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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