2011 has some quality movies coming up, so many that I would get overwhelmed trying to list them all here, or even all from just my own country, the US. But I can list at least a few of the ones I am most looking forward to for the first half of the year, in the hopes you might find them interesting enough to keep an eye out for.
In January 2011, the first release is Season of the Witch on the 7th (that’s this Friday). Nick Cage and Ron Perlman battle the forces of 15th century evil. The Green Hornet looks to be the movie of choice for January, coming up on the 14th. They are sticking to the attitude of the original TV show, which had Bruce Lee as Kato (the series was known as The Kato Show in China, Japan, Korea, and most other Asian countries), and no one these days can remember who the white guy was. Hollywood’s next TV series that Bruce Lee developed (called “Kung-Fu”) didn’t have a single Asian in a staring role, even though Bruce was supposed to be the star. They hired somebody named Carridine for that role. There are also 2 limited run J-Movies this month; the live action version of Gantz on the 20th (see my review and trailer here), and Evangerion shin gekijôban: Ha on the 21st.
In February there are several choices, a few of which are a bit out there.
Sanctum on February 4th sounds prosaic with the whole deep-sea diving stuff, but this is a James Cameron work in 3D and IMAX. Gnomeo and Juliet is a Shakespeare variation set in the world of warring indoor and outdoor gnomes, which should launch around the 11th. I Am Number Four on February 18th sounds like a quote from The Prisoner, but is actually an identification from one of 8 aliens who landed on Earth by accident. The previous three have already been hunted down and murdered, and he is next. Drive Angry on February 25th is about a soul who escapes from Hell to avenge his daughter and protect his granddaughter. Note that Drive is the second Nick Cage movie in as many months for this year.
March starts off with The Adjustment Bureau on the 4th, with a conspiracy theory story of truly epic proportions that will remind you of Inception. Also on the 4th, the animated feature Rango gets released, to teach us all abut the nature of courage. And then we have Apollo 18, which is a covert mission to the moon revealing an entire collection of aliens. Which is a nice warm up for the 11th, when a whole group of films get released, starting with the animated Mars Needs Moms!. It continues through Battle: Los Angeles where the story follows one Marine platoon’s encounter in the battle against an alien invasion on the streets of Los Angeles. It doesn’t end there, since also on the 11th we see Red Riding Hood, where a young woman is in a medieval village which is being terrorized by a werewolf. The final pick on the 11th is Suing the Devil, where Satan (played by Malcolm McDowell) shows up to defend himself in court. When the calendar turns to March 18th Beastly tells the story of a beautiful person turned hideous with only love to save him and turn him back, while Limitless is the story of a writer who tries a drug which allows him to use 100% of his brain instead of the usual 10%. The final entry for March will probably be the masterwork for the month; Sucker Punch the 25th may be the most interesting movie of the year, or at least have a serious shot at that title.
And that is just the first 3 months; there is a lot more after that! HOP is the animated tale to beat on April 1st (from the team that brought us Despicable Me), or perhaps Rio on April 8th from the Ice Age team; I plan to be at both. Source Code is a recursive time travel story worthy of Philip K. Dick, and Super is the story of an ordinary guy wearing superhero tights and armed with a wrench, both on the big screen April 1st. The other April 8th film, Your Highness, is a comedy about the guy that tried to avoid slaying the dragon but still ended up on the quest (Natalie is the Warrior Princess while Zooey is the Damsel in Distress).
In May, the top movies are Thor from Marvel, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, the Tim Powers book by way of Johnny Depp, and the animated Kung Fu Panda 2 (the Tree of Life is an also ran). Come June, X-Men: First Class gives some background (but doesn’t appear to be from Marvel studios), Super 8 tells the story of aliens gone AWOL, and The Green Lantern brings another classic comic book hero to the screen, this one a variant of the Grey Lensman. Rise of the Apes is the origin story also ran for the month.
That covers the first half of the year; the remainder will include titles like Transformers: the Dark of the Moon, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, Captain America: the First Avenger, Cowboys & Aliens, Conan 3D, The Thing, Immortals, the Shrek spinoff Puss in Boots, and Sherlock Holmes 2. All in all, 2011 looks to be a great year for films, with more than one goody every month.