Here’s a piece that I’ve been working on so long that some of the movies on this list actually released their first official photos haha. The top 10 movies that I am looking forward to in 2012 and some honorable mentions as a bonus!

Honorable Mentions:
- The Amazing Spiderman
- John Carter
- Cogan’s Trade 
- The Wettest County
- World War Z
- The Gangster Squad 
- The Great Gatsby
- Snow White & the Huntsman
- Brave
- The Avengers 

10. The Hunger Games

While I think that this adaptation is getting a bit “too Hollywood” for its own good, The Hunger Games cracked my top 10 because I am a big fan of the books and interested to see if this movie adaptation of the wildly popular book series can be successful. 

9. The Dark Knight Rises

The finale to Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy, need I say more?

8. Django Unchained

There’s no official photos yet from Django Unchained, so I settled on this semi-appropriate picture of director Quentin Tarantino in the audacious film, Sukiyaki Western Django. Django Unchained is directed by Quentin Tarantino, stars Jamie Foxx, Christoph Waltz, and has Leonardo DiCaprio as the villain. How can this movie NOT be AWESOME? Plus, we get to see Tarantino handle the slavery in America, a topic that isn’t covered in film too often.

7. The Master

There are no official pictures for P.T. Anderson’s tentatively titled The Master, but that doesn’t stop me from being unbelievably excited for this movie. Anderson’s 2007 film There Will be Blood is a cinematic masterpiece and I cannot wait to see what he has in store for The Master, which is about a look at the beginning of a cult-like religion (early buzz is there are going to be a lot of Scientology parallels). It looks like P.T. going back to a fuller ensemble cast for The Master with Joaquin Phoenix, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams, Laura Dern, and Jesse Plemons (Landry from Friday Night Lights!!!) set to star. Seriously AMPED for this film!

6. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

Believe it or not, I have yet to see the trailer for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. I was planning on seeing it for the first time on the big screen and I haven’t seen it yet lol. All I need to know is that Peter Jackson is returning to the Lord of the Rings universe with an insanely stacked cast. Good enough for me!

5. Skyfall

Not a very enticing first picture for the new James bond film Skyfall (although I’m sure ladies will love it lol), but I have been greatly anticipating Skyfall since they announced Sam Mendes as the director. Some might think of Mendes as an unconventional choice, but if we get anything close to the rainy scene in Road to Perdition, we’re in for one hell of a Bond movie. Skyfall also brings in some new talented faces such as Javier Bardem, Ralph Fiennes, and Naomie Harris. Not to mention the fact that one of my favorite composers, Thomas Newman (Wall-E, Finding Nemo, The Shawshank Redemption, etc.), is scoring the film! I am just so ready for this movie to rock my socks off lol.

4. Prometheus

Ridley Scott returning to the genre that he redefined with Alien and Blade Runner? YES PLEASE! The teaser trailer was brilliant without spoiling the film and the cast is BEYOND stacked with Noomi Rapace, Charlize Theron, Idris Elba (STRINGER FUCKIN’ BELL!), Michael Fassbender, Guy Pearce, and Patrick Wilson. Ridley Scott has been teasing film fans about the potential tie ins to Alien and the grander questions the film will explore. Only time will tell if this film will change the sci-fi landscape as he did 3 decades ago.

3. Looper

Rian Johnson (Brick, The Brothers Bloom) is one of my favorite up and coming directors and it looks like he’s taking his game to another level with the sci-fi hitman film Looper. Johnson even sought out the help of Primer’s Shane Carruth in order to make the sci-fi elements as realistic as possible (just check out the pic up there of the time machine!). Everything about this project sounds freakin’ AWESOME. It stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Bruce Willis, Emily Blunt, Paul Dano, Jeff Daniels, and Garrett Dillahunt. I am so excited to see what Looper has in store for us, September 28th seems so damn far away!

2. The Place Beyond the Pines

A reteaming of the director and star of Blue Valentine, Derek Cianfrance and Ryan Gosling. Throw in Bradley Cooper, Rose Byrne, Eva Mendes, and Bruce Greenwood AND a description of the film as “The Godfather meets The Deer Hunter,” and you’ve got me INSANELY HYPED for this movie. I’m pretty much in for any movie Ryan Gosling stars in because he chooses his projects so carefully. Cianfrance impressed me greatly with Blue Valentine and it’ll be interesting to see how he expands his directorial chops with a crime family drama.

1. Gravity

Alfonso Cuaron… where the fuck have you been man!? The last time we saw this cinematic genius he left us with Children of Men, which was a freakin’ masterpiece and in my personal top 10 films of all-time. Cuaron is one of my favorite directors of all-time (Y Tu Mama Tambien, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, A Little Princess, and the previously mentioned Children of Men). There are no official photos from Gravity yet, so I decided to use this picture of a Cuaron lol. Gravity is about a doctor (Sandra Bullock) on her first shuttle mission who gets stranded in space with an astronaut (played by George Clooney) after their shuttle is destroyed. All the early buzz about Gravity is that Cuaron has done it again, doing things that are blowing the minds of cinematic heavyweights such as Guillermo Del Toro and James Cameron. I was sad that the likes of Angelina Jolie and Natalie Portman turned down the lead role and Sandra Bullock (ugh…) of all people took the reins. Regardless, I’m more so pumped about the man behind it all, Alfonso Cuaron, FINALLY making another film after 6 agonizingly long years.