I did not see many movies in an actual theater in 2018. I’m going to try and rectify that this year by actually going and seeing one movie a month on average. It’s not a resolution or anything, but just something I’d like to do. Consequently, I’ve made a list of twelve movies that as of right now are on my radar as “movies I’d like to see.”
Glass (January 18)
The end of a trilogy no one knew was one until the very end of Split. I loved M. Night Shyamalan’s take on superheroes with Unbreakable. I have yet to see Split, but that’s easily fixable. Putting all these characters together in one film feels like a huge hit for Shyamalan.
Captain Marvel (March 8)
Hot on the heels of Wonder Woman and Avengers: Infinity War, the Marvel Cinematic Universe has a female-led movie. I have not read much of this character, but I am excited for the future of the MCU with her addition. As I understand it, Captain Marvel is going to be a period movie set in the far-flung past of the 1990s. I bet we hear some grunge. I’d bet the farm the post-credits sequence will be the good Captain receiving Nick Fury’s distress call from the end of the Avengers: Infinity War.
Us (March 15)
I made my wife watch Get Out and we couldn’t stop talking about it for days after. We watched the trailer for Us and there was a whole lot of “Nope!” The idea of evil doppelgängers sounds intriguing. I’m not a fan of horror movies, but I’m betting there will be plenty of suspenseful twists.
Avengers: Endgame (April 26)
The culmination of pretty much every Marvel movie, Endgame should have one of those incredible shots with every superhero starting down Thanos. I expect some timey-wimey, quantum realm technobabble solution to fix the snap. Interestingly, I haven’t put much brain power toward how the writers ought to end and go forward with the MCU. I still like the Ultimates idea.
John Wick 3: Parabellum (May 17)
I watched the first John Wick movie at a friend’s house with absolutely zero knowledge of what I was getting into. Two hours or so later I was amazed at the world-building done, body count, stunt work, and dynamic filmmaking. The second one was more of the first and I expect this third one to blow the first two out of the water.
Dark Phoenix (June 7)
The fact that I didn’t remember that X-Men: Days of Future Past was a sequel to X-Men: First Class probably does not bode well for this franchise. I never bothered to watch X-Men: Apocalypse and I gather I didn’t miss much. This is the last gasp of the franchise under the 20th Century Fox banner, so I’m not really expecting much. Sophie Turner probably can’t really open a film even though she’s hellfire on Game of Thrones, so I expect the fun will be watching characters not make it out alive. Mostly, I expect I will be walking out of the theater wondering who they’ll cast in the Marvel Studios version of X-Men likely coming out in the next five to seven years.
Toy Story 4 (June 21)
The Toy Story trilogy works just fine. Three amazing movies with a perfect beginning, middle, and end. A fourth movie isn’t really necessary, but here it is. It feels like a cash grab, but these movies have been so moving and smart that I’m not sure I can believe it. I hope there’s a real story here.
Spider-Man: Far From Home (July 5)
The Marvel-movie-fied Spider-Man finally went back to the character’s roots and provided a rip-roaring good time. The sequel should do more of the same. All I really know is Jake Gyllenhaal is the villain Mysterio and it’s some sort of foreign exchange trip?
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (July 26)
I’ve missed a couple of Quentin Tarantino’s more recent movies. I admire his style and love what he gets out of his actors. As usual, its full of top-tier talent in roles they would never have taken without the Tarantino name attached: Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt, and Margot Robbie lead a cast that includes Lena Dunham, Al Pacino, James Marsden, Damian Lewis, Timothy Olyphant, and Bruce Dern.
The New Mutants (August 2)
This one has bounced around on the release schedule. Is it a superhero movie or a horror movie? I don’t know. It’s got some up-and-coming young stars like Anya Taylor-Joy, Maisie Williams, and Charlie Heaton in it. It feels like a big-screen version of Runaways with a dash of Legion mixed in.
A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood (October 18)
Tom Hanks as Mr. Rogers. Full stop. Hanks has made a huge career of playing extremely famous people from Walt Disney to Sully Sullenberger to Jim Lovell to Ben Bradlee to Santa Clause. This role should be interesting because Santa Clause aside, a lot of people grew up with Fred Rogers and have a good sense of this person, right or wrong, via Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood. I wonder if he can pull it off. SPOILER: of course, he can.
Star Wars: Episode IX (December 20)
Of all the movies listed, this is the one I’m absolutely, positively seeing in the theater. I want it to be the best Star Wars movie ever. I want it to be what Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse was to superhero movies. Give me cool space battles and amazingly choreographed lightsaber battles. Give me some gravitas with the end of Leia Organa. Give me satisfying answers to the questions audiences need answering. Here’s my take on the title and crawl:
Episode IX
THE FINAL COMMAND
THE GALACTIC EMPIRE OF THE FIRST ORDER
rules the galaxy with an iron fist.
Leia Organa Solo is in hiding.
In absence, a small band of freedom fighters
led by General Poe Dameron
continue to fight against
the tyranny of The First Order.
Supreme Leader Kylo Ren,
fearful of other Force users,
has dispatched his dreaded
KNIGHTS OF REN to hunt down
and destroy anyone who has these abilities…
