Saturday Seven

I apologize for not blogging with any consistency lately. I'm sure all of my readers - the whole handful of you - are upset about this. Which reminds me, if you didn't watch the Emmy-award-winning season of 30 Rock last year, you should check it out this season when it premiers on Oct. 4.

Next week is TV premier week! Woo-hoo! I'm most excited about the hour-long premier of the Office on Thursday, and the next three weeks of hour-long episodes of the Office. I'm actually babysitting Thursday, so I will have to time-shift and watch all four hours of TV I TiVo on Thursday on Friday afternoon (or late Thursday). The show that is generating the most buzz - Pushing Daises on ABC - doesn't even premier for another week. Annoying!

Anyway, my topic today is not TV, but movies. Read below to find out what seven movies I am anticipating the most.

1. Atonement staring Keira Knightly and James McAvoy. Keira reunited with her Pride and Prejudice director Joe Wright for an adaptation of Ian McEwan's popular novel. Buzz on this is super positive, with many saying it is a lock for best picture and best actor and maybe best actress. And adapted screenplay of course.
   
   
2. No Country for Old Men, the Coen brothers return with this faithful adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's brutal novel. I started reading this book and couldn't put it down, read it in one night. And it's a bloodbath. It's generating very positive word-of-mouth as well.
   
   
3. The Golden Compass. Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig star in this adaption of the first of three books in Pullman's His Dark Materials Trilogy. I just finished the final book in this series, and each book was better than the one that proceeded it. If you can overlook the anti-religion theme in the book, you'll enjoy the series. Haven't heard much about the movie, but I can't wait to see it.
   
   
4. Juno. Who saw Thank You for Smoking? Director Jason Reitman returns to direct this story of a pregnant teenager who decides to give her baby up for adoption to a couple played by Jason Bateman (Arrested Development) and Jennifer Garner (ALIAS). Critics have been writing glowing reviews about this film. It's supposed to be a feel-good comedy.
   
   
5. Eastern Promises. I've only seen one David Cronenberg film that I'm aware of (The History of Violence - not recommended for general moviegoers) and it also stared Viggo Mortensen. They team up for another violent film surrounding the mysterious death of a women connected to the Russian mafia. Naomi Watts also stars.
   
   
6. Sweeney Todd. Tim Burton directs Johnny Depp in this musical about a murderous barber. Perfect for a Christmas release. :-) I have no idea if this will be good or not, but I want to find out.
   
   
7. The Kite Runner. If you haven't read this book, it needs to be the next book you read. You won't be disappointed. Hopefully that is what people will be saying about this movie. The posters look a bit cheesy, so I'm almost concerned.
   

Those are the movies I'm most looking forward to, in no particular order. I'm sure at least one of them will disappoint me, but such is the nature of the beast. Has anyone heard of any of these movies, at at least the books most of them are based on? What movies are you looking forward to the most?