Summer season is over, so what should we be looking forward to before the bell strikes on New Years Eve? These are our 15 most anticipated new movies, 2009.
Inglourious Basterds – released 21 August 2009New Movies 2009 - Guide - Top Movies 2009
After the chop-socky homage of Kill Bill: Volume One, the spaghetti western styling of its sequel, and the mock-sploitation schlock of the Death Proof segment of Grindhouse, Quentin Tarantino’s tour of blood-letting movie genres now takes him to occupied France, with the rapid-yakking auteur delivering his response to such behind-enemy-lines WWII flicks as Robert Aldrich’s The Dirty Dozen and indeed the 1978 Inglorious Bastards (of which Tarantino’s movie shares naught but the (ahem) bastardised version of its title). Inglourious Basterds premiered at Cannes earlier this year to a somewhat muddled response. While the performance of Christopher Waltz as Nazi rotter Hans Landa drew praise, as did the irreverent audacity of Tarantino’s take on the most traumatic conflict in global history, there was some grumbling about the truncated screen time of Brad Pitt’s Lieutenant Aldo Raine and criticism of the dialogue-heavy screenplay. However, as the involvement of the likes of Pitt, Diane Kruger, Mike Myers and (on narration duties) Samuel L. Jackson readily testify, Tarantino is still a film-maker who actors fall over themselves to work with, and with parallel storylines converging in an assassination attempt on Hitler himself at the premiere of a Triumph of the Will-style Nazi propaganda extravaganza, it seems unlikely anyone will be able to moan about Inglourious Basterds being in any way short on incident.
Jennifer’s Body – 18 September 2009New Movies 2009 - Guide - Top Movies 2009
Her role in Transformers may have been responsible for siring the somewhat dubious experience of being sat in a cinema where the entire male section of the audience were undergoing a simultaneous swelling of the groinal region, but one certainly can’t hold that against Megan Fox. And her star looks only set to continue its recent ascent with Jennifer’s Body, a high school horror comedy from the pen of Oscar-winning Juno writer Diablo Cody, in which Fox’s eponymous cheerleader is sacrificed by Adam Brody’s wannabe rock star Nikolai Wolf as part of his bid to land the most Faustian of record deals. However, the blood-letting all goes a bit awry and Jennifer begins chowing down on her fellow students in order to glut her demonic hunger. Directed by Girlfight and Æon Flux helmer Karyn Kusama, and co-starring Amanda Seyfried as “Needy” Lesnicky and Johnny Simmons as Chip Dove (sharing a character name with Matthew Modine’s rapist jock in Hotel New Hampshire), Jennifer’s Body appears an attempt to balance the kind of dark satire of high school society seen in Michael Lehmann’s Heathers with some outright genre thrills. Although whether the shocks contained within the movie itself can measure up to the horror of a soundtrack album featuring such haircut indie guitar goons as Black Kids, White Lies and Panic at the Disco remains to be seen.
Surrogates – 25 September 2009Top Movies 2009
Derived from a comic book series by Robert Venditti, Surrogates finds Bruce Willis toplining his first full-on science-fiction saga since he cranked out Twelve Monkeys and The Fifth Element in fairly rapid succession in the mid-90s. The premise revolves around a future world in which the populace are housebound, their day-to-day interactions being conducted through idealised android versions of themselves - the surrogates of the title. Willis plays an FBI investigator who is called to look into the first homicide in many years, with that killing subsequently raising some major questions regarding the safety of the ubiquitous surrogate proxies. The trailer, depicting a bald and silver-bearded Bruce dispatching a version of himself (ludicrous syrup perched atop his scalp) out into the wider world, contains echoes of the 2004 Will Smith-starrer I, Robot - a central murder conspiracy again threatening to destabilise a seemingly utopian society. Radha Mitchell, Rosamund Pike and Ving Rhames all co-star, and the action sequences look as bombastic as you would expect from Rise of the Machines director Jonathan Mostow.
.
Shutter Island – 2 October 2009 [UPDATE: Moved To February 2010]New Movies 2009 - Shutter Island
Shutter Island represents the fourth cinematic collaboration between Leonardo DiCaprio and Martin Scorsese, with their last link-up on 2006’s The Departed having finally nabbed that long-overdue Oscar for the veteran director of Taxi Driver and Raging Bull. Based on a novel by Mystic River and Gone Baby Gone author Dennis Lehane, the story of Shutter Island finds two federal marshals (DiCaprio and Mark Ruffalo) arriving at a secluded maximum security mental institution, as they investigate the escape of a female patient. The trailer suggests a picture heavy with psychological spookiness, as DiCaprio uncovers disturbing goings-on at the asylum and clashes with Ben Kingsley’s administrative head and Max von Sydow’s physician. The 1950s milieu offers rabid cinephile Scorsese the opportunity to explicitly reference his favourite bygone movie thrillers, while DiCaprio seems to have brought his best tough guy voice to the party as he no doubt seeks to blow the whole case wide open.
.
A Serious Man – 2 October 2009New Movies 2009 - A Serious Man
Following on the heels of the Oscar-garlanded No Country for Old Men and superstar-festooned Burn After Reading, A Serious Man would appear a comparatively low-key offering from the Coen Brothers. Yet the adroitly-cut trailer has given cause for optimism that this 60s-set tale of a Minnesotan academic undergoing a personal crisis might just be the writer-director-producer siblings’ best outright comedy since The Big Lebowski. Michael Stuhlbarg stars as the bedevilled Larry Gopnik, whose home and work lives begin to simultaneously unravel, leaving him turning to his Jewish faith for guidance. The cast of A Serious Man is made up of expressive character actors rather than the glistening Hollywood fizzogs of Burn After Reading, and the broad madcap comic approach of that latter movie and the Coens’ Ladykillers remake would seem to have been abandoned in favour of a dry, darkly ironic humour, closer in tone to Fargo and Lebowski.
.
Zombieland – 2 October 2009Top Movies 2009 - A Serious Man
The odd couple pairing of macho Woody Harrelson and weedy Jesse Eisenberg join forces in a bid to stay alive as a zombie plague sweeps America in this jokey take on undead infestation from director Rueben Fleischer. Harrelson plays zombie-marauding cowboy Tallahassee, in a role which sees the actor melding the homespun charm of Cheers’ Woody Boyd with the carnage-causing capacity of Natural Born Killers’ Mickey Knox. Aside from busting open cadaverous craniums, Zombieland also apparently sets Tallahassee the task of tracking down the planet’s last remaining Twinkie, in what must be the most significant genre pic mention of the famed snack bar since Ghostbusters’ Egon Spengler used one to illustrate the increased spirit activity in the Manhattan area. And speaking of Ghostbusters, Bill Murray is also rumoured to have a cameo in Fleischer’s film as one of the unfortunate ghouls.
.
Where the Wild Things Are – 16 October 2009New Movies 2009 - Where The Whild Things Are
Maurice Sendak’s illustrated children’s book from 1963 finally receives the full cinematic treatment - Being John Malkovich and Adaptation director Spike Jonze teaming up with Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius writer Dave Eggers to try and transmute Where the Wild Things Are into a crowd-pleasing feature. The story depicts schoolboy Max’s (Max Records) mental escape from the drudgery of reality via imaginative trips to a faraway land, where he encounters and reigns over the Wild Things of the title (voices for this company of creatures being provided by James Gandolfini, Catherine O’ Hara, Paul Dano and Forest Whitaker, amongst others). The recently released trailer suggests Jonze and Eggers have expanded Sendak’s scenario through greater in-depth exploration of Max’s real-world life, both at school and at home with mum Connie (Catherine Keener). This in turn presumably will provide rationale for the constitution of his confabulated Land of the Wild Things, as well as motivation for his ultimate decision to turn his back on his kingdom.
.
The Box – 6 November 20092009 New Movies - The Box
After the catastrophic reception afforded to the much-delayed Southland Tales, writer-director Richard Kelly will surely be hoping to recover some of the goodwill engendered by his earlier Donnie Darko when his adaptation of I Am Legend and Incredible Shrinking Man writer Richard Matheson’s short story Button, Button arrives in movie theatres on 6 November. Set in the 1976, The Box is a high-concept supernatural thriller which sees handsome married couple Cameron Diaz and James Marsden taking delivery of the titular cuboid, finding it contains only a red button. They are visited by the scarred Arlington Steward (Frank Langella), who advises them that pressing the button will result in financial fortune for them but will also cause the death of a stranger somewhere else in the world. The trailer suggests Kelly has opened out Matheson’s basic scenario significantly, with the blend of 70s setting and slightly camp creepiness offering an echo of the original version of The Omen.
A Christmas Carol – 6 November 20092009 New Movies - A Christmas Carol
If you were trying to think of the ideal role for craggy-faced British thespian Gary Oldman, then Tiny Tim, the limping little cherub from Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, would probably appear somewhere near the bottom of any compiled list. But, thanks to the digital hocus-pocus offered by Back to the Future director Robert Zemeckis’s continuing experiments in 3D motion capture cinema, this November will see the erstwhile Commissioner Jim Gordon being given the, surely once-in-a-lifetime, chance to play a sickly child in Victorian London. Starring in this latest of countless movie versions of Dickens’ classic tale is Jim Carrey, who not only tackles the lead of Ebeneezer Scrooge but also plays all three of the Ghosts who visit the curmudgeonly miser on a fateful Christmas Eve. As noted, Oldman is Tiny Tim, and he is also playing that character’s father Bob Cratchit, as well as Scrooge’s deceased business partner Jacob Marley.
.
2012 – 13 November 2009Best Movies 2009 - 2012
In Independence Day, it was extraterrestrial invaders. In The Day After Tomorrow, it was climate change. And now 2012 finds director Roland Emmerich utilising Mayan doomsday prophecies as the flimsy excuse for some planet-devastating action. Fun bits of iconic destruction appear to be again on the film-maker’s agenda, with the trailer showing Rio’s Christ the Redeemer crumbling away, the Washington Monument toppling, and the Vatican collapsing on a multitude of massed worshippers (you can almost hear Emmerich yelling “Yield to the majesty of CGI, you poor superstitious fools!”). John Cusack is the everyman at the head of the ensemble cast, with support coming from Woody Harrelson as an ignored doom-monger, and Danny Glover, offering a calming presence in the White House hot seat.
.
Ninja Assassin – 27 November 2009Great Movies 2009 - Ninja Assassin
There are several ways a movie can generate excitement ahead of its release. For example, it might be based on an intellectual property that has a strong and loyal following. Or it might be the latest work from an acclaimed director or exciting acting talent. Or it might represent a startling new technical innovation in movie-making. Or alternatively it might have platoons of ninjas in it, lobbing mountains of shuriken at one another, and generally busting out some choice fighting moves. As the does-what-it-says-on-the-tin title indicates, Ninja Assassin very much falls into this exclusive latter category. Directed by V For Vendetta’s James McTeigue and produced by Joel Silver and the Wachowski Brothers, Ninja Assassin sees South Korean pop star Rain hooking up with Pirates of the Caribbean actress Naomie Harris to take on the ninja hordes. Here comes the Big Boss, let’s get it on!
.
The Lovely Bones – 11 December 2009New 2009 Movies
Peter Jackson returns to the directorial fray for the first time since 2005’s King Kong with his adaptation of Alice Seabold’s bestseller The Lovely Bones. A big name cast – Susan Sarandon, Rachel Weisz, Stanley Tucci and Mark Wahlberg – have been assembled in the service of the story of teenager Susie Salmon (Saiorse Ronan), who is murdered by a neighbour and subsequently watches over her family as they try to come to terms with her death. Set in 1970s Pennsylvania, the movie features lavish fantasy sequences, depicting Susie’s experiences of the afterlife as she lurks in close spiritual proximity to her loved ones. With a December release date, the movie looks set to angle for some Oscar nominations, but audiences will be surely more interested in whether Jackson is able to keep the sentimentality in check.
.
Avatar – 18 December 2009New Movie 2009
It’s almost certainly the most expensive film of all time, and James Cameron’s first feature offering since Titanic is also one of the most-hyped productions in recent memory. Flagged as a benchmark release, trumpeted as a leap forward in 3D cinema technology, billed as a space opera that’s more frighteningly realistic than looking in the mirror after a night on the ale, Avatar is the tale of paraplegic former soldier Sully (Sam Worthington), who journeys to the alien world of Pandora and is granted use of a fresh, genetically-engineered body – the Avatar of the title. Sully is soon drawn into the war between the human interlopers and Pandora’s native inhabitants, with this conflict presenting the opportunity for Cameron to lay on some lavish action sequences. Details are still fairly scarce, but all should become far clearer after Avatar Day on 21 August, when the trailer will finally be released and fans can check out preview footage at special IMAX screenings.
.
Sherlock Holmes – 25 December 2009New Movies 09
From Avatar’s futuristic scenario and high-tech production we now lurch back down to Earth and into the company of the hoariest old stager of them all - Sherlock Holmes, master detective of old London town. Sherlock Holmes sees director Guy Richie attempting to rescue the cultural icon from the clichés, and reinvest him and loyal sidekick Watson (played by Robert Downey Jr and Jude Law respectively) with some of the toughness and street smarts credited to the pair by creator Arthur Conan Doyle (although Downey Jr has recently confirmed that the literary Holmes’ cocaine habit will not be making a comeback). There is no Moriarty on villain duties - the nefarious threat instead comes from Mark Strong’s vampiric Lord Blackwood, while the increasingly ubiquitous Rachel McAdams appears as Irene Adler – the woman from Doyle’s story A Scandal in Bohemia.
.
The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus – release date TBC 2009
New 2009 - The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus
We all know the story behind The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus by now. Heath Ledger passing away before filming could be completed, only for Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Colin Farrell to step in and allow director Terry Gilliam to complete the movie (the dimension-hopping plot creating narrative window for the physical amendment of Ledger’s confidence trickster character Tony). The lively trailer suggests Dr. Parnassus could be a possible companion piece to Gilliam’s earlier fantastical romps, Time Bandits and The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, and the casting of Tom Waits as the Devil appears a mighty fine fit. UK audiences will be able to see The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus from 16 October, but an American release date is still to be confirmed.
New 2009 - The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus
We all know the story behind The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus by now. Heath Ledger passing away before filming could be completed, only for Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Colin Farrell to step in and allow director Terry Gilliam to complete the movie (the dimension-hopping plot creating narrative window for the physical amendment of Ledger’s confidence trickster character Tony). The lively trailer suggests Dr. Parnassus could be a possible companion piece to Gilliam’s earlier fantastical romps, Time Bandits and The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, and the casting of Tom Waits as the Devil appears a mighty fine fit. UK audiences will be able to see The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus from 16 October, but an American release date is still to be confirmed.
Post a Comment