Top 25 Upcoming and the Best Movies to watch out for 2012

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Here are the list of the Top 20 Upcoming and the Best Movies to watch out for 2012.

1. The Dark Knight Rises

Starring: Christian Bale, Tom Hardy, Anne Hathaway, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Gary Oldman
Director: Christopher Nolan
Release Date: 20 July 2012

It was a brave move naming a Batman film ‘The Dark Knight’, since it didn’t have the word ‘Batman’ in it. There’s nothing bold about the title here. That aside, this is easily the year′s mainstream highlight, the film that is going to dominate coverage. The plot involves the whole of Gotham descending into anarchy and mob rule, while Batman is put out of action. Tom Hardy look imposing as Bane but his vocals seem hard to follow, Anne Hathaway plays an angry-looking Catwoman who appears to steal from the rich because she passionately hates them, Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays a beat cop and Marion Cotillard plays a Wayne Enterprises board member. Director Christopher Nolan has made it clear this is the final chapter for his Batman, so expect fireworks and major character death, probably. Can’t wait to see it.

2. The Avengers

Starring: Samuel L. Jackson, Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo
Director: Joss Whedon
Release Date: 4 May 2012

Running The Dark Knight a close second for hype will be The Avengers. The confirmed line-up includes Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, Nick Fury, Black Widow, and Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner). Ruffalo is replacing Ed Norton as The Hulk. But who are they going to fight? It’s a challenge to find a credible threat that requires their combined effort – it looks like they’re turning to outer space for that, with a bit of Loki megalomania thrown in too. Director Joss Whedon has a daunting task on his hands.

3. The Amazing Spider-Man

Starring: Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Rhys Ifans, Irrfan Khan, Martin Sheen
Director: Marc Webb
Release Date: 4 July 2012

Spider-Man gets a slightly uncalled for reboot that takes him back to high school. 27-year-old Andrew Garfield (The Social Network) is the new Peter Parker and Mary Jane is nowhere to be seen, replaced by Gwen Stacey (Emma Stone). This time Spider-Man has to face down against the Lizard (Ifans) and the “Proto-Goblin,” (Khan) a test subject of Norman Osborn’s experimentations. Martin Sheen is Uncle Ben, who presumably has to be shot dead again. The director of 500 Days Of Summer takes over from trilogy director Sam Raimi. They’re also going for a much lower budget, so expect more character work, less morphing sand.

4. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

Starring: Martin Freeman, James Nesbitt, Richard Armitage, Sir Ian McKellen, Andy Serkis
Director: Peter Jackson
Release Date: 14 December 2012

Hobbit Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman) journeys to the Lonely Mountain accompanied by a group of dwarves to reclaim a treasure taken from them by the dragon Smaug. The LOTRings prequels are full steam ahead in New Zealand, with Peter Jackson in the director’s chair and union troubles put behind them. James Nesbitt will play Bofur, one of the main dwarves. Sir Ian McKellen returns as Gandalf. Others returning include Andy Serkis, Cate Blanchett, Orlando Bloom, Ian Holm, Hugo Weaving, Elijah Wood, and Christopher Lee. The movie will be split, with chapter two (the literally-titled The Hobbit: There and Back Again) released December of the following year.

5. The Bourne Legacy

Starring: Jeremy Renner, Rachel Weisz, Edward Norton, Joan Allen
Director: Tony Gilroy
Release Date: 3 August 2012

Matt Damon’s not in it. The character of Jason Bourne is not in it. Damon and previous director Greengrass were determined to end the series with the third movie, but the studio wants to continue the franchise, as it has made them too much money. This is not a sequel or a reboot, but a standalone story about another agent (Renner) trained by the murderous shadow government operation Treadstone, who went through experiences similar to Bourne’s or the character played by Clive Owen in the original movie. Rachel Weisz plays the love interest. Edward Norton is the antagonist. Matt Damon is not ruling out returning to the series at a later point, so this could act as something of a set-up for that. New director Gilroy adapted the original trilogy and directed Michael Clayton, so it’s actually in pretty decent hands.

6. Skyfall (Bond 23)

Starring: Daniel Craig, Javier Bardem, Judi Dench, Ralph Fiennes, Albert Finney
Director: Sam Mendes
Release Date: 9 November 2012

MGM’s bankruptcy troubles are behind them so Bond is finally back in production. The plot sees him question his loyalty to M when her past actions bring serious consequences to the present. After MI6 itself is attacked, Bond must seek out and eliminate the threat. Bardem plays the main villian. Fiennes’ role is undisclosed. Young Ben Whishaw is the new Q. China will be one of the locations. Sam Mendes (American Beauty, Jarhead) directs from a script by Wade and Purvis, who’ve been the main writers on every Bond since TWINE. Quantum was a stumble from Casino Royale, taking the freshness and packing it back into the Bond formula. Hopefully they have learnt from their mistakes. 2012 will be the 50th anniversary of Dr. No and the franchise.  

7. The Great Gatsby

Strarring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Carey Mulligan, Tobey Maguire, Joel Edgerton, Isla Fisher
Director: Baz Luhrmann
Out: 25th December 2012

Remake of the Robert Redford-starrer, which was an adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s romantic-drama. On Long Island, Midwesterner Nick (Maguire) is lured into the lavish world of his neighbour, Jay Gatsby (DiCaprio), a young, mysterious millionaire with shady business connections and an obsessive love for Daisy Buchanan (Mulligan). Nick soon begins to see through the cracks of Gatsby’s nouveau riche existence, where obsession, madness, and tragedy await. The movie’s timely theme criticises the irresponsible lifestyles of certain wealthy people. Baz Luhrmann, director of Moulin Rouge and Australia, is well suited to the grand material, and DiCaprio rarely disappoints.

8. Paradise Lost

Strarring: Bradley Cooper, Camilla Belle, Dominic Purcell, Casey Affleck, Rufus Sewell
Director: Alex Proyas
Out: TBC 2012

9. John Carter (Of Mars)

Starring: Taylor Kitsch, Willem Dafoe, Lynn Collins, Thomas Haden Church, Mark Strong
Director: Andrew Stanton
Out: 9th March 2012

Civil War vet John Carter (Taylor Kitsch – Gambit in Wolverine) is transplanted to Mars, where he discovers a lush, wildly diverse planet whose main inhabitants are 12-foot tall green barbarians (one of whom is played by Willem Dafoe). Finding himself a prisoner of these creatures, he escapes, only to encounter the ‘Princess of Helium’ who is in desperate need of a savior. Based on the Edgar Rice Burroughs novel first published in 1912, this, astonishingly, went in pre-production in 1931 and has been in and out of development hell ever since. Directed by Andrew Stanton (Finding Nemo, Wall-E), it all sounds slightly Avatar. The first trailer wasn’t too impressive, but perhaps the second will be better, once bigger fx are completed.

10. Snow White And The Huntsman

Starring: Kristen Stewart, Chris Hemsworth, Charlize Theron, Ian McShane
Director: Rupert Sanders
Out: 1st June 2012

This reimagining sees the Huntsman (Hemsworth) ordered to take Snow White (Stewart) into the woods to be killed but instead winding up becoming her protector and mentor in a quest to vanquish the Evil Queen (Theron). The dwarves are a who’s who of British acting talent – Ian McShane, Bob Hoskins, Toby Jones, Eddie Marsan, Stephen Graham, Eddie Izzard, Ray Winstone, Nick Frost – and yes there are eight, which means one gets killed probably. Tonally, this is a dark fantasy adventure movie. There’s another Snow White movie out in March called Mirror Mirror, which is a ghastly-looking kids’ version. This actually has an excellent trailer and may well surprise the doubters. Part of a planned trilogy.

11. Jack The Giant Killer

Starring: Nicholas Hoult, Eleanor Tomlinson, Stanley Tucci, Ian McShane, Ewan McGregor
Director: Bryan Singer
Out: 15th June 2012

Fantasy/adventure film based loosely on the beanstalk fairy tale. A young farmhand (Hoult) unwittingly opens a gateway between our world and a fearsome race of giants thought only to exist in legend. Unleashed on the Earth for the first time in centuries, the giants strive to reclaim the land they once lost. Jack must fight for the kingdom, and the love of a brave princess. Director Singer is looking to redeem his box office fortunes after Superman Returns and Valkyrie. Tucci plays the villain, an adviser to the king (McShane) with designs on usurping power. Bill Nighy will play one of two heads on a giant. Like Snow White and Red Riding Hood, this is part of a recent trend for turning children’s stories into action/thriller pictures, taking something fundamentally uncool and trying to make it so.

12. Cloud Atlas

Starring: Tom Hanks, Ben Whishaw, Hugo Weaving, Halle Berry, Hugh Grant (below right)
Directors: The Wachowski Siblings, Tom Tykwer
Out: 26th October 2012

13. The Dictator

Starring: Sacha Baron Cohen, Anna Faris, Megan Fox, John C. Reilly
Director: Larry Charles
Out: 11th May 2012

The heroic story of a dictator (Cohen) who risks his life to ensure that democracy will never come to the country he so lovingly oppresses. Specifically, he is exiled to New York after being secretly replaced by a lookalike goat herder. The project is inspired by Saddam Hussein’s romance novel ‘Zabibah and the King’ which was a story about a nice dictator set 1300 years ago, that was really about himself. The movie is scripted, rather than another Cohen mockumentary, though it comes from the director of Borat and Bruno. It all sounds like potentially hilarious subject matter.

14. The Hunger Games

Starring: Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Elizabeth Banks
Director: Gary Ross
Out: 23rd March 2012

In the future, 12 districts select a boy and a girl to fight to the death on live TV. When her younger sister is chosen, Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) volunteers to replace her. This is the next Twilight, so far as crazed fan following and huge box office go. The books have a massive, largely teenage, following. While I expect it’ll be a much better series, it does look like they’ve
stolen
borrowed the central premise of Battle Royale and made a teen-aimed Hollywood friendly version of it. I’m not really on board, but fans are completely excited about it.

15. Men In Black III

Starring: Will Smith, Tommy Lee Jones, Josh Brolin, Rip Torn, Emma Thompson, Alec Baldwin
Director: Barry Sonnenfeld
Out: 25th May 2012

I remember crying out for sequels after seeing Men In Black. Then Men In Black 2 happened and that cry stopped abruptly. Now this seems like flogging a dead horse, but hopefully the concept should still bring us some inventive and wild storytelling. Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones are back, as is director Sonnenfeld. This one’s a 3D time travel plot with Agent J (Smith) having to go back to the 60s to visit, and protect, a younger Agent K (Brolin playing Jones). Can you believe it will have been 10 years since Men In Black 2?

16. Looper

Starring: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Bruce Willis, Emily Blunt, Paul Dano, Piper Perabo
Director: Rian Johnson
Out: 28th September 2012

In the future, time travel is banned but the mob still uses it to send targets back in time where they are eliminated by waiting assassins. When one of the mob’s killers (Gordon-Levitt) recognises his next target as himself (Willis), he’s presented with an obvious dilemma. The movie’s talented director brought us Brick and The Brothers Bloom. Early reviews say it’s great, with well-presented time travel rules, strong characters and uniquely shot action. Sounds like a
rip-off
tribute to the short story ‘The Hit’ from 2000AD years ago.

17. Taken 2

Starring: Liam Neeson, Famke Janssen, Maggie Grace, Rade Sherbedgia
Director: Olivier Megaton
Out: October 2012

In Istanbul, retired CIA operative Bryan (Neeson) and his wife (Janssen) are taken hostage by the father of a kidnapper he killed while rescuing his daughter (Grace). This time it is down to the daughter to help free Bryan and set him loose on the gang. The director of Colombiana takes charge, which might be a concern, although he’s pretty much cut from the same cloth as the previous helmer. The plot has the potential to be too far-fetched, not least if the daughter has turned from a total wuss Britney wannabe into a bad ass (I suspect he’s ‘trained’ her between movies). As long as they focus on Neeson, he’ll deliver his usual highly-watchable gravitas.

18. Lincoln

Starring: Daniel Day-Lewis, Sally Field, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Tommy Lee Jones
Director: Steven Spielberg
Out: December 2012

19. Brave (Pixar)

Starring: Kelly Macdonald, Julie Walters, Billy Connolly, Robbie Coltrane, Craig Ferguson
Director: Mark Andrews
Out: 22nd June 2012

In the mystical, rugged Scottish Highlands, Merida (Macdonald) is an accomplished archer and the unruly daughter of King Fergus (Connolly). When she defies a sacred custom of the land bringing turmoil she must seek out an eccentric old Woman (Walters) and deal with the three lords of the kingdom (Coltrane, Ferguson, Kevin McKidd) to put things right. Brave is the first Pixar movie to have a woman as its lead character. After their critical misstep with Cars 2, this is a chance to prove they’re still the best in the business.

20. Titanic 3D

Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet, Billy Zane
Director: James Cameron
Out: 6th April 2012

The biggest grossing movie of all time (until Avatar) returns with the top end 3D conversion treatment. James Cameron is overseeing this whole thing personally so you can be sure he won’t let a shoddy 3D product slip through. How will world audiences respond to this second time round? It’s a movie that feels, strangely, of its time. I guess this means Kate Winslet will be nude in 3D, wonder how she feels about that.

21. World War Z

Starring: Brad Pitt, Mireille Enos, James Badge Dale, Lucy Aharish
Director: Marc Forster
Out: 21st December 2012

A UN representative (Pitt), writing a report at the end of the great zombie war, interviews survivors who are starting to wonder if survival is a victory of any kind. Based on the novel (which reads like a UN report and doesn’t really have a lead character), this $125m movie has a large international scope, and a political emphasis. Stylistically it is rumoured to be similar to Children of Men. It’s potentially an interesting return to the big star horror of the ’70s, and the best chance a zombie movie ever has of being mentioned at Oscar time. Can’t wait.

22. Django Unchained

Starring: Jamie Foxx, Leonardo DiCaprio, Christoph Waltz, Samuel L. Jackson, Kerry Washington
Director: Quentin Tarantino
Out: 25th December 2012

Spaghetti western set in America’s Deep South, which Tarantino calls “a southern”. The plot follows a slave-turned-bounty hunter (Foxx) who, with the help of his German mentor (Waltz), sets out to rescue his wife (Washington) from a brutal Mississippi plantation owner (DiCaprio). A plantation owner who forces his slaves to fight in twisted death matches. The fantastic cast also includes Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Sacha Baron Cohen, Kurt Russell, Don Johnson, James Remar, Anthony LaPaglia, RZA and Tom Savini. It will be very interesting to see DiCaprio in a villain role, especially such a nasty one.

23. Gravity

Starring: Sandra Bullock, George Clooney
Director: Alfonso Cuarón
Out: 21st November 2012

A space mission to repair the Hubble telescope meets disaster when satellite debris collides with the space station, destroying most of it and killing all but two astronauts. The remaining pair must now fight for survival and try to find a way home. This will be shot in the same style as the director’s Children Of Men, and anyone who saw that will know just how visually amazing it should be in a space setting. In fact, it’s said to be even more ambitious with new rigs to create subjective immersion in space – James Cameron says it’s “5 years ahead of its time” on a technical level. That’s some hype. Can’t wait to see it, even if Sandra Bullock isn’t the most interesting leading actress.

24. The Expendables 2

Starring: Stallone, Statham, Arnie, Willis, Li, Lundgren, Van Damme, Norris, Couture, Crews
Director: Simon West
Out: 17th August 2012

The general feeling about the first movie was that it wasn’t as good as its line-up. That may change here with Stallone handing over directing duties to Simon West (Con Air, Tomb Raider). This time Schwarzenegger will do a full week’s shooting, Bruce Willis will do two weeks as the expected villain. With the addition of Van Damme and Chuck Norris this is now the greatest action cast ever assembled. Let’s hope they can do it justice with a compelling story or at least some stunning fight scenes.

25. Dredd (Judge Dredd reboot)

Starring: Karl Urban, Lena Headey, Olivia Thirlby
Director: Pete Travis
Out: 21st September 2012

day in the life of Judge Dredd (Karl Urban) as he puts his rookie, Anderson (Olivia Thirlby), through her paces to see if she’s worthy of becoming a Judge. Lena Headley plays villain Madeline Madrigal, the leader of a gang who overrun a City Block where the majority of the action takes place. Unlike Stallone’s ’95 version, Dredd won’t take his helmet off. The costumes and set photos are fairly disappointing so far, as is the slightly dull sounding plot. But the creative team behind this are strong (it was developed by Danny Boyle and written by Alex Garland), so we expect to be pleasantly surprised with the finished product. It’s great source material if they can get it right.

26. Prometheus (Alien prequel)

Starring: Noomi Rapace, Charlize Theron, Michael Fassbender, Guy Pearce, Idris Elba
Director: Ridley Scott
Out: 8th June 2012

Ridley Scott returns to the Alien universe, but somewhere in development this turned from a straight prequel into ‘something else’. Indeed it sounds like the Aliens we know may now turn out to be little more than cameos. Still, Ridley Scott’s directing a deep space thriller and that’s something to relish. Rapace (Girl With’ Dragon Tattoo) will play a scientist on board the ‘Prometheus’ alongside explorer Charlize Theron. Michael Fassbender will play an android. Scott has said it’ll be set 30 years before Alien and include the origins of the ‘space jockey’ creature seen near the alien eggs in the original.