I'm sure you will agree with me that 2011 wasn't the greatest year in the film world, and it seems that in general the lack of originality will colour 2012 as well. However,
HOLLYWOOD SPY brings you a general overview of the 2012 in cinemas with the hope that you will find at least a few pearls to get excited around this cinematic year. My own favourite will be March with lots of lovely films. The year will have lots of epics, fairy tales and action flicks. Red letters hide links.
SPECTACULAR SPRING
Cinematic spring will kick off in February with some warm stories like long awaited
THE VOW in which
Channing Tatum plays a man
whose wife
Rachael McAdams forgets she is married to him after a traffic accident, and
BIG MIRACLE, an inspiring story about whales with
Drew Barrymore and
John Krasinski. There's also
WANDERLUST with
Jennifer Aniston and
Paul Rudd. We shall also watch
JOURNEY 2: THE MYSTERIOUS ISLAND in which
Josh Hutcherson is joined by
Dwayne Johnson on a trip to a mysterious island to save his granpa
Michael Caine.
But March is when the fun begins since it brings us the most spectacular visual treats with
Tarsem's mega fairy tale
MIRROR MIRROR with
Lily Collins and
Julia Roberts, with Disney's $200
million sf epic
JOHN CARTER with a stunning cast which includes
Taylor Kitsch, Lynn Collins, James Purefoy, Mark Strong, Willem Dafoe, Dominic West and others, and then with mythical epic
WRATH OF THE TITANS with
Sam Worthington and
Liam Neeson and
Ralph Fiennes as Greek Gods. Fun in March is
guaranteed by two hilarious and super charming animated flick Dr. Seuss'
LORAX and British
THE PIRATES: BAND OF MISFITS. Those who like darker stories will enjoy
THE HUNGER GAMES with
Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson and
Liam Hemsworth and
THE RAVEN with
Luke Evans and John Cusack as Edgar Allan Poe.Another fairy tale comes with a gritty version of
HANSEL AND GRETEL with
Gemma Arterton and Jeremy Renner. But for us who
love warm and inspiring stories there are
SALMON FISHING IN THE YEMEN with a wonderful duo
Ewan McGregor and
Emily Blunt and
THE BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL with
Judi Dench,
Maggie Smith and
Dev Patel.
April will for some reason be quite poor, with only a few romantic films to cheer us up -
THE FIVE YEAR ENGAGEMENT with
Emily Blunt and
Jason Segel and
THE LUCKY ONE in which
Zac Effron plays a soldier in love. And then May, as the end of spring will bring
MARVEL'S THE AVENGERS in which we shall again see
Chris
Hemsworth as Thor and
Chris Evans as Captain America joined by the rest of the superheroes in their fight against evil. In the meantime
Alexander Skarsgard and
Taylor Kitsch will fight aliens in spectacular action epic
BATTLESHIP. We shall also see
THE COLD LIGHT OF DAY with amazing cast lead by
Henry Cavill, Bruce Willis and
Sigourney Weaver.
WEAK SUMMER
May will start with Tim Burton's crazy movie adaptation of famous horror comedy DARK SHADOWS about a family of monsters played by Johnny Depp, Michelle Pfeiffer, Helena Bonham Carter, Jonny Lee Miller... After which another film with amazing cast hits cinemas: WHAT TO EXPECT WHEN YOU ARE EXPECTING with Rodrigo Santoro, Cameron Diaz, Jennifer Lopez, Matthew Morrison, Chace Crawford, Elizabeth Banks, Dennis Quaid...
The honour to open the summer season will go to SNOW WHITE AND THE HUNTSMAN with Charlize Theron as the Evil Queen and Chris Hemsworth as the Huntsman,to be
followed by Ridley Scott's prequel to ALIEN sf epic PROMETHEUS again with Charlize Theron, Patrick Wilson and Michael Fassbender. Dark stories will also be seen in ABRAHAM LINCOLN VAMPIRE HUNTER with
Benjamin Walker and
Rufus Sewell. But for us who love warm stories and fairy tales, there's beautiful animated epic
BRAVE about a medieval Scottish princess, epic adventure
JACK THE GIANT KILLER with
Ewan McGregor and
Nicholas Hoult and
MADAGASCAR 3: EUROPE'S MOST WANTED. June will also bring us
Channing Tatum, Alex Pettyfer and
Joe Manganielo as strippers in
MAGIC MIKE.
July will be very poor bringing mostly sequels and remakes: G.I. JOE2: RETALIATION with Channing Tatum and Bruce Willis, THE AMAZING SPIDERMAN and super hilarious ICE AGE 4: CONTINENTAL DRIFT (caused by Scrat
off course :).
August will end the season with EXPENDABLES 2 bringing all of the old action stars together from Stallone, Schwarzenegger, Lundgren, Van Damme and Chuck Norris to young stars Jason Statham and Liam Hemsworth. We shall also
watch
Collin Farrell and
Kate Beckinsale in the remake of
TOTAL RECALL, and
Nicholas Hoult and
Theresa Palmer as zombies in love in
WARM BODIES.
GREY FALL & HOBBIT WINTER
September will bring us the remake of famous
JUDGDE DREDD with
amazing
Karl Urban in the lead role, brilliant animated film
HOTEL TRANSYLVANIA with
Adam Sandler and a stellar voice cast. October will bring nothing special except the long awaited
CLOUD ATLAS the new project of THE MATRIX directors. We shall also watch sf thriller
LOOPER about a cop who goes back in time to catch criminals with
Joseph Gordon Levitt, Bruce Willis and
Emily Blunt. But the action starts again in November with big projects such as new James Bond
SKYFALL with
Ralph Fiennes and
Javier Bardem as villains, sf drama
GRAVITY with
Sandra Bullock and
George Clooney (in which apparently they won't have make up at all to get the natural look), and charming animated film
THE RISE OF THE GUARDIANS.
Keanu Reeves' 47 RONIN epic in which he plays an 18th century samurai will also premiere in November.
December will finally bring an end to our waiting with the premiere of the year -
Peter Jackson's
THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY with stellar cast including
Cate Blanchett, Luke Evans,
Ian McKellen, Martin Freeman, Lee Pace... who will portray Tolkien's famous characters. After Hobbits, zombies takes over in
Brad Pitt's huge contagion epic
WORLD WAR Z which follows the aftermath of a zombie apocalypse around the world. The year will end with
Ang Lee's movie adaptation of famous book
LIFE OF PI with
Tobey Maguire and
Gerard Depardieu.
So, people, tell me, which of the tones of films I've just named attract you most? Which will bring you to cinemas this year?
Wow lots of sequels coming out!
ReplyDeleteype, a year of sequels and remakes 8)
ReplyDeleteI'm not jumping up and down, but a few of the darker ones might hold my interest. Looper sounds like it breaks the rules of time travel so that might not be too believable but then again it could be good.
ReplyDeleteThink I'll be watching more old classics on DVD or maybe I should read more.
Lee
Blogging from A to Z
I knew you might like LOOPER, Lee :)
ReplyDeleteI have tried many times to get excited about Battleship, but I just can't. :-( The game is awesome, and I fear the movie might not be.
ReplyDeleteTHE HUNGER GAMES can not come fast enough. That and THE HOBBIT are my most anticipated movies this year. Sigh. The wait is going to kill me. :(
ReplyDelete:)
well, it's not my genre of film, but the trailer did look good when it comes to special effects
ReplyDelete@Emily
ReplyDeleteyep, it's a whole year till THE HOBBIT comes :(
I just did my post of anticipated movies, but from this list the ones that interest me most are The Raven, Hunger Games, Snow White and the Huntsmen, Skyfall, and the Avengers.
ReplyDeleteI might check out Tobeys stuff, as he did impress me in Brothers. And the trailer for Jack the Giant Killer didn't wow me like i was expecting it to
I'll watch only THE RAVEN out of those, and that one only for Luke Evans and for it being shot in Serbia.
ReplyDeleteThe Hobbit, Snow White and the Huntsman and Brave are my top 3. I think Mirror Mirror will be outdone my Snow White. I love zombies, but I despise Brad Pitt, I'll wait on the reviews and if I can see it free on Amazon or Netflix, I'll watch it. With as bad as the economy is around the globe, I'm not surprised that Fantasy is popular. We all need a distraction from reality.
ReplyDeleteAll these are great.
ReplyDeleteThe Hunger Games, Prometheus, The Hobbit, and Snow White and the Huntsman are probably the ones I'm looking most forward to. There are only a handful of films that get me out to an actual theater anymore. I usually wait for everything to hit Netflix on DVD, but I might go see a few of these, especially since I learned a theater near me serves Starbucks. :)
ReplyDeletePrometheus, The Hobbit, Brave and The Avengers really stuck out for me. But every year it just seems like more and more crap piles up. I mean Total Recall, do we really need a remake of that? Nothing gets me out to the theatre anymore. Too much garbage.
ReplyDeleteOMFG. DREDD!
ReplyDeletewe we we, IM SO EXITED!
I love the book "Life of Pi" -- glad to hear that 2 of my fave actors will be in the movie version of it! And Ang Lee is an awesome director -- the material is safe in his hands.
ReplyDeleteThere's a bit of quality there, Judge Dredd, Total Recall, John Carter etc.......
ReplyDeleteHmm I see what you mean about the summer movies not being up to scratch. Ahwell, plenty to make up for that in the spring and autumn!
ReplyDeleteThanks for this great 2012 summary!
ReplyDeleteFirst of all: "Brave"! Then, "Mirror, Mirror" which can be great fun, also "The Hobbit" (I'm not Lord of the Rings biggest fan but I like it anyway!), and if Burton's trailer appeals to me, I might go and see it too. But I've been very disappointed by Burton since 'Alice in Wonderland', so we'll see.
And of course, Ice Age 4 (hoping it would be as good as the previous ones!).
=)
Lucinda
Wondering how Life of Pi will translate to film...guess we'll see!
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for your kind words on my blog yesterday! You made my day!!!
John Carter and Hunger Games...both garner an opening night must see ;)
ReplyDeleteEl
lol yes i agree with you that 2011 wasn't the greatest year hahaha
ReplyDeleteWow, there are so many great movies coming out. I think of the list, I'm looking forward to Hobbit. However, I'm most looking forward to Tinker, Taylor.
ReplyDelete@Anne
ReplyDeleteyes, people tend to lean towards fantasy when the crises is around them which is good, the bad thing is that a lot of people lean to morbid and dark things when crises is around them.
If you hate Brad, do you hate Jolie as well? :)
@Interwebs
glad you think so :)
@Luanne
I don't go to cinema either, but with me it's because we don't have a cinema in my city :)))
@Pat
ReplyDeleteBRAVE and THE HOBBIT seem to be everyone's favourites :)
@Tonkow
it should be great with Karl Urban, I just can't forget the fact that we won't see his face at all in the film, he will constantly have his helmet on
@Debs
ReplyDeleteI haven't read it, but I hear it might be complicated for movie adaptation. Ang has has some nice films and some bad ones recently, so we shall keep our fingers crossed
@Lurk
DREDD and JOHN CARTER are my must sees as well this year, JOHN CARTER especially :)
@Jamie
ReplyDeleteyep, the films are very strangely scheduled, so we shall have months of dry period and then a month packed with gold, and then again a whole season filled with nothing. Very strange. And a very bad summer.
@Lucinda
yes, BRAVE, HOBBIT, MIRROR MIRROR, ICE AGE and JOHN CARTER are my most anticipated films this year as well
@Lizzy
ReplyDeletebe welcome, I meant what I said, but you didn't tell me what are you going to do about it :)))
@El
JOHN CARTER is easily the most anticipated film this year for me, love me some space opera and the cast is rather amazing, not to mention the amazing director
@Peeps
ReplyDeleteit wasn't at all, politics, economy, films, music - all bad
@Clarissa
actually TINKER TAYLOR SOLDIER SPY was already released if I remember correctly :)
Holy Moses this is a lot of info to take in at once.
ReplyDeletere: John Carter - I love me some Taylor Kitsch but this movie doesn't look appealing to me. I'm not too sure about Battleship either... I'll think about it.
re: The Lorax - I'm surprised to hear they're turning that story into a comedy... it's serious subject matter, and I know Dr. Suess struggled with the idea of anyone tampering with it. Hopefully the message will still ring true.
re: The Hunger Games - CAN. NOT. WAIT.
Lots of great scifi stuff coming out and lots of Meh! stuff too. It's going to be tough to pick and choose this Spring, but I'm still looking forward to it. Only The Raven has been penciled in so far.
ReplyDeleteLove you Dez. :D
@Kirsten
ReplyDeleteit's true, but those are all the films HOLLYWOOD SPY has been mentioning over the last and previous years :)
JOHN CARTER is my number one film this year, it had amazing director and actors. But I will be avoiding HUNGER GAMES big time.
@Astrid
hey, darling, nice to see you at my place :) Love you too. Why am I not surprised you picked out THE RAVEN in this whole lot? :)))
That movie brave looks like it will be pretty neat
ReplyDeleteit will be super amazing :)
ReplyDeleteOh wow, so many movies I actually want to see! Gasp! Sooooo looking forward to John Carter in particular.
ReplyDeleteyep, JOHN CARTER is my fave too!
ReplyDeletebesides the obvious, i have this really great feeling about BRAVE... i'm super excited for it!
ReplyDeleteNice post, Dezzy! Lots here that I'm anticipating... though as much as I love Karl, I'm not too excited for Judge Dredd 'cause I can't even see his gorgeous face!! I do hope Hollywood would cast him in something else that would really utilize his acting chops and screen presence.
ReplyDeleteAfter seeing the footage of TOTAL RECALL at Comic-Con, I'm curious to see it. I really hope it's gonna be good!
Hey my dear friend, I'm working my way out of computer No-Man's Land and just dropped by to check out your cool post. I'm looking forward to a lot of these films in particular, Big Miracle, Mirror, Mirror, The Raven, Marigold Hotel, John Carter, Brave, Madagascar 3 and The Hobbit.
ReplyDeleteOf course my Numero Uno- #1 film of the year will be The Hobbit but I'm also looking forward to The Raven. Still not sure about Mirror,Mirror, but will probably go and see. I have to say I saw the preview of The Lorax and kind of want to see it! Thanks for getting things started for the 2012 film season.
ReplyDelete@Vics
ReplyDeleteIt will be a huge one for me too, in my top 3 films of the year :)
@Flixy
you know I wish more than anybody else, for Karl to get some real roles, kill me if I know why people like him, Luke, Patrick Wilson, McAvoy aren't the biggest stars? While utterly talentless persons like RPatz, KStew, LeoDiCaprio get millions.
@Melsy
ReplyDeletethose are all my fave films too, Melsy :) JOHN CARTER is my number one probably
@Fabo
LORAX has such beautiful colours. It doesn't attract me since I've never heard of it before, it is popular only in USA, but I will watch it on DVD since the animation seems so lovely and cute.
Nice round up Dezz. So many movies to choose but so far I only have 3 I really want to see, Red Lights, Prometheus and The Hobbit. Those three are my cinema watch.I will see some in DVD,like mirror mirror, big miracle, etc. I am still considering Snow white.
ReplyDeleteOw I forgot...47 Ronin, it has 2 of my favorite actors, the handsome Keanu and the charismatiic Hiroyuki Sanada
ReplyDeleteI've never heard of RED LIGHTS, but I do want to see anything from RONIN, some pics, screen shots, anything, we haven't seen anything so far.
ReplyDeleteBut why is Karl Urban making a Stallone face on that poster?
ReplyDeleteI can't even see his face underneath that helmet :)
ReplyDelete