When I first heard that another installment in the "Harry Potter" franchise was in the works, I didn't believe it. I thought it was some kind of joke, I thought the series was done; but I guess it's still a pleasant surprise. Now in all honesty I am not a big fan of the series, while they always impressed me I never gravitated to them. I never even saw the last two movies in the series. But for some reason this one has me interested. Acting as a prequel, the story revolves around a wizard who travels to New York and accidentally releases a number of magical animals upon the city. I guess what has made me most interested in this movie would be its lead actor, Eddie Redmayne. Winner of the Oscar for best actor in a leading role, he has really made a name for himself over the past few years. I didn't read the book this movie was based off of, but I have heard that it was pretty good. So I have high hopes that "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them" could be a hit just like its predecessors.
When
people think of the film industry they usually think of the world's biggest
movie producers: Hollywood, Bollywood, England, Japan, and China to name some
of the big boys. But people seem to forget that almost every country in the
world produces movies, and some of the best come from countries with smaller
industries. For years now New Zealand has actually started to separate itself
from the pack, and establish itself as a real player in the international movie
scene. The man standing at the forefront of this movement is director Taika
Waititi. Hailing from New Zealand, he has produced some of the country’s most
lauded movie; the criminally underrated "Boy," and the highly
acclaimed horror comedy "What We Do in the Shadows." He's even been
signed on to direct "Thor: Ragnarok." But his latest movie is called
"Hunt for the Wilderpeople." As of writing this article, it is
actually one of the best reviewed movies of the year; holing a 100% approval
rating from 77 critics on Rotten Tomatoes. A coming of age comedy, watching the
trailer for the first time made me laugh out loud more than once. Waititi is an
incredibly talented director, and from what I've heard "Hunter for the
Wilderpeople" may be his best movie.
It's hard to imagine that just a few decades ago that there were laws in place that seem completely absurd by today's standards, such as marrying someone from a different race. But that law came to an end when it met Richard and Mildred Loving. Richard was a white man living in Virginia who courts and proposes to his beloved Mildred, a black woman. The two were later arrested, since at the time interracial marriages were illegal in the state. They then decided to sue the state of Virginia, and their case made it all the way to the Supreme Court which ruled in favor of the couple. There are a lot of reasons I am interested in this movie; the story is interesting and a landmark case in American history, the film was met with rave reviews after its premiere at the Cannes film festival, but above all I am interested because of the director. For the second time this year, the best director currently working Jeff Nichols will be stepping behind the camera Earlier in 2016 Nichols directed "Midnight Special," which I consider to be the best movie released so far this year as of writing this article. And as long as Nichols is directing a movie, I will always be excited for it.
For years now, Disney animation has been on an absolute tear: "Tangled," "Wreck-it-Ralph," "Frozen," "Big Hero 6," and this year's "Zootopia." The studio has taken back the crown from Pixar as the king of animation. And their upcoming film "Moana" has become one of my most anticipated of the year. The film follows Moana, a young Polynesian woman with a knack for navigation, as she searches for a fabled island with the help of a demi-god. Despite being announced some time ago, plot details are thin. Other than that brief summary and a short trailer we've gotten almost nothing from this movie; and considering that it's coming out in a little over four months, that's a kind of surprising. But from that trailer we got a sense of the humor, adventure, and astonishingly gorgeous animation. And I'll admit that I'm a sucker for a good Disney princess movie.
Earlier this year I put out a list called "5 Movies to Look for in 2016," and on that list "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story" was ranked at number three. And since I put that list out I have only grown more excited. Since then we've seen a proper trailer for the movie, and it looked epic. "Rogue One" looks like something that "Star Wars" fans have wanted for a long time, a proper war movie. While the animated TV shows in the franchise did a good job capturing the horrors of war, I'm excited to see it translate to the big screen. What we know about the story is that it follows a rebel squadron as they attempt to steal the plans for the death star. Recently, many fans of the series became nervous about the film's release, since it was announced that there were re-shoots after Disney executives saw an early cut, possibly because there wasn't enough action-adventure. While re-shoots are fairly common in Hollywood, many are still unsure about the studio's involvement; but even so, "Rogue One" could be the movie fans of the series have waited years for.
In 1915, director D.W. Griffith released a film titled "Birth of a Nation." The movie glorified the KKK, and would become the highest grossing movie of the time. To this day it is still considered to be one of the most controversial films ever made, but is often considered one of the most important movies of the silent era. Now just over 100 years later, we are met with something much different. Actor Nate Parker will be making his directorial debut with "The Birth of a Nation," which tells the story of Nat Turner. Turner was a slave living in the early 1800s who was taught to read and would go on to study the bible and become a preacher for slaves. In 1831 (the year of his death), Turner lead a slave rebellion that left many casualties on both sides. He would eventually be captured, and summarily executed. "The Birth of a Nation" premiered earlier this year at the Sundance Film Festival, where it was met with much acclaim from critics and audiences. Many have said that it is the best movie released so far this year. The closer we get to this movie's wide release, the more excited I get. And if it's even half as good as people have been saying this really could be one of the year's best.
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