2017 is finally upon us, and while we recover from all of 2016's atrocities we at least have some damn fine films to look forward to in the coming months. Apart from those projects related to The Room that I mentioned in my last post, there are a wide variety of exciting films on the horizon for 2017. From sci-fi films, to superhero films, to long awaited sequels, the new year is already looking out to be another great one for cinema. With so many highly anticipated films within the next 12 months, it was difficult for me to narrow this list down to just 10, but these are the ones that have really got me buzzed for future cinema excursions.
10. Justice League
Now the DC Extended Universe didn't exactly get off to the best start last year, with Batman vs Superman proving to be the most divisive film of 2016 and Suicide Squad just being pure shit. However, there is still hope for Batfleck and co. as 2017 sees another 2 projects for Marvel's potential rival. The first is Patty Jenkins' solo Wonder Woman film that will hopefully see an improvement to the franchise by bringing more focus. The second, and the one that's got me shaking with excitement in my Batman slippers, is Justice League. Seeing the return of Batman (Ben Affleck) and Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot), along with the proper introduction of those heroes glimpsed at in BvS, the film will follow the assembly of the Justice League in order to combat the villainous Steppenwolf (Ciarán Hinds). Personally, I have always favoured the Justice League over The Avengers, I grew up watching the DCAU Justice League tv show and enjoy their characters more. I've been waiting for a live action film about the Justice League for years and now that it's finally on its way I am incredibly excited, but also highly skeptical. Excited because, hey, it's the bloody Justice League! Yet my skepticism stems from the sheer disappointment from the DCEU last year, will Justice League learn from its predecessors mistake? If so, how will it redeem their failures and ultimately save the DCEU for good? We will find out on November 17th when Justice League flies onto our screens.
9. Alien: Covenant
Ridley Scott's 2012 film Prometheus was a bit of a letdown, fans were expecting a quasi-prequel of Alien but instead got a jumbled up mess that was a bit too ambiguous for its own good. Looking to build on the events of Prometheus, Scott returns with a follow up that looks like it will be more in tone with the rest of the Alien franchise. Entitled Alien: Covenant, the film will follow the crew of the colony ship, Covenant, who arrive on a mysterious alien world and meet David (Michael Fassbender), the android from the first film and 'sole survivor' of the Prometheus voyage. The idea of David being the 'sole survivor' of Prometheus is somewhat disappointing as many fans, including myself, hoped to see a continuation of Elizabeth Shaw's (Noomi Rapace) story from the previous film, and while Rapace will supposedly appear in the film, it is unsure as to what capacity. We got the first trailer on Christmas day and ooh boy did it raise the anticipation, from blood, to back-busting(?), to the Xenomorph itself, this film looks as if it will be a more faithful prequel to the original Alien. While certain aspects of the trailer give the impression that this could be just a mere re-hash of the original film, we still can't help but anticipate how this will further link Prometheus to Alien and hopefully answer questions from the former as well. Starring Katherine Waterson, Michael Fassbender and Billy Crudup to name a few, Alien: Covenant is slated to be released on May 19th.
8. Logan
While Wolverine is arguably the most popular character in the X-Men franchise, and Hugh Jackman is flawless in his portrayal of him, any attempt at a solo Wolverine film has been less than stellar. 2009's X-Men Origins: Wolverine was plain awful, and while its 2013 follow up The Wolverine had many redeeming qualities, it fell short on its underwhelming third act. However, it looks as though we are finally getting a Wolverine film that will do the character justice with the upcoming project, Logan. Seeing a return of Hugh Jackman in the titular role, along with Patrick Stewart reprising his role as Charles Xavier, the film will be set years after the events of Days of Future Past and will follow Logan and Xavier as some of the worlds last mutants, as they protect a young mutant girl from sinister forces. The trailer, set to the tune of Johnny Cashes cover of 'Hurt', set up a much more darker tone for this installment and from what we've gathered so far it looks as though not all of our heroes will be making it to the end of this one. It appears to have a very post-apocalyptic vibe, similar to the story arc Old Man Logan from which this will take influence. The films R rating also suggests that will be a much more raw Wolverine film, contrasting its rather toned down predecessors. With Jackman confirming that this will be his last outing as Wolverine, we can be sure that this will be something big, a film that will hopefully remain faithful to the character and act as a touching send-off to Jackman himself. The film will be released on the 3rd of March, so the wait is not long at all.
7. A Cure For Wellness
While horror films naturally tend to take you by surprise throughout the year, examples being last years The Witch, one horror that has caught my attention set to be released this year is Gore Verbinski's A Cure For Wellness. The film is set to follow a young executive (Dane DeHaan) who sets out to investigate the mysterious 'wellness centre', a remote spa where patients are treated for their illness, however not all is as it seems. Verbinski seems to be taking a darker route this time, more in tone with his remake of The Ring than his recent, more family friendly features. The trailer exhibits a very gloomy world and has an almost Lovecraftian vibe about it, with those weird tentacle things slithering over Mia Goth's character, it's looking to be a striking film in its visuals alone. With such wonderful horror films released last year, one can only hope that this years offerings will be of a similar quality and so far, A Cure For Wellness is looking to do just that. Not much has been given away about the film, so far we only know the bare bones plot with little details as to who the characters are and what exactly it is they do. We already know DeHaan will be playing the protagonist, while Jason Isaacs looks as though he will portray one of the staff members of the wellness centre. It's certainly an intriguing project and I look forward to seeing what it has in store, we won't have to wait long to find out as A Cure For Wellness will hit screens on February 17th.
6. Baby Driver
We haven't seen Edgar Wright since he concluded his cornetto trilogy with The World's End back in 2013, however, this year the British director will make a return with his upcoming project, Baby Driver. While not much is known about the film so far, it's set to follow a young getaway driver (Ansel Elgort) who has a run in with some criminals after a robbery goes wrong. The film does sound a lot different from Wright's previous efforts, but we can be sure that he will inject his signature style into this one that has made his previous works so unique. Wright has stated that the protagonist will be a lover of music, listening to different songs during his getaways, so we can be sure that Wright will deliver another spectacular soundtrack in this film as well. Along with that, the film will also boast an extremely talented cast including Kevin Spacey, Jamie Foxx, Jon Hamm, and supposedly Meryl Streep. These big names alone show that Baby Driver will perhaps be Wrights biggest film to date, an extremely exciting concept for fans of his previous films. I'm a huge fan of Edgar Wright and admire that within a small filmography, he has already established his own directorial style that sets his films apart from any other. He is an incredibly talented filmmaker, and accompanied by this incredibly talented cast I can see no reason how Baby Driver could go wrong. We'll have to wait until August 18th to witness Baby Driver, but I can tell it will be worth the wait.
5. John Wick: Chapter 2
The first John Wick was the most pleasant surprise in the world of film in the past few years. A film about an ex-hitman seeking revenge on the men who killed his dog, starring Keanu Reeves of all people, is a concept that sounds like it shouldn't work. However it worked magnificently and proved to be a unique action film that excelled in style, world building, and established a solid role for Keanu. Naturally, due to the films immense success, a sequel is on the way very soon that will see Wick come out of retirement again and heading off to Rome to face off against some of the world's deadliest assassins. Not only was the first film so action packed, it was also full of subtle, yet effective world building that helped to establish the universe of John Wick and the underground world of contract killers. My hopes for the sequel are that it maintains a consistent style with its predecessor while continuing to build upon the world in which it is set, along with that I just want the dog to survive this time. Returning alongside Keanu from the first film are Ian McShane as Winston, the suave owner of the Continental Hotel, Lance Reddick as Charon, the consierge, and John Leguizamo as chop-shop owner Aurelio. Along with that, the film will introduce some new characters such as The Bowler King played by Laurence Fishburne, and Ares played by Ruby Rose. I have high hopes for this one so I'm praying that it won't let me down, we shall find out when John Wick returns to the big screen on February 10th, one month from today.
4. It
Last year I managed to read Stephen King's epic horror novel It in full, and while the book blew me away, it made me like the adaptation a little less. While I loved Tim Curry as Pennywise, the fact that it was so limited by being a tv miniseries meant that it couldn't do the book much justice. Fortunately, this year we will see the first of a two-part adaptation of It that will hopefully remain more faithful to the book. Directed by the man behind Mama, Andrés Muschietti, the film will follow the parts of the book that depict the younger versions of the Loser's Club and their first encounter with the creature known only as 'It'. It will be set in the 1980's as opposed to the 1950's in order to keep in more up to date, and is set to star a number of young actors including Stranger Things star Finn Wolfhard as funny guy Richie Tozier. Taking on the iconic role of Pennywise the dancing clown will be Bill Skarsgard who, from the promotional images, will be just as terrifying as Curry's portrayal all those years ago. Spanish actor Javier Botet has also been cast as The Leper, another one of It's forms, and if you're familiar with the book and Botet's previous work then it looks like Pennywise won't be the only one giving you nightmares. This will be the first film in the two-part adaptation of It which I feel was the right decision, it will give enough time to provide the development and chilling scares present in Stephen King's book. It is set to be released on September 8th, so if you haven't read the book by now that gives you a good 8 months to get through it, trust me you'll need it.
3. Trainspotting 2
The film that defined a generation, the original Trainspotting directed by Danny Boyle and based on Irvine Welsh was a hit and has only grown in popularity since its initial release. This year, this moth even, we will finally get a chance to catch up with Mark Renton (Ewan McGregor) and co. as they embark on another drug-fueled adventure 20 years after the original. Danny Boyle is back in the directors chair for this one while original cast members such as McGregor, Johnny Lee Miller, and Robert Carlyle will reprise their respective roles as well. It will supposedly be loosely based on Welshes own sequel to his book entitled Porno, that sees the lads reunite after 10 years in a story that involves the porn industry. How much of the book will make it into the film is unclear, regardless however, we can raise our hopes high for this long awaited sequel due to the returning cast members and Danny Boyle himself. One of the defining features of the original film was its iconic soundtrack that included songs by the likes of Iggy Pop and Underworld, recently we got a glimpse at the sequels soundtrack which will hopefully be used just as masterfully as in the original. With songs by the likes of Wolf Alice and Ireland's own Rubberbandits to name a few, it looks as though Trainspotting is about to be reintroduced to a new generation. The best thing about this one is that we only have to wait 17 days until it's released, that's just over two weeks! Whether it will live up to the original is unclear as of yet, but I put my trust in Boyle and co. to deliver something solid with this one.
2. Star Wars: Episode VIII
Directed by Rian Johnson, this will be the follow up to 2015's The Force Awakens and will continue the story of Ray (Daisy Ridley) and Finn (John Boyega) after locating long lost Jedi, Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill). Very little is known about this sequel, only that it will pick up directly where The Force Awakens left off and that veteran actors Benicio Del Toro and Laura Dern will join the cast. Other than that, the film is shrouded in secrecy and we have yet to see a trailer or even a subtitle for the upcoming film. I really enjoyed The Force Awakens, while it did bare a lot of resemblance to the original Star Wars, I felt like it was a suitable way to return to that universe, just like how we were introduced to it in the first place. Since then, Star Wars fever has taken the world by storm, issuing in a new generation of fans and reminding us why we love the franchise so much. We were already itching for more Star Wars by the end of The Force Awakens, and while Rogue One managed to provide some relief, we still cannot help but anticipate what episode 8 has in store. The fact that so little is known about the plot makes things even more exciting as we wait in anticipation every day, in the hope that Disney will release even a mere sliver of information on the next installment. There's not much I can say about this seeing as how so little is known about it right now, I'm incredibly excited for it and hungry for more information, but unfortunately we'll have to wait until December 15th to finally see episode 8.
1. Blade Runner 2049
Perhaps the most exciting film of 2017 is the long awaited sequel to Ridley Scott's sci-fi masterpiece, Blade Runner. After recently re-watching the first film, my anticipation grew for this one and with a new trailer released quite recently I can barely contain my excitement. Directed by Denis Villeneuve, the film will take place 30 years after the original and will follow a blade runner known as K (Ryan Gosling) in a quest to find Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford), who went missing soon after the events of the first film. Revisiting the world of Blade Runner will be quite an experience, the dystopian metropolis presented in the original film was a visual marvel so going back there is an exciting concept. The idea of getting to further explore the universe of Blade Runner is one that has enticed fans ever since the original film ended, so finally being able to do so is something definitely worth looking forward to. It will be interesting to see how this world has changed in that 30 year interval, not only that, but how that character of Rick Deckard has changed as well. Joining Ford and Gosling will be the likes of Robin Wright, Dave Bautista and Jared Leto, whose roles have not been revealed as of yet. No sign of Sean Young or Edward James Olmos among the cast, in fact Deckard is the only character from the original confirmed to return. Who knows though, there may be a few surprises in store. With Villeneuve behind the camera and Roger Deakins as cinematographer, the film is sure to be as much of a visual spectacle as the first. Along with that, the cast is full of talented actors and the story has been penned by the originals Hampton Fancher, which ensures that it will be a faithful sequel. We will have to wait until October 6th for Blade Runner 2049, will it live up to the original? Or disappear, like tears in rain?
So that's just a mere taste of what's in store, a mere sliver. We've also got three installments from the people at Marvel (Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 2, Spiderman: Homecoming, and Thor Ragnarok.), the new Mummy film, War of the Planet of the Apes, Kong: Skull Island, and Wonder Woman just to name a few. Those are just the ones we know of so far! In the world of film, 2017 is looking to be a good year.
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