All over the internet I keep seeing people posting what movies they are most looking forward to in 2012. Never one to turn down a simple idea for a blog post I figured I should weigh in on this important subject as well.
I didn’t make my list with a set number in mind. I just picked out movies that I’m really looking forward to. There are others not on this list that I’m eager to see too. So don’t freak out that The Dark Knight Rises isn’t here. And of course there are a number I’m not that interested in but plenty of you are. So don’t freak out that The Hobbit isn’t here either. Also it’s in order of release date, not how badly I want to see them.
1. The Grey (Jan. 27) – Alaskan oil pipeline worker Liam Neeson is in a plane crash and wakes up in the snowy wilderness. However, before he gets to fully bond with the other male survivors over hot cocoa and a warm fire the group realizes they’re being hunted by a pack of wolves. Everything I’ve read about this is that it’s fantastic. Director Joe Carnahan gave us the excellent Narc and kinda fun Smokin’ Aces. The trailer with the twitter quotes though, has to go.
2. Being Flynn (Mar. 2) – Once a upon a time Robert De Niro was my favorite actor I looked forward to anything the guy was in. Then the 2000’s came and suddenly there wasn’t that much to look forward to. The guy has seemingly stopped trying. But wait! Here comes Being Flynn, starring De Niro as a guy who ditched his family years ago only to come across his son (Paul Dano) at a homeless shelter. And if you look close in the trailer, the guy is actually acting here. Can’t wait.
3. The Hunger Games (Mar. 23) – Really I think I’m more excited about this because my daughter read these books and loves them. She’s excited about a movie and it looks like that movie won’t suck. So hey, I’M excited about it too! Plus the idea of kids hunting kids sounds like something I’d be in favor of.
4. The Pirates! Band of Misfits (Mar. 30) – I cannot express how much I love the movies that come from Aardman Animation. From Wallace and Gromit and Flushed Away and Arthur Christmas, they just all hit the right notes for me. Funny and so damn clever. Based on the trailer I saw this looks like it fit right along side those. Basically it’s about a bunch of goofy pirates from what I can see.
5. Bullet to the Head (Apr. 13) – So there’s no trailer for this and it very well could be a piece of junk. However the 80s retro movie pedigree is too much to resist. Joel Silver produces! Walter Hill directs! Sylvester Stallone stars! In 1986 this would have made $100 million and played all summer. Now it’s a crap shoot. I can recall a time though that any movie of Hill’s (48 HRS, Streets of Fire, The Warriors, Extreme Prejudice) was a must see for me. I should mention I have no idea what this movie is about, but I’m sure SOMETHING will blow up.
6. Lockout (Apr. 20) – Here’s a movie I didn’t know existed until a couple of weeks ago. A sci-fi action movie that looks like it wants to be the new Escape from New York. It stars Guy Pierce as a badass who has to get the president’s daughter out of some ridiculous future prison in space. It looks bananas (in a good way) and I love seeing a change of pace like this for Pierce, who’s one of my favorites.
7. The Avengers (May 4) – You mean I get to see Captain America (Chris Evans) in another movie this year? I’m so down. Do I really need to say anything here? I don’t think so. I can tell you that this combo superhero movie (also bringing in Thor, Iron Man, and the Hulk in case you hadn’t heard) is the one I’m going to try to avoid all trailers for. So far so good.
8. The Amazing Spider-Man (Jul. 4) – Yeah, yeah I’m not crazy they rebooted the Spider-Man movies either. That doesn’t mean I don’t love the character and his story. Andrew Garfield as Peter Parker sort of looks like the Steve Ditko drawings of him. That’s a good thing right? I don’t care what you think, I’m in.
9. Looper (Sep. 28) – Director Rian Johnson is two for two in my book (and in most other movie geek’s books as well). I loved Brick and The Brothers Bloom. This movie starring a time travelling Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Bruce Willis hasn’t had its plot spilled out all over the internet yet. The less I know the better. I like time travelling. I love Gordon-Levitt and come on, Bruce Willis is still The Man. The pedigree has me already buying a ticket.
10. Parker (Oct. 12) – I started reading the Parker books by Richard Stark last year. Lean and mean stories about a no-nonsense thief, they were direct and to the point. I got a kick out of them. The character of Parker has been in movies before but always with another name. Here what we have is an allegedly faithful adaptation of the character. If they get it right this could be a nice surprise. Jason Statham is Parker and Jennifer Lopez is also hanging around for some reason. Plus they filmed some of it in Palm Beach County. Neat!
11. Skyfall (Nov. 9) – James Bond is back! And it’s about time too. Here Daniel Craig returns as Bond facing off against Javier Bardem and also Ralph Fiennes is lurking around somewhere. I’m expecting this one to resemble closer to a classic Bond movie.
12. Untitled Kathryn Bigelow Movie (Dec. 21) – Commonly known as Kill Bin Laden, here is movie American’s can’t wait for. The story of seal team six or whatever else is going on here. Really we don’t know. What we do know is that Bigelow, and her writing partner Mark Boal, were prepping a movie about the fruitless hunt for Bin Laden when the news broke that the guy had been killed. Some rewriting later and now we have a happy ending. Also noteworthy is that this is Bigelow’s first movie since winning the Oscar for the Hurt Locker in 2009.
13. Django Unchained (Dec. 25) – I’m not the biggest Quentin Tarantino fan in the world. However the guy can most certainly get the job done. And the story of a western about a former slave turned bounty hunter (Jamie Foxx) out to save his wife from plantation owners sounds too good to miss out. Plus a great cast to boot with Leo DiCaprio, Kurt Russell, Christoph Waltz, Samuel L. Jackson, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and James Remar (I’d go on but you get the idea) has got to be worth seeing. Her’s hoping QT brings all his pulpy goodness to the old west.
14. The Great Gatsby (Dec. 25) – Just what you want for Christmas: TWO Leo DiCaprio movies! Here he’s Jay Gatsby who has some great parties back in the 1920’s. Toby Maguire is Nick Carroway, who lives next door and is amazed at how cool his neighbor is. There’s also something about a romance with a married woman or something. I think we all know how this one ends but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t see it. Director Baz Luhrmann knows how to bring the visuals. Considering the source material, this one should be great.
The movie is still about a disgraced magazine publisher, Mikael Blomqvist (Daniel Craig) who after losing a lawsuit for liable is hired by old, rich, retired CEO Henrik Vagner (Christopher Plummer) to figure out who killed his niece, Harriet, some 40 odd years ago. Eventually he gets joined in the case by computer hacking, research specialist Lisbeth Salander (Rooney Mara), the titular girl.
The Radio Dan Show 