My Top 10 Most Anticipated Movies of 2009

Well as usual my Movie Rankings for the year are still to come. I'm hoping to catch “The Wrestler” tomorrow and if I can get to “Benjamin Button” in the next week, I'll feel like I've seen enough movies to make accurate rankings. (If I was a professional critic I could have seen these weeks ago. That's a hint to any potential publishers out there...) Anyway, after some exhaustive research I've put together my Top 10 Most Anticipated Films of 2009.

This is a big deal for me each year. I enjoy looking at the movie calendar and trying to determine what's going to be good and what's going to stink. Last year, 6 of my top 10 anticipated movies made my top 11 in the rankings (so far), 2 were moved to 2009, and 2 were terrible (thanks a lot Indiana Jones!). So, in my own humble opinion, that means I at least know what I'm going to like each year and if you have similar movie tastes, these movies should appeal to you in '09. It looks like 2009 will be a big year for blockbusters but it could be lacking in Award Season films. And as always, my nerdom will be yet again highlighted by those movies that appeal most to me.

10. "Up" – May 29
In all honesty, the plot for this movie doesn’t just blow me away. An old man ties balloons to his chair so he can see the world, or something like that, I don’t really feel like checking IMDB again. But it’s Pixar and for me, if Pixar is attached to a project, I’m in regardless of the content.

9. “Star Trek” – May 8
J.J. Abrams is kind of bugging me with the direction Lost is taking and I’m not sold on the cast. But this is supposed to be a fresh, reinvented take on the classic series and the nerd in me can’t help but be interested.

8. “The Soloist” – April 24
The date keeps changing which is a TERRIBLE sign for a movie that is undoubtedly designed to take a shot at the Oscars. But Robert Downey, Jr. has always been a favorite of mine and his roles in “Iron Man” and “Tropic Thunder” only solidified that this year.

7. “Duplicity” – March 20
Julia Roberts’ potential return to prominence is in the balance with this con movie directed by Tony Gilroy (“Michael Clayton”) and costarring Clive Owen. Julia still has the star power to get me there, no questions asked, and it’ll be interesting to see if that holds true with the rest of the world.

6. “Sherlock Holmes” – November 13
Robert Downey, Jr. plays the title character, supported by Rachel McAdams (another favorite of mine). Added in with the readily available story lines from the classic literature and I don’t really need to know anything else.

5. “Watchmen” – March 6
This will follow in the footsteps of “The Dark Knight,” “300,” and “Sin City” as it comes from a graphic novel that has gained cult status. It’s a very dark take on the world and role of superheroes. I honestly cannot say whether or not this movie is going to be good. There is a very good chance that it will be awful but I’m extremely interested still.

4. “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” – May 11
As a kid (and teenager, and adult) I loved the X-Men. The original trilogy was great but there were still so many questions left unanswered. This will be the first (of many to come, apparently) film to tackle the back stories of these characters and it has an excellent cast.

3. “Terminator Salvation” – May 22
This film demonstrates the power of an amazing lead actor. If Christian Bale wasn’t playing the lead role of John Conner, I wouldn’t be nearly as excited about another “Terminator” movie. I’d be interested, sure, and it might even touch the top 10, but it would be nowhere near number 2. A potentially more serious turn than “Terminator 3” and Bale as the star make this a major draw.

2. “Public Enemies” – July 1
Theirs is nothing to not like about this movie. Christian Bale, Billy Crudup, and Johnny Depp are some of the most respected actors in the industry and they’re being directed in a historical shoot-em-up by Michael Mann, who happened to do one of the greatest cops versus robbers movies EVER (“Heat”). There’s really not much else to say.

1. “Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince” – July 17
It was my number one most anticipated movie last year and after it’s late move to this year, it’s still number one. Whether you’ve read the books or not and whether you’re a huge nerd or not (I would be a “yes” on both accounts), these movies are just flat out good films. The movies have gotten progressively darker as their subject matter has gotten more serious and this should be no exception.
A few others worth noting:
“Edge of Darkness” – November 11
This is the return of Mel Gibson to the big screen after a 7 or so year hiatus.

“Fanboys” – February 6
The story of five friends who try to steal a copy of “Star Wars: Episode I” back in 1998.

“Green Zone” - TBA
Reunited Paul Greengrass and Matt Damon (the final two “Bourne” movies) is enough for me.

“The Road” – December
This has an extremely intriguing storyline and stars Viggo Mortensen, possibly the best actor in Hollywood to turn out the most unlikeable movies while still performing brilliantly.

“A Serious Man” – October 2I will always, always, always be there anytime the Coen brothers put out a new film. Even when they’re not good movies, they’re still interesting and unique enough to leave me wanting more the next time around.