Circle the date, Part 2

I MIGHT SEE THAT: Looking ahead to 2012 some more

LINKS: The must-see list is down the page a bit

Last week I delved into the list of films that I will definitely see in 2012, come Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen or high water, with The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and Prometheus at the top of the list. Speaking of which, Guy Pearce has been flying around the internet all week in a clever promotional video for Prometheus — sort of trailer, except that the footage isn't being used in the movie, or at least not yet. I wouldn't be surprised if the level of geeky affection for their gimmick prompted the filmmakers to work at least some snippet of the Pearce clip into the final print by opening day. At any rate, today I'm going to hit my second-tier list. These are 2012 films that interest me for one reason or another. I'll certainly see some of them, but I probably won't get to all of them, and some of the ones that I do see might actually be pretty terrible. There are probably three or four that I'll allow to fall off the radar based on the report of a trusted friend, and others that will be missed for this or that reason not foreseeable by me at this point in time.

Last week's list ranked my selections 1 through 18, based on the level of my excitement about seeing each of the films listed. Since I'm not as eager to see any of these next films, and because there are probably 2012 movies out there that I'm overlooking or not aware of yet, I've pushed the start of this list down into the low 20s.

27) Mirror Mirror (Relativity) — Don't we all love it when there are dueling blockbusters that are (more or less) about the exact same thing? (Deep Impact vs. Armageddon, Volcano vs. Dante's Peak, Wyatt Earp vs. Tombstone, etc.) Now we have dueling Snow Whites! If you're gonna see one, you pretty much have to see the other, right? This film has a more interesting director (Tarsem Singh), but loses to Snow White and the Huntsman on almost every other count. Both films have intriguing casts, though I'm giving the edge to Snow White and the Huntsman's Charlize Theron (the evil queen), Kristen Stewart (Snow White) and Chris Hemsworth (the love interest) over the Mirror Mirror trio of Julia Roberts (evil queen), Lily Collins (Snow White) and Armie Hammer (love interest). Also, the fairy tale comedy approach of Mirror Mirror feels less promising than the more straightforward fairy tale adventure of Snow White and the Huntsman. March 30

28) 47 Ronin (Universal) — After their master is dishonored and dies by seppuku (ritual suicide), 47 samurai warriors seek to avenge his death. Forty-eight, really, since Keanu Reeves is a Man with No Name type who joins the fight. It's awesome to contemplate a $170 million samurai action epic based on events that occurred in 18th-century Japan. Now throw in Keanu Reeves, probably doing a bad English accent. It's either a money-driven "interesting" casting mishap, or it takes the awesomeness to a whole other level. Nov. 21

29) Lockout (FilmDistrict) — Guy Pearce plays the Liam Neeson Memorial Government Trained Stone Cold Bad(donkey) role in a story of sci-fi action coolness from the producers of Taken. Just in case you aren't getting the Taken vibe strongly enough, they even cast Maggie Grace, who played the kidnapped daughter in Taken, in more or less the exact same role here. (Incidentally, Grace has also been cast in the untitled sequel to Taken that's set to be released in October.) Pearce is an imprisoned former agent who's offered his freedom if he can rescue the POTUS's daughter from a maximum security prison ... in outer space! (How did she get there? Don't ask stupid questions.) Hey, everything is more awesome when it happens ... in outer space! Actually, the more I think about it, the more this sounds like Escape from New York ... in outer space! April 20

30) Titanic (20th Century Fox) — I didn't quite love this film, back in the day, as much as your average 14-year-old girl loved it ... but I loved it almost that much. Since this is a (blah) 3D re-release, we know that the film has literally lost some of its luster, but has time also metaphorically dimmed its formerly bright glow? I haven't seen it since 1998. April 6

31) Total Recall (Sony) — I'm not a huge fan of the Paul Verhoeven film with Arnold Schwarzenegger, so I'm not worried about the desecration of a sacred text here. I also have super low expectations, given that the filmmaking team includes Len Wiseman (Underworld, Live Free or Die Hard) and Kurt Wimmer (Ultraviolet, The Recruit). I'll probably be happy with whatever I get from Kate Beckinsale (main character's wife), Jessica Biel (main character's plucky prostitute sidekick) and Bryan Cranston (villain). Basically, the only person who can screw up here is Colin Farrell, and I'm really not asking for more than baseline action hero competence out of him. Did you hear that superfluous 2012 Total Recall remake? I'm setting you a very low bar. Aug. 3

32) The Five-Year Engagement (Universal) —  For me, the potential of this film rests with Jason Segel and Emily Blunt, two actors whose work I enjoy. The premise of a couple dithering towards marriage doesn't really grab me, but I'm willing to take a chance on the leads. April 27

33) Dredd (Lionsgate) — Let's just say that Sylvester Stallone left lots of room for future filmmakers to improve on the concept of a Judge Dredd movie. I haven't seen enough visual evidence to know how big a leap this film takes, but Karl Urban was spot-on as Dr. McCoy in the new Star Trek, so I'm intrigued to see him as the monosyllabic post-apocalyptic adjudication specialist. Sept. 21

34) The Gangster Squad (Warner Bros.) — The director of Zombieland and 30 Minutes or Less ventures into drama with a top-notch cast (Ryan Gosling, Sean Penn, Josh Brolin, Emma Stone) and a story about cops fighting organized crime in post-World War II Los Angeles. This could be L.A. Confidential, or it could be The Black Dahlia. The wild card is director Fleischer. Oct. 12

35) Safe (Lionsgate) — Jason Statham comes to the rescue of a 12-year-old Chinese girl who's being sought by the Triads, the Russian Mafia, and corrupt New York City cops and politicians. Statham's meatheaded remake of The Mechanic was one of my least-favorite films of 2011, but something about the ol' man-of-action-defends-child-in-peril plotline has me intrigued here. April 27

36) Battleship (Universal) — My wife thinks Taylor Kitsch is hot. I think that, in John Carter, he looks exactly like Tim Riggins from Friday Night Lights, only if Tim Riggins from Friday Night Lights had gone to Barsoom to battle CGI beasties. He still has to battle CGI beasties here, but at least they made him cut his hair. (Nobody is going to buy Tim Riggins as Maverick from Top Gun, except with Liam Neeson and aliens from outer space instead of Iceman and the Russkies.) I like Tim Riggins as much as anyone, but Mr. Kitsch needed to branch out and, hopefully, now he has. May 18

36) MiB 3 (Sony) — Sucks-a-tawney Will (Smith, yo) saw his shadow on the Fourth of July, so there must be at least 7 or 8 more sequels to his ho-hum-to-hoo-boy summer blockbusters. (Which he makes a lot of, despite seeming like a cool dude.) The first MiB movie had some fun content, so maybe some of the old magic will stick to this robo-cash-register in blockbuster form. Also, Josh Brolin pretending to be a young Tommy Lee Jones for an entire movie is awesome. May 25

37) Premium Rush (Sony) — Making a thriller about bike messengers is an idea I could take or leave, especially since there's at least a 75 percent chance it will involve something stupid like a character pedaling away from an expanding fireball. On the other hand, whereas most of his generational peers are like the rubber (bounces off them), Joseph Gordon-Levitt is definitely the glue. You can throw just about any characterization at him, and it will stick, from enjoyably lovelorn single guy in (500) Days of Summer to stone-cold competent right-hand-man-of-action in Inception to emotionally confused 30-something cancer patient in 50/50. Aug. 24

38) G.I. Joe: Retaliation (Paramount) — Not even my boy JG-L (as Cobra Commander) could do much to salvage the original G.I. Joe movie, and I won't be surprised if this one is awful, too. The Bruce Willis bit in the trailer makes me smile, however, and Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson is so right for this milieu that it's legitimately astonishing that the first movie was made without him. Although, what is it about wanting to be Brendan Fraser, D-Jo? First you (ahem) muscled in on the Mummy movies as the Scorpion King, then it was taking over for B-Fray in Journey 2: The Mysterious Island. Now Fraser has yo-ed his last Joe, but wait, the Rock is here to take his place. It's getting a little weird, bro. June 29

39) Savages (Universal) — Taylor Kitsch makes his second summer movie sans Tim Riggins's distinctive locks. This time he's a pot smoker — which you'd think would go arm-in-arm with "the Riggins" (remember "the Rachel," Hollywood hair buffs?) — who has a hard time, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, stayin' alive after tangling with a Mexican cartel. Yes, John Travolta is in this movie, too. July 6

40) Red Dawn (FilmDistrict) — Hollywood's love affair with the 1980s rolls on. The original Red Dawn was so strongly an artifact of its Cold War era, that I have a hard time imagining what a remake even looks like. You can't just swap the Chinese for the Soviets and roll camera ... can you? The interesting "young Hollywood" cast (Chris Hemsworth, Adrianne Palicki, Josh Hutcherson) includes Tom Cruise's son, Connor.  Nov. 2

41) Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted (DreamWorks) and Ice Age: Continental Drift (20th Century Fox) — Only because I still remember the good times, fellas. Well, and for the Scrat cartoon that we're sure to get with Continental Drift. June 8 (The 'Gascar Gang), July 13 (Ice Age)

42) Alex Cross (Summit) — Actor, filmmaker and playwright Tyler Perry ventures outside the realm of his own brand for just the second time (after playing a Starfleet admiral in Star Trek) to pick up where Morgan Freeman left off with James Patterson's Alex Cross character. Oct. 26

43) Breaking Dawn, Part 2 (Summit) — The hybrid vampire elephant in the room: This is the one where Jacob forms a forever bond with Bella and Edward's newborn baby girl, Renesmee. Not only that, but Bella's wee one grows up from pooping her diapers to wearing skinny jeans and eyeliner so fast that she and mom will need to have to have "the talk" — so that Nessie can start dating her special Uncle Jake — by the time she's just 7 years old. (At least that part won't be in the movie. Whew!) (Right? That's not in the movie. Anyone? Anyone? Is this thing on?) Um, awkward. But hey, Team Edward and Team Jacob both win. Surprise! Nov. 16

Coming Friday: The 2012 movies that haven't got a prayer.

Jack and Diddly

SOMETHING I WROTE FOR WORK: So, how did it go?

LINKS: Is this the 84th Academy Awards I see before me?

The title of this post is an incomplete and probably unjustly barbed list of all of the things that I know about predicting the winners of the Academy Awards. I mean, I do know more than the Average Joe. I used to make my guesses only in the major Oscar categories, and I used to recruit suckers fellow film enthusiasts to print their names in the Daily Herald and compete against me, head-to-head. I'm pretty sure that I never lost, over a period of about six years, though I may have been tied one year. Then a couple of years ago, I got tired of rounding up other people's guesses and just ran my own, expanding the outlook to include every award announced during the live telecast: all 24 of them. It's harder to look smart, but it's kind of fun to toe the line and predict every stinkin' category. Including the ones where my knowledge of the nominees amounts to Jack and you-know-what.

This was my second year of picking the entire field, and I upped my game a little, improving by three total picks to top .500 for the first time. Last year I made 11 correct predictions, this year it was 14. I had one last-minute change-of-heart go against me: I originally had the high school football movie Undefeated correctly pegged to win Best Documentary Feature, before switching to Paradise Lost 3 right before deadline. I guess you should never bet against something called Undefeated. A couple of other last-minute switches worked in my favor, like changing my Best Makeup winner from Albert Nobbs to The Iron Lady. I had a little too much faith in The Artist, and not nearly enough faith in Hugo. Or in Meryl Streep, though at least I'm in that boat with every other Academy Awards predictor on the planet. I even went to so far as to suggest that both Michelle Williams and Glenn Close were better "upset" picks than Streep.

Live and learn. I'm sure I'll nail all 24 of them next year. Click the link at the top of this post and then scroll down to the bottom of the page to see exactly how I fared.

Circle the date

I'M DEFINITELY SEEING THAT: Looking ahead to 2012

LINKS: Gettin' Misty with it — the leader of the pack

So I looked at the calendar and realized that it's nearly March, which means that there's finally (probably) a movie worth seeing about to open at the neighborhood multiplex. Everyone else who writes about movies most likely did one of these forward-looking "List of Films to See in 2012" rundowns back before it was actually 2012 ... minus a couple of months already. But is there ever really anything that anyone really wanted to see to in January and February anyway? I say no, and just to be sure, I checked. It's not like I haven't been paying attention anyway, of course, but in the interest of thoroughness, I looked back in horror at the Katherine Heigl thing, the new Kate Beckinsale vampire movie, the obviously essential sequel to Brendan Fraser's Journey to the Center of the Earth movie (sans Brendan Fraser), the thing with Dolly Parton and Queen Latifah, the thing with Captain Kirk and Locutus of Borg (or is it the Romulan dude who got in Troi's noggin?) fighting over Reese Witherspoon, the Liam Neeson thing, the horror thing, the other horror thing and the 27 money-grubbing 3D re-releases. Yup. Nothing any of us were actually looking forward to seeing.

So let's do an about face and look at the rest of the calendar, all the way to Dec. 31. I spy 18 movies I'm definitely going to see, 18 that are intriguing for one reason or another, and 8 that get the Han Solo salute from The Empire Strikes Back. We'll examine the back 26 next week. For today, here are the movies I'm most excited about seeing in 2012:

1) The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (Warner Bros.) — "Unexpected" is probably the right word. Peter Jackson is bound to mess with the details even beyond the known insertion of a plot-expanding (and canonical, incidentally, per Tolkien's meticulous appendices to The Lord of the Rings) "Mission to (Southern) Mirkwood" side story in which Gandalf pokes around Dol Guldur looking for Sauron. On the other hand, the first trailer for the movie is quite promising, especially the dwarf-by-dwarf introduction shots, and the moody depiction of dwarven chanting in Bilbo's home. There are problems aplenty with Jackson's Lord of the Rings movies, but he's certainly developed a potent visual language and atmosphere for his personal Middle-earth. Dec. 14

2) Prometheus (20th Century Fox) — To be honest, I haven't really ever wondered about the backstory of the crash site on LV-426 where the crew of the Nostromo encountered what android officer Ash called a "perfect organism." Ridley Scott's Alien is still so awesome, however, that I'm willing to roll with whatever he's got cooked up. Speaking of which, I'm going to remain pumped about the involvement of LOST mastermind Damon Lindelof at the screenplay level. Right up until 10 of the last 20 minutes of the movie are set in an existential dream-verse where Michael Fassbender helps the other members of the crew meet up again before moving on to the next plane of their existence as one big happy family. June 8

3) The Dark Knight Rises (Warner Bros.) — As covered previously in this space, the Big Question about Christopher Nolan's Last Dance with Merry Wayne (Bruce Wayne,  yo) is whether it's got more of The Dark Knight or more of Batman Begins in its DNA. There's no need to Begin again, Mr. Nolan. Embrace your Dark side. July 20

4) Brave (Disney) — Can Pixar bounce back from the mediocrity of Cars 2? The initial indications weren't very promising. The teaser for Brave was a dull underlining of the thematic weight of its title, and its first trailer was a mishmash of terrible jokes ("Feast yer eyes!") and proto-feminist hoo-hah, capped off by the exceedingly lame tag line "If you had the chance to change your fate ... would you?" The idea of a very different Disney princess is hugely appealing, but the marketing team didn't really nail it until the trailer released last week, which sticks to a single scene and offers the strongest impression yet of Merida, the red-haired Scots firebrand who, as they say, needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle. June 22

5) The Hunger Games (Lionsgate) — Post-apocalyptic North America, here we come. I love the cast: Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss, Woody Harrelson as Haymitch, Lenny Kravitz as Cinna, Stanley Tucci as Caesar Flickerman, Wes Bentley as Seneca Crane, Donald Sutherland as President Snow. On the other hand, why waste the awesomeness of Elizabeth Banks on plot non-entity Effie Trinket? (Not one person in the world read the books and thought for two seconds about who would play Effie Freaking Trinket.) And I'm on the fence about the fellas: Josh Hutcherson has maybe got a decent Peeta in him, but Liam Hemsworth (as Gale) is ... tall? Need more data. March 23

6) The Pirates: Band of Misfits (Sony) — Hugh Grant needs to be a pirate captain. Beyond that, I'm pinning my hopes for this animated adventure on the Aardman Animation braintrust. They're the Wallace and Gromit folks, so this should be fun, right? Yar! April 27

7) The Bourne Legacy (Universal) — Sayonara, Matt Damon. Welcome aboard, Jeremy Renner. Renner, the charismatic star of The Hurt Locker has got the chops to play this game at least as well as Damon. I'm also a fan of writer/director Tony Gilroy (Michael Clayton). Aug. 3

8) Looper (TriStar) — Writer/director Rian Johnson makes interesting movies — his first film was Brick — and it's cool to see him branch out. This one has a sci-fi plot, with Joseph Gordon-Levitt as a contract killer assigned to hunt down a visitor from the future (Bruce Willis) who turns out to be ... ain't saying. But it sounds cool. Sept. 28

9) Les Miserables (Universal) — Hugh Jackman as Jean Valjean, Russell Crowe as Javert, Tom Hooper (The King's Speech) directing. Sold. With Anne Hathaway as Cosette and Amanda Seyfried as Fantine ... because those two could totally be mother and daughter. Um, sure. Dec. 7

10) Snow White and the Huntsman (Universal) — Hey, it's Bella from Twilight, in a movie with no vampires. And with, um, Snow White making Crispin's Day speeches and leading warriors into battle. It's either going to be really fun, or really silly. June 1

11) John Carter (Disney) — Tim Riggins meets Edgar Rice Burroughs, from the director of Finding Nemo and WALL*E. March 9
12) The Amazing Spider-Man (Sony) — Pressing the reset button with Mark Zuckerberg's likeable friend from The Social Network as Peter Parker. July 6
13) The Avengers (Disney) — In Joss Whedon we trust. Because, dang it all, we still miss Firefly. Maybe there will be an Adam Baldwin cameo? May 4
14) Skyfall (Sony) — This is only Daniel Craig's third movie as James Bond, but it already feels like he's sort of playing out the string. There's a definite "ho-hum" factor. Here's hoping for a strong, interesting plot. Nov. 9
15) Gravity (Warner Bros.) — Children of Men director Alfonso Cuaron goes spacewalking with George Clooney and Sandra Bullock. Nov. 21
16) Life of Pi (20th Century Fox) — Boy. Boat. Bengal tiger. Directed by Ang Lee. Dec. 12
17) Django Unchained (The Weinstein Co.) — A Western in the Deep South with writer-director Quentin Tarantino. I'm not entirely certain QT himself knows what to make of this. Dec. 25
18) The Great Gatsby (Warner Bros.) — Leonardo DiCaprio's other Christmas movie. He's also a villainous plantation owner in Django Unchained. Dec. 25

Back in business

SOMETHING I WROTE FOR WORK: More of the Best of 2011

LINKS: Recapping the year in movies with the Daily Herald

I've been away. Some of you may have noticed. Or not. At any rate, it turns out that I didn't quite go down to my final resting place in the Secret Movie Writer Burial Ground. Still kicking, still here, ready to fire it up after several months' hibernation. When last I appeared on this beat, the typical post-summer harvest of Oscar-baiting "blogbusters" (heh — the movies destined to be endlessly dissected on movie blogs like this one) wasn't even a hot topic yet. Now I've seen it all, or seen a lot it, or seen at least enough of it to get my Ten Best of 2011 hammered out for the Daily Herald. The link is above.

Most people probably don't ever feel 100 percent satisfied with those lists, however, and I always struggle to keep myself in check. I don't like being "limited as to number," as Gwyneth Paltrow once put it. So for my (ahem) first blog post of 2012 (ahem), I'm rolling back the curtain of my mind just a bit to reveal my Second Ten of '11 list of films, the ones that almost made the grade.

11) Rango — Here we go: Proof that repeated exposure to Captain Jack Sparrow hasn't killed Johnny Depp's ability to create new and interesting characters. The animation is also exceptional here, a richly textured look that makes you feel like you're almost touching the characters and environments in the film just by looking at them. The goofy, offbeat humor may not connect with every viewer, but it tickled me quite a bit

12) Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy — One of the perils of adapting novel-length fiction is that you run the risk of confusing viewers with a wealth of information. Lots of commentators felt like this film ran in the opposite direction, but I like that Tomas Alfredson doesn't insist on laying out the whys and wherefores of every development. There's enough here to keep up if you're paying attention. And it's also nice to see a spy story that's driven more by human weakness and imperfection than by improbable gadgets, chases and explosions.

13) My Week with Marilyn — I don't really get the whole Marilyn Monroe mystique, probably at least a little bit because I didn't live through any of it. (Although I do remember when Madonna went through her Breathless Mahoney phase.) Michelle Williams may not be a physical doppleganger for Monroe, but her extraordinary performance certainly suggests the whatever-it-was that Marilyn had going for her that made men weak in the knees.

14) Margin Call — Some movies live and die by the crackling monologues that flare up at certain points, and this one has several such moments. There's something about talking dollars and cents that gets a lot of actors in a fire-in-the-belly fettle, although Stanley Tucci also has an nice extended bit here about civil engineering. High finance makes for low drama when you read about it in the newspaper (or on Google News), but money and movies often go together like syrup and hotcakes.

15) Captain America — Chris Evans has been wasted on a lot of middling Hollywood product, including previous superhero films — he was Johnny Storm in the recent Fantastic Four duology — but Captain America is a role he was, yes, born to play. Having Cap's origin story unfold against the backdrop of World War II is also a pleasant touch, and there's a great supporting cast here that includes Tommy Lee Jones, Stanley Tucci and especially Hayley Atwell and Dominic Cooper.

16) Source Code — The release date for this brain-bending sci-fi drama was April 1, which may or may not have been a sly wink from the production team. Not that Source Code is a shallow prank akin to the ol' Saran Wrap under the toilet seat gag. It's definitely subversive, though, in addition to being a ton of fun. Jake Gyllenhaal and Michelle Monaghan are very solid as two strangers on a train, who may or may not be trapped in something akin to the Matrix.

17) The Tree of Life — People often try to read grand portents into the work of Terrence Malick, but it's not what he's actually saying that will drown you in its depths, so much as the way that he goes about saying it. Like other Malick films, this is one is exquisitely crafted and gradually, patiently realized. Brad Pitt and Jessica Chastain give deeply moving performances as people of profoundly different natures who end up being parents together.

18) Contagion — This is as close as I ever want to be to a lethal global pandemic. Steven Soderbergh has an Ocean's-style all-star cast, but it's a resurgent Jennifer Ehle (the long-forgotten Elizabeth Bennett to Colin Firth's career-making Mr. Darcy) who makes the strongest impression. (Poor Gwyneth Paltrow almost surpasses the ickiness of her famously untimely demise in Seven.)

19) Rise of the Planet of the Apes — Reboots rarely come together this crisply. There's an excellent blend of human drama and low-level sci-fi in this table-setter that may or may not launch an all-new Planet franchise. Director Rupert Wyatt and writers Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver set a high bar, especially in terms of the film's uncanny ape visual effects. The worldwide take was close to half-a-billion, so we're likely to get more of ... something. Hopefully it will be more of the same.

20) Do I really have to choose between Jane Eyre and Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol — See? It never ends.