It’s all about Harry in July thanks to the culmination of a decade of spellbinding storytelling, magic movie-making and the wander (sic) of watching Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint et al maturing right before our very eyes. That’s not to be missed for anything. Where Deathly Hallows: Part One slightly disappointed with its set-up and little-to-no pay off, Part Two will undoubtedly deliver – in cauldrons – thanks to its numerous epic set-pieces and emotional ending. It’s also guaranteed to make the lacklustre first part a better movie by association, so expect the average reviews to go up a star come July. “Disappointpartonemovie reparo!”
August
Cowboys & Aliens
Read that title again and then tell me why you shouldn’t be excited to see this film: it’s Cowboys vs Aliens – yee-hah! Okay, so there’s bad form in the sci-fi/Western mash-up genre (ahem… Wild Wild West) but with Jon Favreau, the Iron Man of action and sci-fi, at the helm there’s little chance of that repeat performance here. Especially when you consider the fact that current Bond Daniel Craig is our rugged, tightpant-wearing hero and he’s facing off against a playing-against-type Indiana Solo Ford as the dusty town’s dastardly de facto scoundrel. Until some nasty extraterrestrial types arrive to blow it to smithereens and they have to team up that is.
September
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
The stand-out early-scheduled movie of September? It has to be the most recent attempt to adapt Le Carre’s classic novel Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. A revered BBC series from the late 70s, Tinker starred Alec Guinness as a retired MI5 agent brought back to hunt down a Soviet mole. Filling out George Smiley’s shoes for this cinematic effort is Gary Oldman. Well if you can’t get Guinness, Oldman’s a pretty decent substitute no? Of course previous big screen adaptations of BBC mini-series (State of Play and Edge of Darkness) have suffered unflattering comparisons to their formers in condensed form, so the pressure is on to get this spot-on.
October
The Three Musketeers (in 3D)
The film to see in October? Almost can’t believe it but it’s a Paul W.S. Anderson release: The Three Musketeers. C’mon, who doesn’t love the rapier-duelling romps of D’Artagnan and his induction into the musketeers alongside Athos, Porthos and Aramis? We all do and we surely will again, even if it is being brought to you by the man that supplied such high-brow entertainment as the Resident Evil franchise and *shudder* Aliens vs Predator. We predict, though, that in this fun, adventuresome, tongue-in-cheek, three-dimensionalised arena Anderson will finally find his film-making niche. If so, expect many more of these to come in a franchise reborn.
November
Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part One
Of course the beginning of the end of the Twilight Saga is the big release for November. In fact it’s one of the biggest releases this calendar year. Splitting the film in a Harry Potter-esque attempt to maximise the earning potential (no, it’s not convincing that it’s for creative reasons no matter what you might argue), franchise owners Summit are obviously hoping to reap the benefits of two mega-bucks movies, which will no doubt sound like sparkly-vamp heaven to the legion of fervent fans out there wanting every. single. syllable of Stephanie Meyer’s barmy fourth novel represented on the big-screen. Cue squeals and screams.
December
Hugo Cabret
December’s highlight? Indisputably it’s Martin Scorsese’s masterpiece-in-the-making adaptation of Brian Selznick’s brilliant and beautiful “not quite a picture book, not really a graphic novel or a flip book or a movie, but a combination of all these things”, The Invention of Hugo Cabret. The story of an orphan living in the walls of a busy Paris train station, Hugo promises to be a sumptuous sci-fi fantasy (it’s got robots in it) that shows off Scorsese’s superior visual flair for all its worth. Think somewhere in the region of Spielberg-meets-Jeunet-meets-Gondry-meets… well, Scorsese, of course. Sounds like something to get excited about.
