Best Bets of 2009

Of the literally hundreds of movie trailers I’ve watched this year, these are the ones that consistently cause my vital signs to spike and my imagination to run wild. Just thinking about them makes me happy! I hope these trailers get you as excited as they do me.

#1 | WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE | October 16
An adaptation of Maurice Sendak’s classic children’s story, where Max, a disobedient little boy sent to bed without his supper, creates his own world – a forest inhabited by ferocious wild creatures that crown Max as their ruler. Spike Jonze (dir), Max Records, Catherine Keener
5-Star | Trailer | Official | RT | Add to Calendar | Tix

THE TAKING OF PELHAM 1 2 3 | June 12

Armed men hijack a New York City subway train, holding the passengers hostage in return for a ransom, and turning an ordinary day’s work for dispatcher Walter Garbe into a face-off with the mastermind behind the crime. Denzel Washington, John Travolta, Tony Scott (dir)

5-Star | Trailer | Official | RT | Add to Calendar | Tix

WHATEVER WORKS | June 19

An eccentric New Yorker abandons his upper-class life to embrace a more carefree existence. Shortly after, he ends up meeting a young girl from the South and her family, and no one seems to get along in the entanglements that follow. Woody Allen (dir), Larry David

4-Star | Trailer | Official | RT | Add to Calendar | Tix

PUBLIC ENEMIES | July 1

The Feds try to take down notorious American gangsters John Dillinger, Baby Face Nelson and Pretty Boy Floyd during a booming crime wave in the 1930s. Johnny Depp, Michael Mann (dir)

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JULIE & JULIA | August 7

Julia Child and Julie Powell are featured in Nora Ephron’s adaptation of two bestselling memoirs: Powell’s Julie & Julia, and My Life in France, by Julia Child. Based on two true stories, Julie & Julia intertwines the lives of two women who discover that with the right combination of passion, fearlessness and butter, anything is possible. Meryl Streep, Amy Adams, Nora Ephron (dir)

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INGLORIOUS BASTERDS | August 21

In Nazi-occupied France, a group of Jewish-American soldiers known as “The Basterds” are chosen to spread fear throughout the Third Reich by scalping and brutally killing Nazis. The Basterds soon cross paths with a French-Jewish teenage girl who runs a movie theater in Paris which is targeted by the soldiers. Quentin Tarntino (dir), Brad Pitt, Eli Roth, Diane Kruger, Christoph Waltz

5-Star | Trailer | Official | RT | Add to Calendar | Tix

THE IMAGINARIUM OF DOCTOR PARNASSUS | Fall 2009
In visionary Terry Gilliam’s much-anticipated revel, a traveling magician sells his daughter to the devil in exchange for a life of extraordinary powers. The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus is a fantastical morality tale, set in the present day. Terry Gilliam (dir), Heath Ledger, Johnny Depp, Jude Law, Tom Waits
5-Star | Trailer | Official | RT | Add to Calendar | Tix