Movies Features

2010 Movie Preview

By Anne Brodie Feb 5, 2010, 14:48 GMT

A glut of films jams the theatres as we approach awards season, but the true fan knows there is no time to rest on any laurels. It’s time to look ahead to 2010 and the many and varied films coming our way. A scene from Iron Man 2.

A scene from Iron Man 2.Youth in Revolt - JANUARY 8 Dir. Miquel Artita
Michael Cera stars in the coming-of-age comedy that has film festivals buzzing. Its based on C.D. Payne’s novel about Nick Twisp whose alter ego Francois is about to put the moves on Twisp’s crush Sheeni (Portia Doubleday). Life threatens to keep them apart but sauve Francois will have his way and Nick will lose his virginity. Steve Buscemi, Ray Liotta, Justin Long co-star. Daybreakers - JANUARY 9

A stills from Daybreakers
Dir. Michael Spierig, Peter Spierig
More vampires. It’s 2019 and a plague consumes most of the world’s population. The blood supply has dwindled dangerously so remainging human stragglers are in deep danger. The military is feverishly rounding them up, even as clandestine bands evade capture. Ethan Hawke, William Dafoe, Sam Neill and Isabel Lucas star.The Spy Next Door – JANUARY 15Dir. Brian Levant
Jackie Chan stars in a family action comedy The Spy Next Door stars Jackie Chan as a CIA agent trying to quit the biz and settle down to blissful domesticity with his sexy neighbour, (Amber Valletta).The toughest thing he faces is getting gher kids to like him. While babysitting, the kids discover his true identity and the fun begins. George Lopez and Billy Ray Cyrus co-star.Creation – JANUARY 22Dir. Jon Amiel
Hisband and wife Jennifer Connelly and Paul Bettany star as Charles and Emma Darwin in the poignant story of his theories of evolution and how Emma, a God-fearing Christian, dealt with his lack of faith. This film fest hit is touching and gorgeous.Extraordinary Measures – JANUARY 22Dir. Tom Vaughan
Harrison Ford, Brendan Fraser and Keri Russell star in the true story of a man who dedicated himself to finding a cure for his children’s fatal illness. John Crowley walked away from a successful corporate career success to find a cure with the help of a traditional scientist. DEAR JOHN - FEBRUARY 5

A shot from Dear John
Dir. Lasse Halstrom
Channing Tatum stars in the film version of the best selling novel by Nicholas Sparks, who wrote The Notebook. This is more of the same as a soldier and his beloved exchange letters over seven years of his increaingly dangerous deployments. Amanda Seyfried co-stars as his liberal intellectual lover. I LOVE YOU, PHILLIP MORRIS - FEBRUARY 5Dir. Glenn Ficarra and John Requa
Jim Carrey plays a white collar criminal who finds the love of his life, played by Ewan McGregor, while serving time in a Texas prison. Carrey’s con-man does the thing he does best in an effort to escape prison and launch a barrage of new scams. The film is based on a non-fiction book by Houston Chronicle crime reporter Steve McVicker. Leslie Mann plays Carreys’ wife. THE CRAZIES - FEBRUARY 26 Dir. Breck Eisner
A charming, picure postcard US town harbours a whole lot of nsanity when a man shows up at a highschool ball game with a loaded gun and anger issues. The citizens seem to ‘catch’ his evil and within hours the town is transformed into hell on earth. Timothy Olyphant, Danielle Panabaker and Radha Mitchell star.SHUTTER ISLAND - FEBRUARY 19Martin Scorsese directs an impressive cast including Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Ruffalo, Ben Kingsley, Michelle Williams, Patricia Clarkson and Max Von Sydow in a period thriller set on a remote island. The film is based on the best-selling psychological suspense thriller by Dennis Lehane and set in 1954 at the height of the Cold War. DiCaprio plays an investigator following the disappearance of a murderess from a maximum security cell, just as a hurricane bears down on the island.BLOOD DONE SIGN MY NAME Racial tensions bubble up in 70’s North Carolina when a white father and son are acquitted of murdering a black man in full public view. Response to the decision leads to social upheaval and inevitable change. Nate Parker, Ricky Schroder, Afemo Omilami, Lela Rochon, Nick Searcy, Michael Rooker, Darrin Dewitt Henson and Gattlin Griffith star. Jeb Stuart directs the epic civil rights drama based on a book by Timothy Tyson. GREENBERG - MARCH 12Academy Award nominated writer/director Noah Baumbach and his wife Jennifer Jason Leigh conceived this story about a man (Ben Stiller) who meets a woman (Greta Gerwig) while housesitting for his brother in LA. The woman is an aspiring singer and his brother’s personal assistant; soon they’re caught up in a quirky, tentative romance.THE BOUNTY HUNTER Jennifer Aniston and Gerard Butler star in a comedy concerning a bounty hunter who discovers his next target is his ex-wife; the plot strongly and ironically recalls Mr and Mrs Smith, the film that spelled the end of Aniston’s marriage to Brad Pitt. Christine Baranksi and Cathy Moriarity co-star.  SEASON OF THE WITCH - MARCH 19

A still from Season of the Witch
Nicolas Cage dons the spirit of medieval knight Behmen commissioned by the Cardinal to take a young peasant girl to a remote abbey for spiritual cleansing. She is suspected of being the witch who brought the Black Plague to Europe; he soon discovers that she is no ordinary mortal and capable of great evil. Dominic Sena directs. HOT TUB TIME MACHINESteve Pink directs John Cusack, Craig Robinson, Crispin Glover and Clark Duke in a comedy about a group of present day loser/slackers who fall asleep in a hot tub and wake up in the year 1986. They’re given the chance to wipe the slate clean, start anew and work towards a brighter future, but do they?March TBDTHE GREATESTPierce Brosnan and Susan Sarandon play a husband and wife thrown into depression and turmoil when their son dies. A young woman played by British up-and-comer Carey Mulligan comes into their lives, bringing hope and the possibility for healing. Michael Shannon, Johnny Simmons and Zoe Kravitz co-star.
April 16:BABIES

Babies hits the screens
Thomas Balmès and Alain Chabat follow four babies in Namibia, Mongolia, Japan, and the United States from first breath to first steps and beyond in this nonfiction art piece. It’s a documentary anthology that examines the universality of experience and nature. PIRANHA 3-DA horde of man eating pre-historic fish is released from the ocean floor following a powerful tremor, and boy, are they hungry. A group of tourists is conveniently nearby and seem destined to be dinner until one of them (Elizabeth Shue) comes up with a plan to save their lives. Jerry O’Connell costars and Alexandre Aja of the The Hills Have Eyes fame directs.THE BACK-UP PLANJennifer Lopez plays a single woman who can’t wait for the perfect man to come along and give her a baby. She decides to undergo artificial insemination but that day meets a man who could be ‘the one’. A romance develops, and she goes to great lengths to hide her pregnancy. He finds out, commits to her but they both get cold feet. Now what? Alan Poul directs. IRON MAN 2 - MAY 7Jon Favreau reteams with Robert Downey Jr and Gwyneth Paltrow, plus Scarlett Johanssen, Mickey Rourke, Don Cheadle replacing Terrance Howard, Samuel L. Jackson, and Jack White. The secret is out – the world knows that Tony Stark is Iron Man and it wants to know how he does it. To protect his secret technology, he creates new alliances to help him battle bigger and badder enemies.LETTERS TO JULIET - MAY 14Gary Winick directs Amanda Seyfried, Gael Garcia Bernal, Vanessa Redgrave and Redgrave’s real life partner Franco Nero in a gauzey romance set in Italy. An American girl visiting Romeo and Juliet’s fictional Verona courtyard discovers a letter written to the romantic pair that sets her on a path to find its author. ROBIN HOOD

Russell Crowe stars in Robin Hood
Ridley Scott directs Russell Crowe, Cate Blanchett, Danny Huston in yet another evil role, the notorious King John, and William Hurt in a new version of the medieval fable. Robin has just begun stealing from the rich to give to the poor and the aristocracy itches to put a stop to him. Producers say, “This is not Robin Hood as you have seen him before, rather the making of the legend we have come to know him as now.” SHREK FOREVER AFTER (conventional 3D theaters and IMAX 3D) - MAY 21Mike Mitchell directs Cameron Diaz, Mike Myers, Julie Andrews, Eddie Murphy, Justin Timberlake, Antonio Banderas and hot madman Jon Hamm in Shrek’s latest outing as a bored, domesticated ogre. He craves excitement but he gets more than he bargained for when he’s tricked into traveling to a reverse version of Far, Far Away, a country run by Rumpelstiltskin, where ogres are hunted.PRINCE OF PERSIA: THE SANDS OF TIME - MAY 28Mike Newell directs a musclebound Jake Gyllenhaal in a deep history sci-fi adventure based on a video game. Gemma Arterton, Toby Kebbell and Ben Kingsley co- star. A royal adventurer seeks to stop a nearby ruler from unleashing a sandstorm that turns citizens into demons; fortunately, he owns a Dagger of Time that gives him control over its flow.SEX AND THE CITY 2Michael Patrick King is back directing the core four, but new in town and with loads of girl power are Miley Cyrus, Penelope Cruz and Liza Minelli. The plot’s strictly under wraps, but Candace Bushnell’s prequel novel, The Carrie Diaries, will be in stores April 27 in time for the film.MAY TBAI AM LOVETilda Swinton stars in and produced the quietly seductive I Am Love / Io sono l'amore, with her artistic partner/director Lucas Guadignino. She plays an Italian matriarch who has a love affair with her son’s best friend as her wealty family’s empire crumbles. I Am Love is a hit on the film festival circuit.KILLERS - JUNE 4Killers - Director Robert Lukatic’s story of a woman who meets and marries her ‘perfect man’ on a vacation. Once they arrive home, it seems their neighbours are out to kill them. Ashton Kutcher stars with Katharine Heigel, Catherine O’Hara and Tom Selleck.MARMADUKETom Dey directs a stellar voice cast including Stacey Ferguson, Owen Wilson, Jeremy Piven, Steve Coogan, Damon Wayans and David Walliams in a film version of the comic adventures of the big loveable, but clumsy cartoon strip dog. THE A-TEAM - JUNE 11

Wrongly convicted and available to help, The A-Team are coming to the big screen.
Action director Joe Carnahan is charged with re-imagining the hit ‘70’s TV show for modern audiences. Bradley Cooper, Liam Neeson, Sharlto Copley, Jessica Biel, Patrick Wilson, and Quinton “Rampage” Jackson play disparate Iraq war veterans trying to clear their names after being framed for a major crime. GET HIM TO THE GREEKNicholas Stoller directs Russell Brand as an obnoxious and out of control rock star who must be accompanied to the next gig on his $100-M dollar concert tour. Johan Hill plays the ambitious 23 year old who wants the job; he’s warned never to turn his back. Brand’s flame Katie Perry, Metallica’s Lars Ulrich, Sean Combs, Jonah Hill, Christina Agueliera, Rose Byrne, Colm Meany and Elizabeth Moss co-star. THE KARATE KIDDirector Harald Zwart oversees Will Smith’s son Jaden who plays the song of a single mother who discovers self confidence through martial arts when they move to China. Jackie Chan plays the master who helps him vanquish those mean ol’ bullies.

JONAH HEX - JUNE 18Jimmy Hayward directs this horror tale of a Wild West gunfighter who hunts a voodoo priestess attempting to raise the undead in order to conquer the South. Josh Brolin, Megan Fox, John Malkovich, Michael Shannon and Michael Fassbender star.GROWN UPS - JUNE 25Adam Sandler has assembled an impressive cast to star in his new comedy Grown Ups. Chris Rock, Salma Hayek, Steve Buscemi, Maria Bello, Rob Schneider, Kevin James, Maya Rudolph and David Spade play former classmates who reunite for a Fourth of July bash.THE TWILIGHT SAGA: ECLIPSE - JUNE 30You know you want to see it. David Slade directs the usual suspects - vampires, werewolves, half and halfs and humans in the next hormone and howling extravaganza, with a mighty budget. Bella must choose between a vampire and a werewolf, to be alive or undead and graduate high school all at the same time!KNIGHT AND DAY - JULY 2

On the set of Knight and Day. Image Credit: Fame Pictures
James Mangold directs Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz in an action comedy about a single woman on a blind date with a super secret agent who joins him in his global pursuit of truth, justice, and bad guys. Paul Dano, Viola Davis, and Maggie Grace co-star.THE LAST AIRBENDERM. Night Shyamalan’s back with an otherworldly fantasy adventure about a boy avatar that must save three worlds from destruction by a fourth, by developing his ability to bend the elements. Dev Patel, Cliff Curtis, Noah Ringer, Jackson Rathbone and Nicola Peltz star.   DESPICABLE ME - JULY 9 Pierre Coffin and Chris Renaud direct Steve Carell, Jason Segal, Russell Brand, Ken Jeong, and Kristen Wiig in an animated adventure about three orphans trying to prevent the theft of the moon.   PREDATORSNimrod Antel directs Danny Trejo Walton Goggins Adrien Brody in a reboot of the Predator franchise in which an elite group of warriors are hunted by thrill seeking Predators from space.INCEPTION - JULY 16 Christopher Nolan’s much anticipated sci-fi thriller stars Leonardo DiCaprio Ellen Page Marion Cotillard. A corporation has developed a way to get inside dreams to obtain personal information and its CEO launches a series of strange events when he goes inside deep mind space.THE SORCERER'S APPRENTICEJay Baruchel plays the Mickey Mouse role in a modern retelling of the Disney story. He’s learning magic but can’t seem to get a grip on a magic broom that will ultimately save Manhattan. John Turtletaub also directs Nicolas Cage, Teresa Palmer, Alfred Molina, and Monica Belluci.
DINNER FOR SCHMUCKS - JULY 23Steve Carell stars as the main attraction at a monthly dinner party given by friends who compete to bring the biggest moron they can find. Paul Rudd and Lucy Punch star for director Jay Roach in this remake of the hit French comedy.
Salt - Phillip Noyce directs Angelina Jolie in an action thriller about a CIA agent outed as a double agent for Russia. She goes on the lam to evade capture, drawing heat from both sides. Liev Schreiber and Chiwetel Ejiofor co-star.BEASTLY - JULY 30Daniel Barnes directs Vanessa Hudgens, Mary Kate Olsen, Neil Patrick Harris and Alex Pettyfer in a Beauty and Beast knock off about a good looking but mean-spirited Manhattanite, transformed into a monster. He must learn empathy before he can find true love. CATS & DOGS: THE REVENGE OF KITTY GALOREChris O'Donnell Jack McBrayer, Bette Midler and Carlos Alazraqui star in the next battle in the continuing wars between species. This time they band together to battle a rogue spy cat. THE OTHER GUYS - AUGUST 6Adam McKay directs Will Ferrell, Mark Wahlberg, Steve Coogan, Anne Heche, Samuel L. Jackson, Eva Mendes, and Paris Hilton in a comedy about a lazy forensic accountant who'd rather push papers than hit the streets to solve cases.
EAT, PRAY, LOVE - AUGUST 13Ryan Murphy directs Julia Roberts, James Franco, Javier Bardem, and Viola Davis in a film based on the best seller about a dissatisfied, middle-aged woman who sets out on a life-changing adventure that takes her around the world.
Ramona and Beezus - Selena Gomez, Joey King, and Ginnifer Goodwin star in a film based on the popular children’s series about an adventurous ten-year old girl and her friends. THE EXPENDABLES

Explosive action from The Expendables
Sylvester Stallone directs himself, Jason Statham and Jet Li in an action adventure outing about mercenaries on a mission to overthrow a South American dictator.
PRIEST - AUGUST 20Gerard Butler, Paul Bettany, and Cam Gigandet star in a vampire western about a warrior priest hunting a band of renegade vampires. Scott Stuart directs.THE BASTER (Wide) Jennifer Aniston, Jason Bateman Jeff Goldblum star in a romcom about a man who switches sperm donor sperm with his own when his best friend undergoes artificial insemination. LOTTERY TICKET - AUGUST 27Lottery Ticket - Bow Wow, Ice Cube, Brandon T. Jackson, and Mike Epps star in an urban comedy about an 18 year-old that wins the lottery but must keep it secret over a three day weekend. Erik White directs.       THE AMERICAN - SEPTEMBER 1Anton Corbijn directs George Clooney as a veteran assassin who decides to walk away after an ill-fated hit. While waiting for instructions for what’s to be his final job, he hides in a rural Italian town, and strikes up surprising friendships.
BORN TO BE A STAR - SEPTEMBER 3Adam Sandler Stephen Dorff Christina Ricci and Don Johnson star in a comedy about a small-town nerd who discovers his parents were famous porn stars. So he heads to Tinseltown to carry on the family business. Tom Brady directs.
THE TOWN - SEPTEMBER 3Ben Affleck directs himself, Jon Hamm, Blake Lively, and Jeremy Renner in an intense tale of an unlikely love triangle of a Boston bank manager, a longtime thief, and an FBI agent.FLIPPED - SEPTEMBER 17 Rob Reiner directs the story of a pair of diametrically opposed youngsters who fall in love in a film version of Wendelin Van Draanen’s novel. Penelope Ann Miller, Madeline Carroll, Aidan Quinn, and John Mahoney star. THE ROOMMATELeighton Meester and Minka Kelly play college roommates who get along at first, until Sara goes after the people in Rebecca’s life. Cam Gigandet co-stars, Christian E. Christiansen directs.WARRIORTom Hardy, Joel Edgerton, and Nick Nolte star in the story of a man who trains his son to win a martial arts competition and incurs the wrath of his other son. Gavin O’Connor directs.GUARDIANS OF GA'HOOLE - SEPTEMBER 24Ryan Kwanten, Jim Sturgess, and Geoffrey Rush star in an animated story of young barn owls training to be evil soldiers who switch to good side. Zach Snyder directs.
You Again – Andy Fickman directs Kristen Bell, Kristin Chenoweth, Sigourney Weaver, Jamie Lee Curtis, betty White and Victor Graber star in the story of a woman who finds her brother is engaged to the girl who bullied her in school and sets out to set things right. ALPHA AND OMEGA - OCTOBER 1Anthony Bell directs Justin Long, Hayden Panettiere, Christina Ricci, Danny Glover, and Dennis Hopper as the voices of wolves for an animated drama about loyalty, war, peace, and love. YOUR HIGHNESSJames Franco, Danny R. McBride, Natalie Portman, Zooey Deschanel, and Justin Theroux star in a medieval tale set in the royal world of Your Highness, where a couple of slacker princes must save the damsel in distress and their father’s kingdom from the clutches of evil. David Gordon Green directs.GOING THE DISTANCE - OCTOBER 8Nanette Burstein directs Drew Barrymore, Justin Long, Jason Sudeikis, Christina Applegate, Ron Livingston and Jim Gaffigan in an observational comedy about a couple in a long distance relationship. They find the distance comes at a great cost.
THE ZOOKEEPERFrank Coraci directs Kevin James, Rosario Dawson, Leslie Bibb, Jon Favreau, Faizon Love, Adam Sandler, Cher, and Sylvester Stallone in a Judd Apatow CGI production. A lonely zookeeper begins a journey to find love encouraged by the zoo animals.
JACKASS 3D - OCTOBER 15Johnny Knoxville and Steve-O are back in the latest adventures of the infamous stunt idiots. Says Knoxville, “We're going to take the same 3D technology James Cameron used in AVATAR and stick it up Steve O's butt. We're taking stupid to a whole new dimension."THE SOCIAL NETWORKJesse Eisenberg, Justin Timberlake, Andrew Garfield, Rashida Jones, and Joe Mazzello star in the film version of the Ben Mezrich novel The Accidental Billionaires, about the founding of Facebook at Harvard in 2004. David Fincher directs.RED - OCTOBER 22Robert Schwentke directs Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman, Helen Mirren, John C. Reilly, Mary-Louise Parker, Julian McMahon, Ernest Borgnine, Richard Dreyfuss, and Brian Cox in a conspiracy drama about ex-CIA agents. The clock ticks as a high-tech assassin focuses on a team of former black-ops agents.DUE DATE - NOVEMBER 5Due Date stars Robert Downey, Jr, looking more like a regular boomer dad than a Victorian sleuthing dandy, races home to witness the birth of his baby with a travel buddy who’s a little odd. Zach Galifianakis, Michelle Monaghan, Jamie Foxx star for director Todd Phillips.   MEGAMINDAn animated adventure about a brilliant supervillain called MegaMind who is incapable of accomplishing anything no thanks to his ‘good’ nemesis Metro Man. He accidentally kills Metro Man and realises he now has nothing to live for, so he creates a new ‘good’ hero Titan. But Titan’s not so good, it turns out. Will Ferrell, Tina Fey, and Pitt provide voices.RAPUNZEL - NOVEMBER 12Mandy Moore, Zachary Levi, and Donna Murphy star in Walt Disney’s Digital, 3-D animated version of Rapunzel, directed by Nathan Greno and Byron Howard. After living her entire life as a kidnapped prisoner, the fair tale heroine with the 70-foot hair escapes and goes on the lam with a new bandit friend.UNSTOPPABLEDenzel Washington returns to the subway system to star with Chris Pine, Rosario Dawson, and Kevin Dunn in a yarn about an unmanned runaway train carrying a cargo of toxic chemicals. Tony Scott directs.HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS PART 1 - NOVEMBER 19

A scene from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1
The usual suspects are back for the first instalment of the final chapter in the international franchise phenom that gave sorcery and black magic a good name. Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, Ralph Fiennes, Bill Nighy are embroiled in an epic power struggle for control of Hogwarts. David Yates directs.BURLESQUE - NOVEMBER 24 Christina Aguilera plays a small town girl who can sing her socks off, looking for a fresh start in a Los Angeles neo-burlesque club. Cher, Stanley Tucci, Kristen Bell, Alan Cumming, and Eric Dane star. Steve Antin directs this musical drama.RED DAWNDan Bradley is remaking the 1984 teen war drama starring Chris Hemsworth, Josh Peck, Adrianne Palicki, Josh Hutcherson, Isabel Lucas, Edwin Hodge, Connor Cruise, and Jeffrey Dean Morgan. Mid west youngsters battle Chinese and Russian Commies. Good luck with that. THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: THE VOYAGE OF THE DAWN TREADER - DECEMBER 10Michael Apted is taking the reins of the next instalment of the Pevensie children’s adventures in the wardrobe. Ben Barnes, Skandar Keynes, Georgie Henley, William Moseley, Anna Popplewell, and Will Poulter return to the magical land and head to the edge of the world. TRON LEGACY - DECEMBER 17

Promo shot from Tron Legacy
Jeff Bridges stars in the 3-D high tech adventure set in a digital world that’s garnering a lot of nerd interest. Beau Garrett, Olivia Wilde, Bruce Boxleitner, Garrett Hedlund, and Michael Sheen star in the story of the gladiator who is reunited with his son after a 25 year disappearance. He’s been living in a dangerous world of mano a mano gaming. Joseph Kosinski directs.YOGI BEARDan Aykroyd, Anna Faris, Justin Timberlake, Tom Cavanagh, and Andy Daly provide voices for the feature version of the beloved Hanna-Barbera cartoon bear and his sidekick Boo-Boo. Eric Brevig directs story of a documentary filmmaker who goes to Jellystone Park and has a yabba dabba doo time.THE GREEN HORNET - DECEMBER 22
The Green Hornet - Seth Rogen is the Green Hornet in Michael Gondry’s re-imagined version of the radio series / comic strip. Nicolas Cage, Cameron Diaz, Jay Chou, Edward James Olmos, Tom Wilkinson, David Harbour, Christoph Waltz, and Edward Furlong add considerable star power. The Green Hornet began his sojourn into crime fighting in 1936. His super power is the sting.LITTLE FOCKERSJessica Alba joins Ben Stiller, Robert DeNiro, Teri Polo, and Blythe Danner as they continue the Focker story five years down the road. There are children now, twins Henry and Ashley. Paul Weitz directs.GULLIVER'S TRAVELSJack Black is Gulliver, a travel writer sent to the Bermuda Triangle, finds himself instead in Lilliput where everyone is super small. Emily Blunt, Jason Segel, Chris O'Dowd, Amanda Peet, and Olly Alexander play his tiny new friends. It’s based on the Jonathan Swift satire on human nature and traveler’s tall tales.LIFE AS WE KNOW ITKatherine Heigl and Josh Duhamel star in this comedy about two people named as caregivers to an orphaned girl when their mutual friends die in a car crash. Josh Lucas, Jean Smart, and Christina Hendricks co-star for director Greg Berlanti.   What movies are you most looking forward to this year? Leave a comment below.