But, 2011 was so mediocre that it was scary. My taste has been so scaled down in comparison that I'm not even sure if I honestly liked some films as much as I did. I'm still in shock but FOX's sudden amazing performance with "X-Men:First Class" and "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" was great, but neither was a masterpiece. The only two films I can see myself falling into classic territory with are "Attack The Block" and "Drive". The rest, I have hard time even finding myself wanting to revisit them twice. Pretty damn sad.
Well, it looks like 2012 will be a powerful combination of our best years of film of the past 5 years. I haven't seen a line-up like this since 2004-05. Because of "Inception", the best filmmakers in the world now have the opportunity to bring their dream projects to the screen. Because of "Avatar", other studios are throwing up Hail-Mary-plays with their budgets to bring in the biggest audiences in history. And because of the power of technology, film is far less costly to make digitally, giving new opportunities for many new folks in the industry to work on their passions. All of those factors colliding at once. It's a damn good year.
So, here are my list of most anticipated films of this year in order of most desired. Enjoy the ride:
15) The Avengers:
Yes, I know. It's surprising to think one of the most biggest movies to ever hit a screen is at the very bottom of my most-wanted list. But, that just shows how amazing this year is. Plus, The Avengers have never been the most interesting team in Marvel. That title belongs to the X-Men. And they never fought the biggest threats. That title belongs to the Fantastic Four. And their team battles never had them co-operate well. That was always the Justice League. This movie is running on pure spectacle. It's 2012's version of "Transformers". And with the contracts of Robert Downey & Sam Jackson being held over everyone else, expect less dialogue from the rest of the characters. And it's not a concluding chapter in an overall story. It's only "Stage 2" with a big "To be continued..." sign at the end. Marvel will hinge on this film.
So, why am I even looking forward to this, then?: Joss Whedon. The man who made Buffy, Angel and the greatest television show of all time: "Firefly". The man who perfected the art of cinematic "RPG-style" team battles on TELEVISION! The man who can make dialogue you'll be quoting for years. The man who made "The X-Men" cool again after they had an 8 year drought of uninteresting stories. The man who is one of the greatest storytellers to enter filmmaking in the past two decades gets an unlimited budget. Of all the superheroes in this movie, he is the real one.
14) John Dies At The End:
This movie won't be for everybody. Hell, 90% of you reading this won't like it. But, I love my strange, indie movies(My love for "Detention" last year should tell you that). Anything can happen and the film can go either way, despite the fact that the title of the movie is a major spoiler. But, with this being a horror/alien invasion/drug ring/stoner comedy, it seems like it will be as weird as I hope. Can't wait.
13) Gangster Squad
I'm pretty excited about this one. How an entire community works together to shut down one of the worst mobsters of the 1950's. It's a long wait for this one, but it's worth it.
12) Chronicle
Say what you want: I love the whole "found footage" style of filmmaking. For the simple reason that I never feel safe while watching a movie like that. And it's a great way to introduce unknown actors into unestablished characters, creating a high chance of a chaos factor that can kill anyone at any time, and you have a serious sense of danger. For this particular movie, we have the first action/horror-sci-fi tale wrapped up in the first live-action "Akira"-style story. Experimenting is usually the funnest type of film.
11) The Raid
I wanna go out on a limb to say fuck "Expendables 2" and their weak attempt to make the greatest action movie of all time. Because in order to do that, you need one ingredient that is extremely rare: Edge. You need a level of raw tenacity and ruggedness that shows anything can happen in the outcome of a fight. And this movie is a wall-to-wall fight scene as a police raid goes down in an apartment complex entirely flooded with criminals. I'm hearing it's a crowd pleaser and the most satisfying movie ever in that scenario since "Die Hard", the greatest action film of all-time. Put your money in the right filmmaker's pockets, people.
10) The Amazing Spider-Man
You know what most hardcore comic-book fans' biggest beef with the original Spider-Man films were?: That wasn't Spider-Man. Tobey Maguire's portrayal of Peter Parker was that of a pushover. He was more Clark Kent in nature and became a 50's stereotype. Peter Parker is a geek, but a modern day one. One who has developed sarcasm due to being shunned by society. One who has a mild acceptance from NOT being accepted among many circles. And most importantly, Spider-Man is a hilariously, sarcastic character! His sense of humor to distract enemies is one of the strongest weapons in his arsenal, along with his optimism while in costume. He loves being Spider-Man.
So, I'm looking forward to seeing this much-needed reboot. I want mechanical web-shooters, layers of jokes, Spidey vs an army of villains and feeling the impact of his alter-ego's lives crossing to both his benefit and dismay. I want to see an accurate telling of the best written character in comic book history. And from everything shown so far, it looks like we're getting that.
9) The Cabin In The Woods
Forget "The Avengers". This is the Joss Whedon movie you should be looking forward to the most. This is him at his best. When you just give him all the tools he needs to create something insane and awesome. Is it an average, horror movie? Far from it. It's a parody of it and creates a new sci-fi genre altogether! Monsters, slashers, demons, androids, parodoxes, force fields... It's the first horror movie where you will never be able to guess what happens next. Sold. All hail Whedon.
8)Looper
Rian Johnson: The man who's first directed film was "Brick", one of the greatest movies to be released in the past decade.
Joseph Gordon-Levitt: The best young actor in the industry who's shown he's capable of any role.
Bruce Willis: Die Hard.
Plot: The two of them battling through time in a script written by the man who wrote the greatest time-travel movie to-date, Shane Carruth(Primer).
Yeah.
7) John Carter
Saw an early test version. I can't really talk about it due to the embargo, but... watch the trailer. The newest one. This film delivers on it's ridiculously high budget. I love that Disney has been deciding to return to it's 70's-80's dark roots lately. By allowing things like "Lost", "Pirates of the Caribbean", "Tron" and even "Wall-E" to maintain more mature themes, it's shown how brave they are and willing to take risks as more than just an animation company. That they are ready to just tell amazing stories in any form. And by taking a 50's pulp icon and showing how cool that character and his many(!!!) adventures are, we're in for a pretty cool ride.
6) Only God Forgives Us
It's by the makers and stars of "Drive". I'm there.
5) The Hunger Games
Suzanne Collins wrote the shit out of this book. The tiny details, character arcs, minor dialogues and heavy action scenes blended together to make one of the most intense books I have ever read. It's just bad-ass. So, seeing them nail the casting, settings, characters and minor hints that the trailer allows for the major moments gets the blood pumping for a great trilogy of movies we have on the way.
4) 007: Skyfall
Have you heard what the plot is to this movie?!?!?! It's the coolest thing the character of James Bond has ever been up against: An intel satellite falls into a remote area that's uncharted. So every government's top agents are competing to see who can get there first. Follow this with the script and direction being under the great Sam Mendes. Javier Bardem as the villain. And Daniel Craig now in his prime with the character no longer being a rookie and getting new gadgets with the introduction of the new "Q" and Moneypenny. This will be the coolest movie of 2012. No doubt.
3) Django Unchained
Finally!!! Tarantino is back. After "Inglorious Basterds" took over my DVD player for a year, I'm just happy to see his follow-up. And to see him do a mixture of spaghetti-western and a slavery, grindhouse drama is pretty awesome. The cast is the best cast of any film this year. And as for everything else in the movie: It's made by Quentin Tarantino! You should already be in line.
2) The Dark Knight Rises
yes, that was probably the best movie trailer ever made. But, what really has me excited is the fact that the entire plot is mainly fueled by "The 99% vs 1%". About the day they become aggressive and realize that the scariest part of those titles they've given themselves literally means "there are far more of us than there are of you." Throw in my personal favorite villain of Batman's, Bane, to take on the most 1% superhero there ever was and you have a masterpiece in the making. This isn't even including the fact that Nolan made a story so dark, WB has decided they'll need another reboot for Batman after this. And the fact that this film is a welcome reunion to most of the cast of Inception. Why am I still talking? You're going to see this.
1) Prometheus
I feel like I've been waiting all my life for this film. Ridley Scott has made only two sci-fi films(Alien & Blade Runner), and both have redefined the genre for generations to come. This is his first exploration into the genre since. I always wanted to know what it felt like to experience either film in a theater. In such a powerfully focused environment to absorb those classics. Now, I'll get my chance.
This movie isn't a prequel to the "Alien" films. It just takes place before it and is in the same universe. This is a new story. This is a new... beast. And it is hardcore sci-fi. I'm counting the days.
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