FSU Student Life Cinema

After reading the other article about 2010 releases, I felt that I should add my 2 cents as well. 2009 was really the first year I was able to see what I’d consider a solid slate of films and be able to avoid a lot of full-on disasters. I was lured out to Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen with a promise of a free ticket and free pizza, so that kind of cancels the sucktitude of that out. Alright, maybe it doesn’t, but still, I hope that the trend of being able to find kick-ass movies to see continues into next year. A crucial step in achieving this is compiling a list of potentially interesting films that I’d want to see for whatever reason, then working from there, while still considering word-of-mouth throughout the year. Since 10 is a nice round number and has been done before, let’s roll with that.

In ascending order:

10a. The Talking Cure (Dir. David Cronenberg)

I’m splitting this with the next film because it hasn’t been pegged as a 2010 release, otherwise, it deserves a spot here. Cronenberg’s one of my favorite working directors, coming off of his streak of pairing up with Viggo Mortensen in A History of Violenceand Eastern Promises with another seriously intriguing cast. Christoph Waltz and Michael Fassbender, both of Inglourious Basterds fame, will play Drs. Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung, respectively, caught in a love triangle with Keira Knightley in early 1900s Vienna. I don’t know much more then that, but consider me intrigued.

10b. Toy Story 3 (Dir. Lee Unkrich)

Come on. If you have a soul, chances are you’ll see this.

9. You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger (Dir. Woody Allen)

As long as he’s alive, Woody’ll continue to pump out a movie year-after-year, regardless if it’s any good. His track record since his resurgence with Match Point has been pretty solid, and with this film, he’ll return to Europe after a brief foray back to NYC in Whatever Works. Not much is known about the plot, but with a cast of Naomi Watts, Anthony Hopkins, Josh Brolin, and the hot girl from Slumdog Millionaire, it’ll be hard to miss out on.

8. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (Dir. Edgar Wright)

Breaking off from doing hilarious genre-bending send-ups with the Pegg/Frost team, Wright’s instead tackling the adaptation of a beloved comic book series. A recent review of a test screening has compared it to “Fight Club, Kill Bill, Speed Racer, Natural Born Killers and any Michael Cera movie,” also “a John Hughes movie smashed into The Matrix.” I’m eager to read the comics, particularly after reading some other effusive praise and gazing over the cast list. Since I’ll be gushing over the cast of other films enough, roll out to IMDb and check it out for yourself. I’m lazy.

7. Knockout (Dir. Steven Soderbergh)

Soderbergh’s a mad genius. The guy’s going to have 3 movies shot and ready to complete by this summer and that’s a regular pace for him. Anyway, this film reunites him with the screenwriter of the massively entertaining The Limey, Lem Dobbs, in a ’60s-flavored renegade spy revenge mission plot. Starring UFC fighter Gina Carano and a slew of fantastic actors, including Michael Douglas, Ewan McGregor, and DennisQuaid, I’m down to see this whenever it comes out. IMDb quotes it as a ‘11 release, but I’m guessing it’ll hit this year. Either way, see it.

6. Your Highness (Dir. David Gordon Green)

The director of Pineapple Express re-teams with James Franco and Danny McBride in this fantasy/action comedy that looks to be one of, if not the funniest, movies of next year. McBride, of Eastbound & Down fame, plays a lazy prince who teams with his do-good brother (Franco) to save his father’s kingdom. Manic pixie dream girls ZooeyDeschanel and Natalie Portman are prominently involved. Hell yes.

5. Kick-Ass (Dir. Matthew Vaughn)

Like Scott Pilgrim, this is another comic book property making its way to film, and this looks like it’ll live up to its title. I hate to refer people to trailers, but the recent one that’s been released does more justice to describing how utterly awesome this looks than my limp-wristed prose can.

4. True Grit (Dir. Joel and Ethan Coen)

Since their achingly-fantastic comeback in ‘07 with No Country for Old Men, the Brothers Coen have been pumping out quality films at an alarming rate. Burn After Reading was pretty funny and A Serious Man could very well be their best film, at least in my humble opinion. How do they follow that up? Remakes are a tough category to be in, especially when it’s of one of John Wayne’s most beloved films. Replacing The Duke with The Dude (Jeff Bridges, mutha’uckas) and sprinkling in some Matt Damon and Josh Brolin will help a bit, I’m guessing, but I’m no chef.

3. The Tree of Life (Dir. Terrence Malick)

Sometimes being prolific can inspire an artist to churn out some great work in a short amount of time. Terrence Malick ain’t rigged like that. The guy’s about to release his 5th film since his debut film Badlands from 1973, so you can say he appreciates quality over quantity. All that’s really known about this film is that Brad Pitt and Sean Penn play father and son, albeit in different time periods (Pitt’s scenes are in the past, Penn’s take place during present day), tracing boy’s “the loss of innocence,” as it says in the brief IMDb plot description. If you’re not sold on that, try checking out somescreencaps of Days of Heaven or The New World and then try not to poop your pants. It’ll be hard.

2. Shutter Island (Dir. Martin Scorsese)

Scorsese’s my favorite director of all-time. You hear me, Kanye? OF ALL-TIME. This’llbe his first narrative film since The Departed, and his first return to the thriller genre since Cape Fear, and guess what? Leo DiCaprio’s in it. Surprise. Like the rest of his films, it looks to be a supreme stylistic achievement, and hopefully it’ll be damn frightening, too. Go see this.

1. Inception (Dir. Christopher Nolan)

Here’s how I imagine this: Chris Nolan wants to take a break between The Dark Knight and the next Batman film, so he goes to Warner Brothers and asks if he can make a little film in the meantime. “What’s this movie called?” says a WB executive. Nolan replies, “Inception.” The exec is intrigued: “Interesting. What’s it about?” Nolan replies, “It takes place within the architecture of the mind, and I have no idea what that means.” “Will the audience know anything about this from a trailer?” says the WB exec. Nolan shoots back, “Not a damn thing.” “How much do you want to make this little piece of crazy?” “$200 million.” “Sold!” shouts back the exec. And it’s going to kick major ass.

Until next time,

Jake