Random List: The Films To Look Out For In 2011

So another year begins and its time for another list for y’all. The following list are the films I’m most curious about seeing in 2011. These are the ones that fire my imagination, excite me or in some cases make me fear they won’t turn out as I hope. For the record, 2011 seems to be (on the surface at least) a more promising year than 2010 was, where at the start there seemed to be a realm drought of interesting releases. 2011 seems to have at least one thing I want to see per week until May. If there is anything I have missed then feel free to leave a comment at the bottom of the page.

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The Players: Jake Gyllenhaal, Jeffery Wright, Vera Farmiga and Michelle Monaghan. Directed by Duncan Jones.

Duncan Jones follow up to the critically acclaimed Moon looks like a big screen version of Quantum Leap. Jake Gyllenhaal plays a soldier who is used in the Source Code experiment and is transported back in time for 8 minutes repeatedly to try and stop a terrorist attack on a train. Whilst there he falls in love with a passenger and the mission becomes personal. People seemed a bit underwhelmed by the trailer when it debuted complaining that after the triumph of Moon this film looked a little formulaic. I would agree but the premise and people involved has me intrigued. Has to be better than Deja Vu right?

Release: 11^th March

Sucker Punch

The Players: Emily Browning, Jenna Malone, Carla Gugino and Scott Glenn. Directed by: Zack Snyder.

Love him or hate him, Zack Snyder knows visuals. Each one of his films has been visually accomplished even if he is riffing on somebody else's work. Its funny to me that much of the backlash following Watchmen’s release focused on the fact that it followed the book too closely. These same people then whined about the absence of the alien squid from the book, but you can’t please everyone all the time. Sucker Punch represents a big test for Snyder, it could down a classic or a classic case of the emperors new clothes. It’s the first film he has come up with the story for all by himself and from the trailer it looks like he has the awesome visuals to match. The story looks like a retelling of Alice in Wonderland with babes, guns, robots and dragons and concerns a young girl sent to a mental asylum who then retreats into a fantasy world. As long as the story and acting match up to the visual overload then we could be in for a real treat.

Release: 25^th March

Red State

The Players: Michael Anganaro, John Goodman, Melissa Leo and Michael Parks. Directed by: Kevin Smith.

Nobody in 2010 generated more venom or bile on websites than Kevin Smith. There was the whole airline fiasco followed by the critic bashing following the disaster that was Cop Out. All staged very publicly via his twitter feed and blog. Smith is heading into uncharted waters with Red State, a horror movie based on Fred Phelps and his Westboro Baptist Church. I hate these people, the Louis Theroux documentary ‘The Most Hated Family in America’ made me so angry I nearly kicked the TV off its stand. So the fact that Smith is bringing the hate to these people pleases me, they are ripe for satire in a country which is increasingly polarized between the far right and far left. All the publicity for Red State so far makes me think that Smith has created a timely horror film that holds up a mirror to middle America, maybe a mirror they don’t want to look into. He has also gone ultra independent with this as the film does not have a distributor and was made without any major studio backing. The film will apparently be ‘sold in the room’ when it debuts at the Sundance film festival in January.The cast also is eclectic, Michael Parks could well be a breakout star based on his performance here but also on the roster are John Goodman, Melissa Leo and Stephen Root. The recently released teaser trailer seems to hint that Smith is well outside his comfort zone. Expect controversy when the film is eventually released as well as the usual Smith baiting from the haters.

Release: ??

X Men – First Class

The Players: James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Kevin Bacon and January Jones. Directed by: Matthew Vaughn.

If you had asked me a couple of years ago if I wanted another X-Men movie then my answer would have been a deafening NO. Then Fox brought Bryan Singer back on board as a producer and hired the Kick Ass team of Matthew Vaughan and screenwriter Jane Goldman for this prequel set in the 1960’s. Little is known about the actual plot except that it involves young Professor X and young Magneto when they were still chums and the villains are possibly the Hellfire Club. Not much has been released in terms of publicity so far, We don’t even have a teaser trailer at this point. If they can pull this off without Fox interfering too much then this could be great and return the X-Men franchise to its lofty position as the best comic based franchise out there. If nothing else its financial success should help a Kick Ass sequel get off the ground.

Release: 2^nd June

Rise of the Apes

The Players: James Franco, Frida Pinto and Andy Serkis. Directed by: Rupert Wyatt.

Very little information is available about this Planet of the Apes prequel apart from the fact that it deals with the first bunch of evolving intelligent apes that will eventually rule the planet. There was a script doing the rounds a few years back which was apparently awesome but since then its probably been rewritten several times and focus grouped out of existence. Rupert Wyatt directed the brilliant and underseen The Escapist a while back and this is his first big studio tentpole film. Franco and Pinto are still currently hot property and Serkis is back in the mo-cap suit to play another intelligent chimp. This could be great or could be worse than Tim Burton’s 2001 re-imagining. Untested director plus studio notorious for interfering, hmmmmm.

Release: 24^th June

Super 8

The Players: Kyle Chandler, Elle Fanning and Amanda Michalka. Directed by: JJ Abrams.

I love the veil of secrecy that surrounds JJ Abrams projects, you literally know nothing about them until they arrive. All too often these days you feel like you have seen a film before even a frame is released. Star Trek and Cloverfield kept us guessing right up until the last minutes and then were both extremely epic and stunning pieces of work. Super 8 is set in the late seventies and deals with something escaping en route from Area 51. Leaked camcorder footage from the set came out on Youtube a while back and shows the military using heavy artillery on something that will probably be rendered in a computer later. Abrams should cement his reputation as the next Spielberg with this one, after all the berg is producing.

Release: July

Captain America – The First Avenger

The Players: Chris Evans, Hugo Weaving and Tommy Lee Jones. Directed by: Joe Johnston.

Of all the major comic adaptations in 2011, Captain America is the one I am most excited for. Its one of the comics I read with any regularity as a kid and the fact that its set during World War 2 makes me happy beyond words. Joe Johnston proved with The Rocketeer that he can handle the setting and classic daring do. Armed with a huge budget and some top quality thespians including Hugo Weaving as the Red Skull this should deliver a brilliantly retro action romp that leads into Joss Whedon’s team up flick The Avengers in 2012.

Release: 22^nd July

Cowboys and Aliens

The Players: Daniel Craig, Harrison Ford and Olivia Wilde. Directed by: Jon Favreau.

Science Fiction and the western isn’t something that has previously combined well on the big screen with Wild Wild West and Jonah Hex being prime examples of previous failures. Director Jon Favreau has proven he can handle big budget effects driven blockbusters with the Iron Man movies and like Iron Man, Cowboys and Aliens is based on a somewhat obscure comic book. From what we have seen of this movie so far it looks like it is taking both the western and sci-fi elements very seriously with Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford both playing rival badasses who have to team up when aliens start to invade. The tone seems very straight as opposed to something light like Men In Black. This represents a big gamble for Dreamworks this summer but could work as the western seems to be back in vogue along with alien invasion epics.

Release: 12^th August

The Tree of Life

The Players: Brad Pitt, Sean Penn and Jessica Chastain. Directed by: Terence Malick.

A new Terence Malick film is always cause for celebration. The guy can create wondrous images and combine them with character and music like few others. Each of his films is a beautiful meditation on the human condition that never fails to move. Tree of Life follows a boy growing up in the 1950’s who has a difficult relationship with his father. Eventually the story will move into modern times and possibly space exploration. There was early talk of this getting an Imax release and I hope that is still the case. Seems very odd to release the movie in early summer 2011, too late for awards season 2011 and too early for awards season in 2012.

Release: May

Contagion

The Players: Matt Damon, Jude Law, Kate Winslet and Marion Cotillard. Directed by: Steven Soderbergh.

According to Matt Damon this could be one of Steven Soderbergh’s last movies as he feels he has done it all, with his varied filmography ranging from experimental films starring pornstars to the Oceans Eleven blockbusters, its hard to argue. Contagion follows an ensemble cast as the world struggles to cope with an outbreak of a deadly new virus. Traffic meets Outbreak? Sign me up!! If Soderbergh can combine his great visual eye with a compelling scary plot and great performances this could be one of the films of the year as well as reminder how easily humans can be wiped out by disease and general panic.

Release: October

The Thing

The Players: Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Joe Edgerton. Directed by: Matthijs Van Heijningen.

Another 80’s flop gets the delayed sequel treatment, well in this case a prequel. This takes place prior to the events leading up to John Carpenters 1982 masterpiece, following the crazy Swedes as they dig up something weird and pissed off from the arctic ice along with Mary Elizabeth Winstead’s token American. Everything the makers have been saying about favoring practical effects over CG fills me with hope. The fact that its release has been moved from April to October does not, but thankfully there is no more Saw this Halloween. Seriously in need of a title change, is it too much to add the word ‘lives’ to the end of the title?

Release: October

Immortals

The Players: Henry Cavill, Stephen Dorff and Mickey Rourke. Directed by: Tarsem Singh.

Hopefully this will be the movie that Clash Of The Titans should have been. Previously titled War of The Gods, Tarsem Singh’s latest follows Greek warrior Theseus as he battles imprisoned godlike beings. If Singh can combine the amazing work he did with existing locations in The Fall with that films powerful storyline then this could be big or could just remain in the arthouse. Bit of an unknown commodity at the moment but will undoubtedly be something you can just look at with the sound off.

Release: November

Dredd

The Players: Karl Urban, Olivia Thirlby and Jason Cope. Directed by: Pete Travis.

Sylvester Stallone’s 1995 version of Judge Dredd was its fair to say something of a letdown. This was made back in a time when comic adaptations were not taken all that seriously and a nippled batman was its only competition. This version produced by the team behind the 28 days later films takes Dredd back to his gritty no nonsense non helmet removing roots. The team is serious behind this one which they have proved by hiring Urban who isn’t exactly a mindless slab of beef. Peter Travis has only the slightly above average Vantage Point to his name so he has everything to play for. I really hope this is good.

Release: December

We Bought A Zoo

The Players: Matt Damon, Scarlett Johannsen and Thomas Hayden Church. Directed by: Cameron Crowe.

Along with several other directors returning to cinema in 2011, Cameron Crowe also has a new one out at the end of the year. This follows a man who moves his family to the English countryside to run a zoo. Crowe is one of the best directors at using music and images together to create scenes that touch the heart. Hopefully he will be able to do this without one too many slapstick scenes involving elephant poo.

Release: December.

by Chris Holt

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