Top 10 Most Anticipated Films of 2011

[modage]

1. Moonrise Kingdom (Wes Anderson)
Anderson's 7th film is set in the 1960's as 2 twelve year olds fall in love and run away from their New England town.  Cast includes Bruce Willis, Edward Norton, Bill Murray, Frances McDormand, Tilda Swinton and 2 yet-to-be-named pre-teens.  As much as I've been disappointed by his recent films I'm still hoping he's got another classic in him.  This could be it.

2. The Tree Of Life (Terrence Malick)
This was in the same spot last year but now we've got a trailer and an actual release date.  The film features Brad Pitt and Sean Penn as father and son, (in the 1950's and present day), and will probably be beautiful (as long as it's not boring.)  I'm pretty sure the dinosaurs are out, though.

3. The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (David Fincher)
Fresh off his Best Picture win for The Social Network, (you know it's going to happen), Fincher has turned his attention to an adaptation of the first installment in the incredibly popular Millenium Trilogy.  I saw the Swedish original and had a hard time picturing anyone turning it into something interesting but if anyone can do it, Fincher can.  (Benjamin Button notwithstanding.)

4. Hugo Cabaret (Martin Scorsese)
Martin Scorsese ditches Leonardo DiCaprio for the first time in a decade to adapt this book about an orphan living inside a train station in 1930's Paris.  The film stars "Hit Girl" Chloe Moretz along with Christopher Lee, Sacha Baron Cohen and Jude Law among others and will be filmed entirely in 3D.  (Not kidding.)

5. Super 8 (JJ Abrams)
I'm not sure exactly what this is about and I like it that way.  I do know it stars Kyle "Coach Taylor" Chandler, Elle Fanning (who was amazing in Somewhere) and appears to evoke an 80's era Spielberg.  JJ Abrams loves "mystery boxes" and next summer I'm going to open one with Super 8 inside.  Watch the teaser.

6. Contagion (Steven Soderbergh)
In case anyone thought Soderbergh was taking it easy this year, (after releasing 4 films in 2009), he's already got 2 films ready to go for 2011.  The 2nd of which is Contagion, a CDC centered action-thriller with a huge cast including Matt Damon, Kate Winslet, Marion Cottiard, Gweneth Paltrow, Jude Law, Bryan Cranston, etc. etc.  He doesn't need to retire, he just needs to slow down!

7. Haywire (Steven Soderbergh)
That other Soderbergh film, which will be released first, is Haywire.  A gritty spy thriller described as "if Alfred Hitchock made a Pam Grier movie", this one stars mixed martial arts fighter Gina Carano backed by another sizeable cast including Ewan McGregor, Michael's Douglas & Fassbender, Bill Paxton and Antonio Banderas.  I almost got to see it last month but apparently that was impossible.

8. Submarine (Richard Ayoade)
This one came out of nowhere at the Toronto Film Festival where it got ecstatic reviews and I decided I had to see it as soon as possible.  The quote that got me was: "A coming of age story which is equal parts Rushmore, Election and Squid and the Whale." and if everything works out that will hopefully be in about 4 weeks at Sundance.  Please let everything work out.

9. The Descendants (Alexander Payne)
Somehow it's been almost 7 years since Payne's last film hit theatres.  In that time there's been a lot of Payne-lite, (The Weather Man, Up In The Air, etc.) but there's no substitute for the real thing.  George Clooney stars as a man trying to reconnect with his 2 daughters after his wife suffers a boating accident.  He will probably find himself in painfully awkward/funny humiliating situations.

10. The Skin That I Inhabit (Pedro Almodovar)
This one is going to be dark.  Antonio Banderas reteams with director Almodovar for the first time in 2 decades starring as a plastic surgeon hunting for the men who raped his daughter.  Yikes!  But I'm sure it will still have the directors trademark color palette, a beautiful score and a tone that switches from melodrama to comedy and back again.  I hope.



11. Drive (Nicolas Winding Refn)
Ryan Gosling is a stuntman who moonlights as a getaway driver.  From the (insane) director of Bronson and also starring Carey Mulligan, Christina Hendricks, Albert Brooks and Bryan Cranston.

12. Hanna (Joe Wright)
It looks like a remake of The Professional from the director of Pride & Prejudice.  Starring Saoirse Ronan, Cate Blanchett and Eric Bana.    Watch the trailer.

13. Your Highness (David Gordon Green)
Unofficial Pineapple Express sequel, set in medieval times, swaps Seth Rogen for Natalie Portman AND Zooey Deschanel.  Sounds like an upgrade.  (Sorry Seth.)  Watch the trailer.

14. Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows Part II (David Yates)
The last last finally last and final Harry Potter film.  I can't wait.  No spoilers.

15. Cowboys & Aliens (Jon Favreau)
I'm still not sure how much I trust Jon Favreau to direct action, but I do trust Daniel Craig to be a badass.  And it would be great for Harrison Ford to have a role that wasn't terrible.  Watch the teaser.

16. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (Tomas Alfredsen)
A Cold War espionage film starring Thomas Hardy, Gary Oldman and Colin Firth would be exciting.  But that film directed by the guy who did Let The Right One In is a must-see.

17. This Must Be The Place (Paolo Sorrentino)
The insane director of Il Divo brings you Sean Penn, (dressed as Robert Smith from The Cure) stars as an aging rock star who sets out to find his fathers executioner, an ex-Nazi war criminal.  

18. X-Men: First Class (Matthew Vaughn)
I had about zero interest in an X-Men reboot until I saw Kick-Ass and they set the film in the 60's.  Now I have a lot of interest.  They even hired January Jones so I keep picturing Mad Men-era X-Men and I can't not love that.

19. Sucker Punch (Zach Snyder)
While it looks way too CGI heavy for my liking, it also looks insane.  And once every 2 years I kinda look forward to a Zach Snyder film.  Watch the trailer.

20. The Muppets (James Bobin)
A brand new Muppets film, from the writers of Forgetting Sarah Marshall and the director of Flight Of The Conchords.  It might actually work.



Also released: While We're Young (Noah Baumbach), Young Adult (Jason Reitman), Source Code (Duncan Jones), Beginners (Mike Mills), War Horse (Steven Spielberg), Paul (Greg Mottola), 30 Minutes Or Less (Ruben Fleischer), The Sitter (David Gordon Green), Wanderlust (David Wain), Bridesmaids (Paul Feig), The Hangover Part II (Todd Phillips), Twixt Now and Sunrise (Francis Ford Coppola), The Cabin In The Woods (Drew Goddard), One Day (Lone Scherfig), We Bought A Zoo (Cameron Crowe), The Adventures of Tintin (Steven Spielberg), Mission: Impossible: Ghost Protocol (Brad Bird), Cars 2 (John Lassetter), The Green Hornet (Michel Gondry)

See how other years turned out:
2010 ::: 2009 ::: 2008 ::: 2007 ::: 2006 ::: 2005

[Stefen]

Threw this together really quickly. I'm hungover and bitter about how this year started out so I reserve the right to edit this at anytime during 2011.

10. Under the Skin (Jonathan Glazer) - I haven't read the book, but it sounds really neat. Plus Birth is mad underrated.

9. Restless (Gus Van Sant) - Only because I really miss Van Sant. I was so used to him releasing things often but he hasn't made anything in awhile. It's kind of like how you take something for granted, then it's taken away and it makes you realize how lucky you were to have it.

8. Take This Waltz (Sarah Polley) - Don't know too much about this one except that it stars Seth Rogen (eh) and Michelle Williams (yay), but after the amazing Away from Her I've really been looking forward to whatever she does next.

7. Melancholia (Lars von Trier) Sci-Fi done von Trier style.

6. The Skin That I Inhabit (Pedro Almodovar) Revenge done Almodovar style.

5. Hanna (Joe Wright) - I didn't care for any of Wrights other proper British movies, but this looks totally different and looks like so much fun. 

4. The Grandmasters (Wong Kar-wai) -Tony Leung stars as Yip Man, the guy who taught Bruce Lee everything he knows. No Christopher Doyle, tho 

3. A Dangerous Method (David Cronenberg) - Cronenberg has been on a roll lately. His last two films have been either great (History of Violence) or really really good (Eastern Promises) and a film starring Viggo Mortensen as Sigmund Freud and Mike Fassbender as Carl Jung sounds really fascinating. Let's hope 12 year old boy Kiera Knightley doesn't sink it.

2. We Need to Talk About Kevin (Lynne Ramsay) – Anytime Lynne Ramsay has a film come out, it's going to make my list. This film about a mother dealing with her grief and guilt after her son goes on a school shooting spree sound very interesting.

1. The Tree of Life (Terrence Malick) - I've been waiting so long for this movie I'm almost worried it won't deliver. That's impossible, right?

Other stuff I'm looking forward to -- The Turin Horse (Bela Tarr), We Are What We Are (Jorge Michel Grau) 2010, but hasn't been released yet, some are comparing this family of cannibals film to Let The Right One In. Source Code (Duncan Jones) woo hoo for contemporary sci-fi! Post Tenebras Lux (Carlos Reygadas), We Bought A Zoo (Cameron Crowe) he used to be one of my favorites, I want to see what he comes up with after a long break. Contagion (Steven Soderbergh), Hugo Cabret (Martin Scorsese), The Descendants (Alexander Payne), Take Shelter (Jeff Nichols), Meeks Cuttoff (Kelly Riechardt), was this 2010? I heard nothing about it. Wendy and Lucy is so good. Sunset Limited (Tommy Lee Jones), Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada was one of the most underrated movies of 2005. Oh and especially A.I. on blu-ray!

Stuff I couldn't care less about and will probably not see – Most fanboy or comic book movies. Except Scream 4, Fright Night and Super 8 (even tho Abrams is kind of king of the fanboys), those could be cool. Either I'm just getting too old for these types of movies or they're really played out. I think it's a bit of both. Too old for fanboy movies and comic book movies are played out. Thor and Green Lantern look pretty much the same, Sucker Punch is trying way too hard to be cool. They're aiming for theater shouts of "Shes so hot!" and "omg that was so badass!" It looks like the type of movie that has fanboys doing sound effects as they're explaining to their excema riddled friend about how awesome it was.  Xmen and Spiderman reboots - seriously? The only reason they're being rebooted is because the fad hasn't ended and the studios want a way to milk these franchises for more cash.

[Reel]

2. We Need to Talk About Kevin (Lynne Ramsay) – Anytime Lynne Ramsay has a film come out, it's going to make my list. This film about a mother dealing with her grief and guilt after her son goes on a school shooting spree sound very interesting.

!!!

[pete]

Stefen:
have you seen this other version of Ip Man?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7g6jc_9OzhI&feature=related

[Stefen]

Nope. It's on Netflix instant. Worth checking out?

[matt35mm]

Stefen, your list is my list.

Also, yeah, Meek's Cutoff is 2011.  I got to see it at a film festival though and I thought it was brilliant.

[squints]

I just watched Ip man on netflix the other day and i loved it. great great fights. and i was extremely excited to learn wong kar wai is making his own version.

[pete]

Nope. It's on Netflix instant. Worth checking out?

yeah but it's pretty dumb and slick, good acting but dumb (though emotionally effective/ manipulative) script.

[Gold Trumpet]

A lot of movies I want to see, but my youthful movie life would be complete if the Muppets return to prominence. They made great movies in 70s and early 80s and I loved them as a kid. The more I read about the people involved in the new version, the more hope I have.

[socketlevel]

you forgot to mention haywire is written by lem dobbs, who also wrote kafka and the limey for him. he also did touch ups for dark city. he's one of cinema's best kept secrets.

[children with angels]

Margaret (Kenneth Lonergan)

YES. I've been hearing about this for what seems like years. Deeply love You Can Count on Me, so whatever Lonergan does I will watch.

[modage]

http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/archives/the_playlists_most_anticipated_films_of_2011/

[Stefen]

ThePlaylist's commentary gets on my nerves all the time, but they still make some of my favorite non-xixax lists out there.

[modage]

I'm just happy I didn't miss anything major on mine (so far).

[samsong]

not too many kiarostami fans here.