As with the top films of last year my top 10 most anticipated titles for 2010 will remain at the bottom of the blog for reference but an extended list appears here.
Inevitably there will be omissions, both deliberate and accidental, that others think I should have included but these are the 20 titles I am currently most looking forward to seeing in 2010. Some because they look fun, others because I expect true greatest, and still others that are there purely on faith in a particular director, actor, etc. Sometimes maybe all three, but a line of reasoning accompanies each one on this broader list.
I will also note this is MY most anticipated so doesn’t include excellent 2010 films that I happen to have already seen, most notably Martin Scorsese’s Shutter Island and Matthew Vaughn’s Kick-Ass, which would otherwise have made the list.
On the bottom list of the top 10 they’ll be listed 1-10 but here I’m going to count them down in reverse order:
20. Stone – I basically know nothing about this film except that it’s a thriller. But the fact that it pairs Robert De Niro and Edward Norton (two of the best actors around) gets it a place in my most anticipated. Of course there last pairing, alongside Marlon Brando in The Score, was good but not great, but it that would have been higher on my anticipation list that year.
19. Love Ranch – Joe Pesci takes his first lead role in over a decade alongside fellow Oscar-winner Helen Mirren (what a pairing!) in a drama about the first legal brothel in Nevada and the violence that resulted when their relationship was tested by infidelity. Mirren’s husband Taylor Hackford (Ray) directs. Could be great year-end awards fodder but Pesci’s big-screen return alone (after a tantalising cameo in The Good Shepherd) gets this into the top 20.
18. Tron Legacy – If only for the 3D, the retro-cool of a 28-years-later sequel to Tron and the return of original star Jeff Bridges (the man seriously has to be the coolest actor working) this gets in there. Plus the teaser (seen not in 3D on my computer) looked freakin’ awesome.
17. Scott Pilgrim Vs The World – Michael Cera’s gotten awfully one note but if handled right (see Superbad, Paper Heart, Juno) can be immensely likeable. With Edgar Wright calling the shots on this comic-book adaptation about a boy who must battle the ex-boyfriends of the girl of his dreams in order to win her hand I’m expecting quality. The cast also includes Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Chris Evans, Jason Schwartman and Brandon Routh. It’s a little ironic though that the director who guided Cera’s best performance, Greg Mottola, is directing Simon Pegg and Nick Frost in Paul (see below) while Wright handles this. Perhaps they got assignment envelopes mixed up!
16. How Do You Know? – It may not be called that by the time it releases but a new James L Brooks movie is always worth getting excited about. Okay so Spanglish wasn’t great but this stars Reese Witherspoon and Paul Rudd and reunites Brooks with the man he directed to two Oscars, the legendary Jack Nicholson. Jack alone would put this in my top 30 to see this year, a combo with Brooks and those leads means it’s only a lick from the top 15.
15. Alice In Wonderland – Tim Burton’s take on Lewis Carroll’s legendary fantasy sees Johnny Depp (who else) as the Mad Hatter, Helena Bonham Carter (ditto) as the Queen of Hearts, plus Anne Hathaway, Matt Lucas, Crispin Glover (how have he and Burton not worked together before!) and newcomer (although she seems to be in a load of stuff coming up) Mia Wasikowska as the titular heroine. Burton can surely not go wrong, at least for fans like me, with this one.
14. Predators – okay, so this could be terrible, but I hear nothing but great things about director Nimrod Antal’s Kontroll and his horror Vacancy was efficiently made. Here he’s working from a script by producer Robert Rodriguez and a cast including Oscar-winner Adrien Brody, Rodriguez lucky charm Danny Trejo and, er, Topher Grace. Here’s hoping this puts the Predator name back in modern cinema-goers good books.
13. Never Let Me Go – Mark Romanek (the under-rated One Hour Photo) adapts Kazuo Ishiguro’s (The Remains Of The Day, When We Were Orphans) novel which stars 2009 break-out star Carey Mulligan and Keira Knightley. This’ll be worth seeing just to see Mulligan act circles around Knightley (last seen on screen together as sisters in Pride & Prejudice) but the tantalising combo of Romanek and Mulligan is what attracts me.
12. You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger – okay so Woody Allen misses as often as he hits lately but he’s always a must see for devotees like me and this new romantic comedy sees him returning to the UK after a quick spin around Spain and his hometown of New York. The cast includes Anthony Hopkins in his first collaboration with Woody, which is reason enough to be excited for this one. Poor title though Woody.
11. Black Swan – Darren Aronofsky follows up the brilliant The Wrestler with a psychological thriller set in the world of ballet, that features 80s/90s uber-cute starlet Winona Ryder and stars her natural successor 90s/00s uber-cute starlet Natalie Portman. Vincent Cassel also stars following his superb turn this year in the French-language Mesrine thrillers.
10. Edge Of Darkness – Mel Gibson returns. This really dark-looking thriller looks to have elements of Ransom and Payback (the good Director’s Cut version) and is directed by Malcolm Campbell (Casino Royale) revisited the ‘80s TV drama he directed in the first place. The trailers look good to me and this is headed our way in February so one of the first of 2010 to look forward to.
9. Machete – Fun actionners are everywhere in 2010 and this spin-off of Robert Rodriguez’s spoof Mexican revenge thriller trailer in Grindhouse, co-directed by Rodriguez, nearly rivals The Expendables for a genius cast. It’s certainly the most insane cast I’ve seen put together for some time. Bad-ass Danny Trejo finally gets a lead role while his support comes from the beautiful Jessica Alba, the feisty Michelle Rodriguez, the “tabloids are now my career” Lindsay Lohan, the “haven’t been in a theatrically released movie for 8 years!” Steven Seagal and two-time Oscar winner Robert De Niro. Yes, that’s Seagal and De Niro sharing the screen in a movie neither of them are even lead in. That alone makes this essential watching.
8. Hereafter – Clint Eastwood’s still going strong and next up is a supernatural thriller (his first in that genre) starring Matt Damon. With Clint who knows how “supernatural” this may be but you can rest assured it’ll be one of the best made films of the year.
7. Clash Of The Titans – I had no real anticipation for this until I saw the trailers, but damn it looks fun. Louis Letterier did the recent Incredible Hulk which was a blast that knew how to cut loose and have some fun within a fairly daft world. Here he’s got Greek mythology to run around in and it looks like he’s throwing everything (probably including the kitchen sink) into it. It could all be brilliantly cut trailers but they’ve done the job on me. I’m there.
6. Paul – If Edgar Wright were directing this it might make it a couple of steps higher but even so this third major teaming of Simon Pegg and Nick Frost (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz) is the comedy to see this year. Directed by Greg (Superbad, Adventureland, Daytrippers) Mottola this sees the boys tackle the sci-fi genre. Expect a very Close Encounters-y riff and great cameos from sci-fi greats like Sigourney Weaver. If it’s half as good as their horror and action movie com-ages it’ll be among the year’s best.
5. Inception – Don’t know a great deal about the plot for this one other than it’s a sci-fi thriller. But with Christopher “I haven’t made a bad film yet” Nolan directing from a script by his brother Jonathan (Memento, The Dark Knight) surely only brilliance can await. Even without the Batman films Nolan has delivered such greats as Memento and Insomnia. Then consider the cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Marion Cotillard, Ellen Page, Ken Watanabe, Cillian Murphy, Michael Caine. The most intriguing film of the year.
4. The Expendables – This has as much chance of being a hideous mess as a great fun romp but Sylvester Stallone is assembling the greatest line-up of action heroes ever for a hopefully insane blast of a movie. Joining Sly to some degree or another (some are leads, many purely cameos) are Jet Li, Jason Statham, Mickey Rourke, Terry Crews, Eric Roberts, the late Brittany Murphy, Dolph Lundgren and damn it all both Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzenegger (in an extended cameo scene together with Sly)! It’s a shame Kurt Russell, Steven Seagal and Jean-Claude Van Damme all turned down the opportunity to appear but even without them this either adds up to the greatest action spectacular ever or the biggest missed opportunity of all time. Either way it’s unmissable.
3. Iron Man 2 – The live action highlight of the summer is the sequel to the hugely entertaining 2008 movie. The great Robert Downey Jr (he can even make a Guy Ritchie movie good – is there nothing he can’t do?) returns, as does Gwyneth Paltrow and Samuel L Jackson in a more substantial role as Nick Fury. Add the ever brilliant Sam Rockwell as business rival Justin Hammer, Don Cheadle in as Rhodey in full War Machine armour, the gorgeous Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow and come-back-kid Mickey Rourke as villain Whiplash and we are set for a superb sequel from returning director Jon Favreau. Can’t wait.
2. True Grit – The Coen Brothers making a new film is always a highlight of any year but this is a new, more faithful to the novel, adaptation of a great western. It reteams them their No Country For Old Men producer Scott Rudin and star Josh Brolin (this time taking villain duties) and sees their first time working with Matt Damon. But the biggest draw here is their working again with The Dude himself, Jeff Bridges, since 1998’s The Big Lebowski. His role here as US Marshal Rooster Cogburn couldn’t be more different but Bridges never disappoints and this will follow his recent career best (yes, even beating The Dude) in the brilliant Crazy Heart. Bridges + Coens + Western + Brolin + Damon + Rudin = unimaginable genius.
1. Toy Story 3 – It’s been over a decade since Toy Story 2 but the franchise remains the highlight in Pixar Studios almost faultless catalogue despite such masterpieces as Ratatouille, The Incredibles and WALL-E coming since. It has a lot to live up to but like last year’s #1 anticipated picture, Avatar, you have to reason “when does Pixar ever let us down?”. If you could see only one film this year this would have to be it.
Inevitably there will be omissions, both deliberate and accidental, that others think I should have included but these are the 20 titles I am currently most looking forward to seeing in 2010. Some because they look fun, others because I expect true greatest, and still others that are there purely on faith in a particular director, actor, etc. Sometimes maybe all three, but a line of reasoning accompanies each one on this broader list.
I will also note this is MY most anticipated so doesn’t include excellent 2010 films that I happen to have already seen, most notably Martin Scorsese’s Shutter Island and Matthew Vaughn’s Kick-Ass, which would otherwise have made the list.
On the bottom list of the top 10 they’ll be listed 1-10 but here I’m going to count them down in reverse order:
20. Stone – I basically know nothing about this film except that it’s a thriller. But the fact that it pairs Robert De Niro and Edward Norton (two of the best actors around) gets it a place in my most anticipated. Of course there last pairing, alongside Marlon Brando in The Score, was good but not great, but it that would have been higher on my anticipation list that year.
19. Love Ranch – Joe Pesci takes his first lead role in over a decade alongside fellow Oscar-winner Helen Mirren (what a pairing!) in a drama about the first legal brothel in Nevada and the violence that resulted when their relationship was tested by infidelity. Mirren’s husband Taylor Hackford (Ray) directs. Could be great year-end awards fodder but Pesci’s big-screen return alone (after a tantalising cameo in The Good Shepherd) gets this into the top 20.
18. Tron Legacy – If only for the 3D, the retro-cool of a 28-years-later sequel to Tron and the return of original star Jeff Bridges (the man seriously has to be the coolest actor working) this gets in there. Plus the teaser (seen not in 3D on my computer) looked freakin’ awesome.17. Scott Pilgrim Vs The World – Michael Cera’s gotten awfully one note but if handled right (see Superbad, Paper Heart, Juno) can be immensely likeable. With Edgar Wright calling the shots on this comic-book adaptation about a boy who must battle the ex-boyfriends of the girl of his dreams in order to win her hand I’m expecting quality. The cast also includes Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Chris Evans, Jason Schwartman and Brandon Routh. It’s a little ironic though that the director who guided Cera’s best performance, Greg Mottola, is directing Simon Pegg and Nick Frost in Paul (see below) while Wright handles this. Perhaps they got assignment envelopes mixed up!
16. How Do You Know? – It may not be called that by the time it releases but a new James L Brooks movie is always worth getting excited about. Okay so Spanglish wasn’t great but this stars Reese Witherspoon and Paul Rudd and reunites Brooks with the man he directed to two Oscars, the legendary Jack Nicholson. Jack alone would put this in my top 30 to see this year, a combo with Brooks and those leads means it’s only a lick from the top 15.
15. Alice In Wonderland – Tim Burton’s take on Lewis Carroll’s legendary fantasy sees Johnny Depp (who else) as the Mad Hatter, Helena Bonham Carter (ditto) as the Queen of Hearts, plus Anne Hathaway, Matt Lucas, Crispin Glover (how have he and Burton not worked together before!) and newcomer (although she seems to be in a load of stuff coming up) Mia Wasikowska as the titular heroine. Burton can surely not go wrong, at least for fans like me, with this one.14. Predators – okay, so this could be terrible, but I hear nothing but great things about director Nimrod Antal’s Kontroll and his horror Vacancy was efficiently made. Here he’s working from a script by producer Robert Rodriguez and a cast including Oscar-winner Adrien Brody, Rodriguez lucky charm Danny Trejo and, er, Topher Grace. Here’s hoping this puts the Predator name back in modern cinema-goers good books.
13. Never Let Me Go – Mark Romanek (the under-rated One Hour Photo) adapts Kazuo Ishiguro’s (The Remains Of The Day, When We Were Orphans) novel which stars 2009 break-out star Carey Mulligan and Keira Knightley. This’ll be worth seeing just to see Mulligan act circles around Knightley (last seen on screen together as sisters in Pride & Prejudice) but the tantalising combo of Romanek and Mulligan is what attracts me.
12. You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger – okay so Woody Allen misses as often as he hits lately but he’s always a must see for devotees like me and this new romantic comedy sees him returning to the UK after a quick spin around Spain and his hometown of New York. The cast includes Anthony Hopkins in his first collaboration with Woody, which is reason enough to be excited for this one. Poor title though Woody.
11. Black Swan – Darren Aronofsky follows up the brilliant The Wrestler with a psychological thriller set in the world of ballet, that features 80s/90s uber-cute starlet Winona Ryder and stars her natural successor 90s/00s uber-cute starlet Natalie Portman. Vincent Cassel also stars following his superb turn this year in the French-language Mesrine thrillers.
10. Edge Of Darkness – Mel Gibson returns. This really dark-looking thriller looks to have elements of Ransom and Payback (the good Director’s Cut version) and is directed by Malcolm Campbell (Casino Royale) revisited the ‘80s TV drama he directed in the first place. The trailers look good to me and this is headed our way in February so one of the first of 2010 to look forward to.9. Machete – Fun actionners are everywhere in 2010 and this spin-off of Robert Rodriguez’s spoof Mexican revenge thriller trailer in Grindhouse, co-directed by Rodriguez, nearly rivals The Expendables for a genius cast. It’s certainly the most insane cast I’ve seen put together for some time. Bad-ass Danny Trejo finally gets a lead role while his support comes from the beautiful Jessica Alba, the feisty Michelle Rodriguez, the “tabloids are now my career” Lindsay Lohan, the “haven’t been in a theatrically released movie for 8 years!” Steven Seagal and two-time Oscar winner Robert De Niro. Yes, that’s Seagal and De Niro sharing the screen in a movie neither of them are even lead in. That alone makes this essential watching.
8. Hereafter – Clint Eastwood’s still going strong and next up is a supernatural thriller (his first in that genre) starring Matt Damon. With Clint who knows how “supernatural” this may be but you can rest assured it’ll be one of the best made films of the year.
7. Clash Of The Titans – I had no real anticipation for this until I saw the trailers, but damn it looks fun. Louis Letterier did the recent Incredible Hulk which was a blast that knew how to cut loose and have some fun within a fairly daft world. Here he’s got Greek mythology to run around in and it looks like he’s throwing everything (probably including the kitchen sink) into it. It could all be brilliantly cut trailers but they’ve done the job on me. I’m there.6. Paul – If Edgar Wright were directing this it might make it a couple of steps higher but even so this third major teaming of Simon Pegg and Nick Frost (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz) is the comedy to see this year. Directed by Greg (Superbad, Adventureland, Daytrippers) Mottola this sees the boys tackle the sci-fi genre. Expect a very Close Encounters-y riff and great cameos from sci-fi greats like Sigourney Weaver. If it’s half as good as their horror and action movie com-ages it’ll be among the year’s best.
5. Inception – Don’t know a great deal about the plot for this one other than it’s a sci-fi thriller. But with Christopher “I haven’t made a bad film yet” Nolan directing from a script by his brother Jonathan (Memento, The Dark Knight) surely only brilliance can await. Even without the Batman films Nolan has delivered such greats as Memento and Insomnia. Then consider the cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Marion Cotillard, Ellen Page, Ken Watanabe, Cillian Murphy, Michael Caine. The most intriguing film of the year.4. The Expendables – This has as much chance of being a hideous mess as a great fun romp but Sylvester Stallone is assembling the greatest line-up of action heroes ever for a hopefully insane blast of a movie. Joining Sly to some degree or another (some are leads, many purely cameos) are Jet Li, Jason Statham, Mickey Rourke, Terry Crews, Eric Roberts, the late Brittany Murphy, Dolph Lundgren and damn it all both Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzenegger (in an extended cameo scene together with Sly)! It’s a shame Kurt Russell, Steven Seagal and Jean-Claude Van Damme all turned down the opportunity to appear but even without them this either adds up to the greatest action spectacular ever or the biggest missed opportunity of all time. Either way it’s unmissable.
3. Iron Man 2 – The live action highlight of the summer is the sequel to the hugely entertaining 2008 movie. The great Robert Downey Jr (he can even make a Guy Ritchie movie good – is there nothing he can’t do?) returns, as does Gwyneth Paltrow and Samuel L Jackson in a more substantial role as Nick Fury. Add the ever brilliant Sam Rockwell as business rival Justin Hammer, Don Cheadle in as Rhodey in full War Machine armour, the gorgeous Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow and come-back-kid Mickey Rourke as villain Whiplash and we are set for a superb sequel from returning director Jon Favreau. Can’t wait.
2. True Grit – The Coen Brothers making a new film is always a highlight of any year but this is a new, more faithful to the novel, adaptation of a great western. It reteams them their No Country For Old Men producer Scott Rudin and star Josh Brolin (this time taking villain duties) and sees their first time working with Matt Damon. But the biggest draw here is their working again with The Dude himself, Jeff Bridges, since 1998’s The Big Lebowski. His role here as US Marshal Rooster Cogburn couldn’t be more different but Bridges never disappoints and this will follow his recent career best (yes, even beating The Dude) in the brilliant Crazy Heart. Bridges + Coens + Western + Brolin + Damon + Rudin = unimaginable genius.
1. Toy Story 3 – It’s been over a decade since Toy Story 2 but the franchise remains the highlight in Pixar Studios almost faultless catalogue despite such masterpieces as Ratatouille, The Incredibles and WALL-E coming since. It has a lot to live up to but like last year’s #1 anticipated picture, Avatar, you have to reason “when does Pixar ever let us down?”. If you could see only one film this year this would have to be it.
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