2010 Preview Part 4! The Genius Directors!

Ahoy, squirts! Quint here with the next and most likely last installment of the 2010 preview. This one’s not genre-specific… there are thrillers, comedies, dramas and horror movies below. What all the movies have in common are genius directors. Genius by my own estimation, of course. You might not agree. That’s fine. You’re all wrong, but I’m okay with that. heh. Seriously, each one of these directors means an automatic watch from me. It doesn’t matter if it’s a feature, animated movie, documentary, radio play… don’t care. And yes, most of them have had a stinker or two under their belts, but I ain’t no fair weather fan! Let’s look at the real good stuff coming sometime in 2010!

INCEPTION (July 16, 2010)

I hadn’t seen the second trailer for Inception until just this very moment when I embedded it in this article. I was holding out to see it on the big screen, but I’ve been to a couple three movies since it came out and still haven’t gotten it. My feelings? I feel like applauding the damn trailer. Christopher Nolan hasn’t made a bad film yet and while I don’t know what the fuck is going on in the below trailer I know it’s beautiful and looks fucking awesome. The city folding in on itself? I wish I could watch this movie right now.

THE SOCIAL NETWORK (October 15, 2010)

David Fincher has a movie coming out this year. About Facebook. Yeah, that’s right. And it’s going to be fucking great. Know how I know this? Well, besides that it’s David Fincher, the script was written by Aaron Sorkin and we’re getting a really great cast to tell us the crazy behind the scenes story of how Facebook came to be. The cast features Jesse Eisenberg, young British superstar in the making Andrew Garfield, Justin Timberlake, Rashida Jones, Max Minghella and Joseph Mazzello. I’m actually excited to see Mazzello make his return this year. I thought he was a good kid actor that just kind of disappeared, but now he has a David Fincher movie and the lead in the Band of Brothers follow-up series THE PACIFIC. Good on him!

THE FIGHTER (TBD 2010)

Originally scheduled to be a Darren Aronofsky drama about boxer “Irish” Mickey Ward, the flick languished for a while before Aronofsky left and David O. Russell came on board. The dude might not be as proven as Fincher, but Russell’s always an interesting director… anyone who has seen those I HEART HUCKABEES leaked fights knows this to be true. So you have a boxing drama starring Mark Wahlberg, Christian Bale, Amy Adams and Melissa Leo. I bet the set was very calm and happy and all that, but I’d love to imagine Bale and Russell going at it like rabid pitbulls. But that’s because I’m an asshole, not because I want to see a trouble picture. Basically the story tells of Ward’s rise to stardom as his half-brother and trainer (Bale) falls from glory and becomes addicted to crack. Here’s a bit of the real “Irish” Mickey Ward:

SHUTTER ISLAND (February 19, 2010)

If I wasn’t lucky enough to have seen this movie at BNAT it still would have figured high on my list of anticipated 2010 films. Martin Scorsese doing a creepy psychological thriller? A period film set in a mental institution? Starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Mark Ruffalo and Ben Kingsley? Yes, it’s gorgeous, yes it’s fun… yes, it has a bit of a talky “let me explain everything” ending, but it’s a fine example of why Scorsese is one of our best working filmmakers.

GREEN ZONE (March 12, 2010)

The trailer for Paul Greengrass’ GREEN ZONE is linked below… but don’t watch it if you haven’t already. I get the distinct feeling this is one of those “entire movie in 90 seconds” trailers. Scripted by Brian Helgeland and starring Matt Damon as a US Army officer in the Middle East, hunting down WMDs. It looks like a Bourne style action thriller set against the backdrop of the current war. Damon has a lot of good back-up… Greg Kinnear, Jason Isaacs, Amy Ryan and Brendan Gleeson to name a few.

HEREAFTER (December 2010)

We follow Matt Damon over to Clint Eastwood’s next. I liked Invictus a lot (even if I still couldn’t tell you what happens in a rugby match besides a bunch of dudes hugging each other and kicking the ball seemingly at random), which is good because I haven’t been much of a fan of his latest run. Let’s just say I’ve liked a lot of his stuff okay and just plain didn’t like some of it (I’m looking at you FLAGS OF OUR FATHERS). This film marks Eastwood’s first foray into the “supernatural thriller” genre and stars Damon, Bryce Dallas Howard and Cecile De France as three people “who are touched by death in different ways.” I don’t know what that means, but I like it. Frank Marshall, Kathleen Kennedy and Steven Spielberg produce.

THE TREE OF LIFE (??? 2010-ish, maybe)

Terrence Malick’s long in the works which may or may not be on my Anticipated Flicks of 2011. The dude takes his time. And he can afford to even in the current studio system because he’s got both Brad Pitt and Sean Penn. Set partially in the ‘50s and partially modern day the flick is about that moment in your life where childhood innocence recognizes the harsh reality of the world. Pitt plays the father in a family unit comprised of three boys, mom and dad. Mom teaches the kids about the wonder and purity of the world and dad tries to prepare them for what’s out there. Sean Penn plays one of the kids all growed up. At least I think so. Being a Terrence Malick movie you won’t really know until you’re watching it. I really hope the thing releases this year… Like really a lot…

BLACK SWAN (TBD 2010)

Darren Aronofsky is a kind and merciful God. I know this because he’s making this film with Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis. And they reportedly get it on. This film is a thriller about rival ballerinas… one of whom may or may not be real. Joining Kunis and Portman are Vincent Cassel, Barbara Hershey and Winona Ryder. All hail Aronofsky!

HOW DO YOU KNOW? (December 17, 2010)

James L. Brooks has a new film coming out, his first since the mild disappointment that was SPANGLISH. This Romantic comedy reunites Brooks with his AS GOOD AS IT GETS star Jack Nicholson. New to the family are Reese Witherspoon, Paul Rudd and Owen Wilson. The flick is about an executive (Rudd) and baseball pro (Wilson) vying for the same woman. The film could be about Jack Nicholson people watching in the park for 2 ½ hours and I’d still be there. Soooo…. Fffaarrrrr…. Awwwwwaaayyyy….

YOU WILL MEET A TALL DARK STRANGER (TBD 2010)

Woody Allen’s pulled himself out of a slump with a real run of great films. It’s oddly not popular to love MATCH POINT, but I did. It was a real departure for Allen. SCOOP was entertaining, but not all that memorable… thankfully he followed it up VICKI CHRISTINA BARCELONA and now he has this film coming. There aren’t a lot of details out there, but there’s a snippet from the trades that says it’s about the tangled love lives of a family. Anthony Hopkins, Naomi Watts, Josh Brolin, Antonio Banderas, Slumdog Millionaire’s Freida Pinto and Ewan Bremner star.

THE GREEN HORNET (December 22, 2010)

Technically I should have included this in the first article of remakes, reboots and sequels since this is just as much of a remake/reboot as The A-Team is of a classic and much loved television series, but I honestly consider Michel Gondry one of our great directors even if I was a bit underwhelmed by BE KIND REWIND. So, he joins the ranks in the final article with his redo of THE GREEN HORNET written by the Superbad duo of Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, starring Rogen and Jay Chou as Kato with INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS’ Christoph Waltz as the baddie and featuring Cameron Diaz, Edward James Olmos, Tom Wilkinson and Eddie Furlong?!?
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THE WARD (TBD 2010)

John Carpenter’s back, everybody! Why isn’t this a bigger deal? “Wah, wah, he made Ghosts of Mars.” Okay. I’ll trade you three awesome movies for Ghosts of Mars. ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13, HALLOWEEN and THE FOG. “But he also made that horrible VILLAGE OF THE DAMNED remake!” Shame on you, wth Christopher Reeve barely cold. Too soon. But okay. I’ll trade you that one for another three awesome movies: ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK, BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA, THE THING. “But he made IN THE MOUTH OF MADNESS…” Fuck you! That movie’s great. Vetoed. Let’s stop right there. You lose, I win. John Carpenter has had more great films than most other directors on this list that you people won’t bat an eye at. And now he’s returning to feature filmmaking, doing what is supposed to be a creepy little mindfuck of a movie about an institutionalized young woman terrorized by a ghost. The luscious Amber Heard plays said young terrorized woman. Here’s a brief behind the scenes clip I found on the internets… check out the corpse hand holding the big ass needle!

LES AVENTURES EXTRAORDINAIRES D’ADELE BLANC-SEC (TBD US 2010, April 14, 2010 UK)

I cringed when I heard the rumors of Luc Besson commenting that he had such a good time making his animated movies that he was going to quit making live action movies… And then out of the blue comes the trailer for this movie, a kind of Indiana Jones-ish pulpy adventure story about a female novelist and, I guess, a Pterodactyl flying over period Paris. I know only the title, that it’s based on a well known French comic and what I see in the trailer. That’s all I need. It’s Luc Besson! And he’s still got some live action left in him!

Well, that about wraps it up. Sorry if I overlooked something major, but I am only one man… who did all that just to turn right around and start up his Sundance Preview article of a good 45-50 titles that I hope to see in my 10 days in Park City. Hope you folks enjoyed the series! If you missed any here are the first three:

CLICK HERE FOR PART 1 COVERING REMAKES, REBOOTS AND SEQUELS! CLICK HERE FOR PART 2 COVERING COMEDY, HORROR AND COMIC BOOK MOVIES! CLICK HERE FOR PART 3 COVERING ACTION, ANIMATION, DRAMA AND FANTASY! -Quint quint@aintitcool.com Follow Me On Twitter