Feeling less than inspired to run out and go see the week's sole new release, The Devil Inside? Don't worry - you're not alone. But have faith, January may not be indicative, but 2012 has plenty of exciting movies on the horizon. With the caveat that there's going to be other surprise movies that will attain must-see status during the year, as of now, these are my picks for the 14 movies you should carve out the time to get to a theater and see. Here they are, in no particular order (with release date provided, where available)...
THE DARK KNIGHT RISES (July 20). Christopher Nolan's much-anticipated conclusion to his Batman trilogy, and the follow-up to the best superhero movie of all time. 'Nuff said.DJANGO UNCHAINED (Dec. 25) Any new movie by Quentin Tarantino is cause for celebration, and this one - a Western about a slave who exacts revenge on his owners - sounds like a doozy. The cast is incredible: Leonardo DiCaprio, Jamie Foxx, Samuel L. Jackson, Kurt Russell, Christoph Waltz, and more.SKYFALL (Nov. 9) For a while there, it looked like we were never going to get another Bond film thanks to MGM's financial woes. Now, not only do we get a new Bond film, but we get Sam Mendes directing. Daniel Craig returning. And Javier Bardem and Ralph Fiennes as villains. I'm in.BRAVE (June 22) Pixar makes a welcome return to originality after spending the last two years in sequel mode. Early trailers indicate a lush, beautifully animated fantasy adventure, and, in a nice change of pace for Pixar, a female hero.PROMETHEUS (June 8) Ridley Scott goes back to his Alien roots for this semi-prequel to that sci-fi masterpiece. With Michael Fassbender, Charlize Theron, and Noomi Rapace. Lost's Damon Lindelof wrote the screenplay, which is said to be fantastic. If the movie is half as good as that teaser trailer released a few weeks ago, watch out.
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THE HUNGER GAMES (Mar. 23) Fans of the book are already foaming at the mouth for this, and you should be too. Forget that Twilight shit, The Hunger Games is where it's really at. Gary Ross (Pleasantville, Seabiscuit) directs. See it, just to keep up with the pop culture conversation.LINCOLN (December) Spielberg. Daniel Day-Lewis. Lincoln. All other candidates for Best Picture of 2012 should probably just step aside now. This should be amazing.THIS IS 40 (Dec. 21) A sequel of sorts to Judd Apatow's Knocked Up. Not sure if Paul Rudd and Leslie Mann's characters from that film warrant their own, but no other movie this year offers more pound-for-pound comedic promise.ONLY GOD FORGIVES (TBD). If the prospect of seeing Ryan Gosling and Nicolas Winding-Refn team up again for another action thriller doesn't pump you up, then you clearly haven't seen Drive yet. These two are the future of filmmaking. THE HOBBIT (Dec. 14) I would have loved to seen what Guillermo del Toro did with this material, but with Peter Jackson back in the director's chair, we know exactly what we're going to get: more epic, Oscar-worthy fantasy adventure.
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THE MASTER (TBD) P.T. Anderson hasn't directed a movie since 2007's There Will Be Blood. But with that, Boogie Nights, Punch Drunk Love, and Magnolia on his resume, this one automatically warrants consideration. This is his take on Scientology-type religion, and it stars P.T. mainstay Philip Seymour Hoffman and Joaquin Phoenix.THE AVENGERS (May 4) Marvel's years-in-the-making ultimate supehero flick has tons of potential. Fanboy favorite Joss Whedon (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) writes and directs. Has no chance of sucking, but I remain cautiously optimistic about it. The opening box office weekend will be huge. HUGE.GRAVITY (TBD) I named Alfonso Cuaron's Children of Men the best movie of the last decade. He hasn't done anything since 2006, but the prospect of him applying his long-take filmmaking techniques to a sci-fi space thriller with George Clooney and Sandra Bullock is almost too good to be true. THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN (July 3) Yes, I agree that it's a little too soon to do another Spider-Man origin tale. But the darker tone and the casting (Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone) has me sold. If Sony can pull this off, expect more franchise reboots to follow suit.
I'm a Chicago native, former Latin teacher, sometime singer, sometime cook, most of the time parent, not enough time writer, and too-much-time TV watcher.
