As we near the end of 2015, many of us are doing two things;
A.) Getting ready for the debut of ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ and B.)
Beginning to look ahead to next year, 2016, and the many films that will be
hitting theaters over the course of those 365 days. Like any year, there are
quite a variety of new films that will be coming out in 2016. Of course you’ll
have your superhero films (and for the record, no this list won’t be dominated
by those films despite what my obvious love for the genre may suggest) but you
also have some interesting new continuations of classic franchises, including
‘Star Wars’ and ‘Harry Potter’. So today, I’ll be presenting you my Top 10 most
anticipated films of 2016… actually strike that, that’s not enough. For you see
folks, I actually have a much bigger list than that. How about a Top 20 list of
my most anticipated films of 2016? Yes I actually did manage to find at least
20 different films that I’m looking forward to seeing next year. So you know
what that means? That means this will be a two-part post. So today, I’ll be presenting
you films #20-11. In other words, consider these next ten films to be the
‘Honorable Mentions’ to my Top 10, which will be posted tomorrow.
20. RATCHET AND CLANK (April 29)
Starting off these big Top 20 list is… a video-game based
film? Yes as many of us know, the genre of video-game based films has never
really produced anything great since it infamously got underway in 1993 with
the ‘Super Mario Bros’ film. There actually have been some rather decent
efforts from this genre over the years, like ‘Mortal Kombat’ and ‘Prince of
Persia: The Sands of Time’, but for the most part these films end up being
pretty darn terrible, from the infamous follow-up to ‘Mortal Kombat’,
‘Annihilation’, to the many, many stinkers from Uwe Boll. 2016, however, could
potentially be a redemptive year for the genre as there are quite a few upcoming
video-game based films that could end up being rather good. While most of the
attention will be going to films like Duncan Jones’ ‘Warcraft’ (which is not on
the list only because I’m not too familiar with the franchise, though I do plan
on seeing it) and another film that will be appear later on in this list, there
is another film that will come out before either of those films; ‘Ratchet and
Clank’. This animated film will be based off of the hit sci-fi action
platformer series of the same name by Insomniac Games. The film is being
produced by Rainmaker Entertainment, the company responsible for the first ever
CGI animated series, ‘ReBoot’, who will also be making a film based on the ‘Sly
Cooper’ series that may or may not come out in 2016 as well. I’ll admit I
haven’t played a lot of the ‘Ratchet and Clank’ games aside from the first one
but the trailer makes the film look like a rather fun family-friendly sci-fi
adventure.
19. ALICE THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS (May 27)
Here’s another potentially controversial entry, namely
because it’s a sequel to a rather unpopular film that somehow managed to gross
$1 billion when it was released back in March 2010. I’ll admit that I’m still
amazed as to how Tim Burton’s 2010 ‘sequel’ to ‘Alice in Wonderland’ managed to
join the billion dollar club despite attracting a generally mixed reaction from
both critics and audiences. It’s been a while since I’ve seen the film and I
recall that I somewhat liked it though ultimately I ended up liking future
Disney big-budget fantasy films like ‘Oz the Great and Powerful’ and
‘Cinderella’ more. But even with that in mind, I’m willing to give it a re-watch
because I’m genuinely interested in the sequel that will be coming out next
year. I’m interested in seeing how the filmmakers will be expanding the world
of Wonderland (ah-hem, sorry Underland my mistake), particularly through the
introduction of Time, both figuratively and literally as the main villain
(Sasha Baron Cohen). Ultimately though the key reason why I’m optimistic about
this film is because it’s actually being done by a different director this
time. While Tim Burton is still attached as a producer, this new ‘Alice’ film
will be directed by James Bobin. And while Burton’s recent films have been
getting a lot of flak from film fans, Bobin’s recent track record is much more
appealing given his work on the last two ‘Muppets’ films. I mean at the end of
the day this may just turn out the same way as its predecessor but who knows?
18. BOURNE 5 (July 29)
From 2002 to 2007, Matt Damon kept audiences on the edge of
their seats as the amnesiac former CIA operative Jason Bourne. The Bourne
trilogy was a solid hit for Universal and each of the three films were highly
entertaining and engrossing fast-paced spy thrillers highlighted by a terrific
lead performance by Damon. Contrary to popular opinion, my favorite film of the
trilogy was actually the first film, 2002’s ‘The Bourne Identity’, directed by
Doug Liman. The two sequels by Paul Greengrass, 2004’s ‘The Bourne Supremacy’
and 2007’s ‘The Bourne Ultimatum’, were really good as well (heck I’d even
argue that ‘Ultimatum’ is the best of the series) but I wasn’t too big on
Greengrass’ shaky cam style that was used during the action sequences. The
series then continued under a new direction in 2012 with a ‘spin-off’, ‘The
Bourne Legacy’, which focused on a new character, Aaron Cross (Jeremy Renner),
but took place in the same timeline as the Damon trilogy. Ultimately though,
‘Legacy’ didn’t fare as well as the previous trilogy both critically and
commercially and I’ll admit that I too was rather ‘meh’ on it. But 2016 could
mark a return to form for the series in the form of a fifth Bourne film. Why?
Because it marks the return of both Damon and Greengrass to the franchise after
it seemed like they were done after ‘Ultimatum’. It’s unclear at this moment if
this film will be based off of one of the ‘Bourne’ novels by Robert Ludlum but
it will definitely be interesting to see these two return to their iconic
franchise.
17. BATMAN V. SUPERMAN: DAWN OF JUSTICE (March 25)
If you’ve been following this blog for a while, you know
that I’ve been rather critical about this follow-up to 2013’s ‘Man of Steel’, a
film that I’ll admit I’ve become more critical towards as well recently due to
its rather unwarranted dour tone. My reasons for this have ranged from the film
being set to introduce numerous new characters at once like Wonder Woman,
Aquaman, and the new Batman to the alleged ‘no joke’ mandate by Warner Bros
that is apparently supposed to differentiate the developing DC ‘Extended
Universe’ from the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Now let me make something very
clear… I’m not against darker superhero stories. I’m a huge fan of both
Christopher Nolan’s ‘Dark Knight’ trilogy and Marvel’s second and much more
successful take on ‘Daredevil’ with the Netflix series. What I am against are
darker superhero stories for characters that aren’t like that at all. One of
the prime examples of this was, as noted earlier, ‘Man of Steel’. While I do
commend the filmmakers for crafting a genuinely new take on the character of
Superman, the film’s very dour tone and atmosphere really goes against the
hopeful and heroic nature of the character. If you want to see what a more
fitting modern take on Superman should’ve been like, go check out the new show
‘Supergirl’… it’s far superior. But as for the films, it seems like DC is
trying to do a much more serious take on their heroes and quite frankly I don’t
see why this is a good idea.
And of course there’s also the fact that this film will be
introducing several new main characters to the series… even though this film
was originally meant to be a sequel to ‘Man of Steel’. And don’t try and tell
me that they weren’t actually going to do another solo ‘Superman’ film. I
distinctly remember Zack Snyder once said something about doing another
‘Superman’ film first before getting into anything ‘Justice League’ related.
And yet here we are now and ‘Batman v. Superman’ is looking more and more like
a ‘Justice League’ film. So yeah, suffice it to say I’ve been rather concerned
about this film and the first trailer didn’t do much to change my mind. But
then came the Comic-Con trailer and I’ll admit… I was much more positive
towards it. I finally got a real sense of the epic scale of the story and I’m
glad that the filmmakers are addressing some of the more controversial points
of ‘Man of Steel’, namely all of the ‘collateral damage’ that Superman caused
during his fight with Zod in Metropolis. With that said, though, the things
that make me very hesitant about this film are still around. To be clear,
despite my obvious adoration/preference for Marvel, I don’t want this film and
the DC Cinematic Universe to fail. I do want to see a ‘Justice League’ film but
I’m just worried DC is rushing things just so that they can catch up with
Marvel, who at this point has already gotten out two ‘Avengers’ films. I’m
hoping for the best, folks.
16. SUICIDE SQUAD (August 5)
Though if we’re talking DC’s 2016 slate, the more
interesting of the two would have to be their August release, ‘Suicide Squad’.
The big reason for this being that this is slated to be the first major comic
book film to focus on a group of villains. Admittedly that does put some
pressure on this film because it has to make us like a group of bad guys but it
does look like this film is shaping up to be a very insane entry in the
superhero genre that, given director David Ayer’s previous work, seems like
it’s going to be a more mature R-rated comic book film. Granted, we don’t have
much to go off of yet other than a trailer that was released publicly just
because it got leaked online during Comic-Con weekend but this film definitely
has a lot more edge to it compared to other films of the genre. As for the
film’s big ensemble cast, I think it’s safe to say that the two biggest selling
points are the live-action debuts of Harley Quinn and the new Joker and I also
think that we can all agree that Margot Robbie is perfectly cast as Harley and
will no doubt be the film’s biggest scene-stealer. As for the Joker, Jared Leto
will be the first to follow in the footsteps of Heath Ledger’s critically
acclaimed take on the character. His new look has attracted quite a bit of
controversy amongst comic book fans but it does look like Leto is genuinely
going to embrace the psychotic side of the character, even more so than Ledger
did in ‘The Dark Knight’. So while I’m still very much a Marvel fan, I’m
definitely interested in seeing how this particular comic book film turns out.
15. MOANA (November 23)
Just like how Pixar had two releases this year, Disney
Animation’s got a double feature of new films slated to come out in 2016. The
first of these films you’ll see in part 2 of this post as part of my Top 10
while the second film, slated for release in November, takes the Number 15 spot
on this list; Moana. Directed by the duo of Ron Clements and John Musker, who
have produced numerous hits for the studio including Renaissance era favorites
‘The Little Mermaid’ and ‘Aladdin’ and, more recently, ‘The Princess and the
Frog’, ‘Moana’, the first computer animated film the duo have made, looks like
it’s bound to be another big hit for Disney Animation in their second
Renaissance era with its unique South Pacific based story and imagery. Plus
it’s got the Rock himself, Dwayne Johnson, voicing one of the main characters;
an actual demi-god. As I just stated earlier, Disney Animation has been on a
great run in recent years thanks to films like ‘Frozen’, ‘Wreck-it Ralph’,
‘Tangled’, and ‘Big Hero 6’ so I think it’s safe to say that we can expect a
pair of quality animated films next year from the House of Mouse.
14. ASSASSIN’S CREED (December 21)
And now we come to the previously mentioned big-name
video-game based film that could potentially break the curse of the genre; ‘Assassin’s
Creed’. As noted earlier, ‘Warcraft’ is technically going to be the first big
test of this genre in 2016 but because I’ve never played that game, I’m more
interested in the film adaptation of Ubisoft’s ‘Assassin’s Creed’ franchise.
I’ve been playing quite a few of the games recently (the Xbox 360 era games to
be exact) and have become a fan of the franchise so I’m interested in seeing
how this new film turns out, which will wisely decide to take on a new story
that is still set in the world of the games. The biggest selling point of the
film is easily the casting of Michael Fassbender in the lead role. Fassbender,
along with co-star Marion Cotillard, reunite with director Justin Kurzel, after
the trio had worked together on this year’s critically acclaimed take on
‘Macbeth’. So with those credentials, along with the addition of other great
actors like Jeremy Irons and Brendan Gleeson to the cast, it looks like this
film could be a really awesome end-of-the-year release (it is slated to be
released on December 21st, 2016) and one of the first ‘great’
video-game based films.
13. GHOSTBUSTERS (July 15)
You ever have the feeling of wanting a film to succeed just
to shut up all of the cynics who bashed it for whatever reason? This is
definitely one of those films. Pretty much since it was first announced, this
new take on the ‘Ghostbusters’ franchise has been subject to much scrutiny on
the internet. And unfortunately, it has primarily stemmed from the fact that
the film will be focusing on a female-led group of Ghostbusters. So yes, one of
the main reasons why I am looking forward to this film is that I hope it will
shut all of the sexist haters up. But at the same time, I genuinely think that
this could be really good. It’s being directed by Paul Feig, who has a really
solid track record in recent years with films like ‘Bridesmaids’ and this
year’s ‘Spy’. Both films also showcase that he and star Melissa McCarthy are
definitely at their best when working together. McCarthy stars alongside
another Feig veteran, Kristen Wiig, as well as current SNL stars Kate McKinnon
and Leslie Jones and the film will feature cameos from Bill Murray, Dan
Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson, and Sigourney Weaver so at the very least this feels
like it will be very much connected to the ‘Ghostbusters’ franchise. Again, at
the end of the day, I’m rooting for this film to succeed just so that it will
prove its biggest critics wrong.
12. FINDING DORY (June 17)
If you ask me, it isn’t a complete year of film without a
Pixar release (see 2014 for proof of that) and this year, their new film will
be a sequel to 2003’s ‘Finding Nemo’, ‘Finding Dory’… calm down sequel haters,
they got that Day of the Dead film coming in 2017... Relax! Director Andrew
Stanton returns for this new film along with Ellen DeGeneres, Albert Brooks,
and a few other characters from the first film. Thankfully this new film isn’t
looking like a simple ‘rehash’ of the first film as I initially feared. Instead
it sees Dory heading out on a journey to reunite with her parents. New
additions to the cast include Diane Keaton and Eugene Levy as Dory’s parents
and ‘Modern Family’ stars Ty Burrell and Ed O’Neill. Though of course, I think
most of us can agree that the real star of the show is Ellen. She was the most
memorable part about ‘Finding Nemo’ and I’m confident that her very lovable
personality will once again carry this film. As I pointed out earlier,
obviously there are quite a lot of people who aren’t too happy with Pixar’s
decision to do sequels to some of their original films, namely after ‘Cars 2’
became the first Pixar film to attract a generally negative response from both
critics and fans of Pixar. But this is one Pixar fan who feels that Pixar had
never really lost their way; they’ve only had a few misfires. And unless proven
wrong, I believe that this will be a solid follow-up to one of Pixar’s most
classic films.
11. 13 HOURS: THE SECRET SOLDIERS OF BENGHAZI (January 15)
Ok now this is one that I’m pretty certain hardcore cinephiles
are going to grill me for because A.) It’s a January release and B.) It’s a
Michael Bay film. In the eyes of those cinephiles, neither have produced
anything great. But if you’ve been following me for a while you know that I’m
an unapologetic fan of most of Bay’s work (save for ‘Bad Boys II’, the one that
ironically people actually do like), even some of the more derided ones like
the ‘Transformers’ sequels and ‘Pearl Harbor’. Obviously the latter film might
make some people hesitant about him taking on another true story, in this case
the 2012 attack on the American diplomatic compound in Benghazi, but this time
around the film was written by the writer of ‘Prince of Thieves’, which spawned
Ben Affleck’s film ‘The Town’. Even as a fan of ‘Pearl Harbor’, I agree that
the big issue with that film was the decision to focus on a group of fictional
characters and their romance instead of the people who were actually involved
in the event. This time around, however, it looks like they are focusing on the
real people who were there. Plus, the cast is led by John Krasinski in a very
much against-type role and standout character actor James Badge Dale. This
could be the 2016 equivalent of ‘American Sniper’, another film that was
released nationwide in January… or it could be another dumb and loud Michael
Bay film. But at the very least, I’m confident that it’ll least be
entertaining. I can always expect that from the master of Bayhem.
CHECK BACK TOMORROW
FOR PART 2 OF THIS TOP 20 LIST OF MY MOST ANTICIPATED FILMS OF 2016 IN WHICH
I’LL BE LISTING MY TOP 10.
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