My Traditional 'Most Anticipated Films' List - Part Two (Preview)

Well, having just moved to Brighton and being a tad full of activity and procrastination and part-time employment, there's been a slight delay getting this list out there and - as a result - I've seen some of the films I was eagerly awaiting come the end of 2008 (I shall include them and my thoughts, and I've added a couple of other flicks that have entered my interest). Anyway, without further ado and in no particular order...

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus

This has been on my 'most anticipated' list for a few years now, it's one of those ones that has - understandably now - been pushed back and back, it shall always be tagged as Heath Ledger's last film, but I'm hoping it's another on form Terry Gilliam movie, the concept sounds wonderful, the look of the few stills and set-snaps released so far is great and it has Tom Waits in it as the devil!

Where The Wild Things Are

Another delayed release, Spike Jonze's adaptation of Maurice Sendak's children's book looks to have captured the kind of magic that the Jim Henson company bottled for Labyrinth and The Dark Crystal, with a bit of the fluffiness of The Neverending Story thrown in for good measure. Jonze also seems to be keenly aware that a good children's film is dark and grown-up whilst still being fantastical, and hopefully he will get to fully realise his vision and all those talks of studio worries are just hearsay.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Here's one film I have now seen, I've been keeping an eye on this project for a while and seen a few director's names attached to it, the story appealed to me generally and I thought Fincher was a fine choice of helmsman. In the end the film is a technical marvel, visually stunning but a little cold emotionally. Many have compared it to Forrest Gump, but I felt that Gump managed to push the emotional buttons a little better than Button, though I think Fincher never intended to make something as sentimental as Zemeckis' Oscar winner.

Synedoche, New York

Charlie Kaufman, the writer of Being John Malkovich, returns with his directorial debut, and another film that seems - like Benjamin Button - to examine an entire life, albeit here in a more linear yet no less bizarre fashion. I'm still not entirely sure what the film is about, all I know is I can't wait.

JCVD

It's out on DVD now and hopefully I'll get around to watching it soon, but this film has been received raves recently for the film's look and - shockingly - the performance of Jean Claude Van Damme as he honestly and self-deprecatingly dismantles his own life and career in a darkly comic heist movie!?

The Box

There's something about Richard Kelly's follow-up to Donnie Darko - Southland Tales - that keeps me going back to it, it's awfully paced, ropily acted, the plot's a mess and it's way too long, but I find myself watching it more than most movies. I'm hoping he's put together a genuinely good film here, spring-boarding from a Richard Matheson short into a 70s-set thriller starring the dependable James Marsden and Cameron Diaz.

Sherlock Holmes

I'm not a Guy Ritchie fan, but I do love Robert Downey Jr. and Sherlock Holmes and foggy Victorian England romps, so hopefully this'll gel together nicely with this spin on Arthur Conan Doyle's legendary detective. I'm hoping this'll be a nice counterpoint to the brilliant and under-rated Young Sherlock Holmes.

The Brothers Bloom

I haven't seen Brick, I know I should. This looks like great fun and stars the always watchable Adrien Brody and the equally always watchable Mark Ruffalo as two con men, it seems to have an easy, quirky charm.

Milk

Sean Penn's performance eclipsed this film, which is - as I have seen it - a very well made biography of the first openly gay politician Harvey Milk, it has a fabulous supporting cast including Josh Brolin and James Franco, and a genuinely moving story and hopefully will pick up a few awards come Oscar season.

Kick-Ass

Matthew Vaughn directed the over-looked and magical Stardust, one of the best subversions of the fairy-tale genre since The Princess Bride and now he's turning his hand to superheroes with this graphic novel adaptation from the creator of Wanted. It looks barking mad from the few photos released and hopefully will mark the turnaround of Nic Cage's career (he has a supporting role).

The Spirit

Another one I've already seen, read my defense of it by CLICKING HERE!

Religulous

I enjoy a good documentary and this one looks like a funny investigation of how different people approach religion. It seems to be getting a bit of stick from some critics for being a bit too light, but I see this as a nice primer before having a look at some other interesting and thematically similar docs; check out Jesus Camp, it will scare you stupid!

Crank 2: High Voltage

The first Crank is (just over Taken) the finest guilty-pleasure of the 21st Century thus far, and hopefully this sequel will deliver more lunatic charm as Jason Stathan's presumed-dead hitman Chev Chelios finds his heart replaced by some kind of battery powered contraption that needs constant jolts of electricity to keep him ticking. I wasn't too sure about the recently released trailer, but I won't feel as ashamed as I probably should when I go to see this on opening day!

The Fantastic Mr. Fox

Stop-motion is in good stead this year with this and the critically adored Coraline on the way, not very much is known about how this is good to look yet, I'm feeling quite certain this may end up on next year's most-anticipated list, but I really hope it comes out this year. It's being directed by Wes Anderson and, of course, is an adaptation of the Roald Dahl children's book.

Knowing

Always dangerous looking forward to a Nic Cage movie, but with this and Kick-Ass on the way I'm hoping this is a better year for Cage than having Ghost Rider, Next and The Wicker Man in quick succession! Knowing, I hope, also marks a return to form for Alex Proyas who directed the excellent The Crow and Dark City but has floundered of late with I, Robot and Garage Days.

Watchmen

Another project I've had my peepers on for a while, it was one that Terry Gilliam developed for a time and ultimately decided it should be a mini-series. Then Paul Greengrass took the helm and got very close to a version I really, really wanted to see. Now Zack Snyder has actually managed to film the thing and I'm curious but uncertain; the cast is great, the visuals look good, the marketing has been smart but I was not a fan of 300 though Snyder's Dawn of the Dead remake was surprisingly effective.

The Wrestler

I was dissapointed by this, Mickey Rourke's performance is great, though his face is distracting at times, but overall the film was rather bland and Marisa Tomei is awful in her supporting role, alongside some very heavy-handed and terribly written scenes that layer on religous allegory with a trowel and Baseketball-like use of songs as Rourke drives around. I guess this is what happens when nobody goes to see a film as beautiful and heart-breaking as Aronofsky's previous effort The Fountain.

Star Trek

This looks like good fun, I don't really care about what they 'do' to Star Trek, I just hope J.J. Abrams puts together a ride as entertaining as his entry into the Mission: Impossible franchise and I'll be happily munching popcorn.

The Year One

Jack Black and Michael Cera are cave-men in this high/low-concept comedy from Harold Ramis who seems to have assembled a good cast to pull him out of the doldrums of fare like Bedazzled and Analyze That. I'm not expecting a classic here really, just a good solid laugh.

Che

I saw part one and it was pretty good; an interesting historical document but we learn next to nothing about the man the film is named after. I'm looking forward to part two, but I understand why - after it's Cannes success - this film has kind of drifted off of awards radars.

Hamlet 2

A Sundance hit last year, Steve Coogan plays a teacher who tries to revive his flagging career by putting together a brazen, brash and bonkers musical sequel to Shakespeare's most famous play.

The Princess and the Frog

Hand drawn 2D animated Walt Disney returns with this New Orleans set fairy-tale update, which looks like a throwback to the early 90s-era of Disney animation (The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, etc.).

Terminator: Salvation

Charlie's Angels director McG seems to have put together a welcome continuation of the man vs. machines saga, finally taking us to see what all this Future War stuff is about. The recently released trailer looks like the action is being handled well, and the cast will hopefully lend it some gravitas and, regarding his recent outburst, though he over-reacted I'm on Mr. Bale's side.

Bruno

Sacha Baron Cohen puts his neck on the line again this time as gay TV host Bruno, he'll be exposing people's dormant prejudices once more in faux-documentary style and hopefully it'll be as successful as the surprisingly enjoyable Borat movie.

Up

Pixar's next, it looks interesting, though very little has been revealed thus far beyond a brief look at the character dynamics of the grumpy old man and the eager, wide-eyed boy scout; but it should be fun.

Coraline

Henry Selick returns to feature length stop-motion animation after mixing live-action into the pretty good James and the Giant Peach and the misguided but interesting Monkeybone. Here he adapts Neil Gaiman's spooky children's story, filming it in 3D for a film that some critics are already hailing as a classic.

Nailed

I am always interested in David O'Russell's work, I've enjoyed every film he's done so far, with each new release out-doing the one before; I don't think he can top I Heart Huckabees in my opinion, but I look forward to see what he's come up with.

Extract

The new Mike Judge film after the unfairly treated cult-classic Idiocracy, the man really knows how to put together a sharp, wry and strange comedy so this should be worth a gander.

Moon

David Bowie's son directs two Sam Rockwells in this wonderfully mad sounding sci-fi that seems to be picking up the mantle where the 70s left off and delivering something truly different.