5 Off The Top Of My Head - Unspoken-Of High Expectations

Continuing with my cheer-my-damn-self-up leitmotiv of today, here are five movies randomly chosen that I'm really looking forward to coming out over the next few months that I've hardly said anything about on here. Yes, there are things I haven't really rambled about. Hard to believe, but true! Since I tend to spend a lot of time crowing about upcoming horror and genre films, I miss out on rambling about plenty of other stuff, and I'm so much more than that! Really. Stop looking at me like that.

Sept. 28th - Lust, Caution - This film was the impetus for this list because I was taken by total surprise this morning when the boyfriend asked me if we were going to go see it this weekend. This weekend? It comes out this weekend? Really? I had no idea. None. I realize that due to this thing's having been slapped with an NC-17 the advertising is forced to be extremely limited (no ads on TV, so forth), but I should've had some clue it came out this weekend. But no; no idea. And if someone as Ang Lee obsessed as I thought I was has no idea, your average Mary Jane and Joe Sr. Moviegoer is sure to be even less aware. Not that this thing is gunning for multiplex dominance. And hell, it should probably carry off with some impressive word-of-mouth once it leaves limited release and goes wider down the road, judging by the generally positive reviews and general Lee adoration amongst the art-house crowd. I'm just still sort of in shock that I'll see Ang Lee's follow-up to Brokeback Mountain this weekend. Wowsers.

October 12th - Lars and the Real Girl - After finally getting around to watching Half Nelson and understanding all the praise heaped upon Ryan Gosling's performance, I'm fully on-board with watching whatever he does next. Love the not-unbearably-cutesy quirkiness on display in the trailer, too, but it's the names Emily Mortimer and Patricia Clarkson in the cast that've most sold me on the necessity of seeing it. I mean, just point the camera at them and turn it on, ya know?

November 9th - No Country For Old Men - Word on this film has been so ear-ringingly ecstatic since Cannes that I haven't been able to resist getting caught up in the swell. And then that trailer appeared and kicked my ass, and thoughts of the genius of Fargo cloud any reason I might have left and I feel sweaty with antici..... pation. The fact that it's coming out the same day as Southland Tales has me fretting which I'll see first. Double feature weekend!

December 14th - Juno - My desire to see this sprang up, oh, about some time last week or so, when Roger Ebert et al saw it in Toronto and began foaming at the mouth from its whimsical delights. I wasn't a fan of Thank You For Smoking, director Jason Reitman's first and previous film, but it didn't make me want to tear my esophagus out either, and there was talent there, behind the trying-way-too-hard pains of a first-time filmmaker; you add the fantastic cast - Ellen Page! Michael Cera! Jennifer Garner! Ellen Page! - to the mix and you can consider my enthusiasm stoked.

December 28th - The Orphanage - Alright, it's a horror movie, I caved. But this movie's biggest fan? Is Guillermo Del Toro. Nuff said? For me, most clearly yes. But even besides that, it looks like a delightfully atmospheric ghost story a la The Others, and what better time for such things than Christmas? Cooped up inside away from the cold, avoiding your relatives, shuddering from the sounds of their footsteps creaking on the floorboards outside your room as you hole up wondering why you ever go home for the holidays in the first place.... eep, I'm projecting.
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