2011 SUNDAY NIGHT MOVIE

Seven or eight years ago, we started a tradition of the Sunday Night Movie, which is exactly what it sounds like. Each Sunday a bunch of us would get together and see a movie. We did this every week and we did it consistently for a really long time. Sometimes there wasn't anything really good out, but we didn't want to break tradition, so we saw whatever was out. Seriously. We sat through garbage like THE BIG BOUNCE, SECRET WINDOW and FLIGHT OF THE PHOENIX (which I'd probably still watch if it was playing on TNT some night) because that's what we did on Sunday night.

We fell off for a few years, but since the summer, the Sunday Night Movie has been back pretty strongly. Since January and February are usually pretty slow months at the theater (it's when studios dump all the movies that weren't quite summer blockbusters and nowhere near good enough for the fall awards release) I started looking through to see what was coming up. And that turned into a 'MOVIES I'M EXCITED FOR AND/OR CURIOUS ABOUT IN 2011' post. Because that's something I've always done in my head and I read the Entertainment Weekly Summer and Fall preview issues every year. So I figured why not make my own?

*EDITED TO ADD - I'm going to come back to this list in December and go through which ones I actually saw and which ones got such bad word of mouth that I stayed away altogether.

Also, these are all the bigger studio movies that had release dates in place long ago. There will definitely be smaller, indie movies that aren't on the list because they don't have a definite SLC release date yet. Don't judge me.

January

THE MECHANIC - Ben Foster, Jason Statham in a shitty action movie? Of course I'll see it.

February

CEDAR RAPIDS - Because I think Ed Helms is hilarious.
GNOMEO & JULIET - Doesn't look great, but probably has some funny moments. And I'm a sucker for animation.

March

THE ADJUSTMENT BUREAU - Matt Damon is great, Emily Blunt is pretty and Philip K. Dick was awesome.
BATTLE: LOS ANGELES - Could be awesome, could be a laughable train wreck. Either way, it's a way to spend my Sunday night.
PAUL - Simon Pegg and Nick Frost haven't disappointed me yet and I doubt they will.
SUCKER PUNCH - Just to see if Zack Snyder is who I thought he was. Plus over the top action, way too much slow motion and out of nowhere sex scenes? It can't be all bad.

April

SOURCE CODE - I loved MOON, I don't care for Jake Gyllenhaal. Toss up.

THE BEAVER - Say what you will about Mel Gibson, I'm looking forward to this.

YOUR HIGHNESS - It's either going to be hilarious or it's going to miss on every level, but the trailer gives me a little hope.

SCREAM 4 - Curious to see whether they can make something good or if they should have just left it alone.

May

THOR - I have faith in Kenneth Branagh.

PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: ON STRANGER TIDES - It has to be better than the last two, right?

THE HANGOVER: PT. II - This movie will be so overhyped that there's no possible way for it to live up to the expectations. It'll still have one or two really funny parts.

June

X-MEN: FIRST CLASS - Matthew Vaughn hasn't made a bad movie yet.

SUPER 8 - Neither has JJ Abrams.

GREEN LANTERN - It looks FANTASTIC FOUR campy from the trailer, but there might be hope.

CARS 2 - Pixar doesn't make bad movies. They just don't.

July

HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS PT. 2 - Still haven't seen Part 1, but I'm glad this is going to be the end.

CAPTAIN AMERICA - I don't have faith in Joe Johnston, but I'm hoping he surprises me.

COWBOYS & ALIENS - Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford together will get me into the theater to see just about anything.

August

30 MINUTES OR LESS - Reuben Fleischer (ZOMBIELAND) alone will get me in to the theater just to see if he can give me another fun hour and a half.

September

DRIVE- Nicolas Winding Refn tells a story of a Hollywood stunt driver. I already bought a ticket for this.

MONEYBALL - I love baseball movies and this seems like it has potential.

October

CONTAGION - Steven Soderbergh and Matt Damn. Don't need to know anything else.

NOW - Andrew Niccol with another Sci-Fi movie. Worth checking out at least.

November

IMMORTALS - Used to be called DAWN OF WAR and WAR OF THE GODS before that. Tarsem Singh, who directed THE CELL is making it, so it will at least look awesome.

THE MUPPETS - Jason Segel was handed the reins of the Muppets franchise based off Dracula The Musical in FORGETTING SARAH MARSHALL. Absolutely nothing can go wrong. Right?

RISE OF THE APES - James Franco and John Lithgow battling super intelligent monkeys?  Sold.

December

HUGO CABARET - Martin Scorsese. Enough said.

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE - GHOST PROTOCOL - Brad Bird (THE SIMPSON'S, THE INCREDIBLES, IRON GIANT) makes his first live-action feature. Cautiously optimistic.

SHERLOCK HOLMES 2 - Better get an amazing 'AND THE CASE OF' subtitle instead of a boring 2.

THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO - David Fincher. Enough said. Plus Daniel Craig. And Rooney Mara looks great.

THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN - Because it's the only movie anyone will be talking about come December. "Spielberg and Jackson working together?!?!?! I HAVE TO SEE IT NOW!!!!!"

WE BOUGHT A ZOO - Cameron Crowe. Enough said.

WAR HORSE - Spielberg and war are usually pretty solid. But Spielberg and little kids irritate the shit out of me. Toss up.

What do you think? Which ones are you excited for?