New Year, New Movies

Preimiere.com released a (non-exhaustive*) guide to many of the movies slated for release in 2010. While the first few of the year are mostly nothing but action/thriller schlock and sugary family fare, come February and beyond there are some worth noting:

• Shutter Island (February 19)
  Starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Mark Ruffalo and directed by Martin Scorsese, the Shutter Island of the title is a mental institution from which an inmate escapes. DiCaprio and Ruffalo are sent in to investigate and all sorts of creepy and suspenseful happenings happen. This was originally supposed to be released in October 2009, but insiders say that in this instance the delayed release isn’t an indication of poor quality. There are few actors that can get me in the theatre to see a first run movie and Leo is one of them. Expect a report in February!
  


• Alice in Wonderland (March 6)
  We know that when Johnny Depp and Tim Burton team up it’s creepy, kooky and all together ooky, (Reminder: The Addams Family, starring Bebe Neuwirth as Morticia, is coming to Broadway this spring) and this venture will no doubt be ookily wonderful. The trailer looks truly fantastical and those promo photos of Depp as the Mad Hatter are scary and spectacular all at once. Again, I don’t see many movies in the theatre (thanks, Netflix!) but I think this is one to catch on a big screen.
  


• Date Night (April 9)
  Starring Tina Fey and Steve Carell as a stuck-in-a-rut married couple out on a date night gone wrong (think mistaken identities and thugs out to get them), this movie could be ridiculous in either a good or a bad way. Given the facts that Fey and Carell almost always remember to bring the funny and James Franco makes a cameo as a slacker druggie, I’m thinking this’ll be the good kind of ridiculous.
  


• MacGruber (April 16)
  Based on a Saturday Night Live sketch. A mildly funny one-joke sketch. Outlook is not good. But, Will Forte and Kristin Wiig are pretty funny people, so maybe this will end up in the queue for a few good that’s-so-stupid laughs. It might even turn out to be an awesome SNL sketch-turned movie, like Wayne's World. Zang!
  


• Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps (April 23)
  Oy vey. Why? I’m conflicted because I like Shia LaBeouf (Transformers is awful but watch his performance in A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints) but really, who was asking for more Wall Street and Gordon Gekko? Greed is not good – though the producers must think it is.
  


• A Nightmare on Elm Street (April 30)
  I remember being eight or nine and sitting in my brother’s room while the original Nightmare played on TV. Being the caring bro that he is, he didn’t bother to warn me that I probably would get scared and shouldn’t watch. Well, I had nightmares for weeks after. I’m not sure if I can muster the courage to see this remake, but the trailer does look pretty good.
  


• Iron Man 2 (May 7)
  Who would’ve thought that the guy from Swingers (director Jon Favreau) and the wily outlaw who played Charlie Chaplin (Robert Downey, Jr.) could combine for such a great super hero movie? Well, the first one was pretty cool and the trailer for the second looks pretty cool, too. Sam Rockwell, he of Safe Men fame and he who’s coming to the boards in February in a new Martin McDonagh play that I can’t wait for, will star as Tony Stark’s nemesis while the resurgent Mickey Rourke will star as Iron Man’s. This kicks off the summer blockbuster bonanza. Go a few weeks after opening to avoid lines. And comic book geeks.
  


• Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (May 28)
  Another summer blockbuster, this isn’t exactly my cup of tea and I probably won’t see it, but given that Jake Gyllenhaal (-->) is going to be mostly or all together shirtless for pretty much the whole movie, I’m not ruling it out.
  
  
• Jonah Hex (June 18)
  This isn’t exactly my cup of tea either but Johnny Gallagher has a role in this. I may have to see it.
  
  
• Inception (July 16)
  I’m very excited to see this. Stars: Leonardo DiCaprio and Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Director: Christopher Nolan (of Memento and Batman Begins + The Dark Knight fame). Prediction: Awesome. Leo is some sort of mind bender (maybe a psychic at Cal-Tech?) and gets into camera bending fights. The trailer is thrilling and given the talent of the creative team, I’m guessing the rest of the movie will be, too.
  


• The Green Hornet (December 22)
  I’m not a huge comic book movie fan, but I do enjoy some Seth Rogen in my life so this may be added to the queue at some point. Also, Michael Gondry, who brought us the fantastic Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, is at the helm so it may turn out to be a weirdly slick and entertaining popcorn flick.
  


• Love and Other Drugs (sometime this year)
  Jake Gyllenhaal stars as a man trying to sell Viagra. Sure, kind of strange, but Gyllenhaal and co-star Anne Hathaway are both talented actors so let’s wait for the trailer to pop up before making any judgments.
  


• The Social Network (sometime this year)
  A entire movie about the origins of Facebook doesn’t sound very exciting until you hear that it stars Jesse Eisenberg (who, while a one-note actor, can play that one-note pretty well) and JTims, is directed by David Fincher (Seven and Fight Club anyone?) and was written by – drum roll please – Aaron Sorkin! It’s Sorkinese up on the big screen! Please sir, can I have some more?

*Premiere’s list does leave off some films that will (hopefully) be released in 2010, including two starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Hesher and Elektra Luxx); two from Ryan Gosling (Blue Valentine and All Good Things); and at least one from Reese Witherspoon (an untitled projects that teams her with the always funny and charming Paul Rudd.)