Even harder than making my Top 10 list of the year is making a Top 10 list of my most anticipated movies of this coming year. I'm sure by December I'll look back at this list and be embarrassed by a few of these because of how bad they end up being.
But without further ado, the Top 10 movies of 2011 that I can't wait to see...
*NOTE: These movies are in order of theatrical release.
SOURCE CODE (APRIL 1)
If you haven't seen director Duncan Jones' debut film Moon, definitely check it out. It's a really complex movie that blows your mind with its different twists and turns. In today's world of movies that are mostly remakes and/or sequels, Moon was refreshingly original. Duncan Jones' next movie looks like it will be just as cool as Moon was. Starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Michelle Monaghan, and Vera Farmiga, Source Code is about a soldier who wakes up in a different body and realizes his mission is to find the bomber of a Chicago train. It seems really complicated, but judging from the above trailer, it looks like it will be an edge-of-your-seat thriller.
THOR (MAY 6)
With the success of The Dark Knight and Iron Man, there was inevitably going to be a lot more superhero movies released. 2011 will see three more superhero movies and each of them has the potential to be excellent. The first one released this year will be Thor. While Thor boasts an incredible supporting cast of Natalie Portman, Anthony Hopkins, and Stellan Skarsgaard, Thor isn't the most well-known superhero on the planet. Part of what made The Dark Knight (and to a lesser degree Iron Man) successful were the new takes on iconic characters. Nevertheless, I'm sure Thor will be really good. It's directed by Kenneth Branagh, whose best known for directing Shakespeare plays-turned-into-films Hamlet and Henry V. That alone makes me think that Thor will be a much different class of comic book movie and I'm excited to see what this cast and crew can do.
THE HANGOVER PART II (MAY 26)
There hasn't been a trailer released for The Hangover Part II yet, but there's no doubt about it that it will be a great movie. The original was flat-out hilarious and this sequel has the potential to be just as funny as we will see our three main characters (and Doug!) heading to Bangkok for Stu's wedding. Obviously hijiinks will ensue and they will inevitably lose Doug again (judging from the pictures released so far). All of the cast from the first film will be returning, including Ken Jeong and Mike Tyson, and will also feature cameos by Liam Neeson and Bill Clinton! I can't see how this one can't be good, but it makes me nervous to see that this movie has different writers than the first one, including a guy who co-wrote the atrocious Scary Movie 4 and Superhero Movie. Craig Mazin- I will kill you if you screw this movie up.
X-MEN: FIRST CLASS (JUNE 3)
The original X-Men movies were pretty awesome, but they definitely didn't reach their full potential. By the third movie, it was clear that the franchise just wasn't working. To fix this problem, the writers behind First Class came up with an interesting way to re-do the series while still keeping this film a part of the others. X-Men: First Class is a prequel to the original X-Men trilogy, featuring many of the same characters just much younger. This time around the director is much better (Matthew Vaughn, director of Layer Cake and Kick Ass) and if you ask me, the cast is much better too. James McAvoy (Wanted) will be playing Professor X and Michael Fassbender (Inglorious Basterds) will be playing Magneto. The supporting cast is also a who's who of underrated actors including Rose Byrne (Damages), Jennifer Lawrence (Winter's Bone), Nicholas Hoult (UK Skins), Ray Wise (Robocop), as well as THE Kevin Bacon. My guess is that X-Men: First Class will prove to be better than at least two of the three original X-Men movies.
SUPER 8 (JUNE 10)
Besides what's revealed in the teaser trailer above, not much is known about J.J. Abrams' next film Super 8. There is literally no description on IMDB right now, with the only hint to what the plot of the movie might be is its tagline, "Next summer, IT arrives." So how could I be excited about a movie that I know absolutely nothing about? Well, I know it's written and directed by J.J. Abrams, the genius behind Lost and the new Star Trek movie. It's also executive-produced by Steven Spielberg. Personally, I'm loving the mystery about Super 8. What the hell is in that truck in the teaser trailer??? I hope I go into the movie in June completely unaware as to what the movie is really about. The best advice I have for the Super 8 team is to reveal the least amount of information as possible about the movie. NOTE: Some people are thinking it's a surprise sequel to 2008's Cloverfield (J.J. Abrams produced Cloverfield, so it's possible, but not likely).
RISE OF THE APES (JUNE 24)
The original Planet of the Apes movies were a huge hit when they were released, so it was probably somewhat disappointing to fans of the original when Tim Burton's shitty 2001 remake was released (You suck Burton!). Well Hollywood is trying again and so far it looks like they're doing a lot more this time around to make sure this doesn't suck. Instead of Mark Wahlberg in the lead role, we have James Franco and Slumdog Millionaire's Freida Pinto, as well as John Lithgow, Brian Cox, and Harry Potter's Tom Felton. Perhaps the most intriguing part about Rise of the Apes is the decision to have the apes in the movie by CGI motion-capture creations, a la Gollum in the Lord of the Rings movies. Even the same actor who played Gollum, Andy Serkis, will be playing the main ape. This movie will also be set in present-day San Francisco, which also adds an interesting twist. I'm excited for this one.
HARRY POTTER & THE DEATHLY HALLOWS PART II (JULY 15)
I actually skipped the first Deathly Hallows movie because I found the first half of the final Harry Potter book to be incredibly boring. Despite that fact, there is no denying how freaking epic this final Harry Potter movie will be! Just the thought of the final fight inside Hogwarts translated to the big screen gets me really excited. Ten years of these great movies finally culminates into this last one. My one piece of advice though? Lose the really cheesy piece of shit epilogue that was attached to the end of the book. It made me want to throw up with its corniness. Apparently, someone's already been cast as Albus Severus Potter though. Blech.
CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER (JULY 22)
The third and final big superhero movie of the year, also in The Avengers cannon like Thor, will be Captain America: The First Avenger. Like Thor, Captain America also has a really good supporting cast, including Hugo Weaving, Tommy Lee Jones, Stanley Tucci, and Toby Jones. But unlike Thor having the talented Kenneth Branagh directing, I'm surprised to see that Jurassic Park III and Jumanji director Joe Johnston was given such an important movie to direct. This Captain America movie is the last movie in The Avengers franchise (which also includes Iron Man, Hulk, and Thor) before the actual The Avengers movie, so it's important that this movie is good to increase the hype. Marvel hopefully sees something in Joe Johnston that I don't, because I'm really hoping this movie is good. Captain America is a different kind of superhero movie because he's created during World War II and that will hopefully provide a much different perspective that's never been done before.
HUGO CABRET (DECEMBER 9)
I'm not familiar with the book "The Invention of Hugo Cabret" that this movie is based on, but everything about the movie looks really good. It's going to be directed by Martin Scorsese and it will mark his first foray into 3D filming. It stars Chloe Moretz (Kick Ass) as well as Ben Kingsley, Jude Law, Sacha Baron Cohen, Christopher Lee, Michael Pitt, and Michael Stuhlbarg. So what is it about? According to IMDB, Hugo Cabret is set in 1930s and is about an orphan who lives in the walls of a Paris train station who gets caught up in a mystery involving his father and a robot. It's going to be a family movie, but still- Martin Scorsese making a kids movie in 3D with that cast? Sounds good to me.
THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO (DECEMBER 21)
Full disclosure: I've never seen the original The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo movies nor have I read any of the books. I've heard they're really good, but I've just never gotten the chance to get into them. I'm sure before the American version of the movie comes out, I'll get a chance to, but for now I can only go by what I think the movie will be like. Another thing I probably have to disclose: I typically HATE IT when Hollywood remakes a foreign movie within a few years of the original film. Just release the damn foreign movie as it is! You don't have to Americanize everything! Foreign films aren't that unaccessible, I promise! With that being said, if they HAD to remake this series, they picked a damn good team to do it. David Fincher, fresh off his probable Best Picture Oscar win for The Social Network, will be directing and Steven Zaillian (Mission: Impossible, Schindler's List, Gangs of New York) has adapted the screenplay. The cast includes Daniel Craig, Stellan Skarsgard, and Robin Wright, with The Social Network's Rooney Mara playing main character Lisbeth Salander. The original was about "a journalist who is aided in the search for a presumed dead woman by a young female hacker." Apparently this new remake will stray a little bit from the original though, especially in the ending. With a pedigree like this however, how could they go wrong?
Those are my most anticipated movies of 2011? What movies are you looking forward to?
-Jared
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