Note: This list purposefully excludes all sequels, reboots, and superhero movies. This does not mean I'm not looking forward to Deadpool, X-Men Apocalypse, Dr. Strange, Bourne 5, Batman v Superman, Suicide Squad, Finding Dory, Independence Day 2, Captain America: Civil War, Ghostbusters, Gambit, Star Trek 3, or Star Wars: Rogue One; this list is just highlighting the littler guys who don't make quite as many headlines but are still sure to be compelling cinema.
12. Midnight Special - March 18
The trailer for this one is... strange, which is the only reason this movie isn't ranked higher. If I didn't know anything about the plot and had just heard that Jeff Nichols (director of Mud and Take Shelter) was making a sci-fi movie starring Michael Shannon, Joel Edgerton, Kirsten Dunst, and Adam Driver, you'd have me. In fact, you do have me. Silly-looking glowing eyes or not, you have me. Plus apparently Nichols has another movie coming out in 2016, but let's just take it one at a time for now.
11. La La Land - July 15
Damien Chazelle is the acclaimed director of Whiplash so his next movie was always going to be on my radar, trailer or no trailer. Based on the intensity of that previous dramatic outing, I was surprised to hear that his upcoming release was going to be a musical-comedy. Color me intrigued. Plus Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone are the best on-screen couple (yeah I said it, Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper) and Whiplash star / Oscar-winner JK Simmons is back for more. It's unclear if he'll be throwing cymbals at people's heads this time around.
10. Kubo and the Two Strings / Moana - August 19 / November 23
I know, I know, ties are lame. But both of these animated films feature an adventure centered around a young person on the high seas, battling epic adversaries in gorgeously realized environments. Kubo is brought to us by Laika, the Portland-based stop-motion animation company that is pretty damn close to batting a thousand; their previous works include Coraline, ParaNorman, and Boxtrolls. Meanwhile, Moana (pronounced Mo-ah-na) is brought to us by Disney animation who has basically no right to be making films of this high quality while Pixar is under the same umbrella corporation. Disney's last few efforts include Wreck-It Ralph, Big Hero 6, and of course the unstoppable juggernaut that is Frozen. Nothing to shake a stick at, so expect big things from these two (as well as an inevitable onslaught of lunchboxes and figurines).
9. A Monster Calls - October 14
Comparisons to The BFG are going to be inevitable when both trailers feature a kid being pulled out of a window by a giant hand- but that is probably where the similarities in these two films stop. This fantasy movie is being directed by one of the most capable people imaginable, the extraordinarily talented Juan Antonio Bayona. Bayona previously directed the technically-dazzling The Impossible as well as one of my favorite horror movies of all time, The Orphanage. His name has been attached to big franchises like Jurassic World and World War Z but in the meantime we'll keep taking the suspenseful and fantastical adventures he's been humbly churning out every few years.
8. Passengers - December 21
[there's literally not a single image for this movie yet]
7. The Nice Guys - May 20
A Shane Black movie is always going to have gangsters and jokesters. Violence and humor. Usually a dash of Christmas. This red-band trailer makes it seem like The Nice Guys is not going to be the one to break the mold- and that's not a bad thing. There aren't enough entertaining and clever writers like Shane Black around, and Ryan Gosling and Russell Crowe look like they're going to make a great pair of reluctant partners. This could be Kiss Kiss Bang Bang round 2, and there's nothing wrong with that.
6. The BFG - July 1
Admittedly, I'm very sad that I'm not the person to bring Roald Dahl's beloved children's classic The BFG to life (I had always planned to make it an animated film in the style of illustrator Quentin Blake). But if somebody else is gonna do it, I'm glad it's Spielberg. People have started to take Spielberg for granted lately, but that's only because his product is so consistently high-quality. Granted, people were a bit divided on Tin Tin but I personally liked it and for this one he's steered clear of the uncanny valley. Remember, this guy brought us ET, Jaws, and the T-Rex from Jurassic Park. A big friendly giant should be no problem.
The Coen brothers are my favorite living directors, so their movies will always find a home at the top of my most-anticipated lists. I cannot think of any other directors who have as firm a grasp on comedy as they do on drama. The same team that created Inside Llewyn Davis, No Country For Old Men, and Blood Simple also created Raising Arizona, The Big Lebowski, and O Brother Where Art Thou?... It's amazing, unheard of, and unrivaled in my opinion. It's been a few years since this duo released a comedy, but they're coming back in a big way with the cast (George Clooney, Josh Brolin, Scarlett Johansson, Frances McDormand, Ralph Fiennes, Tilda Swinton, Channing Tatum, and Jonah Hill, to name a few) of Hail, Caesar! so expectations couldn't really be higher. I'll admit that the dregs of February is an odd-time to release this sort of movie, so lets hope that it's the studio trying to take advantage of a scheduling-hole rather than a sneaky-dump of a film they don't have faith in (btw, Sneaky-Dump- band name, called it). I tend to forgive even the least-beloved Coen bros' efforts, however (anybody remember The Ladykillers?), so this movie would have to be a real hot piece of garbage to not win my affections. Here's hoping that it's up-to-par.
Whew! That's it. I'm sure there are plenty that I forgot and even more that will pop up that I haven't heard of yet.
5. Keanu - April 29
[this movie comes out in 3 months and there are no promotional materials??]
Not much is known about this movie at this point other than it's about a cat who is abducted by a street gang. But really, the plot is secondary- the reason(s) I'm interested in this are its creators, Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele, fresh off the conclusion of their incomprehensibly consistent and hilarious sketch show on Comedy Central. I never thought I'd see a show in this format that would make me laugh as hard as Chappelle's Show, but these two guys managed to pull off that feat. Their brand of humor is the perfect combination of low and high-brow, managing to mix severe social critiques with absurd slapstick and they can do it all seamlessly in one bit. Expectations are high for this one.
4. The Witch - February 26
Horror movie trailers are becoming an event in their own right, with the internet going nuts last year over Goodnight Mommy and it seems that crown is being passed to The Witch (sometimes stylized as The VVitch) in 2016. This movie got nothing but stellar reviews at Sundance last year with people praising the tense atmosphere and total lack of gimmicky jump scares. Now the rest of us plebeians are finally going to get a chance to see it and blast our low-brow criticisms all over the YouTube comment sections.
3. Everybody Wants Some - April 15
I don't know why it took me so long to realize I'm a huge Richard Linklater fan. I've seen Dazed and Confused, School of Rock, Bernie, and I think a few more but it was only after Boyhood last year that I started putting it all together. Boyhood really, really struck a chord with me. I realized Linklater has an unique insight into seemingly mundane, everyday situations in a way that elevates them. The movies are art because everyday life is art, when you look at them/it the right way. I know that sounds highfalutin but I don't know how else to describe the feelings I associate with his movies- I'm sure he could explain it better. Anyways, after seeing Boyhood I binge-watched all three Before Sunrise movies and they made me feel all of the feelings; I've been intending to write an article breakdown on that experience but I don't know if I'm up to the task. Maybe it's better to just sit back and emote naturally instead of dissecting every shot, line, and cut to the point where the feelings die. Ah, the struggles of blogging about film. Anyhoo, Everybody Wants Some is out April 15th- maybe I'll have an answer by then.
2. High-Rise - unspecified
I hate to put a movie on this list that doesn't have a specified release date, because I know how wacky distribution schedules can be and who knows if this movie will even make it out in 2016? That being said, hot damn am I excited for this movie. My friends and I were recently lamenting the lack of notable stylistic auteurs who are up-and-coming in the film world today- where are the Tim Burtons and Terry Gilliams of the 21st century? Ben Wheatley doesn't quiiite fit on the same bill as those two wackos, but he definitely has a strong personal voice that is reflected in every film he has released. Most people I talk to love Kill List, and while I appreciate that movie my favorite of his is definitely Sightseers. So gruesome, so lovely, so strange. His movies feature incredible character actors in totally bizarre situations, and this J. G. Ballard adaptation starring Tom Hiddleston is definitely in that vein. It's hard to figure out what's going on from this trailer, and that's quite alright with me.
1. Hail, Caesar! - February 5
The Coen brothers are my favorite living directors, so their movies will always find a home at the top of my most-anticipated lists. I cannot think of any other directors who have as firm a grasp on comedy as they do on drama. The same team that created Inside Llewyn Davis, No Country For Old Men, and Blood Simple also created Raising Arizona, The Big Lebowski, and O Brother Where Art Thou?... It's amazing, unheard of, and unrivaled in my opinion. It's been a few years since this duo released a comedy, but they're coming back in a big way with the cast (George Clooney, Josh Brolin, Scarlett Johansson, Frances McDormand, Ralph Fiennes, Tilda Swinton, Channing Tatum, and Jonah Hill, to name a few) of Hail, Caesar! so expectations couldn't really be higher. I'll admit that the dregs of February is an odd-time to release this sort of movie, so lets hope that it's the studio trying to take advantage of a scheduling-hole rather than a sneaky-dump of a film they don't have faith in (btw, Sneaky-Dump- band name, called it). I tend to forgive even the least-beloved Coen bros' efforts, however (anybody remember The Ladykillers?), so this movie would have to be a real hot piece of garbage to not win my affections. Here's hoping that it's up-to-par.
Whew! That's it. I'm sure there are plenty that I forgot and even more that will pop up that I haven't heard of yet.
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