What Fun Awaits Us In 2014?

Robocop

There is no hiding my love of Robocop. I've seen the first (and best) movie too many times to count. This year a remake is coming.

Am I excited? Yes, of course. Sure the original Robocop design was iconic and this new design is a bit of a departure. And I'm sure the storytelling style will be a radical departure from Paul Verhoeven's. But it is new Robocop, and I have high hopes it'll at least partially live up to my expectations.

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

Rise of the Planet of the Apes was a stonking good movie. I've always had a soft spot for the Planet of the Apes series, but Rise was vastly superior to all its predecessors. And now Dawn of the Planet of the Apes is coming and I cannot wait. The story of how the apes take over is one that has been crying out to be told in a more realistic fashion than the original series managed... and I think Rise, Dawn and whatever comes after are looking like they might just manage to make us all believers.

Transformers: Age of Extinction

Shia LeBeouf was not the only thing I didn't really like about the first Transformers trilogy. The distinct lack of Dinobots was a definite mark against those movies. Well both of these downers are out, and I cannot wait to see what the Dinobots look like on the big screen! This is the moment I've been waiting for since about the age of 5. The only thing that Hollywood could do to top this would be to have a shower scene in a new He-Man movie.  

Comic Book Movies 

Captain America: The Winter Solider. Not exciting but I'll watch it.
Amazing Spider-man 2. Meh.
Guardians of the Galaxy. I'm still a Guardians of the Galaxy virgin, so I'll reserve excitement judgement until I've read a few of the comics. But... Rocket Raccoon looks awesome.
X-Men Days of Future Past. I LOVE the X-Men. I really do. They are MY comic book heroes. But I'm not, strangely a Wolverine fan. And now I know this is a Wolverine heavy movie I'm feeling sort of "Meh" about the whole thing. Plus Fox's screwing up of continuity still annoys me.

TV

A new Doctor! Wow. And, perhaps, a properly different sort of Doctor. I cannot wait to see what adventures the 12th/13th Doctor takes us on. That is my main excitement for the coming year.

But in new stuff that tickles my fancy...

Westworld. Yes, there is a new TV series coming based on Michael Crichton's Westworld. As a lover of Michael Crichton's writing, and the less said about Jurassic Park the better because I might wet myself with excitement, I cannot wait to see where they go with this show. So many possibilities.
Gotham. A police procedural set in Batman's Gotham City? Do I really need to sell this to anyone? We're there.
Star Wars: Rebels. Star Wars. That is all.

Oh, as always, GAME OF THRONES!

Comics 

The X-Men have been so strong in 2013 that I am just stoked, so stoked, to see where they go this year. With weaker titles like Astonishing gone and the formerly great but getting slightly iffy Wolverine and the X-Men getting a new number 1, I am hoping this year is even better.

And finally.

GODZILLA!

There is a time and place for a reserved British outlook on life. This is not that time nor is it the place. GODZILLA! is coming. It has been 10 years since the last Toho movie and 16 years (year, 16!) since the watchable but cringe-worthy American version. Now, finally, Godzilla may rise again into a post-Avater cinematic world. I have all my fingers crossed that this will blow us all away. Even if it doesn't... it is still new Godzilla!!

Will X-Men: Days of Future Past Manage To Confuse The X-Men Movie Canon Even More?

So...

When X-Men: First Class came out, it seemed to be a complete reboot of the franchise. Surely it couldn't be anything else given the many conflicts it had with the original X-Men movie trilogy. At the time IGN made a fantastic Youtube video pointing out the problems...



Well now we've got the first footage from Days of Future Past, and I'm starting to wonder just how much more confusing things are going to get.



Of course this movie includes (well at least I hope it does!) time travelling mayhem which almost certainly means that on top of any "canon" confusion we have, we'll have a whole bunch of new confusion too.

But where does Storm fit in to all this? An adult in the first trilogy and a child in First Class, we have Halle Berry returning as grown up Storm. Is she from the future? Does it matter? It is obvious the writers are just going to write what ever works best, canon be damned. But for fanboys like me, and I'm not suggesting writers write for us fanboys alone!, if can be a little annoying.

Wolverine appears too... which furthers the already existing continuity problems.

We'll know more on Tuesday when the first full trailer will appear! Am I excited? HELL YES!!

THE 50th Anniversary Of The Year Draws Near

Doctor Who? Hell no. That is in November! I'm referring to an equally momentous Golden Jubilee marking 50 years since Stan Lee and Jack Kirby published the first issue of The X-Men.

I got into the X-Men around the time I got into Doctor Who. All my friends at school were collecting the Fleet X-Men card sets and, being easily lead, I soon joined them. I'd seen the X-Men cartoons, of course, but it was really those card sets that started the real love affair. The sheer diversity of characters appealed to me and it wasn't long before I'd discovered Whatever Comics in Canterbury.

And thus an on again, off again relationship began. I went through periods of devouring X-Men comics, old and new.

There is no point in pretending that the "mutant coming out" stories and the "oppressed minority" subtexts didn't appeal to me greatly. And the characters were interesting and easy to fall in love with. The Beast and his sarcasm but underlying deep and powerful love of science and mankind. Storm and her thoughtful nature and powerful anger. How could you not love them?

Right now, in its 50th year, X-Men is having one of its best runs yet. Wolverine and the X-Men, though slightly knocked off course by the AvX summer event last year, has refound its feet and is back to being hilarious and quirky. All-New X-Men and Uncanny X-Men have taken off brilliantly and I can't wait for the next issue of each. Bring the original 5 X-Men forward in time to see what they've become was an excellent way of exploring the original characters in a new and interesting way. Plus next year we have Days of Future Past coming out in the cinema which will be something to behold.

As we prepare for the 50th Anniversary spectacular story "Battle of the Atom" (though I'm slightly disappointed the future X-Men featured arent't the X-Men 2099, missed opportunity [especially as Spider-man 2099 is back in continuity]) I'd just like to say THANK YOU to everyone who has made the X-Men such a fantastic franchise, full of rich characters, interesting stories and excellent analogies for modern day issues.