Most Anticipated Films of 2017

For the past two years I’ve done a post like this on one platform or another and I’ve really come to love doing them as a reminder of all the films that have come out that year as well as it aiding me to discover some of the lesser know films that are coming out. Saying that you’ll notice on this list that I’ve not included sequels or prequels, not because I’m not excited about them, but because otherwise they would massively dominate this list.  I’ve included a couple of the big blockbusters this year but again I’ve really tried to only include the ones that I’m genuinely looking forward to because I think they’ll be providing something different, or a relatively fresh take. I’d love to know whether you agree with my choices and what you’re looking forward to and I hope that there’s maybe a couple on this list that you hadn’t heard of before which you’ll now be adding to your own lists. Also I feel I have to have a disclaimer that the only reason La La Land isn’t on this list is because it was on last years list.

Okay so before we kick off properly honourable mentions go to; Guardians Of The Galaxy Volume:2, Kingsmen: The Golden Circle, Star Wars 8, Pitch Perfect 3, Thor Ragnarok, Alien Covenant, Blade Runner 49, John Wick 2, Logan.

Beauty and the Beast

After completely falling in love with Disney’s real life adaptation of Cinderella I was already on board for whatever was coming next, by when it was announced that it was going to be my all time favourite Beauty and the Beast I was ecstatic. But even putting my own bias aside, the cast looks about as close to perfect as they could get. and the initial glimpses that we’ve seen seem to be straight out of the original film. Plus it’ll be interesting to see how the additional modern twists play out such as such as Belle being the inventor in this version as well as her refusal to wear a corset. Either way, I can’t wait.

Spiderman:Homecoming

Considering this is the sixth Spiderman film in under 15 years and the third ‘re-imagining’ in that time you’d be forgiven for having given up hope by this point. But there’s enough elements in this new version to pique my interest such as the casting of Tom Holland who’s gynatistic ability is what is rumoured to have helped him land the part in the first place and is sure to add a sense of realism to the stunts. Not to mention the diverse casting choices including up and coming Tony Revolori as Flash Thompson and Zendaya as Michelle, an unknown character who is promised to play a major part in later films. Throw in Holland’s scene stealing introduction in Captain America: Civil War and the very promising first trailer, Marvel has managed to do it again and somehow get people excited for another Spiderman movie, lets just hope it lives up to the hype.

Baby Driver

Edgar Wright’s latest offering sounds like it could be his most interesting to date with Ansel Engort as a baby faced getaway driver (see what they did there?) who suffers from tinnitus, so constantly has headphones in which provide the soundtrack to his life, and as a result the movie. Regardless of whether or not this ends up making the best films of 2017 list there’s one thing for certain, it’ll definitely be one of the best soundtracks.

Wonder Woman

To say DC has been on a losing streak in regards to its recent movies is a bit of an understatement. Even Suicide Squad, which many heralded as being a return to form and the film to finally rival Marvel’s empire fell short due to terrible editing, the mess that was The Enchantress, and a plot that didn’t really exist. After the release of the Wonder Woman trailer last year DC managed to reignite fans hope with a glimpse of what looked like the adaptation that would finally do Wonder Woman justice. After initial criticism of her costume, fans were won over by seeing Wonder Woman kick ass regardless of the length of her skirt and many were excited by the possibility of seeing a well rounded, intelligent female hero taking the big screen (something that Marvel by the way has yet to do). Certainly after the initial excitement from the Suicide Squad trailer it’d potentially be a little bit foolish to place your bets just yet, but here’s hoping the 2017 is the year DC gives us the superhero film we’ve all been waiting for.

The Dark Tower

It’s been on my bucket list for so long to make a start on this series that I’ve finally made my piece with the fact that I’ll be watching it long before I read it. I have to say though it looks so promising that I’m really not that upset about it. Based on the Stephen King series it revolves around 11 year old Jake Chambers who stumbles across a dimension called Mid-World where he encounters the lone frontiersman knight Roland Deschain and joins him on his quest to reach the Dark Tower and save Mid-World before the magician known as The Dark Man, reaches the tower to fulfil his own nefarious purposes. The film has been planned for years so here’s hoping it’s worth the wait and falls into the collection of King adaptations such as Misery, Carrie and IT as opposed to the more recent adaptation of Carrie and Under The Dome.

The Beguiled

Sofia Coppola directs Kirsten Dunst, Nicole Kidman and Elle Fanning as the teachers and student of a civil war era girls boarding school which is visited by Colin Farrell’s injured union soldier who slowly works his way into their hearts, much to everyone’s misfortune. Needless to say there’s more to this story than meets the eye and the combination of the director, actors and story means this rocketed to the top of my must see lists and I think has the potential to one of the most exciting films of the year.

Snatched

Now I recognise that this isn’t exactly an award show contender but I love Goldie Hawn and Amy Schumer and the idea of them playing a mother, daughter duo who get kidnapped on a holiday sounds like music to my guilty pleasure loving ears. Trainwreck was one of my favourite films of 2015 for how intelligently funny it was and Goldie Hawn is comedy royalty thanks to classics like First Wives Club and Overboard so I have high hopes that this film will be one of those rare comedies that only come along once or twice a year that is genuinely funny.

Rock That Body

Speaking of comedies I’m hoping that this’ll be the second rarity this year as it’s packed with some of the best comedic actors of the moment Scarlett Johansson, Kate McKinnon, Ty Burrell, Ilana Glazer and Jillian Bell. Five college friends reunite for a hen party weekend but their celebrations are put on hold when their plan to hire a male stripper doesn’t quite go as expected. There’s not much to go on yet aside from the odd obscured set picture but once again the cast and plot alone have me sold and it’s promising to see a studio continuing to produce female-centric comedies.

Song to Song (Previously know as Weightless)

Terrance Malik’s latest film has been in the works for years and with an incredible A-List cast of Christian Bale, Michael Fassbender, Rooney Mara, Natalie Portman and Cate Blanchett it has been on almost every movie buff’s horizon for the past year. Set against the music scene in Austin, Texas it revolves around two intersecting love stories and their struggles and betrayals in their search for success. I can’t say I’ve really been a fan of Malick’s previous endeavours but I’m really looking forward to this one as it seems like a slight change of direction, and considering the mixed reviews of his previous films I’m intrigued to see how this one turns out.

Submergence

Alicia Vikander looks set to continue her domination of our screens this year with three films coming out but it’s this one with James McAvoy that I’m most looking forward to. As James More (McAvoy) find himself captured by Jihadists, Danielle Flinders (Vikander) is about to embark on a submersive dive down to the ocean floor. In their confines they reflect back on the previous Christmas and their chance encounter which led to an intense and enduring romance. Due to the quality of the actors I’m thinking this will be more that your average romance film and I’m really looking forward to it.

How to Talk to Girls at Parties

Based on the story by Neil Gaiman it’s about an alien who on a tour of the galaxy, breaks away from her group and meets two teenagers from the most dangerous place in the universe, Croydon. This is the second Elle Fanning/Nicole Kidman collaboration on this list and from the initial set pictures, as well as Neil Gaiman providing the story this looks to be one of the most inventive, not to mention weirdest entries on this list and probably of this year.

Free Fire

High Rise was one of the most interesting films I saw last year and left me eager to see Ben Wheatley’s next project, and with a cast as strong as this one it was almost certainly going to make it’s way onto this list. When a gang of criminals meet up to trade arms a disagreement turns it into a full-on shootout. It so far has an 81% on Rotten Tomatoes which is usually a sure fire sign of a good thing to come and with Cillian Murphy, Brie Larson, Armie Hammer and Sharlto Copley to name a few, this looks like one of the surest bets this year.

Terminal

There’s very little to go on for this except that it stars and is produced by Margot Robbie and tells the story of two hit-men who embark on a high stakes mission for a mysterious employer and encounter Anne (Robbie) along the way and realise there’s more to her than initially appears. That’s it for information aside from a very intriguing and ominous photo of Margot Robbie as featured. I know it’s ridiculous to be pumped for a film from a photo alone, but still, damn!

Mute

The penultimate film on this list is Duncan Jones’ latest offering which will hopefully makeup for the frankly pretty dire World of Warcraft. For his latest film he’s chosen to return to his science fiction routes of Source Code and Moon, with Mute. Set in a Blade Runner-esque Berlin in 2052 we follow mute bartender Leo (Alexander Skarsgård) who sets out to find his girlfriend Naadirah when she disappears. From the initial photos it’s obvious that Jones has created a neon, seedy underbelly of a city, and with the much anticipated Blade Runner sequel also out this year it’ll be very interesting to see how each fare, especially as Jones’ offering will be premiering on Netflix.

Ghost in the Shell/Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets 

I know this is cheating but as I tried to restrict myself to 15 entries on this list I found I couldn’t whittle them down and seeing as they’re both a little similar I decided to hell with it, I’d cheat. Both of these films are set in a space-age future with Scarlett Johansson starring as a cyborg counter-cyberterrorist in a futuristic Japan in Ghost in the Shell, whilst Valerian and his partner Laureline are space and time agents responsible for maintaining order throughout the universe. Both are leaving people a little hesistant, what with Ghost in the Shell’s controversial casting and die hard fan base and with Cara Delevinge as Valerian’s leading lady and her less than stellar screen debuts so far people are questioning whether she’ll be able to dually carry such a big film. Either way there’s enough from both initial trailers to pique my interest I just hope that my doubts turn out to be unfounded.

American Beauty Recommendations and Haul

As soon as I found out I was heading to New York I started compiling a lust list for Sephora, Duane Readed and CVS aka the holy trinity of US beauty stores. From the general views of beauty vloggers, bloggers I sought out the best of the best of the goodies that are impossible to get in the UK.

Starting with Sephora I made a beeline for the Kat Von D stand and picked up the cult Tattoo Liner and having had a good week to test it out I can confirm that it is completely worth the buzz. It’s a felt tip style liner but the slim tip and varying width means its perfect for both wide flicks and delicate looks while the slight flexibility to the brush makes it all the easier to apply. Not to mention it provides the perfect deep black that so many other liners seem to lack.

My next stop was Tarte which although is available through QVC in the UK is at a pretty substantial mark up compared to the US prices. Although I was initially tempted by the Amazonian Clay Smart Mascara I finally settled on the Lights, Camera, Lashes version as I prefered the fuller look of the brush not to mention the gorgeous fake snakeskin looking packaging. The fuller brush provides a great base coat separating lashes and with further applications it builds really nicely, all in all one I will definitely be repurchasing.

Next I hit the fragrance and the heavily lusted after Elizabeth and James Nirvana white and black perfumes, which are very hard to come by in the UK as Sephora won’t ship it. I completely fell in love with the white fragrance which wasn’t a surprise as I’d heard it is more popular of the two, but the real mind blowing moment comes when you combine them. Holy cow it smells so good I ended up coming back with the black rollerball as well as the large version of the white just so I could recreate it at home.

Then I decided to swing by the Formula X stand after seeing a haul video by essiebutton who raved about ‘The System’ set, which combines a cleanse, base coat and top coat as well as a colour of your choice. I have often moaned about my want of salon quality nails but unwillingness to dole out for the high price tag, so I thought I would finally bite the bullet and give it a whirl, and at a price like this I couldn’t resist. And I have to say my eyes have been opened and I’m never going back. My nails look healthier than ever, they are less prone to chipping, and look so professional I would really recommend them if you want a salon looking manicure for a fraction of the price.

Of course I couldn’t leave without picking up some bits and pieces from the minatures aisle which I’m just saying is something we really need in the UK. It’s basically a double sided little wall that marks out the queue which is filled with loads of minatures of some of their best loved products. The combination of travelling and the harsh American coldness was wreaking havoc with my skin so on the hunt for a cure I picked up this First Aid Beauty Ultra Repair Instant Oatmeal Mask which I’ve heard many bloggers like Amelia Liana rave about, as well as their Anti-Redness Serum to try and calm my skin down. I also couldn’t help but pick up a Sephora Instant Depuffing Eye Mask as well which really helped providing coolness, and drastically lessened the dark puffy circles under my eyes from the jetlag. First Aid Beauty is definitely something I’ll be checking out again as someone who suffers from sensitive skin I often have reactions to most skincare products, but the cleanser provided a great deep clean while acting gently on my skin. The serum took a lot of my natural redness out of my face, as well as making it look a lot less like I’d been slapped in the face everytime I went into the cold so a definite win in my book.

Unfortunately I missed the memo in which it was announced that Make Up For Ever is coming to the UK later this year, but I definitely don’t regret purchasing their HD Invisible Cover Foundation ahead of time. Another product I’ve heard very good things about I was on the hunt for a new foundation and was blown away by the range of colours, in particular the pale shades. As being both a complete paley but with a rose toned skin colour I find it really hard to find a foundation as I find most of them are yellow toned, but these are perfect. It comes in colours suitable for olive, beige and yellow tones, and it’s definitely one of the more universal foundations I’ve come across, as well as it being oil free yet great for dry skin. Even the coverage which boasts medium-full is brilliant for both those like me who are less keen on a heavy makeup look, but is incredibly easy to build on as well, not to mention it’ll last all day. I can’t wait for this to come to the UK and I highly recommend you guys check it out too!

Finishing with Duane Reade I popped in to grab some Revlon bits, which is one of my favourite brands in the UK (probably something to do with the fact the Emma Stone is their poster girl). I got to get a look at some beauties that aren’t available in the UK, and after much deliberation picked up the Revlon Colourstay Overtime Lipcolour which is based on the same sort of concept as the Maxfactor Lipfinity, but boasts a 16 hour stay time and boy does it deliver. Even with my obsession of the Bourjois Rouge Edition lip stain this provides a much longer stay power, and well as an incredibly high pigment. It feels slightly strange when you first apply it, but once it’s absorbed it feels as natural as a lip tint. The pressed powder was a slightly less impulse buy and more of a need for some powder, but this last minute purchase actually turned out pretty well as it’s incredibly finely milled and provides a very slight glow, which is a great alternative to most powders which seem to wash me out.

I know this has been a bit of a wordy post but I hope this has helped some of you if you’ve been thinking of trying some of these products or brands as I would highly recommend them, and I only hoped I could have gotten more! I will probably cave and end up placing a Sephora order soon so I would love to hear your recommendations on new products or even new brands for me to try!