10.
Snow White and the Huntsman
June 1
Looking over my list of 15 films I’d say Snow White and the Huntsman stands the largest chance for overall disappointment, largely because I wasn’t expecting anything from the film, but then the small snippets I’ve seen from the trailer have led me to believe it just might be a film worth checking out. In essence, I went from no expectations to cautious optimism, something that can work for and against movies.
If anything concerns me it is the marketing insistence on focusing on the ravishing Charlize Theron as the Evil Queen rather than Kristen Stewart and Chris Hemsworth who play the film’s titular characters. I can’t say I blame them, Theron looks great as does the art direction, but will first time feature director Rupert Sanders be able to pull off an intriguing story?
Sanders made his name with his commercials for Xbox’s “Halo 3” and the ITV advertisement “Sunshine” (samples featured below) and Universal gave him $70 million to bring this new adaptation of the iconic folk tale to life. Will the gamble pay-off beyond appealing to Twilight fans anxious to see Kristen Stewart and folks brought in by the impressive marketing campaign and visuals?
9.
God Bless America
May 11
Frank (Joel Murray) has had enough of the downward spiral of America and decides to off the stupidest, cruelest and most repellent members of society with an unusual accomplice: 16-year-old Roxy (Tara Lynne Barr), who shares his sense of rage and disenfranchisement.
God Bless America is directed by Bobcat Goldthwait and is already available On Demand and I have just been waiting for the moment to give it a watch.
8.
Ted
July 13
I have one concern with this one and that’s that Seth MacFarlane (“Family Guy”) will create a film that’s raunchy just for the sake of being raunchy as opposed to clever and witty. I’m not a regular “Family Guy” watcher, but what I have seen I find to be funny and the idea of a foul-mouthed teddy bear come to life makes me smile and I’m hoping the movie will do the same.
7.
Savages
July 6
I liked Oliver Stone‘s Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps more than most, though not by a wide margin. Like most I am looking for Stone to get back to mid-’80s and early-’90s form rather than films such as Alexander, World Trade Center and W. and Savages might be the answer.
Based on Don Winslow’s best-selling crime novel that was named one of The New York Times’ Top 10 Books of 2010, the film centers on two Laguna Beach buddies (Aaron Johnson and Taylor Kitsch) who share the same girlfriend (Blake Lively) and a thriving business growing and distributing the best-quality pot on the planet. When they resist being muscled by a Mexican drug cartel, the girl is kidnapped and the ransom is every cent they’ve made for the last five years. They agree to pay, but hatch an alternate plan to get her back, get revenge, and then get lost.
John Travolta, Uma Thurman, Blake Lively, Emile Hirsch, Demian Bichir, Mia Maestro, Salma Hayek, Benicio del Toro and Joel David Moore co-star.
6.
Moonrise Kingdom
May 25
Set to premiere at the Cannes Film Festival as the opening night film, Wes Anderson‘s new film promises more of what we’ve come to love and look forward to from an Anderson feature, which is to say a slightly-off bit of realism, characters both quirky and relatable and a sense of storytelling that shows a serious level of passion for both characters and narrative.
Moonrise Kingdom is set on an island off the coast of New England in the 1960s and follows a young boy and girl (Jared Gilman and Kara Hayward) falling in love who eventually decide to run away together causing various factions of the town mobilize to search for them and the town is turned upside down — which might not be such a bad thing.
Bruce Willis plays the town sheriff; Edward Norton plays a camp leader; Bill Murray and Frances McDormand portray the young girl’s parents and they are joined by Tilda Swinton and Jason Schwartzman.
