My Top 15 Most Anticipated Films of 2018...

2017 was an eventful year, with a great level of variety to go around, as new and engaging films came and went, with great effort taken to bring diversity to the system, and one can hope that 2018 will be able to say the same. As it is now, I am so eager for the big films to come out this year, and if February's uncommonly decent slate is anything to go by (with films like Black Panther and Annihilation taking their bows), it looks to be an impressive year.

And as I do every year, I'll be listing down the films I'm most excited to see this year. Once again, I'll try to keep expectations and hyperbole in check, but even so, I'm still so excited by what there is to offer.

And before we start, a couple rules for my list. For me to include a film on here, it must either have a guaranteed release date, or at least have a trajectory to open this year (for this reason, I've left off Martin Scorsese's long-dormant The Irishman). The film must also have been released after this list is published, and if a film made the list or honorable mentions last year but got pushed back to 2018, it will not be eligible for consideration (otherwise, Annihilation and Mute would be on here).

Please note that this list is mainly geared towards films that are more well known at this point, so there's not gonna be a whole lot of independent fare with little clout, and this is purely how it stands at the moment. And if a film you're looking forward to isn't on here, I either haven't heard of it yet, I am looking forward to it, but not enough to list it, or I'm just not excited for it at all (Dead! Pool!).


First up, the honorable mentions:
25. Tully

24. Pacific Rim: Uprising

23. JT LeRoy

22. Colette

21. Incredibles 2

20. Where'd You Go, Bernadette?

19. A Wrinkle in Time

18. Illumination's The Grinch

17. The Little Stranger

16. Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom


And now, I present you the main fifteen...



15. The Girl in the Spider's Web
I'm still infuriated that Sony never pressed on with sequels to the David Fincher/Rooney Mara Dragon Tattoo film, instead deciding to hit the reset button for an adaptation of David Lagercrantz sequel to Stieg Larsson's Millenium Trilogy. However, I'll still take a new incarnation of this series over nothing at all, and I hope it's as engrossing as Fincher's film. Starring as Lisbeth Salander, in the footprints of Mara and Noomi Rapace before her, will be The Crown's Claire Foy, also starring in Unsane and First Man this year, and I really hope she can bring the same presence and command to the part as those before her.


14. Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald
I'll always have a soft spot for J.K. Rowling's Wizarding World, and having enjoyed the first Fantastic Beasts film tremendously, I'm looking forward to another walk in the world of magic, joined back up with the original film's cast, including Eddie Redmayne's terrific Newt Scamander. I still have worries for the titular Grindelwald, especially since Johnny Depp's appearance in the last film's final act didn't give me much hope for him, but that's more than made up for by his Doctor Parnassus co-star Jude Law as a younger incarnation of Dumbledore. Color me both skeptical, and very much eager.


13. Ocean's 8
I found the original Ocean's trilogy an entertaining, if far from classic series. And coming ten years after Danny's final bow, it's now time for his sister Debbie, played by Sandra Bullock, to take the spotlight. In addition to Bullock, the all-star cast will include Cate Blanchett, Anne Hathaway, Helena Bonham Carter, Sarah Paulson, and many more in what could very well be one of the year's most pleasant surprises. I do worry if it'll suffer from the inevitable sexist backlash that plagued Ghostbusters (in fact, it's already happening), but so long as I'm entertained, I couldn't care less what others think. Let the heist begin!


12. Widows
Steve McQueen made a massive splash in 2013 with 12 Years a Slave, and 2018 sees him returning for what seems like another terrific film in Widows. Starring Viola Davis, Elizabeth Debicki, Colin Farrell and more, the film will follow a group of widows who intend to finish a heist that their spouses died attempting. That's about as much as we have to go on at this point, but Steve McQueen is a blistering and emotional storyteller, and it's even better when he's paired with Gone Girl writer Gillian Flynn, so I expect the film to be a very intense experience.


11. Sicario 2: Soldado
Sicario probably didn't need a sequel, but it was still a terrific film, and Taylor Sheridan (in spite of his somewhat limited range) has proved a reliable writer whose skills only get better and better. And even without Denis Villeneuve's steady hand, I still think the film looks every bit as tense and nail-biting as its predecessor did, and the return of stars Benecio del Toro and Josh Brolin certainly doesn't hurt either. Will it be on par with that film? We'll have to find out, but I'm firmly optimistic on this one.


10. Black Panther/Avengers: Infinity War
I decided to lower Black Panther's placement since it releases tomorrow night, otherwise it would easily get into the top ten. I've waited so long for a Black Panther movie, and I can't wait to see Ryan Coogler do the material justice. Speaking of doing things justice, the Marvel Cinematic Universe will finally hit its long-awaited crescendo in May, with all franchises and characters - such as Iron Man, Black Panther, Thor, Captain America, The Guardians, Doctor Strange, Spider-Man, and many, many more - converging to take on Josh Brolin's Thanos in the Infinity War. To think that such an ambitious feat could ever come to be seemed impossible once upon a time, but now this film becoming a monster success almost feels inevitable. Part of me does worry, because with ten years of build-up leading to this movie, I feel this could just as easily underwhelm the mammoth expectations set for it. But I still expect the best from this movie, and having been in Marvel's corner from the start, I can't wait to see this puzzle fully assembled. This will be the ultimate in fanboy Nirvana.


9. Don't Worry, He Won't Get Far on Foot
It's been quite some time since we last saw Gus van Sant, with 2018 seeing him return with a contender for best movie title of the year, and it just so happens to sound like an intriguing and entertaining film, starring Joaquin Phoenix as macabre quadriplegic cartoonist John Callahan. Factor in an A-grade cast that includes Jonah Hill and Rooney Mara, and I hope that this will be as funny and touching as it promises to be.


8. If Beale Street Could Talk
Barry Jenkins made quite a name for himself in 2016, and following Moonlight's triumphant Best Picture win, he has another potentially great film with an adaptation of James Baldwin's book of the same name, in which a young woman seeks to clear the name of her falsely imprisoned husband. Starring a cast comprised of proven talents and relative unkwowns, and backed by producer extraordinaire Megan Ellison, I'm very eager to know more about the film as it approaches release. At this point, it doesn't have a date set in stone, but hopefully it will make waves this year, and proves a strong follow-up to Moonlight.


7. Roma
After the technical mastery and harrowing intensity of Gravity, it seems only natural that Alfonso Cuaron would want to take a more reserved and low-budget venture next. The only thing we really know about the film at this point, is that it follows a year in the life of a middle-class Mexican family. Not exactly much to go off of, but Cuaron is always a skilled and masterful project leader, so that's enough for me.


6. Ready Player One
You can never go wrong with Steven Spielberg. In his early 70's, the iconic director shows absolutely no signs of slowing down, and this March will see his adaptation of Ernest Cline's fanboy favorite Ready Player One take a bow. Simply because it's Spielberg, that's reason enough to make me excited, and with a terrific cast for him to make use of, and the latest trailer making this look like a riotous good time, it's not at all hard to see why I'm anticipating this so much.


5. Mary, Queen of Scots
I'll just make this one short and sweet. Saoirse Ronan, as far as I'm concerned, is quickly becoming the best working actress right now. Having excelled with remarkable turns in Lady Bird and Brooklyn, Queen of Scots will surely be a true test of her abilities, giving her what looks to be a towering and showier turn, and I am so eager to see her pull it off. The movie itself looks good, but she is the sole reason it shot up so high.


4. First Man
Damien Chazelle utterly shattered my expectations with La La Land, and Ryan Gosling is one of the best working actors right now, so seeing them pair up once more with a biopic of Neil Armstrong's trip to the moon sounds great. Chazelle has already proven himself a visionary filmmaker so early in his career, and seeing him tackle the Apollo 11 moon landing is a concept way too juicy to dismiss. It has all the ingredients to make for a spectacular movie, and I imagine that's exactly what it'll be.


3. Everybody Knows
What else can I say about Asghar Farhadi? The man responsible for some outstanding films, including one of my favorite films of all time About Elly, shows no signs of slowing down as he dishes out new and continually fascinating films. And here he comes in 2018 to do it yet again, making his first venture into Spanish, as star Penelope Cruz returns to her old hometown where nasty secrets from her past begin to bubble up. Also featuring Cruz's husband Javier Bardem, this feels like what could be Farhadi's biggest and most ambitious film yet, and if his usual tension is as simmering and tightly wound as his prior films, it should be another bravura effort.


2. Isle of Dogs
Despite his stubborn idiosyncrasies, Wes Anderson is one of those directors that nobody can seem to hate. And coming four years and far too long after The Grand Budapest Hotel, he returns with his second foray into stop-motion animation following Fantastic Mr. Fox. You know what you're getting when you walk into an Anderson movie, with the film looking to be no less visually stunning than his stamp of quality suggests, garnering a massive and tremendously talented voice cast to join his ranks - from Anderson regulars Bill Murray, Edward Norton, and Jeff Goldblum, to newcomers such as Bryan Cranston. And above all, if the trailer is anything to go by, it looks to be hilarious from start to finish, filled with Anderson's usual macabre wit and visual quirks, that hopefully should be a touching film in the meantime. It releases in one month, and I couldn't be more excited.


And that's what really gave me trouble with this list. It wasn't that I didn't have enough to fill my list, it's that some of my top contenders were just too good for me to order. In any other year, Isle of Dogs, Everybody Knows, or First Man could have easily topped this list.

But this wasn't any other year, and in the end, I decided to lay my chips on...


1. Mary Poppins Returns
I don't even know where to begin with this one. While I am getting somewhat numb over Disney's incessant remaking and sequelizing, in no way does that lessen my excitement for this movie. Mary Poppins is one of my favorite movies of all time, and I've always felt that should Disney attempt a sequel, there would be more than enough potentially great material for them to work with. And you know me, I will never not be excited for a movie musical, especially an original musical with brand new songs, the ones here to feature music by Marc Shaiman, and lyrics by Scott Wittman and Hamilton mastermind Lin-Manuel Miranda. Speaking of which, Miranda will be one of many great talents the film has enlisted to feature in its starring roles, including Meryl Streep, Ben Whishaw, Emily Mortimer, Colin Firth, Angela Lansbury, and the practically perfect Emily Blunt as the luminous enchanting nanny. And despite Rob Marshall's mixed filmography overall, I have faith that he'll be able to do justice to the material and potential handed to him, and to do justice to such an iconic original film. Unfortunately, we won't see the film until next Christmas, but that should just make the wait all the more rewarding. Consider me supercalifragilisticexpealidocious for it!


And that was my list, in as brief a fashion as I could possibly sum up. No doubt smaller films that sound just as good will eventually make themselves known, but regardless, I hope for nothing but the best from those films, and all the ones in my list. Bring on the new year!