Time again for a special edition of



It's another one of my special editions where I don't review movies but talk about movies I've seen that I liked and movies that I'm looking forward to. This is the latter.

2011 has been a huge improvement over the asstacular year that was 2010 in terms of movies. I don't have to write up a best and worst of 2011 list for another four months but I already have a number of movies that could be on both lists, more of them on the best of than the worst of list.

With so many good movies out this year, we are now heading into the part of the year where it really matters, the fall movie season. This is where Hollywood puts out the Oscar caliber movies and the big budget epics as well as the big fantasy epic around Christmastime. It's getting close to that time and there are so many interesting movies that are coming out for the rest of the year.

But which ones am I really looking forward to? Let's find out and begin with the month of

SEPTEMBER:

Why, September? Why not the rest of August? There are a couple of movies I'm interested in seeing over the next two weeks but nothing I'm going to rush out to see. The only one I'm really excited for is Columbiana with Zoe Saldana which comes out on the 26th but that's it.

Anyway, back to the month of September.

APOLLO 18 (SEPTEMBER 2ND) -- The trailers for this got me really excited and it looks freaky as hell. If this does a better job than the two Paranormal Activity movies, I will be fairly impressed.

CONTAGION (SEPTEMBER 9TH) -- Steven Soderbergh is one of my favorite directors and I like how he doesn't stick to one genre of movies, he moderates from genre to genre and as far as I know, this is his first science fiction film (aside from Solaris in 2002). The cast in this would be more than enough to get me in the seat but the trailer makes it look like a better version of Outbreak, a movie I really hate and a mix between Outbreak and 28 Days Later.

WARRIOR (SEPTEMBER 9TH) -- When I first saw the preview for this, I thought it was a ripoff of Rocky and The Fighter. And it is except instead of boxing, it's about Ultimate Fighting. Despite the similarites to Rocky & The Fighter, I'm interested in seeing this because this is the kind of movie that I like to call a "breakout film". A movie that has the potential to be the key factor to igniting the careers of its' stars. In this case, it's Tom Hardy (from Inception and the upcoming The Dark Knight Rises) and Joel Edgerton. The movie looks like it could be really good and I have faith in the director, Gavin O'Connor, who did the fairly entertaining Miracle about the 1980 Miracle On Ice.

MONEYBALL (SEPTEMBER 23RD) -- This has the possibility to be a big oscar contender with stars Brad Pitt and Jonah Hill, Capote director Bennett Miller, and Aaron Sorkin, writer of two of the best movies of the last decade, Charlie Wilson's War and The Social Network. I don't see this being terrible and at the least, I just want the movie to be good. If it's great, then I'll be very happy.

RED STATE (SEPTEMBER 23RD) -- This is more of a curious pick for me. Like with Steven Soderbergh and Contagion, I want to see if Kevin Smith can do something outside of the comedy genre. And the response so far has been mixed so who knows?

50/50 (SEPTEMBER 30TH) -- Another possible oscar contender, this dark comedy about cancer starring Joseph Gordon Levitt and Seth Rogen looks like it could be really entertaining.

WHAT'S YOUR NUMBER? (SEPTEMBER 30TH) -- There's a really good cast on board including Anna Faris, Chris Evans, and Joel McHale and I like the film's story. I'm just hoping it doesn't ends up like The Change Up and be a real piece of shit.

OCTOBER:

THE IDES OF MARCH (OCTOBER 7TH) -- George Clooney is not just a great actor but he's also become a great director too directing really good films like Good Night & Good Luck and Leatherheads and there's a really good cast involved in this film including Ryan Gosling (this is probably going to be his year), Marisa Tomei, Paul Giamatti, Evan Rachel Wood, Phillip Seymoure Hoffman, and Jeffrey Wright.

REAL STEEL (OCTOBER 7TH) -- This looks like it could be like the Transformers movies, stupid and dumb but fun to watch. Hugh Jackman looks like he's having fun in the trailers and the film looks like it could be fun to watch. I'm going into it like I went into Transformers Dark Of The Moon, not expecting a good story but hopefully, having fun while watching it.

THE BIG YEAR (OCTOBER 14TH) -- You probably haven't heard about this one yet but here's the plot.
A group of men (Steve Martin, Owen Wilson, and Jack Black) who are obsessed with birdwatching set on a big year, a quest to outdo each other by finding the most species of birds in North America. Their competition is allegory to the challenges faced in their lives. There's potential for something really funny in this especially with Steve Martin, Owen Wilson, and Jack Black in the cast.

THE THING (OCTOBER 14TH) -- Here's another one that could go either way. It could be the prequel everybody was hoping and praying for or it could be another Star Wars Episode 1 The Phantom Menace.

IN TIME (OCTOBER 28TH) -- One of my top three movies I'm looking forward to. Andrew Niccol has never made a bad movie as a director and Justin Timberlake is quickly becoming one of my favorite actors following The Social Network and Friends With Benefits, and even as the voice of Boo Boo in Yogi Bear, and the cast in this movie looks incredible. Most of all, I love the story they have, it looks like a science fiction version of Limitless, one of my favorite movies of the year.

NOVEMBER:

TOWER HEIST (NOVEMBER 4TH) -- This is hopefully going to be Eddie Murphy's long deserving return to comedy following disasterous turns in Norbit and Imagine That and from the trailer, Murphy definitely is making me laugh and Ben Stiller looks like he's having fun doing the film. Brett Ratner is directing the film and it co-stars Casey Affleck, Alan Alda, Matthew Broderick, Tea Leoni, Michael Pena, and Gabourey Sidibe.

A VERY HAROLD AND KUMAR 3D CHRISTMAS (NOVEMBER 4TH) -- Judging by the recently released and hilarious trailer, I'm hoping that this turns out to be a lot of fun. I wasn't a big fan of the last Harold & Kumar film and from what I've seen so far, this movie could redeem the Harold & Kumar series and be hilarious as hell at the same time.

HAPPY FEET TWO (NOVEMBER 18TH) -- Yeah, I want to see Happy Feet 2 and I will be seeing that while 99.9% of America will be suckered into The Twilight Saga Breaking Dawn Part 1 opening the same day. The original Happy Feet was a lot of fun and very enjoyable and sweet too. All I want for the sequel is to be just as good. I still don't understand why Warner Bros. is putting this out the same day as Twilight. Didn't they learn from Disney when they decided to put Winnie The Pooh on the same day as Winnie The Pooh?

HUGO (NOVEMBER 23RD) -- Martin Scorsese directs his first family film with a fairly good cast on board, Chloe Moretz, Sacha Baron Cohen, and Ben Kingsley and it looks like it could be pretty good.

THE MUPPETS (NOVEMBER 23RD) -- The second biggest movie I'm looking forward to. Disney really knows what they are doing with the marketing for the film, this is the best marketing campaign I've seen since The Dark Knight. Jason Segel and Amy Adams look like they are having fun on screen and it looks like an old fashioned Muppet movie, which is a good thing. I'm really looking forward to this.

DECEMBER:

NEW YEAR'S EVE (DECEMBER 9TH) -- I'm ashamed to admit I actually liked parts of Valentine's Day but New Year's Eve looks a lot better than that did. There's a really big all-star cast on board here and a lot of people I like are in this. I'm also looking at this to see if Lea Michele from Glee can actually act outside of that series, she's a great singer and she's the only reason I watch Glee because of her singing. I hope she does what Taylor Swift did in Valentine's Day, prove that she can act as well.

YOUNG ADULT (DECEMBER 9TH) -- Charlize Theron plays Mavis Gary, a writer of teen literature who returns to her small hometown to relive her glory days and attempt to reclaim her happily married high school sweetheart (Patrick Wilson). When returning home proves more difficult than she thought, Mavis forms an unusual bond with a former classmate (Patton Oswalt) who hasn’t quite gotten over high school, either. Director Jason Reitman and writer Diablo Cody worked really well together on Juno and because of that, I'm really looking forward to their latest film.

SHERLOCK HOLMES: A GAME OF SHADOWS (DECEMBER 16TH) -- I'm going to go into Sherlock Holmes like I went into Iron Man 2, expecting a movie not quite as good as the original but still very entertaining. The first trailer really sold me on how possibly good this will be and I'm hoping it stays that way when the movie comes out.

THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO (DECEMBER 21ST) -- The movie I'm looking forward to the most this year. I loved the original Millenium trilogy books and movies, they were in my top 10 movies from last year, and with a great director like David Fincher on board and actors Daniel Craig and Rooney Mara on board, I'm hoping the movie is as good as either the book or the original swedish movie.

MISSION IMPOSSIBLE: GHOST PROTOCOL (DECEMBER 21ST) -- The last Mission Impossible movie was a great movie and much like that film. I'm hoping that Brad Bird can make the smooth transition from directing animated movies to live-action films. And judging by the trailer, I think he's going to succeed.

THE ADVENTURE OF TINTIN (DECEMBER 23RD) -- Here's the epic fantasy adventure for the holiday season. With an amazing look to it, Steven Spielberg directing the motion capture film, and a good cast on board, I have high hopes for Tintin.

WAR HORSE (DECEMBER 28TH) -- Another movie Steven Spielberg is directing, very weird that he has two movies coming out within the same week. The first teaser didn't really sell me but it's just a teaser and I like the story for the film. Plus, Spielberg has been known to put more effort in his smaller movies than his big budgeted movies in the past (War Of The Worlds/Munich and Jurassic Park/Schindler's List). So, I'm having faith with this one.

And those are the big movies I'm looking forward to for the rest of 2011.