5 Things I’m Looking Forward to in 2018

2017 was an amazing year in film. There were a lot of well-received original films, but we also got some great sequels. 2018 too looks like a promising year, there’ll be a new Scorsese film, a new Spielberg film… Will it surpass 2017 in quality? I have no idea, but there are still some things I’m looking forward to, so here is my top five of those things.

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Annihilation will be directed by the same genius behind the 2014 sci-fi film called Ex Machina. I was instantly a big fan of that film and wanted to see more of the director. Unfortunately, I found out that he hadn’t made any films prior to Ex Machina. Fast forward some time and it’s announced that he’ll be directing another sci-fi film also starring Oscar Isaac, who by the way gave a fantastic performance in Ex Machina, and I was instantly hyped to see the film.
Annihilation is based on a sci-fi novel that’s supposedly very good (haven’t read it yet, but I probably will before the film is released) and tells a surreal and original story. The recent trailers haven’t given away anything major for the story, but have shown that this won’t be your ordinary sci-fi flick, which only has excited me even more to watch the film. Due to the odd nature of the film, there were some issues between the producers, some of which wanted it to be a more conventional story. Conflict is never really good, but out of this one, something positive followed: Netflix will be streaming it outside of the US (if I’m informed correctly), 17 days after its theatrical release in the US. Why is this something good? Well, now I can be sure that I’ll be able to watch it because my country probably wouldn’t’ve played it in the cinemas otherwise since it isn’t a major Hollywood blockbuster. The film will be out in theaters on February 23th and will be internationally streaming 17 days thereafter.

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Sharp Objects is not a movie, but a tv show that’ll premiere on HBO in June of this year and that is based on Gillian Flynn’s book of the same name. I really dig everything that Flynn has written. I loved Gone Girl and liked Dark Places, but I found Sharp Objects to be even better than those two. Sharp Objects was quite a shocking read and scary at times, with some extremely well-written characters and unexpected twists. In short: all things I love. There’s one thing that has me feeling a little worried and that is that Marti Noxon will be writing the show. She hasn’t delivered the greatest material in the past, but let’s hope for the best. However, the fact that it’ll be an HBO show and that Amy Adams will be starring is giving me more than enough confidence to say that it’ll probably be good. Unfortunately, I won’t be able to watch it when it’s released since we don’t have HBO here. Hopefully, they’ll broadcast it on television a few months after its premiere, just like they did with Big Little Lies, which was a surprisingly good show.

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Wes Anderson and another stop motion film. Is there anything else you need to know?

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After waiting for five years, we finally have a new Steve McQueen film, this time written by Gillian Flynn. Based on the premise alone I was excited to see this, but when I found out who’ll be directing I was even more pumped. Here’s the premise

“Set in contemporary Chicago, amidst a time of turmoil, four women with nothing in common except a debt left behind by their dead husbands’ criminal activities, take fate into their own hands, and conspire to forge a future on their own terms.”

With a premise like that, how can you not be excited about this film? It seems pretty interesting and knowing Flynn, we’ll have some strong characters too. The cast is also pretty stacked. It includes among others Jon Bernthal, Liam Neeson, Daniel Kaluuya, Elizabeth Debicki and Carrie Coon. The film will come out 16 November in the US but a couple of days earlier in the UK.

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This is my most anticipated film of 2018 because of two main reasons, one of which is the director. I absolutely love everything Chazelle has done. La La Land didn’t make my top five of 2016, but it was a close call. Whiplash, however, was one of my favorite films of 2014. Both films had fantastic scores to which I still listen today. First Man won’t be a musical centered film, unlike Chazelle’s previous two films, so I’m interested to see what he’ll do with a normal drama. Based on how well he handled the dramatic parts in Whiplash and La La Land I don’t think we have to fear that he’ll handle those badly in First Man. Same goes for the visuals and the soundtrack. Knowing he’s brought on Hurwitz again, who has worked on the score of La La Land and Whiplash and Linus Sandgren, who won an Oscar for his cinematography in La La Land, we can be assured that it’ll be great.
The second reason why I’m excited about this film is the cast. Ryan Gosling, someone who’s quickly become one of my favorite actors working today, will be leading the film as Neil Armstrong. He’ll undoubtedly give an amazing performance, but I bet that there’ll be equally as amazing performances to be found in the supporting cast since we can find both Claire Foy and Jon Bernthal over there. The film will be released on the 12th of October.

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Those were my top five things I’m looking forward to that’ll come out in 2018. There are of course a lot of other movies and tv shows that I’m looking forward to (Outlaw King, The Irishman, Mute, Old Man and the Gun, Galveston, The Man Who Killed Don Quixote…), but these are my top five of those. What movies or TV-shows are you excited for? Comment down below!