Jerrica’s Top 5 Movie Picks for 2007

Jerrica’s Top 5 Movie Picks for 2007

MoviesOnline.Ca



January 2, 2007

by Jerrica

The New Year is just beginning, and that means that all the movies we’ve been dying to see in 2007 are coming our way within the year. There are a lot of movies with some decent potential, and there are some we just know are going to reign supreme at the box office. For horror fans, "The Hills Have Eyes 2," Rob Zombie’s "Halloween," "Hannibal Rising," and "Hostel: Part II" are all coming to a theater near you this year. If comedy is more your taste, "Hot Fuzz" and "Evan Almighty" have some good buzz around them and their stars.

Some movie smashes are easy to predict; namely "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End" with a Memorial Day weekend opening on May 25, and "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" coming the next week after the Independence Day (U.S.) holiday weekend on July 13, because on the 4th of July, another big kids movie (for actual kids and the kids inside those who grew up with the show) "Transformers" opens just in time for the fireworks. But none of these made the list of the top five movies I’m eagerly awaiting in the coming months.

#5 – Tie: "300" (March 16) and "30 Days of Night" (October 19) - There was no way for me to decide. Besides the 3 and 0 in both titles, they have nothing in common, except perhaps the amount of violence and gore I expect from both. They’re two completely different movies, but I’m looking forward to each one just as much as the other, and it would have been a slight to either to leave one off my list. "300" with Gerard Butler seems like it will be the "Sin City" of this year, stylized and intense, doing for battle epics what Frank Miller did for noir. "30 Days of Night" with Josh Hartnett looks like it will be the "28 Days Later" meets "Resident Evil" of vampire movies, and I’m hoping it will be a fun and freaky, wicked bloodsucker horror flick.

#4 – "Resident Evil: Extinction" (September 21) – There’s no denying that I loved the first two "Resident Evil" movies. "Apocalypse" and the original just brought on the cool zombie action/horror like nothing else has in a long time. With the way the first one ended, I knew I needed to see the second, and now, knowing how the second ended, I’m excited to see the third. "Extinction" revisits Milla Jovovich’s coolest, strongest, toughest movie superheroine since Ripley in the "Alien" movies. This is her most awesome element, and the movies give Alice a good spin every time. That last twist still has my head spinning, and I want to see where it leads.

#3 – "Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer" (June 15) – Of all the superhero franchises running right now, "Fantastic Four" is one of my favorites, because it’s just outright fun. It’s got the action I want, the characters I like, the dynamics I expect, and above all, this one has one of the greatest untapped and underappreciated mainstream comic characters of today’s superhero boom, the Silver Surfer. If I get everything they delivered in the first film, plus Surfer and all the story and subsequent plot that ride in on his board with him, then I have to catch this wave.

#2 – "Spider-Man 3" (May 4) – This is a no-brainer. And as far as I’m concerned, even though I’m technically placing it at number two, it shares the number one spot, tying in my estimation, but slipping to second by a microscopic margin. It’s got Venom, Sandman, Harry Osborn taking over as the Goblin, Gwen Stacy, and a dark, conflicted Peter Parker. Last time he was split between ordinary person and superhero, but this time, it’s the difference of uninhibited and dangerous questionable superhero or normal and humble strong-willed superhero. Again, it’s going to be about being true to himself, but this time Venom’s will is thrown into the mix. "Smallville" has Red Kryptonite, and now Spidey has the Black Suit. The second movie somehow managed to top the first, and now I can’t help but think the third will outdo both previous movies.

#1 – "The Simpsons" (July 27) – Should it really be surprising that this one takes the prize? I don’t think so, given that it’s a huge deal when it takes 18 years to make a movie. It’s even grander when the show that set the wheels in motion to send Springfield USA to the big screen is still on the air after 18 years, and it will still be running after the movie has hit theaters. In that entire generation worth of time, "The Simpsons" has been there for almost two full decades now, finding new generations of kids and adults alike tuning in every week for its brilliant satire and all out comedy with a family feel to it after everything is said and done. You can’t buy 18 years worth of build to hype any other movie based on an animated series that has broken records "The Flintstones" set back in what some might consider the stone age of cartoons by modern standards. "The Simpsons" may also be considered a dated dinosaur in a category all its own by some, but the fact is that it’s not possible to disregard the significance of the movie finally being made and released. This is a dream many fans have been waiting a good portion of a lifetime to see realized, and I believe this is one that will be well worth the anticipation.

While those are my top picks, those aren’t the only movies I’m looking forward to this year. I have to extend honorable mention to "28 Weeks Later" (May 11) and "Ghost Rider" (February 16) because I am eager to see how they do at the box office races, but I’m not betting on them by any long shots, even as movie quality rather than ticket quantity goes. This year will be a good one for the cult fanatic who just can’t get enough of their films, because there’s plenty in 2007 to satisfy across the spectrum of tastes in movies.





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