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Every weekday of December (except for December 25, that is), Phillyist will be counting down to 2008 with our highlights from the past year and our predictions for the next. If you have a list you'd like to submit, let us know!
10. Jumper - Yeah, I know it stars the whiny Darth Vader, but it's also got Sam "Motherfucking" Jackson, and a screenplay co-written by David Goyer about a war between teleporters and those who have sworn to kill them. And the trailer freaking rocks.
9. Bond 22 - The next Bond movie doesn't even have a title yet, but given that the last one was really quite good - so much so that it revitalized the entire ancient, creaking franchise - and given the fact that Daniel Craig will be back in the main role, I have high hopes for it.
8. The Incredible Hulk - I'm one of the few people who actually liked Ang Lee's version, but now that the big green guy has become one of my favorite fictional characters, I'm interested to see what talented folks like Edward Norton, Tim Roth, and William Hurt can do with a reboot of the franchise.
7. Cloverfield - The entire marketing campaign for this film was designed to make you curious about it - what's the title? What's it really about? What happens to those guys on the video? And damn it... it works! Or at least, it worked on me. I want to know, damn it! And besides that, as I understand it, the thing is about a giant monster destroying a city, and that's one of my favorite genres.
6. Star Trek - J.J. Abrams' other huge project is a prequel Star Trek movie that goes back and tells the story of the early years of Kirk, Spock, and the whole gang. As a loyal Trekker, I'm already contractually bound to see every single Star Trek movie that comes out, but besides that, it'll be great to see if the talented Abrams can do what Casino Royale did for Bond and breathe life back into a franchise that even I have to admit has seen better days. He's certainly assembled a pretty impressive cast.
5. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince - Another franchise I'm a loyal fan of is Harry Potter, so I'd be looking forward to this no matter what, but director David Yates did a great job on the last film, this is a particularly exciting and dramatic book, and as usual the cast is ridiculously excellent, so my anticipation for this entry in the series is especially high.
4. Be Kind Rewind - Even when I don't like Michel Gondry's films, they're always at least intriguing, creative, and visually stunning. But this one I've been looking forward to since I first heard about it, because the premise just sounds utterly brilliant: Jack Black plays an otherwise regular guy with a magnetized brain who mistakenly erases all the videotapes at the local video store. To fix things, he and the video clerk (Mos Def) decide to personally re-shoot every single movie. I have a premonition that this is going to be a beautiful, feel-good, postmodern masterpiece. I hope I'm right!
3. Dark Knight - Batman Begins had its issues, but despite them, it was pretty much the best Batman movie - and possibly the best comic book movie - ever made. And the sequel, which brings back pretty much the whole crew from the last movie, but adds Heath Ledger as the Joker and replaces the awful Katie Holmes (the only weak point) with Maggie Gyllenhaal, is looking like it could be even better.
2. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Cyrstal Skull - Do I even have to explain? It's a new Indy movie, man! A new entry in probably the best series of action/adventure movies ever made! Directed by Steven Spielberg, starring Harrison Ford, Ray Winstone, Cate Blanchett, Jim Broadbent, and John Hurt, and bringing back Karen Allen as Marion Ravenwood! What could be better? Well, just one thing...
1. Iron Man - The trailer for this film is one of the coolest things I've ever seen. And that was just the trailer! The cast (Robert Downey Jr., Terrence Howard, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jeff Bridges, Samuel L. Jackson) is amazing and perfect, the dialogue that we've heard so far is clever and hilarious, and the effects are incredible. If this thing doesn't rock my face off, I will be seriously surprised.
Image via FirstShowing.net
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Jim, thanks for the list. I love Lost, and I actually hadn't heard anything about Cloverfield, and once I watched that trailer...wow. Whatever it is, it certainly feels awesome.
Also really looking forward to Be Kind Rewind, and of course, The Dark Knight.
No prob!
Hadn't heard of Cloverfield?! Somebody hasn't been reading Whiz... :)
We would probably be better off if they combined elements for all the we can't come up with original ideas so we make sequels/brand expansions franchise movies and had a series of mashups. Just think of the possibilities:
Harry Potter and the Angry Klingons
Batman vs. Hulk
James Bond and the Kingdom of the Golden Skull
Toby: Although I know what you're saying, I don't think all sequel or franchise movies are completely devoid of original ideas, or else I wouldn't have put so many on my list. Still, your mashup movies would be pretty awesome. I'd love to see James Bond and Indiana Jones team up, although I doubt they'd get along. And Batman vs. Hulk would rock.