Monday, December 19, 2016

Coming Attractions of 2017


Coming Attractions of 2017

As we near the end of 2016, per tradition, I usually check out the exquisite internet web site of IMDb.com to peruse the upcoming films that are slated for the forthcoming year.  So, going down the list, I’d noticed that we’ve got some exciting titles that have many people chomping at the bit, others that I personally want to see, and further films that will leave you impartial in your feelings.

To clarify, some of these movies on the list are surprising to me and leave me doubtful that they’re actually going to be released on the date listed, just for the fact that we haven’t seen a trailer or any news regarding its production or release.  But I’ll make sure to indicate those films when I get to them.

So without further ado, let’s get right into this long list.


1. Resident Evil: The Final Chapter (Release date: 01/27/2017)

Now, this franchise has seemed to be an unrelenting series of films and I don’t know if I can take the title of Resident Evil: The Final Chapter seriously.  Is it going to be just like the earlier Friday the 13th franchise or the more recent Saw series, where they announce a finality only to continue at a later date?  Time will tell, but I’ll tell you right here and now that I’ll probably skip this one and wait for it to show up on DVD.  I really haven’t been impressed with any of the sequels that followed the excellent first film and I think this will just fall in line with what we’ve seen already.



2. Rings (Release date: 02/03/2017)

I still can’t get the bad taste out of my mouth that had been the sequel to the original The Ring movie.  That film should’ve been the death of the franchise, yet here we are a few months away from Rings.  A reboot…? Sequel…?  Prequel…?  The trailer didn’t thrill me, the idea isn’t exciting, and I really have no desire to see this when it arrives in theaters come February of 2017.  But we’ll see…maybe it’ll reap some rave reviews and I’ll give it a looksee.




3. John Wick: Chapter 2 (Release date: 02/10/2017)

Okay, so here we are with the first film on this list that I’m excited to see—John Wick: Chapter 2.  John Wick was a pretty impressive movie that through me for a loop, due to the title and the star of the film not rousing any interest from me.  After seeing it on home media, I’d really wished I had witnessed this in a movie theater with loud sounds and a huge screen to catch all the action.  I’m looking forward to seeing Keanu Reeves kick some ass in this next chapter.




4. Logan (03/03/2017)

Well, this is going to be a record set where I don’t think any other actor will break any time soon.  Hugh Jackman will play the character of Wolverine for a ninth and final time (so he says—but I’m thinking he’d love to go toe-to-toe with Deadpool if asked to do so).  A lot of comic book geeks (such as myself) were waiting for a Wolverine film such as this one—an R-rated no-holds-barred depiction of the comic book character based on a successful comic book run.  If done right, this could be Jackman’s swan song of the Wolverine character, having him go out perfectly and retiring him for good.  The trailer shown and the production photos posted by the director (James Mangold) are great works of art…let’s hope the film will be as awesome as it’s boasted to become.

5. Kong: Skull Island (03/10/2017)

Continuing the rebooting trend we’ve been witnessing for years, Kong: Skull Island is just around the corner and is another film I’m patiently waiting for its release.  A couple of years back it was announced that we are going to see the pitting of two monumental monsters on screen—Godzilla and King Kong.  After the success of 2014’s Godzilla, proclamation of a versus-type film came to be and it was exciting at first.  But then many fans began asking the question whether this would be a fair fight.  Godzilla, in the 2014 American film, is approximately 350 feet tall; the last depiction of King Kong had him at around 50 feet tall.  Knowing that was going to be problematic for the upcoming versus film, this film was made to show him as a taller—yet still smaller than Godzilla—incarnation of the King Kong legend.  The trailer, to me, seems like a modern telling of the story, much like the 1976 film, but I think we’re going to get something pretty terrific here.  I’m stoked for this one.

6. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (05/05/2017)

The surprise hit of all the Marvel Studios movies was one that I hadn’t thought much about until I finally saw it in 2014.  I wasn’t familiar with the source material and had thought it was a weird choice to continue on with the universe that had been going on with the run of superhero movies that led to The Avengers.  Someone knew what they were doing—maybe Joss Whedon displaying some of his pull with the studio execs—but that movie was a major hit and I’d agreed wholeheartedly.  I’m looking forward to seeing what other adventures these misfits find themselves in and how it might fit into the whole string of films we’ve seen so far.  Nevertheless, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 is looking to be a big hit for the blockbuster season of 2017.

7. Alien: Covenant (05/19/2017)

Though I wasn’t too thrilled with 2012’s Prometheus, I’ll give the sequel, Alien: Covenant, a chance.  Whereas Prometheus seemed to be a standalone movie by Ridley Scott (up until the end anyway), the sequel looks to welcome the tie into the Alien world.  I’m very curious to see what had happened after the events of the last movie and where it goes from here.




8. Wonder Woman (06/02/2017)

Let’s be honest, Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice was sort of a disappointment, right?  All the hype that we’d heard and seen from Zack Snyder—the leaked photos especially—made all the fanboys drool in anticipation only for it to be sort of a downer (with or without the extended edition cut of the film).  But there were some winning aspects of the film—two to be exact—and that was Ben Affleck’s portrayal of Bruce Wayne/Batman and the inclusion of Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman.  She seemed to have a lot of fun with the character and it was nice to see the character finally making it to the big screen, but it’ll be even better to see her in the standalone film, Wonder Woman.  I’m just wondering if anyone will refer to her by that moniker.

9. The Mummy (06/09/2017)

As I write this, the world has already been treated to a teaser trailer of The Mummy just a couple of weeks ago.  I can’t help but think of how the last franchise went, sadly ending with the terrible The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, so seeing another film being made doesn’t really float my boat.  Even with the presence of Tom Cruise in this film, I don’t think it helps much.  The trailer actually feels more like a Mission: Impossible film than a classic horror remake, with Cruise inexplicitly surviving a plane crash waking up in a morgue…weird.  But Cruise usually can’t do wrong in the parts that he chooses to play, so I’ll probably take a chance on this.



10. World War Z 2 (06/09/2017)

Now we haven’t heard much about this film and, at this point, I’m not sure if this is a solid date for World War Z 2.  No doubt, they’re going to make this film as the first one was quite successful and left open for a sequel (as most zombie films are apt to do), but I’m just a little leery as to the date posted in IMDb.com.  With only Brad Pitt listed in the cast and seeing that there hasn’t been a teaser trailer or production news posted about this film, I’m thinking we’re going to be waiting a little longer for this sequel.




11. Spider-Man: Homecoming (07/07/2017)

Without hesitation, I can say that this is the film I’m most pumped about!  Being a lifelong fan of all things Spidey, I’ll always slap down my money to see a live-action movie based on my favorite comic book hero.  Although I’d hated the two Andrew Garfield turns as the wall crawler, Sony made things right by making a deal with Marvel Studios to share the character in upcoming films.  Now, the trailer for Spider-Man: Homecoming was pretty cool, giving us some awesome moments and heroic imagery, but it doesn’t give too much detail on what the plot is going to be about—but that’s okay, I want to have some surprises given to me when I go see this.  Already teasing that they’re going to be doing some special tweaks to the character (the webbing that attaches from his arms to his sides), I’m just hoping we’ll get an entertaining film this summer.

12. War for the Planet of the Apes (07/14/2017)

I’ve always been somewhat of a fan of the whole Planet of the Apes franchise.  I love the first film—even as it’s reaching 50 years old—as well as its sequels, and even enjoyed the critically panned Tim Burton film.  I had my doubts when they’d announced (sometime in ’08 or ’09) that they were going to start up the franchise again but would only be using CGI apes rendered with motion capture technology.  However, the final product in 2011 that was given to us was superb, the sequel released in 2014 was exciting, and now I’m looking forward to the continuation of the series with War for the Planet of the Apes!  The trailer, just released not long ago, shows us just enough to get excited and the ape rendering is even more detailed than before.  This film is definitely on the top of my list of films I am going to see in 2017.

13. The Dark Tower (07/28/2017)

Since high school, I have been an avid reader of Stephen King books, buying every paperback and hardcover I can get my hands on.  Even before that, I’d been aware of—and had seen—many films based on King’s works.  Myself, I have a large collection of films adapted from his books on DVD and Blu-Ray and will always watch anything new in theaters, television, or straight-to-home-media.  One journey I had taken a few years ago was reading “The Dark Tower” series of books which had five books published when I started and had two more published while I was into it.  There has been an eighth book published since then and I’ve yet to crack open that one…but I will.  I’ve always thought the story would be tough to get on screen as a movie since it’s such a long story, but it looks like it’s going to finally happen next summer with The Dark Tower.  With the interesting casting choice of Idris Elba to play “The Gunslinger” and Matthew McConaughey as “The Man in Black,” I’ll be right there ready to take that journey all over again.

14. Annabelle 2 (08/11/2017)

All these haunted horror movies that seem to blend all into each other (this film with the Insidious and The Conjuring franchises) don’t really thrill me.  Don’t get me wrong, there are some entertainment value to them and a few scares here and there, but for the most part…eh.  I’d just finished The Conjuring 2 a few weeks ago and it left me blank, not really moving me or scaring me.  Usually a movie based on true events might freak me out a bit, but from what I’d read about the real story, sounds like it was a proven hoax.  Hollywood, however, will film it anyway, adding crazy special effects and insane situations that’ll earn the film some high ratings and garner quite a bankroll.  So it’s no surprise that we’re getting the sequel, Annabelle 2, next August.  Though I probably won’t see this in theaters, I’m sure this film will bring in the teens to see it to try and get a good fright.

15. It (09/08/2017)

The other Stephen King adaptation is actually a remake of sorts.  With the original film being a 1990 TV movie that cut back on gore and violence, only leaving it implied as the film cut away from it, was still a creepy showing that earned Tim Curry horror movie fame as Pennywise the Clown.  The new reboot, It, is looking good however, already posting the first image of the new Pennywise as a gangly creepy clown.  Though we’ve yet to see a trailer as I write this, the movie’s already looking to be scary…man, I hope so.




16. Friday the 13th (10/13/2017)

I can easily say that the Friday the 13th franchise is my favorite horror movie series of films.  At the commencement of every summer season, I watch every single film in the series as a way to celebrate the warming weather.  Seeing as that the films take place around a summer camp or vacation spot, I find they’re the perfect films to watch on a warm night.  So here they are again, looking to reboot the franchise once more.  I’m hoping they get it right…even if they don’t, I’ll be right there trying to enjoy it.



17. Insidious: Chapter 4 (10/20/2017)

I won’t say much about the release of Insidious: Chapter 4 except to say that my views of Annabelle 2 are just about the same as this one.  The first, second and third one didn’t do anything for me so I don’t see myself heading out to the theater for this one.  Eventually I’ll see it…but in the comfort of my own home.





18. Saw: Legacy (10/27/2017)

Well, this is not surprising at all…the only thing surprising about Saw: Legacy is that it took this long to get right back into another movie.  If horror movie history has taught us anything is that any movie that has “the final chapter” in the title will definitely continue in sequels sooner or later.  It’s hard to believe that nearly seven years have passed since we’ve seen a Saw film.  Not much has been said about this upcoming flick—no plot synopsis, no confirmed cast list, no poster art…nothing.  But guess what?  I’ll venture out for this one…I’m sure there’s more story to tell.




19. Thor: Ragnarok (11/03/2017)

Thor: Ragnarok is a movie I’m exciting about.  But…I’ll admit I wasn’t thrilled with the two Thor films we’d gotten before this one.  I’m not a fan of the mythical aspect of the character and his world, nor had I been a collector of the comic books that the franchise is based upon.  The one aspect of this upcoming movie is the fact that it’s going to be a team-up of Thor and Hulk.  To add to that, there may be some elements of “Planet Hulk” within this film, so that’s an exciting possibility if you’re a comic book geek like me.  Yes, this is a big one, folks, so make sure you’re all caught up with the Marvel Cinematic Universe before going out to see this one.



20. Justice League (11/17/2017)

Finally, we have Justice League slated to be released in mid-November.  Though an official trailer hasn’t been released, from what I see—only a small sizzle reel that was put together for the San Diego Comic Con—I’m not impressed with it.  Ben Affleck’s interaction with Jason Mamoa seems dumb, even the little jokey scenes with Gal Gadot seems forced, the only saving grace is the part we see when Affleck’s character of Bruce Wayne meets Barry Allen (Ezra Miller) for the first time.  All of it, however, seems silly and I’ll have to reserve my judgment to when I finally see the finished product on screen.  But I’m not impressed.



Well, that’s the twenty upcoming films of 2017 I’ve decided to comment and give my views on, based on their trailers and/or hype.  I'm sure there are some I'd missed, namely the newest trailer for Bladerunner 2049 which looks pretty awesome.  I’ll be sure to return here to give my views when I finally see the official releases in theaters or on home media.

Thanks for reading!

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