Looking Forward to 2008

In his article Why 2008 Will Be An Awesome Year For Movies, Alex Billington lists 54 films coming out in 2008 and makes a pretty good case for what could be a terrific year. Man, I'm nowhere near catching up with 2007 and already there's a whole slew of must sees coming next year:

"Adventureland" directed by Greg Mottola - In 1987, a new grad takes a job at an amusement park and finds that it teaches him far more than he expected it would. Ryan Reynolds is a bit smarmy for my liking, but Mottola's "Superbad" had some terrificly funny moments, so this could be good.

"Be Kind Rewind" directed by Michel Gondry - Even if the plot wasn't as good as it is (two video store employees make their own versions of films like "Back To The Future" and "Robocop" after accidentally destroying all the videos in the store), I'd still follow Gondry anywhere...This looks like a perfect opportunity for him to recreate what he likely did as a kid.

"Blindness" directed by Fernando Meirelles - A community falls apart as all the residents (except for the wife of a doctor) suddenly become blind. I'm quite curious to see what Meirelles (who made "City Of God") can do with this.

"The Box" directed by Richard Kelly - Haven't seen "Southland Tales" yet and already Kelly has another intriguing premise on deck: a couple who opens a box found on their doorstep become instantly wealthy, but the act of opening it also kills a stranger. I'm sure that's from a short story I read back in high school...

"Burn After Reading" directed by the Coen Brothers - Imagine a world where we could get a Coen Brothers movie every year. Aaah...

"City Of Ember" directed by Gil Kenan - A sparkling city of lights begins to flicker when its huge generator begins to fail. And it has Bill Murray.

"Curious Case Of Benjamin Button" directed by David Fincher - Fincher jumps back into the fray a short year after "Zodiac" with the story of a man who starts aging backwards.

"The Fighter" directed by Darren Aronofsky - The plot about the early life of boxer "Irish" Mickey Ward doesn't exactly scream out to me, but I'm curious about how Aronofsky's style will come through.

"The International" directed by Tom Tykwer - I loved Tykwer's "Perfume: The Story Of A Murderer" and of course "Run Lola Run" (look for his earlier "Winter Sleepers" as well), so how could he possibly go wrong with a story about an Interpol agent exposing an arms dealing ring?

"Semi-Pro" directed by Kent Alterman - Yes, another stupid Will Ferrell comedy. But the trailer looks funny ("get a live camel in here...and just see what happens").