GregHowley.com

2015 Movies: An Early Look

November 7, 2014 -

I'm headed out to see Interstellar tonight, which was my most-looked forward to movie when I laid out a list last year. It's interesting to look back at that list. I liked Edge of Tomorrow more than I'd thought, loved Guardians of the Galaxy, but I think my expectations for X-Men: Days of Future Past were too high, and I was underwhelmed. I still haven't seen the second Planet of the Apes, which I've heard is good. In any event, I'm hoping that my high expectations for tonight's movie don't end in disappointment.

That said, here are the movies of 2015 that I've got my eye on.

Avengers: Age of Ultron (May 1st)- If you hadn't guessed by all my posts about Marvel movies, I'm really looking forward to this one. Have you seen the extended trailer with the Avengers sitting around Stark Tower drinking and trying to lift Mjollnir? So good. I want to see The Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver. I want to see the Hulkbuster fight. I want to see JARVIS as The Vision. Yeah - my expectations are high, but that's a given seeing that The Avengers was in my mind the best Superhero movie of all time.

Antman (July 17th)- I've been waiting for this one for a while too. It'll be post-Ultron in the Marvel universe, so we can expect the events of Avengers 2 to play a role. Marvel has shown that they can do action/comedy really well, and with Paul Rudd, how can we expect anything else?

Star Wars VII: The Force Awakens (December 18th)- Although I can't list it above the Marvel movies, it's Star Wars. 30 years later, they're really just rolling on the momentum from the original trilogy, because it honestly did have that much momentum. I really want the movie to be good. We'll see, though.

The Martian (November 25th)- What? Already? Awesome! I loved this book, and if you've not read it, I suggest doing so within the next year before the movie comes out. It's simply excellent. Nerdy, but not too much so.

Project Almanac (January 30th)- This is a found footage time-travel movie. It could be good, or it could stink. It's all about how smart the script ends up being.

The Fantastic Four (August 7th)- When Marvel was doing badly, it sold off rights to three of its franchises: The X-Men, Spider-man, and The Fantastic Four. While we often wish we could see Spider-man alongside The Avengers or see Magneto messing with Iron Man, seeing the Human Torch alongside Captain America is something that comes up much less.

The Sony Spider-man movies, although they got the web shooter right, have been largely garbage. I never thought I'd say the Tobey Macguire movies were better. The X-Men movies have been okay. The first couple were great, but they messed up The Phoenix Saga. Days of Future past wasn't so bad. I'm really hoping that the Fantastic Four reboot is great. They won't find an actor better suited to The Thing than Michael Chiklis, but they can do better for Reed Richards. I really hope the actor is old enough to drink - he really needs a little grey in that hair.

Jupiter Ascending (February 6th)- This is apparently The Wachowskis' first big return to original Sci-Fi since The Matrix trilogy. That's the selling point, anyway. I'm not sure whether the movie will be any good. Earth and many other worlds like it have been seeded by aliens who wait for intelligent life to evolve and then use it to create a sort of youth potion that keeps them alive forever. The plot seems to be around Channing Tatum having to protect Mila Kunis, and unsuspecting Earthling. That sounds even worse as I describe it.

Chappie (March 6th)- This is my long-shot. An AI living in a robot. Hugh Jackman and Sigourney Weaver. The movie poster is what's got me intrigued. Kids blocks, happy robot, and... a gun. I suppose I should watch the trailer some time.

There are a lot of other movies that look like total stinkers: Terminator: Genisys, a Point Break remake, and Jem and the Holograms. Remember that old 80s cartoon?

And there's another crop of movies that I'm not particularly excited about, but will probably rent once they're available. Hot Tub Time Machine 2 might be good for a couple LOLs. The San Andreas movie is a disaster pic with The Rock. Jurassic World is a 4th movie in the Jurassic Park series. Taken 3? Why not. The first two were decent. And The Last Witch Hunter with Vin Diesel sounds like a satisfying renter. Lastly, when I saw that the second part of the third hunger games movie was coming out in 2015, I found myself asking if the first part of the third movie had come and gone without me noticing. Checking now, it looks like it's out later this month. Whatever. I read the books, although I stopped reading before I hit the end of the third one. The fact that they've split the worst book into two movies makes me even less excited.

Comments on 2015 Movies: An Early Look
 
Comment Sat, November 8 - 10:07 AM by Ngewo
You going to see Interstellar in IMAX? I am trying to on Sunday.

I pretty much agree with everything, minus Fantastic Four. I just have no faith in this being at all good. Not sure why, maybe my mind will change when I see some trailers for it.

I keep trying to temper my expectations for Star Wars. I feel like it is impossible to ever make a Star Wars film that will capture that magic again. But, I want it to be good. I know when I see the first trailer, I will get chills, I know that it is silly.