In Honor of the New Year, My Movie Wish List of 2009

In honor of the New Year, I have compiled a list of 2009 releases that I am truly excited to see. Everyone's talking about G.I. Joe and Transformers 2. Not so exciting to me (even though I'm sure I will see them on DVD, for Jamie's sake; he turns on Transformers every single time it's on cable). So, here is my list, in no particular order:

Where the Wild Things Are-Yes, the beloved picture book is finally being adapted into a movie. In the wrong hands, I wouldn't have any faith that it could be done. But the screenplay is by Dave Eggers, one of my favorite authors and the author of one of my all time favorite books, A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius (if you haven't read it, go get it. NOW). It's being directed by Spike Jonze, who has a keen eye for the absurd (he was nominated for the Best Director Academy Award for Being John Malkovich, which was one of the most unique and most visionary films ever made). This is his return to feature film directing, which he hasn't done since the multiple Oscar nominee Adaptation in 2002. It is also Eggers first produced screenplay.
There hasn't been a trailer released yet, but stills are being posted online.

The Lovely Bones-Also a literary adaption, from the hugely successful novel by Alice Sebold. I'm pretty sure that half of the population has read this book. I read it when it was released and I loved it. It was something different and imaginative. The book is told from the point of view of Susie Salmon, a murder victim who is watching over her family and her killer from her perch in heaven. It sounds like it could be hokey, but it is far from it. It's a beautifully written story, equal parts heartbreaking and thrilling. Again, in the wrong hands, it could go terribly wrong. With Peter Jackson, director of The Lord of the Rings trilogy at the helm, I have faith. I think he may be just right for this film. I never would've approved of the novel being adapted into a film because the material would be too challenging to pull off. But if anyone can do it right, Peter Jackson can. With young Saoirse Ronan, already an Oscar nominee for last year's Atonement, cast as Susie, and Mark Wahlberg and Rachel Weisz as her grief-stricken parents, so far it looks like everything's been done right. I won't find out until its December release, but I have a feeling this may be one of next year's big awards contenders.

Friday the 13th-I had to follow up the literary adaptations with a junk food movie, which is definitely what the "reimagining" of the Friday the 13th franchise is. I don't expect class, good direction, or good acting. Although, I will say, the reimagining of Halloween that Rob Zombie directed two years ago did have those things (okay, maybe not so much class; you can't class up a movie where murders are committed by a pencil in the eye). I like horror movies. I don't know what that says about my psyche, but I do. I enjoy being scared. It's escapist fun, as long as you don't take it too seriously. I'm curious to see how this ends up. I can't help myself.

Star Trek-I'm a big nerd in many ways, but I am not a Trekkie by any stretch of the imagination. I know enough about Star Trek to get me by, but I'm not a fan. I think I've seen most of the movies, but I don't remember much about them (other than the earwig scene in The Wrath of Khan). Why would a non-fan want to see the new Star Trek movie? Three words. J.J. freaking Abrams. He could direct a reading from the phone book and I would watch it. This is where the nerd in me comes in. Anything that he is affiliated with, I will watch. For those of you who are not total geeks, J.J. Abrams is a sci-fi genius. He created my favorite television show of all time, Lost. If you don't watch it, I'll explain: the title fits what you feel the entire time you watch; completely, utterly lost. Yet the fact that I have never missed a single episode and never will tells you what kind of genius he is. He also created Alias, the TV show that put Jennifer Garner on the map. Before I was a Lost junkie, I was an Alias junkie. His most recent film was Cloverfield, the claustrophobic monster movie released early 2008 that was shot completely on handheld camera. He was behind the iconic shot of the head of Lady Liberty being thrown across New York. The guy has vision. Even though I don't know much about the Star Trek lexicon, I will be happy to let J.J. Abrams be my guide.

Whip It!- It can be pretty fun to watch women on roller skates beat the daylights out of each other, but it's not something I seek out. This film is about a girl who finds a way to deal with her boring life by becoming a roller derby star. I don't know a lot about roller derby, and never really cared enough to learn. However, I am curious to see Drew Barrymore's directorial debut. Not because of Barrymore, but because of Ellen Page from Juno, and Kristen Wiig, one of the funniest women to ever grace the stage as a cast member of Saturday Night Live. This film has the potential to grant a cult following, and with character names like Malice in Wonderland and Smashley Simpson, how can this not be great?

Jennifer's Body-Another horror movie, although this is classified as a "horror comedy." Jennifer's Body is Oscar-winning screenwriter/former stripper Diablo Cody's followup to Juno. Diablo Cody came out of nowhere, and came busting onto the Hollywood scene, looking completely out of place with her tattoos, Bettie Page bangs, and sarcastic, self-deprecating wit. No one could've predicted that she would become a little bit of a Hollywood darling. Following the success of Juno, studios were throwing themselves at her, trying to secure her next screenplay. Rebel that she is, she opted to blow off the pressure to have an Oscar repeat and chose to write a horror movie. Jennifer's Body is about a possessed cheerleader who starts offing male classmates, and her best friend who tries to stop her. Bucking conventional wisdom, Diablo Cody is sticking her tongue out at people who are questioning whether or not Juno was a lucky shot. Who cares? She knows Juno was lightning in a bottle, and has chosen to write what she wants to write. I'm sure it won't be Oscar material. But I don't care. Juno is one of my favorite movies, and I can't wait to see what happens with Jennifer's Body. Sidenote: I can't wait to see Diablo Cody's first foray into television writing and production, The United States of Tara, premiering on Showtime in January. Co-produced by Steven Spielberg and starring the always fantastic Toni Collette, it can't possibly be bad.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince-Come on, do I really need to explain this one? Other than the fact I'm still angry that the studio pushed the release of this film from November of 2008 to summer of 2009, there's really not much to say. There's a boy wizard, he has to save the world and stuff. If any of you don't know this, stop reading now. You have no business even reading movie reviews.

The Watchmen-This adaption of one of the most critically acclaimed and best loved graphic novels (for those of you who don't know, that's a fancy term for comic book) is in trouble. I don't know if it's even going to come out in 2009 now. There was a very public, very ugly lawsuit between Warner Bros and 20th Century Fox over rights to the film. In layman's terms, Warner Bros produced the movie, and after it was finished, Fox sued, saying they had first dibs on the rights to adapt the graphic novel into a film. On December 26, a judge agreed with Fox, and the film is in a state of limbo right now. Rabid fans of film and "comic books" are incensed, because this movie looks pretty killer. The film was scheduled for a March release, but it was announced today that Fox hopes to put the release on hold and continue to trial. Fox is refusing to settle, which makes the impending release date highly unlikely. In this one, the fans are the ones who are going to lose out. If you ask me, Fox had passed on the project for years because it was very difficult to adapt. But when they saw how well Warner Bros had done with their adaptation and how responsive audiences were to the trailers, they thought, "Hmmm...we should've jumped on that train when we had the chance," so they sued. I'm not saying they're wrong. If they had first rights, they had first rights. It's just a slap in the face to fans that Fox waited until it was finished to act.

Inglorious Bastards-I don't really understand the plot synopses I've read. It's some kind of war movie, and I will readily admit my ignorance of all things war-related. I'm a movie buff, not a history buff, okay? Plus, I think it will forever be difficult to take war movies seriously, thanks to the skewering the genre took in the brilliant comedy Tropic Thunder. This is on my list for one reason: Quentin Tarantino. It's no secret that I'm a big fan of his work. It's always bloody and it's always profane, but his writing ability is unsurpassed. Pulp Fiction and Kill Bill 1 & 2 are among my favorite movies. Tarantino invented a new kind of storytelling with Pulp Fiction, with a story that literally turned inside out. The beginning was the end, the end was the beginning. It's a love-it-or-hate-it film, and I am okay with people who tell me they just don't understand why this is my all-time favorite movie. I understand why there are people who hate it, but I won't be moved from the ranks of people who love it. Kill Bill was equal in its brilliance. Uma Thurman as the Bride (we don't find out her actual name until the end of Volume 2), dressed in a tracksuit, taking out hundreds of masked hitmen armed with only a samurai sword. Awesome. Both Kill Bill movies are iconic. The dialogue is great, the visuals are striking. Tarantino may be crazy, but most geniuses are. So I don't really care what the plot of Inglorious Bastards is. I know I will see it because I know I will see something I haven't seen before. Even when Tarantino pays homage to the films of different eras, it's unique. I can't wait to see this, no matter what it's about.