Captain America: Civil War
Release date: April 29th (UK), 6th May (US)
Obviously, any Marvel Studios production these days is going to get a lot of promotion and a high box-office gross, as the company has done a great job of bringing many of their iconic series to the big screen. And while each new film always has people anticipating them before release, Captain America: Civil War may have fans at their most excited since 2012’s The Avengers. The threequel will retain the writers of both previous franchise entries and will also, once again, be directed by the Russo brothers – the filmmaking duo that set a new precedent for the Marvel Cinematic Universe with the darker and grittier Captain America: The Winter Soldier, in 2014.
Obviously, the continuing adventures of Steve Rogers, his new partner Falcon, and his conflicted best friend Bucky will once again take center stage, but the big draw this time around is the additional involvement of many other prominent characters – including Black Widow, Ant-Man, and most notably Robert Downey Jr. returning as Tony Stark.
Not only that, but the film will serve as the debut of two iconic characters before their own films are released. Chadwick Boseman will don the Black Panther suit, and Tom Holland will give Spider-Man his highly anticipated Marvel Cinematic Universe introduction.
Despite having the most expansive character lineup since Avengers: Age of Ultron, the first teaser still emphasizes that the film will remain Cap’s story, with an emphasis on bringing the formerly-brainwashed Bucky back to his old self, as well as the titular conflict between two teams of heroes due to a divisive government act. Whether or not the Russos can equal or top their fantastic work in The Winter Soldier remains to be seen, but it looks very likely that, either way, this title will be an important one for the future of the MCU and its characters.
– John Fleury
Ratchet And Clank
Release date: April 29th
The track record for genuinely good movies based on video games is still non-existent, even though it’s been over 20 years since the first attempt was made with the infamous Super Mario Bros film. For the first few years, it could be argued that a big part of the problem was that the simplicity of earlier games and their plots made it difficult to expand them to a feature-length story. At this point, though, storytelling in games has evolved so much that the lousy adaptations we get today are probably more the fault of the movie studios behind them.
Ratchet And Clank will be the first of several high-profile video game movies this year, and it has a number of things going for it. The long-running PlayStation series it draws from is well known for its sense of humor, memorable characters, and wonderfully creative environments and technology. Series creators Insomniac Games have been closely involved in the film’s creation, and while it boasts the typical celebrity voice cast for many side characters, the titular duo will thankfully retain their original voice actors from the games.
There’s still a chance that the film will disappoint, as the animation studio behind it has a less-than-stellar track record and the jokes in the most recent trailer were hit and miss, but one thing the movie definitely has going for it is remaining faithful to the ideas, characters, and other aspects of the games that people love. Here’s hoping that Ratchet And Clank can deliver on the potential of its source material.
– John Fleury
Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising
Release date: 6th May (UK), 20th May (US)
If any comedy doesn’t really warrant a sequel, it’s probably Neighbors. The shockingly great 2014 movie found a certain comedic sweet spot in mining humor out of the growing pains of two disparate groups — a thirty-something married couple afraid of adulthood and a twenty-something frat boy afraid of the exact same thing — but the movie was so consistently great that the prospect of a sequel feels far more earned than most lazy cash grabs to unexpected success stories.
Sorority Rising finds Mac and Kelly Radner (Seth Rogen and Rose Byrne) facing yet another collegiate uprising against their suburban peace, this time from a Chloë Grace Moretz-led sorority called Kappa Nu. There’s potential for the sequel to divulge into the exact same scatterbrained structure of the original, but with all of the returning heavy-hitters back (including Zac Efron and Ike Barinholtz, along with director Nicholas Stoller), it’s far easier to look at Neighbors 2 as one of the biggest potential comedies of the year outside of the Ghostbusters reboot.
– Mitchel Broussard
Money Monster
Release date: 13th May (US), 27th May (UK)
Remember when George Clooney used to star in proper movies? I mean, not just projects that provided an opportunity to hang out with friends – like the Ocean’s Eleven franchise, or Monuments Men – but proper movies, that were actually about something, and that required him to really act. Sure, he was great in Gravity, but a few minutes of screen-time doesn’t really count, and it’s been five whole years since The Descendants. This alone is enough to make Money Monster an exciting prospect, but add into the mix the fact that it is directed by Jodie Foster, and it is suddenly elevated to ‘highly anticipated’ status.
Clooney stars as Lee Gates – host of a somewhat toxic, yet popular, financial TV show that offers advice on stocks and shares. When the TV studio is invaded by a gun-toting investor (played by Jack O’Connell), it transpires that a stock promoted by Gates inexplicably crashed, causing many to lose everything. With the combative investor holding Gates and his producer (played by Julia Roberts) hostage, the story will reportedly unfold in real time as they work to find the truth behind the apparent manipulation of the stock market.
It seems like a tight thriller, with all of Jodie Foster’s award-winning directorial skills brought to bear, and – hopefully – an honest-to-goodness acting performance from George Clooney at its centre. The anticipation here prompts two questions: Will Money Monster represent another high-profile success for a woman film director; and will George Clooney finally remember where he left his acting skills? We’re on the edge of our seats, waiting to find out.
– Sarah Myles