Tom & Alissa

The Oscars aren’t even here; I haven’t seen several of the years supposedly best films (Children of Men, Dreamgirls, Letters From Iwo Jima, etc.), but I’m already looking ahead to what films are coming out in 2007 and it’s really going to be the year of the big film. Of course, the following films simply stand out on my radar because they’re part of a recognizable franchise or have a good director attached to them and I’m sure there will be many great small films to come down the pike as well.

Spring brings us several directors indifferent to awards season (if you want a film to seriously compete in awards season it’s generally released Sept-Dec). First off is David Fincher’s (Fight Club, Se7en) first film in five years, Zodiac, followed by Danny Boyle’s (Trainspotting, 28 Days Later) sci-fi flick Sunshine, and then Antoine Fuqua’s (Training Day) film Shooter. Then come the big hitters on three successive weekends in May: Spider-Man 3, Shrek the Third, which and I could care less about, and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End.

The summer’s big tentpole films include: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (I need to catch Alissa up on the first four films), Ocean’s Thirteen (which hopefully has more of a point than the sulf-indulgent second installment), Evan Almighty (starring my new favorite comedian: Steve Carrell), The Simpsons Movie (likely little more than an extend television episode), and The Bourne Ultimatum (as in Jason Bourne who could kick James Bond’s butt). Also buried in there is Wong Kar-Wai’s (2046, In the Mood for Love) Blueberry Nights starring Norah Jones (among others), so that should be interesting.

Well those are the films I’m looking forward to; there are other big ones out there, but I’m expecting them to suck. After all the moody films of award seasons I’m actually looking forward to the fun times Hollywood dreck and seeing some stuff blown up.

Anyway, if you haven’t seen Volver or Little Miss Sunshine you should.