Movie Reviews’ top 5 fantasy movie picks for 2012
The kind of films that feature on lunch boxes and bedroom posters, here are our top 5 fantasy picks for 2012…
Three
started life as comic books, one as a fairy tale, one as a 1930s kids’
story and all five look pretty exciting to us. These are the big budget
fantasy releases we’re looking forward to seeing in 2012.
After much hype, the Marvel supergroup is finally due set to hit cinemas on April 27th this year as The Avengers
build-up draws to a close. In a series of post-credits sequences, Nick
Fury and S.H.I.E.L.D have brought together their team of Iron Man,
Hawkeye, Black Widow, Thor, Captain America and The Incredible Hulk. The
Avengers, as they say, have assembled.
Andrew Garfield, who acted his socks off in TV drama Boy A and Mark Romanek’s Never Let Me Go,
is a brilliant choice for nerdy Peter Parker, and we can’t chuck enough
praise at Emma Stone or Rhys Ifans, so casting-wise we are two thumbs
up for Mark Webb’s The Amazing Spider-Man.
With Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy very much in mind, it’s
fair to say that threequels are tricky to get right. Something tells us,
however, that Christopher Nolan may just be the man to do it. The
conclusion to Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy is due to arrive just in time to (ahem) clear away the cobwebs on July 20th.
There’s been long enough of a gap between the three films, the second of which came out back in 2008, to have audiences feeling strung out for their Batman fix, and now the long wait is nearly over.
Tom Hardy, Anne Hathaway and Joseph Gordon-Levitt have joined Christian Bale, Michael Caine, and Gary Oldman for the final instalment in the series. As the posters keep reminding us, the legend ends here.
Peter Jackson and the armies of folk behind the Lord of the Rings trilogy created such an immersive world it would have been folly not to re-enter Middle Earth to tell the story of The Hobbit. So that’s exactly what they’ve done. Twice in fact.
The first part of The Hobbit, entitled An Unexpected Journey comes out on December 14th, with the second half, There and Back Again, out the same time the following year.
Martin Freeman looks born to play a young Bilbo Baggins, while his Sherlock co-star Benedict Cumberbatch seems similarly genetically destined to voice dragon Smaug. There’s also a shedload of Brit and Aussie actors to look forward to, from the old guard of McKellan, Blanchett, Bloom et al, to Stephen Fry, Richard Armitage and, most surprising of all, Barry Humphries a.k.a Dame Edna Everage. Who could refuse?
Last year’s coverage was all about the race for Snow White between
two rival takes on the story, but as soon as the first trailers were
released, Rupert Sanders’ dark fantasy Huntsman version leapt miles ahead, leaving Tarsem Singh’s silly but pretty Mirror, Mirror for dust.
Starring Kristen Stewart, Chris Hemsworth and Charlize Theron, Snow White and the Huntsman looks like the decidedly more grown-up version of the story, and transforms Snow into a kickass Joan of Arc-type warrior. Snow White and the Huntman comes out on June 1st. Consider our interest well and truly piqued.
The Avengers
With geek dream Joss Whedon in the driving seat and a good few years of anticipation, there’s a danger that The Avengers
won’t be able to live up to its promise for some fans. Crowding the
frame with too many superpowers was the most prevalent criticism of last
year’s X-Men: First Class, remember. As for us, we’re quietly optimistic that Joss won’t let us down.
The Amazing Spider-Man
Early glimpses also look promising, with what looks
like a much-discussed Nolan influence serving to separate Webb’s film
from Sam Raimi’s brighter, lighter trilogy. The Amazing Spider-Man comes to cinemas on the patriotic date of July 4th.
The Dark Knight Rises
There’s been long enough of a gap between the three films, the second of which came out back in 2008, to have audiences feeling strung out for their Batman fix, and now the long wait is nearly over.
Tom Hardy, Anne Hathaway and Joseph Gordon-Levitt have joined Christian Bale, Michael Caine, and Gary Oldman for the final instalment in the series. As the posters keep reminding us, the legend ends here.
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
The first part of The Hobbit, entitled An Unexpected Journey comes out on December 14th, with the second half, There and Back Again, out the same time the following year.
Martin Freeman looks born to play a young Bilbo Baggins, while his Sherlock co-star Benedict Cumberbatch seems similarly genetically destined to voice dragon Smaug. There’s also a shedload of Brit and Aussie actors to look forward to, from the old guard of McKellan, Blanchett, Bloom et al, to Stephen Fry, Richard Armitage and, most surprising of all, Barry Humphries a.k.a Dame Edna Everage. Who could refuse?
Snow White and the Huntsman
Starring Kristen Stewart, Chris Hemsworth and Charlize Theron, Snow White and the Huntsman looks like the decidedly more grown-up version of the story, and transforms Snow into a kickass Joan of Arc-type warrior. Snow White and the Huntman comes out on June 1st. Consider our interest well and truly piqued.
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