Eight movie wishes for 2018

On the eve of 2018, I’d like to share eight movie wishes for the coming year. Perhaps some Hollywood magic will make every one of them come true. 

I wish for:

1. Ready Player One (March) to be as good as the combination of the page-turning book + director Steven Spielberg magic. Anything short of “This generation’s Back To The Future,” and I’m like, totally disappointed.

2. Oscars to get over itself and last year’s envelope mishap, and focus on the films and craft. Ugh, I know the marketing angle of that will be hard to resist, but it’s a tacky tactic and I can hear the tired Kimmel jokes already. He’s better than that.

3. The Overboard remake (April), starring Anna Faris,to be the modern Goldie Hawn style comedy that we did not get last year with Snatched. I also want her to get back together with Chris Pratt, so that we can have an Overboard/Jurassic World crossover. Not really.

4. AMC Theatres to settle its dispute with Movie Pass, so that I can use mine to see writer-director Damine Chazelle’s (La La Land, Whiplash) new 2018 film First Man and writer-director Barry Jenkin’s (Moonlight) new and curiously titled film,  If Beale Street Could Talk.

5. That the opening date move of A Star Is Born from May to December 2018 is a sign that this film is strong enough to delay it to award season — and not in need of time to fix. This remake stars Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga in the Redford and Streisand roles and I’m intrigued.

6. The new Star Wars story, Solo (May) to be good enough for audiences to want more than one.

7. More Laura Dern in 2018. Everything she touched last year was better for it: Big Little Lies, The Founder, Twin Peaks and Star Wars: The Last Jedi

8. A supercalifragilisticexpialidocious year at the movies. To be blunt, I’m counting on Mary Poppins Returns (December), starring Emily Blunt and Lin Manuel Miranda, to save the year. 

Happy 2018, everybody!