movies in 2011

really, this is more of a list for me to refer back to as the year goes on than something interesting you'll enjoy reading. but I hope you'll all agree with me that this year looks like it'll be tremendous for movies. at least, a lot better than the last two years.

Hanna - I loved Saoirse Ronan in the Golden Compass. Eric Bana is one of the most underrated actors working today. and of course, Joe Wright. I want to marry his minutes-long tracking shots.
Cold Weather - from Quiet City director Aaron Katz. I loved Quiet City, and I love modern day gumshoe stories like Brick and Mystery Team (I'm even in the process of writing my own mystery-comedy). I think the genre has so much untapped potential.
Paul - Simon Pegg and Nick Frost wrote and star in this movie, alongside Seth Rogen who plays an alien, directed by Greg Mottola (Superbad, which is one of my favorite movies, and Adventureland, which, while being a little self-indulgent and too heavy on Kristen Stewart, wasn't a bad movie at all). plus, it's got Kristen Wiig. I can't wait.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II - I'm a total Harry Potter fag. I'll never understand why Twilight has as many fans as it does, but I totally get Harry Potter fandom. it's an epic coming-of-age story of self-discovery and growing pains, set against a backdrop of gorgeous CGI and likable characters. I'm sad to see the series end, once and for all, but man, I can't wait to see it go down.
30 Minutes or Less - Aziz Ansari, one of my favorite comedians ever (and only one of many great reasons why you should be watching Parks & Recreation), and Jesse Eisenberg (who has seriously won me over so many times over the last few years, I've developed a massive man-crush on him) star alongside Danny McBride and Nick Swardson, two very funny guys, in a movie about two criminals who kidnap a pizza delivery boy and force him to rob a bank? I'm in.
The Muppets - Jason Segal wrote a movie about the Muppets trying to save their theater. what else do you need to know?
Ceremony - I'm a big fan of the Clark & Michael webseries, which was directed by Max Winkler (yeah, Fonzie's son-- he wrote and directed this movie), and Reece Thompson was fantastic in Rocket Science. and for some reason, I love the movie Sky High, so I'm excited to see Michael Angarano in anything.
Win Win - I'm a sucker for these types of movies. it looks really funny and touching (lol) and Paul Giamatti is great in everything, so it stands to reason he'll be great in this. plus, Amy Ryan (swoon).
Sucker Punch - let's get one thing straight-- Emily Browning is the most beautiful girl on the face of the planet. I watched the Uninvited (the GOD-AWFUL remake of a Tale of Two Sisters, my all-time favorite horror movie) just to look at her. so I'm excited to see her in anything. plus, ever since Zack Snyder loudly burst onto the scene, I've been waiting to see what he could do with something that wasn't a remake or adaptation. it'll be great to see what he can do with his own world and characters.
The Green Lantern - when it was announced that not only were they making a Green Lantern movie, but Ryan Reynolds was going to play Hal Jordan-- the role he seemed to be born to play-- I nearly had a heart attack. Green Lantern is my favorite super hero series of all time, and the fact that they're basically adapting Geoff Johns' wonderful Secret Origin story for this makes me even more excited. yeah, Thor and Captain America. whatever. BUT GREEN LANTERN. Green Lantern will be better than Thor and Captain America. calling it now. just saying.
Bridesmaids - wow, what a cast. Kristen Wiig, Maya Rudolph, Ellie Kemper, Jon Hamm, Chris O'Dowd, Wendi McLendon-Covey-- and it even looks pretty funny. I will watch the hell out of this.
Your Highness - I have waited for so long for someone to make a movie like this. it's got cursing, pot smoking, naked girls, James Franco, Danny McBride, Zooey Deschanel, Natalie Portman, it was directed by David Gordon Green (easily one of Hollywood's most versatile directors), and, oh yeah, it's a fantasy movie with magic and monsters and all sorts of stuff. seriously, why has it taken this long for a movie like this to get made? it just looks like one of the most creative and fun movies ever made. I read somewhere that either the movie had no script (just an outline), or a really short script. and the last fantasy-comedy I saw that shared that same description was Army of Darkness, arguably the greatest movie of all time. this ranks pretty high (lololol) on my list of movies to see this year.
Cowboys & Aliens - aside from the "haaaaaaa-durr" title, this looks like a really fun action movie. a Jason Bourne-esque character in the west, fighting aliens with Han Solo. if that description alone doesn't sell you, then you need to get over yourself and stop fawning over Ingmar Begman movies, you jerk.
Sherlock Holmes 2 (working title) - the original Sherlock Holmes was one of my favorite movies of 2009. it was such a breath of fresh air. great acting, great cinematography, great action sequences, great dialogue-- just great. I can't wait to see what they do with the sequel. as I've said before, I'm a huge fan of mysteries, and who's a better detective than Sherlock Holmes? (maybe Batman I guess, but the "world's greatest detective" angle is kind of left out of Christopher Nolan's genre-defining Batman movies, which I'm okay with.)
Tree of Life - Terrence Malick made another movie! and it looks beautiful and mind-blowing! what else?
The Adventures of Tintin: the Secret of the Unicorn - Tintin is easily one of the best adventure comics ever made. he's such a great character and it baffles me to think that we're only just now getting a Tintin movie. plus, it's directed by Steven Spielberg. it's computer animated, which kind of sucks, but it should at least be a lot of fun. I'll like this one based on nostalgia alone.
Zombieland 2 - probably the movie I'm most excited about, this is also one that's still in development and only rumored to come out this year. but wouldn't it be great if it did? Zombieland was such a fun, funny, and genuinely touching movie. not to mention gory. it was able to develop its characters and show them dealing with the way the world was changing around them without making them melodramatic crybabies who are waaaaaay to over the top and completely unbelievable. you grew to care about the characters, so when one of them hurt or was in danger, you cared. even Bill Murray (even if it was entirely because it was Bill Murray). they didn't expect you to care because some ugly chick was crying over her sister's death, a sister we got to know over the course of maybe thirty minutes screen time. they kept the cast short and focused on developing those characters extremely well. I forget what my point was. oh yeah. THE WALKING DEAD IS A TERRIBLE TELEVISION SHOW AND IF YOU LIKE IT, YOU'RE AN IDIOT WHO PROBABLY DIDN'T EVEN GRADUATE FROM HIGH SCHOOL.
Beginners - Ewan McGregor finds out that his newly widowed/newly gay father is dying. he has a dog he talks to and the dog speaks back in subtitles. he falls in love with a French woman. and he narrates the whole thing. this looks like it could be either awful, or wonderful. I can't wait to find out which it is!

I'll probably add more to this as the year goes on. a lot of movies don't even have trailers yet, so who knows. something could pop up out of nowhere and end up being the best movie of all time. this is just a (sort of) short list of movies I want to see this year, and why I want to see them.