Anticipated Films
Top 5 Anticipated Films of 2015
#1: Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Seriously, the trailer may not have shown us much, but this film could actually be the best film of the decade, much like the original Star Wars. Seriously, I can't wait.
#2: Avengers: Age of Ultron
Awesome trailer(s) and Marvel is on a roll. The first The Avengers was pretty amazing and Marvel really has it figured out from my end. I can see myself being disappointed by this movie, but I can't see this movie being bad. The hype is real.
#3: Inside Out
Pixar has created some of the greatest computer-animated movies ever made. Films like Wall-E, The Incredibles, and all of the Toy Story films have all stood the test of time and become some of my favorite films, not even favorite animated films, they're that good. The trailer for this looks pretty good, and it's such an original idea. Please make up for Cars 2 and Brave! Please.
#4: Jurassic World
Trailer looks great, got a great premise (Hybrid dinosaur is the bad guy) and some great people behind the scenes. It's been a while, but Jurassic Park may be back. Let's hope so, for nostalgia's sake.
#5: Spectre
I know some people don't like Daniel Craig as Bond or didn't like Sam Mendes' take on Skyfall but both of those I love. Casino Royale is probably my favorite action film of all time, and Skyfall was incredibly entertaining. This is definitely a film I'm waiting for.
Looking Back at this list...from 2016
On Star Wars: The Force Awakens...
Of all of the movies on my list, this one was the most satisfying. I gave Star Wars: The Force Awakens a 9, which was an 8 from the actual review, resulting from a lot of plotholes, conveniences, and unresolved mysteries. But beyond those, this movie was pretty fantastic. It had a lot of jaw-dropping scenes, a great pace, and created some seriously good characters with clear motivations and layers. Overall, this one did justice to its #1 anticipated film status.
On Avengers: Age of Ultron...
When I look back on 2015, Avengers: Age of Ultron, which I gave a 7, is not what I remember. I've only seen the film once, and though it was fun, it was pretty bloated. There were probably upwards of ten characters it had to juggle around, with four of those ten being completely new characters. As a result, a lot of characters who I would have liked to explore more didn't get the time they needed or even deserved, given the title of this film (yes, Ultron didn't get enough screentime).
On Inside Out...
This film was far better than Pixar's latest efforts, but still isn't what I would call "great". It had a great concept and a lot of great ideas that just didn't get pulled together by the rather lackluster story that goes all over the place. I gave this film an 8 ½, but I think that was generous.
On Jurassic World...
This is the real stinker on the list. Apart from a great final battle, this movie was a complete mess of awful writing, predictability, and lame effects. I gave it a 6 ¾, which would have easily been a 4 or so without the final battle.
On Spectre...
This film didn't disappoint on style, but disappointed on story. There really wasn't a lot going on, plotwise. Christoph Waltz' villain was honestly pretty wasted, because he degenerated into the kind of villain that we thought we saw the last of in the pre-Daniel Craig James Bond movies. I gave it a 7 ¼, which I can stand by. But I wanted another 9 like Skyfall and this just didn't have the substance to pull that off.