New Science Fiction releases to look forward to in 2017

Pretty much every year starts with the same excitement about the new movies coming out. And ends up with the same “what happened to all the good movies that were supposed to keep the popcorn flowing?” But there’s definitely some interesting Science Fiction movies in the pipeline for this year to keep at least all scifi fans alert.

Life - new Science Fiction movie 2017 class=

The sequels and the reboots / remakes are the most obvious ones everyone gets to hear about first. So let’s start with the prequel / sequel first. While there won’t be anything to spoil the movie in the text below, keep in mind trailers usually contain a little bit too much information if you want to be kept in the dark.

Alien: Covenant

Alien: Covenant

As always, let’s keep it nice and short. This is all about high expectations without any warranties. Trailers always look nice and there’s no quarantee the movie itself is going to be any good. But here’s the key facts for Alien: Covenant. Directed by Ridley Scott, of course. As far as Science Fiction movies go, he should know what he’s doing. This film is prequel (Alien saga) and a sequel (Prometheus) at the same time. Starring, among others, Michael Fassbender. Sounds solid so far. Just keep in mind, not everyone has liked Prometheus, or the later Alien sequels (after Aliens).

Watch Alien: Covenant trailer below:

Additional footage for more curious Alien fans:

 

Somefilm.net

 

Moving on to the whitewash story of 2016

Ghost in the shell

Just to remind myself. An action remake of an incredible Anime movie will not necessarily be great. Taking an already great classic and trying to turn it into another amazing movie is in fact probably very bad idea.

Ghost in the Shell

And who’s ever heard of Rupert Sanders? But there’s Scarlett Johansson of course, which is probably not a sign of a good movie, but possibly a watchable one. And visually we should still be in for a treat.

Watch Ghost in the Shell trailer below to get your dose of Anime Science Fiction:

There’s an older trailer on youtube as well:

The next one is slightly more “original”, a science fiction horror movie Life.

Life

Jake Gyllenhaal in Life Science fiction movie 2017

Life is another proper scifi movie involving a space mission with space ship and everything. Directed by Daniel Espinosa (who?) and starring Jake Gyllenhaal (we know who you are), there’s not so much to say about whether this one is a winner. But the trailer definitely looks interesting.

Watch Life trailer below:

And one more Life scifi trailer:

There’s a couple of more sequels talk about. Let’s move on to another Ridley Scott one.

Bladerunner 2049

Surely no one can say that Bladerunner wasn’t an absolute masterpiece? And after all these years there’ll be a sequel. Can this end well?

Ryan Gosling in Blade Runner 2049

Ryan Gosling is not quite Harrison Ford. Wait, Harrison Ford is in it too? And then you might ask “but is it directed by Ridley Scott?” Probably even better, it’s directed by Denis “Arrival” “Sicario” “Prisoners” Villeneuve.

Watch Blade Runner 2049 trailer below:

Star Wars

Luke Skywalker

So there’s another Star Wars movie coming out. There’s a surprise. It’s like a very infrequent TV series now with extra long episodes.

I’ve lost track of these, it’s something to do with Jedis. But let’s be honest, it’s guaranteed to be top quality entertainment to keep you munching your popcorn and nachos. And for all the Star Wars fans out there, it’s one of those greater than life Science Fiction experiences.

Here’s a Star Wars: The Last Jedi teaser for you:

Let’s finish off with the one that’s influenced just about every scifi movie there is, and is just about to be turned from a graphic novel series into big screen science fiction feature by 5th Element director Luc Besson.

Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets

Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets

This could be a complete disaster. The expectations for those who know Valerian are sky high, the rest won’t know a thing and will need an introduction within the first minutes of the up-and-coming movie. It’s also directed by Luc Besson, who managed pull off fairly stylistic and visually appealing 5th Element back in the days, but has since brought us various bombs such as Lucy. And Lucy is even going to have a sequel! That’s another scifi movie, but that’s probably something talk about in 2018.

I am a big fan of Valerian (and Laureline), so fingers crossed, truly hoping the movie will be a great success and something to look forward to.

Watch Valerian movie trailer below:

I know there’s even more scifi coming out in 2017, so look out for possible part two of this post…

It’s not like Nightcrawler, it’s Nocturnal Animals

So it’s another big hit with Amy Adams. I guess also another big one for Tom Ford, although I did not like Single Man quite so much as Nocturnal Animals.

Amy Adams in Nocturnal Animals

I may have already said that Arrival was one of the best films of 2016 and this one is not far off either. The Intro is absolutely stunning, unexpected, and visually and every other way amazing.

Once you get your head around the story, you may need adjust the way you are thinking about this movie while still watching. It’s like the movie forces you to watch it in a certain manner. Maybe just to start with the story is a bit confusing, but as soon as it makes sense, it is definitely something different. The pace feels fairly slow occasionally and builds up the story nicely along the way.

Amy Adams is great, but Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Shannon pretty much run the show. Visually the film is really beautiful down to the last detail as you would expect from Tom Ford. At least based on his previous film, and his background, since he is fairly new to directing (and writing movies). Michael Shannon feels a bit over the top, Jake is more or less in a familiar type of role that he has no problems dealing with, and Amy Adams somehow manages to keep it all together. It’s not just the three of them, but the supporting roles are not quite so memorable, although they were all ok.

Somehow even with just one previous movie, you can tell from the looks and the pace of the film, possibly even the type of story and the mood, that this is a Tom Ford movie. yet the movie takes place in a completely different kind of environment.

Watch Nocturnal Animals trailer here:

Brotherly Love

Jim Sheridan, Tobey Maquire, Natalie Portman, Jake Gyllenhaal; that should be enough reasons to go and watch it. Or rent it.

Here’s another great little film. They’re all great actors in their limited ways and especially Tobey Maquire delivers. He is absolute amazing and his transformation during the film is really quite shocking. I’d say it’s his best performance since The Ice Storm or Deconstructing Harry, or perhaps ever.  Sam Shepard is in it too by the way.

Maybe this film doesn’t offer much new, but the way it’s told, it’s not exactly your average senseless entertainment. There’s definitely more to it than that. Considering the structure of the film, it works surprisingly well. Great drama. Even a few funny bits like every films should. But it’s still not quite the same as Trading Places.