Top 5: Geeky Movies Coming Soon (2011)

A list of the five (or so) geeky movies I’m most looking forward to in the first half of 2011, arranged in chronological order.

March 25
Sucker Punch

Check out the director!  Zack Snyder is the visionary who brought us Dawn of the Dead (2004), 300, and Watchmen.

And the trailer?  It rocks!  If you love the kind of fantastically stylized art design seen in Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, The Spirit, and Sin City, this effort looks promising indeed.

The cast includes Scott Glenn (Bourne Ultimatum), Carla Gugino (Threshold), Jon Hamm (Mad Men), and Jena Malone (Donnie Darko).

It’s a fantasy, martial arts, sci-fi, steampunk, war movie.  I know, I know . . . those come a dime a dozen, but it still sounds like a Reese peanut butter cup — and then some — to me.

April 29
Fast Five

Saving Private Ryan’s Vin Diesel and Flags of Our Fathers‘ Paul Walker, pursued by Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson (Doom).

Maybe not everybody’s cup of tea, I realize, but the first and fourth Fast and the Furious movies did something unholy to my adrenal system.  At first it was just “Point Break with racing” but then it kept right on going.

Strangely, I don’t care about cars, and I kind of hate driving.  It’s all a necessary evil for me, but until light speed starships become a reality, this’ll do just fine as a convincing vehicular rush.

June 3
X-Men: First Class

No, it doesn’t feature Wolverine; Xavier isn’t bald or in a wheelchair; Magneto isn’t evil . . . yet.

It’s not The New Mutants, a reboot, or the “classic” X-Men.

It’s a prequel, a Sixties period piece, with a cast including Kevin Bacon (Hollow Man), James McAvoy (Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, Wanted), Oliver Platt (Executive Decision, Flatliners), and Ray Wise (RoboCop, Twin Peaks).

And it probably doesn’t matter what I hear, read, see, or even think.  I’ll be there.

June 11
Super 8

Another Cloverfield, perhaps?

A collaboration between J.J. Abrams (2009‘s Star Trek) and the legendary Steven Spielberg (Duel), all we know is that it’s a retro-styled Seventies sci-fi movie.

The title and Abrams’ own history suggests a handheld “found footage” approach.

Spielberg’s involvement suggests a grand scale and solid production values.

The last time I re-watched Cloverfield, I was more impressed than I’d been in the theatre.  So maybe this one could play to its strengths and bolster its shortcomings.

August 5 (rescheduled from June 24, then November 23)
Rise of the Planet of the Apes / Caesar

It’s a prequel to the original series.  Or a reboot.  Or a remake of Escape and/or Conquest.

It stars Brian Cox (X2), Tom Felton (Harry Potter), James Franco (Spider-Man), David Hewlett (Cube), John Lithgow (2010), and Andy Serkis (Lord of the Rings).

It’s, uh, shot in Vancouver . . . ?

. . . with effects by Weta Digital?

Whatever.  It’s another Planet of the Apes movie!  Tim Burton didn’t kill them!

Honourable Mention:

March 4
Apollo 18

A movie about which I know only the producer, Timur Bekmambetov (who directed the excellent Wanted), the tagline (“There’s a reason we’ve never gone back to the moon.”), and very little else.  Could be good, right?

Fortunately, it shouldn’t be a long wait to find out more.