2) Ant-Man
Paul Rudd – a man who manages to tickle audiences either when he’s playing deadpan or flying deliriously over-the-top – is set to take centre stage for the pint-sized protagonist in Ant-Man – and with the exhausting production process that the movie has gone through, a good few laughs are definitely in order.
Rudd’s character is Scott Lang – a petty crook who becomes a reluctant, miniature hero when an entomologist asks him to become the safeguard for his very own Ant-Man technology. Rudd shed some serious weight for the role, and was forced to contend with a barrage of press questions as the comic book movie was subject to some crazy occurrences.
The production process of this Marvel movie has gained notoriety in the Hollywood for the long-winded ordeal it’s gone through. With several cast members waltzing off set and director Edgar Wright departing after citing creative differences, Ant-Man has been rewritten, re-cast and rethought more times than any other superhero film in recent memory.
Peyton Reed – a director who’s almost exclusively puppeteered cornball romantic comedies until now – has taken the mangled reins from Edgar Wright, and with all due respect to Reed, it’s difficult not to feel disappointed. Wright is a filmmaker with a natural eye for cinema, with Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, and The World’s End all wildly entertaining from beginning to end. But the beauty of cinema lies in its ability to surprise us, and if Peyton has managed to pull Ant-Man off, it’ll be one of the finest achievements in a long time.
Good, bad or mediocre, people are simply gasping to see how Ant-Man has turned out. Us included.