As I have now covered my 2009, I would like to end by pointing out my most anticipated movies for 2010. The ones I am most interested and thrilled to see.
Edge of Darkness
I know next to nothing about the original British mini-series, other than it starred the hunter guy from Jurassic Park, Bob Peck. That said I am still rather excited to see this film. First, and foremost because it marks the feature film return of Mel Gibson, from an eight year hiatus from acting to focus on directing as well as getting in much trouble in the media. It was only when he stopped acting did I realize how much I missed his screen presence, always engaging and reliable. Seeing him in this trailer shows that he is still perfectly able to act energetically and convincingly. It’s just damn exciting.
This film also marks the return of Martin Campbell, the man who resurrected Bond twice (1995’s Goldeneye and 2006’s Casino Royale), and also responsible for other decent flicks, as well as the original Edge of Darkness. The script has been penned by William Monahan, responsible for another Boston crime drama, The Departed.
While the trailer seems like yet another ‘don’t fuck with my family flick’, I still maintain there is much more to this film, something good enough to make Gibson want to act again. My interest is peaked!
Trailer - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MxK__2MGm7A
Shutter Island
It was with great excitement to hear that one of the great masters of directing, Martin Scorsese, was going to do a horror/thriller, a genre when put with a fantastic director can make for the most joyous and memorable film experience (e.g. Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining). Scorsese has done this once before with great results, with 1991’s remake of Cape Fear. When the trailer was released, my excitement skyrocketed, and with Scorsese’s amazing track record, I have nothing but pure faith in this film.
It has an interesting plot, concerning a U.S Marshal investigating the disappearance of a murderess who had escaped from a mental hospital, who is presumed to be hiding on the remote and mysterious Shutter Island. It boasts a great cast, with Scorsese’s recent muse, Leonardo DiCaprio (in his acting prime), the competent Mark Ruffalo and Patricia Clarkson, legends Ben Kingsley and Max Von Sydow, rising stars Emily Mortimer and Michelle Williams and acting re-discovery Jackie Earl Haley.
It seems thrilling, creepy, intriguing, dark and an incredibly good yarn. Here’s hoping that this is a winner for Scorsese.
Trailer - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYVrHkYoY80
The Men Who Stare At Goats
This film just looks damn hilarious (not to mention with the greatest title I’ve seen in a while), adding yet another wacky film to George Clooney’s filmography, the first one without the Coen Bros. This film however does screen Coen Bros. due to the offbeat humour and general out of the box silliness. Just watch the trailer, it shows it all.
The plot (supposedly true) tells the tale of a reporter in Iraq who meets a man named Lyn Cassady, a guy who claims to be a former member of the U.S. Army’s New Earth Army, a unit that employs paranormal powers in their missions (brilliantly called Jedi Warriors). This looks like it will be one of the greatest Iraq war movies EVER!
The cast is impeccable. George Clooney (again in his Coen Bros. mindset), Ewan McGregor (fantastic to see again after falling into post-Star Wars obscurity), Jeff Bridges (in pure ‘The Dude’ form, aka GOD), Kevin Spacey (yet another face I’m happy to see), Stephen Lang (fresh off being a badass in Avatar), Robert Patrick (the fucking T-1000) and Stephen Root (Office Space, nuff said).
I am just so very excited to see this film, with all its crazy whimsy. Looks like a fantastically fun time.
Trailer - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GC2TzspJn5A
Paul
I know next to nothing about this film, other than seeing a few internet video blogs onset, but the outline seems promising - “Two British comic-book geeks traveling across the U.S. encounter an alien outside Area 51”. This film could turn out disastrous, but there are a few elements that have peaked my interest.
Playing the geeks is the comedic dynamo duo, Simon Pegg and Nick Frost. The rest of the cast is also promising, Sigourney Weaver, Jason Bateman, Bill Hader, Kirsten Wiig, Jane Lynch, Jeffery Tambor and Seth Rogan as the voice of Paul, the alien (which can only mean a laidback, constantly giggling, possibly stoner of an alien).
The film is also directed by Greg Mottola, who has proved himself twice with the now classic Superbad, and the fantastic Adventureland.
I pine for the trailer, but until then I remain quite interested.
The Hurt Locker
This looks like it will be a brilliant year for Iraq war movies, with The Men Who Stare at Goats taking care of the comedy and this film giving the drama and action, displaying a unique Iraq perspective of the scary, tension-filled and dangerous lives of an elite bomb disposal unit, where every day could be their last.
The trailer looks amazingly promising, the film has some great talent, in Jeremy Renner, Guy Pearce, Ralph Fiennes, Evangeline Lilly and David Morse, a fantastically underrated director, Kathryn Bigelow, who directed such great films as Near Dark, Point Break, Strange Days and K-19 The Widowmaker, not to mention one of the most successful female directors of the past 20 years. The film has also garnered quite a few awards already, with a lot more nominations and awards to come.
In summation, The Hurt Locker has a lot of goodness going for it, and I want to grab a taste.
Trailer - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2GxSDZc8etg
Up In The Air
Yet another award contender with rave reviews. The trailer presents a charming romantic comedy about Ryan Bingham, a corporate downsizing expert whose cherished life on the road is threatened just as he is on the cusp of reaching ten million frequent flyer miles and just after he’s met the frequent-traveler woman of his dreams.
Along with the reviews, it has a great cast, headlining with George Clooney (I think he will have a fantastic year), Vera Farmiga (The Departed), Jason Bateman (good gear), J.K. Simmons (WIN), Danny McBride (AWESOME) and Zack Galifianiakis (DOUBLE AWESOME).
It is also directed by wonder-son of father Ivan, Jason Reitman, who has had a solid start to his directing career with Thankyou for Smoking and the brilliant Juno. With this backing, I think this will be a touching, funny, feel good experience.
Trailer - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_m-Da8Tz4_E
The Road
When McG was preparing to make Terminator Salvation, one of the books he told his cast to read was Cormac McCarthy’s The Road. While that film stunk, captured the spirit of The Road from what I gathered from the bleak and suspenseful trailer. Truth be told, I may have liked Salvation if it weren’t a Terminator movie but an unrelated apocalyptic survival movie, which is what this film is, with the great Viggo Mortensen as the father who must travel across a desolate America with his son, played by the promising Kodi Smit-McPhee in order to survive.
I love my apocalyptic yarns when done right, but i am always excited to see that there are still people making them (yes I was excited when I heard of Terminator Salvation).
With the appearances of Charlize Theron, Guy Pearce and Robert Duvall and The Proposition director, John Hillcoat at the helm. I am excited.
Trailer - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hbLgszfXTAY
Crazy Heart
This looks like it could be this years The Wrestler. No, not a film about wrestling, but rather a small, beautifully acted, directed, filmed story of a down and out figure. Also one which should recieve best actor kudos at the Oscars (we hope).
The film follows Bad Blake (the fantastic Jeff Bridges), a broken-down, hard-living country music singer who’s had way too many marriages, far too many years on the road and one too many drinks way too many times, who can’t help but reach for salvation with the help of Jean (Maggie Gyllenhaal), a journalist who discovers the real man behind the musician.
It just seems like a wonderful little film, which, with the way things are heading awards-wise, will finally give Jeff Bridges the Oscar he so long deserves. With support from Maggie Gyllenhaal, Colin Farrell and Robert Duvall, i think that this will be a small film with a great longevity!
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0349E7kFEM
Iron Man 2
The trailer for this film was just released, making me more ecstatic about this sequel to the AWESOME Iron Man. With the brilliant Robert Downey Jr. returning as Tony Stark, along with the great support of Gwyneth Paltrow, as well as newbies Scarlett Johansson, Sam Rockwell (ACE), Samuel L. Jackson (BOOYA), Mickey Rourke (SWEET), Don Cheadle replacing Terrence Howard (a great move in my opinion) as well as Jon Favereu returning to direct makes for an exciting notion for yet another awesome and BIGGER film.
Hopefully it shall be in the league of Superman II, Batman Returns, Spiderman II, The Dark Knight and X2
Trailer - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=siQgD9qOhRs
Kick-Ass
This film looks just freaking KICK-ASS! The idea of the Average Joe deciding to be a superhero has been done, yet here, with great action, great vulgarness, great humour, a KICK-ASS trailer, the director of the underrated Layer Cake (Matthew Vaughn), a cast of rising stars, with Aaron Johnson (Nowhere Boy) as Kick-Ass, Chloe Moretz (500 Days of Summer) as Hit Girl, Christopher Minze-Plasse (Superbad, MCLOVIN!) as Red Mist and Mark Strong as the villain.
Why this also looks promising, it looks like a return of the kookier, funnier Nicolas Cage of the past (who has been lost in the latter of this decade to crappy action roles which are embarrassing, with a HORRIBLE hairpiece to boot). Here he plays Damon Macready, the father of Hit-Girl and what seems to be a Batman-like superhero, so I am excited.
Trailer - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_oy4IFvH2Tc
Robin Hood
This story has been done to death; this character has been used so very much that he has almost lost meaning. So I am excited to see what looks to be a serious attempt at the legend, one that will delve deep into the origins and story of this famous character.
Who better to do this but the great Ridley Scott, who makes a return to his old time-period war flicks, the last being the boring Kingdom of Heaven, the time before, the amazing Gladiator. Reunited yet again with his muse Russell Crowe as Robin Hood, Cate Blanchett as Maid Marion, a cast of relative unknown merry men, William Hurt as William Marshall, Danny Huston as KIng Richard, Max Von Sydow, Matthew MacFadyen as The Sheriff Of Nottingham, and again, Mark Strong as Sir Godfrey (a villian i believe, he is making great business with this).
The trailer looks great, lots of action, drama and gritty detail. Ridley Scott always makes an interesting film, with his great films overshadowing his poor ones, let’s hope it joins the first section.
Trailer - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSqL9ygBCck
Toy Story 3
NEED I SAY MORE? A long awaited sequel to a childhood favourite!!! With all the characters returning and more (notably Timothy Daltons thespian echidna (I think) Mr. Picklepants and Michael Keaton’s Ken doll), a great sounding plot, dealing with what happens when the kid who played with them grows up, a fantastic trailer AND 3D!
Try holding me back wise-guy!
Repo Men
When Jude Law returns to the science fiction genre, you know you will be given something interesting, with his past forays being awesome films such as Gattaca, Existez and A.I.: Artificial Intelligence.
Here we have an interesting premise - Set in the near future when artificial organs can be bought on credit. Yet if payment is not met, cue the Repo Men to repossess your organs. Law plays Remy, a Repo Man who, in a twist of fate finds himself on the run from his own kind, struggling to make the payments on a heart he has purchased after an accident.
It’s a delicious idea, one that reminds me of the “Can i have your liver” section in Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life. But yes, the trailer looks awesome, loads of action, humour, gore and good sci-fi. It also stars Liev Schreiber and Forest Whitaker in a more commerical lead role as Law’s partner in the business of reposession. I think it will be a great time!
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5lQEI8Xtmk
The Adjustment Bureau
Very little has been said about this film, only that it tells the tale of The affair between a politician and a ballerina is affected by mysterious forces keeping the lovers apart.
Why I am excited is because it is based on a story by Philip K. Dick, who I deem my favourite author, not to mention the greatest science fiction author of all time. He has had many adaptations, Ridley Scott’s masterpiece Blade Runner being one of the greatest films all time, Total Recall being a classic imaginative Schwarzenegger/Paul Verhoven romp and Minority Report a taut, exciting, bleak futuristic tale from Spielberg being the good ones. Less said about Screamers, Imposter and Next the better.
It boasts a good cast too, with Matt Damon, Emily Blunt and Terrence Stamp (General Zod, aka GOD). So there is excitement regardless of the thin amount of information I have to go on.
The Tree Of Life
This film has been in the boiler for years, and I have no clue about anything other than it will star Brad Pitt and Sean Penn. The plot is apparently “centers on a family with three boys in the 1950s. The eldest son witnesses the loss of innocence”. So it is very vague, but why am I excited? It is because it will be the 5th film in a long career spanding 40 years for director Terrence Malick, notorious for waiting long long long periods between films. He also directs beautifully crafted pieces of work, with Badlands, Days of Heaven, The Thin Red Line and The New World all cinematic masterpieces. So I do not plan to miss this one.
The Other Guys
Will Ferrell reunites with director Adam McKay is enough for me to want to see this film. Having paired to make some of the funniest comedies of last decade, being Anchorman, Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby and Step Brothers, this fourth film I greet with much anticipation.
The plot as follows is “Two mismatched New York City detectives seize an opportunity to step up like the city’s top cops whom they idolize — only things don’t quite go as planned.”. It sounds like the same mismatched cop formula used for years (albiet with a crafty spin focusing on the “other” less talented cops), heck, Kevin Smith’s Cop Out with Bruce Willis and Tracy Morgan have a similar premise (although that film looks WOEFUL).
Who cares, as long as Ferrell can unleash his amazing comedic abilities I will be sold. The rest of the cast is also really good too, Mark Wahlberg being Ferrell’s mismatched partner, Samuel L. Jackson, Dwayne Johnson (in a non-kid friendly role), the godly Michael Keaton, Eva Mendes and the great Craig Robinson. I’m sold!Trailer - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_FfHA5whXc
Inception
This film is possibly my most anticipated film of 2010. Why? It looks like it will be an amazing film, yet I have no idea what the FUCK it is about! It’s said to be a contemporary sci-fi action thriller “set within the architecture of the mind.”
Yet with two eye-poppingly enthralling trailers, with a hypnotic bass infused soundtrack, slow motion Kubrick shots, trippily EPIC effects (how cool is the city folding on itself!?!) an INSANE cast, with Leonardo DiCaprio, Joseph Gordon-Levitt (GOD), Ellen Page (GODDESS) Ken Watanabe, Marion Cotillard, Tom Hardy, Cillian Murphy (FREAKING YEAH!), Michael Caine (BOSS!), Lukas Haas and Tom Berenger (where have you been since the 80s?). Also helmed by possibly the most successful, creative director of last decade, Christopher Nolan, who has an amazing filmography, with The Following, Memento, Insomnia, Batman Begins, The Prestige and The Dark Knight, this could only mean something that will be HUGE and hopefully FREAKING AWESOME.
If a film without a plot can intrigue and hook me this much, that can mean only great things. I really really really REALLY want to see this film, especially on IMAX 3D
Trailer - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSyQ3K0xnYg
So now, finally we reach the end of this epic blog of the wonders and blunders of 2009 in film, as well as the potential of the future. I hope you have enjoyed my words as much as I did writing them!
So long farewell auf wiedersehen, adieu!
Sean.
