2016 Most Anticipated Films (and 2015's List Revisited)

Previous #1 most anticipated movies: THE DARK KNIGHT RISES (2012), THE COUNSELOR (2013), THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL (2014), STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS (2015)

Some of those have worked out better than others.  2016 was probably the toughest of these lists to make because there isn't a whole lot that is really jumping out at me.  There's a lot of films with promise, but not too many that are really getting me excited the way a new Star Wars or Wes Anderson movie gets me.  Luckily, there are a lot of great directors with new movies to make up this list, hopefully a bunch of these really deliver.

1. MIDNIGHT SPECIAL (Jeff Nichols)
2. FANTASTIC BEASTS AND WHERE TO FIND THEM (David Yates)
3. THE NEON DEMON (Nicolas Winding Refn)
4. SILENCE (Martin Scorsese)
5. JACK REACHER: NEVER GO BACK (Edward Zwick)
6. ROGUE ONE: A STAR WARS STORY (Gareth Edwards)
7. HAIL, CAESAR! (Joel Coen & Ethan Coen)
8. TRIPLE 9 (John Hillcoat)
9. WAR ON EVERYONE (John Michael McDonagh)
10. THE STORY OF YOUR LIFE (Denis Villeneuve)
11. GOLD (Stephen Gaghan)
12. PATERSON (Jim Jarmusch)
13. WAR MACHINE (David Michod)
14. THE LOBSTER (Yorgos Lanthimos)
15. KNIGHT OF CUPS (Terrence Malick)

Here was 2015's list and my grades for each (or reasons for not seeing):

1. STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS (J.J. Abrams) - A+
2. THE HATEFUL EIGHT (Quentin Tarantino) - A-
3. THE MARTIAN (Ridley Scott) - B
4. MIDNIGHT SPECIAL (Jeff Nichols) - Will be released 3/18/16
5. TRIPLE NINE (John Hillcoat) - Will be released 2/19/16
6. BLACK MASS (Scott Cooper) - B
7. BRIDGE OF SPIES (Steven Spielberg) - B+
8. SICARIO (Denis Villeneuve) - B
9. 99 HOMES (Ramin Bahrani) - A-
10. THE REVENANT (Alejandro G. Inarritu) - B
11. THE LOBSTER (Yorgos Lanthimos) - Will be released in 2016
12. EX MACHINA (Alex Garland) - A+
13. GOING CLEAR: SCIENTOLOGY AND THE PRISON OF BELIEF (Alex Gibney) - A-
14. MAPS TO THE STARS (David Cronenberg) - C-
15. TOMORROWLAND (Brad Bird) - B+