15 Anticipated Films of 2020!

2020 is here! As we look forward at 2020, I know that its going to have a lot more unexpected releases come out but with what I have researched so far, this is a quick little list of 15 anticipated films releasing in 2020 that I’m looking forward to. There is no guarantee that I’ll get to see it in the theatres judging from last year’s theatre visits but here we are, the list in the order of release dates.

Underwater (January 10)

The first quarter of the year is usually fairly lackluster in what it has to offer. At least anything offered before March but somehow, I’ve been pretty impressed, in general with Kristen Stewart’s roles of late, even if I still have a few to catch up with. Being a fan of underwater movies and somewhat of an enclosed location setting, Underwater looks pretty good. I’m just hoping that the trailer doesn’t reveal everything that makes this one as thrilling as it looks.

To All The Boys: P.S. I Love You (February 12)

Being highly obsessed with To All The Boys I’ve Love Before, its been a long wait for the sequel. Its probably not going to be as good as the first movie, seeing as the source material also wasn’t as good in its second book in the trilogy as well. However, I’m sure its still going to tick all the boxes of a feel-good romantic comedy especially as the entire cast of the film are such charming characters.

Sonic the Hedgehog (February 14)

Its really a hit or miss situation here that can happen. It doesn’t have the appeal of say Deadpool Pikachu with Pokemon Detective Pikachu but it does have James Marsden and Jim Carey which are two actors that I like quite a bit. Plus, if you grew up with Sonic the Hedgehog as I have, its one that was probably eventually going to happen and something that its hard to not be slightly interested to see how it all goes.

A Quiet Place Part II (March 20)

While I had some issues with A Quiet Place, its not doubt that it was a pretty decent movie with a nice concept for horror and it did live up to most of my expectations. A Quiet Place Part II seems a little more by the books as the world seems more about discovering how much of humanity is still alive. If its anything like the previous direction, it should still be a lot of thrills. Finger crossed!

Disney’s MuLan (March 27)

I’m well-aware that the Disney live adaptations haven’t really been much of a success for most people. For the ones that I have seen, they are acceptable. However, Mulan making the anticipated list has to go mostly to the fact that Mulan is one of my favorite stories and its animated film was not so long ago that its a classic in my mind so its not as comparable. At the same time, the star power here in its cast is pretty decent and if not, its a full Chinese cast so thats always something to be excited about it, especially when Jet Li, Donnie Yen and Gong Li are all part of the film.

No Time to Die (April 8)

I’m far from a James Bond fan as I have so many films from the first few Bonds that I haven’t seen. But, I’m a pretty big fan of Daniel Craig as James Bond and have seen all of them. Seeing as this one is the last one with Craig as James Bond, it’ll be one to not miss, even if its after it hits home release.

Antlers (April 17)

Its hard to really tell when any horror movie is going to be any good. The premise here is pretty decent. The trailer looks fairly creepy. It has Guillermo Del Toro as a producer which is a good sign. Plus, Keri Russell is in it (and she proved that she does well in horror films in Dark Skies). It looks promising and hopefully will live up to it.

Black Widow (May 1)

Black Widow has been the Marvel movie that has been one that been waiting forever. While Marvel movies are quite formulaic at this point (as are most superhero movies) and rather saturated and I’m still a few Marvel movies behind and frantically catching up before they leave Netflix, Black Widow is one that will be very intriguing to watch especially since she’s pretty much been involved in all the phases of MCU but never got any movie of her own and always had a minor supporting role.

Fast & Furious 9 (May 22)

There doesn’t seem to be a trailer for Fast & Furious 9 yet but as a big fan of the franchise, no matter how ridiculous it all gets, its one that we will definitely find time to catch in the theatres. Its always going to be interesting to see what crazy levels its going to go.

Wonder Woman 1984 (June 5)

I’m not usually a huge fan of the DC universe films but Wonder Woman film was a pretty decent movie. Its enjoyable and Gal Gadot makes a great Woman Woman. The trailer seems to be rather on point with what made its first one enjoyable so here’s hoping that it will be the same. Its probably not one that I’ll catch at the theatres but still one that would be interesting to see at some point.

Monster Hunter (September 4)

No trailer yet for Monster Hunter movie. Its a smart move to make a movie out of it especially after the game was released last year with decent success. It’ll be nice to see where Paul W.S. Anderson takes the movie. Sure, he’s done some questionable movies but if you haven’t caught our look at his filmography on Season 1 of Movies and Tea, its well worth a listen as we definitely appreciated his work a lot more as there’s some pretty good defining elements. Plus, while I’ve had conversations with friends who say that its not admirable that he casts his wife a lot, but I’m a fan of Milla Jovovich and it’ll be interesting to see what role she does in Monster Hunter.

Death on the Nile (October 9)

After having recently seen Murder on the Orient Express and how that turned out so very well, Death on the Nile is a top anticipated film that we might actually head out to the theatres to see. Agatha Christie is an author that I’m slowly working through her work and I actually haven’t read Death on the Nile (so maybe will add that to my TBR pile). However, it’ll be great to see Kenneth Branagh come back as Hercule Poirot on another adventure.

Godzilla vs. Kong (November 20)

Kong: Skull Island almost made it onto my Top 10 movies of the decade over on Movies and Tea. While I still have to catch up on Godzilla:King of the Monsters, I’m always down for a kaiju movie. Monsters and creature features are up my alley so it seems rather fun to watch Godzilla and Kong battle it out! I kind of saw this coming a few years ago so just hoping that it’ll be as fun as I’m expecting it to be. However, with no trailer, its hard to truly nail down expectations right now.

Uncharted (December 18)

It feels like the Uncharted movie has been in the works forever. At least, it seemed to be something that had been talked about since the 4th game of the actual franchise was released (before the spinoff one). Nathan Drake is a great character and if anything, it would have been sweet to get Nolan North to do the character although its probably a rather demanding role. Tom Holland is Spider-Man in my  mind right now so its going to be a little hard to watch him as Nathan Drake, however, the Uncharted stories are usually pretty fun so I’m expecting some great things..although as we all know, video game adaptations really don’t get that well-received and Uncharted’s story has spanned over four games so it really depends what story angle it plans to use. Looking forward to seeing a trailer for it soon.

On the Rocks (TBA)

This list has changed around a little in the last 5 picks added in and after finishing the Sofia Coppola season on Movies and Tea in Season 3, its a director that really has sparked my interest on what she will deliver. I loved her father-daughter relationship movies and On The Rocks is one that brings back working with Bill Murray and features a father-daughter relationship in a more grown-up family relationship. It fits exactly into Sofia Coppola’s wheelhouse (and should be as she is the writer also) and can turn into something subtle and with depth.

Honorable Mentions: Fantasy Island, Gretel & Hansel, The Lodge, The Invisible Man, The New Mutants, Antebellum, Birds of Prey, Bloodshot, Onward, Candyman, Top Gun: Maverick, Tenet, Halloween Kills, Raya and the Last Dragon, Dune, The Dig, Rebecca

That’s it for 2020 anticipated films! These are mostly the bigger movies (without foreign films or indie films as they are hard to track).
What movies are you anticipating? Any other ones that I missed? Share them in the comments below.

TV Binge: Once Upon a Time (Season 5, 2015)

Moving right along in the incredible attempt to catch up with Once Upon a Time, I wrapped up Season 5. Once Upon a Time continues to twists up some of the tales and puts together some interesting pairings which is one thing that I love the most about the show. Plus, after so many years, its hard to not love a lot of the characters. It also helps that last year I did end up going to visit the little town that its shot in in Vancouver and totally fangirled which makes seeing Storybrooke so much more personal (in my mind).

Once Upon a Time (Season 5, 2015)

Creator: Adam Horowitz & Edward Kitsis

Cast: Lana Parrilla, Robert Carlyle, Jared Gilmore, Jennifer Morrison, Ginnifer Goodwin, Josh Dallas, Colin O’Donoghue, Emilie de Ravin, Rebecca Mader, Sean Maguire, Liam Garrigan, Greg Germann

 Maybe its the fact that hopping back to this that I forgot how packed Once Upon a Time but Season 5 feels like there is a vast amount of characters that traverse the path in the few villains they do cross. As a little season 5 recap, the season picks up where the 4th ends with Emma taking the responsibility to be the Dark One and gets sent back to The Enchanted Forest. The rest of her family finds a way back and they eventually end up in Camelot where they meet King Arthur and Queen Guinevere. They have a secret to complete that involves the search for the Dark One. Somehow they get sent back to Storybrooke and Emma has lost the fight and has embraced has her dark side while wiping away everyone’s memory. A course of events sends Hook to the Underworld where they also follow and get trapped by Hades and confront some of their own people they have lost. When they do find a way back to Storybrooke, they get tricked and sent to The Land of Untold Stories where they meet the infamous Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. I think that about covers the general outline.

Season 5 is crazy packed as everyone embarks on a journey about their value and whether they are good and evil and being okay with who they are. Some extremities are taken which of course take a turn for a bad the lingers into the next season. Fairy tales are about happy endings and if Once Upon a Time has taught us anything, its that they are quite the rare occurrence in the show especially when it involves Regina and Emma. Being the Savior or a Villain both doesn’t give you the merit to have the happy ending. However, Season 5 may feel packed but its great to see the twists on these characters. In fact it expands on these characters as they also meet Merida and help her with her quest to become queen of Dunbroch.  We flash back to see Mulan and Red Riding Hood and Dorothy and their connection to everything. Of course, it wouldn’t be this show without Rumplestiltskin and his secrets along with trying to get back Belle which also sees a twist on her story and Gaston. Snow also once knew Hercules as well. We see some characters exit the show as well as the Underworld allows some characters to eventually either move on in a good or bad way. Thinking back to the season feels really busy but at times, that is what works to keep us on our toes and always learning that this world still has a lot to offer as they can breakaway from the fairy tales as well as take characters from classics. That is the magic of why I love Once Upon a Time.

The villain this season did have quite a spark. I have to say that in the few times that I’ve seen Greg Germann, he’s always been so fun to watch. This time, he plays Hades and not only does he resemble how Hades looked in Disney’s Hercules but he does take on that villainous role really well. Talking about villains, while I did enjoy the whole Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde bit, the way Mr. Hyde talked was so grating and annoying. If anything, that was the only thing I didn’t like about this season. Once Upon a Time also has these villains that are truly horrible and ruthless. However, they also have this story that gives them a moment of hope for redemption and its always that unknown of whether it will happen or not. Another point of why I do like Once Upon a Time a lot is dealing with the character development and this season may be busy but a lot of the characters had their moment to truly see their thoughts and things they haven’t been able to let go of and in many ways, they did embrace themselves.

Overall, Season 5 was a lot of fun. While you could argue that the huge amount of characters made the story very scattered, somehow it still works very well to keep it fun and adventurous to watch as our characters grew and truly embraced issues that bothered them and confronted their monsters both mentally and physically. A really nice collection of villains and heroes in Season 5 and I’m looking forward to watching Season 6.