Most Anticipated Movies

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I agree with you on most of those movies, though I'd say that Infinity War met the hype (personally my favorite superhero movie of the year), Isle of Dogs didn't feel empty to me in the slightest (I actually find it refreshing to have another animated movie that's meant more for adults than kids) and personally it's my favorite movie of the year, and I thought that The Incredibles 2 was just alright (though, in fairness, I never outright loved the original, either).

[Avaitor]

And now, my top 10 of 2019:

10- Frozen 2- Yes, the hype was annoying. Yes, the first one wasn't that good, and the shorts are meh cashgrabs. Yes, we don't really need a sequel. But I do still like the film, and I'm at least more curious about this than the remakes Disney has planned for this year.
9- Toy Story 4- Speaking of a sequel I don't 100% see the need for, but will be there opening day regardless. And it's funny, while the third was my favorite for a while, nowadays I prefer the loving simplicity and charm of the first. I doubt we're going back to this, but it'll be nice to see Bo Peep again I guess.
8- How to Train Your Dragon 3- A sequel I'm definitely more interested in, although I just know Toothless is going to leave Hiccup, and idk if I'm ready to see that. Still, the first two were as good as Dreamworks gets, and if this is nearly as good as those, I'm stoked.
7- Missing Link- But this is where my money is currently going animation wise. Laika does it better than anyone else currently in the game, and while this is looking like another Boxtrolls as opposed to a Kubo, there's nothing wrong with a lighter film here and there. Especially if it means this gets to be the one that goes big for them.
6- Us- I'm a little worried about us putting all of our eggs in the basket for Jordan Peele just for Get Out to be a fluke, but this definitely sounds interesting enough for me to come with open arms. Let's do it!
5- Spider-Man: Far From Home- This is more or less ranked third because of a coin toss, and also because second parts haven't proven to be the MCU's strong suit (Cap's is the closest to an improvement that I can think of, parts of Dark World and Ultron aside). I really liked Homecoming though, and I like the idea of not only Jake Gyllenhaal as Mysterio, but Keaton's Vulture returning. Plus, being the first post-Endgame film is going to make this an essential to see where things go from there.
4- Captain Marvel- I really like the idea of an MCU prequel, the return of Coulson in the movies, and more Fury. Plus Brie Larson looks like a good call as Carol.
3- Avengers: Endgame- Not sure what else to say here. Let's see Cap, Tony, Thor, Natasha, Bruce, etc die!
2- John Wick Chapter 3- As much as I like the Marvel movies, these movies are where the best action scenes are going nowadays, and will probably be more worth my time in theaters. I regret seeing the first two only on my TV, but I'm not making that mistake here.
1- Once Upon a Time in Hollywood- What can I say, Tarantino still owns my soul. Although I'll grant that Hateful Eight hasn't resonated with me in any conceivable way since it came out, but that doesn't change my hype factor.

[LumRanmaYasha]

Good list Avaitor! I'm looking forward to most of those as well and agree with you pretty much on why. My most anticipated movies of 2019 are probably:

10. IT: Chapter Two - The first IT knocked it out of the park as a Stephen King adaptation and a great horror film in its own right, so I'm expecting the second part will be just as scary good.
9. One Piece: Stampede - The last couple of One Piece films have all been excellent, and this newest one is being hyped up as the biggest and most ambitious yet to celebrate the series' 20th anniversary, so I'm definitely riding the hype wave for it.
8. How to Train Your Dragon 3 - I'm a little burned out by seeing the trailer so much, but Dragons is Dreamworks' best franchise and the previous two movies were excellent, so I feel confident this will be another good one.
7. Dumbo - This is the only live-action Disney remake I'm remotely interested in. It looks to be a completely different take on the story a la Pete's Dragon, which was their best one to date, and I'm definitely down for an inspired reinterpretation of Dumbo than a pointless retread of the same story like Aladdin and The Lion King look like they'll be.
6. Alita: Battle Angel - This has been pushed back a lot, but the trailers and early buzz seems good and I'm crossing my fingers it'll be the rare Hollywood-made live-action anime adaptation that knocks it out of the park.
5. Missing Link - I love Laika's films and while I agree with Avaitor this seems more like a Box Trolls than a Kubo, I found the trailer really charming and think I'll really enjoy it.
4. Avengers: Endgame - I really have to applaud Marvel for making a really spoiler-free trailer for this film to preserve the mystery and mystique of what'll happen in it. I don't think anyone except for maybe Tony will actually be killed off for good, but after Infinity War I'm expecting Marvel to have pulled out all the stops to top it and make Endgame their best film yet. It has a lot to live up but I'm confident it will.
3. Fate/stay night: Heaven's Feel II. Lost Butterfly - The first F/sn: HF film was excellent, and part II is where I hear the meat of this story will really start to shine. Early buzz has been absolutely fantastic so I'm really hyped to see this, even as just a casual Fate fan.
2. Pokemon: Mewtwo Strikes Back - Evolution - I think a CG-remake of Mewtwo Strikes Back has a lot of potential to improve upon the original film, and considering they are making this to appeal to an international audience, I'm expecting them to really put a lot of love and polish into this. The Pokemon anime is in a fantastic creative place right now, with the last two films being two of the best they've ever made (and Power of Us legit being one of my favorite films of last year), so I'm really excited to see how much it will continue to evolve with this film.
1. Pokemon: Detective Pikachu - I never would've expected that two Pokemon films would be my most anticipated movies of this year, let alone that I'd be excited for a live-action adapation of a Pokemon spinoff game, but the trailer was everything I dreamed a live-action Pokemon would look like and better, and I can't wait to see it. If this movie is good and does well it could open the doors to a Pokemon cinematic universe which I would absolutely be there for. I want a live-action Team Rocket film dammit!

[Avaitor]

Of the three remakes we're getting next year, Dumbo probably interests me the most, but I'm also pretty worried about it. Most of the remakes thus far have been for movies that I like, but haven't loved as much as others (at least if we're just talking about the animated films- I care very much for the original Mary Poppins and Parent Trap), but all three of these are based off of what are among my absolute favorite Disney films. Lion King and Aladdin are going in that Beauty and the Beast route, where they're trying to be as reverent as possible while shaking up what doesn't need to be shaken (seriously, the magic carpet can't even be purple?), while Dumbo looks to be a bit different. Adding a subplot or two makes sense, since the original's only about an hour long, although if you ask me, that's a near-perfect hour or so of content, so I hope that the kids aren't too annoying and the big circus buyout plot doesn't become as needlessly convoluted as it might be.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Both Avaitor and Lum pretty much listed most of what I'm anticipating, so I won't dwell on that too much since they already explained the hype. John Wick Chapter 3, if it's as good as the first two, could easily be one of my favorites of the year, while Avengers: Endgame is my most anticipated movie of the year, easily. I may be a Marvel shill, but I also feel like Marvel has earned this one. I'm just a bit worried that Captain Marvel might kill the momentum going into this movie since that one looks pretty dull to me and it's implied that she has a big role to play in Endgame. Also, It: Chapter Two is a no-brainer for me too, but I'm somewhat cautiously curious about the new Pet Sematary adaptation as well.

The one movie that I'll mention that nobody else brought up is Godzilla: King of the Monsters. I can understand the skepticism going into this one since the two movies leading up to it haven't been all that great. While I liked the Godzilla reboot by Gareth Edwards on my initial viewing, it doesn't hold up well to a re-watch. I'm cool with not wanting to show the monsters and instead create effective suspense by focusing on the reaction of the human characters. Spielberg has done this brilliantly with Jaws and Jurassic Park. But this movie has very hollow, paper-thin characters that weren't really interesting to follow. As for Kong: Skull Island, I also kind of enjoyed it the first time as a cheesy B movie, but even that fell flat on a re-watch. With King of the Monsters, though, I have some faith in Michael Dougherty to be the right pick for this movie. While I'm not a hardcore Godzilla fan by any means, my favorite movies of his besides the original have been the ones that have leaned into the campy B movie nature of Kaiju films and just had fun with it. Based on his past horror films, I feel that Dougherty has a better grasp on how to balance this sort of tone than Kong's director did. And yes, I know the trailers make this look like a much more serious and darker film, which I'm sure there will be elements of in here, but given Dougherty's past work I wouldn't be surprised if this is yet another case of trailers mis-marketing the movie as something that it's not. Additionally, while others have shown skepticism at introducing Godzilla's three biggest rivals at once as some Sony Spider-Man-esque disaster waiting to happen, I actually find it to be the right way to go, here. The Toho monsters aren't the same as character-driven villains that need more development to properly work in a story. They work mostly as opposition for Godzilla to overcome and for the human characters to run in terror from. Only giving Godzilla one monster to fight could get boring quickly (which is why Edwards couldn't rely on monster fights too much in the first place). However, if this movie takes a page out of the Destroy All Monsters or Final Wars books (obviously not being quite as over-the-top as those movies), it could be really fun to see all of the creative designs and power-sets clash with one another. I'm not expecting perfection, but I am still reasonably excited about this one.

Now, I WAS excited about the new Hellboy film....but the trailer has done a pretty great job of almost completely killing that excitement for me. I'm all for trying to make a product that's more faithful to Mignola's vision of Hellboy, but for all of the talk we got about how this would be darker and more of a horror-esque movie, this looks even further from that than Del Toro's films did. Say what you want about whether you cared for his style or not, but at least Del Toro had a good grasp on how to make these character palatable in live-action. What I'm seeing right now looks like a poor knock-off of a Marvel film with bad CG-gore to go along with it.

[Avaitor]

I'm kind of curious about King of the Monsters, but neither the new Godzilla or Kong did much to interest me. If this turns out to be the charm though, I may give it a go. It could definitely be fun.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

And....this may have just jumped up to being my most anticipated movie of the year after all: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7XM597XO94

Shame Spark isn't on these days. I know he'd really dig this.

[Foggle]

It's gonna be soooooo gooooood!

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Someone else already mentioned this before, but I really like how this movie (based on the trailers) seems to be combining core aspects of the first and second movies. The first movie had moody-tinted lighting which gave it a unique identity and made it feel more gritty and down-to-earth, and the action reflected this. The second movie aimed to be more crazy and over-the-top, with a more colorful palette like a graphic novel come to life to complement it's more absurd action. The trailer and stills for Parabellum showcases that moodier aesthetic from the first movie combined with the comic-book style action of the second, which IMO are some of the strongest aspects of both respective movies.

That's just my two-cents on it, though.

[Foggle]

There's a high probability Keanu Reeves is gonna fight dudes on motorcycles with katanas while riding a horse down the highway in this movie, and that could very well make it the greatest film of all time.

Btw, if you need a good over the top action movie to tide you over until Parabellum comes out, I highly recommend The Night Comes For Us on Netflix. Plot is... not good, certainly nowhere near John Wick level, but the violence is fucking brutal. It's intense and hardcore in a way I've never seen before. Another neat one is The Villainess, which sadly gets bogged down by an overbearing need to tell a borderline-incomprehensible story, but the opening scene is one of the best things ever put to film.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I saw The Night Comes for Us back in October when it dropped. The action is top-notch (though the gore feels a bit over-done to the point of feeling tasteless, IMO), but as you said, the weak story holds it back. I enjoyed watching it, but it doesn't really have any re-watch value for me.

[Foggle]

though the gore feels a bit over-done to the point of feeling tasteless

That's why I liked it.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I think I worded that a bit poorly. I don't mean to say that I'm disturbed by the gore, but rather that I felt it so overused that I got completely desensitized to it by the end. All of a sudden a guy getting cut and gushing out blood and guts felt just as tame to me as any ordinary punch. After a while it lacked any sense of impact. Of course that's just personal taste, though.

[Mustang]

My movie days pretty much consist of Marvel (mostly Avengers) these days but I'm very heavy into martial arts action and it's usually my go to type of movies. That being said Triple Threat and Avengers: Endgame are my most anticipated movies for this year. I enjoyed all of the Avenger movies (although Infinity War irritated me because of a certain character).

Triple Threat on the other hand is chucked full of martial artists. Iwo Ukais, Tony Jaa, and Tiger Chen. Then you have folks like Michael Jae White, Scott Adkins (who should've been in some bigger budget movies), Michael Bisbing (probably should've been George St. Pierre, but it's cool) and I'm pretty sure I'm missing a couple more. I do wish they could've got Lateef Crowder for this as well but maybe he is there and I don't know it. Much like Devil May Cry 5, I feel like there haven't been any movies out there for me other than the superhero movies but it feels good to finally get back to the type of movies I grew up on (hopefully we'll get more because the genre is pretty much dead)

[Dr. Insomniac]

Princess Elise doesn't look so bad now.