MY TOP FIVE MOST ANTICIPATED FILMS FOR 2011

One of the most fun aspects of being a movie goer is the looking forward - the anticipation of films to come. So with that in mind - let's look forward with eyes full of hope...

5. THE FIRST AVENGER: CAPTAIN AMERICA

Directed by: Joe Johnston

Starring: Chris Evans as Steve Rogers/Captain America

Hugo Weaving as the Red Skull

So I had to put at least one super-hero movie on the list, given my comic-book-nerd sensibilities, and this is the one. I like the fact that its got a period setting and Captain America isn’t quite as phenomenally super-powered as others in the comic book universe. Could be a different take on the super hero genre, could be a giant clusterf*** of a movie – but one way or another I’m looking forward to it.

Especially Chris Evans as Captain America. Show me a Chris Evans role and I'll show you one of the best things about that particular film. (Not another teen movie, Fantastic Four, Scott Pilgrim). So I can only hope that this is the film that puts Evans firmly on the A-List map. Expect him to turn on a witty, charming, layered performance that the material probably won't be worthy of.

I’m also excited for Hugo Weaving as the Red Skull. Hugo Weaving is always awesome, even when he has no idea who he's playing *cough* Megatron *cough*. I can only assume he'll be an awesome Red Skull. Also add the presence of Hayley Atwell and Stanley Tucci to the list of promising acting talent.

So what’s working against it? Three words: Director Joe Johnstone. As I mentioned it my comic book movie preview he’s a massive, massive question mark over the film.

4. MONEYBALL

DIRECTED BY BENNETT MILLER

STARRING BRAD PITT, PHILIP SEYMOUR HOFFMAN, CHRIS PRATT

I’m trying to think of the last truly great team sports movie I’ve seen, but surprisingly I’m struggling. Sports movies have kind of settled into a that’ll-do-pig pattern of above-average to terrible – films like Glory Road, Coach Carter and so on at the top end – and I’m hoping that this is the project that moves the sports film on from the rut its been stuck in.

Moneyball is a movie based on one of my favourite books – Moneyball  by Michael Lewis – and it offers the filmmakers a chance to make this one of the first sports movies about the creation of a team and all the politics involved. Great cast as you can see above – keep an eye on Chris Pratt who has a very charming presence – and the possibility that there could be a really good sports movie in 2011 puts this at number 4 on my list.

3. CRAZY, STUPID, LOVE

DIRECTED BY: GLENN FICARRA, JOHN REQUA

STARRING: STEVE CARELL, RYAN GOSLING, EMMA STONE

The plot to Crazy, Stupid, Love looks brilliantly simple – man has marital problems, young man he meets helps him get back on the horse – but hopefully the talent involved gives a signal that there’s more to it than that. The romantic dramedy is a tricky thing to get right at the best of times but if one man can pull it off I reckon it might be Steve Carell.

If you’ve ever seen the American version of the Office, you’ll know that Steve Carell can pull off pretty much any moment they give him. Broad comedy, subtle comedy, affecting drama, romantic, scared, angry or whatever he’s a far, far better actor than any sitcom deserves. Even when the writing has let him down in later seasons, he’s still been able to elevate the material. From what I know about the role, they couldn’t have found a better man to do it.

Add to that potent lead performance an assist from the wonderful Ryan Gosling and my new favourite actress Emma Stone and we’ve got the potential for a romantic drama that might rise above the mediocre mire the genre has been saddled with so far.

2. TINKER, TAILOR, SOLDIER, SPY

DIRECTED BY: TOMAS ALFREDSON

STARRING: GARY OLDMAN, COLIN FIRTH, TOM HARDY

Anyone familiar with the material will know exactly why I’m so excited about this film. One of my favourite stories, whether filmed or read, this long-awaited version of the famous John Le Carre novel should provide us spy thriller aficionados with the fix we’ve been waiting for. What’s more, I think they’ve picked the exact right man to helm it in Let the Right One In director Tomas Alfredson, a man who understands the power of atmosphere better than most.

You may have noticed I focus a lot on the casts involved in these films and that’s for two reasons. Firstly I think that the mark of a promising film is the quality of the actors prepared to get involved in it and secondly good actors can elevate bad material to middling, middling to good, good to great and great to outstanding. There is an endless list of movies that depend on their performances for the greatness they achieve.

Here, the cast might just be the best assembled in any of these films. Gary Oldman is donning the brogues to play George Smiley, and he’ll be supported by Tom Hardy, Colin Firth, Mark Strong, Stephen Graham, Ciaran Hinds and Benedict Cumberbatch. As for the story, it’s second to none and with the talent involved, this might be the film of 2011. But what am I looking forward to even more than this?

1. THE IDES OF MARCH

DIRECTED BY: GEORGE CLOONEY

STARRING: RYAN GOSLING, GEORGE CLOONEY, PAUL GIAMATTI

Little is known about the Ides of March, so I’m taking a lot on spec here. This could go horribly, horribly wrong but if there’s one genre of film I love even more than the spy/conspiracy thriller, it’s the political movie, and specifically, the political movie about dirty tricks and backroom deals. Some of us are just predisposed to like certain types of movies. For some, it’s the zombie film, for some the underdog sports movie and for others any movie based on a Nicholas Sparks novel.

For me, it’s the political thriller. The Ides of March is a stage play based on the Beau Willimon play about a young man in politics getting a crash course in dirty tricks. Once again, check out the cast – Ryan Gosling, George Clooney, Paul Giamatti, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Max Minghella, Marisa Tomei, Evan Rachel Wood, Jeffrey Wright – outstanding.

The real eye-catcher for me though is the presence of George Clooney as director. One of my favourite films of all time is Good Night and Good Luck, the political-journalism film about Edward R. Murrow and all the backstage drama that went on around him. Clooney directed and featured in that and if this film captures any of the lightning in a bottle that film had, it’s going to be my favourite film of 2011.

SOME HONOURABLE MENTIONS

THOR – Camp superhero fun with an interesting director in Kenneth Branagh.

SOURCE CODE – The new film from Duncan Jones who showed so much potential in the anything-but-perfect Moon.

APOLLO 18: Cloverfield meets Apollo 13 meets Night watch, kind of.

HORRIBLE BOSSES: Could be the better R-rated comedy of the year and maybe the first good Jennifer Aniston film in years?

WAR HORSE: Oscar bait from Stephen Spielberg sounds like the best tearjerker of the year.

COWBOYS AND ALIENS: Um, it has cowboys and aliens. I’m looking forward to the sequel, Angels and Samurai.

SUPER 8: J. J. Abrams Area 51-ish follow up to the found-footage, brilliantly promoted Cloverfield.

THE ADJUSTMENT BUREAU: Matt Damon, Emily Blunt and 'Roger Sterling' in a film adapted from a Philip K. Dick short story.

FRIENDS WITH BENEFITS: Justin Timberlake and Mila Kunis’s combined charm and sexual charisma might make the screen explode.

X-MEN: FIRST CLASS: The short production time is a worry but the presence of great actors and a more than capable director has be optimistic.

MY FIVE MOST ANTICIPATED AUSTRALIAN-MADE TV SHOWS OF 2011

I’ll out myself straight away – I completely prefer American and British TV to Australian television. It’s not that Australian television is worse, necessarily, just that since we have a smaller population and a less splintered audience we tend not to take as many risks. When you don’t have sustainable ratings on offer for a show like Mad Men, for example, no one is going to risk making it.

Our strengths lie, as always, in comedy and reality television, where we tend to capture so much more of the Australian character. Perhaps this is because we are a nation that enjoys laughing at ourselves and doesn’t take things too seriously - perhaps a serious drama requires a bigger risk, I don’t know. All I know is that Australian television hasn’t quite made the leap British and American TV has made just yet.

So it is with high hopes and heavy optimism that I look towards the coming year and pray that we can make something – anything - of note. Here are my five most anticipated Australian-made TV shows of 2011.

And another thing – talking up television shows is kind of counter-intuitive for me as I think too much hype can kill a show because it can never meet our raised expectations. Take this article, then, as one pointing out shows you might not have known were going to be on television, rather than shows that WILL DEFINITELY BE AWESOME NO MATTER WHAT. That’s a recipe for expectation-based disaster.

HONOURABLE MENTIONS

CLOUDSTREET (FOXTEL)

This program comes from a wonderful array of on and off-screen talent that will be allowed the creative freedom that making a show on pay-TV usually allows – and that can only mean good things. The only problem with making a television series from this beloved novel is that Winton’s prose is so evocative that the screen version faces the problem all screen adaptations face – is it ever going to be as good as it was in our head? This isn’t a problem when adapting a lesser known text but since a grand-majority of the television drama series watching public has already read the book, it will be a massive achievement to bring enough new things to the table to warrant exploring the television series as well.

ANGRY BOYS (ABC1)

Cloudstreet and Angry Boys are two shows that would probably be much higher on any other Australian television critic’s list and the reason they don’t make mine is a very simple one – they just aren’t in my wheelhouse. I appreciated but didn’t love Cloudstreet the novel and had very similar feelings about both of Chris Lilley’s television projects, We Could Be Heroes and Summer Heights High. Summer Heights High in particular felt like a long, extended sketch, filled with incredibly insightful characters and dialogue but short on enough jokes and character development to fill the running time.

5. MY KITCHEN RULES SEASON 2 (Channel 7, TBA)

Both of my honourable mentions will almost certainly be qualitatively better shows than My Kitchen Rules Season 2. Similarly, Masterchef will be more successful and better made than My Kitchen Rules Season 2. So why is My Kitchen Rules season 2 a show I’m looking forward to more than any of those shows? Because it has three blisteringly entertaining qualities:

1). Quintessentially Australian, tense, awkward, funny dinner party scenes in which one poor team is forced to sweat over a meal they’re making for their competitors as well as the judges. The passive-aggressive bitchiness as the other teams either begrudgingly appreciate or gleefully denigrate their opponent’s handiwork is a thing to behold.

2). A teamwork element missing in Masterchef where two people who have joined forces to enter the competition slowly discover each other’s weaknesses and strengths – and a train wreck component where every single team invariably plans their approach badly. I swear the production team just steal ingredients or adjust temperatures sometime to create drama. How do none of these teams ever do a dry run?

3). Judges and a production team with a completely misguided sense of the dramatic that accidentally works in their favour – creating moments of unintentional hilarity.

If you haven’t watched My Kitchen Rules because you dismissed it as a Masterchef knock-off (it owes more to the British Series Come Dine With Me), try it again. I found it incredibly entertaining the first time around and I’m glad it’s coming back.

4. ADAM HILLS IN GORDON STREET TONIGHT (Premering February 9^th on ABC1 at 8:30pm)

There’s not really too much I can say about this except that it features one of Australia’s most likeable television personalities in Adam Hills – and he’s been given his own tonight show. What more do you need? ‘Spicks and Specks’ lost its novelty some time ago but retains its whimsical corner of the television landscape, and it will be nice to see Hills branch out and do something (relatively) different.

3. WOODLEY (ABC, TBA)

An eight-part romantic comedy featuring the talents of Australia’s premier physical comedian, Frank Woodley.

The Adventures of Lano and Woodley was the seminal Australian comedy of my high school years* – that time in year eight and nine when you’re discovering for the first time what you really think is funny – and although I’d really prefer Colin Lane was involved in this rather than co-hosting the Circle (ugh) I can’t wait to see what Frank Woodley does in his own comedy series.

* See L&W episode ‘The Pool’ for a truly classic Australian comedy episode.

What looks extremely promising about this is that Woodley has indicated it is a physical-comedy based romantic drama of sorts – and if you’ve seen any of his recent theatre shows you’ll know he does a very good line in romantic, dramatic moments. The casting of Justine Clarke and Tom Long in the show also bodes well that it won’t just be a slapstick comedy and will have some meat to it. It’s those dramatic moments that might just lift ‘Woodley’ to some of the best television of the year.

2. THE SLAP (ABC1, TBA)

Based on the Christian Tsolkias novel, the eight one-hour episodes will be told from the perspectives of one of the eight primary characters, dealing with the fallout of a man slapping a child that was not his own. Featuring the talents of Melissa George, Sophie Okonedo, Alex Dimitriades and more.

I was halfway through ‘The Slap’ when I saw that it was being adapted for TV and immediately stopped reading it. I have a theory (one that I’ll also be applying to the upcoming US fantasy adaptation Game of Thrones) that I shouldn’t read a book in advance of watching the adaptation because otherwise I’ll always be comparing the TV show to the book, rather than judging the show on its own merits.

On that basis, I begrudgingly closed ‘The Slap’ and am greatly looking forward to the television version. From what I read, the book had two great advantages – a clever, accessible moral question at its core decorated by extremely well written and identifiable characters. If the series can capture the characters half as well as the book, we’ll have a great Australian mini-series on our hands.

1. 1. THE JOY OF SETS (Channel Nine, TBA)

I’m pretty confident this will be the only list on which this particular show is number one, but ever since I heard about it I’ve been looking forward to it. Two of my favourite comedians (and alumni of the heavily-missed Get This radio show) join forces in a no doubt irreverent and witty take on the world of television. Tony Martin (of the D-Generation, Late Show and countless other brilliant projects) and Ed Kavalee (of TV Burp, Cup Fever and Thank God You’re Here) will be backed by the Zapruder’s Other Films production juggernaut.

I can’t really explain why I am looking forward to this show so much except to say that Martin and Kavalee have a very specific chemistry that just works and with the full might of Andrew Denton behind them, I hope that this rates its socks off. Or at least well enough to hang around for a long, long while.