Jan 02 2009
My 18 Most Anticipated Movies of 2009
2009 is now upon us. A year of possibilities and promises. New Years resolutions to be broken, movies to be seen. With a whole year of movies ahead of us, it is a good time to plan out those movies that really matter. Here are the top 18 movies that I’ll be looking forward to this year.
Coraline - February 6
A new claymation film from the director of Nightmare Before Christmas and based on a story by Neil Gaiman? Yes PLEASE!
Fanboys - February 6
A group of friends journey to Skywalker Ranch to steal Star Wars: Episode I before its release. This film has been on a long and difficult road to getting released but now it’s finally coming to theaters. The story behind the film itself is worthy of a film or at least an inspirational TV movie.
Watchmen - March 6 (hopefully)
It’s no stretch to call this the most anticipated movie of the year. With the release date threatened by legal action, fans can only hope that both Fox and Warner’s can pull their heads out of their butts and come to an agreement soon.
The Great Buck Howard - March 20
This out-of-nowhere film stars John Malkovich and Colin Hanks. From the trailer it looks rather charming. That, and Conan O’Brien and Jon Stewart appearing as themselves doesn’t hurt either.
X-Men Origins: Wolverine - May 1
The trailer makes this look like it could actually be a decent spinoff. I just hope they don’t screw up Gambit. That guy is pretty cool in the comics.
Star Trek - May 8
I’m not a Trekkie by any stretch of the imagination. I’ve never seen any of the series and I’ve only seen the second and third movies but thanks to J.J. Abrams, I am super excited about this movie. The presence of Simon Pegg also helps a lot too.
Brothers Bloom - May 15
The second feature by writer/director Rian Johnson. I saw his first film Brick in the theater and was blown away by it. This one looks to be a lot of fun and is one of my most anticipated of 2009. If you haven’t seen Brick yet, do yourself a favor and go buy it.
Avatar - May 22
I don’t know a whole lot about this movie other than it is directed by James Cameron. That’s enough for me.
Monsters vs. Aliens - May 22
If the title alone doesn’t do it for you, then maybe the voice talent will: Seth Rogen, Hugh Laurie, Rainn Wilson, Stephen Colbert, Will Arnett. How can this not be good? I submit that it cannot not be good.
Up - May 29
One word: Pixar.
The Boat That Rocked - probably May
Written and directed by Richard Curtis who was also a frequent colaborator of Rowan Atkinson’s Mr. Bean series and starring awesome people like Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Bill Nighy and Nick Frost. According to IMDb, there’s no US release date yet but it comes out in the UK in mid May so I assume it’ll be state bound a little while after that.
The Hangover - June 12
The premise sounds merely okay, but it’s got Ed Helms and Zach Galifianakis in it.
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince - July 17
This was the most intense in the series of books and I pray to God that they rertain that intensity in the film.
District 9 - August 14
I saw banners for this at Comic-Con and had no clue what it was. It wasn’t until yesterday when I was putting this list together that I saw that it is written and directed by Neill Blomkamp who made the fantastic short film Alive in Joburg (which you may still be able to find on YouTube) and was signed to direct the Halo movie before it went under. Little is known about this movie but I eagerly await this visionary director’s new film.
Inglorious Basterds - August 21
Quentin Tarantino. He may be overrated, but his movies are pretty fun. This one gets me excited because it looks unlike anything Tarantino has done before.
9 - September 9
I hadn’t heard anything about this movie before seeing the trailer and it absolutely blew me away. You can see it in high quality on apple’s trailer site. Produced by Tim Burton, this looks like a steampunk adult’s CG movie. September is much too far away.
Where the Wild Things Are - October 16
I never read the book that this is based on but I absolutely love Spike Jonze and this looks amazing. I’ve heard that Jonze and the studio have had difficulties with each other but all that seems to be panning out nicely.
The Wolf Man - November 6
Family friendly Joe Johnston isn’t the first person you’d think of to bring this classic horror remake to the screen. From screenshots I’ve seen, this won’t be like his typical fare. And with makeup wizard Rick Baker doing the effects, it’ll look spectacular. I don’t know if he’ll ever top his werewolf transformation from An American Werewolf in London, but I’m crossing my fingers it at least won’t be a CG transformation.
The Lovely Bones - December 11
Written and directed by Peter Jackson. Need I say more?
What movies are you looking forward to in 2009?
