Dr Manhattan from Watchmen
I love movies, that’s one of the main reasons I went into TV and Film production. The sad reality though was that making movies is really kind of glorified construction work, and I don’t have the patience for that stuff. I love the pre and post work of movie making, but hate the chewy middle where you have to cut your teeth to make it anywhere.
2008 was a really good year for movies as you can see from my Movies Year in Review post, but already 2009 is shaping up to be even better with a few can’t miss blockbusters in the pipe, and a bunch of “maybe’s” and “possible big surprises” out there. Plus we don’t even see the post Cannes, Sundance and Toronto Film Fest potentials on the horizon yet.
Watchmen
I want to double dip on this bad boy. I’m going to see it in theatres when it comes out in March (provided the lawsuit between Warners and Fox is over), but even more I really want the promised extended edition.
Zack Snyder proved that he knows how to do DVD right with the HD DVD version of 300 (sorry folks, but the Blu Ray version is inferior, I know having owned both. Picture-in-picture commentary is frigging amazing). If they can figure out some technological limitations of the Blu Ray format and get PIP commentary on there this will be a demo disc for the ages.
X-Men Origins Wolverine
The X-Men movies were really good until the third installment, but they were all just solo Wolverine stories anyway, the other characters were incidental. Think of this as an X-Men movie without the baggage and I thin that’s what you will get. The trailer looks spectacular.
Star Trek
Trekkies like Don are up in arms because it doesn’t appear to be cannon. From what I’ve seen it looks like this is actually a parallel universe created because a Romulan decides to go back in time and get rid of Kirk. I love time travel/paradox stories almost as much as I love multiple earth stories…so I’m jazzed about this one.
Plus I’m a sci-fi geek, and this looks like sci-fi at its best.
Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince
The Harry Potter films have been uniformally great. Every one of them has been really good. I think this one will be no different. I love how Daniel Radcliffe is growing as both an actor and a man through each installment. The fact that the stories get darker and more mature with each book is great too.
Monsters vs Aliens
This looks funny, and the story sounds good. It will be presented in 3D, and this time I plan on making sure we find a 3D equipped theatre (unlike with Bolt).
Where the Wild Things Are
This is one of my favourite children’s books of all time. Secretly it was one of the reasons why I was so quick to jump on the “Maks” bandwagon with Charlene as the little boy in this book is Max. Spike Jonze is one of my favourite Hollywood directors too, he’s a true auteur with a slightly off kilter look at the way the world works (see Adaptation or Being John Malkovich). Three years and $80million in his hands should be spectacular.
Fanboys
This thing should have been out in 2007, but it’s still sitting on a shelf in the Weinstein’s bunker somewhere. It really needs to come out (supposedly on February 6th).
The Box
Donnie Darko (one of my 5 favourites of all time) director Richard Kelly returns after southland Tales (a horrible flick with momens of genius) for this one starring Cameron Diaz and James Marsden.
Sherlock Holmes
Robert Downey Jr. was a revelation in Iron Man, he was obviously having fun, but he provided a layered depth to an outrageous character that made everything believable and just on the edge of ridiculousness. Under Guy Ritchie I think he’ll fare even better.
Public Enemies
Johnny Depp as John Dillinger goes up against Christian Bale as an FBI agent in pursuit in this Michael Mann directed action flick.
Nottingham
Ridley Scott’s Robin Hood adventure with Russell Crowe as the Prince of Thieves.
Inglorious Basterds
I love Quentin Tarrantino, and this obvious homage to “The Dirty Dozen” and the other WWII flicks of the 50’s and 60’s. This guy still hasn’t made a bad movie in my opinion, just sometimes movies that take a couple of viewings to really “get”. I will admit that Death Proof kind of stretched him for me, but I will give him the benefit of the doubt.
District 9
Neill Blomkamp was hand picked by Peter Jackson to direct a Halo movie based on some short films and TV commercials that the director had done in his native South Africa. He could be the South African version of Jackson, self taught, self funded, and incredibly visionary. This could be this year’s Cloverfield.
G.I. Joe Rise of Cobra
This will likely be spectacularly bad, but Stephen Sommers HAS to have a good movie in him. He’s got style, he’s just been unable to film a compelling story yet.
Great post. I will read your posts frequently. Added you to the RSS reader.
It’s not that the new movie won’t be cannon. I accept that there will be differences but here are my concerns based on the trailer and some rumours … so you know I’m not making any snap judgements 🙂
1st That 1st moment where the kid identifies himself is an echo of the brutal “I’m Anakin Skywalker from the Phantom Menace”… and of course the similarity to pod racing
2nd The soul searching motorcycle ride is a Top Gun ripoff..
3rd The McCoy speech sounds like a parody…
4th the rumour that Kirk tries to seduce Uhura is beyond repugnant.
5th. The ship seemingly built on Earth makes no sense… something that big would have to built in orbit because of our old friend gravity.
6th. What series or movie has JJ Abrams made that has been successful.. Alias… don’t sell me Lost.. the show got better when he backed off. Cloverfield.. I liked the Blair Witch Project when I saw it the 1st time.
7th… THIS ONE IS A SECRET (out of the blue BSG and 7th Cylon reference)
8th. They will try to shoehorn in waaaaay too many inside references.
As for Watchmen.. I guess we will be waiting a long long time to see that one.. thanks FOX!
Ahhh, so that’s what you meant by Trekkies are ‘up in arms’. Huh. I LOVE the original Star Trek, and I’m truly excited about this movie. Captain Kirk was a swashbuckler, damn it, and that’s what was missing in the other series (the other series that I never watched). He played it loose, he played it fast, and he played to win.
And so far, that’s what looks like will be happening.
So I probably enjoy Star Trek for different reasons than most. To me, it was an adventure tale in outer space with themes interwoven to make the show relevant (even today). Those themes were sadly lacking in the other series (but I digress…)
As for your rumors…I haven’t been following along. But Kirk SHOULD hit on Uhura. He hit on other crew members, why not her? I bet we’re going to find out why she became ‘off limits’. Probably will fit nicely into a character arc. Cuz quite frankly — it ALWAYS bugged me that he never took a run at her.
1st it is Trekkers not Trekkies. 2nd he did take a run at her.. under alien control for tv’s 1st interracial kiss in Plato’s Stepchildren. Kirk did make a play for numerous women under his command but never a bridge officer. Imagine the politics that would get in the way of his command then.. as for hitting a junior officer.. he could always get them transferred or put them in a red shirt and they would be killed.
My true hope is that Abrams does indeed return Trek to it’s original socially conscious roots in a manner that is respectful to everyone.
Why is it Trekkers? What is the difference? That’s an honest question…I’ve never understood the difference.
Captain Kirk is a rebel. He doesn’t like rules. He breaks rules, he cheats, he does everything he can to win. So the fact that when he was younger he decided to go after Uhura (if that does indeed happen) then I can COMPLETELY understand it. Remember, Kirk was a young punk.
As for never hitting on a bridge officer…well, she was the only female.
I don’t think Abrams will return Star Trek to its original roots. It will focus (IMO) completely on Kirk and how he’s a rebel. He only has a 2 hour window. There will be no moral dilemmas. My guess — more like Star Trek II. Which is okay by me (though my favourite TV episodes are the ones that deal with relevant themes that hold up through the years).
1st Uhura was not the only female.. there was Sulu (joke) but there 2 other female helm officers and a blonde backup communications officer. Trekkers are the more hardcore less prone to dress up fans.. the trekkies are the weirdos.
My only concern is that he is respectful to what has come before. The fact that Nimoy is in the film and has been quite spoken out about the quality of the film and the Trekness takes a bit of the edge off. The fact that Shatner is pissed also makes me feel better… the guy is a buffoon. I am just concerned Kirk will hide in a refrigerator during a nuclear explosion or warp breach.
Woah woah woah woah…are you speaking ill of The Shat? William Shatner is the only member of the Star Trek cast to have a post-Trek career. He also figured out the joke about 10 years ago, and now seems to genuinely be having fun with his life.
That is what I thought as well… but I fear he has gone over the edge. BTW he is not he only 1 with a post trek career. Jimmy Doohan was in the kid’s show Jason of Star Command and guested on shows like Magnum PI. Koenig was a direct to video star and had a recurring role on Babylon 5… plus he gave us Boner from Growing Pains. The secondary stars also reunited on Diagnoses Murder with Dick Van Dyke.. I would also argue that since 1979 after TMP they had no need to work as Conventions all over the world paid them large sums just to show up and tell the same stories over and over. BTW The Shat was the hat he created for his reality show… Bill is known as The Shat-Man.