Pop Culture for Fun

Looking back at my previous list for 2011, I somehow feel bad. I don’t think there’s a single movie on that list that lived up to my expectations. Sucker Punch should have been so full of awesome but ended up so…utterly forgettable. The Hangover 2 was just a sad rehash, and I came very very close to considering Cowboys and Aliens a bad movie. The best of those, for me, was probably The Adjustment Bureau – it had a nifty little idea, even if not too original, and a great cast, and I do think Emily Blunt and Matt Damon had some chemistry between them. Still, it was largely ignored at the box office, so it does count as a failure. Hopefully, this year, things will be better.

Chronicle

High school friends and superpowers stuck with me from the description, and for some time I didn’t even want to see the trailer. But I soon did, and this has the potential to be one memorable movie, or at least reach some sort of cult status. It both helps the movie and has me worried that most of the people involved are rather inexperienced, but I look forward to what looks like a fresh take on an old idea. The parts that sold me? Seeing teenage boys act irresponsibly and the creepy kid going all Darth Vader on a car in the scrap yard. Or maybe it was the Jessie J in the trailer…

Coriolanus

I’ll admit that, while I do enjoy Shakespeare’s work, I’ve always been more of a fan of his comedies than the tragedies (Titus Andronicus though could give any modern torture porn horror flick a run for its money). I will also admit that Ralph Fiennes is a god among actors. Add to that some Gerry Butler, Brian Cox, Vanessa Redgrave and the soon to be ubiquitous Jessica Chastain, and you have potential. Though I don’t trust Fiennes as much in the director’s seat, the modern take on an old classic looked good in the trailer, and, as a plus, they kept to the text, not dumbing the dialog down for the modern audiences.

Safe House

OK, this might be a safe bet on my part, but I am a fan of Ryan Reynolds, and, though he did well by himself in a box, I’d rather see him going toe to toe with Denzel Washington. I don’t expect the accomplished cast (Gleeson, Shepard, Farmiga) to bring their A game to an action thriller, but I do expect some fireworks. Denzel has never been uncomfortable doing action, even though mostly under Tony Scott, and Ryan Reynolds needs an action movie that works under his belt, since Green Lantern wasn’t the hit he probably thought it would be, so I expect him to pull no punches. If the script is half as clever as the cast, this will be worth watching.

This Means War

I have a feeling that this will most likely end up as a guilty pleasure. Sure, it’s kind of a romantic comedy, and it has Reese Witherspoon, but it also has Chris Pine and Bane Tom Hardy in fisticuffs. From the trailer it looks that it’s going to require a lot of suspension of disbelief, but I think if there’s any one director that can pull off silly over the top action, that’s McG (it also helps that it does not have a small budget). It’s Spy vs Spy with an unwanted romantic angle thrown in, but this looks like THE perfect movie to take your girlfriend, a movie from which both of you can walk away happy.

John Carter

I’m side-stepping the really big blockbusters (The Avengers, The Dark Knight Rises, The Amazing Spider-Man, The Hobbit) but I need to mention this. The trailers look good, and this is Taylor Kitsch’s year (Battleship however sounds dismal, despite being helmed by Peter Berg). The budget is huge (250 million according to IMDb page) and the studios hope to start a franchise. The biggest draw? Andrew “Wall-E” Stanton. After Brad Bird is time for another Pixar vet to move to (kind of) live action. If there is one person that can pull this off, that’s Stanton.

Salmon Fishing in the Yemen

I like both Emily Blunt and Ewan McGregor. I also like most of Lasse Hallström’s movies. So, even if a movie about fly-fishing in the desert sounds…ahem…fishy, I’m willing to give this one a chance. I was charmed by Chocolat, why shouldn’t this work? By the trailer it looks very much like the feel good movie of the year (Lionsgate should have a hit on their hands as long as they promote it accordingly). Oh, it’s also written by Simon Beaufoy, the guy behind another feel-good movie – Slumdog Millionaire.

Snow White and the Huntsman

This one was a tough call. I was willing to go with Tarsem Singh’s Mirror Mirror, but something stopped me. It was probably Charlize Theron bathing in milk… Having Twilight’s Bella and Thor on screen might help, but I’m betting this will be Charlize’s movie from start to finish. Finally, an actress that’s both gorgeous (way more than this film’s Snow White) and has the acting chops to pull off an amazing Evil Queen. As a bonus, the dwarves are played by awesome British actors such as Eddie Marsan and Toby Jones. If this one doesn’t rake in the big bucks, all the fault rests with the directors and scriptwriters.

The Cabin in the Woods

A twist on the usual horror movies involving the titular “character”, this one sounds too smart to live up to expectations. Though written by Joss Whedon and Drew Goddard (not as famous, but to his credit he did write for Lost among others), there is a big chance it won’t side step some cliches. Even so, I’ll happily watch Whedon regulars such as Fran Kranz and Amy Acker join Thor (Chris Hemsworth strikes again!) on the big screen.

Prometheus

If there’s one prequel I believe in, this is it. Ridley Scott returns to Sci-Fi with a movie that, as teased by the trailer, revisits some of the more mysterious aspects of the first Alien movie. The special effects in the trailer looked really good, and it helps a lot that the movie has an A list cast: Michael Fassbender, Charlize Theron, Guy Pearce, Idris Elba, Noomi Rapace, Patrick Wilson. With Damon Lindelof of Lost fame behind the script, the only thing to worry about is retconning, but let’s hope that’s not the case.

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter

Based on a rather recent book (2010) and with a cast of familiar, but not really famous, faces, the movie seems like mediocre fare, cashing in on the vampire fad a tad late. What has me really excited though, is that Timur Bekmambetov (director of the awesomely Russian Night Watch and Day Watch) is directing. With Wanted he proved that he can transition to Hollywood without too much effort, and handle an A list cast. Seeing as though he produced plenty of movies that sounded more interesting than this one on paper, I’m truly interested to see why he chose this one as his next project.

Total Recall

The original is a classic Sci-Fi action movie from when Schwarzenegger was in his prime, that will forever remain in the minds of every man that has seen it (mostly due to the three boobed lady). The new movie is directed by Len Wiseman, so I expected a much more stylized action movie than Verhoeven’s, but maybe slightly less intelligent. Colin Farrell is no Arnold, but he’s a decent actor and, after seeing him in Fright Night, I believe he can pull through. Also, eye candy in the form of Jessica Biel and Kate Beckinsale, as well as welcome performances by Bryan Cranston and Bill Nighy.

Hotel Transylvania

This animation might be very overshadowed by Pixar’s Brave, but I’ll still look forward to it. And it won’t be because of the premise – Dracula operating a high end resort, or the cast – Adam Sandler, Steve Buscemi, Fran Drescher, a lot of other funny guys, but because of one person only: Genndy Tartakovsky . The man behind Dexter’s Laboratory, Samurai Jack and Star Wars: Clone Wars (no, not the new one). If he was able to give me fond memories of those shows during my childhood, I will surely watch his movie.

Looper

There’s a title for you. “A killer who works for the mob of the future recognizes one of his targets as his future self.”. That’s the IMDb description. It may sound high concept, and it probably will be, since this is Rian Johnson of Brick fame. Teaming up with Joseph Gordon-Levitt once again, with a touch of Bruce Willis Emily Blunt and Paul Dano, this might turn out to be quite interesting. Also, surprisingly enough, it’s not an adaptation of a Philip K. Dick short story.

Les Miserables

So there was a stage musical based on Victor Hugo’s novel, and it was successful. Since the movie industry is no longer afraid of musicals since roughly 10 years ago, it decided to make a film out of it. The best part was that they selected The King’s Speech Oscar winning director to helm it. The second best part is that it stars Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Helena Bonham Carter, Sacha Baron Cohen (oh, look! a Sweeney Todd reunion) and Anne Hathaway. And they still haven’t cast Cosette…