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<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\nMarch 4, 2011 – *Rango<\/a><\/strong> – Industrial Light and Magic finally tried its hand at animating its own feature instead of just doing effects work. I’m very interested to see what they’ve come up with. The movie seems to be about a chameleon who goes on and wild west adventure of some sort…<\/p>\n March 11, 2011 – *Mars Needs Moms<\/a><\/strong> – These motion capture films always look a bit wonky to me, but I do have a special place in my heart for 3D CGI spaceships.<\/p>\n April 1, 2011 – Source Code<\/a><\/strong> – IMDb says: “An action thriller centered on a soldier who wakes up in the body of an unknown man and discovers he’s part of a mission to find the bomber of a Chicago commuter train.” Supposedly when he fails the mission, he gets to go through it again, so it’s like Groundhog’s Day sci-fi thriller style. Or maybe not, who knows… but it definitely sounds interesting.<\/p>\n April 15, 2011 – *Rio<\/a><\/strong> – Finally some new stuff from Blue Sky Studios! Supposedly the plot of Rio was too similar to Pixar’s previously planned film Newt<\/em>, causing its cancellation; the film is about a bird of rare species who must breed to save his kind. Nothing like an animated romantic comedy to make forced arranged marriage seem OK. But I have no idea if that’s really the story or not…<\/p>\n May 20, 2011 – *POTC: On Stranger Tides<\/a><\/strong> – Yes, I know the sequels were awful, but maybe the absence of certain characters will be a blessing for this one. Plus I want to see what it’s like in 3D.<\/p>\n May 27, 2011 – *Kung Fu Panda 2<\/a><\/strong> – I actually haven’t seen the first one yet, but I’ve heard a lot of good things about it from my animation friends, so I will be sure to check this out.<\/p>\n June 10, 2011 – Super 8<\/a><\/strong> – I don’t know why J. J. Abrams thinks it’s so cool to not reveal plots before the movie comes out. I don’t find it interesting or compelling, I find it annoying. Maybe he doesn’t want people to pre-judge the logline, or maybe he just likes the mysterious attention it gives him? Anyway, the teaser during the Super Bowl looked interesting, so I’ll keep a watch on this one.\u00a0 Personally, I think this is a film based on the classic Magic 8 Ball toy and has nothing to do with cameras, though I did find this description online: \u201cSet in Ohio in 1979, the movie follows six kids who are using a Super 8 camera to make a zombie flick. One night, they end up filming near a set of train tracks and capture a calamitous wreck \u2014 the same one first revealed in last year’s teaser trailer \u2014 and the alien creature that emerges from the wreckage.\u201d<\/p>\n June 24, 2011 – *Cars 2<\/a><\/strong> – It’s Pixar, so I have to go, even though the idea of talking cars still seems too “Putt-Putt” for me.<\/p>\n July 29, 2011 – *Cowboys and Aliens<\/a><\/strong> – Because it’s cowboys and aliens. (So that’s where Thirteen has been…)<\/p>\n October 28, 2011 – Now<\/a><\/strong> – From the director of the awesome sci-fi film Gattacca<\/em>, this sci-fi film takes place in a world where people stop aging at 25 (why, that’s my age! ZOMG!), but then they die at 26 or something weird. And then this guy gets accused of murder or something. The details are sketchy to me. But I definitely want to see this one. (So that’s also where Thirteen has been…)<\/p>\n November 23, 2011 – The Muppets<\/a><\/strong> – I love the Muppets, but The Muppet Christmas Carol<\/a> was the last good Muppet movie. Disney bought the Muppets and I’m sure they want to do something with the franchise. I just hope they can keep that “Henson charm” even though Henson has been gone for so long. These characters are so easy to ruin with the wrong kind of humor.<\/p>\n December 9, 2011 – *Hugo Cabret<\/a><\/strong> – My family members were reading the book and recommended it to me. A children’s book?! I scoffed at such an idea. OK, not really. I started reading it, and was immediately pulled in to the magical mysteriousness of the world and the characters. It is truly a fun book, almost like Victorian steam-punk. But what really excites me about the movie is that it will be directed by Martin Scorsese, who is awesome.<\/p>\n December 28, 2011 – Adventures of Tintin<\/a><\/strong> – I’m not sure about this at all, but it’s a Steven Spielberg directed motion capture animation, I think? I’ll be interested to see what it will look like, but I won’t hold my breath for a compelling story.<\/p>\n Sometime 2011? – Power of the Dark Crystal<\/a><\/strong> – A sequel to the 80’s film Dark Crystal? It sounds interesting, but it would be easy to come up with a lousy story, so I hope they’ve got something compelling… IMDb says: “An evil mysterious girl named Thurma made of fire who lives in the blazing center of the planet steals a shard of the crystal in hopes of reigniting the dying sun! There is only one thing powerful enough to heal the star – a shard of the crystal.” Um… OK. Hmmm… and please<\/em> don’t overdo the CGI. Keep it looking tangible?<\/p>\n Overall, looks like a fun year for movies!<\/p>\n UPDATE:<\/strong> I almost forgot, *Atlas Shrugged: Part I<\/a><\/strong> is scheduled to come out this April.\u00a0 I’m hoping there will also be a part 2?\u00a0 While I think the book is great, I have to admit that I don’t have a lot of faith in a film version; I just don’t think it will translate well.\u00a0 It would be better as a TV miniseries.\u00a0 Still, I’ll definitely watch it.<\/p>\n Oh, and I’ll also be looking out for *Death Note<\/strong><\/a>, based on the manga series<\/a>.\u00a0 (I never actually read the manga, though I’d like to someday; I only watched the anime series based on the manga series, which is awesome.)\u00a0 The story revolves around a student who finds a powerful book (the “Death Note”) that allows him to easily kill people by writing their names in the book.\u00a0 He can also control how they die (with limits).\u00a0 So he sets off to use the book to rid the world of evil; what a lofty noble goal!\u00a0 Meanwhile, the police realize something extremely weird is going on, and try to hunt him down.\u00a0 This has the potential to be a brilliant film, but it also has the potential to be completely awful.\u00a0 Not just because it’s easy to hire awful writers, but because the material itself is kind of… delicate, in my opinion.\u00a0 That is, it’s easy to get the spirit of it wrong, if that makes any sense.\u00a0 Anyway, I’m predicting this will actually be pushed back to 2012 or later or never, because I don’t think there have been any developments on the production at all; I think it’s currently in limbo?\u00a0 We’ll see.\u00a0 The franchise is popular, so I don’t think they’ll forget about it completely.\u00a0 I just pray that they use some of the O Fortuna-esque choir music themes they used in the anime, but they probably won’t just to make me angry.\u00a0 And really, to do the entire series justice, there should be at least a trilogy of films, but I’ll doubt they’ll do that.<\/p>\n Finally, I do want to see what Pixar director Brad Bird handles live-action with Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/a><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/a><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/a><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n