Directors Quick Poll - Top 5 most anticipated upcoming 05 films (1 Viewer)

Quick Poll - Top 5 most anticipated upcoming 2005 films

1. Sin City - Big Frank Miller fan & from all indications Rodriquez doesn't pull any punches

2. Star Wars Revenge of the Sith - What can I say, I grew up with the films and this is supposed to be the pay-off of this trilogy.

3. Batman Begins - dig Christopher Nolan & the cast is stellar. Will hopefully erase the memory of Batman & Robin

4. King Kong - Loved PJ's LOTR trilogy and he should do well with this one. The only drawback is Jack Black.

5. War of the Worlds - Spielberg + classic Sci-fi tale = should be interesting at least

I know all pretty much pedestrian mainstream picks & no foreign/indie/arthouse fare, but there it is.

What are your top 5?

Mine would be:

1) Untitled Steven Spielberg Project - Drama about the Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Games and the aftermath. Easily the frontrunner at this point for the Academy Awards next year.

2) Elizabethtown - Cameron Crowe hasn't stepped wrong yet. All of his films were in my top 10 for their respective years with Almost Famous #1 in 2000. Terrific cast with Orlando Bloom, Kirsten Dunst, Susan Sarandon, Bruce McGill.....

3) War of the Worlds - Steven Spielberg's sci-fi films are among the best ever made. His last sci-fi, Minority Report, was my #1 for 2002.

4) King Kong - After the LOTR trilogy, Peter Jackson is on my Short List of Director's that I will see anything by.

5) Batman Begins - A dream cast plus being under the direction of the man who gave us one of the best films of the last several years, Memento, equals a must see for me.

It's no coincidence that the 4 director's above are on my short list.

I agree completely (SW for me would be #1 though) my list would include the same films:


1. Sin City - Big Frank Miller fan & from all indications Rodriquez doesn't pull any punches

2. Star Wars Revenge of the Sith - What can I say, I grew up with the films and this is supposed to be the pay-off of this trilogy.

3. Batman Begins - dig Christopher Nolan & the cast is stellar. Will hopefully erase the memory of Batman & Robin

4. King Kong - Loved PJ's LOTR trilogy and he should do well with this one. The only drawback is Jack Black.

5. War of the Worlds - Spielberg + classic Sci-fi tale = should be interesting at least

1. Batman Begins
2. Memoirs of a Geisha
3. Match Point (Anything with Jonathan Rhys-Meyers.)
4. The Island
5. A History of Violence

Just a random list of things of strong interest as my memory is pretty bad.

1-Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith - I am a Star Wars freak, and the trailers look spectacular.

2-Kingdom of Heaven - Ridley Scott rarely disappoints, and I am ready for a great epic after some recent letdowns (Troy, I am looking in your direction).

3-Sin City - Need I say more?

4-Cinderella Man - I had no interest in this one until the trailers were released. I think this one could pick up some Oscars. Howard, Crowe, and Giamatti could easily be in the running.

5-Untitled Spielberg Olympics Project - This is on the list mainly out of curiosity. It doesn't seem like Spielberg material to me for some reason, and I am interested to see what he does with it.

I am not sure of any other movies that are coming out this year, but I like your choices Jim, however, I would change the order around:

1. Star Wars III
2. King Kong (Peter Jackson is hot right now)
3. War of the Worlds
4. Batman Begins
5. Sin City (Only because I am unsure of the other major releases coming out this year)

Well ... I'm a Sci-Fi/Fantasy nut, so my Top Five are:

King Kong - Not only to see the new Peter Jackson "reimaging" but also due to the fact that it will finally prompt the DVD release of the original 1933 version. (Yeah ... I know the studio is stating that it's just a wild coincidence that we're finally getting the original on DVD at the same time that the new movie is ramping up for its theatrical debut. Pu-lease!!!)

Star Wars - Episode III - Revenge of the Sith - For all the usual reasons.

Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy - Don't Panic! It's almost here!

Batman Begins - I'm ready for another stylistic entry into the Batman movie franchise.

Serinity - The continuation of Firefly.

Honorable mention: War of the Worlds - Although, I'll probably wait for the DVD ...

This probably won't get a 2005 release in the U.S so I doubt I see it this year, but if I could see only one movie coming out this year it would be:

Manderlay - The 2nd film in Lars Von Trier's America Trilogy

A distant 2-5

Twilight of the Dead - or Dead Reckoning, or whatever the final title is for Romero's 4th Dead film

Howl's Moving Castle - since this has now been delayed until Summer.

Cache - Michael Haneke's latest starring Juliette Binoche and Daniel Autueil. Probably another one that won't get a 2005 US release though.

Revenge of the Sith - though I'm expecting to be disappointed after the craptacular episode II.

I'm hoping Sin City is good, but the bloom is off the Rodriguez rose for me. I hope Batman is good, but I was much more interested in seeing The Dark Knight Returns or some well known comic story than another movie reinvention. King Kong....? WOW, if it weren't for Spielberg directing, I probably wouldn't even bother seeing it.

I forgot to mention Wallace and Gromit

Revenge of the Sith is my #1 all time most anticipated title ever. Episode I was a severe letdown (didn't make it into my top 100 films ever list hence it's no longer a part of my DVD collection) and Episode II is my all time favorite film (hence why over the past year or so why films 2-100 on my best list have been neglected because #1 gets all os the airtime) this should be a good year. I'd like to see Batman Begins, but considering it's the followup to one of the worst movies I've ever seen (Batman + Robin) I won't be holding my breath.

1. Revenge of the Sith
2. 2046
3. Howl's Moving Castle
4. The New World
5. Old Boy

Manderly takes fifth if it comes out in the US this year.

1. Star Wars
2. King Kong
3. Howls Moving Castle
4. Chronicles of Narnia
5. Elizabeth Town
runners up: Everything is Illuminated, The Producers

other films of note coming up:>)
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Hitchhikers' Guide
Sin City
2046
Jarhead
Brothers Grimm
Memoirs of a Geisha
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
(Vengeance)
War of the Worlds
Batman Begins
Cincerella Man
New World
Fountain
Longest Yard
Mr. and Mrs. Smith
Island
Corpse Bride
Wallace and Gromet
Weather Man
Eros
Major Dundee
Kingdom of Heaven
Madagascar
Shark Boy and Lava Girl
Herbie Fully Loaded
Bewitched
Hooligan
Hustle and Flow
Kung Fu Hustle
Pink Panther
Oliver Twist
Serenity
Chicken Little
Legend of Zorro
Rent
Three Extremes
MirrorMask
Walk the Line
Zathura
The Great Raid
All the King's Men
Che
In her Shoes
Ask the Dust
Shopgirl
Kingdom of Heaven
Bee Season
Brokeback Mountain
Proof

, but not for the squeamish

I've already seen most of the films that I've been most eagerly anticipating to watch this year like the magnificent 2046 (my #2 in 2004 and could end up as my #1 for 2005), Steamboy, Millions, Downfall, and The Ballad of Jack and Rose [plus maybe within 2 days, a few others in my signature next up list]

2005 World/US Release (hopefully!)

1. The Lady from Shanghai (Kar Wai Wong)
2. Eros
3. Paris, je t'aime (Assayas, Coens, Godard, Van Sant, Salles, Tykwer, Medem, Gondry & co.)
4. Last Days (Van Sant)
5. The Bad News Bears (Linklater)

BB isn't a follow-up/sequel to Batman and Robin (thank goodness!), but rather a starting-over, an origin tale.

Sin City
Batman Begins
The Brothers Grimm
The Fountain
Star Wars Revenge Of The Sith
Havoc (If its ever released)
The Corpse Bride

I have a new one to add - The Aristocrats a documentary that premiered at Sundance. Paul Provenza and Penn Jillette take an old dirty vaudeville joke and get 100 different comedians to talk about the joke and tell it in their own style.

Werner Herzog has a new documentary, Grizzly Man, about a guy who loved to track and study bears but was eventually maimed and killed by one.

1. Batman Begins - An dark and gritty origin story from the director of Memento promises to help us forget all the previous instalments.

2. Sin City - Frank Miller's holy grail and very faithful to the graphic novel. Plus an added touch by Tarantino.

3. Star Wars Episode III: R.O.T.S. - We need to see what made Darth Vader so damned pissy.

4. A Scanner Darkly - Another film version of a Philip K. Dick story, but let's hope this one does not suck like Paycheck.

5. The Island - Well, this is Michael Bay, without Brukheimer breathing down his back, so you never know. Good cast, so it may be worth a watch.

Honorable mention:
Land of the Dead - A sequel to the classic trilogy that should raise the bar against all the zombie movie clones Romerio inspired.