Sit back and let TCAL take you through the must see movies of 2006…

After the unusual last 12 months at the cinema, the big movies of 2006 look to be a more conventional bunch, all remakes and sequels. Well, that’s where the money is, isn’t it? No matter how much you screw up, a remake/sequel will inevitably make hard cash. That said, there could be a few diamonds in there, we’re just not going to know until the lights go down.

At the moment the big daddy has to be Superman Returns (IMDB, Teaser Trailer). Currently the biggest production budget of all time, it picks up six years after the events of Superman 2, and during the time Man of Steel has been away from Earth. The movie starts with his return to our planet, and includes Kevin Spacey as bad guy Lex Luthor. The film will be huge, but to be honest I’m getting a little tired of superhero movies. I’m expecting something in the ballpark of Spiderman 2. Good, but it won’t be movie of the year.

Pirates of the Caribbean 2 : Dead Mans Chest (IMDB, Teaser Trailer) could be an interesting one, as it has Johnny Depp going for it, and I have enough faith in him to believe he wouldn’t get himself into a movie simply for more cash. So his involvement does say something about the quality of the story and script.

Other blockbusters coming our way include X-Men 3 (IMDB, teaser trailer), which allegedly picks up on the Dark Phoenix storyline and is directed by Brett Ratner of Rush Hour and Rush Hour 2 fame (I think a better move would be to fire this ’director’ and wait til Bryan Singer wraps up Superman), Ice Age 2 (IMDB, Trailer) (yawn, more of the same), and Mission Impossible 3 (IMDB, Trailer), which interests me only because Simon Pegg (Shaun of the Dead) is involved with it. After the arse that was Mission Impossible 2 my faith in director John Woo and the M:I franchise was damaged (funny enough my opinion of Tom Cruise was unchanged).

Also, Ron Howard is directing the Da Vinci Code (IMDB, Trailer) starring Tom Hanks, and meanwhile a new 007 if filling Pierce Brosnans shoes in the form of Daniel Craig in a remake of Casino Royale (only this time probably with a more coherent storyline).

Anyway, all that is well and good, but none of it is for me. So here’s my list of the movies that I, personally, am looking forward to in 2006;

5. The New World (IMDB, Trailer)

Okay, I think Colin Farrell is rubbish, and the whole story of Pocahontas is not my cup of tea… BUT… there’s just something intriguing about this flick. Terrance Malicks fourth film in thirty years is bound to be meaty, and after the depth he poured into the Thin Red Line (which 2/3 of the world didn’t seem to like), I’d watch anything he shot.

4. A Scanner Darkly (IMDB)

A paranoid trip from the mind of Phillip K. Dick and the talent of director Richard Linklater, this is a story of a world where a large percentage of people are hired by external sources to spy on the others. Shot in a similar style to the directors metaphysical philosophy movie Waking Life, this is going to be unusual, and hopefully quite memorable.

3. V for Vendetta (IMDB, Trailer)

An intriguing ‘alternate’ comic book movie, set in futuristic totalitarian Britain, tells the story of ‘V’, a sort of highly trained masked revolutionary. Funny one this, I don’t think I would have been interested had I not heard some fantastic early reports. Will wait and see. But will see for sure.

2. Hostel (IMDB, Trailer)

Eli Roth, the sick man responsible for Cabin Fever, has set his sights on backpackers who stumble upon something nasty in a building in the Chezch Republic. Roth is determined to make one of the most horrifyingly gorey movies of all time with this, and with Quentin Tarantino on board as a script consultant and executive producer, this is a ballsy stomach churner that can’t arrive soon enough.

1. The Fountain (IMDB, Trailer)

Yeah. The Fountain. Bring it fucking ON. Darren Aranosky, that genius mind behind Requiem for as Dream, is now piecing together this vaguely sci-fi movie which he describes as ‘a psychedelic fairy tale‘. With strong elements of a love story also in the mix, the plot takes place over the three separate time periods of the Spanish Conquistadors in South America, the modern day, and the far future which (possibly?) sees Hugh Jackman travelling to the end of the universe to find the fountain of youth. Or something like that. I’ve heard so much about this movie that, bizarrely, I have no idea what to expect. But my guess would be expect unconventional.

What do you think? Leave a comment below!