Argo
Starring: Ben Affleck, Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad), Alan Arkin (Little
Miss Sunshine), John Goodman (Monster's
Inc)
Director: Ben Affleck (Gone
Baby Gone, The Town)
Release Date: OUT NOW
Say what you will about Ben Affleck’s acting skills, there’s
no denying that he’s a talented director. I really enjoyed Gone Baby Gone and The Town
but I think Argo tops both of them.
Argo is based on a
real-life story set during the 1979 Iran Hostage Crisis. It was a tumultuous
period in US-Iranian relations with Iranian militants storming the US embassy
and kidnapping most of the American staff. However, a small group of six US
diplomats managed to escape and secretly hid away in the home of the Canadian ambassador.
In comes Ben Affleck as CIA agent Tony Mendez to extract the diplomats from
Iran. He concocts a crazy scheme: to create a cover story that the six
diplomats are Canadian filmmakers scouting in Iran for exotic locations to
shoot the science fiction film Argo.
Voices: John.C.Reilly (Talladega Nights, Step Brothers),
Sarah Silverman
Director: Rich Moore
Release date: November 2nd (US), December 26th
(Aus)
Wreck-it-Ralph is the villain of the arcade game Fix-It Felix Jr. Ralph has been playing
the villain for 30 years and wants a career change. He escapes from the arcade
and journeys into another video game world to show that he can be a hero.
The premise of Wreck-it-Ralph
sounds a bit like Despicable Me and Megamind: a long-time villain gets tired of playing the
bad guy and changes occupations to prove to the world that they can be a hero.
But I think it’s pretty cool how Wreck-it-Ralph
incorporates video game elements into the story and the trailer shows Ralph
interacting with some pretty iconic video game villains like Bowser and Doctor
Eggman.
Skyfall
Starring: Daniel Craig, Ralph Finnes (Harry Potter), Javier Bardem (the creepy dude from No Country for Old Men)
Director: Sam Mendes (American
Beauty)
Release Date: NOW (US and UK), Nov 22nd (Aus)
Everyone’s favourite secret agent is back in what may be
Bond’s most explosive mission yet. From all reports so far, this could be one
of the best Bond films ever with a whopping 95% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
I’m not sure if Daniel Craig is the best Bond (my vote goes
towards Sean Connery – the original and the best!) but he certain infuses 007
with a great deal of coolness and badassery. Just look at him at the end of the trailer –
he jumps from a crane onto a train and the first thing he does is to make sure that
his cufflinks aren’t scratched. What. A. Boss.
Life of Pi
Starring: Suraj Sharma (debut)
Director: Ang Lee (Brokeback Mountain, Crouching Tiger,
Hidden Dragon)
Release Date: January 1st 2013 (Australia),
November 21st (USA)
Life of Pi is
based on the 2001 novel of the same name by Canadian author Yann Martel. It
tells the remarkable story of a young boy who is shipwrecked for 277 days and
stranded on a boat with a Bengal Tiger. It’s an amazing novel and one of the
most powerful stories that I’ve read in recent years. It deals with some pretty
heavy philosophical and spiritual questions about survival, loneliness and
hope.
I’m pretty excited for this movie just looking at the
trailer. It looks like it’s going to be a visually spectacular film and the 3D
might actually help enhance the cinematic scope of the film. The trailer even
uses Coldplay’s Paradise which makes it all the more better.
Fun fact: Tobey Maguire was supposed to play Yann Martel in
the movie but he was replaced by another actor because the director Ang Lee
wanted an international cast for the movie. I can’t blame Ang Lee as ever since
this iconic scream from Spiderman 2 and his infamous emo strut, I have struggled
to take Tobey Maguire seriously.
Monsters Inc 3D
Starring (voices): Billy Crystal, John Goodman
Director: Pete Docter (Up)
Release Date: December 19 2012 (US), January 17 2013 (Aus)
I can’t believe it’s already been more than 10 years since Monsters Inc. was first released. It’s probably
my favourite Pixar film (along with Up) with some of the funniest scenes in
animation.
Monsters Inc is
coming back to your local cinemas in 3D in December. I’m not really a big fan
of 3D movies but I’ve found that 3D seems to work best with animated films (eg.
How To Train Your Dragon). I’m
guessing one of the reasons why Pixar are re-releasing Monsters Inc in 3D is in preparation for the prequel that will be
released next year: Monsters University.
If you haven’t already, check out their website. It’s really awesome and does a
great job mimicking the design layout of real-life university websites.
.
Les Miserables
Starring: Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Anna Hathaway, Amanda
Seyfried
Director: Tom Hooper (The
King’s Speech)
Release Date: December 25th (US), December 26th
(AUS)
The classic musical based on Victor Hugo’s masterpiece will
be transformed onto the big screen by Tom Hooper, director of The King’s Speech. An all-star cast
headlines the film and the trailer is so awesome that it gives you goosebumps.
I haven’t actually read Les Miserables
or watched the musical but I have seen the 1998 adaptation with Liam Neeson,
Geoffrey Rush and Uma Thurman and thought it was a terrific story. Les Miserables tells the story of Jean
Valjean, a former prisoner who after many years of repentance, redemption and
hard work has become the mayor of a French town. However, the unwavering Inspector Javert is
determined to expose Valjean as a criminal and will stop at nothing to capture
him.
Django Unchained
Starring: Jamie Foxx, Christoph Waltz (Inglorious Basterds), Leonardo DiCaprio (Inception), Samuel L. Jackson
Director: Quentin Tarantino
Release Date: December 25th (US), January 24
(AUS)
Django (Jamie Foxx) is a freed slave who sets out across
America with bounty hunter Dr King Schultz (Christoph Waltz) to rescue his
enslaved wife from the clutches of the ruthless plantation owner played by Leo
Dicaprio.
Django Unchained looks like your typical Tarantino film:
witty and quick-fire dialogue combined with sporadic bursts of stylistic
violence. I really enjoyed the performance of Christoph Waltz in Inglorious
Basterds as the evil Nazi commander and judging from the trailer he will feel
right at home playing a bounty hunter. Definitely one to look forward to for
you Tarantino fans.
Cloud Atlas
Starring: Tom Hanks, Halle Barry, Jim Broadbent, Hugo
Weaving and many others
Directors: Lana and Andy Wachowski
Release Date: NOW (US and Canada), February 21 2013
(Australia)
Cloud Atlas has
been described by some as ‘wonderfully epic’ and by others as ‘a unique and
totally unparalleled disaster’. It looks like it’s going to be one of those
films that really polarise audiences. I generally stay away from arthouse films
and would rather pay $11 to see an action blockbuster but the fact that Cloud Atlas is made by the Wachowskis
(the brains behind The Matrix) makes me want to watch it. The Matrix pioneered
some pretty amazing visual effects and the trailer for Cloud Atlas showcases some spectacular futuristic landscapes.
I don’t really know how to describe the premise of Cloud Atlas so I’m just going to copy
the official synopsis and hope it makes sense to you.
“Cloud Atlas is an
epic story of humankind in which the actions and consequences of our lives
impact one another throughout the past, present, and future as one soul is
shaped from a murderer into a saviour and a single act of kindness ripples out
for centuries to inspire a revolution.”
The movie will have multiple storylines set in different
eras, starting from the 19th century and finishing with a vision of
the future. Cloud Atlas is actually based on a novel by British author David
Mitchell. You might want to read the novel before watching the movie so that it
will make more sense to you.
Lincoln
Starring: Daniel Day-Lewis, Sally Field, Joseph
Gordon-Levitt, Tommy-Lee Jones
Director: Steven Spielberg
Release Date: November 16 (US), January 17 2013 (Aus)
Stephen Spielberg’s latest film is a biographical war film
about the Abraham Lincoln, the famous president who ended slavery in America.
History buffs and patriotic Americans will flock to the cinemas for this one as
will the ladies with teenage heartthrob Joseph Gordon-Levitt playing Lincoln’s
eldest son. Liam Neeson was originally cast to play Abraham Lincoln in 2005 but
by the time the film production officially began, Neeson was deemed too old and
kicking too much ass in Taken 1 and 2 to be suitable for the role. He was replaced
by Daniel Day-Lewis who is not a bad actor himself. For those purists who were
up in arms over the historical inaccuracy of Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter earlier this year, fear not for no
vampires will be present in this film.
The Hobbit: An Unexpected
Journey
Starring: Martin Freeman, Ian McKellen, Andy Serkis,
Benedict Cumberbatch
Director: Peter Jackson
Release Date: December 14
We finish the year with the BIG ONE. Peter Jackson’s
adaption of J.R.R Tolkien’s fantasy masterpiece will be shown in three parts:
An Unexpected Journey (released at the end of this year), The Desolation of
Smaug (December 2013) and There and Back Again (July 2013). Now, I’ve never
actually read The Hobbit before, so I
don’t care if the movie deviates from the novel. I’m of the opinion that film
is a completely different medium to literary works and that you can’t translate
everything from page to screen. Film is a visual medium and should be treated
as such.
Martin Freeman looks like he was born to play Bilbo Baggins,
Ian McKellen doesn’t seemed to have aged in the ten years since the first Lord of the Rings movie. Freeman’s
co-star in Sherlock, the ridiculously
named Benedict Cumberbatch, will play the voice of the dragon Smaug as well as
The Necromancer, who will later become a significant character in The Lord of
the Rings story.
With Peter Jackson at the helm and a terrific cast, this
shapes to be the blockbuster of 2012.
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