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Summer went by in a blur, didn't it? Doesn't it feel like it was only yesterday that we were wondering if Star Trek would live up to expectations and lamenting how long it was until Inglourious Basterds was coming out? And yet here we are, two-thirds of the way through the year and looking at a fall lineup that is, well, okay. Is anyone honestly thrilled about the movies slated for Fall 2009?
There were more than enough films to make a top ten anticipated films and a few are sure to be great, but coming up with twenty would have been difficult (as proven by the ten runner-ups) and there seems to be an abundance of safe, predictable product this season. One has to wonder if the true impact of the economy won't be felt creatively, as studios take less risks and stick with projects that they know will make back their investments. A sequel to Alvin and the Chipmunks, a 3D Christmas Carol, a Hugh Grant comedy, another Nancy Meyers film – even if some of them are good, doesn't the season feel awfully by the numbers? Especially now that one of the films that truly had a chance to shake up the market with something new – Martin Scorsese's Shutter Island – has been tragically moved to 2010? (By the way, that would have been number one if it was still in the season.)
Perhaps that's why it is the risky projects that interest us the most. We need a few more surprises this year, something that truly swings for the fences and connects. If anything does, it will almost certainly be from the list below.
Runner-Ups: Antichrist, The Box, Brothers, Capitalism: A Love Story, The Fantastic Mr. Fox, The Informant!, Invictus, The Lovely Bones, The Men Who Stare At Goats, and Zombieland.
Studio: The Weinstein Company
Release Date: October 16th, 2009
Cast: Viggo Mortensen, Charlize Theron, Garret Dillahunt, Guy Pearce, Robert Duvall, and Molly Parker
Writer: Joe Penhall
Director: John Hillcoat
Why: A film with as many delays as The Road usually reeks of too many post-production problems to warrant placement on a list of the most anticipated films of a season but there's too much potential for greatness here to NOT include it in some way. Anyone familiar with the prize-winning book by Cormac McCarthy knows that it practically reads like a Best Picture-winning film on the page and every element of pre-production sounded perfect to us. On paper, this is the part that could win Viggo Mortensen an Oscar and John Hillcoat, director of the great and underrated The Proposition, seems like a perfect fit for what is essentially a post-apocalyptic western. So, why not put it higher up the list? Is anyone truly thrilled by that preview? There's something off about it. We worry that perhaps The Road will be too literal – focusing too much on the dark vision and not enough on the human story that makes up its core. Of course, it's a lot easier to sell the visual than the emotional in a preview. I want The Road to be great but worry that maybe, even after all the months of anticipation, it will just be good.
Studio: Warner Brothers
Release Date: October 2nd, 2009
Cast: Ricky Gervais, Jennifer Garner, Jason Bateman, Jonah Hill, Martin Starr, Patrick Stewart, Tina Fey, Rob Lowe, Christopher Guest, and Jeffrey Tambor
Writers: Ricky Gervais and Matthew Robinson
Directors: Ricky Gervais and Matthew Robinson
Why: Despite having the worst title of the season (Can you honestly picture a date night starting with "Let's go see The Invention of Lying"?), Ricky Gervais' new film has a killer concept, fantastic cast, and laugh-out-loud preview. Bateman was made to deliver Gervais' style of humor. (With Extract, this, and Reitman's new film, which is further up the list, Bateman is truly having an amazing 2009.) And look at the rest of that cast. It's a who's who of some of the funniest people in film and television, all delivering dialogue written by the man who brought us The Office and Extras. And the concept is killer. Gervais plays a man who lives in an alternate universe where no one can lie. Until he does. What kind of power would you wield with the spoken word? Presented by a writer who knows how to use dialogue, not slapstick, to make audiences laugh, The Invention of Lying might not be just one of the best comedies of the year, it has the potential to be one of the best films ... period.
Studio: Sony
Release Date: December 25th, 2009
Cast: Brad Pitt, Sean Penn, Danielle Rene, Jackson Hurst, and Fiona Shaw
Writer: Terrence Malick
Director: Terrence Malick
Why: Terrence Malick + Brad Pitt + Sean Penn. If you're not excited by this, you simply aren't trying. Yes, Malick has been a bit sketchy in recent years, but he's an auteur, someone who stands by his own visions and we should always anticipate what those kind of independent thinkers are going to do next. Whatever may be said about his work, he's not doing it to please a box office number or a producer's expectation. He's doing it to make art, whether it works or not is to be determined. Honestly, the only reason The Tree of Life isn't higher up the list is because I'm still unconvinced that it's actually coming out this year. There's been very little press about it and some claim that there's no way that Malick can get this ambitious work done in time for awards season. And I don't picture Malick rushing just to take home a trophy. It's the only film on the list without a poster, much less a preview, but my fingers are crossed. With Scorsese's film moving to next year, this could be one of the most awards-heavy projects of the season.
Studio: Paramount
Release Date: December 4th, 2009
Cast: George Clooney, Jason Bateman, Melanie Lynskey, Vera Farmiga, Anna Kendrick, and Danny McBride
Writer: Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner
Director: Jason Reitman
Why: Reitman's follow-up to Juno has quietly snuck up and become one of the most-buzzed films of the season. If the leap in quality from Thank You For Smoking to Juno happens again, Up in the Air will be on dozens of top ten lists in just a few months time and you can say that you read about it here first. George
Clooney reportedly gives the performance of his career in the film
based on Walter Kim's novel about a downsizing expert whose job is
threatened just as he finds love in the friendly skies. Sound cheesy?
It could be, but the cast is great, Reitman gets more confident with
each film, and there's something about Up in the Air that screams with the same potential that Juno had just a couple of years ago.
Studio: The Weinstein Company
Release Date: November 25th, 2009
Cast: Daniel Day-Lewis, Marion Cotillard, Penelope Cruz, Judi Dench, Nicole Kidman, Kate Hudson, Sophia Loren, and Stacy Ferguson
Writer: Michael Tolkin and Anthony Minghella
Director: Rob Marshall
Why: Because I get excited for anything Daniel Day-Lewis does. Anything. And look at that supporting cast. We did the math, so you don't have to. If the cast of Nine got their awards collections together, there would be SEVEN Oscars in the group. If they got to talking about nominations, the total would add up to EIGHTEEN. That's just for the cast. It doesn't even bring into the conversation the fact that the last time that Rob Marshall directed a musical it won Best Picture for the Weinsteins (Chicago). You think The Reader got a good push last year? Harvey is going to virtually guarantee that Nine gets into the expanded Best Picture category. But will it be any good? The preview is strong, the cast is amazing, the screenwriters, including the late Anthony Minghella, are talented, the source material is spectacular – ask yourself the opposite question … why wouldn't this work?
Studio: Sony Pictures Classics
Release Date: December 30th, 2009
Cast: Christian Friedel, Leonie Benesch, Ulrich Tukur, Ursina Lardi, Burghart Laussner, and Steffi Kuhnert
Writer: Michael Haneke
Director: Michael Haneke
Why: Because Haneke rules (with the exception of the Funny Games remake). The original Funny Games, the amazing Cache, The Piano Teacher, Time of the Wolf, Code Unknown – Haneke is one of the most interesting voices in cinema today. I like that Haneke is going from a high profile project like the Funny Games remake, his English-language debut with major stars like Naomi Watts, to something more personal and with no high profile names. And it seems to have worked. The black-and-white story of strange events happening near a rural German school won the FIPRESCI prize for the best film of the year. Previous winners? Four-star films like All About My Mother, Magnolia, Distant, 3-Iron, Volver, There Will Be Blood, and more. Excited yet?
Studio: Sony Pictures Classics
Release Date: November 20th, 2009
Cast: Penelope Cruz, Lluis Homar, Blanca Portillo, Jose Luis Gomez, Tamar Novas, and Ruben Ochandiano
Writer: Pedro Almodovar
Director: Pedro Almodovar
Why: Because I love Pedro. Like Haneke, I'll admit to a strong preference for the filmmaker in question but can you blame me? All About My Mother, Talk to Her, Volver – these are some amazing films and every time that Pedro steps to the plate, there's a chance that he'll do it again. It doesn't hurt that he has one of his most vibrant muses as his lead again, a woman who should have won the Oscar the last time she teamed up with Pedro and arguably one of the most interesting actresses of the last few years. Pedro + Penelope Cruz = anticipation. I don't even have to know what it's about or see a frame of film to feel it.
Studio: Focus Features
Release Date: October 2nd, 2009
Cast: Simon Helberg, Adam Arkin, Richard Kind, Michael Stuhlbarg, and George Wyner
Writers: Joel and Ethan Coen
Directors: Joel and Ethan Coen
Why: Whether or not a Coen brothers film would be on a top ten most anticipated list should never be in question. All that differs from film to film is their placement. So why is this one so high? The preview and the cast. The former is something you can see for yourself (and agree that it rules) but that latter is a directorial decision that I have to explain why I adore. They’re making another dark comedy but it feels nothing like the last one. The lack of big names feels like something of a reaction to arguably the most high-profile cast of their career for their last film, Burn After Reading. How many directors go from Brad Pitt and George Clooney to Simon Helberg and Richard Kind? It's a mark of the unpredictability of two of the most creative voices of the last two decades that it's not the faces in front of their camera that truly makes each Coen brothers' project interesting. A Serious Man looks seriously great.
Studio: Fox
Release Date: December 18th, 2009
Cast: Sam Worthington, Sigourney Weaver, Michelle Rodriguez, Zoe Saldana, Giovanni Ribisi, and Joel Moore
Writer: James Cameron
Director: James Cameron
Why: Please, please, please stop dissecting the footage we've seen so far from Avatar. I'm begging you. Have you gotten all The Dark Crystal and Jar Jar Binks references out of your system yet? Now let's move on. Yes, I'm as concerned as you are about some elements of what Cameron has released from Avatar but we need to keep things in perspective. First, you could take fifteen minutes of some great films and cut together a preview that doesn't give you a sense of the film as a whole. And if the film truly is the game-changer that it's being touted to be then don't you think it's possible that it might be difficult to capture that in a single selection of footage? Stop judging final product based on a preview. It's annoying. More importantly, can't we cut some slack to the man who directed Aliens, The Terminator, The Abyss, True Lies, and Titanic? Hasn't he earned it? Seriously. The concept of this list is the most anticipated films and if you don't look forward to WHATEVER James Cameron does next then you're either a poseur who likes to join backlash against anything deemed too popular by your badass self or you simply don't like movies. Suck or rock, Avatar will be one of the biggest stories of the season and if it wasn't for a great director reaching into my brain and pulling out a major part of my childhood, it would have been an easy #1.
Studio: Warner Brothers
Release Date: October 16th, 2009
Cast: Max Records, Catherine Keener, Mark Ruffalo, Lauren Ambrose, James Gandolfini, Catherine O'Hara, Forest Whitaker, Paul Dano, and Tom Noonan
Writer: Spike Jonze and Dave Eggers
Director: Spike Jonze
Why: Have you SEEN the preview? It's one of the best in years. Every once in awhile, an adaptation seems destined to work. Peter Jackson taking on Lord of the Rings, the Coen brothers tackling No Country for Old Men, Martin Scorsese reworking Infernal Affairs into The Departed – there's something about Spike Jonze directing Where the Wild Things Are that's so RIGHT that it seems nearly predetermined. Jonze has long been one of the most imaginative, daring directors of his generation. His blend of post-modern humor and childlike wonder is perfect for an adaptation of the Maurice Sendak book that taught so many of us to not be afraid of our individuality. Don't you dare write off Where the Wild Things Are as just another kids' movie. This has the potential to be an instant classic and feels like nothing else this coming season or of the last several. It's one of the few films of 2009 that feels like it will be truly unique. If only there were a few more like it.
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