Well it is that time of year to see how my most anticipated films of the year turned out. I have to admit, there were quite a few disappointments found on the list though none of these films were really that bad. It’s just that marketing campaigns set up a certain level of expectation for a film, and it can’t always live up to the hype. And yes I should have put the last installment (for now) of the Star Wars saga on my list. It would have been one of the ones that lived up to my expectations. Let’s see how I fared.
1. War of the Worlds
I’m not sure what happened to this one. It was big, and loud, and Tom Cruise certainly had a lot of publicity this year but it just didn’t meet my big expectations. The aliens were surprisingly flat and the acting was a little over the top. One exception here is Tim Robbins who did a great job with the small part that he was given. But this definitely was not the film event of the year that it was expected to be.
2. Serenity
Though I thought that this was a quintessential sci-fi fantasy film and probably a new favorite to add to the DVD collection apparently many of you disagreed. Although the buzz for this film was great and the rollout seemed to be gaining steam no one went to see this picture. Of course Amazon still has it listed in the top three most popular during its pre-order phase so maybe everyone is just waiting to see this at home. It made my list of top movies for the year and I highly recommend watching it if you get the chance.
3. King Kong
I can’t say enough good things about this movie in this article. This film is by far the most fun and best looking film of the year. I can’t wait to buy this on DVD so I can watch it over and over again. An instant classic and the best telling of the King Kong story so far which is saying something since the 1933 original is a gem. They called this the 800 pound gorilla of the holiday season and for once the press wasn’t lying.
4. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is another film that lived up to all of the hype. Mike Newell did a wonderful job adapting the gargantuan fourth book into a feature length film. The PG-13 rating might have scared off a few fans but in general the fan base is growing up along with these characters. Yet another film destined for a prominent place in my DVD collection.
5. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
While I still can’t get that Willy Wonka jingle out of my head that bit of music was the best part of the film. I missed the musical numbers from the first film and the Oompa Loompa’s were just scary. Add in Johnny Depp looking like a dead body and sounding like Michael Jackson and the film was just too creepy to enjoy.
6. Sin City
I still haven’t decided about this one. I felt letdown after I saw the movie but the further I got from it the more I appreciated its graphic novel styling and its rough characterizations. We’ll make this one a draw, it was new and innovative looking but its limited stories left me wanting something more.
7. Batman Begins
This film both lived up to the hype and to the impressive trailer. Batman Begins was thrilling and dark. Gotham looked like a seedy shell with even more dank characters populating its underbelly. Christian Bale did a great job of playing the caped crusader who lives in the gray areas of life. This looks to be the regeneration of a film franchise if they can just avoid the neon and the body armor with nipples.
8. The Producers
This film was good, it was well written and a laugh riot, now if only they had had a director and a cinematographer. Nathan Lane, Matthew Broderick, Uma Thurman, and Will Ferrell give it their all but the movie ends up feeling like an amateur recording of a wonderful play. It could have been one of the top ten musicals of all time, instead it is just a fun film.
9. Kingdom of Heaven
Probably the two greatest disappointments this year both belong to Orlando Bloom in Kingdom of Heaven and Elizabethtown. Bloom as a crusader in a film with a decidedly Gladiator feel should have been a can’t miss but somehow it did. Bloom seemed wooden and the film was populated with shallow stereotypes that did little to help the story. It looked good but there was too little to like in this film.
10. The Corpse Bride
Yes it is Tim Burton, yes it has Johnny Depp, yes it is peopled by goth looking cartoon characters. Somehow I felt that I had seen this movie before but with better songs. The story here was not bad but there was some magic missing. This film was no The Nightmare Before Christmas, not that it should be penalized for that, but since that was the expectation it is.
Related posts:
- Ten most anticipated films of 2005
- Ten Most Anticipated Films of 2006
- Ten Most Anticipated Films 2007
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