2007: A Film Odyssey

Can 2007 live up to the heady heights of its predecessor?

Feature by Stephen Carty | 11 Jan 2007
Well, 2006 was both a busy and interesting film year. Scorsese delivered a movie that may finally bag him an Oscar, we saw the reinvention both of Superman and James Bond, Christopher Nolan proved again that he is one of the hottest talents in Hollywood, Tom Cruise showed that despite oodles of weirdness he is still the action king and Philip Seymour Hoffman verified his status as chameleon supreme. So, can 2007 live up to the heady heights of its predecessor? Only time will tell but here we have a sneak peak of next year's think-pieces, blockbusters, animated pictures and "past-it action star" comebacks.

Controversial director Mel 'Braveheart' Gibson opens the year up in fine style with another seriously arty number, Apocalypto, in which the brilliantly named tribesmen of Maya, such as Smoke Frog and Jaguar Paw, deal with human-life sacrifices. Also adding to the Oscar hopefuls of 2007 is Curtis Hanson's gambling drama Lucky You, due in April, in which current Hollywood powerhouse Eric Bana deals with addiction, straight flushes and the prospect of being out-grinned by journeyman Robert Duvall. Not enough artsy for you? Well then, May propels more drama your way in yet another Samuel L. Jackson Movie with "snake" in the title as touchy-feely drama, Black Snake Moan, deals with touchy-feely child abuse sees Justin Timberlake make the transition to the big screen (also possibly why it has snake in the title).

Those who crave a little more testosterone will relish the return this month of everyone's favourite underdog (no, not the Karate Kid) in Rocky Balboa, as Sly's Italian Stallion makes one last "one last comeback" in the ring and hopefully treats us to more wonderfully camp training-montages. Also on the comeback trail is Bruce Willis, who resurrects John McClane in July with Live Free or Die Hard and in the process takes on some internet terrorists without breaking a sweat. Try that one Ashton.

Continuing 2007's adventuring is the summer of Matt Damon where June sees Ocean's 13 try to erase the memory of its dreadful precursor and August brings the third instalment of the super-spy series, The Bourne Ultimatum. Before all this, Johnny Depp returns in May to the role which did the impossible and raised his cool-factor, Captain Jack Sparrow, in Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End. And if you yearn to see epic medieval poetry brought to the screen, then start queuing now for November's Beowulf.

With Bryan Singer, Sam Raimi and Christopher Nolan continually setting the bar higher for comic book movies over recent years, it's no surprise that 2007 sees studios ploughing more money into franchises to further elate graphic novel readers everywhere. March alone sees Turtles (yes, of the Teenage Mutant Ninja variety), Ghost Rider and Frank Miller's 300 whilst the summer also heralds The Fantastic Four 2, Transformers and Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. However, all the attention is on Raimi's prospectively dark Spiderman 3, due in May, which could well be the first "number 3" of a series to better its previous movies (yes, yes, Return of the Jedi and Last Crusade were both good but not toppers) with Maguire's Peter Parker going evil and upping the ante in what may be his last piece of wall-crawling.

Does all this sound a bit tense and serious for you? Well July looks like comedy central as the long-awaited Simpsons Movie brings arguably the best television programme of all time to silver screens around the globe and The American Office's Steve Carrell (who plays its Brent character) returns in Evan Almighty, the sequel to Jim Carrey's Bruce flavoured original. Add into the summer mix the animated surfing penguin movie Surf's Up (how can penguins surfing not be fun?) and Mike Myer's revival of his Scottish ogre in Shrek the Third and get yourself ready for a fit of the giggles.

Excited yet? You should be. With funkily-named tribes people, mascara-wearing pirates, forgetful spies and boogie-board riding penguins, what more could you ask for? Well, with Sly and Bruce rejuvenating their white vests it may not be too much to hope for that Arnold drops this silly governor pretence and joins the rest of his former Rock-Hard Café trio (although he has declined T4 for 2008) to fulfil his "I'll Be Back" promise. Come on big guy, there's got to be a market out there for Commando 2....