The Year in Movies

I don't remember if I got around to this at the beginning of 2014 or not, but I do like to take a look ahead each year and post my thoughts about the upcoming sci fi, fantasy, horror or martial arts movies that I'm looking forward to, or that are getting talked a lot about. 

First up, in February, is Jupiter Rising.  Now, to be honest, I've not seen the trailers for it, or read much about it, but I've heard from friends that it looks good, or at least interesting.  Military sci fi is something I enjoy so this should be a no-brainer for me.  We'll see if the child care schedule allows me time to go see it, as I'm not sure it's something I'd take my older son (just shy of 7 by the time this comes out) to see.

Unless I'm missing some info, there isn't anything else I'm primed to see coming out in the Spring until Avengers: Age of Ultron (May in the U.S. but I think the Korean premier is scheduled for late April).  This is pretty much the big, gotta see it movie of the year for me (yes, even counting that other major franchise piece coming in December which I'll get to shortly).  And my older son, as well.  He was born just before the first Iron Man movie came out, and pretty much from the time he was old enough to watch movies, he's been watching the MCU.  If Whedon and crew do as excellent a job with Age of Ultron as they did with the first Avengers movie, I'll be in heaven.

Right on the heels of Avengers 2 is Mad Max Fury Road.  This also looks like it's going to be an adrenaline-pumping action extravaganza, and well, I'm in that "prepping for Gamma World" post-apocalypse sort of mood.  The only hang-ups will be that it's so close to Avengers, and that I doubt I'll take my son to see it as it looks too intense for him.  While I'd love to see this on the big screen, I'm afraid I may have to wait for a small screen viewing at my leisure later in the year or sometime next.

In June, B.O.O.: Bureau of Otherworldly Operations looks like a good kid-friendly movie to take my son to (although the plot seems to be heavily reminiscent of RIPD).  However, the big June movie is Jurassic World.  My boy has only seen the first Jurassic Park so far but he enjoyed it.  Maybe I'll find some time to work in JP2 and 3 before this comes out so he'll be up to speed (not that you need to be to enjoy dinosaur rampage movies).

July gives us Terminator: Genisys.  A soft reboot of the franchise, using the built in time-travel/manipulation of time lines theme of the originals to recreate the first movie with a meta-twist?  That's actually a great way to do it, IMO.  Plus it will be fun to see Arnold as the Terminator again after all these years. 

Ant Man is also coming in July.  Not sure on this one.  It's MCU, so I'm sure Flynn and I will go see it.  And they're using the second Ant Man, the thief/electrician rather than Hank Pym, which I guess is because it will make the character more sympathetic.  Hank Pym is a royal ass in the comics, which is why I'd love to see him in the MCU, but maybe it wouldn't fly in the 21st Century with wider audiences.  Not super high on my 'must see' list, but I'll probably try to check it out just to stay up to date on the MCU's "stage three."

Oh, and they're remaking Poltergeist.  I'd rather rewatch the original than waste time on an "update" of this classic.

In August, we have the Fantastic Four movie.  From everything I've heard about this, it's going to be a piece of shit that makes the Jessica Alba/Michael Chiclis/Chris Evans/whoever it was that played Reed FF movies look good (I found them just barely entertaining enough to not feel cheated, but not overly impressed).  This new one is the first movie from a Marvel-related franchise that I'm skipping on purpose since Amazing Spider Man.

Now later in August, will come Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon 2: The Green Destiny.  That's a major must see on my list, but I'm afraid I'll have to wait a bit.  Locally I'm sure it will only play in Chinese with Korean subtitles.  I'll have to wait for an English sub or dub (preferably sub) version.  Bummer.

September, nothing looks like a must-see.  October as well.  The Frankenstein remake with Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) as Igor might be interesting, but I'm guessing that will be a "wait for VOD" type movie for me. 

In November, we have SPECTRE, Daniel Craig's latest Bond flick (his last, I think rumors have it).  I still haven't seen the previous one.  I'm kinda over Bond.  I was big into him in the years just after college.  Now, meh.  Then again, if they're bringing back SPECTRE them I may just want to see it anyway, but again probably not until VOD.

Finally, in December, we get the other "biggie" of the year, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens.  Hell yes I'm going to see this, with Flynn of course.  I'm looking forward to it.  The prequels were crappy, but had a lot of fun elements to them.  I'm not overly fond of J.J. Abrams' Star Trek movies, but hopefully he can do better with Star Wars.  Fingers crossed this will be good, and get Star Wars fever going in a new generation of kids.  And not having invested much mental space in the "expanded universe" of comics, novels, games and what-not, I couldn't care less how much it meshes or not with all of that.  It'll be Star Wars on the big screen again, and I hope it's fun.  It'll be Flynn's first chance to see a Star Wars movie on the big screen as well, so how could I miss it?

There you have it folks.  Movies I'm likely to see this year, and a few I will skip or wait to see.  Lots of sci fi, not much fantasy.  How are your expectations for movies this year?