We’re almost a month into 2012 already. This year looks like a good year for films and hopefully a better year than 2011 was. The Playlist has a pretty great list of their 50 most anticipated films and out of those 50 I have picked the 10 I’m most excited for:
Cogan’s Trade (Andrew Dominik)
Andrew Dominik, director of Chopper and The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. Brad Pitt, James Gandolfini, Richard Jenkins, Ray Liotta, Garret Dillahunt and Ben Mendelsohn. The crime genre. Cogan’s Trade has it all going on.
The Dark Knight Rises (Christopher Nolan)
Come on, is there anyone not excited for the third installment in Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy? While it might be almost impossible to top The Dark Knight, Nolan has shown that he somehow gets better with every film and so far he’s on a consistently great streak. The hype for this is already huge but I don’t think Nolan is going to let us down now. Also: Tom Hardy as Bane. Fuck yeah.
Django Unchained (Quentin Tarantino)
I read the script for Django Unchained a few months ago and while I don’t think it was as strong as the Inglourious Basterds script was, there’s no way I can’t be excited for this: it’s a goddamn Quentin Tarantino film after all and chances are this might be his last. Tarantino has wanted to do a proper western for years and now he’s finally doing it.
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (Peter Jackson)
The Hobbit is another one of those films that most sane people on the planet should be excited for. While I am worried about a few things (like how hard is it going to be to differentiate between 13 different dwarfs on screen at once?), I have high hopes mainly because The Lord of the Rings is my favourite story of all time and Peter Jackson’s adaptations were what got me interested in the film medium in the first place.
Lincoln (Steven Spielberg)
I know as much about American history as I do about Australian history (barely anything) but I’m actually interested in Lincoln. I haven’t seen War Horse yet but I loved The Adventures of Tintin and this has apparently been a passion project of Steven Spielberg’s for years, which means he’s been probably been thinking about it for a while now and has worked out all the kinks. Plus: Daniel Day-Lewis.
Looper (Rian Johnson)
I don’t know what I feel about Rian Johnson (I liked Brick and the episodes of Breaking Bad and Terriers he did but I barely remember The Brothers Bloom) but this one’s on the list just because I love an interesting sci-fi film. I’m in for this one based on the premise alone: Looper has hitmen traveling through time and Joseph Gordon-Levitt trying to kill Bruce Willis or something. And because Shane Carruth of Primer is onboard, the time travel will actually make sense.
The Master (Paul Thomas Anderson)
It’s been five years since There Will Be Blood came out. Five long, dark years where it seemed like Paul Thomas Anderson couldn’t get another film made. Luckily Megan Ellison appeared out of nowhere and decided to finance The Master, a film that used to be about L. Ron Hubbard and the founding of Scientology and now might be about something else. Anyway, it’s got Philip Seymour Hoffman and Joaquin Phoenix in it and Magnolia is one of my favourite films of all time so I expect The Master to be brilliant.
Moonrise Kingdom (Wes Anderson)
I love The Royal Tenenbaums more than any future children I will have but I wouldn’t call myself a fan of Wes Anderson. However, Moonrise Kingdom is on my most anticipated list for one reason only: Edward Norton. This may be an odd reason but the combination of Anderson and Norton seems made in heaven and I can’t believe they haven’t collaborated before. To me, this collaboration works just as good in theory as Woody Allen and Jesse Eisenberg plus this film has also got Bruce Willis, Frances McDormand, Tilda Swinton, Harvey Keitel, Bill Murray AND Jason Schwartzman in it.
Prometheus (Ridley Scott)
Holy shit, did you see that trailer? No matter how much Ridley Scott denies Prometheus being an Alien prequel, this thing looks and sounds like an Alien prequel and even looks and sounds like it could even be better than Alien itself. It’s also written by Damon Lindelof and has the best cast of 2012. Fuck yeah, bring it on.
The Wettest County (John Hillcoat)
The last time John Hillcoat and Nick Cave collaborated resulted in The Proposition, a masterpiece about violence in the Australian west. The Wettest County sounds like it’s going to be The Proposition meets Boardwalk Empire and I am down with both of those things. Also, Nick Cave is scoring the film, which means we’ll get another brilliant soundtrack to go alongside his other three masterpieces (The Proposition, The Assassination of Jesse James and The Road).
Honorable mentions: shit, 75% of The Playlist’s list. 2012 is going to be AMAZING.
