Five films that I'm excited about

The British summer as good as it's ever going to be, the Olympics are in full swing, and I am amongst many other graduates who are thousands of pounds in debt. Life definitely has its ups and downs but right now my life seems to have stopped with nothing exciting happening at all. But there is a silver lining- or there will be over the next few months/ entering 2013- and here are the five reasons/ or rather five films that I'm hoping will lift my spirits in the future:

1) The new Tarantino movie, "Django Unchained" (2013):

I've already blogged about the legend of the Django character and it all he represents- and this combined with the quirky directing of Tarantino= exciting.

2) I discovered that Anne Hathaway can actually sing and so it is perfectly okay for her to star in Tom Hooper's adaptation of my favourite musical "Les miserables" (2012):

When I first watched this trailer I became dubious about how the musical was going to be adapted on film as the stage production is so amazing (i've seen it twice and would definitely see it again). Seeing Anne Hathaway in the part of Fantine, singing 'I dreamed a dream', came as a bit of a surprise but after some research into Anne Hathaway's singing abilities I'm confident she'll do a great job of portraying such a broken character. Also, for those worried about the other cast members singing capabilities, keep calm and click here.

3) Leo DiCaprio is not only starring in the upcoming "Django Unchained" but he's also portraying F. Scott Fritzgerald's famous Jay Gatsby character in Baz Luhrmann adaptation of the famous novel, "The Great Gatsby" (2012) alongside Carey Mulligan and Isla Fisher:

DiCaprio has indeed been a busy bee. But there is a downside to this film, mainly due to Tobey Maguire just being in the film. Apart from that blip the trailer looks promising and Luhrmann seems to have captured the roaring twenties decadence in his own style and looking nothing like the previous release of the story in 1974 with Mia Farrow and Robert Redford.

4) There is the prospect of Keira Knightley winning an Oscar this year with Joe Wright's "Anna Karenina" (2012):

Although I find Kinghtley's constant pouting in her films terribly annoying, and that added onto the fact that she has starred in a film this year with the unfunny Steve Carrell in "Seeking a friend for the end of the world" 2012 (which I haven't seen yet but it has received mixed reviews) means that my admiration for Knightley wavers. However the trailer for "Anna Karenina" (2012) intrigues me and although I haven't read Tolstoy's novel, yet I believe it is going to be an exceptional adaptation from the speculation around this film. Moreover critics have stated that this is going to be one of Knightly's less stiff performances so lets hope its done with a little less pouting.

5) Finally, the last reason I'm continue to look forward to the future of film and probably the most bizarre reason, is going to see James Franco becoming the Wizard of Oz. Seriously, he portrays the wonderful, maybe not so magical, Wizard and tells the tale about how the wizard came to reside in the emerald city in Sam Raimi's "Oz: The great and powerful" (2013):

Word of warning: the trailer may not appeal to everyone and some people will be doubting the directing ability of Sam Raimi (mainly after "Spiderman 3" (2007) and that awkward dance scene... let's not discuss it again). Moving on, "Oz: The great and Powerful"(2013) is considered to be the prequel to "The Wizard of Oz" (1939) and the film has some great cast members; with the brilliant James Franco who always does a great job in any role he is cast in; Michelle Williams;  Mila Kunis and Rachel Weisz. What lets the film down is its concept and that could spell disaster for Frank L. Baum's classic tale of Dorothy and her sparkly red shoes, but the broadway musical "Wicked" has been faring pretty well, so let's just hope that Franco can pull off the story of the Wizard.

So there you have it, the release of these five films in the near future are pushing me to continue to power through the post-university blues. Funnily enough, it is ironic that on a blog post where I am looking forward to the future, all the five films that i've mentioned are costume/ period dramas that are set in the past or a fantasy land. In addition 4 out of the 5 films are adaptations of a famous novels with "Django Unchained" taking inspiration from old Spaghetti westerns- thus the influence of classic literature and old film is going to be hard to miss in the upcoming film industry and so, if I haven't already mentioned, I'm bloody excited.