Preview: 2007

For most of 2006 I did­n’t watch many films: the usu­al sus­pects like Superman and Pirates and a few good­ies at the Festival – but since September I’ve seen everything. Too many, one might say. Anyway, I’m not qual­i­fied to do a review of 2006 (and I’ve nev­er been much of a one for look­ing back when for­wards is much more inter­est­ing) so here is a guide to some of the anti­cip­ated high­lights of 2007. These are a few that I’m look­ing for­ward to.

Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett kick-off with Babel early in January with Mel Gibson’s Apocalypto soon after. The entire female cast of Almodóvar’s Volver won the best act­ress prize at Cannes in 2006 – also January.

Shortbus won’t be up for any awards but I missed it dur­ing the Festival and heard great things. Will Smith bookends the year with The Pursuit of Happyness in January and I Am Legend in December. Stallone brings Rocky Balboa out of retire­ment one last time in February, Robert De Niro dir­ects, and stars with Matt Damon, in the story of the CIA, The Good Shepherd. The Oscar front-runner already is Clint Eastwood’s Letters from Iwo Jima, com­pan­ion piece to this year’s Flags of our Fathers but from the Japanese per­spect­ive. Cate Blanchett will be bat­tling Judi Dench for best act­ress, both are in Notes on a Scandal.

March sees the kiwi com­edy hor­ror Black Sheep arrive along­side the new film from the Shaun of the Dead cre­at­ors: Hot Fuzz. George Clooney and, yes, Cate Blanchett AGAIN go noir in The Good German. First Fest of the year, the World Cinema Showcase starts on March 29.

Taika Cohen’s Eagle Vs Shark is due in April, as is the Latin American Film Festival. May is sequel month with Spider-Man 3, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End and 28 Weeks Later all tak­ing up screen space. Also in May you get a chance to make a film of your own: 48HR Film Comp shoot week­end is 18–19 May.

Will Ferrell’s latest sport is speed-skating in Blades of Glory (June) fol­lowed by more sequels: Ocean’s 13 and Shrek 3. In July Michael Bay blows stuff up in Transformers, Bruce Willis finally returns as John McClane in Live Free or Die Hard, The Simpsons hit the big screen and Wellington enjoys the 36^th International Film Festival.

The Coen Brothers adapt Cormac McCarthy in No Country for Old Men (August) and Matt Damon returns in The Bourne Ultimatum. There’s anoth­er Harry Potter due in September and Kiwi-Samoan hor­ror The Tattooist is also pen­cilled in for September along with the next Pixar anim­a­tion Ratatouille.

Viggo Mortensen teams up with Naomi Watts and dir­ect­or David Cronenberg for Eastern Promises, a thrill­er about the Russian mafia in London (September). Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig remake Invasion of the Body Snatchers in The Invasion, due in November. Jerry Seinfeld’s anim­ated com­edy Bee Movie hits screens in December along with The Water Horse (shot in Wellington last year and star­ring Ben Chaplin and Emily Watson) but my Christmas pick for next year is His Dark Materials: The Golden Compass, the first of a tri­logy I really can­’t wait to see. Luckily, there’s plenty to keep me going until then.

Printed in Wellington’s Capital Times on Wednesday December 27, 2006.