You know the drill: bold titles mean must-watches and unmarked means it's optional. I just copied and pasted and paraphrased that last sentence, because plagiarizing your own work is totally acceptable (and at least I owned it)--AGAIN.
(There are some award-season films that I overlooked as they were mostly released in 2017 and obviously, we have to watch them anyway. Some films that are too far in the year are selected from its premise, cast and crew.)
JANUARY
The Commuter Liam Neeson, Vera Farmiga, Jaume Collet-Serra (director)
12 Strong Chris Hemsworth, Michael Shannon, Nicolai Fuglsig (director)
FEBRUARY
Annihilation Natalie Portman, Tessa Thompson, Alex Garland (director)
Black Panther Chadwick Boseman, Michael B. Jordan, Ryan Coogler (director)
MARCH
Isle of Dogs Edward Norton, Bryan Cranston, Wes Anderson (director)
Ready Player One Tye Sheridan, Mark Rylance, Steven Spielberg (director)
Red Sparrow Jennifer Lawrence, Joel Edgerton, Francis Lawrence (director)
A Wrinkle in Time Chris Pine, Oprah Winfrey, Ava Duvernay (director)
7 Days in Entebbe Rosamund Pike, Daniel Bruhl, Jose Padilha (director)
Mary Magdalene Rooney Mara, Joaquin Phoenix, Garth Davis (director)
Tomb Raider Alicia Vikander, Dominic West, Roar Uthaug (director)
Pacific Rim: Uprising John Boyega, Scott Eastwood, Steven S. DeKnight (director)
APRIL
God Particle Daniel Bruhl, Elizabeth Debicki, Julius Onah (director)
The New Mutants Anya Taylor-Joy, Maisie Williams, Josh Boone (director)
Beirut Jon Hamm, Rosamund Pike, Brad Anderson (director)
A Quiet Place Emily Blunt, John Krasinski, John Krasinski (director)
Tully Charlize Theron, Mackenzie Davis, Jason Reitman (director)
Rampage Dwayne Johnson, Naomie Harris, Brad Peyton (director)
MAY
Avengers: Infinity War Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Russo Brothers (directors)
Where'd You Go, Bernadette Cate Blanchett, Billy Crudup, Richard Linklater (director)
Solo: A Star Wars Story Alden Ehrenreich, Donald Glover, ? (director)
JUNE
Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, JA Bayona (director)
Deadpool 2 Ryan Reynolds, Josh Brolin, David Leitch (director)
The Incredibles 2 Holly Hunter, Samuel L. Jackson, Brad Bird (director)
Ocean's 8 Sandra Bullock, Cate Blanchett, Gary Ross (director)
Sicario 2: Soldado Josh Brolin, Joel Edgerton, Stefano Sollima (director)
JULY
Mission: Impossible 6 Tom Cruise, Henry Cavill, Christopher McQuarrie (director)
Ant-Man & The Wasp Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly, Peyton Reed (director)
Alita: Battle Angel Rosa Salazar, Christoph Waltz, Robert Rodriguez (director)
Mamma Mia! 2 Lily James, Amanda Seyfried, Ol Parker (director)
Skyscraper Dwayne Johnson, Neve Campbell, Rawson Marshall Thurber (director)
AUGUST
The Predator Boyd Holbrook, Olivia Munn, Shane Black (director)
The Meg Jason Statham, Ruby Rose, Jon Turteltaub (director)
Scarface Diego Luna, Coen Brothers (directors)
The Equalizer 2 Denzel Washington, Antoine Fuqua (director)
Crazy Rich Asians Constance Wu, Henry Golding, Jon M. Chu (director)
Captive State John Goodman, Vera Farmiga, Rupert Wyatt (director)
Christopher Robin Ewan McGregor, Hayley Atwell, Marc Forster (director)
Kin James Franco, Zoe Kravitz, Baker Brothers (directors)
SEPTEMBER
Robin Hood Taron Egerton, Jamie Foxx, Otto Bathurst (director)
Johnny English 3 Rowan Atkinson, Olga Kurylenko, David Kerr (director)
Boy Erased Lucas Hedges, Russell Crowe, Josh Edgerton (director)
OCTOBER
First Man Ryan Gosling, Claire Foy, Damien Chazelle (director)
The Girl in the Spider's Web Claire Foy, Fede Alvarez (director)
Mowgli Christian Bale, Benedict Cumberbatch, Andy Serkis (director)
Venom Tom Hardy, Michelle Williams, Ruben Fleischer (director)
Bad Times at the El Royale Chris Hemsworth, Drew Goddard (director)
NOVEMBER
X-Men: Dark Phoenix Sophie Turner, James McAvoy, Simon Kinberg (director)
Fantastic Beasts 2 Eddie Redmayne, Jude Law, David Yates (director)
Creed 2 Michael B. Jordan, Tessa Thompson, Steven Caple Jr. (director)
Widows Viola Davis, Elizabeth Debicki, Steve McQueen (director)
Holmes & Watson Will Ferrell, John C. Reilly, Etan Cohen (director)
Mary Queen of Scots Margot Robbie, Saoirse Ronan, Josie Rourke (director)
Nutcracker & Four Realms Keira Knightey, Lasse Halstrom (director)
Wreck-It-Ralph 2 John C. Reilly, Sarah Silverman, Rich Moore (director)
DECEMBER
Aquaman Jason Momoa, Willem Dafoe, James Wan (director)
Mary Poppins Returns Emily Blunt, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Rob Marshall (director)
Bumblebee Hailee Steinfeld, Travis Knight (director)
Mortal Engines Christian Rivers (director)
Bohemian Rhapsody Rami Malek, ? (directors)
I feel like there are more films that you can skip easily this year especially the comedies and some actioners. Even Clint Eastwood's latest isn't compelling for me as a non-American. The Rock has two films this year and after last year's disappointments, we'll proceed with more caution now. Some sequels also has to be approached with less expectations such as Pacific Rim: Uprising, Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again and Soldado. Not to mention there are at least two troubled productions this year, the Han Solo prequel and the Freddie Mercury biopic. We've seen how reshoots can impact a film from the 'successful' Rogue One to the disastrous Justice League, it'll be interesting to see how those two films turn out.
From last year's list of 61 films, I watched 41 of them. Some of them hasn't been released and a few were bumped to this year (transfers from last year include Red Sparrow and God Particle). Last year I put four duds in my top 10 (JL, Kingsman 2, Kong Skull Island and Alien Covenant). Let's see how I fare this year. Honorable mentions go to Alita Battle Angel, The New Mutants, Isle of Dogs and Widows (scripted by Gone Girl's Gillian Flynn!). Here's my top 10 anticipated films for 2018:
10. Robin Hood - Hoping for a Peaky Blinders/Kingsman vibe in this one
9. Mission Impossible 6 - All in for Tom Cruise in action mode
8. Ready Player One - So far the trailers look great
7. Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom - Ugly title though
6. Deadpool 2 - Annual dose of R-rated superhero film
5. Aquaman - Hoping for a Wonder Woman-scale success
4. Avengers: Infinity War - if this isn't in your list, whats wrong with you
3. God Particle - God bless the Cloverfield series
2. Annihilation - Alex Garland yass
1. First Man - Ryan Gosling & Damien Chazelle double yasss
My new year's resolution this year is easy: list all the films/episodes I watch this year and probably at the end of the year I can reflect on how much time was utilized (or wasted or saved) by watching them. Also, I'm on Letterboxd, find me!
And also get a better job.
