22 January 2012

Top 10 Most Anticipated Films for 2012

Here it is, my long delayed series of end of year lists. Now before I begin this list you should know the criteria for the list, any of the films which can be included have a UK release date in 2012, which is why some films which have already seen an American release date will be included. That said, let's go into the films I'm looking forward to most in 2012.

10. John Carter - This is the second film in which a PIXAR veteran has gone into the live action realm and, seeing how well Brad Bird did with Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol I'm really looking forward to seeing what Andrew Stanton, director of one of PIXAR's best films WALL-E, can do with John Carter. The design of the film looks great and I really want to see how Stanton can adapt John Carter without it becoming a cliche.

9. The Muppets - As I stated at the start of this post, this film can be included as it has not been released in the UK yet and I am really looking forward to it. The Muppets Christmas Carol is one of my all time favourite Christmas movies, second only to It's A Wonderful Life, and I hope that this new Muppet film lives up to these expectations. Plus the sight of Fozzie Bear with Whoopee Cushions on his shoes makes me laugh far more than I know it should.

8. The Dictator - Basically it's a modern day reinterpretation of Charlie Chaplin's The Great Dictator with the modern day Chaplin, Sacha Baron Cohen in the lead role. How could I not be excited over this film. This would actually be much higher in the list if it wasn't for the fact that the worst actress of all time, Megan Fox, is appearing in this film.

7. Skyfall - Whilst I am slightly sceptical over the direction Sam Mendes wants to take the Bond series in, more focused on strong acting than action, but due to Mendes getting career best performances out of actors, especially Kevin Spacey in American Beauty, I'm hopeful that he can make this work with the Bond series. Besides it has Ralph Fiennes and Javier Bardem as the villains and if the calibre of their performances in the Harry Potter films and No Country for Old Men respectively are to be continued, it looks like they will do great jobs as the villains.

6. Django Unchained - This will be the first Tarantino film that I will be able to see in the cinema when it is released at the end of the year and I am really looking forward to it. It sounds like Tarantino will be doing the ultimate slavery revenge movie to follow up the ultimate Holocaust revenge movie, Inglourious Basterds. The cast in the film looks excellent and it'll be great to see Leonardo DiCaprio in a villainous turn and Christoph Waltz as a good character, plus it's Tarantino doing a western, how can this not be great.

5. Dark Shadows - Like many people I was highly disappointed by Tim Burton's reimagining of Alice in Wonderland but it looks like Burton is going back to what made him great with Dark Shadows, extremely silly gothic stories in the same vain as Sleepy Hollow. Now I've already said my full thoughts on Dark Shadows in a previous entry so I won't repeat myself fully and I hope that between this and Frankenweenie, 2012 will be the year in which Tim Burton makes his comeback.

4. The Pirates In An Adventure With Scientists - Bit weird for someone to put a film like this on a most anticipated list but I have a very good reason for this. It's Aardman returning to Plasticine. These are the guys who made two of the greatest animated feature length films of all time with Chicken Run and Wallace and Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit and it is just great to see them back in the territory of those films. It will be a bit of a risk to see how Aardman can do a Plasticine movie without the involvement of Nick Park but I'm still looking forward to it. Besides, it has David Tennant as Charles Darwin and BRIAN BLESSED as the Pirate King, how could I not be excited for this.

3. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey - After the long delays and the quitting of Guillermo Del Toro as the director, The Hobbit is finally seeing the light of day under the direction of Peter Jackson and good God does it look good. Martin Freeman looks excellent as Bilbo Baggins, Ian McKellen is back as Gandalf and it's Peter Jackson going back to Middle Earth, what more can I say that the trailer doesn't already say.

2. The Dark Knight Rises - In Nolan I Trust and I believe that Nolan will make this a great end to a great series. Now I saw the 8 minute prologue in front of Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol and I have to say, the film looks incredible in IMAX. I am concerned over the ability to understand what Tom Hardy is saying as Bane but he looks like a great threat with what he could do with just a few words. Plus, I really hope that Nolan shows some balls and ends this series by killing Batman, I mean it would be the perfect way for Nolan to end his series of Batman films.

1. The Avengers - This is the only film I'm looking forward to more than The Dark Knight Rises and it really looks lit it will deliver. Joss Whedon really gets the type of dialogue that a film like this requires, witty dialogue. As Firefly and Serenity have shown, Whedon can perfectly balance witty dialogue with great action sequences. Plus it'll be great to see if Marvel's powerful gamble of bringing comic book style continuity to the big screen will work seeing how the Iron Man films, The Incredible Hulk, Thor and Captain America were all leading up to the release of this film. Let's hope that Marvel and Whedon will hit one out of the park with this film.

Honourable Mentions:

  • Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter
  • Lincoln
  • World War Z
  • Wreck It Ralph
  • Les Miserable
  • Frankenweenie

So there were my top 10 most anticipated films for 2012. Come back soon to see my top 10 favourite scenes from films in 2011.

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