The Most Anticipated Movies Of 2011


Let’s face it, 2010 was for the most part an average year of cinematic offerings with a few amazing highlights (Animal Kingdom, The Kings Speech, The Social Network, Toy Story 3) that entertained our heads off but, unfortunately, they turned out to be all too rare amidst a heap of disappointing releases that harshed our buzz (Alice In Wonderland, Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World, scores of god awful rom-coms). Now that the annual timepiece has ticked over it means we can wipe the slate clean and look forward to a new year of popcorn, choc tops and the silver screen. 2011 is shaping up to be an exciting year at the movies. Here are the forthcoming releases for which we’re most looking forward to seeing this year…

Title THE FUTURE
Director Miranda July
Synopsis When a couple decides to adopt a stray cat their perspective on life changes radically, literally altering the course of time and space and testing their faith in each other and themselves.
Why we’re excited We love everything that multitasking polymath Miranda July tries her hand at, including her daring whimsical movie debut Me and You and Everyone We Know which was about the complexities of love, and introduced us to a certain poo-related emoticon. The Future is premiering at The Berlin Film Festival in February and we can’t wait to hear the reception for July’s sophomore effort.

Title THE TREE OF LIFE
Director Terrence Malick
Synopsis The film follows the life journey of eldest of three sons, Jack, through the innocence of childhood to his disillusioned adult years as he tries to reconcile a complicated relationship with his father (Brad Pitt). Jack (played as an adult by Sean Penn) finds himself a lost soul in the modern world, seeking answers to the meaning of life while questioning the existence of faith.
Why we’re excited When it comes to filmmaking Terrence Malick is the poster boy for quality-over-quantity and, based on the epic looking trailer below The Tree Of Life (five years in the making) looks to be no exception. Throw in performances by Brad Pitt, Sean Penn and newcomer Jessica Chastain and you can pretty much shut the gate.

Title HOBO WITH A SHOTGUN
Director Jason Eisener
Synopsis A homeless vigilante blows away crooked cops, pedophile Santas, and other scumbags with his trusty pump-action shotgun.
Why we’re excited Starring Rutger Hauer, we are tauting Hobo With A Shotgun as 2011’s answer to Snakes On A Plane for amazing one-liners.

Title THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN: SECRET OF THE UNICORN
Director Steven Spielberg
Synopsis The film depicts Tintin’s (Jamie Bell) first encounter with Captain Haddock (Andy Serkis) and the discovery of a clue to the treasure of his ancestor Sir Francis Haddock. They set out to find it with protection from a prison escapee who tried to get the treasure as well as Detectives Thompson and Thomson (Simon Pegg and Nick Frost).
Why we’re excited Fans of Hergé’s affable problem-solving reporter and his trusty fox-terrier Snowy get ready: Spielberg’s motion capture 3-D film about the iconic Belgian adventurer lands in movie theatres on 23 December 2011. With a mammoth budget, motion capture genius Peter Jackson on board as producer and the hopes of millions of fans behind him Spielberg better not f*ck this up.

Title YOUR HIGHNESS
Director David Gordon Green
Synopsis Thadeous (McBride) has spent his life watching his perfect older brother Fabious (Franco) embark upon valiant journeys and win the hearts of his people. Tired of being passed over for adventure, adoration and the throne, he’s settled for a life of wizard’s weed, hard booze and easy maidens. But when Fabious’ bride-to-be, Belladonna (Zooey Deschanel), gets kidnapped by the evil wizard Leezar (Justin Theroux), the king gives his deadbeat son an ultimatum: Man up and help rescue her or get cut off.
Why we’re excited With the director of Pineapple Express behind it, a cast of serial scene-stealers making ye olde butt sex jokes, medieval costuming and a weed pun in the title, how could this possibly be anything less than genius.

Title THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO
Director David Fincher
Synopsis For the 31 people out there who haven’t read Stieg Larsson’s book: Crusading journalist Mikael Blomkvist (Daniel Craig) is aided in his search for a woman who has been missing — or dead — for forty years by a mysterious young female hacker Lisbeth Salander (Rooney Mara).
Why we’re excited Admittedly we rolled our eyes upon first learning that an English-language version of Larsson’s trilogy was getting made. Then we heard David Fincher (Fight Club, The Social Network, Se7en) was directing it and we changed our tune entirely. We’re also interested to see if Australian American actress Rooney Mara can match Noomi Rapace’s pitch-perfect depiction of the character in the Swedish-made films.

Title BIUTIFUL
Director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu
Synopsis The film follows Uxbal (Javier Bardem), an underworld figure and devoted single dad, through his attempts to reconcile with a past love and secure a future for his children as his own death draws near.
Why we’re excited Despite mixed reviews for the latest feature from devastatingly talented Mexican director Innaritu, the performance by Bardem is said to be worth the ticket price. He won Best Actor at Cannes last year and Sean Penn said it is the “best performance since Brando in The Last Tango in Paris.”

Title ON THE ROAD
Director Walter Salles
Synopsis In a nutshell: A young man sets out to travel the roads and railways of America. Cue Jazz-Age life lessons.
Why we’re excited You’ve gotta be nervous about adapting a text as iconic as Jack Kerouac’s seminal Beat work. Garrett Hedlund (TRON: Legacy) and Sam Riley (Control) play the central roles of Dean Moriarty and Sal Paradise respectively; and the supporting cast includes Kristen Stewart, Viggo Mortensen, Amy Adams, Kirsten Dunst, Tom Sturridge, Steve Buscemi, and Elisabeth Moss. Let’s hope the director behind The Motorcycle Diaries can pull off the all-time road trip story on the big screen.


Title TRUE GRIT
Director Joel & Ethan Coen
Synopsis Following the murder of her father by hired hand Tom Chaney, 14-year-old farm girl Mattie Ross sets out to capture the killer. To aid her, she hires the toughest U.S. marshal she can find, a man with “true grit,” Reuben J. “Rooster” Cogburn. Mattie insists on accompanying Cogburn, whose drinking, sloth, and generally reprobate character do not augment her faith in him. Against his wishes, she joins him in his trek into the Indian Nations in search of Chaney. They are joined by Texas Ranger LaBoeuf, who wants Chaney for his own purposes. The unlikely trio find danger and surprises on the journey, and each has his or her “grit” tested.
Why we’re excited The Coen brothers.

Title THE GREEN HORNET
Director Michel Gondry
Synopsis Seth Rogen plays trust fund boozer, Britt Reid, who inherits his father’s media empire after his mysterious death. He strikes up a friendship with his father’s employee Kato (Jay Chou) and together they embark on a mission to fight crime. The twist: in order to take down the bad guys from the inside Britt has to pose as a master criminal himself – i.e. the Green Hornet.
Why we’re excited We’re looking forward to seeing how Gondry’s penchant for surrealism gets infused into a big budget superhero movie. And Kato.

Title A DANGEROUS METHOD
Director David Cronenberg
Synopsis A look at how the intense relationship between Carl Jung (Michael Fassbender) and Sigmund Freud (Viggo Mortensen) gives birth to psychoanalysis.
Why we’re excited Anyone familiar with the subject matter of the psychological paradigm developed by these two minds would be right to anticipate some fairly intense content within this movie. Putting two of the most pants-able dudes alive in the main roles, a bonafide psychological genius at the helm (Cronenberg), a stellar supporting cast (including Keira Knightly and Vincent Cassel) and you’ve got yourself a recipe for movie gold.

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