Every year I post one of these, so why stop now (even though I'm hardly posting at all anymore). So here it is, my movies I want to see in 2005 guide. First off, let me list which movies almost made it into the top ten list (coincidently, there's ten of them, too):

There are a ton of January movies that almost made the top ten list, so I'm guessing the movie companies are trying to lure all those Christmas gift passes out of my pocket. First off you got Elektra, a spin off from the Daredevil movie (which, no surprise here, I liked) staring just Jennifer Garner this time. Then you've got another Bruce Willis cop vehicle with Hostage on the 21st (hey, he does cop movies well - it's what he does, I'll go see it). For no good reason that anyone can explain to me, they decided to remake Assault on Precinct 13, but this time give it a plot (call me wacky, and many of you do, but the plotlessness of the original version was half of it's charm). Finally January comes to a close with another video game spin off movie, Alone in the Dark -- I'm a sucker for special effects... sign me up (although, truth be told, I walked out of Resident Evil II with only the smallest amount of persuasion).

February gives up only one movie that almost made it on the list, and that was Constantine. It's not going to be like this movie is any good -- Hollywood and Keanu Reeves will serve up a juiceless hunk of processed pulp, removing everything that was neat and special from the original comic book. But fans must be fans, and I'll brave that movie.

Supposedly March will finally bring us the release of A Sound of Thunder, but I've mentioned this movie in these yearly Cant columns twice before... so maybe, maybe not. In any case, it's based on a Bradbury short story, and it stars Ben Kingsley -- voot. Late March also brings us Stephen Chow's new vehicle, Kung Fu Hustle -- easily worth the price of admission.

In April we've got The Interpreter, a Sydney Pollack political who-dunnit. For some strange reason, we don't get many of these type movies anymore, and I miss them, and for that alone it was almost on the top ten list.

Fool me once, shame on me, fool me six times and you'll have to put me in an insane asylum somewhere. In any case, Star Wars Episode III opens in toy stores everywhere May 20th.

Finally, way off in July there's a funky little movie called The Island. It sounds like a wacky sci-fi movie, and I like original sci-fi movies, so I'll belly up to the bar for that one. Oh, wait, it's directed by Michael Bay (Bad Boys, Bad Boys II, Pearl Harbor)... maybe that's why it almost fell off the honorable mentions list. But Ewan McGregor, Sean Bean, Steve Buscemi... how can we go wrong?

And then we get to the top ten movies (that I know about) that I want to see (well, given that I only read reviews and speculations out to August):

10. Cursed

Feb 25th - Ok, it's a werewolf movie, directed by Wes Craven. Plus it's got Christina Ricci in it. How cool is that? Well, less cool because production problems plagued the movie, and many scenes had to be re-shot. Still. Werewolves, Craven, Ricci.

9. Be Cool

March 4th - Sequel to Get Shorty with an all star cast.

8. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

July 15th - Here's another movie I think should never have been remade... and it's because of this that I'm going to go and see this one as soon as it comes out. Sure, I'd have had some faith with Tim Burton doing a remake of this way back in his early days... but now? Still, Depp as Willy Wonka... must see.

7. Aliens of the Deep

Jan 28th - Ok, sure, it's a documentary about deep sea life. But it's done by James Cameron... and I love weird looking deep sea life. Mmmmm, sulphur vent life forms.

6. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

May 6th - Sure, the first version's animation was it's best feature, and the Infocom game probably did tons for having me watch it every time it comes on PBS... I don't know, what do you want from me? It's not in the top 5. You leave me be, I'll see what I want to see.

5. Hitch

Feb 11th - Will Smith's new movie, and the previews make it look charming, so I'm there.

4. Fantastic Four

July 1st - I'm a little perturbed that they're making this into a comedy as well as an adventure movie, but it's got some top talent, and an absolute ton of CGI in it. It's the movie 10 year old Jason would have killed to see, so away I go.

3. War of the Worlds

July 1st - Largest budget movie yet to date ($200 million), with top talent, and Spielberg, who's going to not see this? Plus, well, I've got a soft spot for the story itself.

2. Sin City

April 1st - All star cast, and style style style. I need to go and unpack my graphic novels of all the Sin City stories and re-read them before this gets released.

1. Batman Begins

June 17th - This seems to be a nice, honest, rendering of Wayne's early years before becoming the Batman. Plus it's got so many people in it (Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Liam Neeson, Morgan Freeman, Gary Oldman, Ken Watanabe, and Rutger Hauer)

And for the record, for the 32 movies I listed that I wanted to see in 2004:

3 Weren't released.
1 Sucked.
9 Were ok.
11 Were really great.
and 8 I just didn't get around to seeing. Some fan I was.

Columns by jasona