Last year I went to the theater 60 times. This year I have a son on the way, graduation from law school, moving to Texas, the Texas state bar, and starting a new job. So likely I will not be seeing as many movies in theaters, but hopefully with NetFlix help I'll be able to see roughly the same amount of movies, just in a different venue. So although I'll likely miss many of these in theaters, these are the movies I'm most looking forward to in 2008.

A few of these are back from my 2007 list but never were released, hopefully they'll come out this year. so we'll start with those:

Fanboys
Starring Kristen Bell, once again that should be all you need to know to understand why it’s at the top of my list.
Oh, you want to know more? Ok, it’s set in 1998/99 and follows a group of friends who make a pact to go cross country to Skywalker Ranch in order to see the newest Star Wars movie. Why would they make such a pact when they can just wait to see it in theaters you ask, because one of their group is dying of cancer and doctors don’t give him long enough to wait.
Full of geek humor and wit and lots and lots of Star Wars, not to mention Seth Rogen in a small role, and in my book every movie suffers from a lack of Seth Rogen.
After having seen 45 min of footage at the Star wars Celebration this past May I'm even more excited about the film, and unlike most cases where the film gets pushed back, this movie is getting extra footage shot, in addition because it's received extra funds. And now the movie looks to be coming this February, but that could change.



Be Kind Rewind

Here’s what I know, it’s from Michel Gondry, the director of The Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and stars Jack Black. But the best part is the premise. From IMDB: A man (Black) whose brain becomes magnetized unintentionally destroys every tape in his friend's video store. In order to satisfy the store's most loyal renter, an aging woman with signs of dementia, the two men set out to remake the lost films, which include Back to the Future, The Lion King, and Robocop.
Who cares how we get there the only thing that matters is it centers on two guys trying to recreate lots of movies. I read an interview with the Director and he said they didn’t let anyone watch the movie before hand, so it would be more authentic with these guys just making them from their memories.
I can’t wait to see their recreation of Back to the Future, one of my favorite movies of all time. Also they apparently recreate Superman but because of rights issues, they had to rename it, Stupid Warner Brothers.
But it should still be a lot of fun.



My Name is Bruce

The plot is stellar, Bruce Campbell is mistaken for his character Ash from the Evil Dead series and kidnapped by a group of people whose town is being overrun by monsters in order to defend them from the evil. Bruce Campbell is directing this movie and it seems like it will be another great B grade comedy/horror mix. Along for the ride is Ted Raimi, who some might remember as Joxer from Xena.
A great idea for what should be a fun romp.




And now for the new stuff:

Cloverfield

A monster movie shot entirely with handheld cameras. Not much is known other than a group of people try to survive a monster attack in New York City. It follows a group of people as the try and survive the attack, all through footage from their own cameras. And I think maybe they are trying to get to someone they care about whose stuck somewhere in the city, but I'm probably wrong.
This is one I'm hoping to see opening day, but we'll see if I make it.



Eagle Eye

A thriller starring Shia LaBeouf and Michelle Monaghan as two unsuspecting Americans who are drawn into a political conspiracy/assassination plot. The main draw is it's from the team behind 2007's best thriller, Disturbia: Director D.J. Caruso and actor Shia LaBeouf. Even though I don't know much about it I love a good thriller, and hopefully it will be a good example of what these two will bring the their rumored adaptation of Y the Last Man.



The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Directed by David Fincher, starring Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett, and adapted from the 1920s story by F. Scott Fitzgerald about a man who is born in his eighties and ages backwards.
That's about all I know, but it sounds fun and entertaining, and Fincher normally does really good work, plus an old Brad Pitt aging backwards sounds interesting.



Iron Man

Based on the Marvel Comic, directed by Jon Favreau and starring Robert Downy Jr and Gwyneth Paltrow. The movies revolves around Tony Stark, a genius who is forced to create a suit of armor when his heart is pierced by shrapnel, and ends up using the suit to fight evil. The trailer looks amazing!
Plus the 10ish minutes of footage they showed at Comic Con was stunning and made miss wish it was coming out right then. Plus Downy is quite funny, so hopefully he'll bring some of that humor to the role.



The Incredible Hulk

Another Marvel comic character. Not a sequel to the ill received Ang Lee Film, but a reboot starring Edward Norton and Liv Tyler. The few images that have been released so far look a lot better than the last film, and I'm a big Norton fan, so It'll be interesting to see what an actor as respected as he is brings to this role. Hopefully it will be better than the last one.



The Dark Knight

Yet another Comic Book film. The Sequel to Batman Begins, this movie is already looking to be one of my favorite movies of the next year. Just watch the trailer to see how amazing Heath Ledger is as the Joker and you can see this will be one amazing film. Plus it'll be fun to see Christian Bale in the suit again, bringing about the best Batman the screen has ever seen.



Bond 22

I've always watched Bond films on tv, but I've never been super excited when they came out in the theater. Maybe it's because the only ones to come out when I was in high school and college were the pitiful Pierce Brosnan films (except Goldeneye which was quite good), but with Casino Royale Bond became a must see for me.
It was fairly risky to have a complete reboot of the franchise and start at the very beginning but it paid off, and any movie which can make a poker game that thrilling has done it's job. Plus the opening on foot chase was brilliant.
And because Casino Royale was so good, it's helped the as yet unnamed Bond 22 make it onto this list. With the Paul Haggis back in the writers chair and Daniel Craig back as the blonde Bond, it should be interesting to see where Bond goes now that he's been completely changed and hardened by the events of the first film.



Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

The penultimate Harry Potter film, currently in production, will apparently play up the comedic elements and romance between several of the main characters. But it also has one of the most painful deaths in the franchise. So it will be interesting to see how returning director David Yates (The first director to return since Chris Columbus directed the first to films) melds the different emotions into one film.
Also with movie number 6 in production it means that by the time it comes out in November, the 7th and final film will be gearing up to head into production. Personally I'm hoping that Guillermo del Toro will be chosen to direct the final installment which should be an all out war (and might be able to cut out some of the slower stuff of the final book).



J.J. Abram's Star Trek

A new Star Wars, ho hum. But wait it figures in the original Spock, now an older man, and a whole new cast playing the original crew of the enterprise? Interesting, and J.J. Abrams is directing? Now I'm on board.
Throw in some brilliant casting in the forms of Zach Quinto, Simon Pegg, and Jon Cho and you've got the makings of what could possible be a brilliant film.
And I know Shatner's been complaining about not being in this movie, but part of me thinks he's in it and just trying to cover it up.
Oh and the story apparently centers around a plot to use time travel to kill Captain Kirk, which must be stopped by Mr. Spock.




Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

The Movie I'm most looking forward to this year is of course the new Indiana Jones movie. I'm trying to keep away from the details and spoilers as I want to go in fresh, but I know that the movie follows Indiana Jones and possibly his son (Shia LaBeouf) on a search for the titular Crystal Skull. And Marion Ravenwood is back from Raiders of the Lost Arc, and may be the mother of said son.
Indiana Jones was a big series of movies from my childhood (We're the same age, both premiering in 1981!) and as such I'm looking forward to seeing this back in Texas with My father, and possibly my best friend. It will be a nice break before I start studying for the bar and after having just moved back to my home state.
I'm hoping that this will be the best movie I see this year.



Owen Parker Tidmore


But the thing I'm most looking forward to is the birth of my son, Owen. I can't wait for that day, which is just around the corner. And I can't wait until that day in the future when I can share these movies with him.

Labels: 2008 Preview