Movies I-wanna-see in 2013

Hey hey! It's an exciting new year with plenty of cool movies for us to see. As I usually do, here's a run-through on the most interesting ones I came across. Of course, this doesn't represent the whole catch of the year, since most good movies creep up on us silently, and only big-budgeted giant American movies offer proper information so much in advance. But being an optimist, plenty of movies seem very interesting in advance. Let's take a look, shall we?

10 Spring Premieres:

While Spring usually brings the most interesting premieres of the year in Europe, in the United States it's considerably more quiet. But that's not to say there aren't interesting films to watch these next few months, no matter where in the world you are.


Evil Dead
Director: Fede Alvarez



If there's one thing I tend to truly detest, it's horror remakes. Particularly washed-out, bland remakes that attempt to sell classic premises to dumb teenaged audiences by surgically removing any original or truly disturbing ideas are a dime-a-dozen. But I'm willing to give this scum of genres one last chance. For some signs have started to point out that the New Evil Dead may not be one of those remakes. For one thing, it is still very much a child of Sam Raimi, the original maestro, now on producing duties. Second, they are not even attempting to emulate the awesomeness that is Bruce Campbell's Ash, opting to go for younger, unknown actors and genuine scares instead of horror-comedy. It's also promising that the film apparently has zero CGI effects, opting to use old-school effects instead of flying deadites and super-realistic tree monsters. And lastly, the first Evil Dead is genuinely innovative and all, but truth be told, all of its aspects have not dated so well. Thus a new spin and a decent budget could be worked to give it another push. After all, a remake never undid the original if it failed, right? So if this thing has a plot and a few scares of its own, I'm willing to give it the benefit of a doubt. But this is your very last chance, horror remakes.

Gangster Squad
Director: Ruben Fleischer

Colorful, flashy and violent, this neo-noir just could be The Untouchables for the 2010's. The cast seems to be top notch, with veterans like Sean Penn and Nick Nolte providing good chops for the groundation, Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone providing the sex appeal, and Josh Brolin... providing his Brolinism, I guess. At least he isn't the lead here. There are certain comic book movie aesthetics surrounding this, hopefully this is a conscious choice to do something cool and not just a bland imitation of the types of movie that make the most money nowadays.

G.I. Joe 2: Retaliation
Director: Jon Chu


It's not a good sign when a major blockbuster is held back in the last minute by almost a year. Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters excused itself referring to the rising stardom of Jeremy Renner. In this case, reportedly, test audiences wanted to have more Channing Tatum. Plus, the movie was also converted to 3D, as you do these days. This may not have been a wise decision for many reasons, also economically since it most certainly hurt the toy sales, around which the whole franchise is built. But dang, I still kind of want to see this. The first one wasn't good by any stretch of the imagination, but had several enjoyably moronic big action scenes in it. This one promises an all-out major toy battle with Cobra troops invading the White House, ninja battles while mountaneering, and Bruce Willis making his obligatory Bruce Willis action movie cameo role. However this will go down, I bet it will still be more enjoyable than Die Hard 5: Way, way, WAY too old for this shit, seriously.

The Grandmasters
Director: Wong Kar-wai

Hong Kong melodrama master Wong Kar-wai has been preparing his epic wuxia movie of Yip Man for years. The story is super famous in China, and even us martial arts-loving westerners have widely seen the Ip Man movies starring Donnie Yen. It' the story of the groundbreaking martial artist Yip Man who developed whole new styles, rose to oppose the Japanese invasion, and late in life taught Bruce Lee everything he knew. Now, in Wong's film he's played by Tony Leung Chi Wai. With action coreography by the legendary Yuen Woo-ping. I expect this to focus on triangle dramas or some other love problems rather than fighting. The epic movie will open at Berlinale and early reports have been raving.

John Dies At The End
Director: Don Coscarelli

This new horror comedy by Bubba Ho-Tep and Phantasm mastermind Don Coscarelli and Internet comedian David Wong may just be the weirdest movie of the whole year. It's about an odd new drug flooding the streets that bends time and space and delivers an out-of-body experience. This trip is perilous and may change the user into something altogether else, physically as well as mentally. Two losers have to fight this phenomenon before it destroys the whole world. Festival audiences around the world have been praising this oddball thing, and it certainly sounds to be something quite original. If anything, the premise sounds like 21 Jump Street meets The Source Code meets Enter The Void. I so want to see this!

The Last Stand
Director: Kim Jee-woon


If Arnold hadn't made a total fool of himself with The Expendables 2, people would be much more eager to see his proper comeback. But for me, it's interesting how the Austrian Oak, who so often has relied on physical presence, truly reacts to his body growing old and withering. Of course, with the director of The Good, The Bad and The Weird in helm, this is probably less a somber drama like Gran Torino or Cop Land and more a balls-to-the-wall crazy machine-gunning movie. But y'know, I have little against that, either.

Pain & Gain
Director: Michael Bay


MICHAEL BAY DOES A CAPER MOVIE ABOUT SOME DUMB JOCKS WHO STEAL A LOT OF MONEY AND THEN LIKE SOME SWAT GUYS ARE CHASING AFTER THEM. EXPLOSIONS AND GRATUITOUS TITS & ASS SHOTS PRESUMABLY ENSUE. BUT THE FACT REMAINS THAT WHEN BAY ISN'T DICKING AROUND WITH SCI-FI OR MELODRAMA AND JUST HAVING FUN, HE'S AT HIS CRAZY, COCAINE-ADDLED BEST. THIS MOVIE SURELY MAKES MEN OUT OF LITTLE BOYS AND LITTLE BOYS OUT OF GROWN MEN!

Parker
Director: Taylor Hackford

Jason Statham stars as the pulp fiction tough guy previously incarnated as Lee Marvin (Point Blank) and Mel Gibson (Payback). As always, the tough-as-nails criminal expert gets double-crossed, but survives and goes on a vengeful trip to have a talk with his former colleagues. And to get his money. No reason not to keep the story simple, I just hope Taylor Hackford has the directing chops to keep things ruthless and exciting, too.

Robot and Frank
Director: Jake Schreier

Frank Langella plays an elder citizen who becomes unwittingly partnered with a caretaker robot! Slowly, Frank learns to enjoy life and starts to see the friend he has in the robot. It's your basic buddy film formula, but cranky old men and robots make an intriguing match. And that's before the thing turns into a heist movie where distrust between the pals starts to escalate again. It's a quirky little indie movie, with a truly irresistible elevator pitch at its core. Rarely you can do wrong with either robots or Langella!

Stoker
Director: Park Chan-Wook

Often even brilliant Asian directors don't do that well with their careers in Hollywood. I suspect the reason for it is that they tend to accept to work on the first project offered to them. But Korean Vengeance Trilogy helmer Park Chan-Wook planned his next career move a lot smarter, keeping on working in his home country for six more years after his breakthrough hit Oldboy. He switched to English only when he got a project that interested him, and has been planning his Hollywood debut for years. Now it's finally ready. Personally, I try to keep myself from hearing too much of Park's new films in advance, yet am always eager to see what kind of crazy surprises the man has in store for unsuspecting audiences. The film is a mysterious horror-drama, featuring a gothic triangle drama between Matthew Goode, Nicole Kidman and Mia Wasikowska. The title would suggest vampires or some other undead creatures are afoot.

2012 Throwbacks Top 10:

For some odd reason, films are still not released simultaneously all over the world. Plenty of movies made last year have only now reached Europe, just in time for award season. Also a few been shown to select festival audiences and are waiting for a wider release. This is their story.

Django Unchained
Director: Quentin Tarantino

Us poor Northern Europeans have had an excruciating wait for Grandmaster Q's latest genre-melting violence fest. A nice surprise, and apt compensation for is that Night Visions festival has a special screening of the film a few days before the premiere. And not just any screening but the opening of the Colt Concert festival, which features plenty of obscure and cool spaghetti westerns on pristine 16 and 35 mm film prints. It's a good thing DU is shown first, also, because knowing the source material too well beforehand can be sort of distracting. But I expect plenty of the auteur's cocaine-addled ADHD craziness, in terms of violence, music, characters, visuals, old-school special effects, and the approach to as sensitive a subject, as slavery is.

Lincoln
Director: Steven Spielberg

Four score and seven years ago... Abraham Lincoln was long dead and it would still be twenty years before the birth of Steven Spielberg. It is still easy to see why the lives of the two work well together. They both are masters on their respective fields, having utterly changed their worlds with their works unparallelled successes in their careers. Both are Grand American legends, offering the people an idealist viewpoint for what is viewed best in the country. And they both have a beard, I guess. Since mostly no one remembers Amistad any more, it's time for Spielberg to nab another Oscar nomination with a tale of slavery in the times of muttonchops. It is probably extremely manipulative, but these sort of grand sentimental tales do work from time to time. The best asset is to have Daniel Day-Lewis as your leading man, no doubt delivering another incredible performance.

Maniac
Director: Frank Khalfoun

Oh, another horror remake? Rather than to keep that as a sign for a bad movie year to come, it's rather a sign that even the thickest horror producers have learned that playing the remake game with the lowest stakes possible rarely pays off. I've had in good authority that this slasher update is the most innovative and interesting take on the genre in years. For one, while the movie may star Elijah Wood as a sociopath serial killer, he's very rarely on screen. This is because the film is mostly shot from his point-of-view. I'll keep my fingers crossed for this, and hope that the original film's super computer makes a cameo.

The Master
Director: Paul Thomas Anderson

Anderson has delivered another epic tale of American religious corruption and seduction of the innocent by greed. But in contrast to his previous film, There Will Be Blood, the buzz around this hasn't been as enthusiastic. Rather, it seems many hardened movie fans and reviewers have been sort of baffled by the movie. I take this as a good sign. However easy it would be for Anderson to deliver a clear-cut, Oscar-baiting and shallow satire, he has kept his reigns on his own hands and is willing to experiment with even the mammoth budgets he gets. I'm super enthusiastic to see what he has come up with. Plus, it will be nice to see Joaquin Phoenix back at the top of his game, directed by the greatest living character actor's director.

Seven Psychopaths
Director: Martin McDonagh

Early word-of-mouth of the Scottish crime comedy auteur's follow up to the excellent In Bruges hasn't been very good, lukewarm at best. But I'm the sort that has to see it to believe it. After all, in the official synopsis Christopher Walken and Sam Rockwell are referred to "oddball friends". I'd like to see a buddy comedy with just those two. But this one deals with a group of gangsters dragging their friend (played by Colin Farrell) to a heist where everything that can go wrong, does go wrong.

Silver Linings Playbook
Director: David O. Russell

David O. Russell is a director for whom I have a certain soft spot for. True, he's of the generation of video-raised filmmakers who rose alongside the independent productions of the 1990's, yet his filmography isn't as solid throughout as is the case with some of his peers (like Anderson and Tarantino). That being said, The Fighter proved that Russell can be very good at doing a sort of Oscar-bait sort of a movie, a story of underdogs, without falling to overwhelming sentimentality, a clichéd plot. He is able to create a real feel-good athmosphere and likeable characters it is enjoyable to follow. Plus his direction for the performances of his actors is phenomenal. So all this fares well for the love drama for mentally ill Asperger's patients. Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence are said to be on a roll here, and it's nice to see Robert DeNiro in a bit more ambitious productions nowadays. The buzz has been very good, with even film grump Brett Easton Ellis raving for this movie.

Spring Breakers
Director: Harmony Korine

SPRING BREAKERS! This is it, the movie that the post-empire movie-going crowds both deserve and need. What seems like a disposable, airheaded teenager comedy, starring Selena Gomez and with music by Skrillex, is directed by none other than arthouse oddball Harmony Korine. So while there is partying and bikini girls aplenty on offer here, there's also several fermented points about the simplicity and disposability of modern pop culture, MTV reality-inspired party girl lifestyle and human life in general. The director is not known from doing formulatic, easy movies, but oddly poetic, repetitive strange tales with little or no plot and plenty of memorable characters. The story involves valley girls planning a bank heist on their holiday. The ker-azy superstar James Franco also stars as a character called "Alien". I could not possibly be more stoked about a movie. This. THIS.

This is 40
Director: Judd Apatow

To be frank, there was no need to have a sequel to Knocked Up. Or a spin-off, or whatever you want to call it. But in that movie it seemed that the bittersweet lives of the married-with-children couple of Pete and Debbie (Paul Rudd and Leslie Mann) were much more interesting than those of the central characters. And now, with them being aged to the point of middle age, the film has the chance to be as cruel wrecking of lives in a turning point towards Autumn years as an Alexander Payne movie. With several more pop culture and dick jokes, of course, as Apatow tends to have. I'm mostly interested in this because the advance buzz has been surprisingly positive all around. For comedy's sake it's better to have the film be cruel than sentimental, so we'll see which category Apatow manages to land in this time around.

To The Wonder
Director: Terrence Malick

Incredibly, Malick actually managed to finish another film in record time after his last one. And by all means, this is even more junior high school's poetry club's joint diary with images. Another epic tale of love with a very flimsy story and a lot of nature imagery as the wind gently waves leaves and grasses around. This may be way too much for many, but at least I am totally ready for another spiritual journey with Mr. Malick. Famous faces including Ben Affleck, Olga Kurylenko, Javier Bardem and Rachel McAdams star.

Zero Dark 30
Director: Kathryn Bigelow

Director Kathryn Bigelow has lost a lot of the good will towards her after winning the Oscar, which is strange. I for one loved The Hurt Locker and am eager to see her reunite with journalist Mark Boal in bringing the story of the hunt of Osama bin Laden to the big screen. Sure, it may dismiss the cause of the war on Terror, be nationalist propaganda and support right-wing ideas of search-and-destroy missions, but I don't really care about the political dimensions that much. I want Bigelow to bring a testosterone-fuelled story of sweaty, true men and women who kill for living. Because she's of the rare breed that still can.

Rest of the Year Top 13:

Big and small, familiar and innovative. This looks to be quite a year ahead of us.

Captain Phillips
Director: Paul Greengrass

I have a feeling I might not be able to see this in 2013, but some of you will. For this is an inspirational based-on-a-true-story drama, a thriller based on recent events, and directed by Paul Greengrass. It's clear the studio will want to have it win every award it can get by placing it at the very end of the year. But this story's a real corker otherwise, too. A heroic American captain (Tom Hanks) has to surrender his ship to ruthless Somali Pirates. But he sure isn't surrendering easily without giving a fight. Presumably a lot of hand-held camera action ensues.

Elysium
Director: Neill Blokamp

The director of District 9 is back, and I, for one, am one to listen. Especially as this one goes further into sci-fi action, with some satirical ideas about the world of tomorrow put in for good measure. In the film's year 2159, the wealthy live in a luxurious satellite, while the poor live in squalor on the scorched, overpopulated Earth. But revolution is about to come. Matt Damon and Jodie Foster star, and there's a juicy role for Sharlto Copley as well.

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
Director: Peter Jackson

The first Hobbit film appeared to receive mixed reactions from fantasy aficionados. Thus the (first) sequel isn't necessarily the first thing on the minds of all movie geeks. But Peter Jackson has plenty of chances to win them back with this one. This is where we get to the real meat of the Hobbit story, which differentiates clearly from the Lord of the Rings Trilogy. So instead of retreading old paths and just having old characters do cameos, we have full-blown dragon action as the 12 dwarves take on the evil Smaug. Plenty of CGI dragon movies have got these majestic creatures looking plastic and/or rubbery, but from the glimpse we got at the end of the first Hobbit, I expect this one to be an altogether different kind of beast.

Iron Man 3
Director: Shane Black


Next year sees the start of the second ring of Avengers movies, in preparation of the showdown with Thanos we have been promised for 2015. First stop, we get to meet our favorite robot-suited businessman Tony Stark again. But this time, there's more than just a light-hearted romp in store for him. The leader of the Ten Rings terrorist organization, the notorious Mandarin (Sir Ben Kingsley) is after his head, and knows how to strike him where it hurts the most. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang and The Last Boy Scout mastermind Shane Black did some uncredited script doctoring for the first two Iron Men, so it's exciting to see what he can do when he gets the full control of the toys. Reports from the set say the main cast have to show off their acting chops, so it's comforting to know this isn't merely relying on a special effects extravaganza.

Monsters University
Director: Dan Scanlon



Pixar does a lot more sequels now that they're part of Disney. But there's nothing wrong with that as long as they are done exactly right. And this sequel for 2001's Monsters Inc. does know exactly which strings to pull. Rather than to build up on the sentimentality of the end of the final scene, this film pulls on the buddy comedy chemistry between Billy Crystal's Mike and John Goodman's Sully, now rival college students. A Pixar college comedy would be one I would've wanted to see by itself, but one set in Monstropolis, the oddest and perhaps most intriguing Pixar universe? Yes. Please. The early teasers suggest that the film also manages to bring on the funny.

Nymphomaniac
Director: Lars von Trier

Crazy Larry has made a vow of silence with the press, so you are forgiven if you forgot this one was nearing completion. I'm betting the film will still be seen at Cannes, even if the Danish auteur will be be a persona non grata at the festival following his Nazi comments a couple of years back. But Von Trier isn't a fool attempting to win crowds back at this one. He's a provocateur, and his ideas of sexual addiction and love may be too hot to handle on the more Puritan side of the Atlantic. His current public status just gives him the excuse to go in all the way. Movie star heads are digitally inserted into porn star bodies to give an effect that they are in the midst of full penetration. Truly image-shaking stuff. Even Kubrick wasn't this bold, although he dreamed of it. I'm drooling already.

Only God Forgives
Director: Nicolas Winding Refn

The dynamic duo of Drive, actor Ryan Gosling and director Nicolas Winding Refn reunite for another testosterone-fuelled manly man's tale. Women will dig it, too, presumably. This one is a crime thriller, where a cat and mouse game between a police officer and a criminal infiltrates them both on an underground Thai boxing scene. These differences are solved in the ring! The plot sounds like a Jean-Claude Van Damme movie, but I bet the film will have plenty of poetic silences, sudden outbursts and audiovisual perfection.

Pacific Rim
Director: Guillermo Del Toro


The craziest, goofiest and most fun-seeming of the next year's blockbusters is clearly Guillermo Del Toro's giant monster movie. Showing Michael Bay how it's done, Del Toro pits interdimensional Cloverfields against giant robots powered by Independence Day-style inspirational speeches. That just may be crazy enough to work...

Sin City 2: A Dame to Kill For
Directors: Robert Rodriguez & Frank Miller

Here's a film I'm a little uneasy to include here because it isn't 2006 or 2007 any more. But there are signs that point that we are actually getting a sequel to the most faithful comic adaptation ever attempted. This delay may not be such a bad thing after all. Rather than just relying on old tricks, Rodriguez will have to push the digital imagery even further. However Miller has had a rough few years with the negative reception he's received, whether he had worked on films (The Spirit), comics (Holy Terror) or public statements (Occupy Wall Street comments). He's got his work cut out for him to win back fanboy trust. The thing that makes me most uneasy about this one is the fact that Frankie Boy will be writing a whole new Nancy Callahan segment for the movie. But at least the central story after which the movie is named, comes from his glory years and certainly the best Sin City story not included in the first movie. Joseph Gordon-Levitt seems like a good person to complete the pretty cracking cast, anyway.

Snowpiercer
Director: Bong Joon-ho

Another Korean master has arrived in America recently, and, it seems, with his own ideas and style intact. Bong Joon-ho's first movie will be a survival sci-fi story about a train crossing the frozen earth. As a twist, these are the very last people alive in the world. The film is based on Benjamin Legrand's graphic novel and judging by the conception art will be unique and wonderful, visually. Stars include Chris Evans, Tilda Swinton, John Hurt and Jamie Bell.

The Wolf of Wall Street
Director: Martin Scorsese

A new Scorsese film is always worth checking out, even if casting Leonardo DiCaprio as a real-life stockbroker who went to prison by refusing to cooperate in a fraud is casting way too obviously. But also Jonah Hill and Matthew McConaughey have roles in this stylish-seeming caper, which is something you wouldn't have believed a couple of years ago. I expect Scorsese to have a word or two to say about the current financial crisis and the part big corporations play in decision-making today.

The Wolverine
Director: James Mangold

After X-Men Origins: Wolverine I wouldn't judge anyone if they were sick of Hugh Jackman's hairy Canadian berserker mutant. But may I remind that The Wolverine is based on a script by Christopher McQuarrie that seemed to be so interesting, Darren Aronofsky was attached to the film for a long period of time. And the script is based on one of Marvel's most celebrated stand alone stories, Wolverine's adventures in Japan as originally told by Chris Claremont and Frank Miller. James Mangold as a director is hardly no wash-up himself, having helmed Cop Land and 3:10 to Yuma (and one Tom Cruise vanity project, but the less said about that the better). It seems the story deals with a lot of what makes Wolverine an unique character, with him balancing between his animalistic instincts and a higher, samurai-like sense of honor and righteousness. Snikt, bub, snikt.

The World's End
Director: Edgar Wright

This is it, the concluding film in Edgar Wright's Three Colors Cornetto Trilogy (or whatever that's officially called) with Simon Pegg and Nick Frost. Words have been scarce on which genre the three amigos are riffing on this time, although the title would give some suggestion. It's been announced that the film deals with an Epic Pub crawl culminating in the titular World's End. But while Shaun of the Dead mixed a zombie movie with a romantic comedy, and Hot Fuzz had some Hammer-like horror scenes as well as a British countryside sitcom setting in a buddy cop movie, I fully expect there to be a bit more in this than merely the End of the World.

Love & Anarchy Preview

Autumn's string of film festivals is about to kick off*. Espoo Ciné opens tomorrow with Michael Haneke's Palm d'Or-winning drama Amour (Love). But because there's plenty more time to discuss that film, and the European allstar lineup they serve at Espoo, let's turn our attention elsewhere. For today's also the day that The Helsinki International Film Festival published its annual tabloid paper, which also reveals most of the festival's films. Now, I've again done some work for the festival, wrote a few articles to both the tabloid paper and the festival catalogue. Thus, I might be a bit biased to recommend the festival, even though I haven't seen a vast majority of the films on display. But I'm willing to bet there's more than a few film fans that are anxious to hear which films are worth seeing this year. And I will be spending a lot of money myself for a chance to see many of these firsthand on the big screen, and with an appreciative audience.

Recommendations:
The films on this category I've already had a chance to preview.

Tabloid (USA)
Director: Errol Morris

There's no need to try to look for the festival's most incredible story among any fantasy films. It is told in Tabloid, acclaimed documentarist Errol Morris' latest film. It is a love story and a biography of a sort of the former Miss Wyoming, Joyce McKinney. The smart and headstrong woman fell in love with a mormon missionary and planned to get married in the 1970's. But the Mormon church heads had other ideas and the pair was separated. What Joyce did to get her fiancée back set the consequences for her to be sentenced to jail for years. The tabloid press was having a field day with the story. For it contained sex, kidnappings, a small-time celebrity, nudity, exotic locales, religion, sex, kinky sex and a whiff of conspiracy. And things kept on snowballing as soon as Joyce was released from prison.

Morris uses the same minimalist tricks employed in his several latest documentaries. Mostly he depicts just people talking, using only the minimal amount of archive footage, retro news stories and graphics to illustrate the story. But he doesn't need anything else, since the story is so captivating by itself and he rolls out interesting characters after another. He also tells more than just one side of the story, even if some realities have forced him to leave out interviews with several key persons of the events. But also, he has the skill to make his interviewees appear honest, talkative, interesting and sticking to the point. Morris also questions the Tabloid newspapers' enthusiasm for sensation, and the way that they themselves influenced the wrecking of a young girl's already-shattering life. In this case, it seems that they actively also prevented any kind of truths to appear about the thing. Whether this is the final truth, Morris leaves up for the viewers to decide. The story's modern twists include clones.

Killer Joe (USA)

Director: William Friedkin

I was pleasantly surprised to see the Festival Ministry gave one of the event's top slots, The Love & Anarchy Gala, to this small-scale gem. Although the film boasts with a movie star cast featuring Matthew McConaughey, Thomas Haden Church, Juno Temple and Emile Hirsch, and a world-famous classic director William Friedkin (The Exorcist, The French Connection, To Live And Die in LA), it is still a play adaptation that prominently features only five characters squabbling.

Basically, it's about an insurance scam gone wrong, and a hit man beginning to demand his fee from the family that hired him. McConaughey has started to finally choose proper film roles over cheap romantic comedy fluff, and the former pretty boy truly proves he has talents. His Killer Joe Cooper is at once a charming, smart and cautious professional, a dangerous psycopath, out for blood and getting laid by any means necessary, and a straight-backed character that has principles contrasted to a family of total scumbags and weasels that have none. But the dumb and mean Smith family also has earned audience's pity for being so darn dysfunctional, silly dumb people. They don't care what people think, as the family's mother may open the door without being dressed in anything below the navel. These hand-to-mouth people desperately need money but are too stupid to figure out an honest or even smart way of getting any.

The film has a down-to-earth aspect, yet some bizarrely delirious ideas, such as a pizza cook being the most notorious gangster boss of the town, or Juno Temple doing nude kung fu moves in the middle of the night for the hell of it. Not only is Temple's performance truly eye-popping, her character Dottie, a mentally limited teenager, is probably the only character in the film worth rooting for. Temple manages to make her a tragic character but at the same time, the most optimistic and cheerful one in a film full of rotten apples. Friedkin stages most of the conflict inside an extended trailer. The movie is at parts laugh-out-loud hilarious, at parts gut-wrenchingly vile and unrelenting. Friedkin hasn't eased his standards one bit while all these years have passed from his magnum opuses.

No Rest For The Wicked (No habrá paz para los malvados, Spain)
Director: Enrique Urbizu

I don't trust the police. This seems to be a smart thing to do, particularly in Spain since the country's films tend to warn me about it from time to time. First came Torrente, a corrupt, lazy, racist, sexist asshole of a policeman, that was also kind of loveable. But the bad cop in this newer Spanish flick,  Inspector Santos Trinidad (José Coronado), is altogether more determined and sinister by nature. Totally burned-out Trinidad spends his nights playing slot machines and drinking himself silly at bars. One night he tries to get into a strip joint after closing time by force. He ends up shooting the bar's owner, bartender and one of the strippers. Yet one witness manages to escape him. But lucky for him, he's also assigned to investigate the situation, so he can find all the leads to find the last witness and silence him forever.

That would be a grim enough thriller subject as it is. But there's also another layer in the film's plot. The fact that it's set in Madrid, 2004 should give you a clue, exactly what else are the police and agents seeking in the middle of the triple homicide investigations. Trinidad happens to stumble upon much more sinister plots than he himself has in mind.

So this is the kind of thriller that has violence bursting through quite unexpectedly. Some heavy symbolism and a pessimistic worldview questions the world which allows horrors to happen. The cynical film doesn't let any Spanish authorities off easy. Most cops are incompetent and wallovng in their own problems, the only one who can make things happen is a total psycopath. The slot machine is the most central symbol of things happening. Due to coincidences and chance, plot threads come together in the end. But this film at least it doesn't work randomly, but well-planned and executed, and does reward it's viewer handsomely in the end.

The Parade (Parada, Serbia/Slovenia/Croatia/Montenegro/Macedonia)
Director: Srdjan Dragojevic

Serbian films tend to look at some pressure points in the national psyche, caused due to the former Yugoslavia's violent recent history. But I'd much rather watch a gross-out comedy commenting it than another faux-artistic torture porn. This one deals with the male machoism and homophobia shared by many Serbian men. At the centre are the futile efforts to organize a Gay Pride parade, that won't turn out to be a massive violent brawl.

Limun (Nikola Kojo) is a violent but rich thug, who teaches a self-defence class, loves his bulldog and is about to marry his head-strong fiancée Biserka (Hristina Popovic). Several incidents make him come across the gay couple Radmilo (Milos Samolov) and Mirko (Goran Jevtic), a vetenarian and a wedding decorator, respectively. Mirko in particular is a fierce gay rights activist, while Radmilo is a little more subdued, quiet, shy and timid. They agree to make Biserka's wishes come true and give her and Limun the wedding she's been dreaming of, but only if Limun agrees to recruit a posse to watch over the upcoming Pride parade. So Limun and Radmilo head out to find the gangster's former army buddies that owe him a favor. On the way, Limun secretly figures he can make a man out of Radmilo. But the bachelor party/recruiting mission through Serbia it's natives in such an ugly light, that even Limun may be forced to change his opinions.

Not only is the film about a very sensitive and important subject of accepting everyone as they are, it is also funny enough to get away with such preaching. The key to the film's success are it's well-rounded cast of characters, who are goofy enough yet believably written and with realistic motivations and hopes. The film won't work out as a travelling advertisement to Serbia, although it's good that the nation can deal with its issues with some hearty black humor. The film has become a minor hit in the former Yugoslavia area. Some laughs are also to be had on Hollywood's conception of homosexuality, and how it affects our view on the subject. Limun totally misses the thick subtext in the early scenes of Ben-Hur and figures it's a film for the manly men. His affection for the western Magnificent Seven is also on the spotlight. A real, magnificent cowboy fights for what's right and stands up for the downtrodden.


Interesting films:

The Opening Film:
Beasts of the Southern Wild
Director: Benh Zeitlin

I'm actually trying to keep the information about this film as minimal as possible. All I know it several journalists who I know who went to Cannes all said it was easily the greatest film they saw there. And it was totally mind-blowing and incredibly beautiful. It seems it concerns the relationship between a boy and his father in the swamps of Louisiana. It says something that this debut direction from Zeitlin has been given such a prestigious slot on such a strong movie year. I bet this'll be cinematic fireworks!

The Angels' Share (UK)
Director: Ken Loach

Class-aware Brit director Ken Loach takes a look at low-class underdogs in his latest one. But it is also about a hobby for the gentlemen, whether rich or poor, whiskey. A group of former jailbirds are inspired by a trip to the distillery to turn over a new leaf in their lives. They start to make fine whiskey by themselves. The comedy is said to be bittersweet, so leave it to Loach to be cruel to his main characters.

Caesar Must Die (Cesare deve morire, Italy)
Directors: Paolo and Vittorio Tavine

This black-and-white drama won the main prize at this year's Berlinale, and it combines documentarist tricks with fictional settings. It's about the inmates at a rough penitentiary, that choose to stage a play and re-enact William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar. Although the film has been staged, the actors in the film are real inmates and the story is a real one. Can The Bard's immortal words bring comfort to hopeless thieves and murderers? I'm eagerly looking forward to seeing.

Grabbers (Ireland)
Director: Jon Wright

The Irish sci-fi horror-comedy is about an invasion of Bloodsucking Aliens on an Irish island. Since there's no escape, many locals board up in the local pub. But the aliens have a fatal weakness – hight promille alcohol levels in blood! So, the best way to defend oneself is to do what comes naturally for rural Irishmen, get totally shitfaced! Of course, it probably won't be so easy to get rid of all those pesky aliens. This clearly aims to be another Shaun of the Dead, which is of course hard to beat in the field of horror-comedies. But based on the giggle-worthy premise, it might have the chops to be a fun Friday night film with your mates.

Himizu (Japan)
Director: Sion Sono

With the two previous years, it has become almost a tradition to see a new Sono film every year in Love & Anarchy. And they tend to be a lot better than Takashi Miike's yearly efforts, too.  This one has the appetite-wetting (for me, at least) premise of combining modern socio-political issues to a violent genre film. In 2011 Tsunami-wrecked areas of Japan, two teenagers set out to be vigilantists by killing whoever they deem to be "bad". The Sonoan themes of the relationship between the triangle of love-sex-violence seems to be as sharp as ever. I'm eagerly awaiting to see how this manga adapatation compares to Sono's past work.

Into The Abyss (USA/Germany)

Director: Werner Herzog

I always love me some (documentary) Herzog, and this one is said to be his strongest film in years. Herzog never shys away from difficult subject matters and such is the case here, too. He's looking at the American Death Sentence and interviewing prisoners in Death Row. He's also trying to find justice for a case where an innocent man was executed, with his peasing german-accented voice. The version shown at the festival is shorter than the two-part TV mini-series Herzog also cut from his material. Nevertheless, I'm eager to see both cuts.

Marley (USA/UK)
Director: Kevin McDonald

It's about time we have an extensive documentary about the most essential reggae musician, and one of the major 3rd world icons that truly changed the world during the 20th century, Bob Marley. He made some pretty groovy records, too. This 2,5 hour biopic has been made with the blessings of Marley's family, and several members, such as the reggae musician Ziggy, have also been interviewed for this. The film has gained praises upon praises in almost everywhere it has been shown.

Pusher (UK)
Director: Luis Prieto

A British remake of Nicolas Winding Refn's instantly classic gangster film could be anything, a horrible flop or a proper kick in the balls and a feel-bad event of the year. Fortunatelly, the signs point that it won't be the first, since there are no vain famous actors involved, who would want to compromize the violent, relentless tale of a drug deal gone bad. But there is one familiar face, Zlatko Buric reprising his role as Milo. It just wouldn't be a Pusher movie without him, would it?

Savages 
Director: Oliver Stone

The acclaimed director Stone has fought against irrelevance since the 90's. But this time around he may have the most interesting new work in ages. And perhaps also the craziest. It's about a polyamoric relationship of three, where the happy threesome also grows pot together. But then Mexican gangsters kidnap the one girl in the trio, Blake Lively's O. For Chon (Taylor Kitsch) and Ben (Aaron Johnson) have to put their minds together to find a way to save their girl and face off against the ruthless criminals. Stone promises us a Savage battle of wills, and damn, if it doesn't look intriguing.


Shopping Tour (Russia)
Director: Mikhail Brashinsky

This one will probably be a nice curiousity for us Finns, and fly over the head of others. It's a horror-comedy about a group of Russians coming to Finland to buy, buy, buy. But they chose their travel date poorly since they come on Midsummer's Eve. But instead of stores being closed and Finns being at their summer cottages, the Finns have all magically turned into flesh-hungry zombies! Dawn of the Dead's consumer criticismflipped into dealing also with the difficult relationship between Russians and Finnish? I'm so wanting to see this.

The We and the I (USA/UK)
Director: Michel Gondry

The French visionary Gondry has stepped away from Hollywood blockbusters (The Green Hornet) to do a smaller-scale teenaged love story. And that's more than fine by me. The film takes place during a bus ride on the last day of school. How will the relationships develop between these modern teens? Will there be romance? I bet there will be romance.

The Closing Film:
Rust & Bone (France)
Director: Jacques Audiard

Audriard is one of the top genre-film making talents today, because he laces his films with so much subtext they hold for multiple viewings. This time it may look on the surface that he's gone soft on us. For his latest film is a love story between a whale-trainer (Marion Cotillard) and a street-brawling bouncer (Matthias Schoenenarts). But one can bet that the latter's violent hobbies come back to haunt the both of the lovebirds. This is a pulp film, set on the beautiful beaches of Southern France. This contrast itself would make this worth our interest, let alone it's directors confident style and knack for surprises.

* At least if you live in Helsinki, which I happen to do.

Movies I-wanna-see in 2012

According to the Mayan calender, we have until next December to live, which is plenty of time to see some of the most eagerly awaited films ever made. Just in case we might survive the entire next year, I'll include 32 films for next year running to the end of the year. These are divided into three different categories.

10 Spring Premieres:

Iron Sky (c) 2012 Energia Productions

John Carter
Director: Andrew Stanton



Pulp heroes tend to have it tough on the big screen. Recent failures of adventures such as Conan or Solomon Kane or (shudder) The Immortals are not exactly raising spirits. But this is my eagerly awaited event movie of the spring for one good reason: It is Pixar director Andrew Stanton's first foray into live-action films. With the director of Wall-E and Finding Nemo behind it, surely this will find time for the characters as well as just big space sci-fi scenes and explosions. Not sure about the title, though. If they try to bring people who are not sci-fi nerds into the theatre by dropping the "Of Mars" from the title, then why is the trailer almost nothing but big action scenes, weird-looking martians and spaceships? 

Pirates! - Band of Misfits
Directors: Peter Lord, Jeff Nevitt



You know what's as reliable as Pixar? Aardman! The creators of Wallace and Gromit seem to have delivered an exquisit pirate rompt to wash away the sour aftertaste of the last Pirates of the Caribbean sequel. I truly adore this trailer, with its goofy humour. It seems like this doesn't talk down to children and thus we get jokes about limbs falling off and fishermen being crushed by pirate ships. And a giant fish that the mad pirate captain has dressed up as a crewmember! With sea monsters, ghost ships and swordfights aplenty, this could've been my favorite movie in the world when I was 12. But there's no reason I wouldn't enjoy the hell out of it now, either.

Ghost Rider 2: The Spirit of Vengeance
Directors: Mark Neveldine, Mark Taylor



Bad movies rarely have good sequels. But I'm willing to give this Marvel adaptation the benefit of a doubt for the fact that it's being directed by the guys behind the hilariously insane Crank films. So, suitably, this is a film where Nicolas Cage turns into a flaming skeleton that can vomit lava and pee fire. There's a high concept for you. The film has had bad early word-of-mouth, but I'm willing to watch any Nicolas Cage movie, particularly if it is as insane as this. Bring it!


The Innkeepers
Director: Ti West



Run-off-the-mill horror directors such as Eli Roth or Rob Zombie have somehow earned the title of being the Future of American horror. Well, one director who has truly earned that title, is Ti West, the director of 2008's effective House of the Devil. Like he did there with 80's-style horror, he has picked another popular horror sub-genre and shown others how it's supposed to be done. A haunted house! Admittedly, the trailer shows a pretty regular-seeming ghost house story, with its jump-scares and all. But I'm fairly confident that West sells his film by good direction, rather than unique stories. At least I hope so.

Killer Joe 
Director: William Friedkin



2011 was a year of return for many veteran directors. So, also William Friedkin has had a new film done, altough it has yet to premiere outside film festivals. The master of crime films such as The French Connection or To Live And Die in LA has now chosen to do a black comedy, and I'm all the merrier. There's not a trailer out yet, at least not in YouTube, but the above scene tells a lot about what to expect. Matthew McConaughey has pulled himself together since his comeback last year in The Lincoln Lawyer. He plays the titular hitman, who gets hired to do a job, but it gets complicated since he strikes his eye on his employer's sister. It's a lot more low-key than that sort of plot usually would imply, with no mob bosses to be seen. The real threat comes from Killer Joe himself, and I'm confident he's able to do some pretty terrible things.

Bullett to the Head
Director: Walter Hill

Another intriguing new project by a veteran action director is the new film by Walter Hill, director of The Warriors and 48 Hours. The film is not a remake of John Woo's craziest film, but an original action drama starring Sylvester Stallone, Christian Slater and Jason Momoa. It's a film based on a graphic novel where a cop and a hitman have to form an uneasy alliance to kill the murderer of both their partners. Stallone still is in freakily good shape for his age (that's steroids for you), so let's hope he has it in him to pull off another Rambo and deliver a huge bodycount.

Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters
Director: Tommy Wirkola

Altough Dead Snow didn't work as a whole, the film had a number of delightfully twisted ideas and good scenes. So that alone makes the new film by director Tommy Wirkola worth waiting for. In an age when classic fairy tales get a modern re-imagining, casting Hansel and Gretel as full-grown witch hunters dressed like a pair of extras from Underworld movies makes me at least curious. Jeremy Renner and Gemma Arterton seem to be good leads for such a film, and Zoë Bell plays a witch. So let's hope the result is a lot better than The Brothers Grimm.

The Raven
Director: James McTeigue



I'm a sucker for off-beat adaptations of Edgar Allan Poe, which is why I love Roger Corman's Poe movies so much. But this one, directed by V for Vendetta's James McTeigue, somehow re-imagines a poem where almost nothing happens (except in the mind of the lead), as an action movie. The trailer reveals that actually this is a Sherlock Holmes / From Hell / Se7en ripoff, where Poe himself (perfectly cast as John Cusack) is called to help solve murders based on his own writings. This is a goofy concept and I really want to see it work, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

The Wettest County 
Director: John Hillcoat

Another director whose new work always intrigues me is John Hillcoat, the director of The Proposition and The Road. Particularly as it's script is been written by Nick Cave. Hillcoat is bringing his trademarked brown-shades this time to do a gangster story set to the prohibition era. Tom Hardy, Gary Oldman and Shia LaBeouf play brothers who lead a pack of bootleggers, threatened by the corrupt FBI agent played by Guy Pearce, who wants a slice of their cake. The film is an adaptation of Matt Bondurant's fact-based book The Wettest Country In The World, which was based on the life of the author's grandfather.

Iron Sky
Director: Timo Vuorensola



Last, but definately not least, a very special Finnish film, which is looking to be released in the April if the winds are benevolent. The guys who started out doing Star Trek parodies in their basement proved that they could do a feature-length movie with 2005's Star Wreck: In The Pirkinning, which was released free in the internet and became a hit with millions of downloads. Their next film has been in the making since then, and has finally been finished with a lot of help from fans around the world. But this is not a amateur film by any means, as its script has been made by award-winning fantasy author Johanna Sinisalo, and it stars international character actors such as Udo Kier, Christopher Kirby and Julia Dietze. Oh, and what the movie is about? Nazis conquering the moon on the last days of the Reich and setting a base there. And the Moon Nazis attacking the Earth in 2018. How's that for a high concept?!

2011 Throwbacks Top 10:

Many parts of the Earth are not as lucky as the Americans, and we haven't yet seen many of 2011's most interesting films premiere here. Whereas in the USA spring is mostly quiet film-wise, in Europe it might be the most exciting time of the year to go to movies, as we finally get a chance to see the most awited award-baits. I've collected 10 of these films in this part.

The Artist
Director: Michel Hazanavicius

One of the biggest shoe-ins for The Best Picture Oscar is surprisingly this French silent movie. Big deal, Mel Brooks did a comedy silently in 1976, but didn't win any awards for it. But in seriousness, this is reportedly a love letter to cinema itself, with plenty of slapstick gags that reminisce the best of Chaplin, Keaton and Lloyd. And, I would also bet if it's an Oscar favorite, that the film has a softer side too, and is willing to not only make people laugh, but, perhaps, also make them shed a tear for the changing times.

We Need to Talk About Kevin
Director: Lynn Ramsay

Based on a best-selling novel, this film studies the nature of evil and bringing up a child in the modern world. The titular Kevin does some very bad things and his parents, played by Tilda Swinton and John C. Reilly, have to deal with it. I'm expecting a dark film, but as it ties together with real world's horrible shoot-outs, it is a film that asks questions that are adamantly necessary, too.

Hugo
Director: Martin Scorsese

To tell the truth, I wasn't terribly thrilled about the trailer for Martin Scorsese's 3D adventure movie. But then praise started to flowing in. Even James Cameron called the "best use of 3D technology he'd ever seen, including his own films". Recognizing the apt notice that this is the first time in history that James Cameron has recognized that someone is better at something than he himself, the film must be a real miracle. I'm also interested because Steven Spielberg did so well on his own 3D experiments in The Adventures of Tintin. Surely the friendly rivalry between the two old pals ensures that they both are innovative films.

The Descendants
Director: Alexander Payne

Alexander Payne's new look into the mindsets and tragedies of middle-aged people is also almost certainly worth a shot. This one is not just a crisis that the wealthy land-owner played by George Clooney goes through in Hawaii. It is also a story about an estranged family that has to come together. That there is a pretty basic independent dramedy material, but I'm sure Payne has both good enough caharcter observations and funny enough jokes to this be a worthy candidate to watch.

The Muppets
Director: James Bobin

I'm not the world's biggest Muppet fan, but I recognize that we are direly in need of them in these times. There's something seriously old-school in The Muppets, and not just that the puppets are hand-craft actors, not CGI effects. The variéte style that the films encompass has been resurrected by the world's biggest Muppet fan Jason Segel, and the subsequent musical-comedy has been praised as pure joy. This film is in threat of going straight to DVD in Finland, while crap like Journey 2 and The Phantom Menace 3D get theatrical releases. I'm willing to fight for my right to see The Muppets in theatre. It's a big-sized comedy. If put just on DVD, I fear it will be mixed with such lesser movies as Muppets from Space or The Muppet Wizard of Oz. I'm certain that the powers behind this have put a little more effort into bringing Muppets back to the limelight.

This Must Be The Place 
Director: Paolo Sorrentino

One of the first premieres in Finland this year is this Sean Penn-starrer. He plays a Robert Smith lookalike that attempts to carry out his estranged father's last wish and to murder the Nazi that tortured him in a concentration camp. A hijink-filled road trip ensues. With music by David Byrne. There's another High Concept for ya. This one will either work like a charm or fail miserably. Judging by the trailer I'm willing to bet for the former.

Carnage
Director: Roman Polanski

Yes, even Roman Polanski is among the list of veteran directors who managed to produce an intriguing new film last year. This one relies on star actors for a good performance and little else. Two sets of parents (Jodie Foster & John C. Reilly and Kate Winslet & Christoph Waltz) arrange to have a discussion since their adolescent boys have been in a fight. But as both sides are willing to fiercely protect their own offspring, things are about to turn ugly. Polanski has relied on big issue-filmmaking in recent years, so it's refreshing to see him do a completely character-based film. He is one of the finest actor's directors alive today, as anyone that has acted for him will tell. Because this is about adult reaction to their child's misbehaviour, this seems like a natural companion piece to We Need To Talk About Kevin.

Shame
Director: Steve McQueen

Not just old veterans have done interesting new films. Steve McQueen proved he had strong cinematic sense with Hunger, and he has teamed up again with actor Michael Fassbender for his latest. Like previously, this is a frenetic piece about an obsession. Fassbender plays a sex addict who attempts to hide his shameful ways from the outside. This becomes harder as his sister arrives to his place to stay over. McQueen is a visual storyteller, who can work without much dialogue. Still, I hope the film will be less experimental in style as Hunger was.

Tinker, Taylor, Soldier, Spy 
Director: Thomas Alfredson

Another bright and rising talent is the swedish director of Let The Right One In, Thomas Alfredson. In his Hollywood debut he has gained enough reputation to be able to direct one of the best actors alive, Gary Oldman. Oldman is also due to a comeback, since he has mostly been seen as a (albeit very good) bit-part player in big ensemble pictures such as The Dark Knight trilogy and the Harry Potter films. The film is a return to the thinking man's espionage pictures, taking place during the Cold War. The British Intelligence goes through rough times as an operation in Istanbul goes haywire. Oldman's George Smiley is brought from retirement to capture the Russian spy hiding among MI-6. And he's willing to get his hands dirty to find him.

Tropa de Elite 2 – The Elite Squad: The Enemy Within
Director: José Padliha

One of the most kick-ass action films of the 2000s has gotten a sequel that has been hailed as even better than the first one. As the first one was about a paramilitary police squad bent on cleaning up the favelas from crime, the second one delves deeper, into politics and structures of the society. This may be the Brazilian Wire, but in action film form rather than a TV series. I can't fucking wait. Fortunately, this arrives in Finland already in January, so it won't take long any more.


Rest of the Year Top 12:

If one thing's for certain, it is that it's impossible to know what the year's truly interesting films will be until one sees them. So, because big blockbuster films are the ones that start their marketing early, they are also the ones that we have most information about at the moment. The best films of 2012 may be ones we've never heard about. But then again, there will be plenty of interesting, and BIG blockbusters, too. Here's 12 projects that have captured my interest for the rest of the year.


12. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney

Video game adaptations and Takashi Miike films: two things that are more often bad than not. But still, Nintendo's crazy handheld lawyer game is tailor-made for a director as crazy as Miike to direct. This may be the japanese Scott Pilgrim vs. The World in a courthouse – an odd mixture of computer graphics and overladen drama. I'm hoping to catch this at autumn's Love & Anarchy festival.

11. Twylight Zones 

Sopranos mastermind David Chase has directed and written his debut feature film! It's a film set in New Jersey in the 1960's, where a group of friends decides to form a band. Sounds intriguing, and seeing as Chase has brought James Gandolfini with him, I'm hoping this will touch some layers of brilliance. No pictures have come out yet, but I remain interested.

10. The Amazing Spider-Man
 

When one of the most popular superheroes of all time (that isn't Superman) has a new movie coming out, and it's only the third most awaited superhero epic of the year, you know it's 2012. Spidey is a sort of underdog of the year, which is hardly surprising. The film seems to be aimed at Twilight audiences who love brooding and pouting. Spidey fans got enough drama from Sam Raimi's films and are hoping for a more light-hearted take in the same vein as Iron Man and Thor. But, this advertizes as being "the untold story", so the film might have tricks up its sleeve even for die-hard comics readers. And I think Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone seem to be a good casting choice as the lead lovebirds, seemingly even better and more apt than Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst. Spidey remains my favorite superhero, and I will see the film no matter what.

Also make a lot of these hand motions and "Thwippp" -sounds.

9. The Life of Pi 

 
Meanwhile, whatever happened to Tobey Maguire? Well, as is seen in Ang Lee's latest film, he got stuck on a lifeboat with an orang-utan, a zebra, a hyena and a tiger. This is a perculiar story, but I'm willing to bet Lee makes it into a heartwarming adventure story. Also I like to see how a lifeboat filled with animals will cope.

8. Frankenweenie 

I'm still willing to give Tim Burton the benefit of a doubt, particularly when he makes stop-motion animations. This one is based on his own live-action short, that was heck of a charming yarn in the first place. It's a story of young Victor Frankenstein, who resurrects his dear dog Sparky after it's hit by a truck. But the people living in the suburbs don't take kindly to such creature to walk the Earth. It's nice to see Burton call back his earlier cast members such as Winona Ryder and Martin Landau, who will provide voices.

7. The Expendables 2 



If Simon West, the director of Con Air, the best ensemble action film of the last 20 years, can't produce explosive gold with a cast that includes Stallone, Dolph Lundgren, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Chuck Norris, Jet Li, Jason Statham, Terry Crews, Chris Hemswoth, and bigger roles for Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzenegger (who will at least fire a gun this time around), then America has failed as a nation.

6. Skyfall

Welcome back, Mr. Bond. We've missed you. What way to welcome back everyone's favorite agent than giving his new adventure's director's chair to Sam Mendes? I hope all the time spent worrying over MGM's fate has given the director time to think the film through, as no one wants to see the repeat of Quantum of Solace's failures. We want a streamlined action thriller with exotic locations, and to see what the hell is going on during the action scenes. No Paul Haggis on screenwriting duties means no frustrating underlining of the film's themes. This time, there's also serious acting talent involved, with Javier Bardem playing the main villain, and also Ralph Fiennes, Maggie Smith and Albert Finney being involved. Most interesting will be that Q and Miss Moneypenny return the series as younger versions after a long while. Maybe 007 will have back some of his boyish humour after the last two films were almost comically serious affairs.

5. Brave 



This certainly is a year filled with cinematic adventure. Pixar is returning to form after the wreckage of Cars 2 with a relatively low-key one. The biggest threat in Brave is not awakening ancient evil, or the destruction of Earth, but just a big bear. True, the story's a sort of Mulan re-hash with a young girl wanting to be a warrior but shunned. But she'll prove them wrong. I'm totally in love with the fim's visual look, that doesn't resemble an American CGI animation at all. It has a really European, and medieval feel to it. Much of this is achieved with the various light effects, which are truly marvellous. The film seems to be as funny, exciting and perfected as Pixar's finest.

4. The Dark Knight Rises



So far I've felt like the promotional material for Christopher Nolan's trilogy-closer have been quite underwhelming. Third parts are never easy in franchises, particularly if you have to follow the excellent Dark Knight. The trailer doesn't tell much about the story, just that Batman has to stop Bane from destroying Gotham City. Bane as a villain seems to be just a mumbling muscleman with a jockstrap in his face. I'm almost missing the screaming retard from Batman & Robin.

But everyone who likes big action movies will wait for this nevertheless. Nolan is known for his secretiveness, and there are almost certainly twists and turns in the film no one saw coming before. I'm also willing to bet Bane and Catwoman aren't the only supervillains in the game, and that several others may also make a surprise appearance. It's never really been done before that a superhero's story has an end, and it will be exciting to see what tricks Nolan has up his sleeve. If Batman Begins was inspired by Year One, The Dark Knight by The Killing Joke and The Long Halloween, than this one must be inspired by Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns, not plot-wise, but thematically. And that's the best Batman story there is, so it's suitable.

3. The Avengers



But for all its brooding and a sense of end, I'll still rather take a light-hearted ensemble action romp where a lot of things go boom. Building up a big team-up with five movies has got to mean that The Avengers is one of the biggest films ever. Because the nerd-friendly Joss Whedon is directing, the whole thing has good chances of working. True, it is probably mostly Robert Downey, Jr.'s show, but then again, he is so good, he should be the centre of attention. This is another trailer that doesn't really tell much, just that the heroes are assembling to fight a threat. Since Loki is involved, I bet he's pulling the strings on The Hulk at first (like in the comics), but perhaps on an attack by a certain shape-shifting alien race later on. Any Marvel fanboy worth his salt just can't wait!

2. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey



I'm betting many others were also not aware of how much they have missed Middle-Earth. From the trailer's first notes it feels like an opportunity to go back home. As the source book was meant more or less for children, we are able to expect a much more lighter-hearted film. One should note that the trailer showcases locations and moods more than actual actions, which are pretty light during the first part of the book. The adaptation seems to be interwoven with prequel duties, setting up things that happened before the events of The Lord of the Rings Trilogy. But let's hope the film will not be only walking around and Tolkien songs, but exciting and fun as well. With Peter Jackosn back directing, and Guillermo Del Toro in scripwriting duties, there's a pretty good chance for it.

1. Django Unchained

Oh, Quentin Tarantino. How you always refuse to move from your comfort zone, yet I'm still always eager to see your next film. The director has flirted with the style of spaghetti westerns in each of his movies before, so it was about time he gave into the genre as a whole. Even less surprisingly, it is a story of revenge, as a black slave gets released, trains to be a bounty hunter, and comes back to rescue his wife from a sadistic ranch owner. Inglourious Basterds-style table-turnings must follow.

I have to ask myself, what it is about this film that excites me so. And I must answer that it has to be the cast, probably the most impressive of Tarantino's career, or at least after Pulp Fiction. Tarantino has new roles for the two best actors of his two latest films, Christoph Waltz and Kurt Russell. He has Hollywood A-listers with Leonardo DiCaprio, Samuel L. Jackson and Joseph Gordon-Levitt. He has cult favorites such as Don Johnson, Anthony LaPaglia and even Franco Nero himself. He even has the wild card in Sacha Baron Cohen. The whole thing pulled together with Jamie Foxx and Kerry Washington as the leads. So, this is the kind of cast I'm willing to follow to hell and back. And with Tarantino always whipping up good performances, it'll be a hoot to see who out-acts the other out. And who knows, maybe there will be something new or unexpected in the film. Wouldn't actually be so strange for Tarantino, after all.

Have a good 2012, everyone, and remember to go see movies!