Watch the trailer here
The extent to which his debut feature District 9 blew my mind means I will always be interested in what South African director Neill Blomkamp puts out, no matter what kind of film it is.
My excitement for Chappie is amplified by how it appears to be a return to the scrappier, rougher storytelling of District 9 following the relative disappointment of his 2013 effort Elysium, which often felt a tad anodyne. Plus, I'm pretty much up for any movie about a robot. Which this is.
NZ Release date: March 12th
Mad Max: Fury Road
Watch the trailer here
It looks like it's up to Aussie director George Miller to put the tangibility back into blockbuster genre film-making, and the trailer for his return to the world of Mad Max drips with sweat and grease.
I'm all for CGI, but the prospect of a crazy-ass action movie with predominantly practical stunts and effects feels like a special occasion in this day and age. Is there anyone out there lamenting Mel Gibson's absence from this? A cameo might be nice, but I ain't holding my breath.
NZ Release date: May 14th
A Most Violent Year
Writer/director JC Chandor has only made two movies (Margin Call, All Is Lost), but they both demonstrated a commitment to a measured kind of film-making that is all too rare these days.
His new work is set in New York in 1981 and the trailer projects an awesomely authentic aesthetic. Quite possibly my two favourite actors working today, Oscar Issac (Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Inside Llewyn Davis) and Jessica Chastain (Interstellar, Zero Dark Thirty) play a married couple whose business dealings are shadier than might first appear.
NZ Release date: TBA
Crimson Peak
The idea of Guillermo Del Toro (Pacific Rim, Pan's Labyrinth) making a period haunted house movie positively gives me goosebumps. The director's clear affection for all things gothic and classic comes through in all of his works (well, maybe not Pacific Rim). Plus, he's incredibly well-versed in the history of ghost stories, so you just know he's going to put an innovative spin on the genre. All this combined with these recently-released images point to one doozy of an old-fashioned chiller.
NZ Release date: October 15th.
Tomorrowland
A Disney film named after and inspired by a section of Disneyland should inspire more cynicism in me, but gosh darn if Tomorrowland doesn't look freaking awesome.
I'm a giant sucker for retro futurism, which looks set to play a large role in this family-friendly fantasy adventure. Plus, Brad Bird (The Incredibles; Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol) is another director I'll follow anywhere.
NZ Release date: May 21st
Inherent Vice
Based on the trailer, Paul Thomas Anderson's new film looks like it'll be a somewhat cheerier affair than his last two works, The Master and There Will Be Blood, both of which were pretty heavy. With a cast that includes Joaquin Phoenix, Josh Brolin, Jena Malone, Owen Wilson, Martin Short AND Eric Roberts, even the fact that it's based on a book by insufferably enigmatic writer Thomas Pynchon can't put me off.
Plus, this is strongly evoking Robert Altman's 1973 cult classic The Long Goodbye, one of the all-time great Los Angeles movies, which has already shown its influence in Anderson's other works.
NZ Release date: February 19th.
Avengers: Age of Ultron
Watch the trailer here
I'm constantly telling anyone who'll listen that all my pubescent superhero movie fantasies have come to pass over the past decade or so, and I'm very ready for other types of blockbusters to come to the fore.
There just doesn't seem to be anything significant left to achieve in superhero movies. Despite this, I am undeniably amped for Age of Ultron. If only to see how Joss Whedon unleashes his witty storytelling prowess on a sequel.
NZ Release date: April 23rd
Jurassic World
Watch the trailer here
I'll never forget the giddy fervour I experienced in the lead up to Jurassic Park's release in 1993, and it's been highly satisfying watching it become the Jaws of my generation.
The 1997 sequel, The Lost World: Jurassic Park, is hugely underrated, but 2001's Jurassic Park III is a justly derided turd. It's reassuring on some level that they've put aside all the crazy ideas once mooted for a fourth entry (like mutated dino-men wielding guns), and have gone for what appears straight follow-up. Plus for some reason the blue colour-palette dominating the trailer is proving highly appealing.
NZ Release date: June 11th
That's What I'm Talking About
Writer/director Richard Linklater has described his new film as a spiritual follow-up to both his all-time 1994 classic
Dazed and Confused
and his latest film
Boyhood
.
That's What I'm Talking About follows the social experiences of young baseball-playing college freshmen and will no doubt touch on autobiographical elements of Linklater's life, just as Dazed did. If that plot synopsis was in any other director's hands, we might have cause to be worried, but this sounds like a perfect setting for Linklater's reliably resonant characters.
NZ Release date: TBA.
Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Watch the trailer here
Well, heck, is anyone not excited to see this? Even the haters must admit to being curious.
NZ Release date: December 17th.
•Amped for any of these? What else? Comment below!
