My Most Anticipated Films Of 2016

Those of you who have the good taste to read my blog post regularly (no matter how irregular that might be), know that I produce a top 10 films of the year post every year. I've decided to do another one listing the top 20 films of the coming year, that I am most looking forward to. It was going to be a top 10 but, there are just so many. At the end of the year or start of the next one, we can then compare and see how many made the top 10 list.

The films in alphabetical order are:

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice [imdb] [trailer]
It's Batman taking on Superman, with the first big screen appearance of Wonder Woman (if you discount the Lego Movie). Enough said

Captain America: Civil War [imdb] [trailer]
Based on the Marvel Crossover event, it will be interesting to see how the MCU Captain America and Iron Man deal with the conflict. Also should include a first look at Tom Holland's Spiderman.

Deadpool [imdb] [trailer]
After his awful appearance in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Deadpool finally gets a chance to shine, at his filthiest best.

Doctor Strange [imdb]
With this Benedict Cumberbatch (great casting by the way) vehicle hopefully Magic will finally push it's way into the MCU. 

Gambit [imdb]
OK I'll admit it. The only reason this makes my list is that Gambit is my favourite X-Men character. Hopefully this will be good.

Genius [imdb]
A biographically film about literary editor Max Perkins (Colin Firth) whose work put him in touch with some of the 20th centuries greatest writers.

Going in Style [imdb]
OK I'm going to admit that I am a Zach Braff fan. I thought he was brilliant in Scrubs, and I have enjoyed all his films since, especially Garden State. Looking forward to his take on 70's original.

Hail, Caesar! [imdb] [trailer]
The Coen Brothers with an all star cast, do a comedy set in the world of a 1950's Hollywood Movie studio. Can't wait.

I Saw the Light [imdb] [trailer]
Tom Hiddlestone gets another chance to display his more that impressive acting chops, this time playing Country and Western Legend Hank Williams.

Independence Day: Resurgence [imdb] [trailer]
20 years after the first film we get this sequel to the huge blockbuster of 1996. No Will Smith, but that's OK we get Jeff 'The Legend' Goldblum back.

Now You See Me 2 [imdb] [trailer]
I loved the first film. Lots of people didn't but they are obviously wrong. Here's hoping for all the fun of the first one.

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story [imdb]
It's a Star Wars film! Of course it made this list

Star Trek: Beyond [imdb] [trailer]
Love Star Trek. Loved the 2009 reboot, enjoyed Into Darkness, though I had some issues with it. Hoping for a lot more fun from this Simon Pegg script.

Suicide Squad [imdb] [trailer]
When DC decided to finally compete with the MCU juggernaut, this is not a property that most people would have thought would be among the first films produced. Focusing on a team of DC villains forced to work for the government. Also interesting as it will be the first live action appearance of Harley Quinn and the first look at the new Joker.

The BFG [imdb] [trailer]
Steven Spielberg brings a Roald Dahl classic to the big screen.

The Magnificent Seven [imdb]
A remake of the 1960 Western Classic (itself a remake of the fantastic Seven Samurai), Denzil Washington leads an impressive cast.

The Nice Guys [imdb] [trailer]
Shane Black is back with a Buddy Action Comedy, this time set in the 70's and this time starring Russell Crowe and Ryan Gosling. Fun time to be had.

Untitled fifth Bourne film [imdb]
Bourne is back. Bringing Matt Damon and the director Paul Greengrass back with him.

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot [imdb] [trailer]
OK I'm going to say it. Tina Fey is probably the funniest smart person in the world right now (sorry John Oliver), and I might have a crush on her. That shouldn't subtract from the fact that this film looks great.

X-Men: Apocalypse [imdb] [trailer]
The X-Men film series is filled with plot inconsistencies and confusion, but Bryan Singer seems to have not cared and decided instead to craft a good story in his last outing, Days Of Future Past. Hopefully the same will apply as the X-Men take on, one of their truly Big Bads Apocalypse.

Hopefully I will get to see all of these (of course I will) and you can too. Let me know if you disagree with any of my picks or have something you think I should definitely have on my list.

My Top Ten Films of 2015

Hello again you lovely, lovely, gorgeous lot It is the beginning of the new year so I again bring you a list of my top films of the past year. You are again most welcome. Please remember these are my personal Top Ten films from those I have seen. So if you think I have missed a great film out, then either I haven't had a chance to see it, or you are wrong. Message me and I will let you know which one it is. Also please be aware that this post will probably contain spoilers

Notable mentions

These are the films which I really enjoyed and were the closest to being in my Top Ten:

Creed – A couple of years ago we had the much underrated Rocky Balboa come out, and we thought that was that was it for perennial underdog Rocky. However he is back. Not fighting in the ring himself this time, but taking on the role of mentor for Adonis Creed, the son of his friend (Guess which one). Like the first Rocky and the aforementioned Rocky Balboa, Creed is more of a character piece with both Micheal B. Jordan and Sylvester Stallone in excellent form.

Danny Collins – This is one of those films which you might have missed. However you should catch it if you can, as it is full of fantastic performances from brilliant actors. Al Pacino plays the titular Danny Collins, an aging hard living rocker, who upon receiving a letter sent to him from John Lennon, about 40 years after it was sent, starts to take stock of his life and what could and maybe should have been. 

Mission Impossible V: Rogue Nation – Almost on par with the previous film in the series Ghost Protocol (the best of the bunch in my not so humble opinion). There's not much I can say about this one. Tom Cruise and his gang are back. Tom Cruise is charming, Simon Pegg is very funny, Rebecca Ferguson is mysterious, and Sean Harris is menacing as fuck. Everyone is fantastic in their roles. Lots of action and lots of fun.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens – Yes I can almost hear the audible gasp and feel the exasperation in the air from certain quarters, at this particular film not being in my top ten. Let me just say I really enjoyed it and am looking forward to what happens next with the new characters, all of whom were great. However if I am honest with myself and I usually am, there were a few things in the film that didn't sit well with me. It was a great way to kick off a new trilogy though. 

Tomorrowland – OK I know that this film was seen as somewhat of a failure and not a lot of people may have seen it. I don't care! I liked it and the positive optimistic message it sent out. I liked all the actors in it and I really loved the retro-future look of Tomorrowland. Not everything needs to be dark and brooding People, and that's me saying that, I'm the Prince of Dark and Brooding, with Batman being the King obviously.

The Top Ten

10) Ex Machina
Domhnall Gleeson has had a fantastic year as an actor, there were his great performances as General Hux in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, and as the honourable but out of his depth Captain Andrew Henry in the Revenant (more on that later). He still has his awesome red hair, and then there was his performance in Ex Machina. Gleeson plays Caleb Smith a programmer set the task, (by his enigmatic boss) of testing a new A.I. to see if it can pass the Turning test. Arguably the stand out of the film is Alicia Vikander as said A.I. Ava. However I see it as more of a two-hander with Oscar Issac's Nathans presence ever looming in the background.

9) American Ultra
OK straight off let me mention, that I am aware that there is a lot of negativity and ill feeling towards Kristen Stewart out there. Whether she deserves it or not I have no idea. I have only seen her in two films (I think) and in both she has been very good. Also in both this one and Adventureland she has acted along side Jesse Eisenberg (coincidence? who knows). Anyway this was a really fun film, filled with comic book violence, with Eisenberg playing a lovable loser, who secretly unbeknownst to himself is a highly trained CIA operative. It's Clerks meets the Bourne Identity in the best way possible, and I love both of those films.

8) Bridge of Spies
Now lets get a few things out of the way, first of all Steven Spielberg is a true master of his craft, who with the exception of a certain film involving Crystal Skulls rarely puts a foot wrong. Second Tom Hanks is an amazing actor who I could watch in almost any role. So when you put these two story telling maestros together to the tell a compelling tale (based on true events ) involving the Cold War, Spies and a good man stuck in the middle, you have something that is worth watching. 

7) Inside Out
Another unbelievably good film from Pixar studios. This one takes us in to the mind and emotional control room (run by avatars of her emotions Joy, Sadness, Fear, Anger and Disgust) of a young girl from her birth to an emotionally turbulent time in her life at the age of 11, when she and her family relocate to a new city, leaving the only life she has known behind. All the voice talent are amazing especially the avatars. And like all the films from Pixar this one has something for all age groups. 

6) The Martian
Based on the best selling book, this is film has been heralded as something of a return to form for Ridley Scott after a number of lets say false steps. The film tells the story of astronaut Mark Watney (Matt Damon), who is left behind on Mars on his own, when the rest of his crew think he has perished, during an emergency evacuation. He must in the words of the character "science the shit out of this" to survive until a rescue mission can come pick him up (in 4 years time). The other parts of the story are back on Earth at NASA as they discover that Watney is alive and then attempt to help him, and a smaller part on the ship bringing Watneys crew back. A great cast but Damon is the stand out. 

5) Spy
This was without a doubt in my mind the funniest film I saw last year. Melissa McCarthy plays Susan Cooper, a CIA agent, who usually stays back at the office to help guide and support her partner Bradley Fine (Jude Law) while he does the usual spy James Bond thing. Susan is however thrust into the field when Fine is killed and the names of the other agents are made known to the illegal arms dealer Rayna Boyanov (Rose Byrne). Armed with various aliases each more ridiculous then the last. Susan must try and retrieve a portable nuclear weapon that Rayna is trying to sell before it falls into the wrong hands. McCarthy is as funny as usually, however the real hilarity is bought about by Rose Byrne and Jason Statham as the super extreme spy Rick Ford

4) Ant-Man
Ant-Man is a film that was in production a very long time. Marvel hired Edgar Wright in 2006 to write and direct an Ant-Man, with the plan being that it would be part of Phase one of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. 9 years later we finally got an Ant-Man film. However it was not the Ant-Man we might originally have thought we would get. Those of you familiar with the comic books will know that traditionally Hank Pym is the alter ego most associated with Ant-Man, however the character of Hank Pym comes with a whole lot of issues in the comic. Those of course could have been retconned for the film, however instead they decided to make Scott Lang (the second Ant-Man) the main focus of this film. Paul Rudd as Scott Lang is his usual, charming, funny self, the rest of the cast are all great, especially Michael Douglas as the now older Hank Pym and Michael Pena as Scott Langs ex-cellmate. The film as a whole is great fun with some imaginative actions sequences.

3) Mad Max: Fury Road
OK I have to admit this film is not very heavy on plot, but for non stop balls to the wall action and great effects work I don't think you will find a better film from 2015. Tom Hardy takes over the role of Max Rockatansky originally portrayed by Mel Gibson in the previous 3 films, and though he does a great job in the part, the films anchor is Charlize Therons awesomely named Imperator Furiosa. She is the heart of the film as well as the catalyst for the action, Max is just along for the ride. This film has been criticized in some quarters (I won't name them as they don't deserve it) for pushing the feminist agenda and trying to destroy manliness or some other bullshit. To them I say stop being dickheads and also Mad Max is not an American Icon he's Australian.

2) The Revenant

I was discussing this with a friend of mine earlier today, if Leonardo DiCaprio isn't given his overdue academy award for this film, then there is some sort of conspiracy against the poor man. I mean what does the man have to do. Completely shot in natural light with apparently little to no CGI, this is a gorgeously looking film. Full of great performance all through the cast. It is the story of hunter Hugh Glass (DiCaprio) in 1823, who after a disastrous  expedition, where his hunting party is attacked by the native Arikaras, is mauled by a bear. Then left for dead by a fellow hunter (Tom Hardy) who also kills Glass's half Pawnee son. This is a classic if slow chase film, as Glass pulls himself out of his shallow grave and goes after the man that did him wrong. There will be a reckoning.

1) Kingsmen: The Secret Service 
Kingsmen: The Secret Service came along very early in the year so many of you might have forgotten all about it. Colin Firth plays Harry Hart a secret agent of the independent security agency The Kingsmen. Smart, Suave and deadly the agents are all code-named after the knights of the round table, under the supervision of their leader Arthur (of course) played by Sir Michael Caine. When one of their number (Lancelot) is killed in action, the agents all have to submit a possible recruit to replace him. Harry (code-named Galahad) picks a young man from the wrong side of the tracks (Taron Egerton). All this as a new threat to the world arises. This is a great comedy action spy film. The scene in the Southern hate-mongering church was just magnificent, why has no one put Colin Firth in an action movie before? Over the top fun, definitely worth a watch.

And my worst film of the year for 2015 is.........

Fantastic Four
OK this year has been a pretty good year for films for me, so I haven't really seen that many bad films in 2015. The Fantastic Four reboot wins? lets say claims the dubious honour of being my worst film for the year, just for the fact that it wasted a very talented cast, and also the fact that this is a comic book film without any fun and very little action. And it made me miss the Tim Story, Fantastic Four films from about a decade ago.

International Womens Day Tribute Seven

As the more enlightened of you might know the 8^th of March is International Women’s days. In honour of this, I will be writing a small article about 7 women whom I believe should be celebrated more for their achievements, and then posting one article each day in the week proceeding the 8^th of March. Now some of you might know a lot more about the subjects then I do, which is all well and good, remember these are women I believe should be more celebrated because I haven’t heard about them a lot. As the articles will be brief I ask you to look up more on these extraordinary women yourself.

Name: Claudette Colvin

Born: 5 September 1939

From: United States of America

Should be known more for: Civil Rights Activism

Born in Montgomery, Alabama, Claudette was an orphan who was adopted and raised by a couple called the Colvins. At the age of 15 she was an A-grade student, living with Segregation. In 1955 while riding home from school on a bus, Colvin was ordered to move to the back of the bus to make room for white passengers who had just boarded the bus. Colvin refused to do so, the police was called and the young Colvin was handcuffed, arrested and removed from the bus. She kept insisting that it was her constitutional right to sit wherever she wanted. She was charged with disturbing the peace and violating the segregation law. Although only given probation, (even though she had pleaded not guilty in front of the court), Colvin was branded a troublemaker. She had to leave college and couldn’t find work.

The NAACP thought about using Colvin’s case to challenge the segregation laws, however they ultimately didn’t go through with this as they found Colvin to be unsuitable. She was young, pregnant at the time and not married. This was not someone they thought would be a good face to front their cause. Luckily for them they found someone more suitable a little less than 9 months later in Rosa Parks. Now how much influence the Colvin case had overall on Rosa Parks, we don’t know. They were both living in Montgomery at the time and Parks was a member of the NAACP, so she would most definitely have been aware of Colvin. No matter how much influence the Colvin case had on Parks, it does not take anything from the courage that she showed when making her protest.

Even though going through a hard time in 1956, not being able to find work and having a new born baby to look after, Colvin became one of four plaintiffs in the case of Browder v. Gayle, (the others being Aurelia S. Browder, Susie McDonald, Mary Louise Smith), The case contested that the Alabama bus segregation laws were unconstitutional. The courts found against the law. The State of Alabama appealed to the Supreme Court, who found the ruling sound and ordered the State of Alabama to discontinue bus segregation. This was huge victory for the civil rights movement at the time. Colvin then moved to New York, finding work as a nurse’s aide. 

International Womens Day Tribute Six

As the more enlightened of you might know the 8^th of March is International Women’s days. In honour of this, I will be writing a small article about 7 women whom I believe should be celebrated more for their achievements, and then posting one article each day in the week proceeding the 8^th of March. Now some of you might know a lot more about the subjects then I do, which is all well and good, remember these are women I believe should be more celebrated because I haven’t heard about them a lot. As the articles will be brief I ask you to look up more on these extraordinary women yourself.

Name: Valentina Tereshkova

Born: 6 March 1937

From: Russia

Should be known more for: First Woman in Space

When people generally discuss the space race, one name that usually doesn’t seem to get mentioned on many TV shows or films is that of Valentina Tereshkova. This is surprising considering that Tereshkova was the first woman in space, (20 years before the Americans put a woman in space), at the time she was also the youngest person in space and the 12^th overall human in to leave the confines of our planet, but more about that later.

Tereshkova was born in Maslennikovo, a small village in central Russia, Her father died as a soldier in World War two when Tereshkova was 2 years old. Miriam’s mother, who was a factory worker in a textile plant, had to raise Valentina and her 2 sibling on her own. Due to the financial constraints on the family Tereshkova was not able to start school until the age of 8 and from 16 had to continue via correspondence courses when she started working to help out her mother. At the age of 22 she joined the Yaroslavl Air Sports Club to pursue her interests in skydiving. Sergey Korolyov the genius Chief Engineer behind the Soviet Space programme after putting Yuri Gagarin in space came up with the idea of putting a woman in space. Tereshkova put her name down and was chosen for the programme. On the 16th June 1963 just over 2 years after Gagarin, Tereshkova became the first woman in space. Orbiting the Earth 48 times.

Upon returning to earth and after receiving top honours from the state. Tereshkova toured the world as a goodwill ambassador. She married Fellow Cosmonaut Andriyan Nikolayev and continued to work as an aerospace engineer, before entering politics and fighting for women’s rights within the Soviet Union.

International Womens Day Tribute Five

As the more enlightened of you might know the 8^th of March is International Women’s days. In honour of this, I will be writing a small article about 7 women whom I believe should be celebrated more for their achievements, and then posting one article each day in the week proceeding the 8^th of March. Now some of you might know a lot more about the subjects then I do, which is all well and good, remember these are women I believe should be more celebrated because I haven’t heard about them a lot. As the articles will be brief I ask you to look up more on these extraordinary women yourself.

Name: Irena Sendler aka Jolanta

Born: 15 February 1910

Died: 12 May 2008

From: Poland

Should be known more for: Saving almost 2500 Jewish children from the Nazis

Irena Krzyzanowska was born just outside of Warsaw in the town of Otwock, to a local doctor who died when his daughter was merely 7 years old. Though little is known of her early life we do know that she studied at the University of Warsaw and was a member of the Polish Socialist Party. When World War 2 broke out, the now married Irena Sendler was living in Warsaw working for the Social Services. From the start Sendler worked hard trying to protect the Jewish people of the city from the occupying Nazis. Providing them with necessities and sheltering them, under false names and often marking them down as suffering from diseases to prevent inspections from the gestapo.

When the Nazis started rounding up the Jewish people and imprisoning them into the Warsaw Ghetto, Sendler joined the Polish resistance movement Zegota, taking the code name Jolanta. Using her position in the social service Sendler would enter the ghetto and see the appalling conditions first-hand.  Knowing that she had to do something about this, Sendler recruited help from within and without the social services, to help rescue children from inside the ghetto and then have them placed in safe locations outside. She also kept meticulous records of the children, so that hopefully they may one day be reunited with their families. She buried the records (almost 2500 of them) in a jar, as not to have them fall into the wrong hands.

In October 1943 having caught onto her, Sendler was arrested by the gestapo and tortured severely, so severely in fact that it would cripple her for life. She did not break however and neither revealed any of her associates nor the locations of any of the children. Due to be killed by firing squad Sendler was rescued by the Zegota who bribed the guards, and had her reported as executed. She spent the rest of the war in hiding but still working with Jewish children. After the war she passed all her records to Zegota so that the children could be reunited with their families.

International Womens Day Tribute Four

As the more enlightened of you might know the 8^th of March is International Women’s days. In honour of this, I will be writing a small article about 7 women whom I believe should be celebrated more for their achievements, and then posting one article each day in the week proceeding the 8^th of March. Now some of you might know a lot more about the subjects then I do, which is all well and good, remember these are women I believe should be more celebrated because I haven’t heard about them a lot. As the articles will be brief I ask you to look up more on these extraordinary women yourself.

Name: Elizabeth Jane Cochran aka Nellie Bly

Born: 5 May 1864

Died: 27 January 1922

From: United States of America

Should be known more for: Pioneering Journalism and Circumnavigation

Elizabeth Jane Cochran aka Nellie Bly was born in Pennsylvania in Township of Burrell. At an early age her father passed away leaving the family in financial hardship, meaning that the young Cochran had to leave her boarding school after only one year. At the age of 16 her family moved to Pittsburgh. There upon reading a sexist column called "What Girls Are Good For" in the newspaper The Pittsburgh Dispatch. Elizabeth wrote a scathing rebuttal of this to the editor of the paper. Impressed by the writing, the editor sought out Cochran offering her a chance to write an article for the Dispatch and upon reading that a full time job. As it was custom at the time for women working in journalism to pick a pseudonym to write under, Cochran did the same and Nellie Bly was born.

Originally focusing her articles on the lives and suffering of working women, Bly grew sick and tired of being pushed by the higher ups, toward more traditional subject of Female Journalism i.e. the fashion or society pages. She decided to go to Mexico and report from there as a foreign correspondence. She was 21 at the time. She spent six months in Mexico reporting on the lives and culture of every day Mexicans. She was forced to leave Mexico after writing an article about this mistreatment of a local journalist by the dictator Porfirio Díaz. Returning to the Pittsburgh Dispatch Bly was again pushed towards more “womanly” articles and decided to seek her fortunes elsewhere.

That elsewhere was New York City; Bly made her way to the offices of the newspaper The New York World and pitched an idea for an undercover expose on the working of a women’s mental asylum. She pretended to be mentally ill, fooling several doctors and was placed inside the asylum, 10 days later the New York World helped facilitate her release and published her article. The article caused such uproar that it bought forth many changes to the treatment of the mentally ill.  For her next adventure Bly was inspired by the novel and decided to try and go Around the World in 80 day. A rival newspaper decided that it make a race by sending their own reporter Elizabeth Bisland in the opposite direction. During her trip which took her through Europe, South and South East Asia, Bly would send progress reports back to the New York World. She completed the trip in 72 days, beating Elizabeth Bisland by just less than 5 days. After leaving journalism to get married and to run her husband’s steel container factory, Bly would return to journalism later in life, and would cover world war ones eastern front and the women’s suffragette movement.

International Womens Day Tribute Three

As the more enlightened of you might know the 8^th of March is International Women’s days. In honour of this, I will be writing a small article about 7 women whom I believe should be celebrated more for their achievements, and then posting one article each day in the week proceeding the 8^th of March. Now some of you might know a lot more about the subjects then I do, which is all well and good, remember these are women I believe should be more celebrated because I haven’t heard about them a lot. As the articles will be brief I ask you to look up more on these extraordinary women yourself.

Name: Sarah Emma Edmonds

Born: December 1841

Died: 5 September 1898

From: Canada

Should be known more for: Serving in the Union army and Spying

Sarah Emma Edmonds grew up reading the novel ‘Fanny Campbell, the female pirate captain’ by Maturin Murray Ballou. Where the eponymous heroine dresses up as a man and has many adventures. This must have had a profound effect on the young Edmonds. At the age of 16 escaping her abusive father and an unwanted arranged marriage she immigrated to the United States, where she disguised herself as a man called Franklin Flint Thomas and found work as a travelling bible salesman.

Then the American Civil War broke out and Edmonds chance to shine came. She enlisted into the Union army, under her alias of Franklin Thomas. Originally working as a male nurse Edmonds or Franklin took part in many battles in her capacity as a nurse. However it was her later career as a spy that would allow her to fully fulfil her inner adventuress. Infiltrating confederate camps in a wide range of disguises, such as a black man named Cuff, an Irish peddler woman named Bridget O’Shea, and a Black Laundress who bought back a packet of official papers she found in a confederate officers jacket and was congratulated for her fine work.

Edmonds career as a soldier spy came to an abrupt end when she contracted malaria and had to leave without permission to get treatment. She did not want to be treated by the army doctor out of fear of being found out as a woman, and an official request to leave had been denied. Upon return after her recovery she found out that her alias Franklin Thomas had been listed as a deserter, and that she would face harsh punishment if she came back. Instead she returned to working with the Union army as a female nurse until the end of the war. After the war she published her memoirs and was later granted an army pension for her service.