Top 10 Anticipated Films of 2016
Anticipated Films
#1 Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
I really enjoyed Star Wars: The Force Awakens and cannot wait to see director Gareth Edwards tackle this one. I love not knowing anything about a movie and can’t wait to see what this movie, the first Star Wars spinoff, has to offer. Intrigue takes this one to the top spot more than anything else.
#2 X-Men: Apocalypse
X-Men: Days of Future Past is my favorite comic book film of all time. Surprising to some, but I've seen pretty much all of them and this is a cut above the rest. So it should come as no surprise that I can't wait to see Bryan Singer's (same director) next film in the franchise. On top of that, Apocalypse is supposed to be one of the greatest X-Men villains of all time, and we really haven’t had an X-Men movie with a true villain in it yet (where all of the X-Men have to fight somebody).
#3 Zootopia
This might surprise people, but it shouldn't because I started this website with reviews for all 54 theatrically released Disney Animation features. So I can truly say that I've seen them all, and can't wait for this one. The trailer was hilarious, and it's a movie I really don't know much about yet. Even though their last few have been only midgrade (Frozen and Big Hero 6), I loved Wreck-it Ralph and Tangled, so here's to hoping. Disney didn’t put out a film last year. Let’s hope it was to make sure this one was a winner.
#4 Deadpool
I’m just excited to see a superhero film that is seemingly one-of-a-kind. Ryan Reynolds (who plays Deadpool) is so excited about this movie that I honestly can’t help but expect it to be good. Solid entertainment is what I expect and, honestly, I could use some. Seriously, refreshing entertainment (Mad Max: Fury Road) was almost my favorite film from last year. This film is probably nothing like that movie, but if it's as entertaining, I'll be more than satisfied.
#5 Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice
For the record, I expect this movie to be bad. But it has the potential to be fantastic. The first trailer for the movie was pretty spectacular, and the more I see of Ben Affleck's Batman, the more I think he'll be amazing in the role. That having been said, I've now seen way too much. This movie looks like it's going to be another bloated mess. It's at the #5 spot on this list out of blind hope. Please be good!
#6 Hail, Caesar!
This is the Coen Brothers' latest film. I've loved so many of their films, and have heard great things about the ones that I haven't seen. This film is pretty clearly a comedy, which is a genre that rarely produces genuinely good films. By that, I mean the movie that stands on its own as a good movie, not just a good comedy. The trailer for this gets better and better every time I watch it, and the cast is stellar.
#7 Doctor Strange
If you haven't noticed yet, this list focuses on movies that either have great potential, or that I've intrigued by. This falls into those categories. Marvel has a lot of safe and/or silly characters. The character of Doctor Strange, from what I know, is neither of those. So this is, to me, something Marvel has never tackled. I like the stars of the film (Benedict Cumberbatch and Chiwetel Ejiofor), but beyond that I know pretty much nothing about it.
#8 Finding Dory
Pixar hasn’t made a great movie since 2010’s Toy Story 3. Monsters University and Inside Out were good (well, Monsters University had a great scene in an otherwise average movie while Inside Out had a great concept and some good ideas that were mixed with an average story) while Cars 2, Brave, and The Good Dinosaur were mediocre at best. Finding Nemo wasn’t even one of my favorite Pixar films, but they always have the potential to make great films and I hope this is one of them.
#9 Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
I don't read a lot of books, but even I've read and loved the Harry Potter series. Likewise, I've really enjoyed the movies (well, most of them). So it should come as no surprise that I'm looking forward to this film, which has a pretty stellar cast of young Brits. It's directed by David Yates, who directed the fifth, sixth, and both parts of the seventh Harry Potter films, all of which are at least decent in my books (though I haven't seen them in a while). So I'm excited for the return to this franchise.
#10 The BFG
This definitely falls more into the "potential" category than anything else. For those who don't know, this is 2016's film by Steven Spielberg, and it's an adventure/horror family film. For me, it brings to mind the Steven Spielberg who made E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial and the underrated Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Once again, it's a movie I know very little about. So I'm pretty excited.
#2 On X-Men: Apocalypse...
Though this film has some redeeming qualities, it is probably the biggest disappointment on this list. The villain was terribly written and the story was confusing. So many characters in this film were misused and the tone was all over the place. Everything in this film is a step down from its predecessor.
#4 On Deadpool...
This film is exactly what I wanted: fun and entertaining. The drama in the film was actually pretty good, and you understood Wade Wilson's character struggle, even if it was silly. It managed to make a story that was actually generic feel like it was being done for the first time.
#6 On Hail, Caesar!...
This film was such a mixed bag. The best parts were the throwbacks to 1950's Hollywood, something captured so much better in a film this year called La La Land. The rest, such as the story itself, was actually quite forgettable.
#8 On Finding Dory...
This film was exactly what I was expecting. It was very cute and nice and harmless, but had a forgettable story and forgettable characters. Maybe that was on purpose? All jokes aside, this film got a higher score from me than it deserved. It was fine, but nothing special on any level other than its animation.
#10 On The BFG...
This film was very enjoyable and featured John Williams' score for 2016, which was fantastic. The visual effects were also really nice, with colorful dreams that darted about. The story was also pretty harmless, though it did have hints of darker themes that I wish were explored. Apart from that, this film delivered and I'm glad I included it on my list of films to see.
#1 On Rogue One: A Star Wars Story...
Although I wouldn't call this film bad, I would call it disappointing and dull. The characters in this film are just very bland and, although I did enjoy this film more on a second viewing, the first half is quite boring, which I should never be able to say about a Star Wars film. Simple things like character motivations were missing that made it difficult to care about this film. Take out John Williams and this film loses a lot of the Star Wars feel.
#3 On Zootopia...
Of all of the films on my anticipated list, this one exceeded my expectations the most. It's easily the best-written film Disney has put out in years, with fantastic characters, real drama, a deeper message that is actually layered, and gorgeous animation. I absolutely love this film and it scores pretty high when I think of films from 2016.
#5 On Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice...
Though there are some enjoyable aspects of this film, it was quite disappointing. Quite a lot of it was just confusing and I'm still not sure what happened in a lot of it.
#7 On Doctor Strange...
I enjoyed this film but probably should have left it off my anticipated list. It suffers from a poor villain, trying too hard to be funny, and a real sense of familiarity.
#9 On Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them...
This was a very enjoyable film that had a little trouble with focus but managed to tie together a lot of characters into a pretty decent story. Add a really good score and you have a film I'm glad I included on this list.