Five Most Anticipated Movies of 2012

As we quickly leave 2011 in our dust, now seems like an ideal time to discuss the most intriguing releases which are coming to theaters this year. Here are five of the movies I'm most looking forward to in 2012:

5. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

After the enormous critical and financial success of The Lord of the Rings trilogy in the early aughts, The Hobbit's adaptation to film was only a matter of time. Luckily Peter Jackson, mastermind behind the original trilogy, has returned to helm the two part continuation of Tolkien's work. Though the first half of the trailer had a lighter tone than one might expect after watching the initial weighty fantasy epics, the return of Peter Jackson, Ian McKellen and Andy Serkis as Gollum has me eagerly awaiting this December's return to Middle Earth.


4. Skyfall (Bond 23)

Unfortunately there's no trailer to show for this one, but despite the letdown that was Quantum of Solace, Daniel Craig has quickly established himself as the best Bond since Sean Connery. With Sam Mendes (director of American Beauty and Road to Perdition)  directing this next installment and Ralph Fiennes and Javier Bardem signed on to the project as the next Bond villains, this sounds like the perfect formula for injecting some life back into this inconsistent franchise.

3. Moonrise Kingdom

Bruce Willis. Bill Murray. Tilda Swinton. Edward Norton. Frances McDormand. Harvey Keitel. Jason Schwartzman. The cast of Wes Anderson's next film Moonrise Kingdom can be described without exaggeration as the stuff dreams are made of. Sparsely described on IMDb, the plot may seem deceptively simple, but as any devotee of Wes Anderson's filmography knows, he specializes in wresting deft characterizations from deceptively simple moments.

2. The Dark Knight Rises

My top two are hardly surprising choices, as both are perfect examples of how to make a trailer the right way. Tantalizing the audience with select thrills, but still leaving much of the plot to the imagination, The Dark Knight Rises promises to deliver a satisfying conclusion to Christopher Nolan's Batman series. I was skeptical about Anne Hathaway's being cast as Catwoman, and I still have my doubts, but the final installment in the latest Batman trilogy is certainly a movie I'll be watching in theaters this summer.

1. Prometheus

I don't think there's another director working today who is as inconsistent as Ridley Scott. On the one hand there are his sci-fi masterpieces (Alien and Blade Runner) and his enjoyable sword and sandal epics (Gladiator and the director's cut of Kingdom of Heaven) and on the other hand there's... everything else (A Good Year, Robin Hood, Hannibal, G.I Jane... yuck). With Prometheus, Ridley Scott seems to have returned to form. Exploring once again the dark, dank Alien universe--though details on the plot are still scarce, the trailer certainly suggests Prometheus is at least tangentially related to the Alien quadrilogy--and working with an appealing cast (Charlize Theron, Michael Fassbender, Noomi Rapace and Idris Elba, just to name a few), this film looks to be Ridley Scott's best effort in over a decade.





Also, this has nothing to do with anything, but just because it amused me, here's the audio of The Dark Knight Rises trailer synced up with The Lion King. Enjoy!