As the 2011 Summer Blockbuster season whimpers to a close after dreadful entries like "Green Lantern" and "Cowboys & Aliens" spewed their visual and aural detritus all over our collective unconsciousness, we can finally start ringing in the fall with some smaller films, albeit a couple weeks early. The end of 2011 promises some films with brains, the most neglected organ by the film industry in this country. Most will be overlooked in the theater, and mostly unseen even on Bluray, but at least there is some interesting pictures coming out that didn't spring from the mind of Stan Lee or Jack Kirby. Who am I kidding, I'm still going to see "Conan."
THE LAST CIRCUS August 12 Just watch the trailer. That's all I need to say. Complete madness. And judging from director Alex de Iglesia's early work this one is going to be off the charts weird.
BRIGHTON ROCK August 19 My interest in this picture stems from director Rowan Joffe's earlier script work with "28 Weeks Later" and "The American." Both were solid pictures that had very simple scripts, and may have been good purely because of the direction. I kind of want to see if his writing skills, along with his directing skills have any need for further study. Let's hope he's no William Monahan
CONTAGION September 9 I'm a sucker for Soderberg. I'm even stoked for "Haywire." He made the most under appreciated masterpiece of 2009, "The Informant!" and consistently makes solid pictures... not counting "Ocean's Thirteen"... or "The Good German." Other than that he's gold.
DRIVE September 16 Ryan Gosling notwithstanding, I think I'm most excited for this movie over any other. Nicolas Winding Refn makes some crazy movies, and while this seems like a bit of a remake of "The Driver" from 1981, I think it is going to be out of control. The bit with the hammer and the bullet in the trailer is awesome.
THE IDES OF MARCH October 7 Strangely I don't really like Ryan Gosling. Did anyone else sit through "All Good Things?" He seems like he still reads Sartre even though he's out of his twenties. But he's in two movies on this list. Then again so is Clooney, but I have no problem with Clooney. His acting choices are pretty stellar, and despite "Leatherheads" I think he has some pretty good directing chops as well.
A VERY HAROLD AND KUMAR CHRISTMAS November 4 This is the exception to the "brains" rule stated above, but the trailer looks hilarious. The last two have been funny, and this one looks to capitalize on Neil Patrick Harris' sexual preference in a way that "Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo" missed. What kind of strippers is he really into?
TINKER, TAILOR, SOLDIER, SPY November 18 Tomas Alfredson's first English Language picture looks like a great look back at a spy genre that never was. A couple movies spring to mind that circumvent the James Bond trappings of these types of pictures; "The Spy Who Came in from the Cold," "Our Man in Havana," "The Tailor of Panama," to name a few. Judging from his work on "Let the Right One In," I can't wait.
WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN December 2 I know almost nothing about this film, but the trailer looks kind of bananas. Even though I think Tilda Swinton looks kind of like a praying mantis, and the kid in the movie is a bit annoying, Lynne Ramsey's "Movern Callar" was a very weird, good little picture, and is worth a watch. It will be interesting to see where she goes with this.
THE DESCENDANTS December 16 Alexander Payne finally making another film. It has been seven years since "Sideways," and the only thing we've gotten from him is the well done pilot for the underwhelming HBO show, "Hung," a vignette from "Paris, J'taime," which I never bothered to see because anthology films are just as annoying as short films which are just as annoying as short stories, and a TV show called "House of Payne," which I've never seen, but the description seems like a departure for the guy.
THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO December 21 I've read the books - okay listened to them on audiobook, but I know the story - I've seen the movies - okay the first two, which kind of suck even for Swedish TV Movies - but I think that David Fincher will do something incredibly moody and dark out of this material. Plus the tag line, "The Feel Bad Movie of Christmas" is pitch perfect for the the tone I'm hoping for.
A DANGEROUS METHOD TBD This might not even come out this year, but it is expected to. Some of Cronenberg's movies can skew to the annoying (eXistenZ springs sickeningly to mind), but his last few films have been nothing short of great. Seems like kind of a boring subject matter, something that you expect Judi Dench to be all over, but this crazy canuck might be able to mine something wacky out of the birth of psychoanalysis.
THE SKIN I LIVE IN TBD The acquired taste that is Pedro Almodovar's movies has been on my palate for years. His Spanish, Sirkian pictures are so smart, funny, sappy, and bizarre that when one comes out I can't wait to get to the theater and see something else and wait for the Almodovar movie to come out on DVD because I'm not going to pay $12 to read anymore. I save that dough for "Transformers 3" where it deserves to be wasted.
THE LAST CIRCUS August 12 Just watch the trailer. That's all I need to say. Complete madness. And judging from director Alex de Iglesia's early work this one is going to be off the charts weird.
BRIGHTON ROCK August 19 My interest in this picture stems from director Rowan Joffe's earlier script work with "28 Weeks Later" and "The American." Both were solid pictures that had very simple scripts, and may have been good purely because of the direction. I kind of want to see if his writing skills, along with his directing skills have any need for further study. Let's hope he's no William Monahan
CONTAGION September 9 I'm a sucker for Soderberg. I'm even stoked for "Haywire." He made the most under appreciated masterpiece of 2009, "The Informant!" and consistently makes solid pictures... not counting "Ocean's Thirteen"... or "The Good German." Other than that he's gold.
DRIVE September 16 Ryan Gosling notwithstanding, I think I'm most excited for this movie over any other. Nicolas Winding Refn makes some crazy movies, and while this seems like a bit of a remake of "The Driver" from 1981, I think it is going to be out of control. The bit with the hammer and the bullet in the trailer is awesome.
THE IDES OF MARCH October 7 Strangely I don't really like Ryan Gosling. Did anyone else sit through "All Good Things?" He seems like he still reads Sartre even though he's out of his twenties. But he's in two movies on this list. Then again so is Clooney, but I have no problem with Clooney. His acting choices are pretty stellar, and despite "Leatherheads" I think he has some pretty good directing chops as well.
A VERY HAROLD AND KUMAR CHRISTMAS November 4 This is the exception to the "brains" rule stated above, but the trailer looks hilarious. The last two have been funny, and this one looks to capitalize on Neil Patrick Harris' sexual preference in a way that "Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo" missed. What kind of strippers is he really into?
TINKER, TAILOR, SOLDIER, SPY November 18 Tomas Alfredson's first English Language picture looks like a great look back at a spy genre that never was. A couple movies spring to mind that circumvent the James Bond trappings of these types of pictures; "The Spy Who Came in from the Cold," "Our Man in Havana," "The Tailor of Panama," to name a few. Judging from his work on "Let the Right One In," I can't wait.
WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN December 2 I know almost nothing about this film, but the trailer looks kind of bananas. Even though I think Tilda Swinton looks kind of like a praying mantis, and the kid in the movie is a bit annoying, Lynne Ramsey's "Movern Callar" was a very weird, good little picture, and is worth a watch. It will be interesting to see where she goes with this.
THE DESCENDANTS December 16 Alexander Payne finally making another film. It has been seven years since "Sideways," and the only thing we've gotten from him is the well done pilot for the underwhelming HBO show, "Hung," a vignette from "Paris, J'taime," which I never bothered to see because anthology films are just as annoying as short films which are just as annoying as short stories, and a TV show called "House of Payne," which I've never seen, but the description seems like a departure for the guy.
THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO December 21 I've read the books - okay listened to them on audiobook, but I know the story - I've seen the movies - okay the first two, which kind of suck even for Swedish TV Movies - but I think that David Fincher will do something incredibly moody and dark out of this material. Plus the tag line, "The Feel Bad Movie of Christmas" is pitch perfect for the the tone I'm hoping for.
A DANGEROUS METHOD TBD This might not even come out this year, but it is expected to. Some of Cronenberg's movies can skew to the annoying (eXistenZ springs sickeningly to mind), but his last few films have been nothing short of great. Seems like kind of a boring subject matter, something that you expect Judi Dench to be all over, but this crazy canuck might be able to mine something wacky out of the birth of psychoanalysis.
THE SKIN I LIVE IN TBD The acquired taste that is Pedro Almodovar's movies has been on my palate for years. His Spanish, Sirkian pictures are so smart, funny, sappy, and bizarre that when one comes out I can't wait to get to the theater and see something else and wait for the Almodovar movie to come out on DVD because I'm not going to pay $12 to read anymore. I save that dough for "Transformers 3" where it deserves to be wasted.
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