Most anticipated films of fall/winter 2011

I did a similar list for the first four months of the year and the second four months (the summer), but really it's all about these last four months. That's when it all comes out. The first eight months were pretty bland, and I had a hard time picking 10 worthwhile movies for those lists, but for this one I had a very hard time keeping it to 25. A lot of very promising movies coming out, and even more movies that are not on this list that could very well breakout and become hits. I know for a fact that I would not have been anticipating "A Prophet" or "The King's Speech" all that much last year, and they both made my top 10 of 2010.

Most of these movies chosen were chosen based on some combination of director (like Martin Scorsese being the sole reason I am anticipating "Hugo"), trailer ("The Lady" and "Tinker Taylor Soldier Spy" both have brilliant trailers), early buzz ("Martha Marcy May Marlene" and "Take Shelter" got some great buzz from Sundance), and other miscellaneous tidbits (like Jonsi is doing the music for "We Bought a Zoo" and "50/50" is based on the life of the screenwriter).





Another disclaimer: Some of these movies with TBA release dates could very well come out in 2012. I put them on this list because they are playing some of the major film festivals this year, but sometimes the films that play the late-year festivals are known to come out in 2012 depending on what the studio that buys them decides, if they get bought at all. Of the TBA releases on my list, I believe that "Damsels in Distress" has a  significant chance of coming out in 2012. "The Wettest County" is not playing any festivals though, and I put it on this list because I heard that when it got bought by the Weinstein Company at Cannes earlier this year they committed to a late 2011 release and awards push, though the film only finished shooting some months ago so I'm not so sure.

Also, click the links for trailers to the movies (the ones without links have no trailers released yet). I recommend them.

The List:

1. Drive (Nicolas Wending Refn, September 16)

2. We Need to Talk About Kevin (Lynne Ramsay, December 2)
3. Tinker Taylor Soldier Spy (Tomas Alfredson, December 9)
4. Shame (Steve McQueen, TBA)
5. Damsels in Distress (Whit Stillman, TBA)

6. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (David Fincher, December 21)
7. The Wettest County (John Hillcoat, TBA)
8. Carnage (Roman Polanski, December 16)

9. J. Edgar (Clint Eastwood, November 9)
10. Contagion (Steven Soderbergh, September 9)
11. Young Adult (Jason Reitman, December 16)

12. Martha Marcy May Marlene (Sean Durkin, October 21)
13. Twixt (Francis Ford Coppola, TBA)
14. A Dangerous Method (David Cronenberg, November 23) 

15. Hugo (Martin Scorsese, November 23)

16. 50/50 (Jonathan Levine, September 30)
17. Melancholia (Lars von Trier, November 11)
18. Take Shelter (Jeff Nichols, September 30)
19. The Descendants (Alexander Payne, November 23)

20. The Ides of March (George Clooney, October 7)
21. The Kid with a Bike (Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, TBA)

22. The Skin I Live In (Pedro Almodovar, October 14)
23. Alps (Yorgos Lanthimos, TBA)

24. We Bought a Zoo (Cameron Crowe, December 23)
25. The Lady (Luc Besson, TBA)