2009 Movie Preview
1. Watchmen (March 6th)
“Who watches the Watchmen?” More like, “Will we be able to watch the Watchmen on March 6th as planned?” While the litigation brought by 20th Century Fox continues, and the spite of Warner Bros being able to do something in two years what they couldn’t do in nearly 20 continues to fester, we can only assume the opening is going down as scheduled. To expect otherwise could mean more suffering for a vocal fandom that’s been waiting over two decades to see brought to life on the silver screen. I’m excited too, but I’m reserving judgment and taking a considered approach. Exactly how much of Alan Moore’s subtext will survive to the final cut and how much bandwagonism will we, the true fans, have to put up with if this becomes the crossover success the studios hope it will be? Hopefully we’ll find out first weekend in March.
2. Star Trek (May 8th)
It’s been 20 years since Star Trek tried to play with the Boys of Summer, and this time the stakes couldn’t be higher. Paramount is doubling-down on J.J. Abrams by giving him $150 million and an IMAX slot to bring a Trek reboot to the big screen with a recast Original Series crew and an upgraded for the 21st century (as seeing the 23rd) U.S.S. Enterprise. The
people are suspicious, and they have a right to be, Trek hasn’t had a crossover appeal since Jeri Ryan wore Seven of Nine’s silver body suit. But with the premiere of the new trailer last November I had several people tell me, “I’m not a Trekker, but I’ve got to see this movie.” Here, here. Even Karl Urban as Dr. McCoy gives me a reason to believe. “Space is disease and danger, wrapped in darkness and silence.” Right on, Bones. I mean, Live long and prosper.
3. Inglorious Bastards (August 21st)
Enzo Castellari's 1978 film as remade by Quentin Tarantino’s pop culture saturated brain. This one’s been in the works since before Kill Bill, but only recently was Tarantino able to pull together a script that he liked and set himself the deadline of finishing the film before the Cannes Festival this May. Enzo Castellari's original film was an Italian-made cash-in on The Dirty Dozen, as five prisoners escape custody and volunteer for a commando mission to steal a vital component of the Nazis’ V2 rockets. In Tarantino’s, Tennessee hillbilly Brad Pitt leads a crew of Jewish-Americans out to kill Nazis, pure and simple, shortly after D-Day. In typical Tarantino fashion, many, intersecting storylines will unfold amongst the main action, as an all-star cast including Mike Myers, Eli Roth, Samm Levine, Diane Kruger, B. J. Novak and Cloris Leachman brings the film to life.
4. Public Enemies (July 1st)
Based on Bryan Burrough's book Public Enemies: America's Greatest Crime Wave and the Birth of the FBI, 1933–34, Michael Mann’s new film hopes to recapture the glamour of the celebrity gangster of the 1930s. Johnny Depp plays bank robber John Dillinger and Christian Bale plays Melvin Purvis, the dedicated FBI agent trying to bring him in. But more than that, the film features a League of Mobsters-like rotation including Baby Face Nelson (Stephen Graham) and Pretty Boy Floyd (Channing Tatum). Extra credit goes to Mann though for going back to the Biograph Theatre in Chicago and shooting Dillinger’s dramatic last stand on the very ground he died on in real life.
5. Pontypool (TBD)
Another film based on a book, this time it’s Tony Burgess' Pontypool Changes Everything. Canadian filmmaker Bruce Macdonald visits the horror genre by taking us to a radio station studio in the midst of a normal morning when reports of violence are breaking out all over. It’s 28 Days Later as “seen” from the limited vantage point of a holed up church basement as survivors try to stave off infection and collect information from a world falling apart. Myopic, claustrophobic and maybe even terrifying, this film could be The horror film to see of the 2009 year.
6. Avatar (December 18th)
I guess with Watchmen coming out in March, it’s only fitting that we get another long-gestating film to round out the year; especially one directed by a man that’s been warming the bench for 12 years. James Cameron returns to narrative filmmaking for the first time since Titanic. He’s had the story for a while, which is about human, using genetically-created entities controlled by human consciences remotely, to explore an alien world. And because it’s James Cameron, an entire alien world was created from scratch in intimate detail, with the assistance of state-of-the-art computer graphics. The film stars Sam Worthington, an as yet unknown Australian actor who’ll be making waves in another Cameron-related franchise this summer, Terminator: Salvation.
7. Sherlock Holmes (November 20th)
How does the guy that made RocknRolla and Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels find himself helming an adaptation of Britain’s most famous, deerstalker cap wearing, calabash pipe smoking, 19th century detective? Unknown, but the juxtaposition sure is interesting, as is the casting of Robert Downey Jr. as the great detective. It’s safe to say that any resemblance to the Basil Rathbone Holmes series on the BBC will be quite coincidental. Apparently, Warner Bros is hoping that Downey’s Holmes will be successful enough to warrant sequels, and Professor Moriarty is already warming up in the franchise bullpen.
8. Where the Wild Things Are (October 16th)
Another classic book comes to the big screen this fall, but this one though is rather unique though when you consider that Maurice Sendak’s original children’s book is only ten lines long. But this is Spike Jonze we’re talking about, so anything’s possible. The question is though: will Where the Wild Things Are turn out like Cat in the Hat or like The Wizard of Oz? One good thing though is that the Wild Things are all nine-foot tall foam suits, but with CG-enhanced heads for obvious reasons. There’s been some controversy that Jonze was removed by the studio, and his vision of the project scraped, not to mention the debate as to whether Sendak’s book can translate to film at all. Leave it to Spike Jonze to turn a movie based on a book about a boy in a wolf costume hanging out with monsters into a thing.
9. The Lovely Bones (December 11th)
For the first time in 13 years, Peter Jackson attaches his name to something that involves neither Middle Earth nor giant apes. The basis for this film is the best-selling novel by Alice Sebold about a 14-year-old girl that watches her family from heaven after she’s raped and murdered by a serial killer in a Philadelphia suburb. The powerful story about trauma and loss was optioned by Jackson as he was wrapping up Return of the King; it was going to be his follow-up film until the chance to do King Kong presented itself. But regardless, anyone that’s seen Jackson’s breakthrough Heavenly Creatures knows that he’s as adept at doing down to Earth drama as he is at bringing fantasy worlds to life.Jackson co-wrote the screenplay with Lord of the Rings collaborators Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens
10. The Princess and the Frog (December 25th)
When Disney acquired Pixar in 2006, it was John Lasseter’ s stated intent to undo the company’s decision to make 2004’s Home on the Range its final 2-D animated feature. Lasseter’s goal of resurrecting the Disney tradition is put to the test this Christmas with the release of the 49th Disney feature animated film, and the first one to be completely overseen under Lasseter since becoming the head of Disney Animation. Amongst the other firsts on this film is Disney’s first Black princess character, Tiana, voiced by Tony-winning singer and actress Anika Noni Rose. The film is set in New Orleans during the 1920s Jazz age, and although there’s already been some controversy in regards to a few leaked bits about the film’s content, there’s no doubt that excitement will be high (especially amongst animation buffs) for this film. Ron Clements and John Musker, the duo well known for bring Aladdin and The Little Mermaid, are directing and regular Pixar song-maker Randy Newman is writing the music.
11. Drag Me to Hell (May 29th)
Sam Raimi has spent the last several years focused on Spider-Man and his amazing friends, but this summer he’ll return to horror, albeit, regrettably deadite free. Not mush is known about the film other than the screenplay is from Raimi and his brother Ivan, and that it involves a young woman who finds herself on the wrong end of a supernatural curse. Allison Lohman, Justin Long, Jessica Lucas and David Paymer star.
12. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (June 26th)
This was probably the biggest rush job of 2009 until Summit Entertainment decided to pile drive the Twilight sequel into development so it can be released this fall, but that’s another story. Will the short turnaround because of the Writers’ Strike, not to mention accident prone leading man Shia LaBeouf, end up being a hint of things to come on this sequel to the 2007 hit? Don’t be so sure, at least not with the promise of more robots and more action. Recently released pictures showed the filming of a big action sequence at the Giza Pyramids in Egypt, and if you’re aware of Michael Bay’s work then you know that’s only the tip of the iceberg. As for the first Transformers other special effect, Megan Fox, you can get a double dose of her this year in Transformers 2 and as a demon-possessed cheerleader in Diablo Cody’s Juno follow-up Jennifer’s Body.
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