Most anticipated movies of 2012 (part 2)
As I was saying before we were so rudely interrupted...
2012 is going to be a bumper year for movies and hopefully they'll live up to the hype. There's three I'm really looking forward to but first I'm going to continue my rundown of other movies to look out for:
The Amazing Spider-man - A reboot already? New director, new star and a second go around for the old Webhead. The original trilogy lost steam, the third movie was a massive disappointment but Andrew Garfield (despite being much older than the character) looks right for the part and seems genuinely into it. Emma Stone is currently one of the best young actresses in Hollywood so, I hope this one goes well but I know there's less excitement about it than there was for any of the original trilogy with Tobey Maguire.
Neighborhood Watch - A high concept comedy with Vince Vaughn, Ben Stiller and Jonah Hill. When they're given good stuff all three of these guys are hilarious...the sadly though they all have real comedy clunkers on their resume. Fingers crossed.
The Bourne Legacy - One of the best trilogies of all time, the Bourne movies were a sensation, albeit a slow burn. The original caught everyone by surprise but by the time they were finished, Damon and co had created a very cool character. Damon isn't returning to the franchise though so it's going to Jeremy Renner and it'll be up to him to keep it going. He won't be playing Bourne though by the sounds of it so the title is a bit of a cheat but I understand.
Total Recall - Keeping up the reboots and remakes, this is a remake of the Arnold Schwarzenegger classic, this time with Colin Farrell. Farrell is a decent and likable actor so I hope this one is a hit for him. The world needs more good sci-fi movies too.
The Expendables 2 - Stallone, Schwarzenegger, Willis, Statham, Li, Van Damme, Norris, Lundgren...'nuff said.
The Odd Life of Timothy Green - A Family movie starring the adorable Jennifer Garner, about a childless married couple who put all their wishes for a child in a box and bury it in the garden and then...magically a boy appears in their back garden although he's not what he appears to be! Sounds intriguing and I'd watch Jennifer Garner watching paint dry...
7500 - I don't know why but this just sounds interesting...a supernatural thriller of sorts. It's about a passenger jet that encounters a supernatural force as it crosses the Pacific...might be good?
Argo - Ben Affleck starring in and directing another movie. This time its about a bizarre rescue of six Americans during the Iranian Revolution. The CIA basically pretending to be making a movie and using that as the cover to mount the rescue. Affleck is a hugely gifted writer, director (if you didn't see The Town, you should go watch it) and I think he's a decent actor when he's not phoning it in. I do hate him for stealing Jennifer Garner but that's a whole other issue...this movie looks interesting and possible Oscar bait.
Dredd - I only put this down because Judge Dredd is the biggest character in British comics history. It deserves a better movie than the Stallone stinker froma few years back (Do you remember Diane Lane being in that movie...I didn't...what was she thinking?). Anyway, with a promise that the helmet will not be removed, Dredd is a second stab at the character.
Looper - Another sci-fi movie, this time with Bruce Willis and Joseph Gordon-Levitt. This one sounds twisty and interesting as a Killer for the future Mob recognizes one of his targets as his future sefl! Yeah, I know. My head hurts too.
Gangster Squad - A "based on a true story" crime story starring Sean Penn, Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone. Set in the 50's and 60's in LA, it tells the story of the Police Department's attempt to keep organized crime out of the City of Angels.
Gravity - A sci-fi movie directed by Alfonso Cuaron (Children of Men) and starring Sandra Bullock and George Clooney. Sign me up! Children of Men is one of the finest movies I've seen...and you can't go wrong with Bullock and Clooney.
47 Ronin - Keanu Reeves as a Samurai...yes, your eyes do not deceive you. A band of masterless samurai (Ronin) go out to seek revenge for their master's death...and Keanu Reeves is in it. So...that should be interesting...
Les Miserables - Its a movie version of the musical based on the book...with Hugh Jackman as Jean Valjean. One of the very few musical theater pieces that genuinely blew me away when I saw it, I will tell everyone this one is here because of my wife but in truth I won't fight her too hard when she wants me to take her to see it.
The Hobbit - More dwarf mayhem with Peter Jackson and a bunch of familiar faces back in the land of JRR Tolkien. Expect massive Christmas box office.
Okay, phew, that's the bulk of the decent sounding movies. There may be more comedies and Oscar bait dramas rolling out too but those haven't got such a high profile so far ahead so I know very little about them.
What about the big three you ask...? Of all the movies coming out, there are three which stand out a mile for me:
The Dark Knight Rises - Christopher Nolan set the bar for all future super-hero based movies with Batman Begins. Rebooting one of the prized franchises with huge success and bringing a realistic and dark edge to the superhero canon. With The Dark Knight Nolan set the bar for all summer blockbusters, showing that a film can be both intelligent and action packed, light-hearted and dark to it's core all at the same time. Heath Ledger gave a masterclass in acting as the Joker and it blew the doors of the box office. Nolan then followed those up with Inception, a dizzyingly smart blockbuster, with twists, turns and dreams within dreams that again totally moved the bar for filmakers to come...so now he's back with the same top class cast: Bale, Oldman, Freeman, Caine and adding Tom Hardy, and Anne Hathaway to the mix. He promises an ending to this trilogy; to this chapter of Batman and despite setting the bar so high for himself there seems to be very few people who believe he won't be able to pull it off again. The trailer got the fanboys drooling and expect a frenzy by the time the movie is released: JULY 20th.
The Avengers - Second only to the X-Men in terms of super teams (Sorry, Justice League), The Avengers will finally Assemble this summer. Marvel, now with movie making wing put together, has been able to roll out the individual heroes and let the public get to know them. Some aren't as well known as Wolverine or Spider-man but the fact that Iron Man was a massive hit shows they were doing something right. Last year they added Thor, an Asgardian God, to the mix and Captain America, a World War 2 super soldier, slowly making their way to melding all these disparate heroes into Marvel Mightiest Team. Cap, Thor, Iron Man, Hulk, Hawkeye, Black Widow and Nick Fury all unbelievably brought together into one movie. The cast is tremendous and the directing reins were handed to Joss Whedon which tipped the fan frenzy into overdrive. Whedon's not known for his Avengers work but for he has written several comic books including a great run on Astonishing X-Men. He can handle large ensembles of interesting characters and if anyone can get the movie to work like the fans want its him. This is one of those movies I've wanted to see since I was a little kid. This is stuff you talk with friends about and imagine who you'd cast in your version of the movie. Much like X-Men this is a something I've hoped for for a very long time. Released: MAY 4th
and finally...
Prometheus - Ridley Scott. Alien franchise. Phenomenal cast. Mind blown. JUNE 8th.
There ya go. That's it. Now we'll see how many I ACTUALLY get to go see! Stay tuned for updates.
GSY
2012 is going to be a bumper year for movies and hopefully they'll live up to the hype. There's three I'm really looking forward to but first I'm going to continue my rundown of other movies to look out for:
The Amazing Spider-man - A reboot already? New director, new star and a second go around for the old Webhead. The original trilogy lost steam, the third movie was a massive disappointment but Andrew Garfield (despite being much older than the character) looks right for the part and seems genuinely into it. Emma Stone is currently one of the best young actresses in Hollywood so, I hope this one goes well but I know there's less excitement about it than there was for any of the original trilogy with Tobey Maguire.
Neighborhood Watch - A high concept comedy with Vince Vaughn, Ben Stiller and Jonah Hill. When they're given good stuff all three of these guys are hilarious...the sadly though they all have real comedy clunkers on their resume. Fingers crossed.
The Bourne Legacy - One of the best trilogies of all time, the Bourne movies were a sensation, albeit a slow burn. The original caught everyone by surprise but by the time they were finished, Damon and co had created a very cool character. Damon isn't returning to the franchise though so it's going to Jeremy Renner and it'll be up to him to keep it going. He won't be playing Bourne though by the sounds of it so the title is a bit of a cheat but I understand.
Total Recall - Keeping up the reboots and remakes, this is a remake of the Arnold Schwarzenegger classic, this time with Colin Farrell. Farrell is a decent and likable actor so I hope this one is a hit for him. The world needs more good sci-fi movies too.
The Expendables 2 - Stallone, Schwarzenegger, Willis, Statham, Li, Van Damme, Norris, Lundgren...'nuff said.
The Odd Life of Timothy Green - A Family movie starring the adorable Jennifer Garner, about a childless married couple who put all their wishes for a child in a box and bury it in the garden and then...magically a boy appears in their back garden although he's not what he appears to be! Sounds intriguing and I'd watch Jennifer Garner watching paint dry...
7500 - I don't know why but this just sounds interesting...a supernatural thriller of sorts. It's about a passenger jet that encounters a supernatural force as it crosses the Pacific...might be good?
Argo - Ben Affleck starring in and directing another movie. This time its about a bizarre rescue of six Americans during the Iranian Revolution. The CIA basically pretending to be making a movie and using that as the cover to mount the rescue. Affleck is a hugely gifted writer, director (if you didn't see The Town, you should go watch it) and I think he's a decent actor when he's not phoning it in. I do hate him for stealing Jennifer Garner but that's a whole other issue...this movie looks interesting and possible Oscar bait.
Dredd - I only put this down because Judge Dredd is the biggest character in British comics history. It deserves a better movie than the Stallone stinker froma few years back (Do you remember Diane Lane being in that movie...I didn't...what was she thinking?). Anyway, with a promise that the helmet will not be removed, Dredd is a second stab at the character.
Looper - Another sci-fi movie, this time with Bruce Willis and Joseph Gordon-Levitt. This one sounds twisty and interesting as a Killer for the future Mob recognizes one of his targets as his future sefl! Yeah, I know. My head hurts too.
Gangster Squad - A "based on a true story" crime story starring Sean Penn, Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone. Set in the 50's and 60's in LA, it tells the story of the Police Department's attempt to keep organized crime out of the City of Angels.
Gravity - A sci-fi movie directed by Alfonso Cuaron (Children of Men) and starring Sandra Bullock and George Clooney. Sign me up! Children of Men is one of the finest movies I've seen...and you can't go wrong with Bullock and Clooney.
47 Ronin - Keanu Reeves as a Samurai...yes, your eyes do not deceive you. A band of masterless samurai (Ronin) go out to seek revenge for their master's death...and Keanu Reeves is in it. So...that should be interesting...
Les Miserables - Its a movie version of the musical based on the book...with Hugh Jackman as Jean Valjean. One of the very few musical theater pieces that genuinely blew me away when I saw it, I will tell everyone this one is here because of my wife but in truth I won't fight her too hard when she wants me to take her to see it.
The Hobbit - More dwarf mayhem with Peter Jackson and a bunch of familiar faces back in the land of JRR Tolkien. Expect massive Christmas box office.
Okay, phew, that's the bulk of the decent sounding movies. There may be more comedies and Oscar bait dramas rolling out too but those haven't got such a high profile so far ahead so I know very little about them.
What about the big three you ask...? Of all the movies coming out, there are three which stand out a mile for me:
The Dark Knight Rises - Christopher Nolan set the bar for all future super-hero based movies with Batman Begins. Rebooting one of the prized franchises with huge success and bringing a realistic and dark edge to the superhero canon. With The Dark Knight Nolan set the bar for all summer blockbusters, showing that a film can be both intelligent and action packed, light-hearted and dark to it's core all at the same time. Heath Ledger gave a masterclass in acting as the Joker and it blew the doors of the box office. Nolan then followed those up with Inception, a dizzyingly smart blockbuster, with twists, turns and dreams within dreams that again totally moved the bar for filmakers to come...so now he's back with the same top class cast: Bale, Oldman, Freeman, Caine and adding Tom Hardy, and Anne Hathaway to the mix. He promises an ending to this trilogy; to this chapter of Batman and despite setting the bar so high for himself there seems to be very few people who believe he won't be able to pull it off again. The trailer got the fanboys drooling and expect a frenzy by the time the movie is released: JULY 20th.
The Avengers - Second only to the X-Men in terms of super teams (Sorry, Justice League), The Avengers will finally Assemble this summer. Marvel, now with movie making wing put together, has been able to roll out the individual heroes and let the public get to know them. Some aren't as well known as Wolverine or Spider-man but the fact that Iron Man was a massive hit shows they were doing something right. Last year they added Thor, an Asgardian God, to the mix and Captain America, a World War 2 super soldier, slowly making their way to melding all these disparate heroes into Marvel Mightiest Team. Cap, Thor, Iron Man, Hulk, Hawkeye, Black Widow and Nick Fury all unbelievably brought together into one movie. The cast is tremendous and the directing reins were handed to Joss Whedon which tipped the fan frenzy into overdrive. Whedon's not known for his Avengers work but for he has written several comic books including a great run on Astonishing X-Men. He can handle large ensembles of interesting characters and if anyone can get the movie to work like the fans want its him. This is one of those movies I've wanted to see since I was a little kid. This is stuff you talk with friends about and imagine who you'd cast in your version of the movie. Much like X-Men this is a something I've hoped for for a very long time. Released: MAY 4th
and finally...
Prometheus - Ridley Scott. Alien franchise. Phenomenal cast. Mind blown. JUNE 8th.
There ya go. That's it. Now we'll see how many I ACTUALLY get to go see! Stay tuned for updates.
GSY
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