I’m a little late on this, I know, but the new year brings with it a new slate of movies to which we can look forward. There are movies that were announced years ago, some that even started advertising this past fall. There are others, however, that we know very little about, and will have to wait a while to get an actual preview.
I started out with the intention of just covering a top 20 biggest or most interesting movies, but there was way too much going on this year, so I decided to break things up into categories to talk about. So here we go…
The movies I’m most excited about…
Though my favorite movies tend to be dramas, those often come out late in the year, so I know very little about them now, and they’re harder to get excited about anyway. So the movies I actually get pumped to see are usually the big blockbuster action flicks. This year there are 4 of them that I am most excited to see.
4. John Wick: Chapter 2
The first John Wick was a surprise. While I often promote the supremacy of story to the success of a film, that doesn’t mean the story has to be deep. The story can be simple, like a retired hitman going all out for revenge after his dog is killed. Then just enjoy the ride as cool action ensues. As long as the writers don’t do anything overtly bad to mess up this movie, I fully expect this one to be more mindless, fun action that harkens back to the 90s, before superhero movies took over.
3. Kong: Skull Island
Sure, this looks like a weird do-over of the 2005 King Kong. In fact, if you would have described the preview for this movie to me, I probably would have hated the sound of it, because it seems redundant. Yet, I saw the preview and enjoyed it a lot. This movie is meant to take place in the same universe as the 2014 Godzilla, which I thoroughly enjoyed, so that is an added boost of confidence.
2. Logan
It’s hard to believe I could get excited about the third standalone Wolverine film, considering I hated the first and didn’t care much for the second. Maybe all the credit should go to whoever cut the trailer, because it sold me. Perhaps its mostly the Johnny Cash song, but the fact that they sell it on more subtle character moments than a bunch of action has me hopeful that this is a more mature superhero movie. Plus, Hugh Jackman has been so great as Wolverine over the years, he needs to have one movie that becomes the definitive display for the character. Man I hope this is it.
1. War for the Planet of the Apes
I didn’t see Rise or Dawn until after they were in Redbox. But I won’t be slow to see the Apes movies anymore. Those two were great, and the second was even better than the first. I honestly think I like the Apes movies more than any superhero franchise. This is the most excited I’ve been for a franchise movie in a long time. I’ve actually tried to avoid any trailers or talk about the movie so far, which will likely become impossible as its summer release date draws nearer. The scary thing about being this excited for a movie is the possibility of real disappointment if it doesn’t live up to the previous two. But that’s a distant thought, as I’m confident the Apes franchise will continue to hit. Plus, Woody Harrelson is starring in this one, and Woody is awesome.
The really smart thing that these movies did was make it more about the apes. Caesar is a character that I genuinely like and root for. But it isn’t like they switched so that you root against humanity either. They let you like and dislike characters from both sides. I am actually disappointed about the fact they’ll be at war, but I’m anxious to see how it plays out.
The movies I feel pretty good about…
There are five franchise movies (3 of which are Marvel movies) that I anticipate will be good movies. While I may not get as excited for these as the above 4, these are still ones I’ll likely see in theaters. Here’s a quick thought on each…
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 – Any concerns I had that it wouldn’t recapture the same charm as the original were alleviated in the preview with Baby Groot. Yep, I said it. Baby. Groot.
Spider-Man Homecoming – I would have never thought I would need another Spider-Man movie after gettting 5 since 2002, but what we got of this version in Civil War has actually swayed me.
Thor: Ragnarok – In my opinion, the Thor movies are the worst of the Marvel bunch. But the idea of Thor and Hulk in a sort of superhero road trip movie, directed by the guy who did What We Do in the Shadows, is unique enough to peak my interest.
Star Wars Episode VIII – Honestly, I still don’t know where I stand on the Star Wars franchise as a whole. But The Force Awakens was solid, and so I’m in for the continuation of the story with these characters.
Kingsman: The Golden Circle – The first one surprised me. It was a lot of fun. Let’s see if it does it again.
The movies I’m curious about…
Now we’re getting into the movies that have got me intrigued, but I am not confident about. Basically, these are the movies that I will wait to hear the early buzz to determine if they’re worth going to see.
The Great Wall looks like a visually stunning movie, though I’m still not sure why Matt Damon is starring in this movie. This gives me deja vu for when Tom Cruise starred in The Last Samurai.
Speaking of Tom Cruise, The Mummy strikes me as odd. I mean, it doesn’t seem that long ago that we had several movies in a franchise called The Mummy. But I guess Hollywood figured we could use a new one. The draw here is Cruise. I just tend to enjoy him in movies.
The DC cinematic universe has 2 movies coming out: Wonder Woman and Justice League. The bottom line is that we all know that DC movies can make for some pretty great trailers, but we need one to actually be pretty good before I get excited for any of them. I hope for DC’s sake, and for moviegoers in general, that these two raise the bar.
Dunkirk is Christopher Nolan doing a WWII movie. I guess at some point every director has to do one of those. The preview didn’t really intrigue me too much, but Nolan is a gifted filmmaker, so it’s his rep that may pull me in.
Life and The Circle look like sci-fi thrillers that I’ve seen before. But there are some talented people involved, so I’ll be curious to hear if they overcome their familiar concepts.
The House is a comedy starring Will Ferrell and Amy Poehler and is about a guy who starts an illegal casino in his basement, and that’s pretty much all we know at this point. Really though, isn’t that enough to merit being on this list?
Ghost and the Shell is a beloved anime movie. I actually think I watched it at a friend’s house in high school, but couldn’t tell you anything about it. I’m mostly curious for two reasons: (1) will whatever made this popular as an anime translate to live action, and (2) it has Scarlett Johansson in it.
Movies that require prior viewings…
There are a number of sequels coming out this year that have highly thought of originals… which I haven’t seen. And for the most part, I don’t watch sequels without first seeing the original. So even though it would probably be perfectly acceptable to see The Lego Batman Movie and/or The Lego Ninjano Movie without seeing the first Lego Movie, I just can’t do it out of order. Plus, I’ve been meaning to see the Lego Movie anyway, because I always hear positive things about it.
The two that I’m a little more embarrassed about are Blade Runner 2049 and Alien: Covenant. As a movie buff, I feel like I should have seen Blade Runner, but I haven’t. I have seen the first Alien movie, but not its more touted sequel Aliens, nor did I see Prometheus, which was the most recent Alien movie.
The other two sequels that fit this catergory are T2: Trainspotting and Flatliners. These are the two that I don’t know if I’ll ever get around to seeing. Trainspotting has a really good score on Rotten Tomatoes (90% from critics, 93% from audience), which makes it a little intriguing, but the subject matter does not so much. Flatliners sounds like a more interesting movie, but it has a less sterling reputation.
Remakes that I can’t believe are happening…
It’s not exactly a new thing. In fact, Hollywood has always re-mined old material. It just seems particularly excessive these days. Really, it’s to the point where it isn’t all that surprising to hear they are remaking anything. It’s more just a curiosity if they can do anything creative and new with it. The easy answer is to make it satire (a la 21 Jump Street) or to make it darker and grittier (a la Batman Begins). But those are the shining examples, and unfortunately remakes are usually bad. I would be surprised if any of these turned out to be good.
First, we have the ones that will no doubt be satirical of the original, as they are based on two incredibly cheesy tv shows: CHiPs and Baywatch. Here’s the thing, I’m not sure that Baywatch has to change a single thing to be a hit comedy. I mean, they could probably literally use scripts from the tv show and it would work out. But it will make a ton of money because it will have a bunch of beautiful people in it.
CHiPs I haven’t watched in a long, long time, but when I was a kid, I loved it. I wanted to be a motorcycle cop. For real. It was the second dream job I ever had. (The first was garbage man; I wanted to ride on the back of a truck.) However, I feel pretty confident that I wouldn’t enjoy the show if I saw it now. I have very little confidence either of these movies will be good.
As for the gritty reboots, we are getting Power Rangers and It. Power Rangers in particular seems like an ill advised move. I mean, nothing about the Power Rangers ever seemed dark and tough. They probably would have been better off going for humor. Better yet, they probably would have been best off leaving the source material in the 90s.
It is a remake of a Stephen King story about a creepy clown. I guess this one is different because its probably not as though the original is lighthearted and fun (wouldn’t know, haven’t seen it), but you know a horror film about a clown will be super gritty. I just can’t understand the audience for this movie. I don’t need creepy clowns in my life.
Lastly, we have another kind of remake, the family friendly, name recognition remake. Basically, studios know that people (especially children) are drawn to the familiar. That’s why Disney is doing live action remakes of all their animated classics. They don’t even have to come up with anything new, they just hire some famous people, make some special effects, retell the same story, and make a billion dollars. I watched The Jungle Book because I heard the visuals were amazing, but I think I will be sitting out of all further live action remakes out of protest on principle.
Then we have Jumanji. I don’t know what to think about this. I liked the original as a kid, haven’t seen it as an adult. Never thought it needed a sequel or reboot. But it has some talented people in it, and I suppose they could do something unique and interesting, so I guess I’ll try to reserve judgment until I see a little more.
The franchises I can’t believe are still going…
Hollywood is like Rose in Titanic, they’ll never let go. Ironically, I think Titanic is about the only movie to gross over $500 million and not get a sequel. Good for you, Hollywood. Apparently you do draw the line somewhere.
(Though it’s surprising they turned down this brilliant pitch.)
There are a bunch of franchises continuing on this year that, against all odds, manage to surprise me. Top of the list is the Fast and Furious franchise, which sadly lost one its leads during production of the previous installment, and managed a fitting, sentimental wrap up in the film (or so I’ve heard, never saw it). I would have figured that’d be a good place to stop, 7 movies in. But I guess not. The money machine must go on.
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales and Transformers: The Last Knight, both the 5th films in their franchise, are hoping to redeem themselves after their previous installments. However, they both look like more of the same. I guess that’s good news if you liked all the others.
There are a bunch of part 3s coming out, including Cars 3, Despicable Me 3, Pitch Perfect 3, Smurfs: The Lost Village, and Rings. I saw Cars and Despicable Me, but neither did enough to interest me in the second. I never saw the Smurfs, for which I feel no remorse, nor did I see Pitch Perfect, which some people would say is a fault. The Ring was a pretty good thriller when it first came out, but nothing I feel any special need to revisit.
And then there are the continuation of franchises that I don’t follow, and don’t care to keep up with: Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul, Amityville: The Awakening, Insidious: Chapter 4, Saw: Legacy.
How is this a movie?
Since the success of The Lego Movie and The Angry Birds Movie, it has emboldened studios to try to make a movie out of anything. That has brought us to having The Emoji Movie. And if that isn’t bad enough, there’s one called Animal Crackers, and yes, it is about magical animal crackers. Those two almost make My Little Pony: The Movie seem normal. What happened to us as a society?
The dramatic stuff…
Finally, we come to the more dramatic films, which as I said before, are often some of my favorites, though less exciting. Here are five that sound particularly compelling to me just based on premise.
5. The Mountain Between Us
Idris Elba and Kate Winslet star as two people involved in a plane crash in the mountains who have to work together to survive. Two great actors in a challenging situation. That’s all I know, and all I need to know.
4. American Made
First off, let’s just acknowledge that Hollywood loves to make dramas with “American” in the title (American Sniper, American Hustle, American Gangster, American Beauty, American History X, etc.) This particular one stars Tom Cruise as a pilot who works for The CIA at some point and drug smugglers at another… or concurrently… either way, sign me up.
3. Granite Mountain
We could use a good movie about firefighters, right? This one is based on a true story of a group that fought a lethal wildfire in Arizona. The fact that its real should lend it to being more somber than cool, but it is a great setting for courageous heroics.
2. The Book of Henry
This movie is about a boy who writes out a plan in a book to help save a neighbor girl from her abusive father, and when his mom discovers the book, she decides they should execute his plan. I’m not sure what the tone of this movie will be, but the premise intrigues me.
1. Gifted
Gifted looks like a mix between Good Will Hunting and any movie about a custody battle. Chris Evans stars as a guy raising his niece, who happens to be a genius. I know I said I don’t get as excited for dramas, but I saw the preview for this one, and I wanted to watch it right then. Alas, I have to wait until April.
That completes my – well, lets just call it thorough – look at the coming slate of movies. I hope that there are ones that you are looking forward to. Please let me know what those are, or what thoughts you have on the various other categories I discussed.
jeremymattheiss.wordpress.com 
Your blog is very cool ! Love your content, for me i am very excited for john wick 2 this month.
LikeLike