I’ve felt totally let down by the Film industry.  Lately, a majority of movies have been predictable, uninspiring and poorly executed.  The medium can rarely be relied on as a source of provocative and stimulating content or even just as plain entertainment. Year after year, promising films from talented people that should be amazing, like Prometheus, just fucking suck.  Otherwise it’s a senseless remake, reboot or adaptation.  So I’m not hopeful for the year ahead, but what the fuck - here are a few of the movies I’m looking forward to, even though I should know better.


Elysium

District 9 blew my mind in plot, character, acting and effects so much that I can barely hold it together until director Neill Blomkamp’s second feature film, Elysium, arrives on August 9th.  The movie follows Matt Damon as he tries to escape a ruined Earth by earning his way to the wealthy space station of Elysium.  Blomkamp has such a visceral and action packed approach to seemingly played out sci-fi premises that his vision of future Earth will undoubtedly be a suspenseful, intense and clever commentary. No trailer yet but the cast and the pictures so far look EPIC.


 

Gravity

Gravity, the highly anticipated sci-fi thriller from Alfonso Cuaron is set to drop on October 4th.  It’s about two astronauts who lose their space shuttle and find themselves “completely alone – tethered to nothing but each other and spiraling out into the blackness”.  The Children of Men director redefined cinema with his one-shot action sequences that perfectly complemented stories of humanity and desperation.  No trailer yet either, but word on the street is that he’s found yet another way to tweak special effects to take that humanity and desperation to the next level in the dead of space. I’m not enthused by the casting of George Clooney and Sandra Bullock, but I’m hopeful they’ll rise to the occasion.  If not, I’ve seen Cuaron do more with less.


Pacific Rim

I was more excited for Pacific Rim before seeing the trailer.  Afterwards I can accept that it will most likely be a live action anime for kids and not the hard edge epic I was hoping for.  But if anyone can do giant robot battles masterfully, Guillermo del Toro can. Pacific Rim kicks off when mysterious monsters, known as Kaiju, rise from the sea, humanity bands together to construct massive skyscraper tall robots called Jaegers to fight the seemingly endless enemies.  The cast is the kind of cast I dream about, stacked with Charlie Hunnam and Ron Perlman from Sons of Anarchy, Idris Elba from The Wire and Japanese cinema hottie Rinko Kikuchi.




Stoker

Based on the trailer, I have no idea what’s happening in Stoker but it’s by Chan Wook Park, the mastermind behind Oldboy, a movie so complex and lush that its essence couldn’t possibly be conveyed by a trailer, so I’m keeping an open mind.  Boundaries will be tested as a young girl develops a questionable relationship with a long lost uncle under the watchful eye of her unstable mother.  I’m never thrilled with the results of Asian directors working with American actors, but on March 1st I’ll tolerate Nicole Kidman’s frozen face for a serving of Park’s special brand of mindfuck.




The Grandmaster

Wong Kar Wai is one of the top filmmakers of our time. He is a visionary on all levels, from the detail in each shot to the emotive soundtracks, and if you haven’t seen one of his other movies, you’re truly missing out.  The Grandmaster reunites Kar Wai with his leading man Tony Leung Chiu Wai for the long awaited biopic of Wing Chun pioneer Ip Man.  The film is set to open in the US sometime in January and it’s no doubt that the martial arts, paired with his slow, deliberate shooting style will yield an elegant visual feast.