Quite an unusual docket is shaping up for 2012, 2013 and beyond.  Despite the usual shit Hollywood shovels, there are some upcoming films worth talking about.

First up on the horizon is the new news around the film adaptation of Ron Rash’s Serena, which ranks as one of my favorite novels of this century and I instantly imagined as a There Will Be Blood meets Macbeth in the Carolina Highlands film epic.  Originally, and promising though preditable, Darren Aronofsky had been on tap to direct with Angelina Jolie in the lead role.  But now the tides have shifted, and Oscar winner Susanne Bier is taking the helm.  It’s definitely out of Bier’s comfort zone, but if handled right, it could be a breakthrough for the Danish director and she definitely has the chops to put on an interesting spin – but it could also be a disaster. 

Even more inspired is the choice of Jennifer Lawrence in the lead role.  She seems way too young, but as Winter’s Bone showed, she’s capable of being a true chameleon while getting down and dirty, and along with Bier, she has the opportunity to really turn heads here.  Less inspired and downright troubling is the casting of no-talent ass-clown Bradley Cooper, a smug comedic actor who lacks the gravitas needed for playing George Pemberton.  Maybe the idea is to cast someone like him so that Lawrence can really shine – but it’s a gamble – and it will be interesting to see if it pays off.

On the more immediate horizon is the idiotically clever Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter – also based on a popular book and set up to be a summer 2012 tent pole film.   I gotta say this ridiculous thing looks like it has the potential to be hugely entertaining – history be damned.  Check out the slick trailer below:

This, of course, is not to be confused with Steven Spielberg’s upcoming biopic Lincoln starring Daniel Day-Lewis in the lead role and on course for an end of the year Oscar run.  This thing just oozes prestige and Day-Lewis has gotta knock this out of the park.

Now on to upcoming projects from some of my favorite working directors…

Also this summer there is a little film you may have heard of from a chap named Christopher “Fritz” Nolan.  Something about a dark knight rising from the grave?  Is this, like Honest Abe Bloodsucker Puncher, a horror film?  I jest, of course.  Is it too early to buy advance tickets for this?

Then we have – Sweet Zeus’ Ghost !- not one, not two – but three, count ’em three upcoming films from the once reclusive Terrence “T-Bone” Malick.  First up is an unnamed meditation on adultery in 1950’s Texas starring Ben Affleck (yuck) and Rachel McAdams (double yuck).  Principal photography has long since been completed so we might see this by the end of the year though my betting money would be on a Cannes 2013 premier. 

Then there is a mirrored set of films starring a revolving door of Oscar winners like Natalie Portman, Cate Blanchett and Christian Bale (among others) titled Lawless and Knight of Cups.  Oh, wait, and did I forget about the documentary Voyage of Time – allegedly made of extended creation and destruction sequences from The Tree of Life? Yeah, we might finally get to see that too in our lifetime!

Then, last, but certainly not least – bright on my radar – is Paul Thomas “I Drink Your Milkshake” Anderson’s The Master – a thinly veiled exploration of the leader of a Scientology-like cult starring Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams and Joaquin Phoenix.  We might see this by year’s end, too (totally stoked!) – lest the Mayan Apocalypse takes us out (total bummer!). 

Some things I’m left wondering about…will we ever see an adaptation of Irene Nemirovsky’s Suite Francaise get off the ground?  And isn’t it about time for a new spin on Dracula?  In the wake of Twilight – it seems vampires need to be put back in the proper darkness, dontcha think?

Written by David H. Schleicher

What films bubbling on the horizon are you most intrigued by?