There are lots of movies in 2012, some only in post production, some only with a minimum of information and others with full on trailers to give you a feel for the film, enough to at least state that you’re more than genuinely interested. This list has some of all of that. Links are provided to trailers or official websites where possible. As release dates and availability is always subject to change till the last minute I’ll leave that information off.
Haywire: The latest from Steven Soderbergh, and the first feature for the sexiest woman who can legitimately kick people’s ass next to Zoe Bell. Can Gina Carano actually act? Well, that’s what’s left to be seen. The last time Soderbergh took a chance on a total unknown commodity was porn star Sasha Grey, so… we shall see. The film does have the fact that it stars Ewan McGregor, Channing Tatum, Antonio Banderas and Michael Douglas in acting bulk of the film, so if all Gina really needs to do is kick ass and look good, this movie should actually work, even if it’s been awhile since Steve shot one out of the park.
The Expendables 2: The first Expendables failed in many ways, story, character development, plot construction, even dialogue, all things we know Sly Stallone are good as a screenwriter, but somehow he missed the mark. Maybe it was because he was hoping for a different crew and ended up with who he got, but didn’t rethink the film when he didn’t get a cast that didn’t need as much development as characters. Despite all that it was an excellent action flick and from the trailer alone it looks like story and character development was fore front in the mind for this sequel. Also Chuck Norris and Jean Claude Van Damme are promoted for this one and Schwarzenegger and Willis’ roles seem way more pronounced, so the dream movie of tons of action stars at once is more realized
Baz Luhrman’s The Great Gatsby: This one is actually still in production, but has been slapped with a Christmas 2012 release date. With Leonardo DiCaprio as the titular character, Tobey Maguire as the actual main character Nick Caraway and a cast rounded out with Carey Mulligan, Isla Fisher,Jason Callhan and Joel Edgerton it compelling enough. Add in that 2 time academy award winning costume designer Catherine Miller is back along for the ride and Craig Pearce who was not there for Australia, but fleshed out Moulin Rogue and Romeo+Juilet is back as well, I have high hopes for this one without seeing a single roll of film.
Battleship: Sure Peter Berg made Hancock, but before that he made The Rundown, The Kingdom and Very Bad Things. This huge blockbuster explosions galore, aliens and the armed forces menagerie was crafted by The Hoeber brothers who gave us the pretty okay adaptations of almost unadaptive comics Whiteout and RED. There’s a good cast here and the trailer just has some top notch high energy and well, all that other stuff I mentioned.
Men in Black 3: A third MiB film does seem like it’s pushing it and here’s hoping that they have at least a throwaway line explaining where Jeebs, Frank the Pug, Laura and Agent K’s wife are. Since Sonnenfield is still at helm as director I have to keep my hopes that everything will addressed for the long time fan without confusing the possible new fan coming in to a 15 year old franchise with a lot of history. Speaking of franchises with History… that brings us to the next film.
American Reunion: It seems a little weird that the people who would write and direct the reunion film for the gang from American Pie, American Pie 2 and American Wedding would be the guys who brought us all 3 Harold and Kumar films, but since Herz produced and all the actors, none who are begging for work agreed to return to these characters, means the script had to actually be punchy. The trailer itself shows a lot of quality updating and humor and sexual funny, instead of scatological. There’s disgusting to be disgusting and then intelligent disgusting. It exists and like previous American Pie films it looks like they succeeded. They even brought back Chris Owens as Chuck Sherman… this is a serious reunion. It’s the kind of film I’d love to see other films do even. Ya know with the right script.
METH HEAD: It’s a first full length feature for the director and there’s no trailer, but between the plot, subject matter and the fact that it stars Lukas Haas and features Curtis Smith’s first ever movie score, I’m compelled.
On The Road: Like Baz Luhrman’s Gatsby I’m excited for this with baited breath. It has a competent cast that should handle the intracies of story and plot lpnety well. What makes me think this will actually be any good is that it’s from the team that that brought Che Guevera’s The Motorcycle Diaries to life on the big screen. If any film should/could turned out horribly it was that, but instead Sallies and Rivera knocked it out of the ball park. They get the times, they get that language and I’m sure they can do the same thing for Kerouac that they did for Che.
Wanderlust: The latest from David Wain and Ken Marino,who gave us Wet Hot American Summer and Role Models, not to mention The State. Additionally David Wain was in Stella and Wainy Days and Ken Marino is well… Ken Marino. After the The State, as an actor he was in Dawson’s Creek,Veronica Mars, REAPER, Party Down and Children’s Hospital, as well as Wainy Days. This flick romantic comedy starring Jennifer Aniston and Paul Rudd with an awesome back up ensemble including Ray Liotta, Kerri Kinney, Alan Alda, Joe LoTruglio, Lauren Ambrose and Malin Akerman. It looks really funny and just one of those feel good flicks with some great weirdness you expect from Wain. Supposedly Aniston also goes topless and it isn’t cropped like it was in The Ex.
Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax: I recently finally saw the Horton Hears a Who and found it unbelievably charming and clever. I was expecting to hate it and I ended up loving it. The writers of that also wrote this and they also wrote Despicable Me. On Lorax they team with one half of their Despicable Me partner in Chris Renaud who gets assistance from Despicable layout supervisor. I assume Pierre Coffin started the pre-production on Despicable Me 2 while this happened. The trailers definitely have me stoked and Danny Devito as The Lorax is pure excellence and luck. I mean he could play him if it was live action even!
Sushi Girl: This is writer/director Kern Saxton’s first feature, but it has a a lot power behind it. His long time producer and collaborator on shorts has been Destin of Millionaire Matchmaker fame. Destin’s success on that show I am sure helped him get the backing for this crazy wild violent sexy heist flick with a cast that features Tony Todd, James Duvall, Mark Hammill, Noah Hathaway, Sonny Chiba, Jeff Fahey and Danny Trejo. One look at the trailer and if you aren’t hooked then you just don’t like these kind of films.
Dorothy of Oz: This upcoming animated feature is being touted as a supposed sequel to Wizard of Oz and is a musical starring Leah Michelle, Martin Short, Kelsey Grammar, Patrick Stewart, James Belishi, Oliver Platt, Hugh Dancy, Dan Ackroyd and Megan Hilty (who will soon be seen as a regular in NBC’s SMASH ). The website has great interviews with the cast and crew that really make excited for this. They’re basing it off a book by Roger S. Baum which is not cannon, allowing it to go places not before imagined, even if that pissed of Ozonians. I don’t care as long as the animation is good, the story is fun and the music is well composed.
16-Love: I’ll be honest, this teenage romantic comedy based on Tennis isn’t really calling to me but god damn it if Lindsey Shaw and Lindsey Black aren’t compelling to watch (read: super cute, infectious and totally hawt).
Playback: There’s no real trailer for this thriller, but there is an e-book trailer and the fact there is an original e-book developed as a prequel, along with the plot being built around Louis Le Prince makes it interesting. The fact that it stars Christian Slater, Alessandra Torresani , Johnny Pacar, Mark Metcalf and Daryl Mitchell doesn’t hurt either.
Being Flynn: An adaptation of the Nick Flynn memoir Another Bullshit Night in Suck City starring Paul Dano as Nick and Robert DeNiro as his estranged homeless father Jonathan. Written and directed by Paul Weitz,whose last adaptation work of this type was Nick Hornsby’s About A Boy, this looks like a strong drama with exciting acting telling the true story of one of America’s greatest poets.
Of course 2012 will also see The Dark Knight Rises, The Woman in Black, Warm Bodies, Underworld: Awakenings, The Hunger Games, Avengers, Amazing Spider-Man, G.I. Joe: Retaliation, Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, John Carter, Jack the Giant Killer, Gone, The Five Year Engagement, Rise of the Guardians and many more to look forward to tentatively. Will I see any of these films? Will I instead see movies not even listed here?
That’s for myself to answer when the time comes. I still have plenty of 2011 to still catch up on and I won’t even get into that right now… it’s for a different entry/post/article.
