I considered writing a short piece looking back at 2009, but eventually decided against it as it was a pretty lousy year for me all in all.  On the work front, a major crisis in February didn't help, I lost some long-term friends through that, but did make some new ones so I guess that balances out.  It was an odd year that I'd rather put behind me.

There were some great movies last year though - most notably "Zombieland", "Let the right one in" (definitely my film of the year), "The Hurt Locker", "Watchmen" (the 4-hour full version anyway), "Benjamin Button", "Up", "Star Trek", "District 9", "Terminator Salvation" (not a good Terminator film, but a good generic action movie), "Moon", "Sherlock Holmes", and of course "Twilight" (heh, just kidding folks!!!).  There were some others I saw which I thought were ok, a couple of outright disappointments, and some which I missed which I will definitely be getting on disc (Coen Bros "A Serious Man" being top of that list).

All in all a pretty good year for movies, even most of the big "blockbusters" were actually worth the time and money of going to the cinema.  3D is seemingly back in a big way, only time will tell if it's going to stay a gimmick used to cover up lazy plotting and lack of characterisation, or if it will actually be used inventively to enhance a great film instead of just shoving things in your face because it can.

So, 2010.  "Dark Horizons" movie site has been running a multi-part guide to the upcoming movie goodness for the next year, so I thought I'd post a few things that have caught my eye:

Number one on my can't-wait-for list is "Kick Ass" - just wait until the Daily Mail get a load of Hit Girl, a foul-mouthed 12 year old chopping bad-guys legs off.  Here's the second trailer, but I seriously recommend checking out the Red Band trailer:

"Kick Ass" - UK April 2010(?)


The re-imagining of the A-Team just looks like fun...
"The A-Team" - UK July 2010


One of my earliest cinema memories is Clash of the Titans, and I'm a bit protective of it.  However, the director Louis Leterrier didn't make a bad job of "The Incredible Hulk" (which I liked very much until the two very badly done CGI monsters started smashing the city up at the end) so here's hoping.
Clash of the Titans - UK March 2010


"The Eagle of the Ninth" - in 140AD an entire Roman legion disappeared in the highlands of Scotland.  I remember reading about this when I was at school so it has my attention - plus it has Kevin MacDonald directing, who made the excellent "Last King of Scotland" and "State of Play".  No trailer or UK date yet.

The Expendables - as Dark Horizons says "Stallone's $80 million tribute to 80's action cinema is a much-anticipated love letter to a time when men were men, computer effects were non-existent, and hard R-rated violence and politically incorrect humour was the norm.".  Might just have to switch my brain off for this one:


Inception is Chris Nolan's follow-up to "The Dark Knight".  He seems to be keeping his cards close to his chest with the odd but striking imagery in the trailers.  Definitely one to see on as big a screen as possible:
"Inception" - UK July 2010


The first Iron Man movie was a hoot-and-a-half, this looks to follow on nicely.  Anything with RDJ in it is high on my list anyway:


Dark Horizons sums up "The Killer Inside Me" nicely - "Everyone figures Lou Ford, a West Texas sheriff, to be a normal kind of guy. They don't see the ruthless, sociopathic murderer underneath and as victims pile up, suspicions begin to emerge.".  Extended trailer below really piques my interest.


That's enough for now - part two to follow.

Tags: awesome, coen bros, geek, movies, opinion, reviews, sci-fi, space, trailer, watchmen, youtube, zombies
Categories: Geek | General | Movies | Opinion | Sci-Fi | trailers | Watchmen