My Most Anticipated Movies of 2018

What a year 2017 was for movies.

Right from January all the way, we were spoiled for choice with an excellent spread of cinematic brilliance.

But now, a new year is upon us and with every new year comes a fresh canvas for filmmakers to paint on for 12 months. Sure, there'll be some stinkers along the way but this post is solely dedicated to those upcoming movies that I have very high hopes for.

Here's hoping I'm not proven wrong.

This year, I referenced the websites (https://www.movieinsider.com/movies/-/2018) and (https://www.insing.com/movies/coming-soon/) for my information on upcoming releases (the latter for reference on when the movies are released in Singapore) and like the website, I've arranged the movies on this list in chronological order from the first to get released right till the last.

Right, here we go.

FEBRUARY

The 15:17 to Paris

Director Clint Eastwood turns 88 years-young this May, and he's still making movies.

Coming off the high of his critically-acclaimed biopic Sully (2016), he's back and it's another biopic. Instead of the Miracle of the Hudson, however, it's a real-life story starring the actual heroes who survived that terrorist attack on board that Paris-bound train in August 2015.

How remarkable is that? Casting the actual heroes who lived to tell the tale. A must-watch, if you ask me.

Release date: 8th February

Black Panther

I feel like I'm obliged to include this one just because of the fact that it's the new Marvel movie.

Would I say that I'm really looking forward to this movie? No, not really.

I wasn't at all impressed with the trailers or with Chadwick Boseman's laughable African accent.

Like I said a couple of sentences ago, it's the new Marvel movie.

At least the cast is stunning.

Release date: 14th February

MARCH

Tomb Raider

I am no expert at Photoshop but my goodness, don't you think Alicia Vikander's neck looks a little weird? Not to mention her so obviously inflated biceps.

Anyway, photo editing aside, I don't normally ever look forward to any video game movie. Think about it - they've all been absolutely shite.

Unless you consider Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle a video game movie, in which case, it was excellent.

I digress. This new rebooted Tomb Raider movie looks extremely promising - not so much from this poster but from the trailers and TV spots.

Plus, Lara Croft is played by Alicia Vikander, whom I think is a magnificent actress and is perfect for the part.

Will this be the turning point for video game movies? Well, as long as they don't make another Warcraft monstrosity, I think the signs are bright!

Release date: 15th March

Ready Player One

I don't know all that much about this movie but from the looks of it, it looks dope as heck.

You've got this virtual reality world through an Oculus Rift-type thingamajig which brings about all these tokens and callbacks to some classic movies - the most notable reference being one of my favourite films of all time, Back to the Future (1985).

All that plus Steven Spielberg in the director's seat? Sign me up for that, please. Looks an absolute visual treat as well.

Release date: 29th March

MAY

Avengers: Infinity War

If you didn't get some major goosebumps when the Avengers theme blared over the final titles in the trailer, you have no feelings whatsoever.

An entire cinematic universe culminates with this movie... except that it doesn't because there's another one out next year.

Still, mad hype because my least favourite (and even more useless than Black Widow and Hawkeye combined) Avenger, Captain America (Chris Evans) is finally going to die. Yippee!

Movie looks DOPE, though Thanos (Josh Brolin) so DOESN'T!

Release date: 3rd May

Deadpool 2

There's still no word on an official title for this sequel to the 2016 R-rated smash hit - though the latest trailer is named "Deadpool, Meet Cable".

Maybe that's the title?

Anyway, that's not important. What's important is that Cable (Josh Brolin, yep he's also Thanos) looks more menacing and badass than Thanos does.

The trailers revealed next to nothing about the plot or much of the movie even thanks to the timely interruptions from the Merc with a Mouth, but hey - it's Deadpool and it's gonna be awesome.

However, setting its release date to only a couple of weeks after that of Avengers: Infinity War may not be that awesome for the box office numbers. We'll see.

Release date: 17th May

Solo: A Star Wars Story

Am I REALLY hyped for this movie? Well, after seeing that mess of a trailer, I certainly am not.

Still, 'hype' is a subjective term which can change at any given time thanks to any given event. Should more promising material come up then yes, maybe I'll board the hype train again.

However, whether I'm on that train or not, one thing is for certain with me - and that is that Alden Ehrenreich is not Han Solo.

Sure, the same was said by the vast majority of humankind when Daniel Craig was cast as James Bond back in 2005 and he went on to become everyone's favourite. But Bond is a character with which many directions can be safely taken with. Han Solo simply isn't.

He's a scoundrel. An anti-hero. Someone who always puts himself and his interest first. From what I've seen from him, Ehrenreich captures absolutely negative of any of that essence.

Anywho, I am obviously speaking very soon. Let's wait to see how it actually turns out to be. At least Lando (Donald Glover) looks amazing.

Release date: 24th May

JUNE

Incredibles 2

The first movie which was released all the way back in 2004 was and still is my favourite animated movie of all time.

So I'd be mad to not be looking forward to this sequel which took the length of my entire adolescence to get made.

Let's hope it captures the magic which made the first one so amazing.

Release date: 21st June

JULY

Ant-Man and the Wasp

Much like Thor: Ragnarok (2017), the first Ant-Man (2015) was such a breath of fresh air in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

With a catalogue of such repetitive origin story movies, to have a full-on comedy with the brilliant Paul Rudd in the lead was just brilliant.

Now with a partner (and love interest) by his side, I can't wait for more hilarious awesomeness.

Release date: 5th July

Mission: Impossible - Fallout

How cool is that poster?

I've honestly no idea why I'm this pumped for the new Mission: Impossible instalment. It's the sixth one now in this franchise.

Off the high of the absolutely brilliant Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation (2015) which successfully managed to top 2011's Ghost Protocol in style, this new one promises so much with such an electric trailer and teases of even more amazing stunts performed by grandpa Tom Cruise.

How does one even top hanging off a cargo plane taking off and flying? Well, in a production which was halted for half a year due to a broken ankle Cruise suffered performing a stunt (he jumped from one building to another), you can be assured that they were/are making every effort to do so.

Sure, the trailer looks so much like a James Bond movie but hey, that's always been the case with these two franchises. They always try to outdo and imitate each other, and that's great for us movie fans because it develops such brilliant entertainment in both franchises.

Long may that continue.

Release date: 26th July

OCTOBER

Venom

Absolutely no pressure on Sony to not pull a Fantastic Four.

They messed up big time with Topher Grace as Eddie Brock/Venom in Spider-Man 3 (2007), and judging by the mad scenes fans created when this movie was announced with the brilliant Tom Hardy in the titular role, they better not let them down.

The teaser trailer is extremely sub-par but hey, it's still early days. I have faith in Sony to not make a blunder again.

Release date: 4th October

NOVEMBER

X-Men: Dark Phoenix

It's rare for a movie of such magnitude to not have any promotional material released as of yet. I mean, it's already mid-February and there's no teaser trailer or official poster/first look even.

I hope it'll be less ridiculous and CGI-dependent as X-Men: Apocalypse (2016) was, and I hope it'll be a better film overall.

Oddly enough, my biggest hope for the movie is that composer Hans Zimmer retains the X-Men theme composed by regular composer John Ottman for this one. The last time an X-Men movie used another composer and theme, we got the abysmal X-Men: The Last Stand (2006), a movie which also deals with the Phoenix saga.

Let's hope this one won't be a repeat of that.

Release date: 1st November

Creed II

Yep, there was absolutely no promotional at all and so I had to resort to using a screen grab from Sylvester Stallone's Instagram page.

So Creed II will involve dear old Dolph Lundgren reprising his role of Ivan Drago and his son going up against Adonis Creed (Michael B. Jordan).

I adored the first Creed because it brought the Rocky series back down to earth and became a totally legitimate and fresh new direction for this spinoff franchise.

But with Stallone bringing the most ridiculous character from the entire Rocky series apart from Clubber Lang (Mr. T), I am rather sceptical.

Just gotta wait for the trailer to form an opinion.

Release date: 21st November

DECEMBER

Aquaman

This one I'm really excited for.

After the mess which was 2017's Justice League, the next movie up on DC's release schedule really really needs to deliver some promise.

It's such a shame as Wonder Woman (2017) was absolutely sensational, only for its brilliant progress to be completely derailed within the same year.

With James Wan of The Conjuring fame in the director's seat, the signs are very promising.

Fingers and toes are crossed. It's make or break for the DCEU.

Bohemian Rhapsody

How legit does Rami Malek look as Freddie Mercury? The resemblance is uncanny.

This movie has been in developmental hell for ages, and even its production process wasn't a smooth-sailing one either, with Bryan Singer apparently getting fired with the film about 75% completed.

Still, it is a movie about my favourite band of all time. Production troubles or not, I will always be pumped for this.

Release date: 25th December

So there you have it folks! My list of most anticipated movies of 2018.

Of course, there's bound to be more movies that'll end up on the list as the months go by as more promotional material is released.

Here's to an incredible year!