From mutants to monsters
Here are the top 10 most anticipated comic and sci-fi movies of 2019.
IT’S going to rain genre movies in 2019. That’s bad for movie critics who only like talky dramas, but great for popcorn-loving plebes who apparently don’t know any better. There are too many to even list, so let’s just look at the top 10 comics, sci-fi, horror, and animation movies of 2019, in reverse order of my enthusiasm.
10) Glass
Unbreakable had comics fans feeling smug, because we knew the colour code director M. Night Shyamalan was using to give us advance tips on the characters before the script did. (Hint: Superheroes generally wear primary colors, whereas villains favour purple, green and orange.)
Shyamalan’s stock fell for a while, before being rescued by Split. Now comes Glass, which is a sequel to both movies, heretofore unrelated. That’s some trick, M. Night.
9) Godzilla: King Of The Monsters
I hear there are some people who don’t love Godzilla, and didn’t spend Saturday afternoons in their youth thrilling to the sight of men in rubber suits trampling tiny models of Tokyo. I don’t understand such people. That’s like hating kittens, or sex.
Well, it takes all kinds. And my kind of person will be front and center for this updated take on the Big G, Mothra, Rodan and King Ghidorah. Given today’s special effects, this sequel to 2014’s Godzilla should be quite a show. (Although I confess some part of me will miss the rubber suits.)
8) Shazam!
It’s a joy to see the original Captain Marvel – yes, that was his name when he was introduced in 1940 – given his due.
This is the story of a boy who is given a magic word from a dying wizard that turns him into an immature, but genial, super-powered adult. Now called Shazam, this light-hearted character is the perfect antidote to the grim darkness of movies like Batman v Superman.
7) The New Mutants
This next generation group of X-Men, introduced at Marvel Comics in 1982, had some pretty strange, non-superhero-ish adventures.
One was a straight-up horror show titled The Demon Bear – and that’s what we’re getting in this hero/horror hybrid, which stars Anya Taylor-Joy, Maisie Williams, Charlie Heaton and Rosario Dawson.
6) Dark Phoenix
This movie promises a more faithful adaptation of the famed X-Men story The Dark Phoenix Saga than the mess we saw in X-Men: The Last Stand.
It’s also probably the last X-movie before Disney reboots the franchise, so this is probably the last X-dance for Sophie Turner as Jean Grey, James McAvoy as Charles Xavier, Michael Fassbender as Magneto and Jennifer Lawrence as Mystique.
5) Hellboy
The two movies directed by Guillermo del Toro, which starred Ron Perlman as the demonic hero, were perfectly enjoyable films. But they weren’t really Hellboy.
This new version, starring David Harbour promises to be more faithful to the comics, so that movie viewers can see why comics fans have loved Hellboy for so many years.
4) Captain Marvel
Yes, it’s Marvel’s first female-led superhero movie. Yes, it’s Marvel’s first period-piece superhero movie. But is it good? I’m hoping for Wonder Woman good, but I’ll settle for Ant-Man good.
3) Spider-Man: Far From Home
Tom Holland made us fall in love with Peter Parker all over again in Homecoming and Civil War. Bring on Mysterio (Jake Gyllenhaal) and the popcorn!
2) Star Wars Episode IX
The last Star Wars movie got a lot of hate, and I for one have no idea why.
But maybe it shook the powers that be, because Star Wars mastermind J.J. Abrams himself returns to direct this (unnamed) installment, which should conclude the storyline starring Rey, Kylo Ren, Finn and Poe Dameron.
1) Avengers: Endgame
There’s not a lot to say about this movie, because we know so little. But evidently we don’t need to know anything, because Endgame is already setting records for trailer views and advance ticket sales.