Spring Movie Preview: Disquieting Thrillers, Virtual Odysseys, and Wrinkles in Time!

With awards season quickly winding down, the time has come to look towards the heart of the new year's biggest and most defining releases. Before the summer arrives, with its superhero families seeking the spotlight again and dinosaurs battling violent volcanos, the spring months ahead hold some of the year's most intriguing projects. While some are obvious candidates to conquer the season, like Avengers: Infinity War and Ready Player One, others seek to sneak up and surprise with their bold, inventive stories. From compelling follow-ups like Pacific Rim: Uprising to disquieting thrillers like A Quiet Place, here's your first look into some of the upcoming projects of Spring 2018:    

Tentpole Tacklers - Penultimate Showdowns & Nostalgic Throw-downs:

Avengers: Infinity War - With less than a month until the latest installment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe ignites into a full-scale war for survival, the third Avengers chapter seeks to culminate its ten-year-long existence by uniting its mightiest heroes into one massive throw-down. While the speculation as to what might occur -- and who might die -- once big bad Thanos finally enters the picture continues, the end of April is sure to kick off the spring season with shear excitement and surprise.

Ready Player One - From director Steven Spielberg, one of the most defining directors of all-time, comes the filmmaker's latest leap into crafting a new classic with his bold adaptation of Ernest Cline's acclaimed novel. Built not only on its nostalgic allure, with a story fueled by its main character jumping into a world of pure imagination (and '80s references), but also a likable young cast, Spielberg aims to create a thrilling visual ride in the vein of his most iconic features. While the story seems to diverge partially from Cline's nostalgia-infused novel, it could be another smash hit for Spielberg.  

Pacific Rim: Uprising - Leaping off the mostly-sustained hype of Guillermo del Toro's action-packed robots-vs-monsters feature, the sequel to 2013's Pacific Rim comes with a mighty uprising. Setting new Star Wars star John Boyega as the son of Idris Elba's valiant lead from the first film, the massive Transformers-esque franchise seeks to pave its way towards taking control of the spring box office. While I might not be entirely convinced with this series as of yet, Uprising does look to be a fun-filled adventure for the masses.

Rampage - After leading the show in a number of tentpole blockbusters just last year, including Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle and the latest Fast & Furious chapter, I continue to hold up Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson as the so-called "franchise viagra". Able to lure audiences in with his massive presence and winning charisma, the former wrestler-turned-actor has had no trouble getting butts in the seats of his films. While last year's ambitious retool of Baywatch might not have floated, Johnson's latest effort to revive an old soul finds itself in this month's Rampage. While its primate-focused premise might dissolve into an off-beat parody of King Kong vs. Godzilla, there's no doubt The Rock will have some kind of impact on the film's box-office performance. 

Outlaw's Gamble - Foul-Mouthed Team-Building & Falcon-Flying Scoundrels

Deadpool 2 - While 2016's riotous good time in Deadpool could have easily been a one-and-done gig for 20th Century Fox and Ryan Reynolds to get back on the map of superhero films, there was no doubt that a sequel would eventually manifest from one of the most popular films of the year. With Reynolds' iconic merc-with-a-mouth returning for yet another action-filled, hard-R adventure, the stakes seem to be turned to eleven, as the likes of time traveller Cable and a team of off-brand X-Men seek to join the party. Just as star-studded and flirtatious as the first film, Deadpool 2 could be one of the season's biggest delights. 

Solo: A Star Wars Story - Even as the latest anthology feature to follow up 2016's Rogue One: A Star Wars Story might sit at an odd and compromising position around the release dates of not only Deadpool 2 but Infinity War as well, the Han Solo origin film still holds a gleam of hope in my eyes. While fans of the ever-expanding franchise continue to berate the film as unnecessary, the star-studded heist flick could still end up pulling off a number of fulfilling surprises. Let's just hope the fans aren't as harsh as they were with The Last Jedi. 

Ladies Take Charge - Adrenaline-Fueled Adventures & Time-Warped Adaptations:

Tomb Raider - While I never truly grappled onto the Angelina Jolie-led film franchise, nor the original action-adventure video game the duo of early 2000 films were based on, something about the latest iteration of Lara Croft aka the Tomb Raider appealed to me beyond simply the sex appeal of its main protagonist. Yes, while new Lara Alicia Vikander might have drawn my eye at first, I looked at the newest Tomb Raider as an evolution from the thin-veiled adventure tale of the series' origins. While the film still might seek to hold onto those origins for the most part, this year's Tomb Raider could inject some much-needed humanity into the ever-emerging plethora of video-game films. 
  

Red Sparrow - While some Marvel fans still yearn for a Black Widow film starring Scarlett Johansson, the director of the Hunger Games franchise has given that select bunch somewhat of a solution in Red Sparrow. While it might be Jennifer Lawrence in the lead role, the premise of an elite Russian intelligence agent sent into a covert, life-or-death situation remains. Somewhat banking off the success of last year's violent female-led thriller Atomic Blonde, Red Sparrow seeks to deliver yet another strong female performance from Lawrence. Set within a compelling game of intrigue in Mother Russia, the adaptation could fare well this spring.  

A Wrinkle in Time - If there's any director who knows anything about female empowerment, and empowerment in general, it has to be Ava DuVernay. From her early films that explored female-led tragedies to her more recent hit in 2014's Martin Luther King Jr. biopic Selma, DuVernay has defined her career through giving a voice to minority culture. With her latest, and largest, production in her adaptation of Madeleine L'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time setting its sights on exploring female empowerment through the eyes of young star Storm Reid, the fantasy adventure could make for a promising peek inside the deeper meaning of both the novel and the film's activist director.

Heartfelt Rom-Coms - Courageous Coming-of-Age & Clueless Confidence:

Love, Simon - While it wouldn't be completely accurate to compare the Greg Berlanti-directed film Love, Simon to that of Luca Guadagnino's masterful take on Call Me by Your Name, the two films do represent some of the major releases focused on gay protagonists. While Guadagnino's film quickly becomes more of a dreamlike romance set against a vague Italian backdrop, Love, Simon seeks to inject itself into the modern climate of the LGBTQ community. Promising a charming set of young characters on a journey to find themselves, in the vein of John Hughes' best features, the tender coming-of-age comedy of Love, Simon could go beyond the dreamlike qualities of Call Me by Your Name, while still delivering a heart-warming premise of self-discovery.  

Life of the Party - The more recent filmography of actress/writer Melissa McCarthy has been an odd mix of hit or miss for me. While projects like Spy and St. Vincent provided likable comedies worthy of more than a single rewatch, others like Tammy and the female-led Ghostbusters reboot sought more to utilize McCarthy's physical humor rather than her writing chops. With her latest feature, from husband Ben Falcone, finding somewhat of a middle ground, the college-themed comedy of May's Life of the Party aims to -- hopefully -- deliver a lasting comedic outing for the actress.

I Feel Pretty - After a solid starring role in 2015's romantic comedy Trainwreck, comedian Amy Schumer has somewhat proved she can hold her own when concocting crude humor for the big screen. While this month's I Feel Pretty might lack some of the comedic nuances of Trainwreck, which propelled the likes of athletes LeBron James and John Cena into two of the film's funniest characters, the oblivious and brazen leading force of Schumer could be enough to make the self-confidence message at the heart of I Feel Pretty shine through. 

Anthropomorphic Animation - Rabid Canines & Redundant Payoffs:

Isle of Dogs - While Wes Anderson's 2009 stop-motion feature Fantastic Mr. Fox might still remain on my must-see list, the latest animated venture from the artful director of Moonrise Kingdom and The Grand Budapest Hotel called to me almost instantly. With a fruitful cast at its disposal, not unlike Anderson's plethora of other unique films, and a visual palette that interrogates culture while unabashedly celebrating the art of stop-motion, Isle of Dogs looks to be an exciting new project from a name every cinephile should know by now. 

 

Sherlock Gnomes - I can confidently admit: I actually loved Gnomeo & Juliet when it first came out some seven years ago in 2011. With its unique Toy Story-esque premise of garden gnomes coming to life when the world isn't looking tackling the likes of William Shakespeare's most renowned tragedies, the film held a certain lovability to it that made it a sleeper hit during my adolescence. As for its sequel, coming at a time when fans of the first film have all but trickled off, and the notability of ace detective Sherlock Holmes (from which the film draws its premise) has become reserved mostly to the popular BBC television series, the film seems all too redundant. Still, even while the sequel seems to favor fart jokes over narrative, it could still be enjoyed by youthful audiences, as well as fans who just like seeing James McAvoy as a wise-cracking gnome.  

Disquieting Thrillers - Hushed Horror & Hand-Held Hysteria:

A Quiet Place - Riding off the back of effective genre films like Don't Breathe and The Witch, as well as hits like Get Out that bled methodical social commentary, the horror debut of actor/director John Krasinski in A Quiet Place is quickly becoming one of the year's earliest stand-out features. With its hushed premise of a family who must live in silence to hide from vicious creatures injecting the film with a unique sense of unpredictability, the film seems primed to be a smash horror hit for the spring season. While I might not be the biggest horror fan out there, the sheer ambition of the project will definitely be enough to get me in the theater. 

Unsane - Much like Wes Anderson, director Steven Soderbergh has also worked to evolve his filmmaking format over his many years as one of the most intriguing directors in Hollywood today. From his start in the independent genre with 1989's Sex, Lies, and Videotape to his most recent venture with the psychological thriller Unsane, Soderbergh has developed a unique method of storytelling, one that spans beyond just what's on paper. With the Claire Foy-starrer Unsane shot completely on an iPhone, Soderbergh channels the likes of Tangerine's Sean Baker in his dynamic, hand-held nail-biter. While Unsane might not draw a massive crowd at the box office, it still could be one of Soderbergh's most distinct pieces.  

  

The Strangers: Prey at Night - In effort to stay relevant and possibly appeal to audiences who have become all but become dull of the horror genre and its predictable nuances, much of the horror projects I see today tend to try to satirize the genre's concepts and subvert our expectations. One of the best examples of this had to be last year's Get Out, which used its social commentary and sharp writing to mature its inherent horror premise. With the sequel to 2008's The Strangers attempting to do the same, albeit with a more Purge look to it than Get Out, the film caught my eye. While it still might look like your average slasher film, it could actually have some intelligent heart behind it to make it more than the scare of the month.

With that, what films are you most excited to see this spring? Let me know in the comments which films you think will take the cake as the biggest spring release of 2018? Stay tuned for my reviews of the season's top films coming soon!