Coen, Jonze, Anderson

So the time of year where all the Oscar hopefuls jam into the last couple months is here. For me that means lots of trips to the theatre in the near future, hopefully.

This year there are a lot of films that I am excited about, from many directors that I already know and love.

First we have a new film from the Coen brothers, (No Country For Old Men, Fargo, O Brother Where Art Thou, ect.), A Serious Man. It had a limited release last friday but I am still unable to find any info on when it will receive a wide release.

Then October 16th Spike Jonze, (Being John Malkovich, Adaptation), long anticipated Where The Wild Things Are will finally be released. There were lots of difficulties with Spike wanting to achieve his vision and the studio wanting to make money, but thanks in part to the support of Maurice Sendak, (author of WTWTA), it has been said that Spike won most of the battles.

On November 25th Wes Anderson, (The Life Aquatic, The Darjeeling Limited), will also be releasing an adaptation of a kids book, Roald Dahl's Fantastic Mr. Fox. Honestly I was not all that crazy about the trailer when I first saw it, mainly due to the stop-motion type animation, but since then it has grown on me and Anderson has not yet made a film that I haven't enjoyed so I plan on seeing it as soon as it comes out.

Also out on the 25th is The Road. There has been a lot skepticism about how successful an adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's grim tale can be. Now I have not read No Country For Old Men but I think it is safe for me to say that the Coen brothers successfully adapted that McCarthy novel. John Hillcoat obviously does not have a comparable repertoire to the Coens, but based on his film The Proposition I believe that he has many talents and abilities that are well suited to The Road. Also I think that Viggo Mortensen is a great actor.

December 11th offers yet another film from Clint Eastwood, (Unforgiven, Mystic River, Million Dollar Baby, Gran Torino), Invictus. It will be a biopic of sorts of Nelson Mandela. Mandela will be played by Eastwood's go to guy, Morgan Freeman. Freeman has been a part of both of Eastwood's best picture winners, and considering when this film is being released it appears that Eastwood thinks it has a chance for some more Oscars. Matt Damon will also star in this film.

Whether I care or not anymore I need to at least mention James Cameron's, (The Terminator, Aliens, Titanic), Avatar. It comes out on December 18th.

Opening on Christmas day is Guy Ritchie's, (Snatch), Sherlock Holmes, starring the on fire, well except for The Soloist which was not bad because of him, Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law.

Also opening on Christmas in limited release in Terry Gilliam's, (Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Brazil, Twelve Monkeys, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas), The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus. With a cast including Johnny Depp, Colin Farrell, Jude Law, and the late Heath Ledger in his last performance this is a must see for me, plus it looks entirely strange which is not unexpected from Gilliam.

Three movies that were initially set for '09 releases but have been puched back to '10 for whatever reasons that I am also looking forward to are The Lovely Bones from Peter Jackson(The Lord of the Rings), Shutter Island from Martin Scosese(Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, Goodfellas, Gangs of New York, The Departed), and The Tree of Life from Terrence Malick(Badlands, The Thin Red Line, The New World).

Posted via web from westiemag