Hey, guess what: 2012 is like, four days away. Exciting, eh? Well, aside from that whole Mayan calendar/end of the world business. And that there’s going to be a Presidential campaign all damned year, and the economy’s still in the toilet, and Community is on a “hiatus”… On second thought, 2012 is already looking pretty terrible, and it hasn’t even started yet.
No, wait! There will be new movies! Many, many new movies. And don’t kid yourself: plenty of them are going to be terrible (I mean, there’s a Battleship movie coming out, for God’s sake). But some of them look awesome! So in the spirit of cautious optimism, join us after the jump for a look at ten 2012 releases that we’re genuinely looking forward to.
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As the year winds to a close, you’ve seen plenty of “best of 2011″ lists — and we’ve certainly contributed a few of our own to the mix. Wading through them can lead to a sense of fatigue; yes, we liked The Artist and Hugo and The Descendants and The Tree of Life just fine too, but it feels like we’re reading praise for all the same movies and performances, everywhere we look. So, late in the “best of” season, we wanted to take a moment to spotlight a few films and actors who, we feel, are getting overlooked in the year-end shuffle. Our picks are after the jump; yours (we hope) will join in the comments.
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1. Soon-to-be retired filmmaker Steven Soderbergh wasted no time lining up a replacement project for The Man From U.N.C.L.E.; Vulture reports that he plans to shoot The Bitter Pill, a pharmapsychology thriller, in the brief window he has before beginning work on his final project, a Liberace biopic called Behind the Candelabra.
2. Bryan Singer (X-Men and Superman Returns) is finalizing a deal to both direct and executive produce the pilot of Bryan Fuller’s reboot of The Munsters for NBC. We’re not certain that this is good news for anyone involved. [via Deadline]
3. Variety reports that Harrison Ford is among a group of actors being looked at for the role of Colonel Hyrum Graff in Gavin Hood’s forthcoming adaptation of Orson Scott Card’s award-winning sci-fi novel Ender’s Game. We think it’s a perfect fit — and after 30 years, it’s about time that he returned to space. [via Slashfilm]
4. Here’s the trailer for this year’s Doctor Who Christmas special, “The Doctor, The Widow, and The Wardrobe.” It will premiere on BBC America on December 25 at 9pm, following a marathon of all 13 episodes of the recently aired season six.
5. According to Publishers Weekly, Microwave for One by Sonia Allison is the worst book of all time.
Bonus Buzz: A One-Percenter Speaks
Welcome to “Trailer Park,” our regular Friday feature where we collect the week’s new trailers all in one place and do a little “judging a book by its cover,” ranking them from worst to best and taking our best guess at what they may be hiding. We’ve got seven new trailers this week, including, yes, Hunger Games; check ‘em out after the jump. Read More »
Last weekend, a “secret screening” at Los Angeles’ AFI Fest marked the first public outing for Haywire, Steven Soderbergh’s new… mixed-martial-arts based action/spy thriller. Come again? Yes, according to Movieline’s report from the post-screening Q&A, Soderbergh cooked up the project while on the rebound after losing Moneyball, stumbling across one of MMA star Gina Carano’s fights and deciding to build a movie around her. While Soderbergh’s filmography has been fairly esoteric, genre-wise (he’s skipped from experimental dramas to big-budget heist movies to dark comedies to coming-of-age tales to sci-fi), we certainly didn’t expect him to get all hyped up about making a film that he would compare to the early pictures of Steven Seagal.
But maybe there’s a lesson to be learned here: too often, filmmakers become defined by a certain type of movie, locked into a specific genre or style. Some break out occasionally (see Scorsese’s upcoming Hugo), and a few have made a career of genre-jumping (think Danny Boyle). But back in the “studio era,” directors-for-hire like Howard Hawks and John Ford were given assignments, and had to adapt themselves into journeymen who could make any kind of film with style and skill. After the jump, we’ve compiled a short list of a few filmmakers who we’d like to see class up some B-movies.
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Here at Flavorpill, we’ve learned (and continue to be reminded, on an almost daily basis) the pros and cons of making a good list. On the plus side, people love to see pop culture artifacts piled up and stacked against each other; it starts conversations and stirs passions. On the minus side, selecting and ranking beloved films, television shows, albums, books, musicians, etc. is just asking for trouble — what begins as starting conversations and stirring passions can become a melee of second-guessing, judgment, and sometimes even name-calling. So our sympathies and admiration go out to the fine folks at Popmatters, who have spent the past several weeks compiling a list of “the 100 essential directors,” and thus opened themselves up to the inevitable Monday-morning quarterbacking of film fans, a notoriously hard-to-please bunch.
The site’s editors wisely avoided the most bitter arguments by running the list alphabetically rather than in a ranked order; it’s a move that also spread out the angry “What about…” comments throughout the series’ run, rather than all at the end. But now that we’ve had a chance to look at the whole thing, as you have, there are some, well, puzzling choices.
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1. Today would have been Freddie Mercury’s 65th birthday, and Google is honoring the Queen frontman with an animated Doodle tribute that took them nearly three months to create. [via Gawker]
2. It looks like The Help — which is sitting pretty at number one for the third week in a row now — will top this weekend’s holiday box office, with newcomer The Debt (that Helen Mirren thriller) trailing not too far behind. Less popular than predicted: Apollo 18 and Shark Night 3D. We’re proud of you, America. [via THR]
3. Sorry, Billy Crystal. According to Deadline, Eddie Murphy is producer Brett Ratner’s top choice to host this year’s Academy Awards. Given the fact that Murphy stars in Ratner’s fall release, Tower Heist, this news isn’t all that surprising, but it could result in a more interesting show than we’ve seen in recent years — especially if he channels ’80s Eddie.
4. Update: Steven Soderbergh’s much-discussed impending retirement (which is to coincide with his new career as a painter) has actually been blown way out of proportion. “It’s less dramatic that it sounds; it’s just a sabbatical,” he told the Observer. “I feel I need to recalibrate, so I can discover something new. I’m out of ways of telling art.” [via Vulture]
5. How old would you say is too old to be kicked off a plane for refusing to pull your pants up? Let’s ask Billie Joe Armstrong, shall we?
Bonus Buzz: 10 Great Things Courtesy of Labor Unions
1. For reasons unclear to us (OK, not really, it’s a paycheck), the lovely Judy Greer has joined the cast of Two and a Half Men. She’ll be playing the role of Ashton Kutcher‘s soon-to-be ex-wife. [via Vulture]
2. This drawing — which was recently purchased by a couple in Britain for $2,463 — might be the only full-length portrait of Vincent van Gogh in existence, making it worth millions.
3. In a recent interview with members of the Outlawz, the hip-hop collective confirmed that they really did smoke some of Tupac Shakur’s ashes at a beach-side memorial for the star because they were inspired by a lyric from “Black Jesus.” [via NME]
4. Apparently when Steven Soderbergh retires from filmmaking, he plans on becoming a full-time painter. “I’m interested in exploring another art form while I have the time and ability to do so,” he told The New York Times. “I’ll be the first person to say if I can’t be any good at it and run out of money I’ll be back making another ‘Ocean’s’ movie.”[via Deadline]
5. You know you’re in trouble when David Arquette is arguably the biggest name in your Dancing With the Stars lineup; personally, we’re the most excited about watching Chaz Bono dance it out with Nancy Grace. [via Deadline]
Bonus Buzz: 20 Pieces Of Jewelry Inspired By The Internet
Welcome to “Trailer Park,” our regular Friday feature where we collect the week’s new trailers all in one place and do a little “judging a book by its cover,” ranking them from worst to best and taking our best guess at what they may be hiding. This week, we’ve got ten to show you
— everything from new Soderbergh and Clooney movies to, yes, a film adaptation of a board game. Check ‘em all out after the jump.
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Buried way down on the list of this week’s DVD releases — below Limitless and Take Me Home Tonight and Peep World — is a little movie called Skidoo, which you may have never heard of unless you are a bad movie aficionado (as your author is). This 1968 “comedy” was an attempt by Paramount and esteemed director Otto Preminger to make a hip film about the counter-culture geared towards the young people — starring such youth heroes as, um, Jackie Gleason, Carol Channing, Burgess Meredith, Mickey Rooney, and Groucho Marx. It concerns a gangster (Gleason) who is sent into prison to ice an informant and ends up dropping acid and escaping via a flying garbage can. It is as spectacularly ill-conceived as it sounds, and it sank without a trace following its release — though it occasionally popped up on cable, it was never released on home video (not even on VHS) until now.
Of course, Skidoo could be seen via the back channels of bootleg video, but it’s nice to see an oddity like this finally getting an official, authorized, legitimate home video release. And while the movie is an utter mess, it is an undeniably entertaining one, featuring inventive songs by Harry Nilsson and Groucho’s final film performance; let’s face it, even bad movies deserve to at least make it to the marketplace. With that in mind, we’ve compiled a wish list of some other titles that have never made it to DVD — some never even to VHS. Take a look after the jump, and add your own in the comments.
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