7. Iron Man 3
Release Date: May 3rd After the relative disappointment of Iron Man 2, there are those who will wonder why Im placing this as high as I am. My advice to them? Go back and watch Iron Man 2 again. Yes, its the weakest of the Phase One Marvel movies, but its not as bad as most people say it is, and in fact is vital to the setup of The Avengers. (To those who say its too beholden to setting up that film - there are only 4 scenes that reference The Avengers Initiative. Thats not the whole movie; get over it). Moving on to IM3 though, its easy to be excited for this one. For starters, we get Shane Black directing RDJ again, for the first time since he resurrected RDJs career in the excellent Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang. For seconds, its the first film of the MCUs Phase Two, and as such, the first Marvel movie since The Avengers. I dont know about you, but I kinda want to know what Tony Stark is up to after saving the world. For thirds, all the new additions to the franchise - Ben Kingsley, Guy Pearce, James Badge Dale, and the Iron Patriot suit. Not to mention, theyre saying that Stark is wearing the Mark XLVII (47) in this one! What happened to Marks VIII through XLVI?
6. Gangster Squad
Release Date: January 11th Probably the movie on this list that youre already most aware of, this film - as you know - was pushed back from its planned September 2012 release in the aftermath of the tragic shooting in Aurora, Colorado at the midnight premiere of The Dark Knight Rises. Glimpses of the climax-that-would-have-been, where a group of men open fire from behind a movie screen on the unsuspecting audience, were seen in the first trailer. Warner Brothers clearly wanted to avoid any connection to the tragedy in Colorado, so all trailers with that footage were immediately pulled from all theaters. They eventually decided to reconvene for additional shooting to significantly alter the ending, now reportedly an open-air shootout on the streets of L.A.s Chinatown. The recently released, brand new trailer featuring shots of this new footage, and truth be told - I think it looks even better than it already did. So now we have all the original reasons to be excited for this movie - the amazing cast, director Ruben Fleischers long-awaited follow-up to Zombieland, the true life inspiration for the story - are all combined with this new reason to see it. Hopefully, with some distance away from the theater shooting, which threatened to overshadow the movie before it even came out, the movie will be able to be seen for what it is, and stand alone as it deserves.