Must see!

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 06/01/2012 (5006 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

If you saw and gave credence to the movie 2012 a couple of years back, you might not want to go to movies at all.

But assuming you don’t believe the world is facing an imminent far-reaching catastrophe as semi-predicted by ancient Mayans, you may still prioritize a night out at the movies. And if you do, the movies have something to offer.

 

1. Newer/Better Theatres

 

The impending closure of the cheap Cinema City venue on McGillivray Boulevard at Kenaston is, of course, a reason for many Winnipeggers not to go to movies in 2012. But for those willing to splurge, the first-run cinemas opening on the site of Cinema City, Cineplex Odeon McGillivary & VIP Cinemas and will offer up three new-to-Winnipeg VIP screening rooms in addition to eight traditional auditoriums. For a $6 premium on top of regular admission prices, patrons 18 and older get expanded leg room, high back leather seats, reserved seating and a more upscale choice of food and beverages that may be delivered directly to your seat.

There is good news for the budget-conscious however. The cheapest first-run multiplex in town, the Towne, and one of the most convenient cinemas (love that free indoor parking) The Globe are getting upgrades. By the end of January, both cinemas will be 100% digital according to Landmark Cinemas’ chief operating officer Neil Campbell. One of the Globe cinemas will be 3-D ready and three of the Towne cinemas should be able to accommodate 3-D film screenings as well, although Campbell asserts the Globe will continue to feature more adult/art fare. While there is a $3 premium on 3-D shows, admission prices will stay the same, Campbell says.

 

2. Because Juliette Hagopian says so

 

Hagopian, the industrious and prolific local producer at Julijette Inc. has credits on no less than three locally shot theatrical features due for release in 2012 including the apocalyptic thriller The Divide (which will be getting a gala premiere screening in Winnipeg on Jan. 17 prior to an as yet unspecified release), the true crime story Perfect Sisters starring Oscar-nominated Abigail Breslin and Oscar-winning Mira Sorvino, and Sean Garrity’s kinky comedy My Awkward Sexual Adventure, written by and starring Jonas Chernick.

More reasons to support your local film community: Director Michael Dowse’s hockey comedy movie Goon. A caustic delight of love, romance, self-actualization and gratuitous violence, it is the best hockey movie since Slap Shot and it opens Feb. 24. Guy Maddin’s Keyhole, likely in theatres this spring, offers a dark, strange conjunction of Homeric odyssey, gangster film and nightmare, all delivered in Maddin’s distinctive style. Stay tuned for first-time director Shelagh Carter’s award-winning drama Passionflower, which won actress Kristen Harris an acting award at last year’s Vancouver International Film Festival .

 

3. Cronenberg squared

 

Since 2011 was a rather dismal year for Canadian film, Incendies notwithstanding, our nation’s cinema is ripe for a comeback. This year could be promising for no other reason that a double bill of David Cronenberg starting with his Freud vs. Jung drama A Dangerous Method (Jan. 13) starring Michael Fassbender, Viggo Mortensen and Keira Knightley. Expect still more Cronenbergian provocation later this year with Cosmopolis, starring Robert Pattinson, Jay Baruchel and Paul Giamatti. Meanwhile, DC’s son Brandon Cronenberg gets in on the act with Antiviral, an upcoming sci-fi tale about people who pay to get infected with celebrity viruses, proving the old adage that the acorn never falls far from the mutant, fleshy tree.

 

4. Originality counts

 

Coming from a year when all top 10 box office movies were either sequels or franchises, originality counts more than ever. In 2012, we’ll see The Dictator (May 11) Sacha Baron Cohen’s interpretation of a story by Saddam Hussein). Ted (July 3) is the story of a grown man and his teddy bear starring Mark Wahlberg and directed by Family Guy iconoclast Seth MacFarlane. Looper (Sept. 28) is a curious combination time travel/action movie starring Bruce Willis from director Rian Johnson (Brick). Savages (Sept. 28), from director Oliver Stone, concerns a California trio of marijuana growers facing off against a vicious Mexican cartel. The Gangster Squad (Oct. 19) stars Sean Penn as Mickey Cohen, a crime kingpin in the golden age of Hollywood, with Josh Brolin and Ryan Gosling as a pair of outsider cops out to take him down. (Think The Untouchables in 1949 L.A.)

Finally, Gravity (Nov. 21) stars Sandra Bullock and George Clooney as a pair of space-walking astronauts cut loose and facing imminent death in the far reaches of space.

 

5. Second Life … in 3-D!

 

The recent successful theatrical release of The Lion King in 3-D has released the floodgates of 2-D movies being retrofitted for 3-D, including Beauty and the Beast (Jan. 13), Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace (Feb. 10), Titanic 3-D — because it didn’t make enough money the first time around (April 6), and Finding Nemo 3-D (Sept. 14).

 

6. Old franchises get new life

 

How do you make a Bourne movie without Jason Bourne? We’ll learn the answer in The Bourne Legacy (Aug. 3) starring Jeremy Renner as a government agent presumably gifted with Bourne’s deadly abilities.

Expect less drastic changes in other franchises. After Quantum of Solace, James Bond has some compensating to make, but we’re hopeful Daniel Craig may deliver with Skyfall (Nov. 9).

The Dark Knight Rises (July 20) finishes off Christopher Nolan’s ambitious take on Batman. Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance pairs the most badass Marvel comic book hero (Nicolas Cage) with a pair of badass directors (Neveldine/Taylor of Crank fame/notoriety). Men in Black III (May 25) throws a time travel wrinkle in the sci-fi franchise, which allows Josh Brolin to take over from the grumpy Tommy Lee Jones as a younger version of Agent K. And finally, Quention Tarantino resurrects a fairly obscure (in the U.S. anyway) spaghetti western hero with Django Unchained (Dec. 25) starring Jamie Foxx as a freed slave turned bounty hunter. This promises to do for American black history what Inglourious Basterds did for the Second World War.

 

7. Old (franchises) makes way for the new (franchises)

 

Prometheus (June 8), the under-wraps sci-fi epic from director Ridley Scott, promises something to do with Scott’s 1979 sci-fi classic Alien. Spider-man gains an adjective and a new star in Andrew Garfield in the rebooted The Amazing Spider-Man (July 3). In the vacuum created by the departing Harry Potter series comes a potentially new youth-oriented series, The Hunger Games (March 23) starring Jennifer Lawrence. And years after the last Lord of the Rings movie, Peter Jackson returns to Tolkien’s Middle Earth with the two-part version of The Hobbit. Part one, An Unexpected Journey is expected Dec. 14.

Promising humongous box office is the ultimate catch-all franchise, Marvel’s The Avengers (May 4) uniting Marvel heroes Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, The Incredible Hulk, and Scarlett Johanssen in a catsuit.

At the end of the year, Brad Pitt brings his box office muscle to the saturated zombie genre with World War Z (Dec. 21)

 

8. Old Stories get new twists

 

The re-evaluated fairy tale genre (Red Riding Hood) kicks into high gear in 2012 with two different Snow White movies: Mirror Mirror (March 16) and Snow White and the Huntsman (June 1), starring respectively Julia Roberts and Charlize Theron as the Evil Queen.

Jack the Giant Killer (June 15) is director Bryan Singer’s modern-day retelling of the old classic. But for something a little different, there’s Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters, (March 2) starring Jeremy Renner and Gemma Arterton as once-victimized siblings out for payback.

 

9. Something for the kids

 

The folk who gave us Wallace and Gromit are behind the pirate ‘toon The Pirates! Band of Misfits (March 30). The folks at Pixar are behind the distaff adventure Brave (June 22). And Tim Burton is behind the feature-length remake of his classic short Frankenweenie (Oct. 5).

 

10. Dark matter

 

This may be an especially promising year for horror, starting with ex-wizard Daniel Radcliffe facing a different supernatural menace in the ghost story The Woman in Black (Feb. 3). John Cusack portrays Edgar Allen Poe as a kind of detective tracking a Poe-inspired killer in The Raven (March 9). The Joss Whedon-produced The Cabin in the Woods (April 13) looks like a novel take on the titular horror staple. Tim Burton rises again with Johnny Depp to do over the gothic melodrama that is Dark Shadows (May 11). Finally, the title of The Great Emancipator apparently doesn’t apply to the undead, as you’ll see in Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter (June 22).

randall.king@freepress.mb.ca