10. The Masterpiece
Formerly called The Disaster Artist, The Masterpiece will detail the making of the 2003 cult film The Room, a film known for its absolute terribleness. In the scenes I've seen of The Room, it's hilarious how bad it is. James Franco stars and directs this comedic biopic on how it all went down. I'm curious to see how The Room was made, and there's a stellar cast lined up, with the Franco brothers taking the lead, with Seth Rogen, Bryan Cranston, Sharon Stone, and Zac Efron. I'm looking forward to this, even more than Dunkirk and Spider-Man: Homecoming! Currently, The Masterpiece has no set release date.
9. Song to Song
Terrence Malick has been making a movie about every year since his magnum opus (and my favorite film) The Tree of Life was released in 2012. This one is his long-talked about music drama set in Austin, Texas. Though I haven't quite had the chance to see some of those films, like Knight of Cups and To the Wonder, I really like how this one's shaping up. Malick's style should really complement this story of music in Austin, Texas, perhaps even greater than John Carney has done with Once or Sing Street. It also has a knockout cast with Ryan Gosling, Michael Fassbender, Natalie Portman, and Rooney Mara. I'm liking what I'm seeing so far, so here's to greatness. Song to Song is scheduled for release on March 17, a week after its premiere at South by Southwest Festival. Hopefully this one is actually made easy to see, unlike Voyage of Time, which I'm convinced I'll finally be able to see for the first time in 2032.
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| Song to Song |
God Particle is the third film in the Cloverfield franchise, after 2008's tense found-footage film Cloverfield and 2016's shocking 10 Cloverfield Lane (which you'll see in another list not too far from now). After marathoning those two films one night, I am absolutely pumped to see what's next for this series. The first two films were very good, unique stand-alones, but they hinted at a greater universe, setting themselves up as great first chapters. I'm hoping God Particle takes the questions raised in those two films and gives us some answers and connective tissue, and with the pitch being that astronauts return to Earth after a long mission and find it nothing like the same, it looks like J. J. Abrams and his team will provide them. God Particle is slated for an October 27 release; by then, the title may change to Mission: Cloverfield or something like that to tie it in, but who knows. Regardless, I'm really looking forward to this.
7. The Greatest Showman
The Greatest Showman is a film that I heard about a while ago on Rotten Tomatoes, and then when I rediscovered it the other day, I remembered how much I wanted to see this. The film is a biopic featuring Hugh Jackman as P. T. Barnum. The unique thing is, this is supposed to be a musical biopic. After the great musical films we got in 2016, notably Sing Street, Moana, and La La Land, I want to see how the genre evolves into this year. Jackman is a reliable leading man, and he deserved his Oscar nomination for Les Miserables. What's there not to look forward to? When a trailer comes out, this could easily jump to my top 5 most anticipated, but for now, number 7 seems a good place. The Greatest Showman is scheduled for release on Christmas Day: joy to the world!
6. Split
Astonishingly, I'm looking forward to a film in January! Split is M. Night Shyamalan's latest film after his apparent return to form in The Visit, and it looks freaky. James McAvoy plays a man who harbors over 20 different personalities. When one of these personalities abducts three teenage girls, the girls must try to escape him before a new hostile personality, The Beast, emerges. It looks like a tense thriller, and with the great buzz it's been getting since its showings at festivals, I can't not look forward to it. If it's as good or better than The Sixth Sense, Signs, Unbreakable (of which this is a spiritual sequel) or The Village, I'm sure we'll see this on my best of the year list. Split comes out on January 20th.
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| Split |
I'm actually seeing this one hours after I post this list. Hidden Figures tells the story of three African-American women pivotal to the launching of the first man in space. I saw the trailer before Moana and immediately afterwards, my friends and I knew this was going to be a really great film. It looks like a special film, too, and I'm interested to see this story. Starring Octavia Spencer, Taraji P. Henson, Janelle Monae, Jim Parsons, and Kevin Costner, Hidden Figures opens wide today, January 6. My review will come in the next few days.
4. Guardians of the Galxy: Vol. 2
In case you're wondering where all the blockbusters are, here they are! I enjoyed the first Guardians of the Galaxy, even though the end is awfully cheesy; the humor and tone, overall, were great. Vol. 2 looks like it will knock the first one out of the park. Now that the characters and world are established, James Gunn has plenty of room to explore the character dynamics and give us a rockin' good time. Not to mention that the first trailer was the funniest trailer to come out in 2016. I'm so looking forward to this, and it's the only Marvel movie I have the urge to see on opening weekend (sorry, John Hughes' Spidey!). Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 2 opens May 5, 2017.
3. Star Wars Episode VIII
The Force Awakens was a nice set-up for the sequel trilogy, now director Rian Johnson has the job to deliver on the anticipation created by the open-ended questions established by Abrams in the last film. Extremely little information has been revealed about the film so far, but I assume it will deal with the training of hero and villain Rey and Kylo Ren, which seems to me an interesting juxtaposition. Also, this will be the last performance we will ever see of the late Carrie Fisher, but I am looking forward to seeing her scenes with her daughter Billie Lourd as well as the young blood introduced in Episode VII, like Finn and Poe. Maybe Luke and Leia will finally reunite? Who knows! Either way, I'm looking forward to this, even if it is an obligation at this point. Episode VIII comes to theaters on December 15.
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| Logan |
I am a huge fan of the X-Men film franchise, and allegedly, this is Hugh Jackman's last go as the classic character Wolverine. The film looks dark and gritty and like a brilliant send-off to the character, the Wolverine trilogy, and Patrick Stewart's Professor X. I have no idea where this takes place in the official X-Men timeline. All I know is that I'm liking what I'm seeing, and if I were given the options, I would see this over a new Star Wars movie. I'm excited to see what they do as an R-rated western, and I'm excited to see Hugh Jackman's farewell performance in the role (that is, until Ryan Reynolds convinces him to do a Wolverine/Deadpool movie in 2022). Logan is slated for release on March 3rd.
1. Beauty and the Beast
It's the tale as old as time, the song as old as rhyme, and perhaps the best cast movie of 2017. Emma Watson, of Harry Potter fame, stars as Belle, leading a cast that includes Dan Stevens, Luke Evans, Josh Gad, Ewan McGregor, Stanley Tucci, Emma Thompson, Kevin Kline, and Ian McKellen. I absolutely love the 90s animated film, and the stage adaptation has a fabulous soundtrack. I'm interested in seeing the new live action take on it, especially after hearing that Alan Menken will return with new songs, and that some of Howard Ashman's unused lyrics will be reinstated into the film as a lovely tribute. I'd probably be more trepidatious if I hadn't seen The Jungle Book, but since The Jungle Book was so great, I have absolute faith in this new adaptation. I've liked most everything I've seen so far, so here's to greatness. It's also the only film on this list for which I've blotted out opening day on my calendar. That should speak for itself! Beauty and the Beast rounds out a stellar release calendar in March on March 17th.
That's my list! I know there are some that people are really looking forward to that I didn't include on my list, like Kong: Skull Island, Spider-Man: Homecoming, and Alien: Covenant, but I'm just not looking forward to those as much as I am these ten. But let's start a discussion: what films are you most looking forward to this year? Whatever you have to say about me or the movies, comment below!
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