Last update 26/07/2010
1 - Sucker Punch
Release date: March 2011
Director: Zach Snyder
What's So Exciting About This Then?
Zach Snyder has had three very entertaining films in a row with Dawn Of The Dead, 300 and Watchmen. The guy has a great visual eye for action and mayhem in genre films and mixes a love of technology and effects with a more independent feel than most. Didn't know much about 'Sucker Punch' until Comic-Con but as I read more about it I started to fall in love a little bit. And then I watched this trailer:
If you were to ask my subconcious what elements it would put in my perfect movie, it would reply (in a dreamy voice) with large robot-mechs with massive guns, World War 1 trench warfare, underwear clad girls with guns, massive explosions, swords, zeppelins and some bits in space. And dragons. How can this not be the best film ever made?
2 - The Invention Of Hugo Cabret
Release date: December 2011
Director: Martin Scorsese
What's So Exciting About This Then?
Any Scorsese film is enough to get me skipping off to the cinema with a smile on me chops but this is new territory for the bushy-browed genius. It's his first family film (no heads in vices or mafia cussing here) and it's being shot in 3D. It's based on a supposedly brilliant novel (that I'd never heard of) about a boy who lives a quiet life between the walls of a Paris train station. An odd girl, a broken machine and a toy shop owner somehow lead him off on a magical journey.
It's got a great cast too. Christopher Lee, Jude Law, Sacha Baron Coen, Ray Winstone, Michael Stuhlbarg, Ben Kingsley, Chloe Moretz, Emily Mortimer. Quite a mixture there.
It's got a great cast too. Christopher Lee, Jude Law, Sacha Baron Coen, Ray Winstone, Michael Stuhlbarg, Ben Kingsley, Chloe Moretz, Emily Mortimer. Quite a mixture there.
I'm hoping it will be beautiful to look at with an interesting tale that will tug at the heartstrings a bit. I well up at any old thing these days.
Release date: May 2012
Director: Christopher Nolan
What's So Exciting About This Then?
Are you kidding? Has a director ever been on a better run than Chris Nolan? What he's done with the Batman series has been nothing short of breathtaking and when he's not mucking about in Gotham he routinely trots out films like The Prestige or Inception. I would very much like to take him out for a steak dinner and a beer. Failing that I will wait a couple of years to see how he finishes his flying mouse trilogy.
The rumours are that the naughty nemesis this time will be The Riddler. I've always loved that bad guy - whether Frank Gorshin or Jim Carrey as playing him - but I have no idea how he'll end up looking or behaving in Nolan-ville. Based on current 'Bat bads' though, you could expect something raw and edgy and for the riddles to be deliciously disturbing.
Cannot. Bloody. Wait.
4 - Tron Legacy
Release date: December 2010
Director: Joseph Kosinski
What's So Exciting About This Then?
Have you seen any of the promo images of this? It looks a-maz-ing. Embarrassingly for a movie-geek, I'm not even sure if I've seen all of the original. I've certainly seen bits of it. This update/sequel seems to be doing all the right things though. It's got a director from the flashy world of TV and Music promos (he did Microsoft's Gears Of War ad) but the original film's director is also onboard to help.
Daft Punk are doing a fully integrated soundtrack too - to the extent that they've been on set the whole time to make the bleepety-bleeps synch with the visual whizz. My eyes love a good visual whizz and they've told me they're really looking forward to seeing this.
5 - The Social Network
Release date: October 2010
Director: David Fincher
What's So Exciting About This Then?
Fincher 'likes' Facebook. Expect about thirty thousand lazy puns like that when this film charting the origins of Facebook comes out. It should be fascinating though with an obsessively talented director bringing Aaron Sorkin's screenplay to vivid life.
6 - The Avengers
Release date: May 2012
Director: Joss Whedon
What's So Exciting About This Then?
It's the film that Marvel Studios have been planning forever. The ultimate super-hero team up which has been gestating and referred to in all their recent films. Iron Man, The Hulk, Thor, Captain America, Black Widow, Hawkeye and Nick Fury will all be assembling to kick several shades of something out of someone. It's a comic-book fan's vision of heaven - and should be a lot of fun for the rest of us. For once I am comfortably out-geeked here and know very little about the source material of The Avengers. What I do know is that it's hugely ambitious and I'm very interested to see how the whole thing pans out.
7 - Transformers 3
Release date: July 2011
Director: Michael Bay
What's So Exciting About This Then?
It's another helping of mahoosive robots beating the rivets out of each other in between transforming into gorgeous looking cars or awesome looking military machines. Against a lovely sunset. M Bay promises us that he knows what was gash about the second one (though I still enjoyed it) and is setting out to make a stunning action movie with things we've never seen before.
8 - Cowboys and Aliens
Release date: July 2011
Director: Jon Favreau
What's So Exciting About This Then?
Didn't you read the title? It's a film about cowboys and aliens. Hello? And it's got bloody Han Solo and James Bond in it. Hello? Big, stupid summer fun for you sir.
9 - True Grit
Release date: December 2010
Director: Joel & Ethan Coen
What's So Exciting About This Then?
It's a new Coen brothers film and therefore guaranteed to make me a bit frothy. Their stuff is never less than interesting and usually bloody brilliant. This time they're updating classic Western True Grit - although I hear they're returning to the original novel rather than the John Wayne film so beloved of many a Grandad.
Cracking cast too - Matt Damon (still can't type that without thinking Team America. Sorry), Jeff Bridges and Josh Brolin.
10 - The Hobbit
Release date: December 2012
Director: Peter Jackson?
What's So Exciting About This Then?
It's a two part version of the story before it all really kicked off in Middle Earth. A prequel to one of the most critically acclaimed and commercially successful series of all times. It should have almost all of the people responsible for the Rings trilogy back on board - including those people who hand made about a million chain-mail suits. God bless those Kiwi nutters.
