My Top 10 Most Anticipated Movies of Fall 2017

The first Kingsman came out of nowhere in early 2015 and absolutely blew me away with its fun tone, killer action sequences, and music. The sequel looks like a surefire follow-up as the crew goes to America to get help from the Statesman, effectively doubling the cast. Is it a little lame that Colin Firth's character's death meant nothing? Sure. But I'm willing to forgive that for what to me is the number one must-see movie of the season.

A Star Wars movie not hitting number one on the most anticipated list is blasphemy! That's partly true, but Disney has been very quiet on the marketing front thus far, only releasing one teaser trailer and a behind-the-scenes featurette. This leaves a lot of room for speculation, but for the time being there's not much tangible to grab onto besides the excitement that another Star Wars movie is coming out. That being said, seeing the return of Luke Skywalker and continuing the story of Rey, Finn, Poe, and Kylo Ren is extremely exciting.

As someone who appreciates what it did for the genre more than likes it as a feature, I would have my reservations about a Blade Runner feature if it weren't for the talented team backing it. Director Denis Villeneuve is on a ridiculously hot streak of deservedly loved movies in cinephile circles, and his last two pictures Sicario and Arrival were very well-received among general audiences as well. The trailers so far do a phenomenal job of showcasing Roger Deakins' phenomenal cinematography and the strong VFX work while only giving small clues regarding what the movie is really about. With a runtime close to three hours, we're looking at a pretty tantalizing epic.

At the time of this writing, It has already been released in theaters with its full slate of reviews available. It's supposed to be pretty darn good. After The Dark Tower, another Stephen King adaptation, disappointed last month, it's good to see this one be so embraced. To me, it looks similar to Netflix's Stranger Things in J.J. Abrams' Super 8, except much more violent and scary. This is the only movie coming out through the rest of this year where I could see myself getting genuinely freaked out.

Darren Aronofsky's returns to a smaller psychological thriller genre after his so-so epic Noah, and the results look pretty promising. Mother! has a very freaky trailer and is smart to keep its story details close to its chest. Of course, aesthetically the movie looks great and pretty unsettling, and actors like Javier Bardem and Ed Harris are sure to turn in great performances. Simply seeing what this thing is all about is very exciting in of itself.

This year's big musical stars Hugh Jackman as P.T. Barnam in what looks like an appropriately glitzy, feel-good story about the start of the circus. Sure, there's a lot of controversy going around about how the musical is taking a greedy exploitative businessman and turning him into a hero, but I imagine if this movie is a hit a more representative biopic will follow. For the moment, I'm very happy that we're getting a bombastic, expensive showcase this holiday season as a second film to see besides The Last Jedi.

Certainly the smallest film on this list, here's a movie that I have a feeling is going to be very well-received. Willem Dafoe is a very good actor, so it's been disappointing to see him wasted in weaker movies like this year's The Great Wall. Here's a starring role for him in a naturalistic-type drama about pretty poor people living near Disney World. So far the reviews have been very strong, and this is one I hope doesn't fly entirely under the radar.

Here's the kind of crime thriller feature that seems particularly suited for October. The Snowman looks cold and dreary and scary, and has a ton of talent in front of the camera including Michael Fassbender and Rebecca Ferguson. The trailer looked very haunting and while a flimsy plot might end up holding this one back, I'm hopeful that things click into place for a high-stakes, violent thriller.

Richard Linklater has become one of my very favorite directors, so I'm very excited to see working with Bryan Cranston, Steve Carell, and Laurence Fishburne on this project. A sequel to a movie from the 70's, it feels a bit like an obscure choice for today's audience, but from the trailer this is shaping up to be a strong drama with really good performances. I could see this one making a run for the Awards circuit

This showy big-budget adaptation of Agatha Christie's most famous work features a massive cast of A-list names and is directed by Kenneth Brannagh, who has been releasing a body of "pretty good" films consistently over the last five to ten years or so. Brannagh sports a massive, hilarious mustache for this role, suggesting that they aren't going to be taking the movie all that seriously. It should be fun seeing all these recognizable actors interacting with each other in such a classic story adapted many times before.