Watch
for the biggest upcoming movies, 2012. This year will be the largest ever for
comic book movies and the number of exciting titles easily blows last year out
of the water. Assuming your taste is mainstream, here are the top 25 best
movies of 2012:
Rank 1 - The Dark Knight Rises
Starring:
Christian Bale, Tom Hardy, Anne Hathaway, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Gary Oldman
Director:
Christopher Nolan
Release
Date: 20 July 2012
It
was a brave move naming a Batman film ‘The Dark Knight’, since it didn’t have
the word ‘Batman’ in it. There’s nothing bold about the title here. That aside,
this is easily the year′s
mainstream highlight, the film that is going to dominate coverage. The plot involves the whole of Gotham descending into
anarchy and mob rule, while Batman is put out of action. Tom Hardy look
imposing as Bane but his vocals seem hard to follow, Anne Hathaway plays an
angry-looking Catwoman who appears to steal from the rich because she
passionately hates them, Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays a beat cop and Marion
Cotillard plays a Wayne Enterprises board member. Director Christopher Nolan
has made it clear this is the final chapter for his Batman, so expect fireworks
and major character death, probably. Can’t wait to see it.
Rank 2 - The Avengers
Starring:
Samuel L. Jackson, Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo
Director:
Joss Whedon
Release
Date: 4 May 2012
Running
The Dark Knight a close second for hype will be The Avengers. The confirmed
line-up includes Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, Nick Fury, Black Widow, and
Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner). Ruffalo is replacing Ed Norton as The Hulk. But who
are they going to fight? It’s a challenge to find a credible threat that
requires their combined effort – it looks like they’re turning to outer space
for that, with a bit of Loki megalomania thrown in too. Director Joss Whedon
has a daunting task on his hands.
Rank 3 - The Amazing Spider-Man
Starring:
Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Rhys Ifans, Irrfan Khan, Martin Sheen
Director:
Marc Webb
Release
Date: 4 July 2012
Spider-Man
gets a slightly uncalled for reboot that takes him back to high school.
27-year-old Andrew Garfield (The Social Network) is the new Peter Parker and
Mary Jane is nowhere to be seen, replaced by Gwen Stacey (Emma Stone). This
time Spider-Man has to face down against the Lizard (Ifans) and the
“Proto-Goblin,” (Khan) a test subject of Norman Osborn’s experimentations.
Martin Sheen is Uncle Ben, who presumably has to be shot dead again. The
director of 500 Days Of Summer takes over from trilogy director Sam Raimi.
They’re also going for a much lower budget, so expect more character work, less
morphing sand.
Rank 4 - The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Starring:
Martin Freeman, James Nesbitt, Richard Armitage, Sir Ian McKellen, Andy Serkis
Director:
Peter Jackson
Release
Date: 14 December 2012
Hobbit
Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman) journeys to the Lonely Mountain accompanied by a
group of dwarves to reclaim a treasure taken from them by the dragon Smaug. The
LOTRings prequels are full steam ahead in New Zealand, with Peter Jackson in
the director’s chair and union troubles put behind them. James Nesbitt will
play Bofur, one of the main dwarves. Sir Ian McKellen returns as Gandalf. Others
returning include Andy Serkis, Cate Blanchett, Orlando Bloom, Ian Holm, Hugo
Weaving, Elijah Wood, and Christopher Lee. The movie will be split, with
chapter two (the literally-titled The Hobbit: There and Back Again) released
December of the following year.
Rank 5 - The Bourne Legacy
Starring:
Jeremy Renner, Rachel Weisz, Edward Norton, Joan Allen
Director:
Tony Gilroy
Release
Date: 3 August 2012
Matt
Damon’s not in it. The character of Jason Bourne is not in it. Damon and
previous director Greengrass were determined to end the series with the third
movie, but the studio wants to continue the franchise, as it has made them too
much money. This is not a sequel or a reboot, but a standalone story about
another agent (Renner) trained by the murderous shadow government operation
Treadstone, who went through experiences similar to Bourne’s or the character
played by Clive Owen in the original movie. Rachel Weisz plays the love
interest. Edward Norton is the antagonist. Matt Damon is not ruling out
returning to the series at a later point, so this could act as something of a
set-up for that. New director Gilroy adapted the original trilogy and directed
Michael Clayton, so it’s actually in pretty decent hands.
Rank 6 - Skyfall (Bond 23)
Starring: Daniel Craig, Javier
Bardem, Judi Dench, Ralph Fiennes, Albert Finney
Director: Sam Mendes
Release Date: 9 November 2012
MGM’s
bankruptcy troubles are behind them so Bond is finally back in production. The
plot sees him question his loyalty to M when her past actions bring serious
consequences to the present. After MI6 itself is attacked, Bond must seek out
and eliminate the threat. Bardem plays the main villian. Fiennes’ role is
undisclosed. Young Ben Whishaw is the new Q. China will be one of the
locations. Sam Mendes (American Beauty, Jarhead) directs from a script by Wade
and Purvis, who’ve been the main writers on every Bond since TWINE. Quantum was
a stumble from Casino Royale, taking the freshness and packing it back into the
Bond formula. Hopefully they have learnt from their mistakes. 2012 will be the
50th anniversary of Dr. No and the franchise.
Rank 7 - The Great Gatsby
Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio,
Carey Mulligan, Tobey Maguire, Joel Edgerton, Isla Fisher
Director: Baz Luhrmann
Out: 25th December 2012
Remake
of the Robert Redford-starrer, which was an adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s
romantic-drama. On Long Island, Midwesterner Nick (Maguire) is lured into the
lavish world of his neighbor, Jay Gatsby (DiCaprio), a young, mysterious
millionaire with shady business connections and an obsessive love for Daisy
Buchanan (Mulligan). Nick soon begins to see through the cracks of Gatsby’s
nouveau riche existence, where obsession, madness, and tragedy await. The
movie’s timely theme criticises the irresponsible lifestyles of certain wealthy
people. Baz Luhrmann, director of Moulin Rouge and Australia, is well suited to
the grand material, and DiCaprio rarely disappoints.
Rank 8 - Paradise Lost
Starring: Bradley Cooper, Camilla Belle, Dominic Purcell, Casey Affleck, Rufus Sewell
Director:
Alex Proyas
Out:
TBC 2012
Rank 9 - John Carter (Of
Mars)
Starring:
Taylor Kitsch, Willem Dafoe, Lynn Collins, Thomas Haden Church, Mark Strong
Director:
Andrew Stanton
Out:
9th March 2012
Civil
War vet John Carter (Taylor Kitsch – Gambit in Wolverine) is transplanted to
Mars, where he discovers a lush, wildly diverse planet whose main inhabitants
are 12-foot tall green barbarians (one of whom is played by Willem Dafoe).
Finding himself a prisoner of these creatures, he escapes, only to encounter
the ‘Princess of Helium’ who is in desperate need of a savior. Based on the
Edgar Rice Burroughs novel first published in 1912, this, astonishingly, went
in pre-production in 1931 and has been in and out of development hell ever
since. Directed by Andrew Stanton (Finding Nemo, Wall-E), it all sounds
slightly Avatar. The first trailer wasn’t too impressive, but perhaps the
second will be better, once bigger fx are completed.
Rank 10 - Snow White And The Huntsman
Starring:
Kristen Stewart, Chris Hemsworth, Charlize Theron, Ian McShane
Director:
Rupert Sanders
Out:
1st June 2012
This
reimagining sees the Huntsman (Hemsworth) ordered to take Snow White (Stewart)
into the woods to be killed but instead winding up becoming her protector and
mentor in a quest to vanquish the Evil Queen (Theron). The dwarves are a who’s
who of British acting talent – Ian McShane, Bob Hoskins, Toby Jones, Eddie
Marsan, Stephen Graham, Eddie Izzard, Ray Winstone, Nick Frost – and yes there
are eight, which means one gets killed probably. Tonally, this is a dark
fantasy adventure movie. There’s another Snow White movie out in March called
Mirror Mirror, which is a ghastly-looking kids’ version. This actually has an
excellent trailer and may well surprise the doubters. Part of a planned trilogy.
Rank 11 - Jack The Giant Killer
Starring:
Nicholas Hoult, Eleanor Tomlinson, Stanley Tucci, Ian McShane, Ewan McGregor
Director:
Bryan Singer
Out:
TBC 2012
Fantasy/adventure
film based loosely on the beanstalk fairy tale. A young farmhand (Hoult)
unwittingly opens a gateway between our world and a fearsome race of giants
thought only to exist in legend. Unleashed on the Earth for the first time in
centuries, the giants strive to reclaim the land they once lost. Jack must
fight for the kingdom, and the love of a brave princess. Director Singer is
looking to redeem his box office fortunes after Superman Returns and Valkyrie.
Tucci plays the villain, an adviser to the king (McShane) with designs on
usurping power. Bill Nighy will play one of two heads on a giant. Like Snow
White and Red Riding Hood, this is part of a recent trend for turning
children’s stories into action/thriller pictures, taking something
fundamentally uncool and trying to make it so.
Rank 12 - Cloud Atlas
Starring:
Tom Hanks, Ben Whishaw, Hugo Weaving, Halle Berry, Hugh Grant
Directors: The Wachowski Siblings, Tom Tykwer
Out:
26th October 2012
Rank 13 - The Dictator
Starring:
Sacha Baron Cohen, Anna Faris, Megan Fox, John C. Reilly
Director:
Larry Charles
Out:
11th May 2012
The
heroic story of a dictator (Cohen) who risks his life to ensure that democracy
will never come to the country he so lovingly oppresses. Specifically, he is
exiled to New York after being secretly replaced by a lookalike goat herder.
The project is inspired by Saddam Hussein’s romance novel ‘Zabibah and the
King’ which was a story about a nice dictator set 1300 years ago, that was
really about himself. The movie is scripted, rather than another Cohen
mockumentary, though it comes from the director of Borat and Bruno. It all
sounds like potentially hilarious subject matter.
Rank 14 - The Hunger Games
Starring:
Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Elizabeth Banks
Director:
Gary Ross
Out:
23rd March 2012
In
the future, 12 districts select a boy and a girl to fight to the death on live
TV. When her younger sister is chosen, Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) volunteers
to replace her. This is the next Twilight, so far as crazed fan following and
huge box office go. The books have a massive, largely teenage, following. While
I expect it’ll be a much better series, it does look like they’ve stolen borrowed
the central premise of Battle Royale and made a teen-aimed Hollywood friendly
version of it. I’m not really on board, but fans are completely excited about
it.
Rank 15 - Men In Black III
Starring:
Will Smith, Tommy Lee Jones, Josh Brolin, Rip Torn, Emma Thompson, Alec Baldwin
Director:
Barry Sonnenfeld
Out:
25th May 2012
I
remember crying out for sequels after seeing Men In Black. Then Men In Black 2
happened and that cry stopped abruptly. Now this seems like flogging a dead
horse, but hopefully the concept should still bring us some inventive and wild
storytelling. Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones are back, as is director
Sonnenfeld. This one’s a 3D time travel plot with Agent J (Smith) having to go
back to the 60s to visit, and protect, a younger Agent K (Brolin playing
Jones). Can you believe it will have been 10 years since
Men
In Black 2?
Rank 16 – Looper
Starring:
Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Bruce Willis, Emily Blunt, Paul Dano, Piper Perabo
Director:
Rian Johnson
Out:
28th September 2012
In
the future, time travel is banned but the mob still uses it to send targets
back in time where they are eliminated by waiting assassins. When one of the
mob’s killers (Gordon-Levitt) recognises his next target as himself (Willis),
he’s presented with an obvious dilemma. The movie’s talented director brought
us Brick and The Brothers Bloom. Early reviews say it’s great, with
well-presented time travel rules, strong characters and uniquely shot action.
Sounds like a rip-off tribute to
the short story ‘The Hit’ from 2000AD years ago.
Rank 17 - Taken
2
Starring: Liam Neeson, Famke
Janssen, Maggie Grace, Rade Sherbedgia
Director: Olivier Megaton
Out: October 2012
In Istanbul, retired CIA operative Bryan (Neeson) and his
wife (Janssen) are taken hostage by the father of a kidnapper he killed while
rescuing his daughter (Grace). This time it is down to the daughter to help
free Bryan and set him loose on the gang. The director of Colombiana takes
charge, which might be a concern, although he’s pretty much cut from the same
cloth as the previous helmer. The plot has the potential to be too far-fetched,
not least if the daughter has turned from a total wuss Britney wannabe into a
bad ass (I suspect he’s ‘trained’ her between movies). As long as they focus on
Neeson, he’ll deliver his usual highly-watchable gravitas.
Rank 18 – Lincoln
Starring:
Daniel Day-Lewis, Sally Field, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Tommy Lee Jones
Director:
Steven Spielberg
Out:
December 2012
Rank 19 - Brave (Pixar)
Starring:
Kelly Macdonald, Julie Walters, Billy Connolly, Robbie Coltrane, Craig Ferguson
Director:
Mark Andrews
Out:
22nd June 2012
In
the mystical, rugged Scottish Highlands, Merida (Macdonald) is an accomplished
archer and the unruly daughter of King Fergus (Connolly). When she defies a
sacred custom of the land bringing turmoil she must seek out an eccentric old
Woman (Walters) and deal with the three lords of the kingdom (Coltrane,
Ferguson, Kevin McKidd) to put things right. Brave is the first Pixar movie to
have a woman as its lead character. After their critical misstep with Cars 2,
this is a chance to prove they’re still the best in the business.
Rank 20 - Titanic 3D
Starring:
Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet, Billy Zane
Director:
James Cameron
Out:
6th April 2012
“Near.
Far. Wherever you are.” Don’t pretend you didn’t cry. The biggest grossing
movie of all time (until Avatar) returns with the top end 3D conversion
treatment. James Cameron is overseeing this whole thing personally so you can
be sure he won’t let a shoddy 3D product slip through. How will world audiences
respond to this second time round? It’s a movie that feels, strangely, of its
time. I guess this means Kate Winslet will be nude in 3D, wonder how she feels
about that.
Rank 21 - World War Z
Starring:
Brad Pitt, Mireille Enos, James Badge Dale, Lucy Aharish
Director:
Marc Forster
Out:
21st December 2012
A
UN representative (Pitt), writing a report at the end of the great zombie war,
interviews survivors who are starting to wonder if survival is a victory of any
kind. Based on the novel (which reads like a UN report and doesn’t really have
a lead character), this $125m movie has a large international scope, and a
political emphasis. Stylistically it is rumoured to be similar to Children of
Men. It’s potentially an interesting return to the big star horror of the ’70s,
and the best chance a zombie movie ever has of being mentioned at Oscar time.
Can’t wait.
Rank 22 - Django Unchained
Starring:
Jamie Foxx, Leonardo DiCaprio, Christoph Waltz, Samuel L. Jackson, Kerry
Washington
Director:
Quentin Tarantino
Out:
25th December 2012
Spaghetti
western set in America’s Deep South, which Tarantino calls “a southern”. The
plot follows a slave-turned-bounty hunter (Foxx) who, with the help of his
German mentor (Waltz), sets out to rescue his wife (Washington) from a brutal
Mississippi plantation owner (DiCaprio). A plantation owner who forces his slaves
to fight in twisted death matches. The fantastic cast also includes Joseph
Gordon-Levitt, Sacha Baron Cohen, Kurt Russell, Don Johnson, James Remar,
Anthony LaPaglia, RZA and Tom Savini. It will be very interesting to see
DiCaprio in a villain role, especially such a nasty one.
Rank 23 – Gravity
Starring:
Sandra Bullock, George Clooney
Director:
Alfonso Cuarón
Out:
21st November 2012
A
space mission to repair the Hubble telescope meets disaster when satellite
debris collides with the space station, destroying most of it and killing all
but two astronauts. The remaining pair must now fight for survival and try to
find a way home. This will be shot in the same style as the director’s Children
Of Men, and anyone who saw that will know just how visually amazing it should
be in a space setting. In fact, it’s said to be even more ambitious with new
rigs to create subjective immersion in space – James Cameron says it’s “5 years
ahead of its time” on a technical level. That’s some hype. Can’t wait to see
it, even if Sandra Bullock isn’t the most interesting leading actress.
Rank 24 - The Expendables 2
Starring:
Stallone, Statham, Arnie, Willis, Li, Lundgren, Van Damme, Norris, Couture,
Crews
Director:
Simon West
Out:
17th August 2012
The
general feeling about the first movie was that it wasn’t as good as its
line-up. That may change here with Stallone handing over directing duties to
Simon West (Con Air, Tomb Raider). This time Schwarzenegger will do a full
week’s shooting, Bruce Willis will do two weeks as the expected villain. With
the addition of Van Damme and Chuck Norris this is now the greatest action cast
ever assembled. Let’s hope they can do it justice with a compelling story or at
least some stunning fight scenes.
Rank 25 - Dredd (Judge
Dredd reboot)
Starring:
Karl Urban, Lena Headey, Olivia Thirlby
Director:
Pete Travis
Out:
21st September 2012
A day in the life of Judge
Dredd (Karl Urban) as he puts his rookie, Anderson (Olivia Thirlby), through
her paces to see if she’s worthy of becoming a Judge. Lena Headley plays
villain Madeline Madrigal, the leader of a gang who overrun a City Block where the
majority of the action takes place. Unlike Stallone’s ’95 version, Dredd won’t
take his helmet off. The costumes and set photos are fairly disappointing so
far, as is the slightly dull sounding plot. But the creative team behind this
are strong (it was developed by Danny Boyle and written by Alex Garland), so we
expect to be pleasantly surprised with the finished product. It’s great source
material if they can get it right.
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