Shadow and Flame with Magik

Time for our annual look at the movies coming out in 2020!

If you want to follow along, this article is brought to you by Wikipedia!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_American_films_of_2020

Unofficially, of course.  Though, one of these times, I really should donate to Wikipedia, with how much I rely on them.

We are bound to watch a movie in January so that we can get our 2020 Cinemark Souvenir Cups.  Walker Dennis would get one of him for the first film but then go back to getting his kids combo that includes a very small drink.  But we like having a third one for when we take a guest, most likely, one of our nephews.

January

The Grudge is having another go in the theaters.  John Cho is in it so that’s one thing it has going for it.

Kristen Stewart continues her comeback with Underwater.

The Informer has Clive Owen coming back to films!  I thought about that guy a bunch this year.  He apparently has been making two movies a year for a while but I have not had any of those bring them to my attention.  He was apparently in the show, The Knick, with Chris Sullivan, so I really want to watch that show now.

Whatever happened to Rupert Everett?  I liked him in a slew of things!

Josh Harnett is even coming back to films with Inherit the Viper.

Dolittle may be the movie we actually end up watching in the theater, begrudgingly.  I was not a huge fan of Eddie Murphy’s franchise, only having seen the first one, but it looks like they are putting money in this one with a giant all star voice cast.  Robert Downey Jr. is Dr. Dolittle, the veterinarian who talks to animals, and can understand what they say back.  The voice cast includes Emma Thompson, Rami Malek (coming a long way from Until Dawn!), John Cena, Kumail Nanjiani, Octavia Spencer, Tom Holland, Craig Robinson, Ralph Fiennes, Selena Gomez, and Marion Cotillard.

Will Smith continues his quest to reclaim the love of the people with the the concluding chapter of the now Bad Boys trilogy, along with Martin Lawrence.  Which I appreciate him trying to bring back his 90s fun era as his attempts at Oscar gold has left me cold.

For Sebastian Stan fans, The Last Full Measure comes to theaters, sounds like a very interesting story involving William H. Pitsenbarger.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_H._Pitsenbarger

Stan portrays an investigator looking into a Medal of Honor request for Pitsenbarger.  The film also has Peter Fonda in it, and I did not even realized he died back in August 2019.

Charlie Hunnam will be in Guy Ritchie’s The Gentlemen.  Hugh Grant is in it too!

On my birthday, we get another attempt at making Gretel & Hansel into a movie.

February

I was going to give Birds of Prey a hard pass but Mary Elizabeth Winstead as The Huntress intrigues me.

So that is something the film has going for it. As Ali Wong is in the film along with Ewan McGregor as The Black Mask.

This really is the year of the comback!  Alicia Silverstone is back, ya’ll!  In The Lodge, a horror film.

Probably the definition of someone trying to reclaim their 90s cred, Jim Carrey in Sonic the Hedgehog!  If I watch it, it will be for James Marsden and for the (hopefully) ten minutes we get in Mobius.

I am reminded that horror movies come out in February so that the BluRay will be available by Halloween.  Fantasy Island is getting a horror film adaption that until right this moment as I type this, I was thinking about the Love Boat.  I have never seen an episode of Fantasy Island so I have no connection to this.

Community’s Jim Rash is co-directing a film, Downhill, a remake of a Swedish film, Force Majeure.  It stars Julia Louis-Dreyfus and WIll Ferrell.

Hey, Valiant Comics actually got Bloodshot made into a movie, starring Vin Diesal.  Good for those guys!

Maybe the first legitimate movie I am actually interested in.  Call of the Wild, a CGI-Animated adaption of Jack London novel.  The voice cast is pretty stunning with Harrison Ford, Dan Stevens, Karen Gillan, and Bradley Whitford!  Which reminds me, I still have that final season of Legion to watch.

It has been enough years (I guess?) so we are getting another adaption of Emma, this time with Anya Taylor-Joy.  Are we going to get New Mutants this year?

The Boy is getting a sequel, this time with Katie Holmes.

I am a sucker for The Invisible Man, so I am excited about this new movie!  Elizabeth Moss, who is enjoying an amazing career post-West Wing, is the gal who is being tormented by Oliver Mansour Jackson-Cohen’s the Invisible Man.

Wendy, a re-imagining of Peter Pan, is coming out at the end of February (along with Invisible Man), so that should interest my wife as she’s a huge Peter Pan fan.  Seems like a very dark take on the characters.

March

I saw a trailer for Disney Pixar’s Onward, it looks cute with two demon sons wishing their father back to life but only get him from the waist down.  Tom Holland may be lending his voice to too many animated films.  Probably watch this with Walker Dennis but I would be okay with passing on it.

Ben Affleck will be in a sports drama, The Way Back.  It is a re-team with Director Gavin O’Connor, which reminds me that I did want to watch The Accountant.

My Spy, starring Dave Bautista, Kristen Schall, and Dr. Ken Jeong, is the first kids’ movie I would be tempted to see.  It looked silly and over the top, but in a good way.

A Quiet Place is getting a sequel, which might prompt me to finally getting around to watching the first movie.

Looks like the Riverdale cast has started making side movies!  KJ Apa (Archie) is portraying Jeremy Camp in I Still Believe.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeremy_Camp#Personal_life

Britt Robertson (who I know from Under the Dome but she’s been in loads of things now), is portraying his first wife.  His parents are played by Gary Sinise and Shania Twain.  The story is what he based his song, I Still Believe, about.

Thanks to JeremyCampMusic for hosting the video!

Disney’s continuing quest to turn all of their animated feature films into real films, continues with Mulan’s release. Probably another one of these I will not watch until it is on Disney+.

April 

Peter Rabbit 2 comes out and the first one was not horrible.  Probably catch it whenever it becomes available to stream.  Rose Byrne and Domhnall Gleeson are back, and that is all I care about.

Lookie lookie, we have New Mutants set for April!  I cannot find a movie poster with the new date on it so I will believe it when I see it.  I also still need to watch The Dark Phoenix Saga, I know it is not good but I should still watch it.  Like Fallout 76, it feels weird not experiencing something in one of my favorite franchises.

We are getting the 25th Bond film, No Time to Die, such a great Bondy title!  I still have to watch Spectre.

Trolls World Tour will be a definite movie we watch in the theater. I have to remember that Cinemark does Discount Tuesdays where movies are actually properly price, so we should try to take advantage of that more in the coming year.

The Secret Garden is getting another remake that maybe someone asked for?

May

Black Widow is hopefully a movie we watch in theaters.  For whatever reason, we missed out on Captain Marvel, we kept missing times or the weekend got away from us.  But I would like to watch it.

Tom Hanks wrote and stars in Greyhound, a war film based on a book.

The Personal History of David Copperfield has 12th Doctor, Peter Capaldi in it.

We get yet another animated origin story of Scooby Doo, titled Scoob!  This was a trailer before Frozen 2 and Walker Dennis really wants to watch it.  I wish it was just a feature length animated film and not an origin story but I am sure it will be decent.

Chris Rock developed a story that is being turned into the ninth installment of the Saw franchise, The Organ Donor.  I thought we were done with that series?

Fast & Furious 9 is happening, I will be skipping that, I still have not seen one of these films.

Spongebob will have a trilogy of films come this summer.

Artemis Fowl, directed by Kenneth Branagh is coming out, I have heard of the book series but do not know anything specifically about it.

June

Wonder Woman kicks off the month!

Candyman pulls a Halloween and is making a direct sequel to the original film, and Tony Todd is back in the role as well!  Which reminds me, I still have to watch that new Halloween film.  Plus, I should play more Dead by Daylight, I feel like I am constantly reminded of how I made so many purchases in that game, and have not played in a while.

We saw a trailer for Pixar’s other movie, Soul, but I am not sure if we are going to watch it in theaters, I do like the idea of the film though and it promises to have jazz music in it, so I like that.  Tina Fey co-wrote it, so it should be funny.

Judd Apatow is back with King of Staten Island, that stars and is co-written by Pete Davidson.  He was just starting SNL when I gave up on the long running sketch comedy series.  Heck, I used to at least know who was hosting it but I have given up on that too.  Do people even talk about SNL sketches?  I was told about the Batman sketch and even that was years old.

So funny!

Thanks to Saturday Night Light for hosting the video.  Thanksgiving 2017, so two years ago, and I only heard about it a few months back when Arkham Knight was the free PS+ game.

Ton Gun’s sequel, Maverick, finally becomes a real thing after years of hearing about it.  Looks pretty legit with Jennifer Connelly, Jon Hamm (also making movies again?), and Ed Harris joining the cast.  I imagine the plot is Miles Teller (out from movie jail) is the new maverick and Tom Cruise as to get him to focus his energy and dial back his bad boy ways.

In the Heights, is this year’s musical!  I have not heard about it before but I hope there are some good songs in it.  Jimmy Smits, Stephanie Beatriz (who we heard sing in Lego Movie 2), and Lin-Manuel Miranda are in smaller roles, by judging how their names are listed on the Wikipedia page.  I still have not seen La La Land outside of watching three songs from it.  This post is mostly about movies I was excited about but did not go out of my way to watch.

July

Minions gets a sequel, The Rise of Gru, which should deal with his twin brother, right?  At least it should be acknowledged.  Thankfully, Walker Dennis is not despicably into this franchise, I think he likes it enough but he seems to be a bigger fan of Illumination’s other properties.

Ryan Reynolds has a science fiction comedy, Free Guy, coming out.  It sounds super fun!  Reynolds is a NPC in a GTA/Fortnite mashup of a game, and becomes aware that he is in a video game.  Which is a very fun premise.  What would that world be, just an open world first person shooter?  Is there a game like that?  So Fortnite but in a more city like local but still with the countdown and the parachutes?

Ghostbusters : Afterlife, the movie, if we do not watch any other movies this year, we will watch this one, for sure! Probably buy the souvenir cups and popcorn bowl too.  I am committed to this!

The Purge gets a fifth film!  Five more and they overtake Saw, if I am counting right.  The concept fascinates me but I need an origin story as I have so many questions about how it all got set up and what the infrastructure must have been like to get it started.  Have they dealt with that yet?  Even if it takes place in a comic or novel, I would totally read that.

Christopher Nolan is back with Tenet, and he did bring Michael Caine along for the ride!  “Action thriller” seems to be the only description of the plot.  RPatts getting some pre-Bat-time.  Kenneth Branagh is having a banner year with directing a film and featuring in another one.

Bob’s Burgers is getting a film!  Fun series, I only seen the first season and maybe some of the second?  I just barely have time for the shows I do watch.

Disney ride, Jungle Cruise, gets a film starring Dwayne Johnson, Emily Blunt (who must have really impressed someone with her Captain Marvel audition), and Paul Giamatti.

We’re getting a Marvel Morbius movie?!  I have been wanting one of these since Marvel has made movies and we have had Octobers!  Missed ropportunity to have it be in October as even the BluRay will not be available by then.  Jared Leto as Marbius kills my buzz but maybe he will be better in this role?  11th Doctor, Matt Smith, plays a friend in it!  I cannot find a legit image that does not look like an artist rendering of what he should look like.  Unless the above is legit, then we are off to a good start.

I get Sony has to do something with the Spider-franchise but I am really hoping this is at least watchable.  I just wish Disney had all of the characters but then we would not get a Morbius movie.  Then again, we are getting Blade, imagine that crossover?  I am now!

August

Respect, Jennifer Hudson as Aretha Franklin.  This is dumb, and I am sure someone had the conversation, but I wished it was spelled R-E-S-P-E-C-T, which I get is longer and the hyphens are distracting, but it is probably more fun than they are hoping for.

I completely forgot to expect Bill & Ted Face the Music!  I am smiling just typing that!  William Sadler is back as The Grim Reaper, so that is amazing.  I really wished they did this while George Carlin was still alive.  Amy Stoch is back as Bill’s step-mother and Hal Landon Jr. is back as Ted’s father.

Let Him Go is a drama with Kevin Costner and Diane Lane, so someone really wanted more of them together after not getting it from Man of Steel, and I am right there with them!  Thomas Bezucha, who directed Family Stone, directs this film.  The pair have to save their grandson from an off-the-grid family.

September

Video game franchise, Monster Hunter, gets a film starring Resident Evil’s Milla Jovovich.

The Conjuring gets its eighth film in the franchise, which I am happy that Patrick Wilson keeps getting continued work.

The Kingsman gets a prequel with The King’s Man, another franchise I have nothing to do with.

Tom Clancy’s Without Remorse gets a film adaption, the origin story of John Clark, a recurring character in Jack Ryan stories. They have to do something while Amazon has the Jack Ryan rights.

Sopranos prequel film, The Main Saints of Newark comes to theaters, with David Chase co-writing.

Edgar Wright is back with Last Night in Soho, starring Anya Taylor-Joy, Matt Smith, and Terence Stamp.

Aaron Sorkin is writing and directing, The Trial of the Chicago 7, based off of the true events of the riots that took place during the 1968 Democratic National Convention.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago_Seven

and not the Chicago White Sox like I originally thought it was going to be about before clicking the link for more information.  Seems like a very interesting case and I have not heard anything about it before hand.

Apparently the story has been adapted a couple times already.  The film stars Sacha Baron Cohen, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Thomas Middleditch, William Hurt, Frank Langella, and Michael Keaton.  So I will eventually watch this.  I am sure it will also get Oscar buzz around it.

October

Now we get the real reason why Morbius is not the October movie from Sony’s Spider-Thinktank!  Venom 2 is a thing, were we even expecting it?  Walker Dennis sure did take to the first one so he might be able to watch the second one in the theater.  Woody Harrelson is in it so we must be getting Venom vs. Carnage, which should look better as two black characters fighting each other was not pleasant on the eyes.

That poster may not be legit, but it looks pretty cool.

Tom Hanks’ second movie, BIOS, it is a science fiction film that also features Skeet Ulrich.

Hey, Murder on the Orient Express is getting a sequel!  Death on the Nile, also written by Agatha Christie.  Kenneth Branagh is back as the director and star of the film.  So Sir Branagh is directed two films in one year and stars in two films as well, that has to be a record for director/actor, right?  Along for the ride is Gal Gadot, Letita Wright (Shuri from the Marvel films), Armie Hammer, Annette Bening, and Russell Brand.  These movies have quite the cast and I really do want to watch MotOE.

The 1990 masterpiece, Witches, is getting a remake!  This time by Robert Zemeckis, so I am not sure if this is going to be a CGI film like his previous ones or a proper live action film.  Cast is shaping up to be a delight with Anne Hathaway, Octavia Spencer, Stanley Tucci, and Chris Rock.  The film promises to be closer to the book version, which typical of remakes.

As referenced above, Halloween Kills is the sequel to the 2018’s Halloween sequel to the original movie.  Seems like a giant cast but Michael definitely needs to kill people so a larger cast lets that happen.  I really need to see that 2018 one.  Jamie Lee Curtis and Judy Greer are back, and Anthony Michael Hall is in this too!  This marks the 12th installment for the franchise.

GI Joe’s Snake eyes gets his own spin off!  I have yet to watch any of these films, and not necessarily going to break that tradition with this one.  Now, if there was a new Ninja Turtles and/or He-Man movie, along with Ghostbusters, then my trinity of cartoons would be complete!

We get two musicals this year with Everybody’s Talking about Jamie, which will be the comedy one.  I have not heard of this one either.

November

Can Marvel strike Guardians gold a second time with Eternals?  So many question marks with this film, including, what is this even going to be?  Is this going to work as an origin story for the Marvel Universe?  A second option?  Still, that cast and it being a Marvel movie, should mean success.  Black Widow could be the more action heavy movie and this one being the more thought-provoking film, though I am not sure if Marvel has one of those just yet.  Angelia Jolie, Kumail Nanjiani, Salma Hayek, and Kit Harington, please come on into the Marvel Universe!

Clifford the Big Red Dog gets the live action adaption treatment.  Hopefully they do not lean into the Curious George disaster walking tropes, which Clifford is not known for but I can only imagine they are going to attempt to give the big ol’ dog an origin story.  Will Walker Dennis want to see it?  I doubt it,

There is no link but Netflix is making a movie (for theaters?) titled “Red Notice” directed by Rawson Marshall Thurber who also directed We are Millers and Dodgeball.  So it has to be a comedy.  The cast is pretty great with Dwayne Johnson, Gal Gadot, and Ryan Reynolds.

Ben Affleck’s second film, Deep Water, based on the psychological thriller book.

Maybe the first movie I watch with Walker Dennis and I watch due to my wife’s disinterest in the big monster genre, but who knows, she might want to watch it.  My big caution about the film is the percentage of dumb humans to actual monster content as I would want the split to be 95/5 monster to humans.  Dumb humans can set up who the characters are for 15 minutes, then the next hour could just be the monsters fighting, as humans seek shelter but I also don’t care if any of the humans live.  Which is my biggest gripe with the Aliens vs. Predators films as it is like 30/70 with the humans taking most of the film’s running time.  Plus, there are so many humans in this film!  Dreamboat Alexander Skarsgard, Millie Bobby Brown, and Kyle Chandler, so maybe they will not take up too much time either.  Plus, these are not any two no-name monsters, this is Godzilla vs. King Kong, so this should be presented like the once every 40 years match-up that it is!  Can you actually believe the last time they fought was in 1962?!  Way too long!

Disney’s official 59th animated feature film, Raya and the Last Dragon comes out.  Raya is searching for, you guessed it, the last dragon.  We have managed to watch the last several Disney films in the theater, so I imagine this one will get seen as well.

Will Smith, chasing that Oscar gold, stars in King Richard, a film about Venus and Serena Williams’ father, Richard.  I guess he’s the most important part of those two’s career?  I guess a movie from their perspective or from their point of view, could be a tad larger in scope so focusing on someone managing both daughters is the way to go.

December

Sylvester Stallone has a film, Samaritan, kicking the month off.

We are trying our hands with another Dune movie.  The film should cover the first half of the novel, so hopefully we get the second film.  The film stars Oscar Isaac, Josh Brolin, Daddy Stellan Skarsgard, Dave Bautista, Zendaya, Jason Momoa, and Javier Bardem.  The original film came out in 1984 and the book in 1965.

As this post takes some time to write, I legit was thinking that it has been a while since Steven Spielberg released a film and wondering if he was retired.  Turns out, he has been directing West Side Story!  We are getting three musicals this year!  That should fill up the Golden Globes Musical or Comedy category!  I have also not seen Ready Player One, or it turns out, several other Spielberg films.  It looks like a cast of relatively unknowns, but I bet it launches several careers.  The original film came out in 1961, and like most remakes, is supposed to be closer to the original Broadway source.

Even Coming to America is getting a sequel!  Coming 2 America, get it?  That’s fun.  The original film came out in 1988.  Plot seems a little dicey with Eddie Murphy’s character realizing he had a child (a son) he did not know about, like how he claimed Scary Spice’s daughter was not his, and now has to make six movies a year to pay off that child support.  Silly Eddie Murphy!  Arsenio Hall is back for this as is James Earl Jones.  Leslie Jones and Wesley Snipes joins the cast.

We are supposed to get Uncharted this year, but for some reason, I am very doubtful of it.  The lack of a Wikipedia page, Mark Wahlberg as a young Sully, no movie posters even being made by fans, Tom Holland as an even younger Nathan Drake, I’ll see if Travis Knight sticks around.  I would love an epic Uncharted film, it would have to be at least three hours long, right?  Hopefully we get a new Uncharted game, heck, even if it was shorter one like Lost Legacy, that would work for me!  Which I still have to play Uncharted 4 and Lost Legacy, I will one of these months soon.  Probably once I have Lego Marvel Superheroes 2 completed, or out of my system, whichever one happens first.

Good grief!  We are getting a live action / animated combo of a thing to bring Tom and Jerry to modern audiences!  Repeat my complaint already about too many humans above in Godzilla vs. Kong, but even more so here!  Colin Jost is in movies now?!  At least Dr. Ken Jeong is in it.  Oh, and it is being directed by Tim “Fantastic Four” Story.  At least it is during December, when we need a kids movie.  Probably be a hard pass for it.

The Croods finally get a sequel to their 2013 film, which I also have no interest in watching.  Hopefully the Cinemark Dollar Summer Movie program offers the first movie, or this will have to be another pass for old dad.

Tom Hanks’ third film, News of the World helps close out the year.  Takes place after the American Civil War, he is tasked with bringing an orphan daugther to her next living kin.  It is based on a novel.

The year ends with a third Ben Affleck movie, Ridley Scott’s The Last Duel, that reteams him with life mate, Matt Damon, who along with Affleck, co-wrote the film.  That’s fun.  Adam Drive is also in it, no other information is available.

.  .  .

It looks like Affleck and Tom Hanks have three movies out this year.  No Christian Bale or Hugh Jackman (has anyone seen him in a while?) He’s doing Broadway and world tours, good for him!

By my count, 11 films, I am legit interested in watching, that seems like a decent enough movie going experience.  As Walker Dennis gets older, it will be more fun to take him to more films.

Of course, other movies might crop up but these are the ones I could manage any opinions on.

.  .  .

I wish you a Happy New Year!  Make Good Decisions!

2020 is going to bring us the Summer Olympics and a Presidential Election.  Who are the Democrats going to put up?  It does not look like anyone is leading nor does it look like any of them can do it.  Which seriously, how come no one is ever being groomed to be the ideal candidate?  We did not get anyone during Obama’s re-election nor did we get anyone for George W. Bush, nor Clinton before him.  It really cannot be that hard but I also understand no one would really want that job.

The Summer Olympics will be held in Toyko, Japan, so they should be glorious!  Nasa is supposed to launch an exploratory mission to Mars.  Liberia is going to agree to stop cutting down their trees and Norway is going to pay them to not do it.

In fiction, Arno Stark, Iron Man 2020, is supposed to become a thing.

Turtles in Time’s Neon Night Riders takes place in this year.

The company that makes the robots in I, Robot, forms.  Godzilla : Final Wars takes place in 2020.  Hugh Jackman’s Real Steel also takes place this year.

Of course, SeaLab 2020.  The events of Harry Potter : The Golden Child take place.  Dark Angel’s second half of Season One and the first half of Season Two.

The 11th Doctor two parter, The Hungry Earth / Cold Blood.

Glee’s series finale.

Robot House from Fallout is born on June 25, 2020.