The 100 of '12


Part 4 - (October-December)

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Taken 2
October 5

Liam Neeson is back, with Famke Jannsen and Maggie Grace. Loved the first one but I was skeptical that this needed a sequel until I saw the trailer. It couldn’t be more of a Taken movie that it's going to be. I hope he gives the exact same speech at some point in the movie. Shame about the PG-13 again...


Frankenweenie
October 5

Disney & Tim Burton stop motion animated film that is also black & white (huh?), & 3-D (lol) about a zombie dog. Voice talents of Winona Ryder, Martin Short, etc.


Pitch Perfect
October 5

Dear lord. The premise for this movie alone is laughable: a “Glee” meets “Bridesmaids” comedy about an A Capella championship. I hate this movie…and then I watched the trailer. Might be something here, looks funny…or probably just a decent trailer. At least Anna Kendrick (Twilight, Scott Pilgrim) is in it and she’s fine.

Argo
October 12

Directed by and Starring Ben Affleck, about the 1979 Iran hostage crisis, also with John Goodman, Kyle Chandler and your very own Bryan Cranston, Breaking Bad fans.


Here Comes the Boom
October 12

Oh god…Kevin James as a high school biology teacher who moonlights as a mixed martial arts fighter. Salma Hayek is in it so at least there are…those…to look at. And hey look, Henry Winkler too. Actually now that I’ve seen the trailer it still looks bad, but might have a few laughs.


Killing Them Softly
October 19

Brad Pitt & James Gandolfini are mob hitmen hired to track down a couple of asshats who rob a mob poker game (or something). Andrew Dominik directing and writing, solid cast, should be good.


Alex Cross
October 19

Okay, so you know that Madea guy, Tyler Perry? He’s like the richest guy in Hollywood (no shit) but now he’s taking off the drag and is starring in a Rob Cohen (The Fast & The Furious, xXx, Stealth, The Mummy 9) action flick. I feel like it’s going to bomb but I have to put it on here because Mathew Fox (Lost) is pulling an Edward Norton in American History X. Watch the trailer and look at him…psycho beastmode engage.


Paranormal Activity 4
October 19

At this point it's pretty much a lottery ticket with the winning numbers.


Cloud Atlas
October 26

First, go watch the 5 minute trailer for this flick (seriously). Looks amazing. It’s from the guys who made the Matrix, one of whom is now a chick…whatever, it looks ridiculous. Confusing looking but it’s got Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Hugo Weaving, Jim Sturgiss, and a bunch of other people in a stories & characters stretching across hundreds of years plot.... Yup, I’ll see this and I hope it’s like 4 hours long.


Chasing Mavericks
October 26

Based on a true story about the kid who surfed a monster wave at mavericks when he was 16 (Jonny Moriarty). Actually it’s more about when this 16 year old kid CRASHED on a monster 30 foot drop at mavericks, got rolled, stayed under the wave for minutes, popped up, replaced his board and paddled back in for more. His big crash was on the cover of Surfer magazine and he became famous. Hollywood-ized story of how he got to the point where he could surf the wave, with Gerard Butler (300) as his mentor. Cheesy, Hollywood surfing flick, but I’m in.


Flight
November 2

Robert Zemeckis & Denzel Washington in a movie about a pilot who saves a flight from crashing and the aftermath. Looks dramatic, but good.


Wreck-It Ralph
November 2

Disney animated movie with John C. Reilly as a video game bad guy proving he can be a good guy. The more I see of this movie the more excited I am. Look at all the video game cameos!


Skyfall
November 9

New James Bond movie with Daniel Craig, Ralph Fiennes, Judi Dench and Javier Bardem as the villain. Yup, no brainer.


Lincoln
November 16

Steven Speilberg and Daniel Day-Lewis as Abraham Lincoln. That about wraps up the best actor and best director for 2012, probably best picture too.


Twilight 4-2
November 16

Believe it or not, this is the one I am actually semi-excited to see. The events in the second half of Breaking Dawn actually have some entertaining & enjoyable content to them. No really! Plus these movies have progressively gotten better, with Twilight being 0 stars, Part 2 being 1 star, Part 3 being 2 stars and Part 4-1 being 3 stars (thanks for that analogy, Chad, our resident Twi-hard).


Life of Pi
November 21

Ang Lee directing a movie about a boy who survives the sinking of a freighter, only to find himself on a lifeboat with a hyena, a zebra, an orangutan and a tiger. Based on the novel.


Red Dawn
November 21

Wow, what a disaster this has been. A remake of one of the best 80's movies ever, but was shelved indefinitely back in 2010 because of the MGM Studios financial failures. Now, it's being set to release in 2012, but they went back and digitally changed the backgrounds so that it appears that it's the North Koreans and not the Chinese who are invading. I think that cop-out alone makes this one an embarrassment already, but hey, it's got Chris Hemsworth (Thor), Adrianne Palicki (Friday Night Lights), Josh Hutcherson (Hunger Games), Connor Cruise (one of Tom Cruise's kids), and more. I think it smells like failure...but WOLVERINES!


Rise of the Guardians
November 21

Dreamworks “3-D Computer animated action adventure comedy about contemporary fairytale characters..." on a mission to stop the Pitch (Jude Law) from sending the world into eternal darkness. Chris Pine (Captain Kirk) is Jack Frost, Isla Fisher (Redhead from Wedding Crashers mmmmm) is the Tooth Fairy, Hugh Jackman is the Easter Bunny, and Alec Baldwin is pulling off a sweet Russian accent to play Santa Claus. Dreamworks has been rocking with the animated movies lately ("How To Train Your Dragon", "Madagascar", "Shrek", "Megamind", etc.), and this one has a good concept, good cast, and looks awesome.


Silver Linings Playbook
November 21

From director David O. Russell ("The Fighter", "Three Kings") & starring Bradley Cooper as a former teacher who is institutionalized for depression and is then released into the care of his mother. Okay, /yawn. Deniro is his dad, and "The Hunger Games'" Jennifer Lawrence is the equally messed up love interest. Also, Julia Styles and ooh even Chris Tucker ending his movie hiatus. Trailers look okay but still low interest...


The Hobbit
December 14

The first half (or third?) of Peter Jackson's of the Hobbit adaptation, with Ian McKellan back as Gandalf, Andy Serkis as Gollum, Orlando Bloom (Legolas), Hugo Weaving (Elrond), Cate Blanchett (Galadriel), Christopher Lee (Saruman), sounds like even Elijah Wood, and many more. Using digital 3-D and the latest camera technology (but only a handful of theaters even have this technology installed?) Whatever, it should be glorious.


Les Miserables
December 14

Director of “The King's Speech” brings Les Miserables to the big screen (in 3-d wtf) with Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Anne Hathaway, Amanda Seyfried and possibly Sacha Baron Coehn and Helena Bonham Carter. Sick cast but really?


Zero Dark Thirty
December 19

Kathryn Bigelow's ("The Hurt Locker") new movie about the SEAL team that got Bin Laden. Mark Strong, Kyle Chandler, Joel Edgerton, Chris Pratt, Mark Duplass ("The League"), not many big names but it should be awesome.


This is 40
December 19

Written, produced & directed by Judd Apatow, an almost sequel to "Knocked Up", starring Paul Rudd and Leslie Mann, remember them from Knocked Up? This is a movie about them. Looks like lots of talent, including Jason Segal, John Lithgow, Ryan Lee, Megan Fox, & Albert Brooks. The trailer is actually awesome, this is one I’m interested in.

Jack Reacher
December 19

Okay, so "Drive" was a surprisingly outstanding movie. Now we get Jack Reacher, a "...loose cannon vigilante with an awesome car..." who in the books was a 6’ 5”, 250 lb bad ass so naturally he’s going to be played by TOM CRUISE. The trailer looks like typical Tom Cruise action, but I’m not sure if I’m buying this one.


Django Unchained
December 25

New Quentin Tarantino slave-turned-bounty-hunter movie starring Jamie Foxx, with James Remar (Dexter), Kurt Russell, Christoph Waltz, Samuel L. Jackson, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and Leonardo Dicaprio. It's Quentin Tarantino ffs! Also, just to be awesome: "Tarantino announced that Kill Bill: Vol. 3 would be his ninth film, and would be released in 2014"

The Guilt Trip
December 24

Ouch…this hurts to put on here. Seth Rogen driving cross country with his mother, Barbara Streisand. Ugh.




I don't know about you guys, but 2012 is finishing strong! The Hobbit, Cloud Atlas, Django, Zero Dark Thirty, Skyfall and the two animated flicks (Wreck-It Ralph & Rise of the Guardians) are the ones I'm most looking forward to.