Brent's Most Anticipated Movies of 2012!

Hey everyone!

Happy New Year! Happy 2012! Things are going to be done a bit out of order regarding my traditional countdown of my top ten most anticipated movies and video games of the year. Normally, I post the awards first, and do the lists afterward. Since time has gotten more and more short in recent years though, I ended up having to do the most anticipated lists towards the end of January in 2011, and that seemed sort of excessively delayed. So, I'm going to post the most anticipated lists first, and the awards after.

In any case, I'd like to remind everyone that in the case of this list, my most anticipated movies of the coming year, that this is MY PERSONAL OPINION. Don't go telling me I'm wrong, or I missed a certain movie, or a certain movie should be higher or lower or whatever. This is just what I'm personally looking forward to the most, since, as a movie and game reviewer, it's often a point of interest for many people.

2011 was the year of the franchise film, with sequels, 3D and other studio-friendly decisions dominating most of the year. 2012 however, seems to be taking a few more risks, with less proven cinematic properties and less prevalent follow-ups. The follow-ups that ARE coming however certainly look quite impressive. Without further ado, let's get to which movies have grabbed my attention the most, and which have me the most excited!



#10 - John Carter <3D>

Genre: Sci-Fi Action-Adventure
Distributor: Disney
Release Date: March 9th

WHY: The very first teaser that I saw for John Carter, I have to admit, didn't really grab my attention. I also had trouble wrapping my head around the premise, which felt sort of dated, since it's from a series of action-adventure stories that began in the 1910's, written by Edgar Rice Burroughs, the guy who also happened to create Tarzan. It's about a confederate soldier, who gets transported to Mars, which is called 'Barsoom' by the populace apparently, a fictional representation of the planet that now has oxygen and hospitable weather conditions by the look of things... somehow, and ends up fighting a war with the planet's nations as this messianic figure. Sounds a little cheesy and surreal, doesn't it?
Thankfully, the second trailer was a lot better, and it finally sold me on this movie. The sense of atmosphere on Barsoom is actually pretty incredible, and while I haven't yet seen the trailer in 3D unfortunately, the visuals in the movie are truly stunning. To make matters even better, the film is helmed by Andrew Stanton, a Pixar director who brought us Finding Nemo and WALL-E, having written and directed John Carter to follow them. Considering that those are two of the most emotionally charged animated movies ever made, I'm confident that he can bring the same level of charm and dramatic appeal to this movie as well. This marks the second Pixar director branching out into live-action, after Brad Bird recently turned so many heads with Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol, and I have to say that I'm pretty excited to see such an engrossing movie like John Carter in IMAX 3D when it arrives in March! I still have a bit of apprehension about John Carter I'll admit, which is why it just barely cracked my Top Ten for 2012, but I'm still significantly excited about this one, even if it's mainly because I just want to get lost in the incredible atmosphere of Barsoom. I'll keep an open mind about the plot in the meantime.



#9 - Snow White and the Huntsman

Genre: Fantasy Action-Adventure
Distributor: Universal
Release Date: June 1st

WHY: I've stood by the belief that the stereotype about Hollywood running out of ideas is not true. It's not that Hollywood has no new ideas, it's actually loaded with them, as the annual Black List of favourite unproduced scripts routinely proves (last year, that Black List delivered us Hanna and Crazy, Stupid, Love, two of the year's best movies). The problem is that studios just don't greenlight them, and in a way, that's moviegoers' fault, because they pay much more to see a sequel or franchise film than they ever would an original idea in most cases. In 2012 however, this has reached a new low. How? Due to the fact that we have TWO Snow White movies coming out within less than three months of each other. I will give you a moment to facepalm.
The first, Mirror Mirror, which is a comedic Snow White story, looks... not so good. I'll probably end up seeing it anyway, but I doubt I'll be terribly impressed with it. It looks stupid, quite frankly. After witnessing that trailer, I didn't even bother loading up the preview for Snow White and the Huntsman right away. I was confident that I would be similarly let down, even with the talents of Chris Hemsworth and Charlize Theron as the huntsman and evil queen respectively involved. I mean, a fairy tale-inspired movie starring Kristen Stewart? Really? Kristen Stewart is seriously what Hollywood considers fairest of them all??
One night though, I swallowed my pride and took a look at the debuting teaser for Snow White and the Huntsman... and my jaw hit the floor. A dark, badass, and vaguely sexy spectacle of violence, murder and anarchy, Snow White and the Huntsman actually looks... great. The visuals are stirring and twisted, Theron's performance as the queen is excellent, and there seems to be plenty of large-scale battle sequences and dark sorcery on display. A dark, blockbuster fairy tale for the modern age? It sure looks that way!
Like John Carter, I was initially skeptical of Snow White and the Huntsman, but the teaser really won me over, so much so that this movie has quickly climbed into my Top Ten of 2012. It goes to show you just what a great trailer can do for a seemingly flimsy concept! I never thought that I would get this excited for a movie about Snow White of all things, but I'm convinced that this could very well be one of the most gloriously violent and memorable Summer blockbusters of the year! There's still room for disappointment, which, again, is why this movie didn't place higher, but if Snow White and the Huntsman lives up to the teaser, June's really going to kick off on a high note this year!



#8 - The Expendables 2

Genre: Action
Distributor: Lionsgate
Release Date: August 17th

WHY: 2010's The Expendables was a truly amazing action movie. A throwback to the gloriously excessive and high-powered action movies of the 80's and 90's, The Expendables finally did away with the excessive grit and realism dragging down many more modern action films, finally reminding the genre of what it does best. Action movies are supposed to be fun, and The Expendables recaptured that sense of fun that's been lacking in action movies that aren't genre-friendly blockbusters with fantasy, sci-fi and/or superhero subgenres in them lately. For this reason alone, I'm quite excited about The Expendables 2!
The roster from the original movie is back, with extended roles for Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzenegger to boot. Arnold even brandishes his own machine gun towards the end of the debut teaser, and I was very happy to see proof positive that he'll be joining the action to some degree this time around, after virtually merely having a walk-on cameo in the first movie. Much of the plot is being kept secret, but we do know that Willis's Mr. Church is forcing Barney Ross's team on a new mission, and when one of the Expendables doesn't make it, the fight becomes personal. The teaser is light on details and heavy on promises for more balls-to-the-wall action. That's all I need to hear, especially with new additions, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Liam Hemsworth, and Chuck Norris joining the ensemble. Yes, Chuck Norris is in this movie. Let the onslaught of memes begin!
The Expendables was a movie I loved as sort of a guilty pleasure, but it was an excellently-made guilty pleasure for action movie fans like me, and the sequel shows plenty of promise in living up to it. The nixing of Rambo 5 still stings, but I doubt I'll mind when I get to enjoy this kick-ass movie instead!



#7 - Wreck-It Ralph <3D>

Genre: Animation
Distributor: Disney
Release Date: November 2nd

WHY: If you're not a movie nerd like me, chances are, you're not yet aware of Wreck-It Ralph. If you're any kind of nerd though, you probably should be. Why? Because Wreck-It Ralph is about video games! Specifically, it's a Disney movie about a vintage arcade game villain called Wreck-It Ralph, growing tired of his repetitious role of continually being beaten by his nemesis, the game's player character, Fix-It Felix Jr., so he goes on a journey to prove he can be a good guy, meeting other zany video game characters along the way.
Wreck-It Ralph is a different direction for Disney's in-house animation studio, that's for sure, and it's another attempt to appeal to the gaming crowd after going to so much effort to revive Tron lately. Unlike Tron however, Wreck-It Ralph seems like it's played to be cutesy, and a charming throwback to the golden age of gaming, rather than the cutting edge of today's technology. In any case, since I love video games and movies, and they're coming together in an original new storyline, I'm pretty pumped for Wreck-It Ralph!
It's too early for trailers to start showing up, so I haven't seen any footage, but I have seen some of the promo art, and the movie looks pretty sharp from that perspective. The premise alone is enough to get me pretty excited about this movie though. Hopefully it will be good enough to start proving to all of those crybabies out there that video games and movies CAN co-exist!



#6) Prometheus

Genre: Sci-Fi Action-Adventure
Distributor: 20th Century Fox
Release Date: June 8th

WHY: Acclaimed Alien director, Ridley Scott is returning to sci-fi! His first sci-fi movie in many years is Prometheus, which was originally envisioned as a prequel to the Alien films, before it was redesigned as its own independent universe and story. As with several other movies making my Top Ten of 2012, the plot is mainly being kept under wraps, but we do know that it's about the crew of a starship traveling to an advanced alien planet to seek the answers to the origin of humanity.
The intentionally vague teaser showed what looks to be a pretty epic movie shaping up here. None of it makes any sense, but it all looks incredible. Ridley Scott is going big or going home, and with so much promising up-and-coming talent like Noomi Rapace and Michael Fassbender in the film, along with already big stars like Charlize Theron in the cast, you know that Prometheus is bound to be a very impressive piece! I'm not normally a sci-fi nut, at least, not a huge one, but Prometheus got my attention in a big way, and even if there's unfortunately little I can say about it at this point.
The movie being so unfortunately shrouded in secrecy is why I didn't place this movie higher, on top of the fact that I've actually never seen any of the Alien films (I know, that's awful of me). That said though, I'm sure many can agree that this is shaping up to be one of 2012's highlight blockbusters in the making!



#5 - Brave <3D>

Genre: Animation
Distributor: Disney/Pixar
Release Date: June 22nd

WHY: Pixar sort of took a break from being the most thoroughly magical animation studio on the planet last year, since their sole project was Cars 2, a sequel no doubt mandated by Disney to make big money so that their future projects can be financed. Cars 2 was still a decently entertaining movie if you don't expect Pixar's usual work, but it was expectedly beneath the studio's other films. Thankfully, Pixar is back with a big, new original project in 2012, and that project is Brave.
Brave is the first Pixar movie to feature a female protaganist, but that's not the only reason why I'm very excited for it. The movie is a return to the somewhat darker, deeper stories that the studio has done in recent years, such as Ratatouille, WALL-E, Up, and even Toy Story 3. Unlike those movies however, which marketed themselves as being kid-friendly despite their heavy adult themes, Brave seems to be cannonballing into the adult audience rather proudly. There's very little in the initial previews that suggests in any way that Brave is trying to appeal to kids. It feels like a story that's very unapologetically adult. This may irk parents, who will no doubt complain about Brave scaring their children because they don't know any better, but it has me excited, because it feels like Pixar is not limiting themsleves to a family audience this time around. They're really stretching and seeing just how far they can go.
Brave looks like it's shaping up to be a mighty impressive film too! The humour is funny, the adventure looks exciting, and I think that the protaganist, Princess Merida, trying to pursue a "manly" profession in a world where women are to undertake merely "elegant pursuits", immediately comes off as very likeable and charming. Again, I haven't seen the trailer in 3D yet, and I hope that Pixar continues to raise the 3D bar, after not really doing much with it in Up and Toy Story 3 (though they did a bit better with the 3D in Cars 2), but regardless of how the 3D turns out, I'm sure that the movie itself will be breathtaking!



#4 - The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey <3D>

Genre: Fantasy Action-Adventure
Distributor: Warner Bros., New Line Cinema, MGM
Release Date: December 14th

WHY: Does this one really need an explanation? It's The Hobbit! Not only is it The Hobbit, but it's a version of The Hobbit that's being done in two parts, and being more concretely incorporated into the Lord of the Rings arc. Peter Jackson is returning to the helm, the familiar actors are reprising their roles, and Martin Freeman looks to be playing an excellent, younger Bilbo Baggins. The movie already debuted a teaser, and it looks like it's shaping up incredibly. Now this is one two-parter that I can get behind!
I'm a little worried about Hollywood starting to abuse the two-part trend, after Harry Potter pioneered it, and Twilight unfortunately (and redundantly) lept on that bandwagon. Thankfully, The Hobbit is another story that may justify it, especially since an increased effort is being made to tie it into the three Lord of the Rings films, compared to the original novels, where The Hobbit mainly stood alone as a kids' story, while Lord of the Rings was independently geared more for adults. The movie still looks a bit brighter than the rather grungy Lord of the Rings movies, but I'm sure that The Hobbit will be just as impressive all the same.
I'm not sure exactly how the two movies will be split, since it was originally suggested that the first movie would be an adaptation of the book, while the second would be an original new prequel that bridges The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings, but now it seems that The Hobbit is just being done in two parts, with the bridging idea being peppered all throughout the story. It's also apparently being done in 3D, though I haven't seen the trailer in 3D yet, so I can't comment on how well this may be turning out. Like Brave though, even if the 3D is lacking, I'm sure that the rest of the movie will be amazing all the same! You really can't go wrong with this cast and crew!



#3 - The Amazing Spider-Man <3D>

Genre: Superhero Action
Distributor: Sony Pictures, Columbia Pictures, Marvel
Release Date: July 3rd

WHY: When I heard that Spider-Man 4 was scrapped, Sam Raimi and Tobey Maguire were booted, and that the Spider-Man films would be rebooted with a new director and a new actor portraying the web-slinger, I was initially kind of livid. I thought it was basically a cop-out response by Sony and Marvel after the negative fan feedback from Spider-Man 3, and the inexplicable distrust in Raimi's direction with the fourth movie, which would have had John Malkovich portraying The Vulture as its villain, with Anne Hathaway rumoured to be playing Black Cat before, rather ironically, being cast as Catwoman in the new Batman movie. Ahhh, what might have been...
Despite the fact that I was initially pretty pissed about the Spidey reboot, I've warmed up to it since watching the teaser that screened before Captain America: The First Avenger back last Summer, and keeping up with the production. The movie aims to go back to Peter's high school years (despite the fact that new Spidey actor, Andrew Garfield is 27. Weird.), telling a more dark, humanized take on the character compared to Sam Raimi's bright and vivid, 1960's-inspired Spidey trilogy. Mary-Jane is nowhere in sight, and even Uncle Ben seems to be alive and kicking for the most part. We're REALLY going back to basics here, aren't we?
The Lizard is apparently our bad guy, but beyond that confirmation, and both the character's and love interest, Gwen Stacy's association with Oscorp (if you're not a Marvel geek, that's the corporation that Norman Osborn, a.k.a. the Green Goblin, runs), most of The Amazing Spider-Man's plot is, of course, being kept secret. A sequel has already been given a release date in 2014, so it's pretty safe to say that Sony and Marvel are very confident in this movie. After keeping a close eye on the production, I guess they have good reason to be. I hate to admit it, but I'm getting pretty excited for this killer new take on Spidey!
Spider-Man is one of my favourite superheroes of all, probably second only to Batman, and the reason why Amazing Spider-Man fell short of my #1, where you'd expect it to go (at least, in any other year. You'll see in a moment), is that this rebooted direction may not turn out as well as I, and other Marvel fans may hope. Some of the marketing seeming to go for enticing the Twilight crowd is legitimate cause for concern. Hollywood, I'm warning you now, if you get Twilight in my Spidey, heads will roll. That being said, I'm hoping for the best and slowly getting used to the idea of Spider-Man getting rebooted. The 3D presentation may be pretty awesome too when I think about it! I am nothing if not optimstic, right? As much as I love Spidey though, I love a couple of other properties even more, and they too will be having some big entries this year...



#2 - Skyfall

Genre: Action
Distributor: Sony Pictures, Columbia Pictures, MGM
Release Date: November 9th

WHY: It's been too long. Far too long. Finally though, I have a new James Bond movie to look forward to, and it won't be hampered by the WGA Strike like Quantum of Solace unfortunately was back in 2008. 007 is back, and Daniel Craig will be continuing to raise the bar in the role! In fact, it looks like 007 is going to be traveling a bit closer to his roots in this new film, since a new, younger Q, the gadget man, is apparently joining the cast, with rumours of Miss Moneypenny still circulating. What's really intriguing however is that M, Bond's superior, is going to be getting increased billing, since the storyline factors heavily into her past.
Skyfall is yet ANOTHER movie that has most of its plot being kept under wraps by the studio, but we do know that 007 is going to get pulled into some sort of trouble that's related to M, and that premise has me very excited, because I've always loved M, and always wanted to know more about what got her to the position that she now holds at MI6. All that aside though, I'm just thrilled to have a new Bond movie on the way, especially since the new, gritty direction of Daniel Craig's 007 is actually one of those small handful of dark, realistic action movie stylings that has been pretty successful in my eyes.
I had Daniel Craig and Judi Dench tiding my 007 fix over last year, when I played through the very impressive and cinematic Goldeneye remake on my Wii, but that being said, you just can't beat the real big screen 007 experience. Since I've been head-over-heels in love with the James Bond franchise since I was a little boy, I'm beside myself with glee over the coming of Skyfall, which stopped just short of #1 due to what is admittedly unfair competition...



#1 - The Avengers <3D>/The Dark Knight Rises

Genre: Superhero Action/Superhero Action
Distributor: Disney, Marvel Studios/Warner Bros., DC Entertainment
Release Date: May 4th/July 20th

WHY: Ok, ok, I know, I'm cheating. Two movies tied for first, and normally, I'm pretty rigid about only doing TEN films on these lists. Really though, this is an impossible decision. I just can't decide which of these two I'm more stoked for. The first is the long-awaited team-up movie that's been set up since 2008 for Marvel's cinematic universe, and the second is the also long-awaited finale to Christopher Nolan's highly acclaimed trilogy of Batman films that has, once again, been talked about since, again, 2008, when its predecessor, The Dark Knight dominated the big screen. I've been looking forward to both of these movies for a painstaking four years, and really, let's see you decide which one is a bigger deal, especially if you're a superhero movie fan like me. It can't be done! They're both equally deserving of the #1 spot! In any case though, let's break it down.


WHY (THE AVENGERS): Marvel Studios has delivered five movies over the past three years, which have ranged from great (Iron Man 2, The Incredible Hulk) to awesome (Captain America: The First Avenger, Thor), to outstanding (Iron Man). It all comes down to this though. For Marvel lovers like me, this is the movie that will finally make good on all of that teasing, and all of that setup from these past five movies. Finally, some of Marvel's greatest superheroes will be united on the big screen in the same movie, fighting the same villain, and working as a team. This is the movie that us Marvel fans have been waiting for! Sorry, Spidey, but it's true!
Iron Man, Thor, Captain America and The Hulk are joining under Nick Fury's command, along with fellow S.H.I.E.L.D. agents Black Widow and Hawkeye, to take on Thor's rogue brother, Loki, as he begins his campaign to dominate the planet. That's all I know, and that's all I need to know. Not only is this an ingenious throwback to the origins of The Avengers on the comic panels in the 1960's, where they were also formed to battle Loki, but it finally allows these great actors to play off of each other in a true, unprecedented superhero ensemble film. Superhero ensemble films may have been done already, most notably with the X-Men movies, but these guys normally work alone, unlike the X-Men. Thus, seeing them forced together against a common enemy is real cause for excitement if you dig Marvel heroes like I do.
The Avengers has already debuted a couple of teasers, one after the credits in Captain America: The First Avenger, and another proper theatrical teaser since then. Both look extraordinarily impressive, and both effectively show off the scale of the movie. This is going to be the biggest superhero movie yet in terms of spectacle and scale, and I couldn't be more excited to see the fruits of Marvel's labour finally come together in a grand showdown of awesomeness! I'd like some better 3D this time around than what I got in Thor and Captain America: The First Avenger, but, once again, even if the 3D isn't great, I'm sure I'll love this movie. Superhero blockbusters just don't get any bigger than this, which is why The Avengers is easily one of my two most anticipated movies of 2012!


WHY (THE DARK KNIGHT RISES): As I said, if I love any superhero above and beyond the rest, lately, it's been Batman. You just can't beat Batman. In fact, Batman has enjoyed a massive amount of success lately, most notably thanks to the new Batman: Arkham video games, which were good enough to get Game of the Year nods (no small feat for superhero games, a subgenre which is mostly full of crappy shovelware), and of course, Christopher Nolan's excellent rebooted Batman trilogy, which is so amazing that it actually did the impossible, and successfully banished the horrible memories of 1997's Batman & Robin from us Batfans' heads, the movie that pretty much killed the former Batman film franchise. It's bittersweet to see this trilogy come to an end, but it looks to be a great end indeed.
The Dark Knight Rises is picking up a surprising EIGHT years after the conclusion of The Dark Knight, and Gotham City seems to have changed quite a bit. As expected, most of the storyline is a closely-guarded secret by Nolan, WB and DC brass, but what we can establish is that Batman doesn't seem to be around anymore, and Gotham is about to face a new threat thanks to Bane. Bane is an immensely powerful, beastly psychological terrorist who represents the ultimate physical challenge for Bats, on top of possessing a devious and highly intelligent criminal mind that's more than enough to bring Gotham City to its knees. Complicating things further no doubt is the introduction of Selina Kyle, a.k.a. Catwoman, a new vigilante with unknown motives.
The Avengers will likely be one of 2012's biggest movies for its visual spectacle, but The Dark Knight Rises has it beat in terms of its psychological and philosophical ramifications. That doesn't mean that we won't be enjoying plenty of kick-ass action scenes as well, but where Nolan has always excelled is the new depth he brings to a character that we thought we knew, and a world we thought we understood. It remains to be seen how Bane and Catwoman figure into Nolan's grand vision, but you can colour me very excited!
Again, I'm sort of sad to have to deal with this trilogy coming to a close this year, but it will always have a special place in my heart for righting the numerous wrongs that had plagued the Batman franchise between the mid-90's and mid-2000's, across all entertainment mediums. Christian Bale may be hanging up his cowl, but it looks like he'll be doing it in style, and as amazing as it sounds, this movie may meet, or even surpass the legendary standard of The Dark Knight back in 2008! All this considered, it's no wonder why I had to allow this movie to share the spot with The Avengers for my most anticipated movie of 2012!



Which movies are you most looking forward to in 2012? Can you do what I couldn't and decide whether you're more excited for The Avengers or The Dark Knight Rises? Do you have a different list of movies altogether? Have I lost all credibility as a movie geek for not including The Hunger Games, which just barely got bumped out of my top ten? Are you as excited as I am to see the Twilight series FINALLY bite the dust this year?! In any case, let's talk about the movies you're most looking forward to for 2012, and how you feel about the movie industry going into this year! Leave me your comments and tell me all about what's gotten your attention the most! Once again, Happy New Year, and please anticipate my Top Ten Most Anticipated Video Games of 2012 being posted soon!