The Waiting is the Hardest Part: Movies I Can’t Wait to See

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When you’re a huge movie fan, you’re liable to find out about lots and lots of projects well in advance of their release dates. This forces you into a very difficult position. You have to wait until it finally reaches theaters. Or when you don’t live in a movie mega-hub like Austin, Los Angeles, or New York, you’re forced to wait until the film hits DVD, Netflix Instant, or any of the other various viewing methods available. Right now, I’m extremely anxious to see an awful lot of films but I have to wait them out. Here’s what I can’t wait to see:

Hugo Cabret
Martin Scorsese’s latest work revolves around an orphan living in the walls of a train station. It’s a period piece, taking place in the 1930’s, and the cast is phenomenal. It features Johnny Depp, Jude Law, Ben Kingsley, Chloe Moretz, and Ray Winstone, amongst others. It also stars Christopher Lee, the Patron Saint of Hammer Horror films. Most intriguing to me is that it’s going to be shot in 3D. I tend to scoff at the technology because it’s been around for such a long time and yet it’s treated as if it’s a brand new toy. But when someone as skilled as Scorsese chooses to film in 3D, it gives me great pause. Hugo Cabret is scheduled to release on November 23rd this year, per IMDb. 

Attack the Block
This is the film that took Austin’s SXSW by storm in March. It was written and directed by Joe Cornish, a British comedian who’s been popping up in some very big places recently. Attack the Block represents his directorial debut and he worked together with the Shaun of the Dead/Hot Fuzz team to get it made. Edgar Wright served as the Executive Producer, longtime Wright collaborator Nira Park produced the film, and Nick Frost stars. Billed as “Inner City vs. Outer Space”, I have yet to see a bad review. In fact, some of the resources I trust most have been positively glowing about it. I dare you to read this review from Film Crit Hulk! and not get excited about the film. The UK release date is this week, and Sony Pictures has bought the film for American distribution. I have no clue when we’ll see it here in the U.S. but we will see it at some point. That day can’t come soon enough. Here’s the trailer:

The Master
This has been an on again, off again proposition from P.T. Anderson but Slash Film popped the cork on some huge news this week- Anderson’s film tentatively titled The Master is back on, and shooting begins on June 13th. The synopsis found at Deadline:

Hoffman stars as a man who returns after witnessing the horrors of WWII and tries to rediscover who he is in post-war America. He creates a belief system, something that catches on with other lost souls.

To me, this sounds like the type of film that hearkens back to 70’s cinema, exploring deeper themes and weighty subject matter. Putting aside how exciting it is for Anderson to be making any film for the first time since 2007’s There Will be Blood, it simply sounds like an incredible movie. In Anderson’s hands, it’ll have every chance to be something truly special.

Frankenstein’s Army
Yet another film that I became aware of thanks to Slash Film, here’s the synopsis:

Toward the end of World War II, Russian soldiers pushing into eastern Germany stumble across a secret Nazi lab, one that has unearthed and begun experimenting with the journal of one Dr. Victor Frankenstein. The scientists have used the legendary Frankenstein’s work to assemble an army of supersoldiers stitched together from the body parts of their fallen comrades – a desperate Hitler’s last ghastly ploy to escape defeat.

The film apparently uses vintage newsreel footage as the building blocks to make (drumroll please) a Nazi Zombie movie. What the world needs now is Nazi Zombies, sweet Nazi Zombies. It’s such a goofy sub-genre and if you like horror at all, then you realize how fun Nazi Zombies are and the potential for this whole idea. Here’s the teaser footage released for the film:

Django Unchained
News broke a few months back that Quentin Tarantino’s next film would be a spaghetti western. And now, rumors persist that it’s a film about a former slave who tries to rescue his wife from an evil plantation owner. Really, you had me at “Tarantino” and “spaghetti western”. This is likely a long way off, so it may be the longest wait on this list. But it will almost certainly be rewarding.

Melancholia
Lars von Trier follows up on his highly controversial Antichrist by bringing back Charlotte Gainesbourg and pairing her with Kirsten Dunst. Von Trier is very much a love-or-hate director with not much room in between. I’m a fan, and I’m anxious for the November release date. The poster art promises a film that should be very Lars Von Trier-y.

Keyhole
Guy Maddin has a new film that’s currently in post-production. It stars an interesting cast featuring quite a bit of name recognition for a Maddin film: Jason Patric, Udo Kier, Kevin McDonald, and frequent Maddin star Isabella Rossellini. Maddin is known for weaving homages to silent films, ripe with surrealism and mise-en-scene. The plot to Keyhole references gangsters, which leaves me to wonder if he’s not moving his roots forward 10 or 20 years in homage to the wonderful pre-Hayes Code gangster films of the 1930’s. Sadly, I’m not sure that this film is going to hit any theater in my area and I’ll wind up having an even longer wait for it to reach Netflix Instant or DVD.

The Innkeepers
I am the world’s biggest sucker for haunted house and/or ghost stories, whether it be on TV or film or in literature. When I found out that Ti West’s follow-up to The House of the Devil was scheduled to be a haunted house film, I knew I was hooked. Like Attack the Block, it premiered at SXSW and got a glowing review from my favorite critic, Peter Hall. Not that it needed the review for my interest to be piqued. I can’t seem to find a wide release date and I sort of assume I’ll be watching it on DVD. With any luck, I’ll be watching it sometime in October.