It is a new year, so it is a good time to look at what movies coming up over the next few months look checking out. I’ve had to widen that scope to fill up enough space to actually make this worthwhile as movies like The Dark Tower have been moved to later in the year. Still, there are a handful of intriguing titles on deck over the first third of 2017 that should provide ample reason the head to the movies.

January

Underworld: Blood Wars – The year gets started with this fifth (!) entry in the Underworld series. As great as Kate Beckinsale is, I have never found these movies to be anything dull, turgid messes. I am not especially interested in seeing this.

Live By Night – Ben Affleck directs this movie set during Prohibition. His previous directorial efforts have been very good, so I am hopeful about this one. Plus, I am always a sucker for that between the World Wars setting, so this looks right up my alley. I know this was technically released at Christmas, but it isn’t getting wide release until early January.

xXx: The Return of Xander Cage – The first xXx was pure nonsense in a (somewhat) good way, something of an extreme James Bond sort of way. The trailer for this looks stupid, but the kind of stupid that can be entertaining.

Resident Evil: The Final Chapter – I put this series as kind of a spiritual sister series to Underworld, both being horror themed action movies and also both being terrible. Still, as terrible as they are, the Resident Evil movies could maybe claim to be the best video game movies. The subtitle claims that this is the last movie in the series and I certainly hope so.

February

Lego Batman – Batman is great, the Lego Movie was great. This looks like it could also be great. The trailers, which are numerous, have been funny so far. I am really hopeful that this turns out well.

John Wick Chapter 2 – It looks bad ass. The first movie as good and this looks to be more of the same in a very good way.

The Great Wall – Mat Damon is great and I’ve enjoyed several Zhang Yimou movies. I hope it has plenty of wuxia style action and not just the usual CGI monsterfest. I don’t know that I am precisely excited for this, but I am definitely interested in seeing it.

March

Logan – Maybe the third and final Wolverine solo movie will finally get everything right. X-Men Origins: Wolverine was a goddamn mess, but The Wolverine was mostly pretty good, even if it couldn’t stick the landing. This one is based off of one of my least favorite Wolverine stories, but it did have a great trailer. Plus, it is supposedly the last time Jackman will play the character, so I am definitely going to see it.

Kong of Skull Island – I hesitate to get well and truly excited for this movie, but I really like the trailer and I love the cast. Also, I love monsters and King Kong in general. I’ve got my fingers crossed and haven’t seen anything yet to make me doubt my excitement.

Beauty & The Beast – I haven’t been a huge fan of Disney’s animated to live action conversions, but I do love Emma Watson. Also, Beauty and the Beast is Disney’s best animated movie, maybe this version will be similarly excellent.

Power Rangers – Misplaced youthful affection for Power Rangers was just enough to get me through the miserable trailer. This looks like another Fantastic 4 situation, but sometimes you really feel the need to watch the train accident.

Ghost in the Shell – This is another one kind of like The Great Wall, with its controversial casting of a white performer in an otherwise Asian movie, but while I don’t disagree with those complaining about that, I still want to see both movies. I really liked the Stand Alone Complex anime series and I liked the trailer. Here’s hoping this turns out.

April

The Fate of the Furious – While the rest of April looks barren, the next Fast & Furious movie is almost enough to sustain a month by itself. While I doubt that the series can return to the heights of Fast 5, this looks more than good.

Did I miss anything? I know I passed by some comedies that might be promising because I know I won’t end up seeing them. While the spring looks kind of sparse, next summer should be jam packed if everything currently scheduled actually hits cinemas. There are some good looking superhero movies coming up and a new Edgar Wright movie to look forward to in 2017, along with several updates of classic sci fi movies and a few new ones. I hope people who are more in the know can lead me to the legitimately good movies instead of just the promising genre stuff that I am tuned in to.