The Movies of 2016
January 7, 2016 - Movies
It's time for that yearly look forward at what we've got coming in 2016. I've got to plan my movie-going experiences well, as I might only be able to get out of the house for 4-5 movies over the course of a year.
What I look back at my post on 2015 movies over a year ago, it's interesting to see where I was right and where I was way off. My cautious optimism for Star Wars was rewarded, but not so much for Jupiter Ascending, Fantastic Four, or Project Almanac. And I'd pegged Jurassic World and Terminator: Genisys as total stinkers, which they were not. (although the upgrade Arnold got at the end of T:G was total garbage, and I expect any further sequels with him to suffer as a result)
As for 2016, here are my picks, in order:
5/6: Captain America: Civil War The first Cap movie was good, and the second one great. This one is going to introduce the new Marvel Spider-Man and Black Panther, and possibly include cameos from Matt Murdock, Luke Cage, and Jessica Jones from the Netflix series. Yes, please. (trailer)
11/4: Doctor Strange I know so little about the character of Doctor Strange. But somehow, it's my second most looked forward to film of the year. I suppose a new Marvel character with an actor I like is the reason.
12/16: Rogue One A Star Wars one-off. After seeing what Disney can do with the license, I'm hopeful.
Rogue One is set between the films Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith and Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope, during the Age of the Empire. The film revolves around a group of resistance fighters who unite to steal the plans to the Death Star, the Galactic Empire's deep space mobile battle station that is capable of destroying entire planets. The theft of the plans was first referenced in the opening crawl of A New Hope, which described the event as the Rebel Alliance's "first victory against the evil Galactic Empire." The crawl further states that, "During the battle, Rebel spies managed to steal secret plans" to the Death Star. The opening scenes of A New Hope deal with that battle's aftermath, with Princess Leia Organa of Alderaan fleeing from the Empire with the plans in order to deliver them to the Rebel Alliance. The Death Star is ultimately destroyed in A New Hope after the princess and her companions—Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Chewbacca, and the droids R2-D2 and C-3PO—deliver the plans to the Rebellion and a weakness in the station is discovered.
Unlike the previous live-action films, Rogue One does not revolve around the Jedi. Rather, the film is about a group of people who do not have the ability to use the Force and have to find a way to bring hope to a galaxy ruled by the Empire. Also unlike the original trilogy, which provided a black and white view of good and evil, Edwards stated at Celebration Anaheim that Rogue One "is gray" and that the film could be described as "Real...This is a real place that we're really in..."
2/12: Zoolander 2 The first time I saw Zoolander, I thought it was horrible. But somehow by the tenth time I'd seen it, I loved it. A sequel? Might not be any better than Anchorman 2 was, but somehow I'm looking forward to it even more. (trailer)
5/27: X-Men: Apocalypse The latest X-Men movie, Days of Future Past, was the best I've seen out of the X-Men franchise in a while. It seems too much to hope that this movie will be as good, but I'm certainly hopeful.(trailer)
7/15: Ghostbusters This remake has quite a bit of hype, and has quite a lot to live up to. The original Ghostbusters had an amazing cast and holds well up even after thirty years. The all-female cast of the remake seems like more than just a gimmick. All-in-all, I really want it to be good. But who knows?
6/24: Independence Day: Resurgence I'll admit it: I'm a sucker for alien invasion movies and destruction-of-civilization movies in general. As I noted when I last reported on the movie, it's got Jeff Goldblum and Brent Spiner. Now here's the interesting thing: when I mentioned this to my wife, she reminded me that Brent Spiner's character had died in the first film. Hmm. My immediate thought was... flashback? But no. Those aliens had mental connections. And they got inside Spiner's character's head. So he's likely to make a comeback as an alien-controlled character. Perhaps a figurehead or speaker for the alien race. All I know is that the movie will be better for having Brent Spiner in it.
10/7: Gambit It would be so easy to mess this one up. Gambit's character could so easily be a Jar Jar. I really hope it's done well.
11/18: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them This movie is interesting because it wasn't on my radar. It's a JK Rowling film in the Harry Potterverse. I'll have to check out reviews to see whether it's worth watching, but I'm intrigued.
7/29: The Space Between Us No, not the Dave Matthews song.
The story begins with a billionaire entrepreneur's mission to colonize Mars, which results in a female astronaut becoming pregnant on the planet. The astronaut died during childbirth, but her infant son was raised in secrecy on Mars. 16 years later, after returning to Earth, the teenage boy (Asa Butterfield) enlists the help of a mission specialist and connects with a young woman he has been communicating with. They both set off on a road trip across America to find the father he never knew.
This isn't likely to be an effects-heavy adventure. It could be hit or miss, but I'll check it out.
2/12: Deadpool This movie has potential, but I'll be spending my February movie time seeing Zoolander 2. Sorry, Deadpool! (trailer)
8/5: Suicide Squad As with all things DC, I expect garbage from this movie. Maybe I'll be wrong. I really hope I'm wrong.
6/17: Finding Dory Likely Pixar's big movie this year. We'll most likely take my daughter, who'll be nine years old by the time it's out. (trailer)
2/5: Pride & Prejudice & Zombies Maybe a long-shot, but I heard the book was good. Still, you know how those book-to-movie adaptations tend to go.
3/25: Batman v Superman The most likely outcome is that this will be complete garbage.