The 49 Films That Will Define 2010
Total Film has compiled a list of what they believe will be the most important films of 2010, and I kinda have to agree with the majority of their selection.
Particularly excited about what was news to me - that Daft Punk are doing the music for Tron: Legacy, about "Paul" (Simon Pegg and Nick Frost back together, woohoo!), about "I Love You, Phillip Morris" (Jim Carrey and Ewan McGregor as lovers) and about the cast of "The Expendables".
Here are my picks:
Shutter Island (19 February)
The Talent: Directed by Martin Scorsese, starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Michelle Williams.
The Pitch: DiCaprio's Federal agent investigates the disappearance of a woman at a creepy island asylum and begins to doubt both the authorities and his own sanity.
The Hook: This is Scorsese and DiCaprio's fourth film together, and looks like it has the kind of tight dramatic plotting that could finally see their partnership ignite and win over the DiCaprio doubters.
Black Death (26 February)
The Talent: Directed by Chris Smith of Severance fame. Starring Sean Bean.
The Pitch: Bean leads a band of medieval men-on-a-mission as they hunt down a necromancer (yes!) in plague-hit England.
The Hook: You read the pitch, right? Sheffield's finest cine-son is back in leather and chain-mail for the first time since the Rings trilogy, and the plot is a deliciously brooding, dark-ages adventure yarn.
A Couple Of Dicks (26 February)
The Talent: Written by the Cullen brothers, directed by Kevin Smith and starring Bruce Willis and Tracy Morgan.
The Pitch: A classic buddy cop comedy, with Willis and Morgan as partners tracking down a stolen collectable baseball card.
The Hook: The script has enjoyed big buzz for years, and Smith (directing someone else’s writing for the first time) describes it as "Dante and Randal as cops". Sold! Also, everything Tracy Morgan does, says or thinks is funny.
I Love You Phillip Morris (February)
The Talent: Glenn Ficarra and John Requa direct, Jim Carrey and Ewan McGregor star.
The Pitch: Carrey’s salesman nobody has a life-changing car crash, convincing him to come out as gay and to lead a fraud-filled life which lands him in jail. Where he meets the love of his life…
The Hook: Brave and bizarre, Phillip Morris tackles gay romance with a straight face and no small measure of poignancy. Plus, the last time Carrey mixed dark comedy and hearbreak we got Eternal Sunshine.
Iron Man 2 (30 April)
The Talent: Directed by Jon Favreau, starring Robert Downey Jr., Sam Rockwell and Mickey Rourke.
The Pitch: More of the box office gold hammered out by last year’s smart metal man adventure, this time with Rockwell and Rourke also filling out battle suits.
The Hook: The last one was great, and this one will have more money, more bad guys, and more ass-kicking. Expect it to be the blockbuster of the year - particularly in a distinctly blockbuster-light year.
Robin Hood (14 May)
The Talent: Ridley Scott directs Russell Crowe and Cate Blanchett.
The Pitch: A retelling of the classic folk tale, with Crowe the nobleman’s son returned from the Crusades to find the evil Sheriff of Nottingham oppressing the hell out of England.
The Hook: Scott and Crowe seem to have dropped the original hook – the film was called Nottingham and toyed with the idea of heroism and villainy. Instead, they've simply decided to make the best Robin Hood ever. Sounds good.
Predators (9 July)
The Talent: Nimród Antal directs, Topher Grace, Adrien Brody and (yeah!) Danny Trejo star.
The Pitch: Another group of hard men – this time dangerous multinational criminals – battle the off-world hunters in a direct sequel to the 1987 action classic.
The Hook: Producer Robert Rodriguez has cleverly stated that the title is a reference to James Cameron’s Aliens, and that’s the kind of follow-up he’d like to make: a mean, explosive escalation. We’re in.
Inception (16 July)
The Talent: Directed by Christopher Nolan, starring Leonardo DiCaprio.
The Pitch: We have barely an idea. DiCaprio is an exec caught in a blackmail scandal. Then people start floating around the place...
The Hook: Nolan hasn’t made a bad film, and has delivered at least three genuine masterpieces. If The Prestige was his The Conversation (perfect magic made in between franchise giants) could this be his Apocalypse Now?
The Expendables (20 August)
The Talent: Directed by Sylvester Stallone, and starring every bicep in Hollywood.
The Pitch: Sylvester Stallone directs the ultimate ‘80s action flick 20 years too late: a crew of mean mercenaries head to South America to chew bubblegum, kick ass and overthrow a government.
The Hook: It’s a who’s-who of Hollywood hardmen: Stallone, Statham, Lundgren... Even Schwarzenegger and Willis. Expect muscle, fire, and brainless brilliance.
Tron Legacy (17 December)
The Talent: Jeff Bridges. Enough said.
The Pitch: The son of Bridge’s arcade ace Kevin Flynn investigates his disappearance and is swallowed into an updated and more dangerous version of the computer world.
The Hook: It’s Tron. With better graphics. Daft Punk do the music. It’s in 3D. It should look and sound like the future squared.
Hereafter (December 2010)
The Talent: Directed by Clint Eastwood, starring Matt Damon, written by Peter Morgan.
The Pitch: A supernatural thriller with Damon as a medium who can talk to the dead but, according to Morgan, prefers not to.
The Hook: Anything Eastwood, Damon or Morgan do individually is worth seeing, this three times so. Plus it’ll be interesting to see how Morgan (who wrote The Queen, The Damned United and Frost/Nixon) contends with fantasy rather than history.
Mute (TBA 2010)
The Talent: Duncan Jones will direct, Sam Rockwell will cameo.
The Pitch: Still vague – Jones has called it a “city film” and it’ll be a mystery that takes place in a future version of Berlin.
The Hook: Vibe-wise, Jones has pitched his Moon follow-up as a homage to Blade Runner, and revealed that Rockwell will cameo in a direct continuation of Moon’s stunning ending. Excitement.
Paul (TBA 2010)
The Talent: Greg Mottola directs, Simon Pegg and Nick Frost write and star.
The Pitch: Pegg and Frost’s comic book geeks are on a road trip across the States when they meet an alien called Paul outside Area 51.
The Hook: Pegg and Frost. Frost and Pegg. It’s the first time the two have been onscreen together since Hot Fuzz, and it’s going to be awesome.
Particularly excited about what was news to me - that Daft Punk are doing the music for Tron: Legacy, about "Paul" (Simon Pegg and Nick Frost back together, woohoo!), about "I Love You, Phillip Morris" (Jim Carrey and Ewan McGregor as lovers) and about the cast of "The Expendables".
Here are my picks:
Shutter Island (19 February)
The Talent: Directed by Martin Scorsese, starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Michelle Williams.
The Pitch: DiCaprio's Federal agent investigates the disappearance of a woman at a creepy island asylum and begins to doubt both the authorities and his own sanity.
The Hook: This is Scorsese and DiCaprio's fourth film together, and looks like it has the kind of tight dramatic plotting that could finally see their partnership ignite and win over the DiCaprio doubters.
Black Death (26 February)
The Talent: Directed by Chris Smith of Severance fame. Starring Sean Bean.
The Pitch: Bean leads a band of medieval men-on-a-mission as they hunt down a necromancer (yes!) in plague-hit England.
The Hook: You read the pitch, right? Sheffield's finest cine-son is back in leather and chain-mail for the first time since the Rings trilogy, and the plot is a deliciously brooding, dark-ages adventure yarn.
A Couple Of Dicks (26 February)
The Talent: Written by the Cullen brothers, directed by Kevin Smith and starring Bruce Willis and Tracy Morgan.
The Pitch: A classic buddy cop comedy, with Willis and Morgan as partners tracking down a stolen collectable baseball card.
The Hook: The script has enjoyed big buzz for years, and Smith (directing someone else’s writing for the first time) describes it as "Dante and Randal as cops". Sold! Also, everything Tracy Morgan does, says or thinks is funny.
I Love You Phillip Morris (February)
The Talent: Glenn Ficarra and John Requa direct, Jim Carrey and Ewan McGregor star.
The Pitch: Carrey’s salesman nobody has a life-changing car crash, convincing him to come out as gay and to lead a fraud-filled life which lands him in jail. Where he meets the love of his life…
The Hook: Brave and bizarre, Phillip Morris tackles gay romance with a straight face and no small measure of poignancy. Plus, the last time Carrey mixed dark comedy and hearbreak we got Eternal Sunshine.
Iron Man 2 (30 April)
The Talent: Directed by Jon Favreau, starring Robert Downey Jr., Sam Rockwell and Mickey Rourke.
The Pitch: More of the box office gold hammered out by last year’s smart metal man adventure, this time with Rockwell and Rourke also filling out battle suits.
The Hook: The last one was great, and this one will have more money, more bad guys, and more ass-kicking. Expect it to be the blockbuster of the year - particularly in a distinctly blockbuster-light year.
Robin Hood (14 May)
The Talent: Ridley Scott directs Russell Crowe and Cate Blanchett.
The Pitch: A retelling of the classic folk tale, with Crowe the nobleman’s son returned from the Crusades to find the evil Sheriff of Nottingham oppressing the hell out of England.
The Hook: Scott and Crowe seem to have dropped the original hook – the film was called Nottingham and toyed with the idea of heroism and villainy. Instead, they've simply decided to make the best Robin Hood ever. Sounds good.
Predators (9 July)
The Talent: Nimród Antal directs, Topher Grace, Adrien Brody and (yeah!) Danny Trejo star.
The Pitch: Another group of hard men – this time dangerous multinational criminals – battle the off-world hunters in a direct sequel to the 1987 action classic.
The Hook: Producer Robert Rodriguez has cleverly stated that the title is a reference to James Cameron’s Aliens, and that’s the kind of follow-up he’d like to make: a mean, explosive escalation. We’re in.
Inception (16 July)
The Talent: Directed by Christopher Nolan, starring Leonardo DiCaprio.
The Pitch: We have barely an idea. DiCaprio is an exec caught in a blackmail scandal. Then people start floating around the place...
The Hook: Nolan hasn’t made a bad film, and has delivered at least three genuine masterpieces. If The Prestige was his The Conversation (perfect magic made in between franchise giants) could this be his Apocalypse Now?
The Expendables (20 August)
The Talent: Directed by Sylvester Stallone, and starring every bicep in Hollywood.
The Pitch: Sylvester Stallone directs the ultimate ‘80s action flick 20 years too late: a crew of mean mercenaries head to South America to chew bubblegum, kick ass and overthrow a government.
The Hook: It’s a who’s-who of Hollywood hardmen: Stallone, Statham, Lundgren... Even Schwarzenegger and Willis. Expect muscle, fire, and brainless brilliance.
Tron Legacy (17 December)
The Talent: Jeff Bridges. Enough said.
The Pitch: The son of Bridge’s arcade ace Kevin Flynn investigates his disappearance and is swallowed into an updated and more dangerous version of the computer world.
The Hook: It’s Tron. With better graphics. Daft Punk do the music. It’s in 3D. It should look and sound like the future squared.
Hereafter (December 2010)
The Talent: Directed by Clint Eastwood, starring Matt Damon, written by Peter Morgan.
The Pitch: A supernatural thriller with Damon as a medium who can talk to the dead but, according to Morgan, prefers not to.
The Hook: Anything Eastwood, Damon or Morgan do individually is worth seeing, this three times so. Plus it’ll be interesting to see how Morgan (who wrote The Queen, The Damned United and Frost/Nixon) contends with fantasy rather than history.
Mute (TBA 2010)
The Talent: Duncan Jones will direct, Sam Rockwell will cameo.
The Pitch: Still vague – Jones has called it a “city film” and it’ll be a mystery that takes place in a future version of Berlin.
The Hook: Vibe-wise, Jones has pitched his Moon follow-up as a homage to Blade Runner, and revealed that Rockwell will cameo in a direct continuation of Moon’s stunning ending. Excitement.
Paul (TBA 2010)
The Talent: Greg Mottola directs, Simon Pegg and Nick Frost write and star.
The Pitch: Pegg and Frost’s comic book geeks are on a road trip across the States when they meet an alien called Paul outside Area 51.
The Hook: Pegg and Frost. Frost and Pegg. It’s the first time the two have been onscreen together since Hot Fuzz, and it’s going to be awesome.
Load Comments...
Discuss...
Enable JavaScript to submit a comment.