Most Anticipated Films of 2011

Well, it's about time that I look past the awards season and into the horizon of what I hope will be worthwhile films in 2011. I can't know for sure, because barely any trailer at all has been released for any of my picks, and most of them don't come out until after the start of the summer movie season. So I'm not going to elaborate on my anticipation, but I'll give a brief reason why. I wasn't one of the people who thought that The Hangover was overrated, but I also wasn't one of those crazies pushing it for Best Picture. That was never going to actually happen. The upcoming sequel should provide what was so entertaining the first time through, and the Godfather-ish Part II slapped at the end of the title makes it that much more intriguing.

Contagion, directed by Steven Soderbergh, has a typical name and a typical premise, but it's from the writer of films like The Bourne Ultimatum and The Informant, and it has an all star cast of Matt Damon, Kate Winslet, Gwyneth Paltrow, Marion Cotillard, and Bryan Cranston. Unless it was fabricated from someone's awesome imagination, Contagion is a must-see film. Sherlock Holmes 2 is another story. I'm one of the people who appreciated the first film as a fun and enjoyable detective film with a bit of action, but it was ultimately just a set-up for this sequel. Now that sequel is on its way, with Noomi Rapace, Stephen Fry, and Jared Harris joining the cast in major roles. Lets just hope that Rachel McAdams is put on the back-burner this time out.

X-Men: First Class is a bit of a fascination for me at the time, because I find the vintage superhero approach that director Matthew Vaughn (Kick-Ass) seems to be going with to be intriguing at the very least. They've got James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender in the leading roles, which seems like the perfect formula to restart the series. On the smaller side of things, I'm desperately looking forward to Thomas McCarthy's next film, Win Win, which does sound like some cheesy romantic-comedy, but I expect it will be far more than that. McCarthy has written some great films like The Visitor and Up, so I don't expect he's about to disappoint us.

One of the films that's a little bit further off the radar is 30 Minutes or Less, the upcoming comedy about a pizza boy who has a bomb strapped to his chest and is told to rob a bank. By the way, the main character is played by Jesse Eisenberg. I need not say more. The rest are rather self-explanatory, with Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol being Brad Bird's live-action debut, The Tree of Life being Terrence Malick's most highly anticipated film ever, and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo coming right off the book phenomenon and director David Fincher's own phenomenon with The Social Network. Oh, and there's also Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, but whatever. What are you most looking forward to seeing this year? Comment below and let me know!

10. The Hangover: Part II
9. Contagion
8. Sherlock Holmes 2
7. X-Men: First Class
6. Win Win
5. 30 Minutes or Less
4. Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol
3. The Tree of Life
2. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
1. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1