Make no mistake: these days, movies are all about anticipation. Marvel’s “Phase” announcements are staged and presented like Apple product launches – which, y’know, is basically what they are – while studios trickle out “first look” images, character posters, trailers, teasers, and (God help us) teasers for teasers. After all that build-up, the payoff can seem a touch anticlimactic; months of promises and expectations, and then the movie’s over in two hours. So looking forward to movies can be a tricky bit of business, and not always a rewarding one; this writer looked back at our most anticipated list of 2015, and not a single one of those ten films ended up in my top ten of the year. (I was looking forward to Joy. That’s how much I knew!) The truly great ones tend to sneak up on you, but nonetheless, we’ve combed through the many, many films slated or presumed for release in 2016 to pluck out the most promising of the bunch.
