Criticker.com

What do you reckon is going to be capturing your attention next year? My thoughts turned to this after MSN Movies posted a little article showing some of what they consider as the highlights of next year's releases.

Some of the 40 films listed here are obviously going to be much better than others, the inclusion of films such as the Friday the 13th remake and G.I. Joe immediately come to mind as a strange choices. If this provides little I apologise, I've hardly been keeping track of upcoming films over the past six months so many of these releases come as new news to me.

One that immediately caught my attention was the film version of Marley and Me. I read the book recently and found it charming and very enjoyable, so obviously a decent adaptation might be of interest. Sadly things don't look promising, as soon as you see that the Grogans are being played by Owen Wilson and Jennifer Aniston you know it's got double the already high chances of it becoming some cutesy meaningless scramble.

Terminator Salvation is also of big interest to me, all we can hope is that it lives up to what it seems to be promising. Bale is a good start, but I'm still not convinced. It's too early to tell, but Sherlock Holmes sounds like a big dud as well. As soon as you read " Ritchie promises a brawnier, more action-packed version of Holmes in this new film" and then hear about the casting, you know it has a high chance of being cack. Pixar's next adventure Up doesn't seem like it will be a dud at all, Public Enemies could be good and after the cheesy enjoyment I got out of 300 I'll be keeping an eye on Watchmen.

There's a new Clint Eastwood film Gran Torino as well which I know nothing about, other than the initial thought of "Bloody hell, he looks old now!". It's weird to see how time passes like that. The contrast is especially pronounced seeing as I've been watching a lot of his early films recently, some of which I haven't got around to ranking here yet.

There's loads which don't really interest me though. Fast & Furious, Angels & Demons, Harry Potter andTransformers II just to name a few. Of course there's also the next batch of the typical stupid drama, teen and comedy movies we get churned out every year.

I'm much more pissed about Harry Potter being pushed back till next summer than I want to admit to myself, probably because that new trailer for it is so fan-bloody-tastic.

Anyway, other than that I haven't really gotten into the movies of next year.. Even though I consider 2008 to have been a pretty good year, I'm honestly not expecting much. There were several great films this summer, but I think Max Payne has kinda shut me down to new films.. That one was a turd.

I am, however, looking forward to Journey To The Centre Of The Earth and The Day The Earth Stood Still this Christmas. Why? I honestly don't know. Cheesy sci-fi flicks involving Brendan Fraser and Keanu Reeves? They've just got to be awful, and for some reason I feel compelled to see them. I'll admit to Brendan Fraser being a serious guilty pleasure of mine..

x

Public Enemies
Nine
Shutter Island
The Limits Of Control

djross wrote:I am looking forward to precisely three films in the coming year. In order of level of anticipation, they are the following:

1. Enter the Void (Gaspar Noé)
2. The Tree of Life (Terrence Malick)
3. Antichrist (Lars von Trier)

Bingo. Nothing on that msn.com list of Hollywood sequels, remakes and comic book adaptations excites me as much as any of the above (although I'm curious to see what Wes Anderson does with Fantastic Mr. Fox).

Some more that iMDB lists as 2009 releases:

The Turin Horse (Bela Tarr)
Visages (Ming-liang Tsai)
I Come With the Rain (Anh Hung Tran) [iMDB says 2008 but I don't think so]
Broken Embraces (Pedro Almodovar)
Micmacs à tire-larigot (Jean-Pierre Jeunet)
The Girlfriend Experience (Steven Soderbergh)

I'm also hoping Ponyo on the Cliff (Hayao Miyazaki) gets an American release soon.

meh

I worked as a PA on Tree Of Life this past summer.

Pickpocket wrote:I worked as a PA on Tree Of Life this past summer.

DID U SEE MALICK??? Or did he hide the whole time?

It's so awesome how there's pretty much only that one picture of him.

Ron Fricke - Samsara (who knows if it will actually come out, 2009)

+1 to Tree of Life.

No doubt I've come across others, but those are the ones I remember.
Will edit in more if they should pop up.

Blood Meridian - Director of In The Bedroom. Adapted from the novel of the writer (Cormac McCarthy) of No Country and the short story AFlickering suggested, The Road (which is also being made into a film). Sadly, the director of The Road is also the guy who did The Proposition. But the cast does look good.

Cry of the Owl, Nineteen Eighty - Paddy Considine.

The Young Victoria - Director of C.R.A.Z.Y., great cast.

The Boat That Rocked - Emma Thompson, PSH, Filmed a few miles from me.

The Rum Diary - Bruce Robinson

Na putu - Director of Grbavica

Brothers (2009/II) - Sounds interesting. Some good writers, and Jim Sheridan directing.

Cinematographer Christopher Doyle (In The Mood For Love, Hero etc.):
The Tempest - I worry about the cast, but it is Shakey
The Limits of Control - Jim Jarmusch (fascinating cast)

"The Pacific" - A 10-part mini-series from the creators of "Band of Brothers" telling the intertwined stories of three Marines during America's battle with the Japanese in the Pacific during World War II. . Although the directors seem a little inexperienced. (Cinematographer Remi Adefarasin)

Phillip Noyce:
Dirt Music
American Pastoral - Set in postwar America, a man watches his seemingly perfect life fall apart as his daughter's new political affiliation threatens to destroy their family.

+Samsara, Tree of Life, and Coen films make for a decent sounding year.