Majestic Twelve - Looking at Films of 2015

We’ve done our “Best of 2014” lists. We’ve talk about the worst games, movies, and events of 2014. It’s been a lot of talk of 2014. But that’s all in the past and who likes living in the past? I know I don’t. Today and tomorrow, we look ahead to the bright shining future because of all the lens-flare and overly shiny games you’ll see soon enough. Today? Let’s talk movies if 2015 we’ll be keeping an eye on. Starting with… 

#12 – Taken 3 – This is one I’m pretty much having the lowest expectations for. Liam Neeson’s in it and I want it to be good, or at least good enough. But Taken 2 already kind of jumped the shark for me a bit with the concept of using grenades as a form of echo location. Not to mention the idea of his wife getting captured and anyone giving a shit about her makes even less sense. I’m not really sure where they can take this “franchise” at this point to make it interesting, but it sounds like Neeson’s character is being hunted by HIS government for reasons that aren’t clear just yet (I think the trailers indicate he’s been framed for some kind of crime). It could be a good direction to take, but I will remain skeptical on this one.

#11 – The Fantastic Four – Comic book movies continue to be the driving force of the market and Fox is digging up the grave of Fantastic Four to see if a reboot is the jumpstart it needs to make money on this modestly profitable franchise once again. I don’t see much of a point for the reboot since I don’t really see people clamoring for the continuation of this series. I mean, I want Dr. Doom back on the big screen, but against the Avengers. I don’t really care about the Fantastic Four team itself. Though it seems Fox doesn’t either since that isn’t what they’ll be called… and their origin story is drastically different. And Dr. Doom is a hacker by the internet handle of “Doom” instead of being a mad Latvarian dictator in knockoff Iron Man armor… Why is this film being made again?

#10 – Woman in Black 2: Angels of Death – I am very tempted to rank this higher. The only reason I don’t is that while I adore the first movie to no end, the problem is we’re still dealing with “Horror Movie Sequel” territory. And while sequels tend to do worse by the original film in most genres more often than not, horror films tend to get the short-end of the stick for bad sequels. All the mysteries have been explained, monsters revealed, and innocent victims killed in the original film. So what else can the sequel do but get bigger, flashier, and less scary? I’m not saying this will be bad, but I’m not holding out for anything as mindblowing as the original.

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#09 – The Lazarus Effect – From what I’ve read, it’s a sci-fi thriller coming out early in 2015. The “coming soon” list for 2015 was very small, so I picked something with an interesting synopsis and a good cast list. Olivia Wilde (House’s 13), Evan Peters (Xmen’s Quicksilver), and Donald Glover (Community’s Troy) along with others join in this science experiment to bring back the dead only to discover they’ve awoken some kind of horrible monster. It’s sound simple and likely won’t be a huge hit. But it’s got a cast of people I like and it sound more interesting than most other items on the docket for 2015 thus far.

#08 – Terminator Gensys – I won’t mince words. I have no interest in Terminator itself. I’m not a fan of Arnold Schwarzenegger and I have just never gotten the appeal of the franchise he’s basically made off his imposing physique. That being said, the very concept of current old-man Terminator fighting his former 80’s iteration in this film is a feat of cinematic-technology I am curious to watch just on spectacle along. Who knows, maybe this will be the movie that gets me to like Arnold and the Terminator series… probably not but at least I’m willing to be open to the idea.

#07 – B.O.O. Bureau of Otherworldly Operations – This is an animated feature by Fox starring the likes of Seth Rogen, Bill Murray, Melissa McCarthy, and others in a story about ghosts trying to become the best haunters in this strange organization. So it’s Monsters Inc but with ghosts and the paranormal instead of miscellaneous monsters. Not original, but perhaps there’s more to it I’m not aware of yet. But this is another film with a somewhat interesting idea and an interesting cast to boot. So, yeah, I’m on board for the time being.

#06 – The Jungle Book – A live-action adaptation of the film I basically watched every day when I was probably about four years old? This isn’t nostalgia making me interested as I legitimately don’t remember a damn thing about this movie other than there was a snake and a tiger and I think they were bad guys. There were some vultures The Simpsons parodied in that episode about the burlesque house. And then there’s the Bare (Bear) Necessities song. That’s about it. Yeah, seeing this would be a nice refresher and an interesting choice since I don’t think Jungle Book has been a big name in decades. Good luck on this one, Disney.

#05 – Kingsman: The Secret Service – The first trailer had my attention. It’s basically just a school for people who want to be James Bond with a bunch of smart British kids who are trying to be James Bond. The only thing missing is Michael Caine being the “wise sage” character offering advice to the youngsters… oh, he is in this movie. Then, yeah, I guess we’re set to rock on this one.

#04 – Star Wars: The Force Awakens – I’ve been down on Star Wars as a whole and I still don’t quite know what to make of this trailer that only dropped on us a few weeks ago. Yes, I want to see what more Star Wars will be once it enters the world, but I’m also skeptical. I’m not a fan of Abrams. Star Wars is a big property that was already mangled up pretty bad by George Lucas’ inability to write a good script or accept criticism. But with Disney’s general commitment to quality control, I’m less nervous that it’ll be good and more nervous that while it might be good, it might turn out kind of bland and generic. Like they mitigated risks for this first one just to make sure they have a solid start, thus making the film not excel or be challenging to the Star Wars conventions in any major way. While that’s good, it has forced me to lower my expectations quite a bit… for now at least.

#03 – Ant-Man – I don’t care what anyone says against this idea. I still think Ant-Man is capable of being the most interesting Marvel super hero movie in the entire lot. Hank Pym, as a character, is a fascinating case study of personality disorders, domestic abuse, identity crises, and failing to live up to one’s own expectations of themselves. There are a lot of levels one could tackle a proper Ant-Man movie. And while I’m more than disappointed this is going to be post-Ultron, therefore no dealing with Ant-Man’s usual aftermath of Ultron, I’m curious to see what they actually plan to do with the character or why they’re bothering with him if Ultron isn’t going to be his main issue… or will it? Ant-Man isn’t going to be in Age of Ultron, but that doesn’t mean he won’t have anything to do with Ultron. Speaking of which…

#02 – Avengers: Age of Ultron – Of course this not only makes the list, but is ranked this high. It’s Avengers round 2. We’ve introduced everyone and established the team dynamics. We’ve shown they can work together and now we get to see a new villain try to tear them apart (and judging by the hints in regards to Hulk’s fate, the upcoming Ragnarok and Civil War films, it’s safe to say that Ultron may very well succeed in disassembling the Avengers… for a while at least. Ultron also happens to be one of my favorite storylines from the cartoons/comics so I’m excited just to see the ever spectacular James Spader have fun with this role.

#01 – Jurassic World – I’m putting all my chips on the line for this one. I want dinosaur films to be mainstream and popular again. I want more dinosaurs in my life and Jurassic World has been slowly sitting in development hell for what seems like an eternity waiting to answer my call. Best of all, good casting with Christ Pratt taking the lead here. Am I sold yet on the trained raptors or human-dino hybrid? Not quite, but give me some time and a little more trailer and perhaps I can be swayed at some point. But I won’t say no to dinosaurs and I’m happy to have a film I’m just unquestionably excited for, no matter how stupid on the surface a premise might seem. That’s the same thinking that allowed me to enjoy Guardians of the Galaxy, and it turned out fantastic. Fingers-crossed that Jurassic World follows suit.

Those are the movies we want to see going into 2015 and I think most of these should be pretty fun. Is there something you think we missed? Any of these titles in particular interest you? Let us know in the comments below. As always, if you enjoyed this please be sure to like, comment, share, and subscribe. We'll see ya next time.