just got done watching 'fast & furious' (great fun, especially seeing the original cast reunited) and 'sin nombre' (terrific directorial debut of cary fukunaga) and realized that there's a plethora of films coming out this year that i cannot wait for. in order:
1. avatar - it only took 12 years, but the return of jim cameron at last, in glorious digital 3-D. considering the last time out ended up being the biggest film in box office history, i'd probably be a tad gun-shy as well. cameron wrote the treatment in 1995 as a way of pushing the boundaries, but only now has technology caught up to his creative vision.
his crew: "we can't do this. we'll die."
steven spielberg: "will be the biggest 3-D live action film ever."
laz alonso (cast): "the technology is something that no one has ever seen or used before. it is just unrivaled by anything that my eyes have ever seen in cinema. it blew me away."
excited yet?
2. public enemies - michael mann. 1930's. johnny depp. christian bale. tommy guns. so there.
3. where the wild things are - a filmed version of my favorite childhood book directed by spike jonze. please god don't mess this up. please.
4. up - another pixar smash. yawn. but seriously, these guys keep knocking it out of the park and this looks to be no different. can you imagine them first pitching this? "that's correct, we're going to center this entire animated film around a 78-year-old man sitting in his house. um, that's it." and his asian boy scout sidekick looks to break new ground as well, so hooray for blind casting!
5. the lovely bones - peter jackson's return to 'independent' filmmaking after the lord of the rings and king kong. i fell in love with this book back in 2002 about a girl who, after being brutally raped and murdered, watches from heaven as her family and friends try to carry on with their lives. it's a touching story written from a unique viewpoint, so i'm crossing my fingers they can maintain that same magic...
