When Sony took the stage at CinemaCon 2012 yesterday afternoon in Las Vegas, they had a short one hour window to show off their various upcoming movies.  As we sat in the darkened theater waiting for the presentation to begin, we debated how could they have the stars and filmmakers talk about their movies and also show off tons of footage.  But rather than follow the typical studio roadmap, Sony decided to just show a non-stop sizzle reel sans movie stars that included the world premiere of Skyfall footage (a teaser trailer) and tons of new footage from all their 2012 films included The Amazing Spider-Man, Total Recall, Looper, Resident Evil: Retribution, Hope Springs, Premium Rush, Hotel Transylvania, Sparkle, That's My Boy, and Men in Black 3.  More after the jump.

skyfall-movie-image-daniel-craig
Image via Sony/MGM/Eon

Skyfall

As you might expect, the teaser trailer for Bond looked incredible.  While it had limited dialogue and almost no information about the plot, the visuals looked fantastic and it gave off a dark and mysterious vibe.  Also, we only saw one shot of Javier Bardem, and he was cloaked in darkness.

Unlike the footage from Skyfall which was very brief, the parts of the sizzle reel featuring Total Recall, The Amazing Spider-Man and Looper were full of new CGI shots and a lot longer than most of us expected.  The key thing to remember is these films are almost done, so the final CG shots are being delivered and they look incredible.

The Amazing Spider-Man

While I've been very nervous about Spider-Man using a CG Lizard as the villain, and I'm still nervous after seeing the footage yesterday.  I just don't like the idea of a CG creature when the filmmakers could have gone with a more real world villain.  Saying that, all the footage featuring Spider-Man making wise cracks to criminals and the stuff between Peter Parker (Andrew Garfield) and Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone) was absolutely perfect.  If director Marc Webb can pull off the Lizard and make him believable, we're looking at the very successful reboot of a massive franchise.

total-recall-poster-banner-image

Total Recall

While Sony showed a small action scene from the movie at last year's Comic-Con, during the presentation yesterday, they revealed huge amounts of action and some awesome visuals.  If you were nervous that director Len Wiseman's remake of Total Recall would lack size and scope, you can relax.  What I saw yesterday really impressed me, and I felt like I was transported to another time and place, but it still felt realistic.  Also, in addition to seeing some great looking wide shots that displayed the future world, we got to see a number of non-stop action scenes featuring an incredible fight between Colin Farrell and Kate Beckinsale.  It literally kept going and going.

While I know a lot of you are apprehensive about a Total Recall remake especially with Len Wiseman at the helm, the footage yesterday looked like they spent a fortune bringing the remake to life, and I cannot wait to see the finished film.

looper-poster

Looper

If you haven't seen director Rian Johnson's previous films (Brick and The Brothers Bloom), you need to stop everything and watch them.  Both films showcase a director who has a unique voice and vision, and both films are some of my favorites from the past seven years.  So it should be no surprise that his upcoming time-travel movie, Looper, is one of my most anticipated films of 2012.

For those not familiar with the film, the futuristic thriller takes place in a world where time travel exists, but is only used on the black market. When the mob wants to kill someone, they send the target 30 years into the past where a contract killer (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) does the dirty work. Things are going smoothly until Gordon-Levitt’s future self (Bruce Willis) is sent into the past to be killed.  You can watch the trailer here.

During Sony's presentation, the showcased a lot of new footage and it only reaffirms my belief that Looper is going to be something very special.

Video Blog Recap

As I've been doing all week, right after the panel ended I recorded a video blog with Peter from Slashfilm and Alex from FirstShowing.  However, rather than talk about all the movies that Sony has coming in 2012, we focused on Skyfall, Total Recall, The Amazing Spider-Man, Looper, and Men in Black 3.