Premise:
I come up with 30 movies that I want to see at the beginning of each year.
Top 30 Movies I Want To See In 2011
Top 30 Movies I Want To See In 2012
Top 30 Movies I Want To See In 2013
Top 30 Movies I Want To See In 2014
I forgot to do this last year. I suppose I can do a retrospective in the next few weeks but for now let's go through 2016. I found almost 50 future films which caught my fancy for some reason or another.
First I cut the movies that don't have an actual release date. I'm really excited about most of these(which is why I'm mentioning them). I use the word excited quite a bit, cause well I am. Some of the movies that I cut seem silly, but I didn't want to rank any that might not happen this year (with one exception).
10 Movies without a release date, but might come out in 2016:
The Promise - Christian Bale meets Oscar Isaac and another woman in a love triangle following the fall of the Ottoman Empire.
Hacksaw Ridge - I like Mel Gibson movies for the most part. His two latest directorials - Apocalypto and Passion, were both well done even if they were pretty gory. I expect more of the same here with a story about a WW2 solider who refuses to kill and wins the medal of honor.
Gifted - Family dramas can be very good and here's hoping this one also turns out strong. Chris Evans takes Mark Webb directing and involves the raising of Evan's orphaned niece.
Super Troopers 2 - They have been talking about making this for ages. Supposedly it's being made. I'm excited for it but a comedy sequel is very difficult, especially 15 years later. It has all the problems of Zoolander 2 with a limited budget.
Mallbrats and Clerks 3 - Kevin Smith sequels. Again the comedy sequel is difficult, though Clerks 2 had it's moments. I'm probably more excited to see where the Mallrats are at - not in the 80s anymore but dealing with today's Disney/Marvel/Televison age we are now living in. Maybe some kind of comment on how Ben Affleck(the original's antagonist) sucks as Batman.
War Machine - Brad Pitt in a movie about the war on Afghanistan. Don't know much else about it.
Animal Crackers - Yep, just what it sounds like... Animated with lots of famous actors ruining their careers ranging from Stallone to DeVito.
HHHH - World War 2 assassinate a Nazi mission movie.
Bad Santa 2 - Willie, Marcus and the ginger kid are supposedly all coming back.
Honorable Mentions (in no particular order):
Alice Through the Looking Glass
Release Date: May 27th
Director: James Bobin
Notable Cast: Johnny Depp, Anne Hathaway, Helena Bonham Carter, Alan Rickman
I actually read this book, though never read Alice in Wonderland. Looks like the same cast though new director. The original was watchable but not earth shattering. Tim Burton has problem movies occasionally. Hopefully the new director does something more interesting than recreate the original.
Ouija 2
Release Date: October 21st
Director: Mike Flanagan
Notable Cast: Henry Thomas, Lin Shaye, Doug Jones
ET's Elliot makes a "comeback" here in a Horror movie. The original was okay despite its strange premise. This director did do Oculus, which was pretty good - it still has this odd board game issue to deal with.
Rings
Release Date: April 1st
Director: F. Javier Gutiérrez
Notable Cast: Johnny Galecki
The Ring 3, 10 years after the last sequel and 13 after the original. I'm assuming it won't be a remake, but who knows anymore. Featuring Big Bang's Leonard this time instead of the motherly presence of Naomi Watts.
Fifty Shades of Black
Release Date: January 29th
Director: Michael Tiddes
Marlon Wayans
It sounded funny to me in its premise, but the trailer didn't look too great. While I liked Haunted House, I don't know if there is enough here. Marlon isn't quite the same without Shawn.
Underworld 5
Release Date: October 21st
Director: Anna Foerster
Notable Cast: Kate Beckinsale, Charles Dance
I've only watched the first two Underworld's so far. Those were entertaining enough, but I have no idea how they can possibly keep this fresh from what I've watched so far. At least we still have Kate Beckinsale still on board.
Risen
Release Date: February 19th
Director: Kevin Reynolds
Notable Cast: Tom Felton, Cliff Curtis
The premise sounded intriguing to me - what happened to Jesus's body after his death? It seems like most movies end at the crucifixion. After watching this trailer - it didn't impress me too much. Maybe it was the music, or the attempt to talk to me like someone who has not sat through 8 years of catechism - throwing in the shroud of Turin and such. It will probably make some people angry.
Finding Dory
Release Date: June 17th
Director: Andrew Stanton
Notable Cast: Willem Dafoe, Ellen DeGeneres, Ed O'Neill, Kaitlin Olson
I watched Finding Nemo once. It was decent to good for a Pixar movie. It will probably be more of the same, which isn't bad. It just isn't one aimed at me.
Top 30:
30. The Free State of Jones
Release Date: May 13th
Director: Gary Ross
Notable Cast: Matthew McConaughey, Keri Russell
I've really been into civil war movies this last year, so this might be more of a personal pick. McConaughey blew me away with Interstellar and I'm excited to see him in this story about a County that seceded from the Confederacy.
29. Knights of the Round Table
Release Date: July 22nd
Director: Guy Ritchie
Notable Cast: Jude Law, Charlie Hunnam, Djimon Hounsou
I always fall for medieval knight movies and King Arthur is no exception. Both First Knight and King Arthur were worth watching once, but not much more despite the cast of both. Hopefully this Guy Ritchie outing will be more, but I won't hold my breath. I am excited to see Charlie Hunnam as the King. Jude Law is the villain though I see no Lancelot anywhere.
28. The Great Wall
Release Date: November 23rd
Director: Yimou Zhang
Notable Cast: Matt Damon, Willem Dafoe
I've been waiting for a movie on this for some time. Zhang did two of my favorite foreign films in Hero and House of Flying Daggers, so I'm excited to see what he has in store. Hopefully Damon and Dafoe aren't simply doing the Titanic treatment where they just reminisce, but they can't possibly have that important of a role can they?
27. Gods of Egypt
Release Date: February 26th
Director: Alex Proyas
Notable Cast: Gerard Butler, Geoffrey Rush
The trailer doesn't make much sense to me. Hercules meets the Scorpion King? I couldn't tell if Butler was a good guy or what was going on beyond lots of CGI. I was burned before with Clash of the Titans so I remain caution-ally optimistic despite it's large potential for being terrible. These large CGI movies are often missing a story. The Rock's Hercules being the latest example.
26. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
Release Date: November 18th
Director: David Yates
Notable Cast: Colin Farrell, Ron Perlman, Jon Voight, Eddie Redmayne
Having only watched the Hatter Potter movies once in the span of 2 months and not having read the books, I'm not sure what to expect. The cast looks good. It's the same director as the last 4 Potters and we do get to see how Yates comes up with in Tarzan several months prior.
25. Now You See Me 2
Release Date: June 10th
Director: Jon M. Chu
Notable Cast: Mark Ruffalo, Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg, Morgan Freeman
The very beginning of the original had me stunned with their card trick. What followed from there was an average/slightly above average action mystery. I'm sure I'll see this at some point. The question is will I see it in the theater. I am loving Jesse Eisenberg right now.
24. London Has Fallen
Release Date: March 4th
Director: Babak Najafi
Notable Cast: Gerard Butler, Aaron Eckhart, Morgan Freeman, Radha Mitchell
Olympus has fallen came out way too close to White House Down. Having watched White House Down first, the Olympus has Fallen just felt like more of the same but weaker. The Fox/Tatuum duo was quite different than the Butler/Freeman one.
23. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies
Release Date: February 5th
Director: Burr Steers
Notable Cast: Lena Headey, Lily James
Honestly the trailer was better than I what my expectations were. I think we are going to get more Zombies than anything else I don't know about Pride and Prejudice.
22. The Legend of Tarzan
Release Date: July 1st
Director: David Yates
Notable Cast: Christoph Waltz, Samuel L. Jackson, John Hurt, Margot Robbie
They want it to be a Summer blockbuster, no doubt about it. How else can you explain the trailer? I'm interested in what I see though. It's looking quite like Transformers meets King Kong meets the Jungle Book. I don't know anything about Tarzan honestly but if they weren't taking liberties, that would be surprising to me.
21. The 5th Wave
Release Date: January 15th
Director: J Blakeson
Notable Cast: Liev Schreiber, Chloë Grace Moretz, Ron Livingston, Maria Bello
If it wasn't a teenage book turned into a movie, I might be feeling better about it.
I've never watched Divergent, Percy Jackson, The Maze Runner or I Am Number Four but I am also afraid to. That fact might scare me away here as well. It started to sound quite an awful like the beginning of Independence Day or Ender's Game. I have less hope for this than Edge of Tomorrow. It looks like the Aliens here might be the - 'They Live' kind - really just looking like Humans. I'm not a huge fan of invisible aliens for multiple reasons. I really want a War of the Worlds looking and sounding alien but with a good story on top of it. This movie might have one of these, but definitely not both. Also, the survival element between a girl and her brother here doesn't interest me.
20. The Jungle Book
Release Date: April 15th
Director: Jon Favreau
Notable Cast: Ben Kingsley, Christopher Walken, Bill Murray, Scarlet Johansson
I've never watched the previous version, so I don't know much about the story. Well, other than whatever Talespin gave me. That might be the best thing - that I don't know the story. Love the voice cast, what I list here is only the half of it. Favreau also gets me excited.
19. Passengers
Release Date: December 21st
Director: Morten Tyldum
Notable Cast: Jennifer Lawrence, Chris Pratt, Laurence Fishburne
It's obviously too early to know much about this other than the brief synopsis. The two leads are arguably the two largest in Hollywood at the moment. I loved the Imitation Game, so I'm thrilled to see Morten Tyldum's next installment. It's Science Fiction and seems like Alien without the Alien.
18. Assassin's Creed
Release Date: December 21st
Director: Justin Kurzel
Notable Cast: Michael Fassbender, Jeremy Irons, Marion Cotillard, Brendan Gleeson
It's a video game movie, so I'm not trying to get that worked up about this one. Caution-ally optimistic though might be fair to what I'm feeling. The writers scare me and the director hasn't done much. If it does turn out to be sloppy, we at least get to experience Fassbender sword fighting and punching for an hour and a half.
17. The Magnificent Seven
Release Date: September 23rd
Director: Antoine Fuqua
Notable Cast: Chris Pratt, Denzel Washington, Ethan Hawke, Vincent D'Onofrio
Some might yell at me for this, but I've never watched the original. But I like the story, the cast is rock solid. Did I need a reboot for me to watch the original, no but this will definitely do it. The director's got some good titles on his resume. Here's hoping Hawke and Washington get into it like their old Training Day days. King Kong ain't got Shi...
16. Gambit
Release Date: October 7th
Director: Doug Liman
Notable Cast: Channing Tatum
The film might not even happen in 2016(my one exception I used for this list). There have been many stories about cast members leaving, which isn't a good sign for something that is supposed to come out in 10 months. They haven't started filming, so this probably won't go down but that date is currently there. This worries me for all the right reasons. I like the character of Gambit and done right he could easily be the next Wolverine. I'm not a super fan of Tatum, but he has the potential to beat out Taylor Kitsch as the best Gambit ever.
15. Warcraft
Release Date: June 10th
Director: Duncan Jones
Notable Cast: Dominic Cooper, Ben Foster, Paula Patton, Toby Kebbell
My expectations were probably too high going into the trailer. I have to keep in mind it's a video game movie. There is such a good history in this universe and I'm excited to get some context to the characters I play in Hearthstone all the time. It might be good, it might also be something like Jack the Giant Slayer. That said, what I really wanted was Undead fighting Blood Elves fighting everything else. Yeah, fighting!
14. The Conjuring 2: The Enfield Poltergeist
Release Date: June 10th
Director: James Wan
Notable Cast: Patrick Wilson, Vera Farmiga
James Wan is my favorite Horror director since Stanley Kubrick. The original Saw is wonderfully well done. Insidious is the second best Horror franchise we have right now other than The Conjuring and Wan is responsible for all of it. Annabelle was not as good as the original and I don't expect this to be either.
13. Ghostbusters
Release Date: July 15th
Director: Paul Feig
Notable Cast: Kristen Wiig, Melissa McCarthy, Chris Hemsworth
At least they are finally trying? I really wanted this movie years ago with Ramis, but sadly we will never get that. The female thing doesn't bother me so much, but I am going to compare this movie more to Bridesmaids instead of the original Ghostbusters. My biggest wish is that it is more serious and similar in tone to the originals. I feel those movies were in a completely serious realm with the exception of Bill Murray, though Slimer, Rick Moranis and Janine all go off the rails in the end of 2. I have a bad feeling this will be more comedy than serious.
12. Zoolander 2
Release Date: February 12th
Director: Ben Stiller
Notable Cast: Ben Stiller, Owen Wilson, Will Ferrell, Christine Taylor
The moment the trailer showed me Will Ferrell's Mugatu, I was hooked. It looks like Penélope Cruz will have the Christine Taylor role in this one and Kristen Wiig filling in for Milla Jovovich. Comedy sequels are rough. 22 Jumpstreet was good, Anchorman 2 was decent, Dumb and Dumberer was average. Here's hoping we get another Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure sequel.
11. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2
Release Date: June 3rd
Director: Dave Green
Notable Cast: Megan Fox, William Fichtner, Stephen Amell, Will Arnett
The trailer didn't do anything for me in particular. It's sweet that we finally get a movie version of Bebob and Rocksteady. I'm more excited for what Fichtner and Shredder are up to now. Will we finally get a Technodrome? Will we get a Krang? Will Casey Jones do something sweet? I have lots of expectations.
10. Star Trek Beyond
Release Date: July 22nd
Director: Justin Lin
Notable Cast: Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Simon Pegg, Idris Elba
My hype for this isn't where it would be if Abrams were still doing it. I am pleased that Simon Pegg was a writer on it. The trailer looks decent. Hopefully it examines the same themes and relationships that the last two did. At least we won't have this weird secrecy - is that Khan - business this time.
9. Suicide Squad
Release Date: August 5th
Director: David Ayer
Notable Cast: Will Smith, Jared Leto, Jai Courtney, Ben Affleck
I don't know much about any of these characters just like 90% of the audience, but for once that might be to my favor. I am looking forward to seeing Harley. The teaser trailer is pretty good, though it doesn't quite give us enough of what it will be about. Are these characters going to die quickly until we only have Quinn, Will Smith and the Joker left? I am curious to see what role both Joker and Batman have here. The Joker doesn't play well with others and Batman wouldn't be pleased to see any of his criminals he locked up back on the street.
8. Independence Day Resurgence
Release Date: June 24th
Director: Roland Emmerich
Notable Cast: Jeff Goldblum, Bill Pullman, Vivica A. Fox, Brent Spiner
Let's address the elephant in the room. It won't be the same without Will Smith. That aside, we have enough here that it should feel like a direct sequel (err 15 years later sequel). We will have Will Smith/Hiller's son I suppose probably trying to avenge his father? It will be a fun ride to see where the earth is at after the attack, where our characters are at, what the aliens have in store for us, and of course how we will stop them this time.
7. Deadpool
Release Date: February 12th
Director: Tim Miller
Notable Cast: Ryan Reynolds, Morena Baccarin
Ryan Renolds failed pretty hard with Green Lantern. But I'm not entirely sure where it went wrong there. It definitely wasn't all on the comedian actor. It will be interesting to see him play the villainous character he should have been back in Wolverine Origins. I'm guessing they won't even reference that movie, though he does kind of tease Lantern in the trailer. Anyway we will be sympathizing with this Super Villain despite the presence of Colossus because I'm sure there will be a bigger baddie. I really hope it does well because of - A the rating(R), B - I would like Reynolds to be justified, C - I like the risks it's taking, if it fails we're back to more Wolverine movies.
6. Doctor Strange
Release Date: November 4th
Director: Scott Derrickson
Notable Cast: Benedict Cumberbatch, Rachel McAdams, Tilda Swinton, Chiwetel Ejiofor
I watched the Marvel cartoon adaptation of Doctor Strange which was pretty good. If they manage to simply translate that to a live action version, it will be entertaining. I don't know if it can match Avengers 2, Guardians or even Ant-Man. It's going to be interesting to see a Horror director get his hands on a Superhero. Marvel now has Cumberbatch, Fassbender and Pratt, while poor DC has Affleck. I guess Sony technically has Fassbender, whomp whomp.
5. The Hateful Eight
Release Date: January 8th
Director: Quentin Tarantino
Notable Cast: Samuel L. Jackson, Tim Roth, Michael Madsen, Channing Tatum
I thought this was coming out this year, so I was thrilled I could put it on this list. I'm just about as big of a fan of Tarantino as you can get. 5 of his 7 films are among the best of any out there. There looks like lots of snow and lots of bullets. Will only one of them make it out of this? If so, which one?
4. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
Release Date: December 16th
Director: Gareth Edwards
Notable Cast: Forest Whitaker, Alan Tudyk, Donnie Yen
Episode 7 was good and I can't help but try to look forward to where the new movies will take us. This however is looking like another prequel - 3.5 or something, which is how it will be labeled until Disney has shoved enough of these films at us. At least we will get a complete story here and won't have to worry about lose threads (well we might). Maybe we will get some sweet space fighting which has been entertaining so far, but can be even better.
3. X-Men: Apocalypse
Release Date: May 27th
Director: Bryan Singer
Notable Cast: Michael Fassbender, James McAvoy, Jennifer Lawrence, Oscar Isaac
My expectations are high. They gave me what I want in Magneto, Sentinels, and now Apocalypse. We get Cyclops, Storm and Jean back. Maybe we will get a good version of Jubilee and Archangel as well here. It kind of sounds like this might be the last one for this iteration so hopefully this one is better instead of being a weak third installment like is typical in a franchise.
2. Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice
Release Date: March 25th
Director: Zack Snyder
Notable Cast: Ben Affleck, Jesse Eisenberg, Henry Cavill, Amy Adams
This latest trailer actually did quite a bit for my excitement. I think Jesse Eisenberg is going to be awesome. He's looking like the best DC villain since Heath Ledger. The first trailer had me pro Superman but this one put me on the Bat's side. Obviously in the end they will team up to beat on whatever Luther's Doomsday tries to do. I'm slightly interested in what they will do with Wonder Woman and Aquaman, but I'm really looking forward to more of Green Lantern.
1. Captain America: Civil War
Release Date: May 6th
Director: Russos
Notable Cast: Chris Evans, Robert Downey Jr., Martin Freeman, William Hurt
I come up with 30 movies that I want to see at the beginning of each year.
Top 30 Movies I Want To See In 2011
Top 30 Movies I Want To See In 2012
Top 30 Movies I Want To See In 2013
Top 30 Movies I Want To See In 2014
I forgot to do this last year. I suppose I can do a retrospective in the next few weeks but for now let's go through 2016. I found almost 50 future films which caught my fancy for some reason or another.
First I cut the movies that don't have an actual release date. I'm really excited about most of these(which is why I'm mentioning them). I use the word excited quite a bit, cause well I am. Some of the movies that I cut seem silly, but I didn't want to rank any that might not happen this year (with one exception).
10 Movies without a release date, but might come out in 2016:
The Promise - Christian Bale meets Oscar Isaac and another woman in a love triangle following the fall of the Ottoman Empire.
Hacksaw Ridge - I like Mel Gibson movies for the most part. His two latest directorials - Apocalypto and Passion, were both well done even if they were pretty gory. I expect more of the same here with a story about a WW2 solider who refuses to kill and wins the medal of honor.
Gifted - Family dramas can be very good and here's hoping this one also turns out strong. Chris Evans takes Mark Webb directing and involves the raising of Evan's orphaned niece.
Super Troopers 2 - They have been talking about making this for ages. Supposedly it's being made. I'm excited for it but a comedy sequel is very difficult, especially 15 years later. It has all the problems of Zoolander 2 with a limited budget.
Mallbrats and Clerks 3 - Kevin Smith sequels. Again the comedy sequel is difficult, though Clerks 2 had it's moments. I'm probably more excited to see where the Mallrats are at - not in the 80s anymore but dealing with today's Disney/Marvel/Televison age we are now living in. Maybe some kind of comment on how Ben Affleck(the original's antagonist) sucks as Batman.
War Machine - Brad Pitt in a movie about the war on Afghanistan. Don't know much else about it.
Animal Crackers - Yep, just what it sounds like... Animated with lots of famous actors ruining their careers ranging from Stallone to DeVito.
HHHH - World War 2 assassinate a Nazi mission movie.
Bad Santa 2 - Willie, Marcus and the ginger kid are supposedly all coming back.
Honorable Mentions (in no particular order):
Alice Through the Looking Glass
Release Date: May 27th
Director: James Bobin
Notable Cast: Johnny Depp, Anne Hathaway, Helena Bonham Carter, Alan Rickman
I actually read this book, though never read Alice in Wonderland. Looks like the same cast though new director. The original was watchable but not earth shattering. Tim Burton has problem movies occasionally. Hopefully the new director does something more interesting than recreate the original.
Ouija 2
Release Date: October 21st
Director: Mike Flanagan
Notable Cast: Henry Thomas, Lin Shaye, Doug Jones
ET's Elliot makes a "comeback" here in a Horror movie. The original was okay despite its strange premise. This director did do Oculus, which was pretty good - it still has this odd board game issue to deal with.
Rings
Release Date: April 1st
Director: F. Javier Gutiérrez
Notable Cast: Johnny Galecki
The Ring 3, 10 years after the last sequel and 13 after the original. I'm assuming it won't be a remake, but who knows anymore. Featuring Big Bang's Leonard this time instead of the motherly presence of Naomi Watts.
Fifty Shades of Black
Release Date: January 29th
Director: Michael Tiddes
Marlon Wayans
It sounded funny to me in its premise, but the trailer didn't look too great. While I liked Haunted House, I don't know if there is enough here. Marlon isn't quite the same without Shawn.
Underworld 5
Release Date: October 21st
Director: Anna Foerster
Notable Cast: Kate Beckinsale, Charles Dance
I've only watched the first two Underworld's so far. Those were entertaining enough, but I have no idea how they can possibly keep this fresh from what I've watched so far. At least we still have Kate Beckinsale still on board.
Risen
Release Date: February 19th
Director: Kevin Reynolds
Notable Cast: Tom Felton, Cliff Curtis
The premise sounded intriguing to me - what happened to Jesus's body after his death? It seems like most movies end at the crucifixion. After watching this trailer - it didn't impress me too much. Maybe it was the music, or the attempt to talk to me like someone who has not sat through 8 years of catechism - throwing in the shroud of Turin and such. It will probably make some people angry.
Finding Dory
Release Date: June 17th
Director: Andrew Stanton
Notable Cast: Willem Dafoe, Ellen DeGeneres, Ed O'Neill, Kaitlin Olson
I watched Finding Nemo once. It was decent to good for a Pixar movie. It will probably be more of the same, which isn't bad. It just isn't one aimed at me.
Top 30:
30. The Free State of Jones
Release Date: May 13th
Director: Gary Ross
Notable Cast: Matthew McConaughey, Keri Russell
I've really been into civil war movies this last year, so this might be more of a personal pick. McConaughey blew me away with Interstellar and I'm excited to see him in this story about a County that seceded from the Confederacy.
29. Knights of the Round Table
Release Date: July 22nd
Director: Guy Ritchie
Notable Cast: Jude Law, Charlie Hunnam, Djimon Hounsou
I always fall for medieval knight movies and King Arthur is no exception. Both First Knight and King Arthur were worth watching once, but not much more despite the cast of both. Hopefully this Guy Ritchie outing will be more, but I won't hold my breath. I am excited to see Charlie Hunnam as the King. Jude Law is the villain though I see no Lancelot anywhere.
28. The Great Wall
Release Date: November 23rd
Director: Yimou Zhang
Notable Cast: Matt Damon, Willem Dafoe
I've been waiting for a movie on this for some time. Zhang did two of my favorite foreign films in Hero and House of Flying Daggers, so I'm excited to see what he has in store. Hopefully Damon and Dafoe aren't simply doing the Titanic treatment where they just reminisce, but they can't possibly have that important of a role can they?
27. Gods of Egypt
Release Date: February 26th
Director: Alex Proyas
Notable Cast: Gerard Butler, Geoffrey Rush
The trailer doesn't make much sense to me. Hercules meets the Scorpion King? I couldn't tell if Butler was a good guy or what was going on beyond lots of CGI. I was burned before with Clash of the Titans so I remain caution-ally optimistic despite it's large potential for being terrible. These large CGI movies are often missing a story. The Rock's Hercules being the latest example.
26. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
Release Date: November 18th
Director: David Yates
Notable Cast: Colin Farrell, Ron Perlman, Jon Voight, Eddie Redmayne
Having only watched the Hatter Potter movies once in the span of 2 months and not having read the books, I'm not sure what to expect. The cast looks good. It's the same director as the last 4 Potters and we do get to see how Yates comes up with in Tarzan several months prior.
25. Now You See Me 2
Release Date: June 10th
Director: Jon M. Chu
Notable Cast: Mark Ruffalo, Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg, Morgan Freeman
The very beginning of the original had me stunned with their card trick. What followed from there was an average/slightly above average action mystery. I'm sure I'll see this at some point. The question is will I see it in the theater. I am loving Jesse Eisenberg right now.
24. London Has Fallen
Release Date: March 4th
Director: Babak Najafi
Notable Cast: Gerard Butler, Aaron Eckhart, Morgan Freeman, Radha Mitchell
Olympus has fallen came out way too close to White House Down. Having watched White House Down first, the Olympus has Fallen just felt like more of the same but weaker. The Fox/Tatuum duo was quite different than the Butler/Freeman one.
23. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies
Release Date: February 5th
Director: Burr Steers
Notable Cast: Lena Headey, Lily James
Honestly the trailer was better than I what my expectations were. I think we are going to get more Zombies than anything else I don't know about Pride and Prejudice.
22. The Legend of Tarzan
Release Date: July 1st
Director: David Yates
Notable Cast: Christoph Waltz, Samuel L. Jackson, John Hurt, Margot Robbie
They want it to be a Summer blockbuster, no doubt about it. How else can you explain the trailer? I'm interested in what I see though. It's looking quite like Transformers meets King Kong meets the Jungle Book. I don't know anything about Tarzan honestly but if they weren't taking liberties, that would be surprising to me.
21. The 5th Wave
Release Date: January 15th
Director: J Blakeson
Notable Cast: Liev Schreiber, Chloë Grace Moretz, Ron Livingston, Maria Bello
If it wasn't a teenage book turned into a movie, I might be feeling better about it.
I've never watched Divergent, Percy Jackson, The Maze Runner or I Am Number Four but I am also afraid to. That fact might scare me away here as well. It started to sound quite an awful like the beginning of Independence Day or Ender's Game. I have less hope for this than Edge of Tomorrow. It looks like the Aliens here might be the - 'They Live' kind - really just looking like Humans. I'm not a huge fan of invisible aliens for multiple reasons. I really want a War of the Worlds looking and sounding alien but with a good story on top of it. This movie might have one of these, but definitely not both. Also, the survival element between a girl and her brother here doesn't interest me.
20. The Jungle Book
Release Date: April 15th
Director: Jon Favreau
Notable Cast: Ben Kingsley, Christopher Walken, Bill Murray, Scarlet Johansson
I've never watched the previous version, so I don't know much about the story. Well, other than whatever Talespin gave me. That might be the best thing - that I don't know the story. Love the voice cast, what I list here is only the half of it. Favreau also gets me excited.
19. Passengers
Release Date: December 21st
Director: Morten Tyldum
Notable Cast: Jennifer Lawrence, Chris Pratt, Laurence Fishburne
It's obviously too early to know much about this other than the brief synopsis. The two leads are arguably the two largest in Hollywood at the moment. I loved the Imitation Game, so I'm thrilled to see Morten Tyldum's next installment. It's Science Fiction and seems like Alien without the Alien.
18. Assassin's Creed
Release Date: December 21st
Director: Justin Kurzel
Notable Cast: Michael Fassbender, Jeremy Irons, Marion Cotillard, Brendan Gleeson
It's a video game movie, so I'm not trying to get that worked up about this one. Caution-ally optimistic though might be fair to what I'm feeling. The writers scare me and the director hasn't done much. If it does turn out to be sloppy, we at least get to experience Fassbender sword fighting and punching for an hour and a half.
17. The Magnificent Seven
Release Date: September 23rd
Director: Antoine Fuqua
Notable Cast: Chris Pratt, Denzel Washington, Ethan Hawke, Vincent D'Onofrio
Some might yell at me for this, but I've never watched the original. But I like the story, the cast is rock solid. Did I need a reboot for me to watch the original, no but this will definitely do it. The director's got some good titles on his resume. Here's hoping Hawke and Washington get into it like their old Training Day days. King Kong ain't got Shi...
16. Gambit
Release Date: October 7th
Director: Doug Liman
Notable Cast: Channing Tatum
The film might not even happen in 2016(my one exception I used for this list). There have been many stories about cast members leaving, which isn't a good sign for something that is supposed to come out in 10 months. They haven't started filming, so this probably won't go down but that date is currently there. This worries me for all the right reasons. I like the character of Gambit and done right he could easily be the next Wolverine. I'm not a super fan of Tatum, but he has the potential to beat out Taylor Kitsch as the best Gambit ever.
15. Warcraft
Release Date: June 10th
Director: Duncan Jones
Notable Cast: Dominic Cooper, Ben Foster, Paula Patton, Toby Kebbell
My expectations were probably too high going into the trailer. I have to keep in mind it's a video game movie. There is such a good history in this universe and I'm excited to get some context to the characters I play in Hearthstone all the time. It might be good, it might also be something like Jack the Giant Slayer. That said, what I really wanted was Undead fighting Blood Elves fighting everything else. Yeah, fighting!
14. The Conjuring 2: The Enfield Poltergeist
Release Date: June 10th
Director: James Wan
Notable Cast: Patrick Wilson, Vera Farmiga
James Wan is my favorite Horror director since Stanley Kubrick. The original Saw is wonderfully well done. Insidious is the second best Horror franchise we have right now other than The Conjuring and Wan is responsible for all of it. Annabelle was not as good as the original and I don't expect this to be either.
13. Ghostbusters
Release Date: July 15th
Director: Paul Feig
Notable Cast: Kristen Wiig, Melissa McCarthy, Chris Hemsworth
At least they are finally trying? I really wanted this movie years ago with Ramis, but sadly we will never get that. The female thing doesn't bother me so much, but I am going to compare this movie more to Bridesmaids instead of the original Ghostbusters. My biggest wish is that it is more serious and similar in tone to the originals. I feel those movies were in a completely serious realm with the exception of Bill Murray, though Slimer, Rick Moranis and Janine all go off the rails in the end of 2. I have a bad feeling this will be more comedy than serious.
12. Zoolander 2
Release Date: February 12th
Director: Ben Stiller
Notable Cast: Ben Stiller, Owen Wilson, Will Ferrell, Christine Taylor
The moment the trailer showed me Will Ferrell's Mugatu, I was hooked. It looks like Penélope Cruz will have the Christine Taylor role in this one and Kristen Wiig filling in for Milla Jovovich. Comedy sequels are rough. 22 Jumpstreet was good, Anchorman 2 was decent, Dumb and Dumberer was average. Here's hoping we get another Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure sequel.
11. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2
Release Date: June 3rd
Director: Dave Green
Notable Cast: Megan Fox, William Fichtner, Stephen Amell, Will Arnett
The trailer didn't do anything for me in particular. It's sweet that we finally get a movie version of Bebob and Rocksteady. I'm more excited for what Fichtner and Shredder are up to now. Will we finally get a Technodrome? Will we get a Krang? Will Casey Jones do something sweet? I have lots of expectations.
10. Star Trek Beyond
Release Date: July 22nd
Director: Justin Lin
Notable Cast: Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Simon Pegg, Idris Elba
My hype for this isn't where it would be if Abrams were still doing it. I am pleased that Simon Pegg was a writer on it. The trailer looks decent. Hopefully it examines the same themes and relationships that the last two did. At least we won't have this weird secrecy - is that Khan - business this time.
9. Suicide Squad
Release Date: August 5th
Director: David Ayer
Notable Cast: Will Smith, Jared Leto, Jai Courtney, Ben Affleck
I don't know much about any of these characters just like 90% of the audience, but for once that might be to my favor. I am looking forward to seeing Harley. The teaser trailer is pretty good, though it doesn't quite give us enough of what it will be about. Are these characters going to die quickly until we only have Quinn, Will Smith and the Joker left? I am curious to see what role both Joker and Batman have here. The Joker doesn't play well with others and Batman wouldn't be pleased to see any of his criminals he locked up back on the street.
8. Independence Day Resurgence
Release Date: June 24th
Director: Roland Emmerich
Notable Cast: Jeff Goldblum, Bill Pullman, Vivica A. Fox, Brent Spiner
Let's address the elephant in the room. It won't be the same without Will Smith. That aside, we have enough here that it should feel like a direct sequel (err 15 years later sequel). We will have Will Smith/Hiller's son I suppose probably trying to avenge his father? It will be a fun ride to see where the earth is at after the attack, where our characters are at, what the aliens have in store for us, and of course how we will stop them this time.
7. Deadpool
Release Date: February 12th
Director: Tim Miller
Notable Cast: Ryan Reynolds, Morena Baccarin
Ryan Renolds failed pretty hard with Green Lantern. But I'm not entirely sure where it went wrong there. It definitely wasn't all on the comedian actor. It will be interesting to see him play the villainous character he should have been back in Wolverine Origins. I'm guessing they won't even reference that movie, though he does kind of tease Lantern in the trailer. Anyway we will be sympathizing with this Super Villain despite the presence of Colossus because I'm sure there will be a bigger baddie. I really hope it does well because of - A the rating(R), B - I would like Reynolds to be justified, C - I like the risks it's taking, if it fails we're back to more Wolverine movies.
6. Doctor Strange
Release Date: November 4th
Director: Scott Derrickson
Notable Cast: Benedict Cumberbatch, Rachel McAdams, Tilda Swinton, Chiwetel Ejiofor
I watched the Marvel cartoon adaptation of Doctor Strange which was pretty good. If they manage to simply translate that to a live action version, it will be entertaining. I don't know if it can match Avengers 2, Guardians or even Ant-Man. It's going to be interesting to see a Horror director get his hands on a Superhero. Marvel now has Cumberbatch, Fassbender and Pratt, while poor DC has Affleck. I guess Sony technically has Fassbender, whomp whomp.
5. The Hateful Eight
Release Date: January 8th
Director: Quentin Tarantino
Notable Cast: Samuel L. Jackson, Tim Roth, Michael Madsen, Channing Tatum
I thought this was coming out this year, so I was thrilled I could put it on this list. I'm just about as big of a fan of Tarantino as you can get. 5 of his 7 films are among the best of any out there. There looks like lots of snow and lots of bullets. Will only one of them make it out of this? If so, which one?
4. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
Release Date: December 16th
Director: Gareth Edwards
Notable Cast: Forest Whitaker, Alan Tudyk, Donnie Yen
Episode 7 was good and I can't help but try to look forward to where the new movies will take us. This however is looking like another prequel - 3.5 or something, which is how it will be labeled until Disney has shoved enough of these films at us. At least we will get a complete story here and won't have to worry about lose threads (well we might). Maybe we will get some sweet space fighting which has been entertaining so far, but can be even better.
3. X-Men: Apocalypse
Release Date: May 27th
Director: Bryan Singer
Notable Cast: Michael Fassbender, James McAvoy, Jennifer Lawrence, Oscar Isaac
My expectations are high. They gave me what I want in Magneto, Sentinels, and now Apocalypse. We get Cyclops, Storm and Jean back. Maybe we will get a good version of Jubilee and Archangel as well here. It kind of sounds like this might be the last one for this iteration so hopefully this one is better instead of being a weak third installment like is typical in a franchise.
2. Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice
Release Date: March 25th
Director: Zack Snyder
Notable Cast: Ben Affleck, Jesse Eisenberg, Henry Cavill, Amy Adams
This latest trailer actually did quite a bit for my excitement. I think Jesse Eisenberg is going to be awesome. He's looking like the best DC villain since Heath Ledger. The first trailer had me pro Superman but this one put me on the Bat's side. Obviously in the end they will team up to beat on whatever Luther's Doomsday tries to do. I'm slightly interested in what they will do with Wonder Woman and Aquaman, but I'm really looking forward to more of Green Lantern.
1. Captain America: Civil War
Release Date: May 6th
Director: Russos
Notable Cast: Chris Evans, Robert Downey Jr., Martin Freeman, William Hurt
It was close call for me, but I'm currently eating up everything Marvel has to offer at the moment. Seeing Iron Man fighting both the Captain and Bucky was sweet. I'm excited for some Black Panther, plus more Vision, Scarlet Witch, Ant Man and of course Spider-Man. We probably won't get as much of all these characters as I'm hoping - especially since we are also adding Freeman's character and bringing back the Incredible Hulk's General Thunderbolt William Hurt. We know they will all eventually be fighting Thanos but for now they will be dealing with Daniel Bruhl's Baron Zemo as well as Crossbones.
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ReplyDeleteGreat post, babe! I look forward to watching these movies with you! I'm excited for Xmen and Captain America! xo - Hellen
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