Five Movies in 2012 You Should Be Looking Forward to (By People You Know)

                There are many talented people in Hollywood, and I’m not talking about Adam Sandler or Michael Bay.  Oscar winners & nominees, cult & comedic masters, legendary spies & fantastical creatures.  You know a lot of these cast & crew members but are you aware they have movies coming out in the next eleven months?  Well, now you are.

5. Skyfall

                Daniel Craig returns as James Bond for the third time.  This time, he has to defend the dignity and honor of M & MI6 against Javier Bardem.  Co-written by Oscar nominee John Logan and directed by Oscar winner Sam Mendes (American Beauty), this has the potential to be the best technical Bond yet.  Craig & Judy Dench return and are joined by Bardem, Albert Finney & Ralph Fiennes.

4. Dark Shadows

                For the 369^th time (8^th actually), Johnny Depp & Tim Burton collaborate on a movie.  In this one, based on a cult TV show, Depp is a vampire who has interactions with various creatures, including witches, werewolves and ghosts.  Along for the ride this time include Eva Green, Michelle Pfeiffer, Chloe Grace Moretz, Jackie Earle Haley & Helena Bonham Carter (Mrs. Tim Burton).

3. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

                Eleven years since the journey began, in December and the following December Peter Jackson returns to Middle Earth.  This time, we go back to the beginning to when Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman) goes on his first adventure with Gandalf.  Jackson was only supposed to produce with Guillermo Del Toro in the director’s chair but left after the project kept getting delayed by studio bankruptcies, union disputes and lawsuits.  Most of the original cast returns as the characters they played a decade ago, even if they weren’t in Tolken’s novel.

2. This is 40

                Five years after Knocked Up, Judd Apatow revisits the long-suffering married couple Pete & Debbie (Paul Rudd & Leslie Mann).  Filming is finished and the finished project is almost in the can but we have until Christmas because apparently Kristen Stewart as Snow White is way more important.  No Heigl (YAY!!!) or Rogen(awww…) this time around but there is Melissa McCarthy, Albert Brooks, John Lithgow & Jason Segel.

1. Prometheus

                For those of you who have seen the trailer, I know, it looks like Alien.  But Ridley Scott (Alien) swears that (after many rewrites, including the last one by Lost showrunner Damon Lindelof) it isn’t.  It’s similar, but still completely different.  So Noomi Rapace (the original Lisbeth Salander), Michael Fassbender, Charlize Theron, Patrick Wilson & Guy Pearce will not be hiding from creatures they find on a distant planet or anything like that.