April

Marvel/Disney probably thinks it has April on lock down with its Avenger's Endgame release, but there are other interesting movies coming out this month.

When DC started with their film franchise they wanted to distance themselves from Marvel as much as possible. Not just in content but in tone. Marvel films were lighthearted and funny, so DC was going to do dark and serious. Problem is they went too dark and the bleakness of Batman v Superman, a massive tent pole for their franchise, was not getting the rave reviews they hoped for. So, to appease the masses, they tried to inject a bit of humor in their next couple films, but Suicide Squad and Justice League just didn't come together. Then Wonder Woman and Aquaman came out. They were fun, colorful, adventurous, the humor worked and they were very personal stories and avoided the now Marvel movie custom of being a puzzle piece in a much bigger story - which DC had tried earlier and it did not work out. Now with the release of Shazam!, it seems they have truly distanced themselves from their grim film origins, going back to the Superman-destroys-the-city-and-cares-not-for-civilian-casualties of 2013's Man of Steel. Shazam! tells the story of young Billy Batson, who is granted powers by a wizard to grow to a full size adult (played by Zachary Levi, who appeared in a couple Thor movies and seems to be born to play a man-child) and harness superpowers when he yells the word 'Shazam!' The movie focuses on him learning just what his powers are and how he is to use them when a supervillain presents himself - which Batson finds more exciting than threatening at first. The film looks like a lighthearted good time and a reminder that DC comics is more than a couple guys grieving over their deceased parents.

Throughout the 80's and during the early 90's, if a horror or thriller film was being produced there was a good chance it was based on a Stephen  King story. Then there was a bit of a drop off in the early 00's, but now we are witnessing a resurgence. After It was a massive success companies, including Netflix, started producing movies based on Stephen King stories. Much like the 80's and 90's stuff it was a mixed bag, but expectations are high for the remake of Pet Semetary. The misspelling is on purpose, as it's about a pet cemetery where kids would congregate and when a new family moves in and their cat dies, the father of the family buries the cat and when it returns he learns he should have listened to the old local who informs him, "sometimes, dead is better." The trailer for this is extremely spooky and while it may not be a faithful adaptation to the original film or book (and really, that's fine as long as it's good) the response from early reviews are that it is a great horror movie.

After 1989's Batman studios spent the next decade trying to replicate that success, usually just reverting back to Batman. There were a few hits like The Crow, Men In Black, The Mask and Blade and several unique failures like Tank Girl, Barb Wire, Steel and all Crow sequels. Batman and Robin killed the Batman franchise for a while also turning studios off from producing big comic book movies until 2000's X-Men, which followed a similar trend of 89' Batman where many comic book movies went into production and some were hits and some were misses. One of the hits was 2004's Hellboy, about a demon raised by a secret government organization dedicated to stopping evil in it's many, and monstrous, forms. He had massive horns on his head that he shaved down so he would look more human and his right hand was larger and seemed to be made for smashing. 15 years later Hellboy is still pretty popular and now we're getting a reboot with one time character-actor now charming Stranger Thing's lead David Harbour donning the Hellboy headpiece and massive right hand. It looks fun but from what I'm seeing it doesn't look all that different from the del Toro/Perlman ones. The tone and action looks just the same but that not a bad thing, it could still be good.

So far each animated film that I've seen from Laika Entertainment has been great. ParaNorman, The Boxtrolls, Kubo and the Two Strings and Coraline are all beautifully made films where all the time and effort behind the scenes is up there on screen. They are delightful stories with fun characters and sometimes can be genuinely affecting and scary - rare for a kid’s movie. Missing Link is their latest and looks to be up to par with the rest. When an explorer (voiced by Hugh Jackman) finds a Sasquatch like creature named Susan (voiced by Zach Galifianakis) in America, he helps the creature travel to the legendary Shangri-La and locate the yeti who Susan believes are his last living relatives. These stories tend to include a deep emotional family element, so expect some water works from a movie about a giant hairy creature voiced by the guy from The Hangover.

(say in radio announcer voice) Last we saw in The Avengers: Infinity War Thanos is now the most powerful being in the universe and things are not going well for the defenders of Earth! It's been 11 years and 20 movies since Samuel L. Jackson's Nick Fury welcomed Robert Downey Jr's Tony Stark into The Avenger's. Since then we've been introduced to heroes played by Brie Larson, Paul Rudd, Scarlett Johansson, Don Cheadle, Vin Diesel, Bradley Cooper, Elizabeth Olsen, Mark Ruffalo and 3 guys named Chris - among many others. They are all joining forces to avenge those who perished during the Infinity War, where half of all life was vaporized in instant when Josh Brolin's Thanos snapped his fingers. If you haven't been following - there are these magical stones called Infinity Stones, previous entries have dealt with characters trying to locate them and now the bad guy has them all and he's super powerful. They have a plan to avenge and maybe save the world and it's all part of the Avengers: Endgame. This is a big deal.

March

Disney is releasing their first Marvel film and their first live action remake of the year but, most importantly, Jordan Peele is releasing his second horror film!

2019 is a big year for Marvel but with last year’s Black Panther winning 3 Oscars during February's award ceremony, things are looking good for them. Over the next 4 months they have 3 big releases starting with this month’s Captain Marvel. This film represents several firsts for the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It is the first with a woman in the lead role, the first with a woman director (co-directing with a man, also the first to have co-directors) and the first period piece (the 90's setting and images of Blockbuster in the trailer really excite me). This film will take place long before 2008's Iron Man and the 10 years that passed up until we see Captain Marvel's logo appear at the very end of 2018's Avengers: Infinity War. Brie Larson will be portraying Carol Danvers - once an Air Force pilot, now an intergalactic soldier who will become Captain Marvel. The story will focus on her journey from joining the Air Force, to fighting space aliens, to protecting the earth in the 90's when the alien war comes home. Somehow this will tie into events that occur 20 years later. It's going to be a very big, busy movie and it looks awesome.

An alien invasion movie featuring earth in ruins is nothing new, but Captive State imagines a world in ruins by its own inhabitants and then one day aliens arrive and seem to want to help us. Some are against the idea but the ruling powers give in and 10 years later, this is the way of the world - aliens exist and they live on earth now. Those that are against the idea have gone deep underground and one man finds himself in between those who have sided with the aliens, and those that see the true dangers of the alien invasion and want to fight back. The first trailers for this were mysterious and I wish they'd kept it that way. There's a familiarity to this but it could still be worth a watch.

From 2003 – 2016, Jordan Peele was known for his comedy. He had written for and was featured in Mad TV for years until his own show with Keegan Michael Key, Key and Peele, was picked up by Comedy Central. Then he did the action comedy Keanu, which was real fun and that was followed with an announcement that he would do a horror film. That announcement caught many off guard, but the trailers were interesting and early reviews were amazing (around the time of its release it famously received only 1 negative review). Get Out turned out to be a massive hit, becoming the 15th top grossing film of 2017, and winning Peele the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay. Then it was announced that he would be the narrator of the new Twilight Zone and would be releasing a new horror film called Us. Much like Get Out, details are light but the trailer is effective. It is about a family on vacation who comes across and is attacked by their doppelgangers. Expectations are understandably high for this one.

In the mid 90's there were a couple Disney live-action remakes, then about a decade ago a couple more popped up and now it seems we are inundated with them. Since 2014, there has been one a year and this year we are getting four(!!!) and the first of the year is Dumbo - the long eared flying elephant. In it Colin Farrell plays a circus star who has recently come back from the war and is tasked with watching over the circus outcast - Dumbo. Once it is made apparent that this elephant can fly, evil Michael Keaton wants to cash in. I don't remember all that from the original but I do remember an adorable flying elephant, which is really all this movie needs to deliver to be a hit.

From the director of the flashy, bright but twisted and violent Spring Breakers comes another film about people who want to live the endless summer.  Matthew McConaughey is The Beach Bum, who goes by Moondog and he is quite the aging hard partier. I wish I could touch on the plot but it just looks like him and other famous people with ridiculous names (Snoop Dog as Lingerie, Zac Efron as Flicker, Martin Lawrence as Captain Wack) having a party in Florida. At one point it looks like he may be in some small amount of trouble with the law and that may be where the story really starts but it's hard to tell. Spring Breakers was similar - people having a good time then trouble starts late into the movie. The director has a vision and it is certainly not for everyone but it is interesting stuff.

february 2019

February is the year’s first battleground for movie studios and it's all built around love and money. Valentine's Day is the day for dinner and a movie (although I'm a proponent of movie followed by dinner) and this month there is a lot to choose from. I'm not sure what the top Valentine's Day movie will be but I have my predictions.

Released before VDay so probably not:

In the early 00's, Catherine Hardwicke had a good run as a director of Thirteen, Lords of Dog Town and Twilight but has since directed smaller films and TV shows. Gina Rodriguez is the star of Jane the Virgin and future Carmen Sandiego, but before that she will star in the action thriller Miss Bala, a remake of a 2011 Mexican film with the same title. The original was loosely based on a true story and I believe this one strays even farther. Rodriguez stars alongside Anthony Mackie in the story about a woman unwillingly pulled into a drug war between cops and criminals who has to play both sides if she wants to come out alive. This looks like a tense action thriller.

Mads Mikkelsen is about to appear in a TV show called Polar and a movie called Arctic. That is confusing. One is a show that is coming to Netflix soon about a hitman, the other is about a man who crashes his plane in the Arctic. This is another one of those survival films where the director really needs to make sure they have a solid lead and a thrilling environment. Mads and the arctic checks those boxes. This apparently got a 10 minute standing ovation at Cannes, so that's a good sign.

Almost definitely:

Christopher Miller and Phil Lord were on a career high after making 22 Jump Street, a movie no one thought would be funny. Then they did it again with The Lego Movie, a movie no one thought would work. Then they got the opportunity of a lifetime when they were hired to make the Solo movie, a movie no one needed. Unfortunately, that last one went famously bad and they were fired, but I think they'll be all right. Lord wrote the screenplay and produced last year’s Spider-Verse but the Lord/Miller team is back to help write and produced this month’s The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part. The first Lego Movie was a blast and used so much licensed material and fun original characters to tell a fun adventure story. It ended with the invasion of the Duplos (which are bigger Legos for younger kids) and that seems to be where this story begins. Expect lots of recognizable comic book characters, goofy jokes and a new song that will be stuck in your head much like 'Everything is Awesome.'

In all of his years of being a famous actor/ controversial figure, Mel Gibson has only starred in one romantic-comedy. It was called What Women Want and he played a jerk who gets conked on the head and wakes up with the ability to hear women's thoughts and become a better person. 19 years later we have the much less controversial Taraji P. Henson as the lead in What Men Want. Henson plays a sports agent up who uses her newfound ability to hear men's thoughts to rise through the ranks after seeing others unjustly promoted above her. Tracy Morgan costars in this fantasy comedy.

What's more romantic than a slasher? Well, lots of things but Happy Death Day is a fun slasher and a perfect popcorn date flick about a college student dying and reliving the same day in a movie clearly inspired by Groundhog Day. Jessica Rothe is great as the lead who starts out unsympathetic, but on her horrifying journey we start to like her more and start rooting for her. In the end she saves the day but it seems this day is not yet over. Happy Death Day 2 U (silly? yes, but at least they got a little creative) continues the worst day ever and throws in a few new twists. I really feel this will be the winner for Valentine’s Day.

Valentine's Day is the perfect day for a formulaic romantic comedy about people meeting, overcoming some obstacle and falling in love. Some viewers may be tired of that and they are the target audience of Isn't it Romantic. Rebel Wilson plays a woman who grew up hating the romantic movies she saw on TV. Knowing that life doesn't work like it does in the movies, she found them more disappointing than entertaining. Then one day she gets mugged, knocked out, and wakes up in a PG-13 romantic comedy where she's the lead - but is limited by the rules of the PG-13 rating. Suddenly she can't use profanity but she has a nice apartment and a boyfriend, played by Liam Hemsworth, who seems to be following in his brother’s comedic footsteps. This looks funny and hopefully it doesn't fall victim to the clichés it is trying to call out.

Wild card:

Some films have the bad luck at coming out at the wrong time. Maybe a January release would have done better in the summer or a fun movie comes out in too close proximity to a similar looking yet lousier movie and sours everyone on seeing it. A few months difference in release date and the fate of the movie could have been different. In the case of Alita: Battle Angel, it is not a matter of months that could make the difference, it is the matter of years. I first started hearing about Alita as early as 2005 when James Cameron stated he would be making a movie based on the comic about a young woman who is made up of spare robot parts and a human brain. If this came out in the early 00's around when Avatar came out (which was what Cameron initially imagined) it might be huge, but he focused solely on Avatar and Alita was forgotten until 2015, when it was announced Robert Rodriguez would be directing. Now all these years later we have a $200 million sci-fi adventure film with a great cast and I think this will come in at least 4th place over Valentine’s Day weekend.
 

A current rule of thumb in Hollywood is that if you have a thriller starring an older gentlemen CALL LIAM NEESON. When the plow operator in a small Rocky Mountain town and Citizen of the Year recipient learns that his son has died, he takes it upon himself to use his plow and the landscape to kill all those he feels are responsible. Cold Pursuit is a remake of a Norwegian thriller In Order of Disappearance that was a pretty popular thriller starring Stellan Skarsgård that I really enjoyed. The film is dark and violent with a Fargo-esque sense of humor and it looks as if the American remake is pretty loyal to the original, with maybe a bit more humor to help the otherwise bleak story of revenge.

Comes out after Valentine's Day :(

I'm usually very entertained by kids cartoon movies, there's usually some fun escapism and humor for an older audience peppered in. When it's also an action movie, well them I'm all in. This is the case with How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World, the 3rd in the dragon based adventure series. The first was about Hiccup, son of Stoick - the best Viking dragon fighter. Hiccup befriends a wounded dragon and convinces his people to live among, instead of in fear, and fight the dragons. The 2nd one has Hiccup discover another group of dragons and it turns out his assumed dead mother has been living with and riding dragons for years. This brings us to the 3rd one where a Hidden World of dragons is discovered and creates more reason for humor and excitement. I have early tickets to this one, I'm very much so looking forward to it.