The First 10 Entries for 'Most Anticipated' List

A Brief Introduction

Sometimes it's not enough to say that you love a movie, you also need to find out why. I think this is the case for my 'Most Anticipated' list, which will definitely benefit from a piece of commentary on each of the ten films. I'll also do my best to post a little bit of something for every new entry to the list and to write an extensive review for the ones that I finally get to see.

Now for introductions:

10. Teeth (2007) by Mitchell Lichtenstein

I first came across this film when a friend who saw it in !F Istanbul International Independent Film Festival, showed me the trailer. It's the oldest entry in the list, probably many of you out here have already seen it but I still didn't have the chance. It tells the story of a girl with teeth in her vagina that castrates, in cold blood, the boys who doesn't take 'no' for an answer.

It's looks like an extremely promising concept, both as an original, Hitchcockian suspense material and as a unique, highly interpretable look on teenage (or even human) sexuality. It's based on a myth named 'Vagina Dentata' which, according to some, represents the male fear of castration. Some others link it to Sigmund Freud but Wikipedia seems to disagree. The fact that it received moderate critical acclaim killed my hopes a little bit but still, even at number 10, it's one of those films that I regret not seeing immediately as it came out.

For those of you who are interested in having one of those vaginal teeth, they are commercially available here or in many pharmacies, priced a little more than regular condoms.

09. Iron Man (2008) by Jon Favreau

The certified, critically-acclaimed summer hit of the year, Iron Man was a name on everybody's lips since the wildly-popular trailer first came out. I don't know whether much of the hype emenates from the success of the trailer or the quality of the film itself but it sure looks like an early summer hit.

I must be honest about two things: 1) I never had too much hopes for this film considering the material it was adapted from and the overall quality of other Marvel adaptations. 2) I already saw the first half with a friend in a first-class theater and was quite disappointed. Briefly, everything felt unnecessarily forced and many major plot elements (such as Yinsen's close friendship with Tony Stark as captives, his huge sacrifice and Stark's sudden change of mind after his escape) were not really convincing. Before we got to see what's in the second half that could make us change our minds and join the enthusiastic majority, the sound system could not endure the excessive sound effects and broke down. And I, already quite pissed off at the whole experience as well as the fact that I had wasted a whole friday evening for nothing, asked for my money back and left the theater. Still to this day, the mysterious second half intrigues me.

Contrary to my expectations, the hype did not die down so despite the initial disappointment, I am still planning to give Iron Man a second chance; although I don't know if I'm willing to spend that much for a first-class theater again.

08. Standard Operating Procedure (2008) by Errol Morris

I don't have much to say about this because I think the film is quite self-explanatory in terms of why it can be anticipated. It has a quite recent and crucial subject matter, definitely worthy of a documentary directed by a master like Errol Morris. Roger Ebert's praising review also contributes to my hopes. I haven't seen anything by Morris except the opening video he prepared for 2007 Oscars, so I'm quite looking forward to a reunion.

07. The Forbidden Kingdom (2008) by Rob Minkoff

The union of Jet Li and Jackie Chan, despite being exciting news, is not enough by its own for me to get excited about a ordinary-looking historical action flick. Unlike many others. In this case though, the visuals I witnessed in the trailer reminded me those of Hero; and if a film brings back my all-time favorite Asian movie, it's worth a peek no matter how brief the resemblance is.

Still, I don't hold my expectations too high for an original story and interesting characters. All I'm looking for is 300-esque action sequences, clever choreography and lots of eye candy in between. I'll be positively surprised if I see more.

06. Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008) by Woody Allen


The news in Page Six of New York Post made my heart skip a beat: "Scarlett Johansson has a steamy lesbian sex scene with Penelope Cruz in Woody Allen's upcoming Vicky Cristina Barcelona." According to some sources, it is also extremely erotic and people will be blown away, even shocked. Penelope and Scarlett go at it in a red-tinted photography dark room, and it will leave the audience gasping. What's even better is, the women later have a threesome with Javier Bardem, who plays Cruz's husband.

As beautifully put by The Top Socialite: "We all pretty much owe a debt to Woody Allen that can never be repaid."

I mean, seriously...

What the hell?!

Ok, that was me with my male hormones talking. Truth is, I do love the films of Woody Allen, both the older legends like Manhattan and Annie Hall, and the ones after the dark twist he embraced such as Match Point. No matter how productive he might be, I am still excited when I hear him completing a new project. It doesn't help that Vicky Cristina Barcelona was once described by a trusted source as the Barcelona counterpart of the film Manhattan, which is my all-time favorite Woody. Do I need any more reasons?

05. In Bruges (2008) by Martin McDonagh

This is another one that I'm lagging behind. I first came across In Bruges when it made a cameo appearance in the IMDb Top 250 list, after which came the favorable review of Roger Ebert and some other critics that I frequently read. To be honest, the trailer made me sceptical; I'm not a huge fan of Colin Farrell and I sensed a huge risk of the whole movie being too forced to appear hip and smart. I'm calling it the Lucky Number Slevin syndrome. But the city itself when I visited a couple of years ago, looked like the perfect place for unique inspirations and I'm curious if they've done justice to that kind of potential. Also, Colin finally gets to perform in his native Irish accent which might've helped to get a decent performance out of him.

04. Speed Racer (2008) by Andy & Larry Wachowski


The countdown is about to come to end with this one, as I'll probably get to see it in the upcoming days (hopefully). Introduced to me by the same friend who showed me the trailer of Teeth (and of There Will Be Blood for the first time last year), Speed Racer was something that I was sure would blow me away. Unique visual style is one of my cinematical fetishes and still to this day, even after the loathing reviews it received from many critics, I have faith in the film mainly because of this reason. Somehow, it seems like the perfect setting for a 3rd class 1960s anime series adaptation. A show that "was cheapo Japanese animation: flat, static, dubbed into badly translated English and barely "animated" at all, given that the frame only seemed to change approximately two times per second and the "moving" backgrounds were made up of about four cyclically repeating drawings instead of the eight or so we were used to seeing in Hanna-Barbera cartoons. The faster Speed went, the slower the sequence of backgrounds." (from Jim Emerson in his review of speed racer). I'm expecting it's going to be great for the same reasons Grindhouse was great; because it does justice to the original material and kindly makes fun of it at the same; all the while being immensely funny, entertaining and absorbing.

I was sad when everybody seemed on the agree on the idea that it was a worthless piece, but a few positive reviews out there still prevent me from giving up my hopes.

03. Burn After Reading (2008) by Ethan & Joel Coen

"I am always thrilled when I hear Coens are working on a new project" (the words of a wise movie blogger)

Combined with the ensemble cast and the promising story, the above sentence explains it all. To be honest, the news that they're engaged in comedy reminds me more my disappointments with Intolerable Cruelty and The Ladykillers rather than my fascination with The Big Lebowski; but these guys gave me No Country For Old Men last year, so I guess owe them my allegiance.

For those of you who hate life so much that they want to expose themselves to the script before seeing the movie, it's available for viewing here. But please don't do it.

02. The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (2009) by Terry Gilliam

This is the latest film on the list, and nearly nothing more than a single photo is revealed. The unexpected death of leading star Heath Ledger halted the production for some time, leaving the fans disappointed; but shortly afterwards news arrived that Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Colin Farrell agreed to share his remaining parts and complete the project. It tells the story of a travelling theater company and a certain magical mirror that allows the audience to travel beyond reality, allowing Doctor Parnassus to enslave their imagination using a deal he made with the devil himself. Since Ledger's character, we hear, would be travelling through this mirror, these newly-listed trio would play three different reflections, justifying the change of actors.

The idea reminds me of Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, which is a film to die for. It's something that could get the best out of Terry Gilliam, and considering what he was able to achieve with the material presented to him for Brazil, the stakes are extremely high this time.

01. The Dark Knight (2008) by Christopher Nolan

I think millions of others share my impatience for the next installment in the Batman franchise, which also marks the second time Christopher Nolan is in the director's seat for a Batman film. Thanks to the phenomenally successful marketing campaign (and, sadly, the passing of Heath Ledger), even the trailers are highly anticipated.

I am an avid fan of original Batman, so much that I never thought that something better could come out of the same concept. Jack Nicholson playing The Joker was like a dream come true; and Gotham as a Gothic, cartoonish city, so befitting to the style of Tim Burton, was an idea that was never surpassed to this day.

Rather than the actual comic books, Nolan's Batman seems to be more focused on Frank Miller's interpretation, with a much darker, serious atmosphere and a creepy, gruesome Joker. With the words of a man no less than Sir Michael Caine himself (who, by the way, forgot his lines once during the shooting when Ledger's performance gave him a genuine fright): "Jack was like a clown figure, benign but wicked, maybe a killer old uncle. He could be funny and make you laugh. Heath's gone in a completely different direction to Jack, he's like a really scary psychopath." I have another type of admiration for Frank Miller and his works, Sin City being one of my top 10 movies of all time; so I guess a blend of his dark, stylized graphic novels and DC's flamboyant Batman franchise is the best thing that I can hope for.

I resisted. Believe me I did. But eventually, everyone will fall under the spell of the top summer blockbuster of the year, so resistance seems futile.