Films to come in 2012.

So here's a post about some of the films I'm excited about for 2012 and some other little bits of gossip etc that are rather interesting!

To begin with there is of course The Dark Knight Rises. This is the culmination of Christopher Nolan's epic 3 part series on Gotham's own protector.

Trailer

Christopher Nolan has really come to the forefront of cinema over the last few years, with the Batman trilogy and Inception. Nolan seems to have used half of the cast from Inception again in this film. I personally, have loved all of his recent films. The Prestige is a few years old now, but follows Nolan's typical epic style in terms of settings and would be my recommendation if you're looking for more of his films. Tom Hardy reappears in this film as Bane and it's great to see him back as a baddie after his early (very young) appearance as the Remen leader in Star Trek Nemesis (not the best film I know but Hardy was a pretty convincing evil sociopath).

The next film that has me squeeing quite a lot is The Hunger Games. I read the books in about two weeks after I saw a trailer.

Trailer

There have been a lot of murmurings about these stories being a rip off of a Japanese book called Battle Royale, but I haven't had a chance to read that or see the film version of it yet so I won't pass judgement. The books of the Hunger Games are well worth a read if you have a few days to spare. The action is gripping and the relationships between the characters believable. My cousin and I had an interesting discussion over who we prefer out of Gale and Peeta but I think by the end of the third book it's an easy decision. Katniss is not an easy heroine to follow but as she grows as a character you come to realise why she does the things she does. Anyway, back to the film and from the trailer it looks like they've stuck fairly closely to the plot in the books. I'm hoping that this film is better than the abysmal I am Number Four. These books are more cherished and it seems as if they have taken more time to insure the actors are right for the roles. I loved Jennifer Lawrence in X-Men First Class and she comes from a well established background in film (I've read that her performance in Winter's Bone is fantastic) as does Josh Hutcherson and various other cast members. There will be huge debates over how well the characters compare between the film and the books and not everyone is going to be happy, I can also see the inevitable production of Peeta and Gale camps. With this set to be bigger than the final Twilight film this year, I just hope that it is everything people (and I include myself in that) are hoping for.

Thirdly, there is The Avengers of course! Having already explained in previous posts how much of a Joss Whedon fan I am, this is going to be a big deal for me (and a lot of other people too). This is not Whedon's only project this year (more on that later) but it is most definitely the most highly anticipated. I'm really not a comics person but I have enjoyed most of the Marvel and DC comics films of late. However, I was disappointed to discover the other day that the main focus of the film will be the Captain America character. Considering that the film brought out last year for this character is possibly the weakest out of those concerning the Avengers characters, this has led many to assume that this is due to some serious ego stroking on the director's part. Whedon himself has said that the reason for this is that Captain America is the one who has woken up in this new time and therefore it makes sense to shoot the film from his point of view. BUT, everyone knows which character has been best received and it has to be Iron Man with the wonderful Robert Downey Jr. There are so many other great characters in this: Samuel L. doing what he does best, Scarlett looking hot as and I could go on but I guess we'll all just have to wait and see what Mr. Whedon comes up with. I, for one, will be withholding judgement just because it's him and did I mention that I LOVE HIM! Here's the trailer anyway:

Trailer


Other little bits and pieces I would like to mention include the fact that filming has started on Star Trek XII, I'm sorry I refuse to call it Star Trek 2, because it really isn't. Someone asked me the other day if I was a trekkie or a trekker and I said can't you be both? I digress, the supremely talented Benedict Cumberbatch has been cast as the villain which makes me more excited if that's at all possible.

What else... Katee Sackhoff has been cast in the next Riddick Chronicles film which again is very exciting. She announced it a few weeks ago on Twitter and I saw it on SFX the other day. I wasn't sure about Pitch Black but The Chronicles of Riddick was very good at being what it set out to be, nothing more nothing less. And I will very excited to see Katee kicking some ass again as she's kind of awesome.

On a slightly more artistic note, Joss Whedon has directed (and produced) I believe a film version of Much Ado About Nothing with some of everyone's favourite sci-fi actors (mostly from Firefly). I was lucky enough to see David Tennant and Catherine Tate in Much Ado last year in London and would be very intrigued to see how Whedon deals with the plot. See http://muchadothemovie.com for (not many) details.

I think that's about it for now. I will probably think of more things to say shortly. I always do.

What's been going on.

Thought I'd do a post about things I've liked lately and things I've discovered.

Firstly, I've started posting on Gateworld, and what fun I've had! I couldn't believe how nice everyone is over there. It's great to get to chat to people from all over the world who have the same interests and same sense of humour, in some cases, as yourself.

There's been a lot of great TV, particularly in the UK, on at the moment and I'd like to say a bit about that. The Misfits finale was unbelievably moving, Simon and Alisha's storyline has been one of my favourites on TV since they got together in series 2. And now with them locked in the never-ending time loop thingy it was beyond tragic!

Merlin also finished a couple of weeks ago. Now, this is one of my guilty pleasures as it is so ridiculous and over the top BUT completely addictive. The finale again was very good, with plenty of battle scenes and I really enjoyed the play on the Excalibur myth (or was it a play?).

What else... I'm really into Once Upon a Time, I like to play the game of spot the extra. There seems to be a group of actors who have appeared in nearly all the Canadian sci-fi/fantasy shows and OUAT is no different. Watching one of the new episodes I spotted Kelly from BSG (but he's been in plenty of other things too).

Big news for me this week was the end of Sanctuary season 4. After a great build up this season in the tense feelings between various characters (the episode in the caves was just a fantastic piece of writing of the relationship between Magnus and Will), the finale felt like a definite piece of wrapping up by the writers. The Sanctuary has been destroyed and Will and Magnus have come to what feels like a more equal point in their relationship. There are definitely questions still to be answered (such as what happened to Biggie) but with the fate of season 5 looking more and more gloomy, I think the final vision of the beautiful new sanctuary could be our last glimpse at this wonderfully original series. I'm really saddened by this, because, aside from the fact that I'm a huge AT fan, the series has been a breath of fresh air and it would be a great shame to lose another sci-fi series.

Think I will put up a post soon about some of the films I'm looking forward to in 2012 (oh I can't begin to explain how excited I am for this year!), I'm off to catch up on some more telly.