The Playlist has put together a list of 50 of the most anticipated movies this year. Cosmopolis (starring Robert Pattinson), The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (starring Lee Pace), The Master (starring Rami Malek), and On the Road (starring Kristen Stewart) have been included in the list.
“Cosmopolis”
Synopsis: Based on the novel by American authorDon DeLillo, it centers on Eric Packer (Robert Pattinson), a young multi-billionaire making an epic, ultimately doomed limo ride across New York City.
What You Need to Know: David Cronenberg is enjoying an unparalleled level of critical and commercial acceptance after decades hovering on the fringe. At the outset, “Cosmopolis” seems to fall in line with the mannered, critic-friendly films of the recent Cronenberg era. It is, after all, an adaptation of a critically revered and best-selling novel and stars hunky heartthrob-of-the-moment Robert Pattinson. But on closer inspection, the movie seems more atypical and dangerous (a good thing, since “A Dangerous Method” felt far too safe for a filmmaker known for exploding heads and genital mutilation), taking place primarily in a stretch limousine as it crawls through New York City (not exactly a cinematic conceit). A number of Cronenberg’s favorite thematic tics are explored, too, including man’s relationship with modern technology, the messiness of murder and sexual obsession. So while it might be sold as another buttoned-up late era Cronenberg think piece, we’re hoping it’s going to be ruder, looser, and more like the days of yore, even if it has to be without the exploding heads and genital mutilation.
Release Date: With press for “A Dangerous Method” occupying much of Cronenberg’s time in the fall of 2011, our guess is the fall film festival circuit will be the earliest we see the picture.
“The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey”
Synopsis: In the first of a two-part prequel to “The Lord of the Rings,” Bilbo Baggins relates an early journey with Gandalf and a pack of unruly dwarves to steal a horde of treasure from the dragon Smaug.
What You Need To Know: Given that the original trilogy was near-universally beloved, a giant box-office hit (taking close to $3 billion worldwide) and even managed to be win a record haul of Oscars with its last installment, getting “The Hobbit,” J.R.R. Tolkien‘s novel set, and written, before “The Lord of the Rings” proved surprisingly tricky, with rights issues and studio bankruptcy holding the project up for years, even before original director Guillermo Del Toro bailed. But Peter Jackson‘s finally returned to Middle Earth, and if the recent atmospheric teaser is anything to go by, he hasn’t forgotten what he’s doing. Settling back into the world feels like putting on a comfortable pair of old shoes, and the filmmaker looks to have the perfect Bilbo in “The Office” star Martin Freeman, who leads a group of new arrivals to the franchise including Richard Armitage, James Nesbitt, Aidan Turner, Luke Evans, Benedict Cumberbatch, Stephen Fry, Lee Pace and Evangeline Lilly, along with many returning favorites. We have our reservations: is Jackson’s heart really in it, after spending so long saying he didn’t want to direct the film? Will the two-part structure feel padded and indulgent for a book that only runs to 285 pages? Will having a baker’s dozen of dwarves mean that they blend into one? We hope not, and if anyone can pull it off, it’s the hirsute New Zealander.
Release Date: December 14th
“The Master”
Synopsis: After returning home from WWII, a charismatic intellectual (Philip Seymour Hoffman) launches a faith-based organization and taps a young drifter (Joaquin Phoenix) as his right-hand man.
What You Need to Know: With just five films spread out over the last fifteen years, Paul Thomas Anderson has become one of the most celebrated American directors working today. It’s been nearly half a decade since his masterpiece “There Will Be Blood” became the directors highest-grossing and most critically acclaimed film — his longest gap ever — but the wait seems worthwhile. His latest reteams the director with former muse Hoffman who portrays a man who starts his own religion during the 1950s and becomes the “master of ceremonies,” supposedly with strong parallels to Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard. Phoenix, in his first post-”retirement” role, plays the drifter he recruits, with Amy Adams and Laura Dern along for the ride too. Despite being less than 12 months from release the film is still shrouded in secrecy with even the title still up in the air. We reviewed an early rough draft of the script all the way back in February of 2010 and after several stops and starts (eventually being rescued by every cinephile’s favorite heiress Megan Ellison), the film is finally on its way, though the script has surely evolved since that minimal sketch was leaked. Initially hailed as a disciple of Scorsese and Altman, Anderson’s now finding himself being compared to another auteur whose films grew more masterful as well as increasingly further apart: Kubrick. All of this makes “The Master” quite possibly our most anticipated film of 2012.
Release Date: Assume a late fall release
“On The Road”
Synopsis: A long-time-coming adaptation of Jack Kerouac‘s famous Beat Generation novel. Drifter poets Sal Paradise and Dean Moriarty travel across the country in search of themselves, colliding with a rigid and impermeable society along the way.
What You Need To Know: Over thirty years in the making, director Francis Ford Coppola has been trying to get this picture made since the mid 1970s. Brazilian filmmaker Walter Salles signed on to make the picture in 2005, with Coppola exec producing, but none of it became a reality until early 2010 when casting and financing finally coalesced. Starring Garrett Hedlund and Sam Riley as the two leads andKristen Stewart, Kirsten Dunst, Viggo Mortensen, Amy Adams, Steve Buscemi and more, rounding out the colorful cast, “On The Road” has been a labor of love for both Salles and Hedlund who has also been involved for years, biding his time for when funding would finally arrive. Having directed “The Motorcycle Diaries,” and other striking Foreign-language films, Salles has had an unlucky streak of late. After 2005’s semi-successful “Dark Water,” his 2008 co-directed film “Linha de Passe” failed to ever score distribution in North America. But having worked on ‘Road’ on and off for six years, we’re hoping this one is a major comeback.
Release Date: TBD, but we’re guessing a Cannes bow in May would make sense.
Check out all of the movies (there is a TON) at Indie Wire
Source: Indie Wire
