Last year I wrote out every single movie I wanted to see this year at GeekOut.ph. Despite my best efforts, I've only been able to see some of the films I posted about on that article. Some were moved to later release dates (Jupiter Ascending and Tomorrowland), others were put on the back burner after some pretty awful reviews (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Transcendence), but I was able to see a good number of them in the theater, which is where movies should be watched.
2014 turned out to be a pretty fantastic year for movie lovers. Even if some of the worst films I've ever experienced came out this year (yes, I'm looking at you, Transformers: Age of Extinction and The Amazing Spider-Man 2), some of the absolute best have also been fielded. Captain America: Winter Soldier and Guardians of the Galaxy immediately come to mind, but we also saw Edge of Tomorrow, How to Train Your Dragon 2, The Lego Movie, Big Hero 6, and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes.
Now that the new year is coming up fast, I'm excited to find out what 2015 has in store for cinephiles. So in no particular order, while the Metro Manila Film Festival is clogging up cinemas with (mostly) garbage, let's look at what's coming up.
CHAPPIE
Neill Blomkamp's follow up to 2013's Elysium stars Hugh Jackman, Sigourney Weaver, and of course, Sharlto Copley. Chappie sounds like a sequel to the classic Short Circuit (1986) and tells the story of a robot who learns about life from a couple of criminals who find him at his inception.
Frankly, I love what Blomkamp's already done, so it's unlikely that this will be in my crap pile at the end of the year. Chappie opens in March.
IN THE HEART OF THE SEA
It's been awhile since I saw a Ron Howard film and I love anything with Cillian Murphy or Chris Hemsworth in it. In the Heart of the Sea is based on an account of a 19th Century whaling vessel being stalked at sea by a great sperm whale. It was this incident that inspired Moby Dick.
19th Century maritime movies are films that I find very interesting and I'm looking forward to seeing what Hemsworth does when he's not in the Thor costume. It's opening in theaters March 12th.
KNIGHT OF CUPS
Terrence Malick's new film starring Christian Bale, Natalie Portman, and Cate Blanchett among other great actors. There's not much I know about the plot, but watching the trailer for the movie, I can't help but be totally absorbed into it.
Can't wait to see this on the big screen.
STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS
There's really not much to say here. After the utter disappointment that came with the prequel trilogy, I can't help but be stoked for this release. That moment when the theme music comes up and the Millennium Falcon jets up into the sky...
I can't believe we've got to wait until December 18th for this.
SPECTRE
SPecial Executive for Counter-intelligence, Terrorism, Revenge and Extortion is a global terrorist organization created by novelist Ian Fleming to be a foil to his super special agent 007, James Bond. Filming this year and set for release in early November, the 24th film in the series looks to be a good one with both Daniel Craig and Sam Mendes coming back after the awesome Skyfall.
The cast this time around includes Christoph Waltz, Monica Bellucci, Dave Bautista, Ralph Fiennes, and Léa Seydoux. Along with Mendes, that's enough for me to buy into this completely.
THE MARTIAN
Based on Andy Weir's self-published book from 2012, the film is the story about astronaut Mark Watney who is stranded on Mars after his team mistakenly leaves him for dead after a catastrophe. He has to survive on the alien planet despite air, food, and water being in short supply as he waits for the next scheduled mission to arrive in 4 years.
Matt Damon, Jessica Chastain, and several other great actors are included in the cast, and word is that Sir Ridley Scott is attached to direct. We haven't had much luck with Mars movies in the past decade or so, but if any of them have a shot at greatness, it's this one.
Here's a look a the book trailer:
JURASSIC WORLD
If you haven't already seen the trailer, do yourself a favor and take a look at it below. Sure it's cheesy as fuck, but goddamn, did you see the shark get chomped?
Look, I've liked all 3 of the Jurassic Park movies. You put dinosaurs in almost anything, and I'll probably like it. Every series that comes out about dinosaurs shoots right up to the top of my list of must watched TV. This has dinosaurs. And Bryce Dallas Howard. And Chris Pratt. And Chris Pratt on a motorcycle with a pack of velociraptors.
THE WALK
I am terrified of heights. I get weak in the knees just looking over a balcony in the mall. This movie is about Philippe Petit (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), a tight rope walker who dreams of walking across the gap between the two World Trade Center towers in New York.
The film is directed by Robert Zemeckis who consistently puts out quality entertainment, and it's being presented in 3D which freaks me out just thinking about it.
I can't wait.
THE HATEFUL EIGHT
Quentin Tarantino, Samuel L. Jackson, Tim Roth and Kurt Russell. That's awesome.
If you've never seen Django Unchained then you definitely should put that on your list.The Hateful Eight continues Tarantions love affair with spaghetti westerns (ok, Django wasn't technically a western...). After a leak of the script a while back, Tarantino lost his shit and said that he would no longer be making the movie. He eventually changed his mind and now it's finally going to happen!
MAD MAX: FURY ROAD
Oh my god. Did you see this trailer after the Comic Con? Holy shit.
Really all you need to do is to watch the new official trailer to see why I'm excited by this film, but if you need more, it's directed by George Miller, the dude who created this particular post-apocalyptic world back in 1979, It's been nearly 30 years since the last Mad Max movie, and that film was pretty silly. This looks nothing like silly.
With a cast that includes Tom Hardy, Charlize Theron, Nicholas Hoult, and Zoë Kravitz I think it'll rock. Expect it to hit theaters in May.
MISSION IMPOSSIBLE 5
Man, December 2015 is going to be crowded.
Tom Cruise and Jack Reacher director Christopher McQuarrie team up again to bring your favorite NOC agents from Brad Bird's installment, Ghost Protocol. I honestly don't know if this will be as great as Bird's 2011 film, but maybe this is his chance to move up.
It helps that Abrams is still onboard as producer, and that Paula Patton, Jeremy Renner, and Simon Pegg are all coming back.
PIXELS
80's arcade games, alien invasions, and Peter Dinklage in a mullet.
'Nuff said.
KINGSMAN: THE SECRET SERVICE
There are so many big comic properties coming to the big screen these days that it's easy to over look ones like these. Based on the comics by Mark Millar and Dave Gibbons, the film is about a super-spy (Colin Firth) recruiting a young man (Taron Egerton) into the fold.
With a cast including Michael Gaine, Sam Jackson, and Mark Hamill, and directed by Matthew Vaughn, it's hard to see how this one can go wrong.
PAN
I was floored when I first saw this trailer. Peter Pan is one of my favorite stories, and this new take on it looks amazing.Hugh Jackman looks almost unrecognizable as Blackbeard and Rooney Mara looks awesome.
I've got no idea how well my fascination with the trailer will translate when I see the film in it's entirety, but that's half of the fun!
FANTASTIC FOUR
I'll admit that I'm mostly listing this here because I just NEED to see if this adaptation can possibly be as bad as the filmmakers, actors, and marketing team have made it out to be. They have been releasing one awful announcement after the other. First was the fact that the Storm siblings would be related by adoption rather than by blood, then that Reed Richards would be a troubled teen instead of an accomplished scientist, then that Doom would be a whiny blogger who accidentally stumbles into his powers by accident.
Despite the casts protestations that they are proud of the work they did while filming, it's hard to see how this can really go right when every thing coming out since we first heard about it has been so wrong.
Still, I can't help but think that it can't be worse than Sony's The Amazing Spider-Man 2, and definitely not as bad as this:
TERMINATOR GENISYS
Putting aside the ridiculously misspelled subtitle, those truly awful marketing shots in Entertainment Weekly, and the reveal of the plot details, the trailer for this new installment in the franchise has gotten me interested. It doesn't look like it's aiming for Terminator 2: Judgement Day awesome, but it looks like genuinely stupid fun.
TOMORROWLAND
Don't know much about this one, but Brad Bird really proved that he could bridge over from animation to live action with Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol. Knowing how well this guy can do adventure and drama from his animation work, I can't wait to see what he does with this film about a jaded scientist and a curious teen pairing up to find Tomorrowland.
The trailer is nothing but tease, but my beak has been wet and I'm raring to see more!
ANT-MAN
I was one of those people that was really interested to see what Edgar Wright was going to do with Ant-Man, but just because he's off the director's chair doesn't mean I'm no longer going to watch this. While I may not be a big Ant-Man fan, Paul Rudd is a likable actor in the films I've seen him in, and with Michael Douglas and Evangeline Lilly playing opposite him, this should be at least watchable.
MINIONS
Have you seen either of the Despicable Me films?
This is a story all about how the minions found Gru. It's a prequel staring Kevin, Stuart, and Bob from the first two films. Looking at the trailer, it looks to be more of the same, which is perfectly fine with me.
BLACK HAT
Another Chris Hemsworth project that's not Thor is coming up in 2015 and it's about high-level cybercrime. Aside from Mr. Hemsworth, this film is directed by the guy who did Heat and Collateral, both awesome movies everyone should see. Michael Mann makes awesome crime movies and this looks like something right up his alley.
While I'm not sure how close the Hollywood hackers are to the "real" thing, I'm sure that this will be entertaining.
INSIDE OUT
Pixar's track record speaks for itself. I don't recall ever seeing a film from this studio that was anything short of watchable. Even the worst if them are still on my must own list. Inside Out looks to be another winner.
This particular film is about Riley, a little girl whose family has just been moved to San Francisco due to her dad's new job. Riley's emotions inside her head (voiced by the Amy Poehler, Bill Hader, Lewis Black, Mindy Kaling, and Phyllis Smith) try to sort our her feelings on the matter. It sounds weird, but Pixar can do weird.
SAN ANDREAS
Been awhile since we had a good disaster movie in theaters. The last one that I recall is 2012's 2012, which was pretty terrible. This year we're getting another one from director Brad Peyton called San Andreas.
I am really not sure about this one, since the only thing this guy's done is Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore. Still the supporting cast looks to be pretty solid for an action film (Kylie Minogue, Carla Gugino, Alexandra Daddario, and Paul Giamatti), and Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson has proven to be a pretty good lead.
EX MACHINA
Opening in January, Ex Machina is an interesting new science fiction movie about a young prodigy who wins a golden ticket to spend time with his company's CEO and participate in an experiment in artificial intelligence and perception of consciousness.
The film is written and directed by Alex Garland who wrote Sunshine, one of my favorite movies of all time. Looking at this trailer, this thing looks like something just as thought-provoking.
CRIMSON PEAK
Guillermo del Toro is back doing gothic horror and it is fantastic!
The story of Crimson Peak is that of author Edith Cushing finding out that her husband is not exactly as she expected. It stars Mia Wasikowska, Tom Hiddleston, Charlie Hunnam, and Jessica Chastain. The director's described it as a "classical gothic romance ghost story", which totally pushes all my buttons.
And last but not least...
AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON
Do I really need to explain why I am so excited by this?
I'm sure that you've each seen at least one of the films that Marvel Entertainment has fielded since Iron Man first arrived in theaters. If you haven't seen the first Avengers movie, then I honestly feels sorry for you. It is the benchmark for ALL comic book movies and this is the sequel to that.
It has all of the great stuff that the first one had (the cast is back, Whedon is still directing, and all the awesome movies that have come out since their first outing), but now it's got that fantastic James Spader Ultron voice, Quicksilver and Scarlett Witch, and the motherfucking HULKBUSTER! With Agents of SHIELD upping the ante with the whole Inhumans thing, I can't wait to find out what they're building up to, how it's all going to pan out, and what the ramifications are for the mega-franchise as a whole.
Is there a chance this could suck?
Sure, but it's about the same chance of me walking out of my door tomorrow morning to the sight of snow in the Philippines.
So that's what I'm looking forward to watching in 2015. Here's hoping that next year turns out equally good as this one has.
What are you guys planning on seeing?
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