Thanks to CBSE, and the CBFC, I haven't seen a good chunk of 2011 in movies. A very good, fat chunk, so I don't think I'll be justified in making a best of '11 list. So, here's a best of '12 list, because I haven't seen ANY of these movies and won't be seeing them until next year, and this list, below, is totally, absolutely and positively justified.
Also, there's a lack of world cinema. Why? Because they don't bloody market their movies like Hollywood does, so there are probably hundreds of movies that I should be looking at that I'm overlooking.
So here's the list. For better or for worse.
I haven't included a synopsis for most of them. Check out the trailers instead. Synopses are boring.
And a Happy New Year.
This year will be a boom-boom.
10. John Carter (Of Mars)
Also, there's a lack of world cinema. Why? Because they don't bloody market their movies like Hollywood does, so there are probably hundreds of movies that I should be looking at that I'm overlooking.
So here's the list. For better or for worse.
I haven't included a synopsis for most of them. Check out the trailers instead. Synopses are boring.
And a Happy New Year.
This year will be a boom-boom.
10. John Carter (Of Mars)
The John Carter Books by Edgar Rice Burroughs are one of the most influential books of all time.
Every scifi movie ever made has been inspired in some way or the other by this series. Especially AVATAR. AVATAR ripped the hell off these books. So, of course they've got to go for a story that is different from the original source.
But here's the reason why I want to watch it (besides the fact that it's a John Carter movie) : Andrew. Stanton. Guy made Wall-E, Ratatouille and wrote Toy Story 3 and he knows how to tell a good story.
It isn't going to be the John Carter I want, but it will be a good John Carter nonetheless.
I've written more about the series here. And here's a trailer (one of the better ones. Don't worry it's in English mostly) :
9. Argo
To save hostages held in a 1979 Iran, the US government concocted a ridiculous, ballsy plan: They decided to go to Iran, and pretend to make a goddamn science fiction movie. They hired directors, writers, lightmen, actors and even Comics legend Jack Kirby to help make this pretend-movie.
Now, it's being made into a movie. The writers are first timers and Ben Affleck is directing.
And why is this movie on my list? Because it's about the ballsiest most ridiculous hostage rescue mission ever.
You can read more about the movie here.
8. The Avengers
Iron Man! Hulk! Captain America! Thor! Black Widow! Hawkeye! Samuel L Jackson as Nick Fury!
Always been a comic book nerd. And seeing all these characters together, in one movie... feels like a goddamn dream. I can't wait to see what Joss Whedon (of Firefly and Buffy fame, but just consider Firefly for the time being) has cooked up with this one. Loki is the villain. And there's reportedly someone else, too. Some say it's Thanos. Well, if it is Thanos, then the world will explode from the nerdgasm I'll have when Avengers opens next year.
Avengers has released. Here's my review.
Here's the trailer:
7. Frankenweenie
A few decades ago, a young Tim Burton made a short film. It was awesome. But Disney hated it, because they are completely bollocks (this is after Walt Disney passed away, of course), and they didn't want to make it a movie.
Now, it's getting made into a movie. And Disney has finally sucked up to Mr. Burton and is obviously financing it.
Here's the original short (No trailers are out, yet) :
6. The Grey
Joe Carnahan isn't a bad director. He just gets sucked into making no-brainers. It's just his luck. So, yeah, people from the geek community hate him. A lot.
But then he makes a movie. Writes it first. Calls it the Grey. Casts Liam Neeson, who has lost his credibility as a serious actor and has become more of an action movie star. Then he releases the first trailer and it's Neeson fighting Wolves with broken glass on his nuckles.
The trailer is one of the most misleading trailers of all time.
I just read the script and it's brilliant. Not in an action movie sense, mind you, but in a very serious sense. It's a survival story. One with great depth and told with much creativity.
The trailers for this can be somewhat compared to the Drive trailers. They are advertising a different movie, to draw in the lameass redneck hillbilly crowd who really don't want to watch a movie unless it has robots and explosions and no semblance of a story.
The script is NOT an action movie script. It's got plenty of action, but it's more like a character study. A study of men under an unbelievable and extremely stressful and damning situation. Someone described it as that SS Indianapolis story from Jaws with wolves and snow instead of oceans and that's a very, very apt description.
It was shown at BNAT film festival a few days ago and the attendants were pissed that this wasn't coming out in December. They say that the movie is so good that it deserves Oscar noms for Neeson's acting and the Script and the fact that it's coming out in January NEXT year, totally obliterates that notion. They won't have enough time (or money) to campaign for Neeson's nomination then. And they won't be able to push for noms in 2013 either because the movie's coming out in January.
Sad. Would've been awesome if Neeson got a nom this year.
Grey has released. Here's my review.
Here's the (extremely misleading) trailer:
5. Gravity
"Father, I have a confession to make."
"What is it my son?"
"I...I have sinned. I have committed a sin worthy of hellish encampment."
"There is no sin but that of murder that can commit you to such a hellish punishment. Tell me, son. Tell me fearlessly."
"Father... I have only seen one Alfonso Cuaron movie. Please forgive me."
"You scoundrel. You infidel. You dare call yourself a fan of cinema?! Tonight, you DINE IN HELL!"
George Clooney and Sandra Bullock are two astronauts stranded in Space. The whole movie is about them. In space.
Here's a teaser trailer:
4. Django Unchained
When I read the script for Django Unchained for the first time, it felt like piece of shit with a few good bits. But I read it again, and it was brilliant. It felt like a very, very different kind of western. And now, it's got a brilliant and appropriate cast, too (Can't wait to see DiCaprio as Calvin Candie mouth off some foul language).
I've spoken more at length about this movie here.
Django Unchained is about a freed black slave/bounty hunter played by Jamie Foxx on a quest to rescue his beloved wife from an evil Plantation owner (DiCaprio). Written and directed by Quentin Tarantino, bitches.
3. The Dark Knight Rises
Batman Begins was the pledge. The Dark Knight was the turn. This is Nolan's Prestige, boys, it's his final act. The greatest thrillgiver since Hitchcock is completing his masterpiece. There's Bane and Catwoman and most probably Talia Al Ghul. Based on Knightfall and No Man's Land. And, if the trailer is any indication, this is going to be one helluva movie. And it will definitely NOT end well. Also, this is the most scifilike of all the parts, so it'll probably be a bit more Batmanny.
Can't bloody wait.
2. Prometheus
Every scifi movie ever made has been inspired in some way or the other by this series. Especially AVATAR. AVATAR ripped the hell off these books. So, of course they've got to go for a story that is different from the original source.
But here's the reason why I want to watch it (besides the fact that it's a John Carter movie) : Andrew. Stanton. Guy made Wall-E, Ratatouille and wrote Toy Story 3 and he knows how to tell a good story.
It isn't going to be the John Carter I want, but it will be a good John Carter nonetheless.
I've written more about the series here. And here's a trailer (one of the better ones. Don't worry it's in English mostly) :
9. Argo
To save hostages held in a 1979 Iran, the US government concocted a ridiculous, ballsy plan: They decided to go to Iran, and pretend to make a goddamn science fiction movie. They hired directors, writers, lightmen, actors and even Comics legend Jack Kirby to help make this pretend-movie.
Now, it's being made into a movie. The writers are first timers and Ben Affleck is directing.
And why is this movie on my list? Because it's about the ballsiest most ridiculous hostage rescue mission ever.
You can read more about the movie here.
8. The Avengers
Iron Man! Hulk! Captain America! Thor! Black Widow! Hawkeye! Samuel L Jackson as Nick Fury!
Always been a comic book nerd. And seeing all these characters together, in one movie... feels like a goddamn dream. I can't wait to see what Joss Whedon (of Firefly and Buffy fame, but just consider Firefly for the time being) has cooked up with this one. Loki is the villain. And there's reportedly someone else, too. Some say it's Thanos. Well, if it is Thanos, then the world will explode from the nerdgasm I'll have when Avengers opens next year.
Avengers has released. Here's my review.
Here's the trailer:
7. Frankenweenie
A few decades ago, a young Tim Burton made a short film. It was awesome. But Disney hated it, because they are completely bollocks (this is after Walt Disney passed away, of course), and they didn't want to make it a movie.
Now, it's getting made into a movie. And Disney has finally sucked up to Mr. Burton and is obviously financing it.
Here's the original short (No trailers are out, yet) :
6. The Grey
Joe Carnahan isn't a bad director. He just gets sucked into making no-brainers. It's just his luck. So, yeah, people from the geek community hate him. A lot.
But then he makes a movie. Writes it first. Calls it the Grey. Casts Liam Neeson, who has lost his credibility as a serious actor and has become more of an action movie star. Then he releases the first trailer and it's Neeson fighting Wolves with broken glass on his nuckles.
The trailer is one of the most misleading trailers of all time.
I just read the script and it's brilliant. Not in an action movie sense, mind you, but in a very serious sense. It's a survival story. One with great depth and told with much creativity.
The trailers for this can be somewhat compared to the Drive trailers. They are advertising a different movie, to draw in the lameass redneck hillbilly crowd who really don't want to watch a movie unless it has robots and explosions and no semblance of a story.
The script is NOT an action movie script. It's got plenty of action, but it's more like a character study. A study of men under an unbelievable and extremely stressful and damning situation. Someone described it as that SS Indianapolis story from Jaws with wolves and snow instead of oceans and that's a very, very apt description.
It was shown at BNAT film festival a few days ago and the attendants were pissed that this wasn't coming out in December. They say that the movie is so good that it deserves Oscar noms for Neeson's acting and the Script and the fact that it's coming out in January NEXT year, totally obliterates that notion. They won't have enough time (or money) to campaign for Neeson's nomination then. And they won't be able to push for noms in 2013 either because the movie's coming out in January.
Sad. Would've been awesome if Neeson got a nom this year.
Grey has released. Here's my review.
Here's the (extremely misleading) trailer:
5. Gravity
"Father, I have a confession to make."
"What is it my son?"
"I...I have sinned. I have committed a sin worthy of hellish encampment."
"There is no sin but that of murder that can commit you to such a hellish punishment. Tell me, son. Tell me fearlessly."
"Father... I have only seen one Alfonso Cuaron movie. Please forgive me."
"You scoundrel. You infidel. You dare call yourself a fan of cinema?! Tonight, you DINE IN HELL!"
George Clooney and Sandra Bullock are two astronauts stranded in Space. The whole movie is about them. In space.
Here's a teaser trailer:
4. Django Unchained
When I read the script for Django Unchained for the first time, it felt like piece of shit with a few good bits. But I read it again, and it was brilliant. It felt like a very, very different kind of western. And now, it's got a brilliant and appropriate cast, too (Can't wait to see DiCaprio as Calvin Candie mouth off some foul language).
I've spoken more at length about this movie here.
Django Unchained is about a freed black slave/bounty hunter played by Jamie Foxx on a quest to rescue his beloved wife from an evil Plantation owner (DiCaprio). Written and directed by Quentin Tarantino, bitches.
Batman Begins was the pledge. The Dark Knight was the turn. This is Nolan's Prestige, boys, it's his final act. The greatest thrillgiver since Hitchcock is completing his masterpiece. There's Bane and Catwoman and most probably Talia Al Ghul. Based on Knightfall and No Man's Land. And, if the trailer is any indication, this is going to be one helluva movie. And it will definitely NOT end well. Also, this is the most scifilike of all the parts, so it'll probably be a bit more Batmanny.
Can't bloody wait.
2. Prometheus
Ridley Scott's Alien is one of the greatest horror science fiction films ever made and gave us one of the greatest female characters ever in Sigourney Weaver's Ellen Ripley. Scott is one awesome director. He gave us the masterful Blade Runner, Gladiator, and now he comes up with Prometheus, boasting of an amazing cast of Noomi Rapace, Idris Elba (you should check out his Luther right NOW), Guy Pearce and Micheal Fassbender.
"It's got the same [Alien] DNA", he says. Wrong. This is an Alien film. Or, rather, a prequel to it. And it not only takes us to the beginning of the Xenomorphs, but, if sources are to be believed, also to the beginning of time itself.
It is THAT ambitious.
It is THAT ambitious.
Here's a lookie. And I'll be damned if that doesn't look like the trailer for Alien.
1. Hobbit : An Unexpected Journey
When I read the Hobbit for the first time, I deemed it unfilmable. You simply can NOT make a good movie off the Hobbit. It's too cheerful, and although it is as poetic as Lord Of the Rings, it is simply a tad too kiddish. While Lord of the Rings read like an epic, the Hobbit read like a fairytale, and definitely not movie material.
Guillermo del Toro's inclusion gave me some hope, because, well if there's anyone who can tell a good fairytale, it's him. Well, nobody does it better than him. And then he left production. And Peter Jackson jumped back in. I was a bit apprehensive after that, but then, I saw this:
What Peter did there, is he took most of the elements of the book, added some bits that weren't in the book but were in the Annotations at the end of Lord of The Rings, and kept all the humor, but he changed the bloody tone. He's being faithful to the material, but presenting a very different version of the material. A more movie-ish, epic-er version, and screw you guys I can't wait to get back to Middle Earth. I left a piece of my brain and a sizeable chunk of my heart back there.
Also, it will be a technical revolution in film making. They are shooting it on Red Epic cameras that shoot in 3D, 5k theaters (bigger than IMAX) and in 48 frames per second. Normal movies are projected at 24 fps, while a human eye perceives images at 62 fps. Hobbit, being at 48 fps will be more closer to this number, and thus will be more lifelike and epic than anything on screen next year.
Your thoughts? Did I miss something? Should I have missed something?
Honorable mentions (IMDB them NOW): Luc Besson's Lock Out, Flowers of War, Neil Blokamp's ELYSIUM, The Secret World of Arriety, Rurouini Kenshin, Skyfall, Bourne Legacy, Haywire, Chronicle, World War Z (it would have made the list but I don't trust the director much), RIPD, (Ralph Fiennes') Coriolanus.
Also, it will be a technical revolution in film making. They are shooting it on Red Epic cameras that shoot in 3D, 5k theaters (bigger than IMAX) and in 48 frames per second. Normal movies are projected at 24 fps, while a human eye perceives images at 62 fps. Hobbit, being at 48 fps will be more closer to this number, and thus will be more lifelike and epic than anything on screen next year.
Your thoughts? Did I miss something? Should I have missed something?
Honorable mentions (IMDB them NOW): Luc Besson's Lock Out, Flowers of War, Neil Blokamp's ELYSIUM, The Secret World of Arriety, Rurouini Kenshin, Skyfall, Bourne Legacy, Haywire, Chronicle, World War Z (it would have made the list but I don't trust the director much), RIPD, (Ralph Fiennes') Coriolanus.
