First off, the main reason I’m doing this is because I know my list will differ from yours, primarily because I’ve already seen several of the hotly anticipated upcoming films. So I knew I my list would include a few titles that might otherwise go unrecognized as I preview my top ten most anticipated films coming up for November and December of 2011.
That said, I don’t want to overlook any upcoming titles of note, whether I’ve reviewed them or not. So, let’s begin with the films I have seen, move to the titles that just missed the list and then delve into my personal top ten…
In all honesty, if I had not made a personal rule that I couldn’t include films I’d already seen I don’t think I could have done a top ten. It would have had to have been at least a top 15 as films like Melancholia, A Dangerous Method, Rampart, The Artist, Shame and We Need to Talk About Kevin would have had to have made my list.
Fortunately, I’ve seen them and reviewed them, which means I can include them here, with links to my review and their upcoming release date…
- Melancholia [11/11] – (my review)
- The Descendants [11/16] – (my review)
- The Artist [11/23] – (my review)
- A Dangerous Method [11/23] – (my review)
- Rampart [11/23] – (my review)
- Shame [12/2] – (my review)
- Coriolanus [12/2] – (my review)
- We Need to Talk About Kevin [12/9] – (my review)
…and with that we move to the films that fell…
What you’ll notice here, more than anything, are prestige pics, the movies likely to be in the Oscar race. And just because they aren’t in the top ten doesn’t mean I’m not looking forward to seeing them, it basically means my top ten is made up more of films I’m excited to see merely out of interest of being entertained and dazzled just a little bit more than being engrossed in potentially award-winning human drama. You already know I love that stuff and can’t wait to see several of these… they just missed the list. No harm… no foul…
Of the batch, My Week with Marilyn and War Horse came closest to eeking into my top ten, but my curiosity and hope for a couple of other films edged them out.
- J. Edgar [11/9]
- My Week with Marilyn [11/23]
- The Iron Lady [12/16]
- Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows [12/16]
- In the Land of Blood and Honey [12/23]
- We Bought a Zoo [12/23]
- Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close [12/25]
- War Horse [12/25]
With those out of the way let’s get into the top ten films I’m most anticipating.
Now this list includes everything from animation to single room drama, from films involving death-defying visual effects to slow burn British dramas. While there may be plenty of prestige pics in my “just missed” list, I hope at least five of these next films are movies I’ll be talking about well into next year.
Let’s dive in…
10.
Arthur Christmas
November 23
Rango was great and Puss in Boots was a lot of fun and now it’s up to Aardman to bring us yet another solid animated film for 2011 and hopefully a solid holiday film at that.
Aardman has performed well with their Wallace and Gromit stories, but their last attempt at CG-animation with Flushed Away left a lot of people cold. It already looks like they have an excellent Claymation offering on the way in 2012 with The Pirates! Band of Misfits, the question is whether or not they can perform here.
As for the story, it centers on the Claus family, primarily Santa’s clumsy son Arthur (voiced by James McAvoy) who sets out with Santa’s 136-year-old father, Grandsanta (voiced by Bill Nighy), to deliver a present to the one child in all the world who was unfortunately missed on Christmas Eve.
It would be great to add another holiday film to my winter rotation.
