Top 10 films for 2010

27/12/2009

BEHOLD! Here's my pick of the 10 films to look out for in 2010.

Five you've probably heard of, five are less familiar - but all are worth pencilling into your movie-going diary.

1 ALICE IN WONDERLAND (ETA: March): Avatar kicked off the 3D revolution proper last week - and here's the next big-budget contender - the Lewis Carroll fairytale, reimagined by Tim Burton, with Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter and Helena Bonham Carter. You'd have to be a smile short of a Cheshire cat to bet against it being fab.

2 IRON MAN 2 (ETA: May): The sequel to the surprise box- office smash of summer 08, Iron Man 2 reunites Robert Downey Jr with director Jon Favreau and adds a new all-star cast of Mickey Rourke, Scarlett Johansson, Sam Rockwell and Don Cheadle. A safe bet for high-quality popcorn fun.

3 ROBIN HOOD (ETA: May) Forget Costner's blond highlights and Bryan Adams' balladeering - this gritty historical epic starring Russell Crowe has the potential to be Gladiator in tights - especially as it's by Gladiator director Ridley Scott.

4 THE TWILIGHT SAGA: ECLIPSE (ETA: July): New Moon broke lots of records - and hearts - this year, and there's no doubt the third part of the Twilight saga will be just as popular. They've swapped directors (30 Days of Night's David Slade is in charge) so expect a darker, more action-y bent.

5 THE A-TEAM (ETA: July): All-star reboots of TV series can be hit and miss but A-Team director Joe Carnahan put a lot of minds at rest when he said he was going for a straight, Casino Royale-style action thriller rather than a Starsky & Hutch tongue-in-cheek-'em-up. Very promising.

6 PRECIOUS (ETA: January): Heartstring-strumming drama about a fat lass growing up in 80s New York that's taken the US by storm. I've seen it and can confirm it's amazing. A serious dark horse at next year's Oscars... and possibly the new Slumdog.

7 KICK-ASS (ETA: April): Layer Cake director Matthew Vaughn's dark, ultra-violent comedy about a teenage nerd (Nowhere Boy's Aaron Johnson) who decides to become a superhero - despite having no powers. Great early footage marks this out as a possible smash hit.

8 INCEPTION (ETA: July): Dark Knight director Christopher Nolan teams with an all-star cast including Leo DiCaprio for a sci-fi action thriller "set within the architecture of the mind", whatever that means. Given Nolan is on an unbroken run of aces, we can assume it's also going to be ace.

9 NEVER LET ME GO (ETA: unknown): The "new Keira Knightley" (Carey Mulligan) faces off against the "old Keira Knightley" (Keira Knightley) in a thriller about a boarding school with a dark secret. Probably the most fun way to work out which of them is best, given jelly wrestling is unlikely.

10 PAUL (ETA: unknown): What's that? Simon Pegg, Nick Frost and the director of Superbad are teaming up for a comedy about two pals who befriend an alien escapee from Area 51? Well, sign me up.

ALSO on the radar: Woody and Buzz return in TOY STORY 3... the Potter saga winds to a close - almost - in HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS: PART I... a childhood sci-fi fave gets a 3D update in TRON LEGACY... Edgar Wright turns his genius to SCOTT PILGRIM VERSUS THE WORLD... and Scorsese takes us on a trip to Madness-on-Sea in SHUTTER ISLAND.

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