I'll be following this up with a whole list of movies I'm looking forward to over 2013 and 2014, but first of all let's start with the ones that are being released first. Here are the movies I'm currently looking forward to most coming out this year.
7 Movies in 2012 (technically already released)
Bellflower
A couple are building a killer car and hoping for a Mad Max style apocalypse? Whatever this film is about it sounds utterly crazy and I am extremely intrigued.
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imdb link
Sound Of My Voice
Journalists investigate a cult. It sounds like it's equal parts terrifying and awesome. Hearing a lot of good things about this film and I'm very excited. So far only shown at film festivals I think, but they are releasing weird new cryptic posters for it (though the one below is the original Sundance poster) so clearly they'll release it in cinemas eventually.
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imdb link
Extraterrestrial
The director of "Timecrimes" comes out with a new small sci-fi film this time, presumably, covering aliens. Timecrimes wasn't perfect (not least because the initial event which leads to everything else is a man with binoculars perving on a girl and then deciding to go up and get a better look when she goes out of view. I mean seriously?). However, Timecrtimes did do some very interesting things with the time travel genre. I'm quite interested to see what Nacho Vigalondo does this time around.
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imdb link
REC 3: Genesis
The Third "REC" movie, only this time a prequel. I really enjoyed the first two REC films and this is shaping up to be one of the most interesting horror franchises of recent years.
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imdb link
Iron Sky
An invasion from flying saucers turns out to actually be an invasion by a colony of Nazis who have been hiding on the dark side of the moon. From the director of the very low budget but quite entertaining "Star Wreck: In The Pirkinning". The trailer looks very promising.
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imdb link
Lockout
Guy Pearce becomes an action hero in this futuristic actioner with a similar premise to Carpenter's "Escape From New York". Only this time instead of a prison island, we have a prison space station. So that would make it "Escape From... Outer Space"?? Anyway, in the trailer Guy Pearce seems to be on top form.
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imdb link
Avengers Assemble
There've been screenings of this one already. This could finally be Joss Whedon's big break into making lots of movies and not having to negotiate hideously-compromised tv series' with Fox. (And yes, the clip of Scarlett Johannson kicking the living **** out of her interrogators is awesome.) YAY!
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imdb link
15 Movies Still To Come In 2012
Prometheus
Ridley Scott sort of does a prequel to Alien only not really.... only blatantly it is. *scratches head* Here's hoping that some cinemas near me are prepared to release this in 2D because otherwise I'll have to wait til the DVD release (hmmph!).
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imdb link
Snow White and the Huntsman
Okay, so this is probably awful, but we've got Chris Hemsworth, the Thor man himself, playing a pretty major role and the awesome Charlize Theron looking pretty badass in the trailer too. So I'm going to hope for the best... even if the leading role has been given to someone who seems to easily mistake biting her lip for acting.
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imdb link
The Amazing Spider-Man
Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone star in what looks likely to be a Spider-Man movie that finally stays true to the spirit of the comics. Clips so far look pretty awesome, showing a Spider-Man who has a sense of humour and a dark side, sometimes both at the same time.
![]()
imdb link
The Dark Knight Rises
Christopher Nolan's final movement in his trilogy appears to have taken on board the various comments made after The Dark Knight. It quickly became a cliche to note that Batman is a rich over-priveleged figure, so hearing Catwoman mock him for it is very promising. Hopefully they'll tidy up the CG on that collapsing football field scene before the film is released.
![]()
imdb link
Brave
Yeah, so the trailers haven't looked especially promising so far. However, this is Pixar. I've doubted them before and been wrong, so I'm not giving up on them this far in advance of the release. We'll just have to wait and see...
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imdb link
Paranorman
It looks like it's the Coraline team working on this. I'd feel more confident if Henry Selick was working on it, but it looks pretty awesome all the same...
![]()
imdb link
Dredd
Director Pete Travis seems like a pretty accomplished director with his made-for-TV "Endgame" starring William Hurt and Chiwetel Ejiofor about the end of apartheid standing out for me. Judge Dredd marked the beginnings for Garth Ennis, my favourite comicbook writer. His story "Goodnight Kiss" showed me just how much potential the Dredd universe had. I'm really interested to see what a real director can bring to this.
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imdb link
Looper
Joseph Gordon-Levitt stars alongside Bruce Willis in a sci-fi movie. Oh yeah! The director has worked with JGL previously on the movie "Brick". I'm pretty hopeful that this is going to be good.
![]()
imdb link
Hotel Transylvania
For a long while Genndy Tartatovsky was supposedly working on a sequel to "The Dark Crystal": a film which he, as an animator hugely respected. Tartatovsky is the creator of cartoons Dexter's Laboratory and Samurai Jack. He was also heavily involved in The Powerpuff Girls, directing the animation for their full feature movie. More recently he directed the "Clone Wars" cartoons which bridged the gap between the second and third prequels and which completely out-did the movies themselves. (Not to be confused with the ongoing computer-animated series "The Clone Wars".) For whatever reason, he's no longer working on "Power of the Dark Crystal" but it looks like "Hotel Transylvania" is going to be great fun. The trailer starts off looking like a typical example of the cheesier Dreamworks films, but by the end I was completely on board with it. It's always promising when just the trailer for a supposed "comedy" animated movie is able to make you laugh on its own. (For the record, that's why I haven't seen "Megamind" or "Despicable Me".)
Here's the awesome trailer for Hotel Transylvania:
(video link)
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imdb link
Skyfall
Sam Mendes directs a James Bond movie? Yeah sure, there've been money problems with the studio, but no one could say that they aren't taking their time on this one. I didn't really like "Away We Go", but overall I was fairly pleased with "Revolutionary Road" which, if nothing else, showed that Sam Mendes still has awesome skills when it comes to impactful cinematic visuals.
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imdb link
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Confession time. I didn't like the Lord Of The Rings movies. While really enjoying the first one in the cinema (though feeling quite baffled as to why they didn't use the brilliant cliffhanger ending from the books), I found the second one and the third one were pretty dull. (I wonder whether I'd have felt differently if I hadn't read the books first.) The second one missed out the major cliffhangers again, but decided to insert a random scene where Aragorn falls into a river, passes out and then has a magical vision (a scene which actually makes sense in the extended version btw). The third one not only decided to show practically nothing but a battle scene, but took half an hour of the running time to end. (This was particularly obvious to me since I sort of needed the toilet at the point where things looked like they might be winding down after the ring was destroyed and I was then glancing at my watch for the next half an hour when a series of fade outs and fade ins kept taunting me with the idea that it might be finishing soon. When Sam Gamgee started a relationship, got married AND had children during this section of the film, I really felt it was taking the mick.) I've now seen the extended cut and I think the extended cuts of those second and third films are a big improvement, but the original edited-to-hell versions I saw in the cinema just felt like massive spoilers.
On the one hand The Hobbit doesn't feel like a film they really need to split in two, but hopefully that means they won't have done such brutal editing this time around. But on the other hand, the awesome stuff involving Smaug doesn't even come in until the next film. I also strongly remember the dwarves playing very much like comic relief in "The Hobbit" (unlike Gilmli in Lord Of The Rings who shouldn't have been anything like the comedian they made him), so a trailer showing them singing carefully harmonised (i.e. auto-tuned) and foreboding songs makes me wonder what they are doing with this property.
But yeah, EVERYONE is going to be going nuts for this film, so I'm probably going to end up seeing it again. Let's just say it's not my biggest priority in this list though. I'll be happy to leave it until DVD (preferably the "extended cut" DVD).
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imdb link
(Ang Lee doing an adaptation of the book "Life of Pi? Um yeah, not sure why I put that on the list. Anyone else interested by that? I'll just leave this little note here in case anyone's interested. imdb link)
Django Unchained
It's Quentin Tarantino so clearly I'm going to see it. Still, he's been going downhill a bit recently. His brother-in-arms Robert Rodriguez clearly out-did him when they teamed up for Grindhouse. Also, Tarantino did himself absolutely no favours by making his half, "Death Proof", into a stand-alone extended cut over here in the UK. Then Inglourious Basterds didn't have a clue what it was doing and was a bit of a mess overall. I'll say this for Tarantino. When he makes a mess of a film, it's still very enjoyable. However, I'm really hoping this one will be a bit more consistent. It's another revenge flick, only this time it's a freed black slave in the central role. Looks pretty cool.
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imdb list
REC Apocalypse
The fourth and (presumably) final movie in the REC series, carrying on from the nail-biting ending to REC 2. I really cannot wait.
![]()
imdb link
John Dies At The End
Seriously, STILL no release date for this? Paul Giamatti features fairly prominently in the trailer and the director also did "Bubba Ho-Tep". I posted the absolutely crazy trailer in the "too good to be true" section a while back. This just looks absolutely incredible and I can't wait for them to finally release it.
![]()
imdb link
When Worlds Collide
A remake of an old 50s sci-fi movie by the director Stephen Sommers. I must say I'm intrigued. The original sci-fi movie was BEYOND preposterous, so I'm not even sure how they'd begin to remake it. Stephen Sommers doesn't have the best reputation, but I really enjoyed "The Mummy Returns" (I found his first "The Mummy" movie boring though) and even the ridiculous "Van Helsing" was quite fun. Still, part way through 2012 and with seemingly no cast yet assembled, this probably isn't going to happen anytime soon. Still, I've got it on my radar all the same.
![]()
imdb link
(Entire Movie List for 2012 here)
7 Movies in 2012 (technically already released)
Bellflower
A couple are building a killer car and hoping for a Mad Max style apocalypse? Whatever this film is about it sounds utterly crazy and I am extremely intrigued.
imdb link
Sound Of My Voice
Journalists investigate a cult. It sounds like it's equal parts terrifying and awesome. Hearing a lot of good things about this film and I'm very excited. So far only shown at film festivals I think, but they are releasing weird new cryptic posters for it (though the one below is the original Sundance poster) so clearly they'll release it in cinemas eventually.
imdb link
Extraterrestrial
The director of "Timecrimes" comes out with a new small sci-fi film this time, presumably, covering aliens. Timecrimes wasn't perfect (not least because the initial event which leads to everything else is a man with binoculars perving on a girl and then deciding to go up and get a better look when she goes out of view. I mean seriously?). However, Timecrtimes did do some very interesting things with the time travel genre. I'm quite interested to see what Nacho Vigalondo does this time around.
imdb link
REC 3: Genesis
The Third "REC" movie, only this time a prequel. I really enjoyed the first two REC films and this is shaping up to be one of the most interesting horror franchises of recent years.
imdb link
Iron Sky
An invasion from flying saucers turns out to actually be an invasion by a colony of Nazis who have been hiding on the dark side of the moon. From the director of the very low budget but quite entertaining "Star Wreck: In The Pirkinning". The trailer looks very promising.
imdb link
Lockout
Guy Pearce becomes an action hero in this futuristic actioner with a similar premise to Carpenter's "Escape From New York". Only this time instead of a prison island, we have a prison space station. So that would make it "Escape From... Outer Space"?? Anyway, in the trailer Guy Pearce seems to be on top form.
imdb link
Avengers Assemble
There've been screenings of this one already. This could finally be Joss Whedon's big break into making lots of movies and not having to negotiate hideously-compromised tv series' with Fox. (And yes, the clip of Scarlett Johannson kicking the living **** out of her interrogators is awesome.) YAY!
imdb link
15 Movies Still To Come In 2012
Prometheus
Ridley Scott sort of does a prequel to Alien only not really.... only blatantly it is. *scratches head* Here's hoping that some cinemas near me are prepared to release this in 2D because otherwise I'll have to wait til the DVD release (hmmph!).
imdb link
Snow White and the Huntsman
Okay, so this is probably awful, but we've got Chris Hemsworth, the Thor man himself, playing a pretty major role and the awesome Charlize Theron looking pretty badass in the trailer too. So I'm going to hope for the best... even if the leading role has been given to someone who seems to easily mistake biting her lip for acting.
imdb link
The Amazing Spider-Man
Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone star in what looks likely to be a Spider-Man movie that finally stays true to the spirit of the comics. Clips so far look pretty awesome, showing a Spider-Man who has a sense of humour and a dark side, sometimes both at the same time.
imdb link
The Dark Knight Rises
Christopher Nolan's final movement in his trilogy appears to have taken on board the various comments made after The Dark Knight. It quickly became a cliche to note that Batman is a rich over-priveleged figure, so hearing Catwoman mock him for it is very promising. Hopefully they'll tidy up the CG on that collapsing football field scene before the film is released.
imdb link
Brave
Yeah, so the trailers haven't looked especially promising so far. However, this is Pixar. I've doubted them before and been wrong, so I'm not giving up on them this far in advance of the release. We'll just have to wait and see...
imdb link
Paranorman
It looks like it's the Coraline team working on this. I'd feel more confident if Henry Selick was working on it, but it looks pretty awesome all the same...
imdb link
Dredd
Director Pete Travis seems like a pretty accomplished director with his made-for-TV "Endgame" starring William Hurt and Chiwetel Ejiofor about the end of apartheid standing out for me. Judge Dredd marked the beginnings for Garth Ennis, my favourite comicbook writer. His story "Goodnight Kiss" showed me just how much potential the Dredd universe had. I'm really interested to see what a real director can bring to this.
imdb link
Looper
Joseph Gordon-Levitt stars alongside Bruce Willis in a sci-fi movie. Oh yeah! The director has worked with JGL previously on the movie "Brick". I'm pretty hopeful that this is going to be good.
imdb link
Hotel Transylvania
For a long while Genndy Tartatovsky was supposedly working on a sequel to "The Dark Crystal": a film which he, as an animator hugely respected. Tartatovsky is the creator of cartoons Dexter's Laboratory and Samurai Jack. He was also heavily involved in The Powerpuff Girls, directing the animation for their full feature movie. More recently he directed the "Clone Wars" cartoons which bridged the gap between the second and third prequels and which completely out-did the movies themselves. (Not to be confused with the ongoing computer-animated series "The Clone Wars".) For whatever reason, he's no longer working on "Power of the Dark Crystal" but it looks like "Hotel Transylvania" is going to be great fun. The trailer starts off looking like a typical example of the cheesier Dreamworks films, but by the end I was completely on board with it. It's always promising when just the trailer for a supposed "comedy" animated movie is able to make you laugh on its own. (For the record, that's why I haven't seen "Megamind" or "Despicable Me".)
Here's the awesome trailer for Hotel Transylvania:
(video link)
imdb link
Skyfall
Sam Mendes directs a James Bond movie? Yeah sure, there've been money problems with the studio, but no one could say that they aren't taking their time on this one. I didn't really like "Away We Go", but overall I was fairly pleased with "Revolutionary Road" which, if nothing else, showed that Sam Mendes still has awesome skills when it comes to impactful cinematic visuals.
imdb link
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Confession time. I didn't like the Lord Of The Rings movies. While really enjoying the first one in the cinema (though feeling quite baffled as to why they didn't use the brilliant cliffhanger ending from the books), I found the second one and the third one were pretty dull. (I wonder whether I'd have felt differently if I hadn't read the books first.) The second one missed out the major cliffhangers again, but decided to insert a random scene where Aragorn falls into a river, passes out and then has a magical vision (a scene which actually makes sense in the extended version btw). The third one not only decided to show practically nothing but a battle scene, but took half an hour of the running time to end. (This was particularly obvious to me since I sort of needed the toilet at the point where things looked like they might be winding down after the ring was destroyed and I was then glancing at my watch for the next half an hour when a series of fade outs and fade ins kept taunting me with the idea that it might be finishing soon. When Sam Gamgee started a relationship, got married AND had children during this section of the film, I really felt it was taking the mick.) I've now seen the extended cut and I think the extended cuts of those second and third films are a big improvement, but the original edited-to-hell versions I saw in the cinema just felt like massive spoilers.
On the one hand The Hobbit doesn't feel like a film they really need to split in two, but hopefully that means they won't have done such brutal editing this time around. But on the other hand, the awesome stuff involving Smaug doesn't even come in until the next film. I also strongly remember the dwarves playing very much like comic relief in "The Hobbit" (unlike Gilmli in Lord Of The Rings who shouldn't have been anything like the comedian they made him), so a trailer showing them singing carefully harmonised (i.e. auto-tuned) and foreboding songs makes me wonder what they are doing with this property.
But yeah, EVERYONE is going to be going nuts for this film, so I'm probably going to end up seeing it again. Let's just say it's not my biggest priority in this list though. I'll be happy to leave it until DVD (preferably the "extended cut" DVD).
imdb link
(Ang Lee doing an adaptation of the book "Life of Pi? Um yeah, not sure why I put that on the list. Anyone else interested by that? I'll just leave this little note here in case anyone's interested. imdb link)
Django Unchained
It's Quentin Tarantino so clearly I'm going to see it. Still, he's been going downhill a bit recently. His brother-in-arms Robert Rodriguez clearly out-did him when they teamed up for Grindhouse. Also, Tarantino did himself absolutely no favours by making his half, "Death Proof", into a stand-alone extended cut over here in the UK. Then Inglourious Basterds didn't have a clue what it was doing and was a bit of a mess overall. I'll say this for Tarantino. When he makes a mess of a film, it's still very enjoyable. However, I'm really hoping this one will be a bit more consistent. It's another revenge flick, only this time it's a freed black slave in the central role. Looks pretty cool.
imdb list
REC Apocalypse
The fourth and (presumably) final movie in the REC series, carrying on from the nail-biting ending to REC 2. I really cannot wait.
imdb link
John Dies At The End
Seriously, STILL no release date for this? Paul Giamatti features fairly prominently in the trailer and the director also did "Bubba Ho-Tep". I posted the absolutely crazy trailer in the "too good to be true" section a while back. This just looks absolutely incredible and I can't wait for them to finally release it.
imdb link
When Worlds Collide
A remake of an old 50s sci-fi movie by the director Stephen Sommers. I must say I'm intrigued. The original sci-fi movie was BEYOND preposterous, so I'm not even sure how they'd begin to remake it. Stephen Sommers doesn't have the best reputation, but I really enjoyed "The Mummy Returns" (I found his first "The Mummy" movie boring though) and even the ridiculous "Van Helsing" was quite fun. Still, part way through 2012 and with seemingly no cast yet assembled, this probably isn't going to happen anytime soon. Still, I've got it on my radar all the same.
imdb link
(Entire Movie List for 2012 here)