Not really a full post, but I’m just getting back to -25C weather from +30C weather (do the math) and my brain is a bit addled. Glancing around the internet, I realized I had never come across this particular still for Spike Jonze‘s adaptation of Where The Wild Things Are until now. It is worth sharing.
Also: The Road, Coraline, Ong Bak 2, Moon (that Sci-Fi with Sam Rockwell), gorgeous Canadian sci-fi flick Splice, Mammoth parasites in Thaw, Sean Ellis’ Broken, Swedish drama Mammoth, Lars Von Trier’s Antichrist, Nicholas Winding Refn’s 1-2 punch with Bronson and Valhalla Rising, A Clive Owen double shot with The International and Duplicity, Upscale comic book crime with Watchmen, Alex Proyas’ Knowing, seeing Pontypool and Che in the cinema again, low budget (and non-Spiderman) Sam Raimi, with Drag Me to Hell, gangster goodness with Public Enemies (and the gritty French Vincent Cassel starrer Public Enemy No.1 parts 1 and 2), John Cusack and Gong Li in Shanghai, Quentin Tarantino’s Inglorious Basterds finally seeing the light of day and hopefully a DVD release of Tears for Sale.
There may be a bit of a wait with January to March dumping-grounds/deadzone and there are many more projects that will not hit the radar until later in the year. Anything I missed? What are you looking forward to in 2009?
imdb says Terrence Malick’s Tree of Life is post-production 2009, maybe it will be ready for the second half? He has been working on it since New World. It stars Sean Penn and Brad Pitt… that is my most anticipated film without time limits.
Until March about the only movie coming out I want to see is Coraline. Anyway, besides that I am looking forward to Watchmen, Up (the latest Pixar movie), Public Enemeies (Michael Mann does period gangsters–can’t miss that), Where the Wild Things Are, Drag Me to Hell, and Inglorious Basterds. Oh yes, and The Lovely Bones. Believe that finally comes out late this year!
Speaking of Valhalla Rising there are some video diarys on Mads Mikkelsen website: http://www.madsonline.net/VideoDiary.html
You beat me to this, but that’s okay, saving me some time. Some I’m really looking forward to:
The Road – This topped my list last year and is topping my list yet again.
The Soloist – for obvious reasons.
Nine, with Daniel Day Lewis.
500 Days of Summer because of my two crushes.
Moon, Gentleman Broncos and The Winning Season – Sam Rockwell
Everybody’s Fine – De Niro, Rockwell (the new De Niro), Kate Beckinsale…
Public Enemies – gangster flick with Depp!
Shutter Island – Scorsese, DiCaprio, Ruffalo, Kingsley, Emily Mortimer, Michelle Williams, Jackie Earle Haley, Elias Koteas, Patricia Clarkson, Ted Levine… shall I continue?
Avatar – hype
Sherlock Holmes – Obvious reasons.
The Tree of Life – Malick. That is all.
The Brother’s Bloom
The Time Traveller’s Wife
Drag Me To Hell – Raimi back to horror.
Funny People – Apatow. Sandler maybe doing something worthwhile again?
The Year One – Sounds pretty dumb, but my faith lies in Harold Ramis most of the time.
Crossing Over – only for Harrison.
The Wolf Man – starring the actual Wolf Man.
Where the Wild Things Are
The Lovely Bones
I Love You, Man – the promise lies in its stars, not the trailer.
I Love You Phillip Morris – a comedy/drama with Carrey. This is when he shines. And Ewan rocks too.
Adventureland
Case 39 – because I want to see Ian McShane break big-time into Hollywood.
What am I missing?
Can’t wait for Shutter Island, Nine, The Soloist, Leaves of Grass, Sherlock Holmes and Up!
Ian McShane is awesome.
Maybe they are going to be real shitty but I am curious for “The Runaways” (as a small boy i liked Joan Jett Music *g*), “Cirque du Freak” and as my assumed guilty pleasure for 2009 “The Expendables”.
In addition (as i am a fan of asian movies and also horror/thriller) i am waiting for “Tokyo Sonata”, “Yip Man”, “The Good, The Bad and The Weird”, “Vengeance” (I love Johnnie To movies), of course Park Chan-wooks “Thirst” and “Goemon”. For the Horror section there are some promising french ones in the line.
Good Calls on Tree of Life, Thirst, and The Wolfman.
I’ve seen Brothers Bloom, The Good The Bad and The Weird, and they are watchable, although I lean towards GBW being a better films than BB to compare two completely incomparable films…Also, Tokyo Sonata was #3 in my top 10 of 2008 and is a stellar piece of cinema. I heart Kiyoshi Kurosawa!
I like Ian McShane, but many (all?) of his post-Deadwood film opportunites have been duds. He is rock-solid in a small (but important) role in Jon Glazer’s SEXY BEAST, and I also wish him success.
Watchmen and Pontypool, and Inglorious Bastards and the Fantastic Mr. Fox by reputation.
Almost everything else are things I know a little about here or there, but I’m not going to get carried away about until I at least see a trailer or a release date.
Oh, I’m excited to see The Class, the Palme D’or winner from 2008, which just opened in Toronto. Both the local alternative weekly rags gave it full marks.
I can’t believe none of you Poindexters have mentioned 9 yet.
I Love You Phillip Morris is #1 on my list. Loved the book, love Jim Carrey, love Ewan McGregor.
I also think Bruno could be hilarious. It could also be a total miss, but the fashion world has been waiting forever to be made of.
I also really want to see Brothers with Jake Gyllenhaal, Tobey Maguire, and Natalie Portman. I loved the Danish film this one is adapted from, and I doubt they can do better than the original, but with a cast like that they can probably come close.
I think I might also give Mall Cop a chance too. It can’t be worse than what I saw earlier today (Slumdog … ugh!)
Goon, me too. We have The Class opening here in a week or two. Really looking forward to it. Palme d’Or kicks ass everytime.
PS – saw “Che” today. Full review forthcoming, but quickly:
Part 1 = Great
Part 2 = Very disappointing
More Wild Things Are Stills here: http://www.slashfilm.com/2009/01/16/sneak-peek-the-monsters-of-where-the-wild-things-are/ (via Todd @ twitch)
And here: http://www.slashfilm.com/2009/01/02/new-photos-where-the-wild-things-are/
Gamble Kudos on the 9 mention (I indeed forgot. Wow what a voice cast there….) 2009 should be a great year for upscale kids animation/puppets/adventure films (WTWTA, 9, Up, Coraline, Mr. Fox, Water Warriors, Monsters vs. Aliens, Yona Yona Penguin, Astroboy and James Cameron’s forever in devlepment behemoth Avatar. 2009 has perhaps the most interesting set of animated films to be forthcoming since Computer graphics took over cel animation. Oh, and there is a new Aardman short with Wallace And Grommit too. Nice.
Michel Ocelot’s Asur et Asmar and Miyazaki’s Ponyo on a Cliff By The Sea should finally show up around here on DVD as well.
Wait, there is an animated movie called 9 and a musical called Nine coming out the same year and it just so happens to be this one? I hate 2009 already.
All I know or care about is the Daniel Day Lewis Nine about a film director.
Although that animated 9 looks interestingly different.
The Daniel Day-Lewis Nine is a musical based on a show based on Fellini’s 8½, and it’s directed by the guy who did the_awful_Chicago and the_awful_looking_Memoirs of a Geisha.
Oddly enough, I’ve never watched Chicago. Or Memoirs of a Geisha for that matter.
I didn’t realize this Nine was a musical, but I knew the Fellini parallel which was exciting. Plus a solid case of Marion Cotillard, Penelope Cruz, Judi Dench, Nicole Kidman…
Oh, just read about Biutiful with Javier Bardem, directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu, which comes out next December.
“A man involved in illegal dealing is confronted by his childhood friend, who is now a policeman.”
Just found out the Bollywood remake of MEMENTO (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1166100/) is playing in the local multiplex. Will probably check it out.
And I found out there is a new Robert LePage film coming soon, I saw the poster in the AMC lobby for it, but can’t remember the title and it’s not on IMDB yet. But that is still pretty sweet news! (Folks are highly encouraged to check out the strange and unusual POSSIBLE WORLDS starring Tilda Swinton and Tom McCamus-the incestuous dad in The Sweet Hereafter)
The other big film I can’t wait to see this year is Gentlemen Broncos. The teasers alone are hilarious.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_NtdCq0-Qn8
Is the Coen’s A SERIOUS MAN going to be finished for a 2009 release? Matt? Matt? It is going to be ‘Fcuking Amazing’!
More international titles to start getting excited for: http://twitchfilm.net/site/view/arthouse-2009-an-insiders-look-at-whats-coming/#comment_119595
It is supposed to be a late 2009 release. Its in post-production.
This makes me really, really happy. GreenCineDaily says that Tom Hardy in Bronson is a better sociopath than Eric Bana in Chopper. High praise: http://daily.greencine.com/archives/007300.html#more
The Good Heart by Dagur Kari. Brian Cox and Paul Dano.
Inhale by Baltasar Kormakur. His first Hollywood feature. It will be interesting to see how he’ll manage that.
Considering how much I love Jar City, White Night Wedding, A Little Trip To Heaven and Reykjavik 101 – Oh, yea. absolutely looking forward to any new Kormakur. Wasn’t A Little Trip to Heaven a partial American production?
It was co produced by Palomar Pictures which is technically an “american” production company but it is owned by an Icelander.
Seems to be that Mammoth was not very well received at the Berlinale. One newspaper even wrote the movie was booed.