LUCIDMEDIA

Top 15 For 2008

Written by Adam A. Donaldson Wednesday, 09 January 2008 11:21

1) Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
In 2007, we had The Simpsons Movie, a film long talked about and waited for even longer. This year, we’ll see after all this time, a new Indiana Jones adventure for the first time in nearly 20 years. Spielberg, Lucas and Ford finally seemed to get their ducks in the row, but truthfully I probably would have been more excited about this before the Star Wars prequel trilogy. Having said though, I’m still really excited.



2) The Dark Knight
Christopher Nolan has a lot of pressure riding on him to deliver with this sequel to Batman Begins, but I’m betting Heath Ledger would trade places with him in a second. Sure Ledger is working in the big shadow of Jack Nicholson as the Joker, but from what I’ve seen he needn’t worry. The seven minute prologue in front of the IMAX version of I Am Legend along with the accompanying trailer and viral websites, all point to one thing: a movie that is possibly going to be the best Batman yet.



3) Cloverfield
From a single teaser in front of Transformers came a year’s worth of buzz. What is it? Who’s in it? What’s it about? What’s stomping around New York now? Is it Voltron? All pertinent questions, but we’ve known all along as to when we’ll get the answers: January 18th, 2008.



4) Iron Man
It’s a good time to be Iron Man. In the comics, he pretty much rules as the unqualified leader of the superhero community. On the big screen, he’s finally getting his close-up with one of the most decorated casts ever assembled for a superhero movie. With Robert Downey Jr, Gwyneth Paltrow, Terrance Howard and Jeff Bridges, all directed by fanboy and filmmaker Jon Favreau, this is a no-brainer.



5) Star Trek XI
Who would have guessed that nearly three years after the mercy killing that was the cancellation of Star Trek: Enterprise, we could actually get excited about a Star Trek movie again? Director J.J. Abrams and his team, many of whom join him from the production offices of Alias and Lost, made the surprisingly bold decision of taking this back to the Kirk era, recasting and relaunching in much the same way as Batman and Bond. Some of his decisions have been interesting (Heroes’ Zachary Quinto as young Spock) and some have been really interesting (Lord of the Rings’ Karl Urban as McCoy). The prognosis? Anything is better than Star Trek: Nemesis.



6) Hellboy II The Golden Army
Guillermo del Toro decided to use his Pan’s Labyrinth clout, not to make some studio project, but to get a sequel to the modestly successful 2004 Hellboy greenlit instead. The trailer and artwork presented so far show del Toro’s signature style being brought to the world of Hellboy, promising it to be an even dippier trip the second time around. Hopefully, the audience will come out for this one in greater numbers.



7) Forgetting Sara Marshall
Following in the footsteps of Seth Rogen, fellow Freaks and Geeks alum Jason Segal gets his chance to shine as leading man. From his own script, Segal plays the dumped boyfriend of the titular TV star played by Kristen Bell. The trailer looks funny, and with Judd Apatow overseeing things, this promises to be the next great crowd-pleasing comedy.



8) The Happening
Mark Wahlberg plays a family man trying to outrun the end of civilization in the new film from M. Night Shyamalan and that’s about as much as I know about this one. The real mystery though is going to be whether the Shyamalan that shows up is going to more Sixth Sense than Lady in the Water.



9) WALL-E
Some people said that even the magic of Pixar couldn’t sell the tale of a rat set loose in a Parisian restaurant’s kitchen, but what about the last robot on Earth? The studio that gave us Toy Story gets experimental again with Andrew Stanton’s (Finding Nemo) dystopian tale of one little robot stuck cleaning up the garbage dump our planet will become. With little dialogue and a far out concept, WALL-E promises to be one of the year’s more unusual offerings.



10) Leatherheads
Sports movies have not been so great as of late. But the reason I have for hope with this one is because it’s George Clooney’s directorial follow-up to the Oscar-nominated Good Night and Good Luck. Plus, it’s a romantic-comedy about professional football in the 1920s, hence the title, which references those old-fashioned leather helmets. By my count, that’s about three good reasons right there to keep an eye out for this picture in the spring.



11) Bond 22
That deafening sound you’re hearing is no one questioning the street cred of Daniel Craig and whether he’s worthy enough to be England’s superest super spy. For all intents and purposes, Craig is now James Bond. With much of the same people both in front of and behind the camera, but with new director Marc Forster (Monster’s Ball, The Kite Runner) at the helm, the untitled 22nd Bond movie promises to pick-up precisely where Casino Royale left off.



12) Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay
The title kind of says it all and the trailers seem to indicate that the original’s mismatch, interracial, stoner comedy has all its low brow humour intact. Bonus points for the poster of Neil Patrick Harris riding a unicorn.



13) Valkyrie
Tom Cruise in an eye-patch? Sweet. But it’s easily the most controversial film of the year because of Cruise’s recent track record and the German government’s belligerence towards the production. The real story though is the re-team of Bryan Singer and Christopher McQuarrie, who made careers of each other on The Usual Suspects. Will the story of Hitler’s attempted assassination treat them as well as past triumphs.



14) The X-Files II
This was unexpected, but at the same time welcome. Five years after the complete fizzle of the series, and the fact that people are ready to distrust government again, it feels like its time to get back to the Truth. What’s it about? Well, it’s in the vain of the Monster-of-the-Week episodes rather than the Mythology and that’s fine by me.



15) Be Kind, Rewind
From Michel Gondry (Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind) comes Jack Black and Mos Def becoming cult heroes by making homemade, low budget versions of people’s favourite movies out of their small video. Naturally, they get into trouble with copyright lawyers. I don’t know about you, but I’m laughing already.