Ten Reasons Why 2009 Will Rock

On the surface, 2009 looks a lot more exciting than 2008's line up of films. In the first few months alone there are at least two movies released per week that I want to see. What I do see you can follow on the monthly updates on this blog, financially its not possible to see everything that comes out (damn official recession announcement). Out of all the films on the slate for 2009 these are the ones I will definitely be seeing in the cinema:

1. Avatar

                                              

Its been over ten years since James Cameron's last Oscar winning movie. The casual observer may think he has been sitting back counting his money and re-watching the 'King of the world' acceptance speech at the academy awards. Those people would be wrong. Cameron has been developing technology and special effects so that he could make Avatar a reality. The fact is James Cameron is a genius. He designed the underwater camera's for The Abyss and developed the currently popular Real D technology seen in the likes of Beowulf and his own undersea IMAX movies. When Avatar comes out in late 2009 its going to set the bar so high that its possible it may never be exceeded again, except maybe by Cameron himself. The story of Avatar takes place in deep space and follows mans exploitation of a mineral rich planet called Pandora and its indigenous population. The population however rises up against their new masters and a crippled man is caught between his own people and the aliens who he has come to empathize with. Biggest blockbuster of all time? possibly.

Typical IMDB Forum Quote: 'Maybe Cameron had been filming on Pandora for god knows how long.This would explain the secrecy surrounding the project.' - Undead Scimitar

ETA: December 18th

2. Watchmen

                                                 

As of time of writing the potentially disastrous lawsuit by Fox has been settled out of court by Warner Bros so the planned March 6th release date will go ahead. Anticipation for this one is now at fever pitch. The trailers so far have been relatively dialogue free and preserve the feel of the graphic novel perfectly well. The reviews have not been forthcoming so far although director Kevin Smith has seen it and says on his Myspace blog that its brilliant. The running time is a matter of contention it seems with the first cut coming in at three hours, a second cut at 2 hours thirty minutes and the current version running to around two hours twenty minutes. Anyone who has read the original will know how much they have to cram into the story to make it faithful so hopefully we have not lost any of the subtler parts of the plot in order to bring the running time down. At least we are guaranteed a directors cut on DVD which was probably the plan all along, sneaky marketing bastards. Its hard to say if this will be a huge hit, the story is pretty non-commercial but then again the time feels more right than ever for this along with Kick Ass after the Dark Knight changed comic based cinema forever. If it does fail it won't be due to the marketing campaign which has been pretty great for this. Fingers crossed.

Typical IMDB Forum Quote: 'If Zak Snyder can pull this off he would have made a monumental accomplishment.' - daja_ace

ETA: March 6th

3. Inglorious Basterds

The world war 2 epic that Tarantino has threatened to make for ten years finally arrives later this year. The cast is a little off, Brad Pitt plays the lead but then the likes of Eli Roth, Mike Myers and BJ Rack from The Office make up the rest of the cast. Its a far cry from the originally planned likes of Michael Madsen, Adam Sandler etc. The basterds of the title are a group of specifically selected Jewish-American soldiers sent on a mission into occupied France to scalp and kill as many Nazi's as possible. Spreading fear through the crumbling third reich. The basterds end up meeting a french-jewish girl who runs a movie theatre under threat from the Nazi's. The script has been floating around the Internet for a while so seemingly everybody knows how the plot turns out. I have avoided the script as y'know I still like to be surprised when I take my seat in a dark cinema. Word on the street is the script is awesome, being very recognizably a Tarantino movie as well as a great world war 2 film in its own right. Its been over ten years since we have had a classic war movie, this could well be the next one.

Typical IMDB Forum Quote: 'This will be a much different movie than Saving Pvt. Ryan or Thin Red Line' - billbd4444

ETA: August 21st

4. Transformers - Revenge of the Fallen

I'm not looking forward to the Transformers sequel because I am expecting any kind of advanced plot twists or unique dialogue. I'm not even looking forward to seeing if they may just include Dinobots, Galvatron or any other of my childhood favorites. No I'm looking forward to this one because in Summer 2009 this will be the spectacle to see and its partially in 3D too. Lets be honest everything in between appearances by the robots in the 2007 original was pretty lame, bad dialogue and a really campy sense of humor didn't gel with the mass carnage of the action scenes. Here the robot action is going to be turned up to 11 with Devastator, a robot who is about six times bigger than Megatron and roughly forty more robots throughout the movie. Will no doubt make a ridiculous amount of money in the summer. Still not clear on who 'The Fallen' are though.

Typical IMDB Forum Quote: 'I could definitely see fans of old and new coming together with the millions that only saw TF1 on DVD pour into those theaters especially with all the competition to participate in the biggest opening weekend in movie history.' - Ladies Man 217

ETA: June 26th

5. Kick-Ass

                                                 

Last year Wanted was a surprise summer smash hit even if it did stray pretty far from the original comic by Mark Millar. Millar's latest comic series Kick Ass is getting a more faithful adaptation this year by the director of the wonderful Stardust, Matthew Vaughan. Kick-Ass is an extremely violent tale of a high school kid who decides to become a costumed vigilante and gets into all kinds of trouble when through Youtube and Myspace he inspires others to put on costumes themselves. Surprisingly this film is being independently financed as studios wanted to change much of the potentially controversial plot. They are now doing a faithful version which Millar is reportedly very happy with and is scripted by Jonathan Ross's missus Jane Goldman who also adapted Stardust. Nicolas Cage also features in this as a vigilante, this is either a very bad sign or an indication that Cage is going to resurrect his career in 2009.

Typical IMDB Forum Quote: 'The comic's R-rated. A pg-13 rating would do it an injustice.' - LeviRosen222

ETA: Autumn

6. Let The Right One In

                                          

If you follow the hype heavy Internet movie sites run by fellow movie geek's then you'll already be aware of this Swedish vampire film which made the top of many of their best of 2008 lists. Let The Right One In is based on a novel by John Ajvide Linquist who also wrote the screenplay. The story follows Oscar a young bullied child who makes friends with Eli a young girl who happens to be a vampire. The reviews have been top notch all round and a US remake is already on the way in 2010 helmed by Cloverfield's Matt Reeves. Hard to say at this point if this will live up to the hype or fall down under the weight of expectation. The Region 1 DVD is out in March if you want to get in there early.

Typical IMDB Forum Quote: 'I haven't seen many films this year, but my favorite is definitely Let the Right One In. I'd put it WAY above The Dark Knight, personally. ' - Armyofdorkness

ETA: April 10th

7. Green Zone

Paul Greengrass's latest film finds him tackle the Iraq conflict which has not proven to be a box office attraction over the last few years. Still the presence of Matt Damon and the fact that he and Greengrass last collaborated on the awesome Bourne sequels should mean that Green Zone finds an audience. The film is based on the book by Rajiv Chandrasekaran and concerns the search for those illusive weapons of mass destruction post invasion in 2003. If anything this should provide some adrenaline pumping scenes as it focuses more on life in Iraq rather than the aftermath back in the states. Green Zone could also be a major if somewhat controversial player come awards season.

Typical IMDB Forum Quote: 'I don't like Damon and I hope it wont turn into some anti America,I hate America kind of movie.AGAIN.' - pepperdinne

ETA: September

8. Public Enemies

Michael Mann is one of my favorite film directors. His films are visually thrilling as well as being very human. This is his first period film since Last of the Mohicans. Public Enemies will tell the story of the attempts of the FBI to capture outlaw John Dillinger (Johnny Depp) in the 1930's. The FBI here is represented by J.Edgar Hoover's right hand man Melvin Purvis (Christian Bale) who tracks Dillinger and his gang across the country. Early word on this film has been positive even if it does run a little long for the summer blockbuster season. Could be a major contender come awards season or may well be forgotten by then. Either way a nomination for Depp looks likely.

Typical IMDB Forum Quote: 'Public Enemies is definitely my most anticipated movie of 2009' - andreCGomes

ETA: July

9. Star Trek

                             

I would not consider myself a Trekker/Trekkie (delete as appropriate) but I certainly do admire what it stands for and what it means to certain people. Who wouldn't want to get lost in a future world where humans have put aside their differences and branched out into the stars. Once out there we of course seek out new species and civilizations and inevitably end up with the same problems we have now and uneasy truces and alliances with the new societies we discover. JJ Abrams seems to get this and is bringing this sense of wonder and adventure back to screens this summer after the franchise was run into the ground by endless different TV shows. The trailer has really got me hyped for this, the pictures of the initial cast released had me skeptical but now seeing them in action it looks like it was spot on. This is at the moment the summer film I am most looking forward too.

Typical IMDB Forum Quote: 'They should have cast William Shatner as Captain Kirk. Sure he looks a little older(nothing make-up couldn't fix) and has gained a little weight but he is the only one that can make captain Kirk believable.' - StarTrekKing

ETA: May

10. Sherlock Holmes

Watching Rocknrolla recently something became very apparent, Guy Richie has really grown as a filmmaker. The film had a very familiar plot but it was impeccably acted and shot which made it rise above its script which was a rehash of earlier successes. If anything the film made me excited to see what he is doing with Sherlock Holmes. The pictures released so far show a film that seems very far from the previous incarnations of Holmes on screen. Robert Downey Jr appears to play a version that is more of a bruiser and a possible coke addict along with Jude Law who in the pictures looks like a hard bastard version of Watson. At this stage the plot is a bit of a mystery but this could be something special.

Typical IMDB Forum Quote: 'I've spent my entire morning reading this script by Mike Johnson (with revisions by Anthony Peckham and presumably Guy Ritchie), and my ultimate conclusion is this: the movie will be good as long as the direction and performances are good. I don't care for Guy Ritchie as a film-maker, but he is not completely incompetent, so I hope he can pull it off.' - AdnanZ

ETA: November