X-Men: Apocalypse
Release date: 19th May (UK), 27th May (US)
It seemed like just a few years ago that the X-Men franchise was toast after the less than enthusiastic reception of X-Men: The Last Stand and X-Men Origins: Wolverine – but, in 2016, we’re going to get (maybe) three X-Men movies. In the summer, Bryan Singer will bring us Apocalypse – which is one of the comic book’s long-standing X-Men rogues, and one with a simple philosophy: only the strong survive. It’s a mission he’s been committed to for centuries and, played by the man of the year, Oscar Isaac, Apocalypse is primed to be one of the most iconic and memorable comic book villains in years.
Of course, there are concerns about how Apocalypse looks, jokes about how he seems like a Power Rangers villain, and if you’re one of those people, you might recall a lot of smack talk about Quicksilver in the weeks leading up Days of Future Past. Remember how that turned out? Yup, Quicksilver will be back in this one, as will young Professor X, Magneto, Mystique and Beast. We’ll also meet young Cyclops, Jean Grey, Nightcrawler, and Storm along with Angel, Jubilee, Caliban and Psylocke. There are so many mutants in this movie you might be having negative visions of The Last Stand, but coming off the success of Days, and the consistent fine work of Singer when he’s working in the X-Universe, there’s no reason not to expect great things from Apocalypse.
– Adam Donaldson
The Nice Guys
Release date: May 20th
Throughout a long and decorated career on both sides of the lens – penning razor-sharp scripts for the Lethal Weapon series in one instance, and directing Robert Downey Jr.’s irreverent Marvel billionaire in the other – Shane Black has cemented his place as one of the industry’s more exciting directors.
Black’s directorial debut Kiss Kiss Bang Bang encapsulated much of that confidence and rat-a-tat style that has since imbued in all of his work, and fans will be pleased to note that The Nice Guys retains all of the director’s stylistic tendencies — and then some.
Sending Ryan Gosling and Russell Crowe back to 1970s LA, Black’s noir thriller has the former star as private eye Holland March. Down on his luck, March turns to Crowe’s muscle for hire Jackson Healy to right some wrongs, paving the way for a mismatched buddy cop comedy that harkens back to Black’s formative years working on Lethal Weapon. Toss in Matt Bomer, Margaret Qualley and Kim Basinger into the mix and you have a neon-drenched thriller that you daren’t take your eye off.
– Michael Briers
Warcraft
Release date: June 3rd (UK), June 10th (US)
At this point, it’s pretty much a cliche to draw attention to video game adaptations’ poor track record on the big screen. Suffice it to say that almost all of them have been abysmal, which is why gamers around the world will have their eyes on the Tomato-meter for Warcraft’s summer release. That might sound more ominous than exciting, but check out the guy occupying the director’s chair: the son of the late, great David Bowie – Duncan Jones – who won an Outstanding Debut BAFTA for his 2009 sci-fi effort, Moon.
[zergpaid]Oh, and special effects wizards Industrial Light And Magic are on the team, too, ensuring that the film’s motion-capture orcs look as lifelike as the humans. Perhaps best of all, this film hasn’t just got Blizzard’s blessing, they’re also billed as one of the producers, with Chris Metzen — the man behind the fictional universes of every big Blizzard franchise from Diablo to StarCraft — getting credit for the story. Add to all this the potential for a complex portrait of war, with both sides being portrayed as worthy of empathy, and you may just have the recipe for the first truly great video game film.
– Joseph Meli
The Conjuring 2
Release date: June 10th (US), June 17th (UK)
A temporary detour into the beefy action of Furious 7 doesn’t seem to have quelled director James Wan’s love of the glorious spooks that terrorized ghost hunters Ed and Lorraine Warren, who are back in The Conjuring 2 this summer. The sequel shifts the setting to North London, where the Warrens (Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson) must help a new family struggling from the haunting of malicious spirits, all still based on the “true case files” of the real-life Ed and Lorraine.
Believe in that truth or not, The Conjuring was arguably the last truly great horror movie, and there’s still real potential in the franchise’s straddling of the auteur fright flick market with the shrieky, jumpy haunted funhouse sub-genre. Add onto that the fact that the sequel wasn’t fast-tracked after the original’s booming success and there’s a decent chance that three years of care and attention went into making this sequel a worthy follow-up.
– Mitchel Broussard