1- THE BATMAN: It's kind of strange that the last Batman film came out in 2010. I suppose you could argue that it was Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice, but even that came out 6 years ago. What the fuck, dude? Batman movies are cash cows. They should be cranking them out every year if they were smart. Well this is an all new one with a new cast and director. The vampire from Twilight is Batman and the director of the last two Planet of the Apes films is on board. The trailers make this look more like a dark Christopher Nolan Batman film, which is a good thing. The one problem is that this is apparently going to feature The Penguin, Catwoman, and The Riddler. Jesus. What, is this four hours long?
2- AVATAR 2: Yes, Avatar 2 is coming out this year, a quick 13 years after the original. The first one came out so long ago I don't even remember if I liked it. I do remember that it made a lot of money mostly because it was in 3-D and everyone had to go to the movies to see the new, cool 3-D technology that everyone was talking about. I'd rather go see True Lies 2 but oh, well. One half of The Flight of the Chonchords is in this so that'll be interesting. This time the film takes place underwater. After so long, I'm just curious why it took 13 years to make this.
3- JURASSIC WORLD: DOMINION: I suppose they can't just keep remaking the original film, although they probably should, as Jurassic Park and Jurassic World are the two best of the series and literally have the same plot. This time the dinosaurs are loose in the real world. I'm not entirely sure how this is a movie, though. Like...do people just live their day to day lives but dinosaurs are around? Or are people all cowering in basements full time? Either way, you can't go wrong with a Jurassic Park flick.
4- FANTASTIC BEASTS: THE SECRETS OF DUMBLEDORE: Yes, we'd all rather be seeing more Harry Potter films, but unfortunately this is all we've got. I adored the first Fantastic Beasts films and didn't enjoy the second so who the fuck knows if this one'll be any good? The trailer makes it look...fantastic. They also replaced wife beater Johnny Depp with Mads Mikelson, which is a win win, although I wonder if they're going to explain why he suddenly looks different.
5- THOR: LOVE & THUNDER: Taiki Waititi is back co-writing and directing this, which is basically the Thor film where a woman, Natalie Portman, becomes Thor. If it's half as entertaining as Waititi's last Thor, this'll be a blast.
6- KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON: This probably won't come out this year, but who knows? It's Martin Scorsese directing and Leonardo DiCaprio starring and it's going straight to Apple+. It's based on a book that was based on a true story of a series of Native American murders in the early 20th century.
7- ASTEROID CITY: This is Wes Anderson's latest, supposedly shot in Spain and starring the usuals along with Tom Hanks and Margot Robbie. While Wes Anderson was at one point my favorite director, his last film, The French Dispatch, was lousy. Hopefully he'll redeem himself.
8- CANTERBURY GLASS: Three Kings will always be David O. Russell's best film, but one can still hope that he has another great one in him. It's strange, but with Silver Linings Playbook and American Hustle back to back in 2012-2013, Russell was like the biggest stud in Hollywood. He hasn't made a movie since 2015's Joy. What the hell has he been doing in 7 years? Seriously...what? Either way, he's back with a film that takes place in the early 20th century and it stars Anya-Taylor Joy, Margot Robbie, and Christian Bale. Unfortunately, plot details are under wraps. Let's also hope this is just a working title.
9- BABYLON: I really enjoyed Whiplash and First Man but I didn't like La La Land. That's kind of odd because I love musicals. Damian Chazelle's latest also takes place in the early 20th century. It stars Brad Pitt. Fuck. Give it all the Oscars, already. It's supposedly about Hollywood changing from the silent era to sound. Sounds thrilling!
10- SPIDER-MAN: ACROSS THE SPIDER-VERSE (PART ONE): I loved the first one of these, the computer animated adventures of Miles Morales. You can tell that superhero movies are king these days as there are like a thousand coming out this year. Dr. Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Black Panther 2, Aquaman 2, Black Adam (starring The Rock), The Flash, also Thor 4, which I mentioned earlier. It says a lot, though, about the quality of these superhero movies when I'm more exciting to see a computer animated one about the B-Spider-Man than most of the others.
