10 Movies to Look Forward to in 2009!
Happy New Year everyone! Hope you all have/had a safe night. I’m going to spend the evening with Guitar Hero: World Tour, hot apple cider, and my confetti gun, which I’ll fire off at the stoke of midnight.
So what movies are you looking forward to next year?
Here’s my list:
Star Trek – Totally looks like a movie to see in IMAX. Looks like it could re-ignite the whole franchise. Go J.J. Abrams!
Coraline – I have a automatic bias towards anything stop-motion. And a new stop-motion in 3D directed by Henry Selick, with a story by Neil Gaiman, is not to be missed in my book.
The Brothers Bloom – It doesn’t look like a masterpiece, but it does look like a pretty fun, imaginative ensemble “adventure” story.
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince – I know some are getting tired of this series, but I’m still looking forward to the new HP.
9 – It’s really early, but the trailer looks amazing. It’s like an animated version of Wanted set in a dystopian, Tim Burton-esque world.
Hannah Montana: The Movie – Just Kidding.
And here’s Peter’s list:
Watchmen – Of the two most respected graphic novels in recent memory, one of them is called The Dark Knight Returns. We know how that movie turned out (even though it was inspired by that other graphic novel, The Long Halloween). The other is a less commercial but no less enduring work called Watchmen. Some claim the upcoming adaptation, which looks admirably faithful, will make The Dark Knight look like soap opera. I say that’s a possibility. But then again, of the two novels, Watchmen is my undisputed favorite. Heavy on dialog, wrapped in exposition, and spanning several eras of American history, Watchmen is at least ambitious for a “comic book movie.”
Revolutionary Road – Sam Mendes’ career seemed haunted by American Beauty. Oh sure, Road to Perdition was good, but Hall’s cinematography and Newman stole the show. Next up was Jarhead, and that was a critical and near-commercial disappointment. Now we have Revolutionary Road. Not only is it an adaptation of the renown novel, but it pairs up Winslet and DiCaprio since Titanic, and allows Mendes to slip on the thematic glove he wore so well in American Beauty: empty suburban lives. This one looks flawless, and may prove that American Beauty was just a warm-up.
No trailer yet
Public Enemies – You say that Michael Mann is directing a period gangster epic that stars Jack Sparrow and Batman, and features Doc Manhattan as J. Edgar Hoover? This movie cannot fail. While I enjoyed the Miami Vice movie (up to a point), I realize how much the majority disqualified it after the success of Collateral. Well, you have to admit that it had awesome gunfights. I expect no less from Public Enemies.
No trailer yet
Shutter Island – I don’t think Scorsese has ever done a “pure” period mystery/thriller. That leaves me intrigued. Nevermind that I’ve been meaning to read the book, by Dennis Lehane (Mystic River, Gone Baby Gone), which has a twist ending. I think Scorsese making genuine Hollywood entertainment, as straightforward as can be, is akin to those rumors of Kubrick making a porno: because the artist in question is so over-qualified to do such a simple job, the movie must be excellent, right? The Departed was Scorsese’s “first film with a plot.” This one looks to be his second.
No trailer yet
Inglourious Basterds – I think Tarantino fell out of his quality writing period after his adaptation of Jackie Brown, which I love and consider to be superior than Reservoir Dogs. Kill Bill was all direction and performance, and nothing else, and I got bored. In Volume Two, I was merely less bored. Now we have Basterds, a homage to Spaghetti Westerns. I love Spaghetti Westerns, which is all style, all performance, in all the right places. I know Kill Bill was pantomiming those old Shaw Bros. kung-fu flicks, but I thought the fight choreography was tame and, well, a little boring. They were supposed to be the centerpieces, right? At least with Inglourious Basterds, Tarantino can ditch the tame fight choreography and return to what he does best: tell stories of bad people who do bad things in an atmosphere that encourages it. Amen.
Not a bad list though I would add The Road. Viggo, Nick Cave, Cormac McCarthy and John Hillcoat blended into one post-apocalyptic character study? Yes please.
Ah, I forgot about that one. It definitely would’ve made sixth on my list. I can’t say I’m familiar with McCarthy’s literary work, but ‘No Country’ is a perfect, perfect movie.
As for Hillcoat and Cave, The Proposition has since become a favorite of mine. Those guys know how to be brutal without resorting to exploitation. The ending of that movie, with the shotgun blast through the door during Christmas dinner, was quite the attention grabber. And all so very poetic at the same time.
…Anyway, yeah, looking forward to The Road.
I have been so busy lately I haven’t even thought about movies… which is rough for me since movies are my life… LOL