2019 looks like it’ll be a great year for movies. Let’s talk video game film adaptations, Jordan Peele’s latest, and the end of the Skywalker saga with Star Wars: Episode IX.
There are some cool movies set to come out this year. I picked out five that I’m most looking forward to, but here are some other highlights:
- The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part (Feb 8) – The first Lego Movie is one of my favorite comedies of all time. The Second Part with its Mad Max aesthetic looks just as hilarious.
- John Wick Chapter 3 – Parabellum (May 17) – When all is said and done, the John Wick series will probably stand among the greatest in action film history. My brother and I were talking about the double meaning of “parabellum” last night. It’s 1) a type of semiautomatic pistol or machine gun, and 2) Latin for “prepare for war.” That tells you everything you need to know methinks.
- Ad Astra (May 24) – A man journeys across the solar system to find his missing father. With Brad Pitt and Tommy Lee Jones. Getting epic Interstellar vibes from this one. It could be really good.
- Godzilla: King of the Monsters (May 31) – Have you seen the trailer? As a lover of classical music, this version of Debussy’s “Clair de Lune” is gorgeous.
On to my Top 5 most anticipated movies of 2019:
5. POKÉMON Detective Pikachu (May 10)
Video game movies have historically not done well among fans or critics. Rotten Tomatoes lists 47 video game film adaptations to date, and none of them have Fresh ratings. (My favorites? Mortal Kombat and Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy XV. The Tomatometer isn’t everything.) Could Detective Pikachu be the first well-reviewed video game movie? Maybe. Master sleuth Pikachu (voiced by Ryan Reynolds) helps Justice Smith (screamy boi in Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom) look for his missing father in a world chock-full of intensely-textured Pokémon. It’s a setup so bizarre you wonder how this movie even got made. But here we are. Sign me up.
4. Gemini Man (October 4)
Ang Lee (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Life of Pi) directs Will Smith in a movie about an elite assassin being hunted by a younger counterpart. Costars include Clive Owen and one of my favorite actresses on the planet, Mary Elizabeth Winstead (ninja delivery girl Ramona Flowers). I love everyone attached to this movie. There also seem to be shades of Rian Johnson’s Looper, which I really enjoyed. (Triggered at the mention of The Last Jedi director’s name? Too bad – you will hear about him two more times before this piece is through.)
Apparently Gemini Man was shot at 4K resolution in stereo 3D at 120 frames a second. Oscar-winning cinematographer Dion Beebe describes the film’s visuals as “incredibly vivid and confronting.” Besides Lee pushing the technical boundaries of cinema, I expect tense action sequences, sci-fi shenanigans, and a handful of one-liners from the Freshest of Princes.
3. Us (March 22)
Jordan Peele is a man on fire. His 2017 directorial debut Get Out was widely acclaimed, nominated for Best Picture, and grossed $255 million worldwide on a $4.5 million budget. Enter Us. I don’t like spoilers, so all I’ll say is that a family goes on a beachfront vacation and encounters… vacation-ruining terrors. (I’m scared of the ocean so there are some ways in which a beachfront vacation is a terror on its own, but I’ll make that movie in my way, in my time.) Anyway, Get Out proved gripping not because it was grounded in speculative monstrosities but rather in the horror of our times (namely, systemic racism). Let’s see what Peele has to say about us next.
2. Knives Out (November 27)
Here’s a murder-mystery movie with some serious star power. Daniel Craig (007), Chris Evans (Captain America), Lakeith Stanfield, Michael Shannon, Christopher Plummer, Jamie Lee Curtis, Toni Collette, etc etc. Still, the big draw for me is director Rian Johnson.
I see Johnson as an endlessly creative yarnspinner who is unafraid to take risks. (Sometimes those risks alienate you from a portion of rabid fanbases when you direct billion dollar franchises that have been around for decades, but such is life.) Looking forward to Johnson’s take on a “classic whodunnit.” What twists does he have in store? A time-traveling gumshoe? The detective is the killer? I predict Colonel Mustard in the library with a lead pipe. The twist? The library is the killer and Colonel Mustard is merely the weapon. Johnson out here playing 4D chess and we’re playing tic-tac-toe with just four boxes. No wonder people hated The Last Jedi.
1. Star Wars: Episode IX (December 20)
A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away… Star Wars fans were united. A squabble arose in the late 90’s over whether or not Han shot first, but there was still peace and justice in the Old Republic. Before the dark times. Before Jar Jar Binks. And sand. And Disney. And the new trilogy. And the implosion of the Expanded Universe. And substandard spinoffs. And… (cue the Imperial March)… Episode VIII.
We live in a very different galaxy today. Being a Star Wars fan in 2019 is fraught with perils. Whether you openly like any of the following could result in heated discussions, scoffing, or a sabered-off hand:
a) the prequels
b) a Star Wars spinoff that is not Rogue One
c) The Last Jedi
d) sand
I won’t get into discussions over any of those four touchy subjects. (Is sand really that irritating? OK, I’ll stop.) But I will say this: with the formal Skywalker saga set to wrap up in December of this year, I can’t wait to see how it ends. I’m a little nervous that director J.J. Abrams will play it super-safe to offend as few people as possible. But let’s face it: at this point, anything Lucasfilm does with well-established lore under the watch of hyper-devoted fans will outrage someone. It’s a given. All I can say is that great movies are not made by committee, by fan vote, or by toeing the established boundaries of the known galaxy.
Tell me a new story, and tell it well. I don’t care if it’s the furthest thing from my fan dreams played out in IMAX 3D. (At this point, that would be a three-way rumble between The Resistance, The First Order, and Kylo Ren and his knights who have gone rogue, Force-bonkers, and fully antiestablishment. They create memes and fight banal storylines wherever they go. They see a Death Star or other superweapon? The Knights blow it up. See a young nobody prophesied to bring balance to the Force? The Knights kill them off. Sand? The Knights lie down on top of it. Etc.)
See, that sounds like a fun movie, right? *crumples up the script and flamethrowers it* Just make your movie J.J. Don’t worry about butthurt fans or the pressure of executives or legacy. Just tell me a new story, and tell it well.
Want to browse what’s coming out this year? Check out my favorite 2019 movie release calendar here and tell me what you’re looking forward to this year!
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