2- KONG: SKULL ISLAND: King Kong is awesome. So why aren't there more Kong films? Maybe they realize that you can't do better than the original so why try? Either way, here's a new one, set in the 1970's (probably to explain why Google Maps didn't reveal the island). A group shows up at the island and...what? Fight Kong? Who knows? Who cares about plot? It's John Goodman and Brie Larson and Samuel L. Jackson and Tom Hiddleston on Skull Island. And it looks awesome.
3- JUSTICE LEAGUE: Even though I'm excited to see this, it'll probably be an epic mess. And since we've already seen Batman and Superman together in a film...so what's so great about this? Well...it's The Flash, Wonder Woman, and Aquaman as well. It's DC's version of The Avengers. Which means this'll be huge. Or will it? Everyone except me and Steven Rea hated BvS. Affleck was a laughing stock post-Gigli until Argo and then he decided he liked being a laughing stock so he went and did a Batman movie. But Affleck is great as Batman. Gal Gadot is an awesome WW. The problem is they've brought back director Zack Snyder again, regardless of his track record. But this is the type of movie that going to the movies is made for. A packed house on a Friday night, raucous crowd, action, laughs, special f/x galore. It'll be a spectacle at least.
4- ANNIHILATION: This is adapted from the first book of a trilogy. I only read the first one, and while it's good and interesting, it's also a copy of the great movie Stalker, from Andrei Tarkovsky, which was also based on a book. Both are about a government quarantined mystery zone that people venture into. This new film has Natalie Portman, Oscar Isaac, and Jennifer Jason Leigh. But the reason I'm anticipating this is because Alex Garland is writing/directing it. Garland wrote 28 Days Later and made Ex-Machina, two of the best films to come out in the last twenty years. I expect great things from this, unlike Blade Runner 2049, which didn't make the list.
5- ALIEN: COVENANT: Fuck Prometheus. Just give us xenomorphs killing humans in space. It isn't difficult. Is it? Prometheus made no sense, but the end was promising when they charted course to the planet that apparently is where the aliens are. I guess this is a sequel? The trailer looks awesome. Can Ridley Scott still direct a good movie at age 78? Will Danny McBride being in this movie make it less scary? There hasn't been a good Alien movie since 1986. It's about time for one.
6- SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING: Even bad Spider-man movies are pretty good (re: Spider-man 3). The character, villains, and world are so great that, really, it's tough to mess it up. But this new one with a fresh cast actually does look like a hell of a lot of fun. Tom Holland's Spider-man was the best part of last year's Captain America: Civil War, and his scene at home with Robert Downey, Jr.'s Tony Stark was hilarious...so it's a good thing that Robert Downey, Jr. is back as Iron Man in this film and Tom Holland as Parker gets to star. Plus there's Michael Keaton as the villain, Vulture, the fact that it's Peter Parker in High School, and sidekick Ganke from the comic books is in it, albeit re-named. Should be one of the better summer popcorn flicks.
7- VALERIAN AND THE CITY OF A THOUSAND PLANETS: Writer/director Luc Besson's last big-budget, sci-fi spectacle, The Fifth Element, was pretty to look at but mostly awful. That was twenty years ago, so perhaps he's learned his lesson. And he hasn't made any great films since then, but Angel-A was good and, let's face it, even Besson's bad movies are usually more interesting than the best Hollywood movies these days. This new one is based on an old French comic book about aliens and time travel and galactic warriors and worlds. It stars super-model/actress Cara Delevingne, singer Rhianna, and the kid that played Harry Osbourne in The Amazing Spider-Man, Dane DeHann. It looks wild and weird and just what you want out of a summer film.
8- T2: TRAINSPOTTING: The gang's all back...21 years later. Sequels usually suck, but at least they've brought back the same writer, producer, director, and stars. And Trainspotting was one of the best movies ever made. That sequence that starts with Mark Renton necking in the back of the cab set to "Atomic" by Sleeper and ends with all three dudes at their respective flats having sex is still one my favorite scenes in film. Trainspotting is just one of those movies that feels like an adrenaline rush while watching it. So, really, good luck recapturing that magic. But it'll be fun to see them try. It's said to be loosely based on the book sequel, Porno, which I heard was just awful. Let's just hope it's more of an Empire Strikes Back than a Clerks 2.
9- THE DARK TOWER: This Stephen King book, The Gunslinger (which is book 1 of the 8 part Dark Tower series) came out in 1982. Crazy that it took this long to be adapted, as even very short King stories have been made into movies over the years (remember Graveyard Shift?). And who knows if we'll ever see any of the sequels, but this is a start at least. Matthew McConaughey is the villain, The Man in Black, who's pursuing The Gunslinger, played by Idris Elba, across a bizarre, fantasy land. The co-writer and director is the Danish Nikolaj Arcel, who directed the foreign version of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and also the very good A Royal Affair that had Alicia Vikander and Mads Mikkelsen. So they have a good director, a great cast, and a fairly interesting novel to work with. What could possibly go wrong?
10- THOR: RAGNORAK: The second Thor film was one of the better Marvel films to be released amidst their current surge. This one is big, though, because it has Benedict Cumberbatch as Dr. Strange and Mark Ruffalo as The Hulk. When you figure in the usual Thor cast (Anthony Hopkins, Tom Hiddleston, Idris Elba, Chris Hemsworth) plus Cate Blanchett and Jeff Goldblum, the budget for actors must be $100 million. But fuck budget, actors, and whatever lame plot this has. The only reason I want to see this is because they got Taika Waititi to direct it. Wait, what? He is, without a doubt, one of the best writer/directors out there. He worked on Flight of the Conchords, directed a handful of The Inbetweeners episodes, and made two of the weirdest, funniest, coolest films of the past few years (What We Do in the Shadows and Hunt for the Wilderpeople). I have no idea what he's doing directing a mega-budget, Hollywood film, but I don't care. I expect greatness.
