"Panzer 88" concept art

Thursday, January 26th, 2012

Now that the 2011 movie season has officially come to an end with the Oscar announcements, it’s time to look ahead to what the rest of 2012 has to bring us. Looking at the release list for 2012, it’s already far stronger than 2011, and we still don’t know about what “big hits” are going to come out of Sundance, SXSW, etc. So, here are my top 12 must sees (so far) for 2012. Top 3 are in order, no particular order after that.

1. Django Unchained
Tarantino is back, baby. Tarantino completely flipped the war genre on its head with his previous film, Inglourious Basterds, and now he’s looking to do it again for westerns. Jamie Foxx plays a freed slave turned bounty hunter who, with the help of a German man (Christoph Waltz), sets out across the American south to rescue his wife from an evil plantation owner (Leonardo DiCaprio). Sounds pretty awesome, right? But wait, there’s more. The rest of the cast includes Samuel L. Jackson, Sacha Baron Cohen, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Kurt Russel, RZA, Kerry Washington, and Don Johnson. Look for Django Unchained on Christmas day, 2012.

2. Gangster Squad
This is director Ruben Fleischer’s third film, after the wonderful Zombieland and the highly disappointing 30 Minutes or Less. The film is about organized crime and the LAPD in the 40′s and 50′s, which sounds like a big departure from the action/comedy of his previous efforts. It’ll be interesting to see if he has the directing chops to pull off what is likely to be a more dramatic crime film. The film has a really impressive cast as well, which might be another problem for the somewhat inexperienced director. Ryan Gosling, Sean Penn, Josh Brolin, Giovanni Ribisi, Nick Nolte, Emma Stone, Anthony Mackie, and Robert Patrick all star.

3. Argo
Ben Affleck has proven himself to be a more than capable director with his first 2 films, Gone Baby Gone and The Town. For his third film, Argo, he’s leaving the familiarity of Boston and stepping away from the crime genre to tell the true story of a fake movie production put on by the CIA to rescue hostages in Iran. Affleck also stars in the film with Bryan Cranston, John Goodman, Kyle Chandler, Alan Arkin, and Michael Parks.

4. Wettest County
Directed by John Hillcoat (The Proposition, The Road), starring Tom Hardy, Gary Oldman, Guy Pearce, Mia Wasikowski, Jessica Chastain, and Shia Labeouf.
Set in the Depression-era Franklin County, Virginia, a bootlegging gang is threatened by authorities who want a cut of their profits.

5. Gravity
Alfonso Cuaron, the director who brought us the excellent Children of Men, is directing this “single shot” thriller about two astronauts (George Clooney and Sandra Bullock) who get separated from their shuttle during a space walk and drift through space.

6. The Hobbit
What really needs to be said? The highly anticipated prequel to the Lord of the Rings trilogy is finally here.

7. The Raid
This Indonesian film could be the best action film of the last decade. Don’t believe me? Watch the trailer.

8. Prometheus
Ridley Scott makes an epic return to the science fiction genre with this prequel to his 1979 film Alien. Michael Fassbender, Noomi Rapace, Charlize Theron, Idris Elba, Guy Pearce, and Patrick Wilson all star.

9. Panzer 88
This is probably the least well known film on this list, but also the one that could prove to be the biggest surprise hit. Panzer 88 is about a German tank crew, fighting on the Eastern Front during World War 2 who encounter some sort of supernatural monster. No note worthy cast or crew, but the excellent WETA (Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, King Kong, District 9, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, etc.) is doing all of the SFX and design work for the film.

10. Bullet to the Head
Walter Hill, the man behind the beloved cult classic The Warriors returns to the big screen with this film about a cop and a hitman who form an unlikely partnership to go after the same bad guy. Starring Sylvester Stallone, Jason Mamoa, and Christian Slater.

11. The Avengers
This film has been in the making since 2008′s Iron Man. This is the epic blockbuster that brings together the characters introduced in Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Thor, and Captain America to fight alongside one another to save the world.

12. The Dark Knight Rises
Will this be as good as 2008′s The Dark Knight? Probably not, but how could you not want to see how Christopher Nolan ties up his Batman trilogy?

Well, that’s it. Obviously there are far more films I’m dying to see, and it was really hard trimming down a list of about 30 titles to those 12, but there you have it. Anything on this list catch your attention? What is everyone else looking forward to?