(Originally posted on Stargate Pioneer’s Facebook Page: HERE)

So 2016 is upon us and I’m looking forward to a few movies this year. So here is my list of 12 movies that I am looking forward to plus 3 that I’m not.

1. Independence Day: Resurgence (June 24th, 2016). I know what you are thinking. “Really, SP?  Independence Day as your NUMBER ONE pick?” Heck yes. Independence Day it science fiction, it’s fun, it looks like it has awesome special effects, it has Chris Pine, it actually has most of the original cast, AND it is in the “same universe” as Beef always says as the original film from 1996. It will be a fun summer movie to see right before the big 4th of July holiday for me at the lake. I’m definitely looking forward to seeing this in 2016.

2. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (December 16th, 2016). Again, I’ve stunned you and here’s your thought right now. “Wow SP. You run a Marvel podcast and a DC podcast and yet none of the comic book movies in 2016 are in your top two.” Well, that’s because I’m a science fiction guy. I always have been. I love Star Wars. And I love X-Wings. And Wedge Antilles was my favorite original series character. Even if young Wedge isn’t in the film I’ll be interested in it. So yes, this is at least my number 2 movie of interest to me in 2016. Possibly even number one. But given the issues I had with The Force Awakens I’m hedging my bets and placing Rogue One as number 2. Whatever you think about the pick this one thing is for sure: it will be a great holiday season this year with another Star Wars film to see!

3. X-Men Apocalypse (May 27th, 2016). “Wow! You are full of surprises today SP.” Yes. Yes I am. Even with two Marvel movies and this big bat dude versus the cape this year X-Men beats them all out. Why is that? So have you seen the other rebooted X-Men films? If you have you’d give this one more credit. I certainly do and I haven’t even paid close attention to it . But I’m looking forward to seeing it. Enough to place it as #3.

4. Captain America: Civil War (May 5th, 2016). “Only at number four? SP, what are you thinking?” Okay. I get asked this a lot so I have some experience in trying to explain myself. So here is what I’m thinking. I like Marvel. A lot better than DC. Plus I’ve enjoyed the total hashtagitsallconnected.com universe they put together. But I’m not interested in their little superhero spat and fighting each other. There’s bigger concerns out there and this is just a diversion from real threats. I’ll admit I’m excited to see Agent 13 again. Who wouldn’t be? And I’m interested into what this means for the rest of the Marvel Universe including Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. especially since I co-host the GonnaGeek Legends of S.H.I.E.L.D. podcast. So it really is a mixed bag for me but it still intrigues me enough to put Civil War up as my number 4 movie in 2016 that I am looking forward to .

5. Deadpool (February 12th, 2016). I’m not so sure this movie will be in my tastes but I do know that with the excitement around this movie, Ryan Reynolds playfulness about the movie, and what I’ve seen in the trailers interests me to see this one in the theater. We’ll see if I like it or not next month but it will be nice to see The Green Lantern on the big screen again. Yes, I just went there.

6. Warcraft (June 10th, 2016). So I realize that I am going a little bit off script here. However, the trailers for Warcraft that I saw before Star Wars interested me in the movie. Plus MISTER Vikings himself, Travis Fimmel, from The history Channel as one of the leads and some of the SyFy channel regulars, superhero television regulars and science fiction movie regulars (such as Ryan Robbins, Robert Kazinsky, Dominic Cooper, Clancy Brown, Daniel Cudmore, Ruth Negga, Patrick Sabongui ) make me interested in checking this one out.

7. The 5th Wave (January 22nd, 2016). In the spirit of Independence Day I like this movie already. And it honestly doesn’t look all that great. I’d maybe put it somewhere in between Independence Day and Falling Skies. But I like the premise and it has potential. So I’ve placed it at #7 and I’ll hope for the best.

8. The Finest Hours (January 29th, 2016). As it is becoming known I’m fascinated by shipwrecks, the disaster surrounding them,  the rescues, and the salvage or repair efforts afterwards. I wrote a report on the Andrea Doria in grade school. I followed the Costa Concordia all the way to the courtrooms and the wrecking yard. I watch The Deadliest Catch religiously and I admire my comrades in the Coast Guard. Putting this movie at #8 with Chris Pine was an easy choice.

9. Suicide Squad (August 5th, 2015). I’m not that big of a DC comic book movie fan but watching Arrow for 4 years has me interested in this movie. Now I do wish Will Smith was in Independence Day Resurgence this year instead of Suicide Squad but it will be fun to see his action and comedy on the screen this year in whatever film it is. And yes, I’m still mad at DC for taking all the cool toys like Suicide Squad away from Arrow. Bad DC!

10. Doctor Strange (November 14th, 2016). I’m not a huge Benedict Cumberbatch fan. Don’t get me wrong, I like his work. I’m just meh about getting excited to see him. Especially playing a character I know next to nothing about. But it’s a Marvel film. It’s hard to go wrong there right now. ‘Nough said.

11. Deepwater Horizon (September 30th, 2016). See my explanation of #8 and that pretty much says it all for this one.

12. Gambit (October 7th, 2016). A good friend of mine Jay Witten was looking forward to seeing the character but didn’t want to see Tatum on the screen. That’s good enough for me to check it out and see what a train wreck it may or may not be.

MOVIES NOT INTERESTING ME IN 2016

So if you read this far into the post you are in for a treat. I have three movies that I’m definitely NOT interested in seeing in 2016.

1. Batman v Superman (March 25th, 2016). So I thought Man Of Steel was an okay movie but I haven’t enjoyed Batman since Michael Keeton. And re-casting Batman again for the movie? Maybe it will be a good thing but Ben Affleck as Batman does not make me want to run out and see this movie. I’ll definitely be waiting for my friends on GonnaGeek to review this before I spend the time and cash to see it in the theater.

2. Star Trek: Beyond (July 22, 2016). “WHOA!” you say. “SP, you are a scifi fan, right?” Yup. “You love Star Trek, right?” Oh yes. “Then WHY AREN’T YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO SEEING THIS MOVIE?” Did you see the trailer? The one that they pulled from showing in most theaters the weekend Star Wars opened? Yup. I’m not looking forward to it. It doesn’t look like a Star Trek movie to me so far. Or maybe what I have in my mind is wrong about what a Star Trek movie should look like. I hope that will change but right now I’m not interested in seeing it in the theater. Again. We’ll see what my GonnaGeek friends say about this one before I see it.

3. Ghostbusters 3 (July 15th, 2016). I love Ghostbusters! Along with Back To The Future it was my light scifi of the 80’s. And I love the fact that it is being brought back. But I’m not a fan of the comedy in Bridesmaids and from what I hear the same sort of comedy has been brought into Ghostbusters. So no. I’m not interested in seeing this at this time. Definitely not in the theater.

So there you have it. 12 movies I’m looking forward to seeing in 2016 and 3 I’m not. I’m sure I’ve forgotten some. There are definitely ones I didn’t throw up here because I didn’t have an opinion either way yet. But here you go. We’ll see at the end of 2016 how right (or wrong) I really was.

~SP