Elena Ferrante’s Neapolitan Novels, especially when the identity of the mysterious author has piqued the curiosity of millions of fans around the world. Launched in 2018, the HBO series is set to adapt the entire literary work over four eight-episode seasons and has now reached its third part, Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay, in which the two heroines, Elena and Lila, have different experiences in terms of motherhood and career, in a period and a social context where the woman is seen as an accessory to the man.

Cool Fact: The popularity of the books and the TV show made tourists from all over the world come visit the city of Naples especially to see live the picturesque places where the action takes place.

Global premiere on February 28.

Quick reminder that February brings the premiere of some of the titles announced in the column’s previous editions, such as Inventing Anna, Shonda Rhimes’ new show based on the true story of a con woman working in New York high society, and two well-received productions at last year’s Cannes Film Festival: A Hero, directed by Asghar Farhadi, and the very popular The Worst Person in the World, directed by Joachim Trier.