Part 1 of Winter-Spring 2011-2012 Movie Preview

I like when I get to this period of the year. I'm even thinking to do this in more detail = with more titles, and more often = every season, not only at the beginning of Winter and Spring. Besides the "Oscar month" these are the only entries where I don't really need to desperately try to find a reasonable movie to see so I'll have something to write that won't transform the blog intro something like "movie junkyard blacklisted titles". On the other hand I have to admit that usually almost half of what's mentioned here proves to be after release a successful candidate for such a list. So, for the nth time, again & repeated :) - this is just a preview - not a recommendation. Now, let's start with the winter season ...

The first title of December - "Tinker Taylor Soldier Spy" - was already presented on a few festivals + released in UK. I don't know yet what the critics say. What's on IMDb looks good but not exceptional. For me however is enough, this movie being the one that interests me the most from the upcoming period. One reason is that's a sort to speak "old fashioned spy thriller", a genre that for me always worked, so I'm probably subjective due to this. To give some detail it's based on a novel by John le Carre - "The Spy Who Came in from the Cold", "The Russia House", "The Tailor of Panama", "The Constant Gardener". Who has seen something from the ones mentioned can say that's expected probably not to have any extremely alert action, the author having something like a typical style among the others ( as Ludlum, Forsyth, Higgins, Clancy ... :) ok, I'll stop .. I said that I like the genre :) ). In the end it's after all a movie, and it's not only about the book, and on this side the only thing that I really must say is that the director is Tomas Alfredson. I know that probably the name doesn't tell anything. He directed something called "Lat den ratte komma in" in the original Swedish - or "Let the Right One In" in the US remake which I preferred to skip, movie that for me is one of the best vampire (non-commercial) flicks I've ever seen. To conclude ( I promise it won't take that long for the next ones :) ) what I expect is quite a lot from this combination of director - book author ...



I'm staying in the "British" area with a sequel: "Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows" . Considering that the team - Guy Ritchie & co. - from the first movie seems to be the same, I hope the quality will be also consistent (stuff that for me was surprisingly ok considering the approach taken for the "classic" subject).



I thought a bit, but in the end I said myself to give some credit for the end of December to ... "War Horse", in front of some other remakes or sequels, although the trailer, the way the story looks like, and the title are not helping a lot in recommending the movie ... Still the director is Spielberg, and even if my feeling is something like a mix between "Secretariat", "Seabiscuit", "Black Beauty", "pick your favorite horse movie" and "Saving Private Ryan", I still hope for something at least at the level of "Empire of the Sun" (I don't know why this is the title that popped into my head just now ...). Anyway, I foresee some Oscar nominations for the technical part, so ...



For January I'll be extremely subjective in previews :D, sorry but I can't help it ... The first title is "Haywire" = this time is a bit of a more modern version of the classical "spy thriller" above, this one being directed by Steven Soderbergh. Excepting "The Informant!" this guy pretty much left me unimpressed with any movie he did, but as I was saying this time I'm subjective. The reason should be obvious :p ...



Number two on the list of the next year is the fourth "Underworld: Awakening". What I hope is that the level to rise again towards the one in the first two, which on the area of "commercial vampire movies" I think they're top of the list for me = above "Blade" or others (for "Twilight" I didn't resist to see more than the first). The third "Underworld" was .. a semi-wreck to be gentle. So worse would be a disaster ... And since this one seems to be given a higher budget, in theory the investment should be for something a bit better (although ...). All in all, Kate Beckinsale is back ;), so that's enough for me ...



I don't know how much is left to be seen besides what's in the trailer of "Man on a Ledge", but I didn't have any other better option to look for to close January. To add more, the action seems to be sort of original as a thriller idea. And besides that, I finally have the opportunity to see Elizabeth Banks in a role that seems a bit more consistent :) ...



Following the "one spy thriller per month", starting from the classic genre up to what seems to be more an action movie, in February we have "Safe House". Starring Denzel, stamped with a "cool" look on a poster saying something like: "No One is Safe .. Safe House" (lots of "imagination" there ..). Not much else to say, the trailer looks better though ...



Besides the general opinion I liked the first "Ghost Rider". For me the second looks really really different (and I won't say it's something good, even if, once again, pretty much everybody bashed the first). The directorial "couple" Neveldine/Taylor a was anyway ok in "Crank" (not also in "Gamer" ...). So, I don't know ...



For the end of February we have "Gone". I have some fears because the screenwriter seems to have had a contribution also on "Untraceable" (which I consider a lousy excuse of a realistic thriller attempt). But maybe it was for the better parts in the script there. At a first sight the trailer looks quite promising ...



Well .. that was a short Winter upcoming list ;) next week comes the Spring ...