Top 10 List of the Most Anticipated Films For the Rest of 2009 (July-Dec)

We are officially past the midway point of the 2009 calendar year and for fun’s sake, I thought I’d take my provisional list of must see films, make it a concrete top 10 and share it with you guys. And talk about saving the best for last. My top 10 which I’m sure many of you will agree with, is filled to the brim with master filmmakers. I was tempted to put titles that I’ve already seen and are certainly worth mentioning in a top anticipated piece (500 Days of Summer, Cold Souls, Fish Tank, A Prophet, Precious, Broken Embraces) but I decided to keep the list fresh and to truly adhere to the idea of most anticipated.

Oddly, my less obvious choice was the cut off point. I decided that with my tenth position to not go with Marty’s Shutter Island, or the tentpole way of James Cameron’s Avatar or include Todd Solondz’s latest (Life During Wartime). Here is what I came up with. 

#10. All Good Things

Director: Andrew Jarecki
Writer(s): Marc Smerling, Marcus Hinchey and Jarecki
Producers: Michael London, Bruna Papandrea, Jarecki and Smerling
Distributor: The Weinstein Company

The Gist: set in the 1980s, story centers on the scion of a New York real estate dynasty (Gosling) who falls for a beautiful girl from the wrong side of the tracks (Dunst). But the fairy tale ends when the girl disappears. As a down-and-out detective stumbles on info that may lead to the truth, the political stakes get higher and people close to the case end up dead.

Fact: Jarecki directed the mind blowing documentary film Capturing the Friedmans. This is his fiction film debut. 

Why is it on the list?: The 2007 Blacklist mention, the 20 million $ project is working from an odd real life premise about one Robert Durst, a real estate heir whose first wife, Kathleen McCormack, disappeared in 1982. If you thought the family in the Friedmans were f*cked up, wait till you get the details on this one. 

Release Date/Status?: In limbo. Weinsteins are pulling back, waiting for Basterds to be over and done with will probably take their time in evaluating how to position this film – it may only come out in 2010, but if it is included for 2009, they might make a December release of it.