9 January 2011
The dust is settling on 2010. Time to cast an eye on this year! It’s looking very intriguing, from the blockbusters to the art-house, from British offerings to the world at large. Fingers crossed! Here are my most anticipated cinematic offerings for 2011:
20. Hugo Cabret
I’m still not sold on 3D, but I’m not intransigent on the issue; I’m waiting for one of the greatest directors of all time to have a go – Martin Scorsese. Not only here experimenting with technology, but making a family film. It probably won’t have people’s heads being bashed in with a baseball bat and being buried alive á la Casino, but let’s see if he can do some similarly audacious camera-work like the infamous tracking shot through a restaurant in Goodfellas.
19. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
There is one reason the Hollywood remake is on this list, and one reason only, if you’re going to make a film about a serial killer you get the best person for the job – director David Fincher (Se7en; Zodiac). He’s coming off the success of The Social Network, so hopefully that will be give him the extra confidence to make a more interesting adaptation than the faithful but uninspired Swedish versions. It stars Daniel Craig as Mikael Blomkvist.
18. Sucker punch
He’s made Dawn of the Dead [remake], 300, Watchmen and Legend of the Guardians. Whatever you think of Zach Snyder he doesn’t suffer from the incompetent shaky-camera, fast editing B.S. of some of his colleagues. It looks like a bunch of ladies kicking butts. In style.
17. Kung Fu Panda 2
How bloody marvellous was Kung Fu Panda?! They’ve only gone and made a sequel. Skadooosh!
16. Wuthering Heights
Probably whatever director Andrea Arnold (Red Road; Fish Tank) is said to be involved with would make it onto this list. This is her adaptation of Emily Brontë’s classic novel.
20. Hugo Cabret
I’m still not sold on 3D, but I’m not intransigent on the issue; I’m waiting for one of the greatest directors of all time to have a go – Martin Scorsese. Not only here experimenting with technology, but making a family film. It probably won’t have people’s heads being bashed in with a baseball bat and being buried alive á la Casino, but let’s see if he can do some similarly audacious camera-work like the infamous tracking shot through a restaurant in Goodfellas.
19. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
There is one reason the Hollywood remake is on this list, and one reason only, if you’re going to make a film about a serial killer you get the best person for the job – director David Fincher (Se7en; Zodiac). He’s coming off the success of The Social Network, so hopefully that will be give him the extra confidence to make a more interesting adaptation than the faithful but uninspired Swedish versions. It stars Daniel Craig as Mikael Blomkvist.
18. Sucker punch
He’s made Dawn of the Dead [remake], 300, Watchmen and Legend of the Guardians. Whatever you think of Zach Snyder he doesn’t suffer from the incompetent shaky-camera, fast editing B.S. of some of his colleagues. It looks like a bunch of ladies kicking butts. In style.
17. Kung Fu Panda 2
How bloody marvellous was Kung Fu Panda?! They’ve only gone and made a sequel. Skadooosh!
16. Wuthering Heights
Probably whatever director Andrea Arnold (Red Road; Fish Tank) is said to be involved with would make it onto this list. This is her adaptation of Emily Brontë’s classic novel.
|
|
|
15. Source Code
From the director of the magnificent Moon, a time-travelling thriller starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Michelle Monaghan, Vera Farmiga and Jeffrey Wright. Like Andrea Arnold, whatever Duncan Jones makes next is gonna to be talked about here.
14. The Future
Artist turned actor-writer-director Miranda July made the seriously romantic Me and You and Everyone We Know back in 2005, this is her first feature since then. Seems like a sci-fi tale this time around? It’s debuting at Berlin. Can’t wait.
13. Green Lantern
From the director of Casino Royale, the cinematography in the trailer looks lush. That’s want you want from a comic book film – a distinctive style. Apart from really Batman and Superman, DC has been slow, compared to Marvel, in getting their properties out into the cinematic universe. Another one of The Justice League of America gets a go. The new Superman under the watchful gaze of Christopher Nolan appears to have been green-lit, maybe DC and Marvel can start competing to make the best films? How exciting!!
12. Submarine
Moss from the I.T. Crowd, Richard Ayoade, makes his feature directing debut. Any doubters to his ability should check out his music videos for Vampire Weekend and The Last Shadow Puppets. This is a coming-of-age tale. Looks excruciating and funny.
11. 30 Minutes or Less
From the director of Zombieland, a film that delivered on comedy, action and horror. No mean feat. Now, he’s doing a heist comedy. With Jesse Eisenberg again.
10. Last Stand
Kim Jee-woon’s last two pictures have totally chuffing rocked. And by rocked, I mean ROCKED! The Good, The Bad, The Weird and I Saw the Devil should be on everyone’s must see list. Here, he makes his English language debut, with a crime action-thriller. Liam Neeson has to stop an escaped drug lord from reaching the Mexican border.
9. Thor
The post-credits sequence at the end of Iron Man 2 alluded to this movie. It’s Kenneth Branagh doing comic books. From the Bard to Marvel. Maybe it’ll be like Arnold Schwarzenegger’s interpretation of Hamlet in The Last Action Hero, “To be or not to be? Not to be!” (If it is I still wouldn’t mind.) The idea of a Norse god coming to earth, with Anthony Hopkins as his dad, fighting baddies, and hanging out with Natalie Portman, all sounds pretty good to me.
8. A Dangerous Method
Right. So we have Viggo Mortensen, Michael Fassbender, Keira Knightley and Vincent Cassel starring. It’s written by Christopher Hampton (Dangerous Liaisons). Oh yeah, and it’s directed by David Cronenberg! Mortensen is Feud, Fassbender is Jung, and seems to be about the birth of psychoanalysis. Sounds cracking!
7. Battle: Los Angeles
Who doesn’t love an alien invasion film? Raise your hand. I can’t see any hands. Good. The last two years have seen two remarkable examples of the subgenre – District 9 and Monsters. Will this be as satisfying? The filmmakers had me reeled in the moment I saw the destruction in the trailer to the music of Johann Johannsson.
6. Attack the Block
More alien invasion. British style. On a council estate. One half of ‘Adam & Joe’ making his directorial debut (Joe Cornish). Stars the awesome Jodie Whittaker.
|
|
|
5. Melancholia
Director Lars von Trier doing an apocalypse movie. Starring Kirsten Dunst, Keifer Sutherland and Charlotte Gainsbourg. Nuff said.
4. The Grandmasters
Another change in direction for a respected filmmaker. Wong Kar Wai has only gone martial arts on us in 2011! A film about Ip Man (recently played by Donnie Yen), Bruce Lee’s trainer. Please be good!
3. Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol
Director Brad Bird has already made one of the best action films of all time, and it’s a cartoon – The Incredibles. After the one-two-three punch of The Iron Giant, the aforementioned, and Ratatouille, he goes live action. Can’t effing wait!
2. Director Steven Soderbergh double-bill – Contagion and Haywire
We only had one Steven Soderbergh film in 2010 and that was a documentary – And Everything is Going Fine (very good by the way), but 2011 has two fiction features, and they appear badass. Contagion is disease disaster movie, and Haywire stars mixed martial artist Gina Carano in a spy thriller. Hello! Not one cool movie, but two!
This is the cast list for Contagion:
Matt Damon
Kate Winslet
Gwyneth Paltrow
Jude Law
Marion Cotillard
Laurence Fishburne
This is the cast list for Haywire:
Ewan McGregor
Channing Tatum
Michael Douglas
Michael Fassbender
Bill Paxton
Antonio Banderas
Effing insane!
1. The Tree of Life
“Father. Mother. Always you wrestle inside me. Always you will.” This is director Terrence Malick’s fifth film in 37 years. It stars Brad Pitt and Sean Penn. It’s shrouded in mystery, but looks from the trailer just as mesmerising as everything he’s done.
