Predicting the Movie Hits and Bombs of 2018

Discussion in 'Visual Arts' started by Vidiot, Dec 17, 2017.

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  1. neo123

    neo123 Senior Member

    Location:
    Northern Kentucky
    I saw it on Friday. It was pretty entertaining. Though, he was playing mostly the straight one who was the muscle and had no weaknesses. Jack Black and Kevin Hart were the funny, wimpy scholarly ones. Karen Gillan was the eyecandy who also was an a$$kicker.

    If you liked the first one with Robin Williams, you should like this one too.
     
  2. Oatsdad

    Oatsdad Oat, Biscuits, Abbie & Mitzi: Best Dogs Ever

    Location:
    Alexandria VA
    Not yet - will probably see it this week.

    It looks like it's doing decent business, and it got largely good reviews, so I'm not sure why you'd pick it as a "bad choice" by Johnson...
     
  3. Vidiot

    Vidiot Now in 4K HDR! Thread Starter

    Location:
    Hollywood, USA
    Excitement! Suspense! Childlike innocence! Ingeniously staged action set pieces! These are a few of the things you will not find, anywhere, in “Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle.”
    Film Review: ‘Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle’

    Very few remakes, sequels or franchise reboots have signaled their desperation to connect quite as nakedly as “Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle” does.
    Review: ‘Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle’ Has Dwayne Johnson as a Nerd

    It looks like these game actors are just lost in the jungle themselves, frenetically trying to conjure up some laughs. They all try too hard, but the most non-discerning of audiences, the younger the better, probably won’t mind a bit as director Jake Kasdan has ramped this all up to a fevered pace that doesn’t allow for much more than non-stop gags and largely un-amusing setups.
    ‘Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle’ Review: Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart & Jack Black Are In The Game, But Laughs Don’t Come Easily

    You may find Welcome to the Jungle's game cast charming enough to keep you interested for a little while. But eventually, the film runs out of fumes to coast on, and all you're left with is a lot of desperate mugging for the camera.
    'Jumanji' Has a Confusing Message for Teenagers
     
  4. Oatsdad

    Oatsdad Oat, Biscuits, Abbie & Mitzi: Best Dogs Ever

    Location:
    Alexandria VA
    Great - you found four negative reviews. You can find 100 positive ones here:

    Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle
     
  5. Michael

    Michael I LOVE WIDE S-T-E-R-E-O!

    I like the Rock so I pretty much enjoy all he's in...
     
  6. Michael

    Michael I LOVE WIDE S-T-E-R-E-O!

    I loved the first one, but I like Ryan...he's made some fun movies...
    Just friends
    The Change Up
    and others...I've yet to be disappointed in his work.
     
  7. Vidiot

    Vidiot Now in 4K HDR! Thread Starter

    Location:
    Hollywood, USA
    The NY Times, Deadline Hollywood, Variety, and the Hollywood Reporter ain't exactly chopped liver.

    I think he's great as a "movie personality" -- not exactly an actor, more of a presence like Arnold Schwarzenegger used to be -- but he's been in some real turkeys.
     
    benjaminhuf likes this.
  8. Oatsdad

    Oatsdad Oat, Biscuits, Abbie & Mitzi: Best Dogs Ever

    Location:
    Alexandria VA
    No, but the point remains that the movie has gotten mostly good reviews. Cherry-picking 4 bad ones doesn't "prove" it's a stinker...
     
    ZAck Scott likes this.
  9. mBen989

    mBen989 Senior Member

    Location:
    Scranton, PA
    And here's my friend's review, if you're interested.

     
  10. Michael

    Michael I LOVE WIDE S-T-E-R-E-O!

    I consider him an actor not just a presence...: )
     
  11. Vidiot

    Vidiot Now in 4K HDR! Thread Starter

    Location:
    Hollywood, USA
    And here's some more 2018 films to add to the list (courtesy of Daily Variety):

    “Annihilation” (Feb. 23)
    Alex Garland follows his hit debut “Ex Machina” with a brainy horror movie about an all-female team of explorers who venture into a deadly environmental disaster zone. Based on Jeff VanderMeer’s award-winning trilogy, the nature thriller stars Natalie Portman, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Gina Rodriguez, Tessa Thompson and an iridescent mist that gives the air the sinister shimmer of an oil slick. — Amy Nicholson

    “Black Klansman”
    For many, the pinnacle of Spike Lee’s career to date remains 1992’s epic biopic “Malcolm X.” A quarter-century later, he returns to fact-based drama with the incredible story of Ron Stallworth (played by Denzel’s son John David Washington), an African-American police detective who managed to infiltrate a Colorado Ku Klux Klan chapter — even getting appointed its leader. With Jordan Peele on board as a producer, this should be Lee’s most scorchingly relevant joint in some time. — Dennis Harvey

    Bohemian Rhapsody” (Dec. 25)
    I’ve been waiting for years to see a musical drama about Queen and the tumultuous life and reckless passion of their lead singer, Freddie Mercury. But director Bryan Singer unleashed a rash of headlines by getting fired off the project, with just over two weeks of shooting to go, and he was then accused of rape. The film’s future suddenly looks murky: Will it see the light of day? And, if so, will Singer’s name be on the project? It’s too early to tell, but the movie could still prove to be an ecstatic rock biopic. The wild card is Rami Malek (from “Mr. Robot”), who plays Mercury: Will he nail that sublime flamboyance from hell? — Owen Gleiberman

    “Boy Erased” (Sept. 28)
    In his 2015 suspense film “The Gift,” the actor Joel Edgerton proved to be a filmmaker of shrewd and stunning talent. For his second feature as a director, he turns to a subject that begs to be treated with dramatic honesty: the moral travesty that is “conversion therapy.” Based on Garrard Conley’s 2016 memoir, the film stars Lucas Hedges, the great young actor from “Manchester by the Sea” and “Lady Bird,” as the gay son of a Baptist pastor (Russell Crowe) in small-town Arkansas. Nicole Kidman plays his mother, and Edgerton is the conversion therapist against whom Conley gradually goes to war. —Owen Gleiberman

    “Burning”
    While his name may not be as well known in the U.S. as Bong Joon Ho and Park Chan-wook, South Korean director Lee Chang-dong is a profound humanist (see “Secret Sunshine”) working in a country known for its innovative artifice. It’s been a long seven years since Lee’s previous feature, “Poetry.” Expect his latest, adapted from a New Yorker short story by sometime-surrealist Haruki Murakami, to premiere at Cannes. — Peter Debruge

    “Everybody Knows”
    There are certain filmmakers who, when they say they’re going to make a “thriller,” mean that they’re going to find the psychological shivers in reality. That’s the anticipation one has for the first thriller directed by Iran’s Asghar Farhadi. Coming off a trio of brilliant films (“A Separation,” “The Past” and “The Salesman”), all centered on characters from Iran, Farhadi now travels to Spain to tell the story of a woman, played by Penélope Cruz, who returns to her hometown and confronts a series of strange events. The costars are Javier Bardem and Ricardo Darín. — Owen Gleiberman

    “First Man” (Oct. 12)
    Damien Chazelle’s first feature after “La La Land” would be a breathlessly awaited event even if he wasn’t literally shooting the moon. It’s an epic docudrama, starring Ryan Gosling as Neil Armstrong, that chronicles the entire history of the space race, starting in 1961 and culminating in Armstrong’s July 21, 1969, walk on the lunar surface. Timed to anticipate the 50th anniversary of that globe-altering event, the movie has the chance to be a stirring and visionary reminder of what America could once do. — Owen Gleiberman

    “Halloween”/“Suspiria” (Oct. 19/TBD)
    Under most circumstances, the ravaging of classic horror properties for modern remakes would raise an immediate red flag, but two ’70s standard-bearers have fallen into the right hands. Directors David Gordon Green and Luca Guadagnino both did excellent work in 2017 with “Stronger” and “Call Me by Your Name,” respectively, and their sensibilities are well-suited to genre revivals. Green’s “Halloween” will likely forego the revisionist shocks of the Rob Zombie reboots in favor of a more faithful evocation of the original, and Guadagnino’s florid sensuality is perfect for “Suspiria,” to say nothing of Tilda Swinton in the Joan Bennett role. — Scott Tobias

    “High Life”
    The irresistible combination of director Claire Denis and sci-fi in a story about a group of convicts on a no-return exploration into space is already exciting enough. Add an intriguing cast headed by Robert Pattinson and Juliette Binoche, plus Icelandic-Danish sculptor Olafur Eliasson’s designs for the black hole, and cinephile’s expectations for Denis’ first English-language film are literally sky-high. — Jay Weissberg

    “Hotel Mumbai”
    Bringing the 2008 terrorist attacks in Mumbai to the screen would be a huge challenge for any first-time director, though Aussie Anthony Maras (recently named one of Variety’s “10 Directors to Watch”) enlisted a starry cast that includes Dev Patel, Armie Hammer and Jason Isaacs for the project. Here’s hoping it delivers on the promise of his outstanding 2011 short film “The Palace” (an action-drama set during the 1974 conflict in Cyprus). — Richard Kuipers

    Isle of Dogs” (March 23)
    Following a relatively mediocre year for big-studio animation, 2018 brings cause for hope: Aardman’s “Early Man,” Pixar’s “The Incredibles 2” and China’s beyond-gorgeous “Big Fish and Begonia” (already a record-setting phenomenon back home). The most eccentric of the lot will undoubtedly be Wes Anderson’s return to the world of stop-motion (following “Fantastic Mr. Fox”), in which talking canines are banished to their own island. — Peter Debruge

    “The Man Who Killed Don Quixote”
    The setbacks that “Time Bandits” director Terry Gilliam has faced on this project are so epic, they spawned a feature-length documentary, “Lost in La Mancha.” Enter Amazon Studios, which saw the potential of applying cinema’s preeminent magical realist to this imaginative retelling of Cervantes’ novel. Barring any unforeseen complications, Gilliam’s fans will finally have a chance to see what promises to be the director’s magnum opus. — Peter Debruge

    “Ready Player One” (March 30)
    Until now, “Wreck-It Ralph” is the closest Hollywood has come to making a great video game movie. Because hope springs eternal, however, 2018 brings “Rampage” and a “Tomb Raider” reboot, which both look pretty pro forma. Still, there’s potential in Steven Spielberg’s adaptation of Ernest Cline’s sci-fi scavenger-hunt novel, which imagines an elaborate virtual-reality gaming environment the director has populated with fan-favorite characters, from Freddy Krueger to the Iron Giant. — Peter Debruge

    “Red Sparrow” (March 2)
    We’re entering the “try everything” phase of Jennifer Lawrence’s career, and it’s quite a ride. She’s flexing her artsy muscles with Darren Aronofsky and Luca Guadagnino, but is also expanding her multiplex range in this sleek, classily cast espionage thriller from her “Hunger Games” director (and expert hokum merchant) Francis Lawrence. J.Law as a Russian ballerina turned undercover intelligence agent? It’s not obvious, and I’m in. — Guy Lodge

    “Roma”
    In his first film since “Gravity” (yes, four years ago), director Alfonso Cuarón tells the multi-stranded story of a middle-class family in Mexico City during the early 1970s. It’s the first film the director has set in his country of origin since “Y Tu Mamá También” (2001), and it promises to be a portrait at once intimate and teeming. — OwenGleiberman

    “Shadow”
    Zhang Yimou’s upcoming costume epic depicts the relationship between an exiled king and his general, as they plot to take back their realm. Starring actor-director Deng Chao (“The Mermaid”), one of the most bankable actors in China, “Shadow” supposedly boasts an aesthetic inspired by Chinese ink wash painting, promising a return to more lyrical form after “The Great Wall.” — Maggie Lee

    “The Sisters Brothers”
    For his first English-language feature, French director Jacques Audiard (Oscar nominated for “A Prophet”) attempts a darkly comical take on that most American of movie genres, the Western, in his adaptation of the novel by Canadian author Patrick deWitt. Joaquin Phoenix and John C. Reilly star as gunmen ordered by their fearsome boss (Rutger Hauer) to kill a troublesome prospector (Jake Gyllenhaal) in 1850s San Francisco. Nothing goes according to plan. — Joe Leydon

    “Sunset”
    After galvanizing Cannes and going on to win the foreign language Oscar with his debut “Son Of Saul,” Hungarian director Laszló Nemes set a high bar for his second feature. Although not much is known about “Sunset,” the portents look promising. It’s another period piece, set in pre-WWI Budapest. And important “Saul” collaborators such as co-writer Clara Royer, DP Mátyás Erdély and producers Gábor Rajna and Gábor Sipos are on board. — Alissa Simon

    “Widows” (Nov. 18)
    Next year, “Ocean’s 8” isn’t the only female-led heist movie to look forward to. Boasting an equally impressive cast — plus an Oscar-winning director in Steve McQueen (“12 Years a Slave”), who co-wrote with “Gone Girl” scribe Gillian Flynn — this update of the 1983 British TV miniseries about four women who choose to finish the heist that killed their husbands unites Viola Davis, Elizabeth Debicki, Michelle Rodriguez and Cynthia Erivo. — Nick Schager

    A Wrinkle in Time” (March 9)

    With so few women being handed the reins of blockbuster franchise movies, there’s reason to celebrate the faith Disney put in director Ava DuVernay (“Selma”) and screenwriter Jennifer Lee (“Frozen”) to adapt Madeline L’Engle’s visionary fantasy novel — starring none other than Oprah! While the rest of Hollywood takes baby steps, Disney is making giant strides in the right direction, having also tapped Niki Caro to helm its live-action “Mulan” remake. — Peter Debruge

    Variety Critics Name the 20 Most Anticipated Movies of 2018
     
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  12. bladerunner555

    bladerunner555 Forum Resident

    Other than Predator and Venom(I don't expect either to be very good),I can honestly say I have no interest in any of those.
     
  13. Deesky

    Deesky Forum Resident

    From Vidiot's posted list, I'm interested in the following:

    * Annihilation
    * High Life
    * Black Klansman
    * Boy Erased - possibly
    * The Sisters Brothers - possibly
     
  14. chumlie

    chumlie Forum Resident

    First Man looks like a winner.
     
    Chris DeVoe likes this.
  15. PhilBorder

    PhilBorder Senior Member

    Location:
    Sheboygan, WI
    These generally look more interesting than the first list - especially Roma, High Life, Don Quioxte and Hotel Mumbai. If I can see one absorbing intelligent movie every few months I'm happy. I ask no more of Hollywood.
     
    Vidiot likes this.
  16. dmiller458

    dmiller458 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Midland, Michigan
    General impressions...

    1) I hate comic book movies.

    2) I like Ferrell and Riley as a comedy team, but I didn't care for the R-rated language in Step Brothers

    3) How many of these remakes/reboots are going to be over-run with PC politics?

    4) IF Super Troopers 2 is anywhere near as funny as the original, it should do good at the box office.

    5) I'd love to see Liam Neeson do a parody of his recent action flicks.
     
  17. shokhead

    shokhead Head shok and you still don't what it is. HA!

    Location:
    SoCal, Long Beach
  18. Michael

    Michael I LOVE WIDE S-T-E-R-E-O!

  19. The Panda

    The Panda Forum Mutant

    Location:
    Marple, PA, USA
    I'm not high on Isle of Dogs, based on the trailer. But we will be there with cash when it opens.
    I don't think it's going to be big at all.
     
  20. alexpop

    alexpop Power pop + other bad habits....

    Will watch.
    Tbe Commuter( Taken on a train).
    Black Panther
    New Mutants
    Avengers: Infinity War
    Death Wish ( at least read reviews first)
    Aquaman
    Deadpool 2
    X Men - Dark Phoenix
    Meg ( still a terrible title)
    The Predator
    Mission Impossible 6
    Equalizer 2

    No Art Movies with subtitles.
    That was the Seventies. :)
     
    Last edited: Dec 28, 2017
    Vidiot likes this.
  21. Deuce66

    Deuce66 Senior Member

    Location:
    Canada
    I'm initially interested in these.

    Black Panther - February 16, 2018 [new Marvel comics movie featuring the African prince] - hoping it strays from standard Marvel fare.
    Isle of Dogs – March 23, 2018 [Wes Anderson animated film about a missing pet in Japan]
    Deadpool 2 - June 1, 2018 [sequel to the popular R-rated action/comedy superhero film]
    The Incredibles 2 - June 15, 2018 [sequel to the 2004 Pixar superhero/action/comedy film] - sequel to one of my favourite movies of all time
    Soldado – June 29, 2018 [sequel to the 2015 FBI vs. druglord film Sicario] - the trailer is kind of stock, still interested though
    Alita: Battle Angel
    – July 20, 2018 [sci-fi film of the popular Japanese comic] - James Cameron & team is heavily involved...
     
    Zoot Marimba likes this.
  22. Chris DeVoe

    Chris DeVoe RIP Vickie Mapes Williams (aka Equipoise)

    And a significant amount of charisma, which should never be undervalued. And he's willing to play against type for humorous purposes - like being a hugely buff killing machine in Central Intelligence - who is still a giant geek underneath. He pretty much does the same character in the new Jumanji, but it's still funny. The Marx Brothers played the same characters in all their films. Not everyone has to be Daniel Day-Lewis.
     
    Zoot Marimba likes this.
  23. Chris DeVoe

    Chris DeVoe RIP Vickie Mapes Williams (aka Equipoise)

    My wife saw a sneak of this and thought it was very enjoyable. It's A Star Is Born - they make this film every time they want a starring role for a singer, and it's her turn.
    I LOVED Wreck-It Ralph, and will be there the first day.

    Based on the documentary Marwencol, which I doubt anyone other than my wife saw, it promises to be deeply moving. It has a title now, The Women of Marwen.
     
  24. Danby Delight

    Danby Delight Forum Resident

    Location:
    Boston
    You do know that's not every single film that's coming out next year, right?
     
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  25. Chris DeVoe

    Chris DeVoe RIP Vickie Mapes Williams (aka Equipoise)

    I know! My wife Vickie saw some 470 films in the theater last year, and only a tiny handful were "comic book movies" (although she does love her Chris Hemsworth movies!)
     
    benjaminhuf likes this.
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