2011: A glimpse of the road ahead

In 2010, pop culture got a little crazier. Katy Perry shot whipped cream from contraptions strapped to her chest in the video for “California Gurls,” box office sales rose with the reality-challenging Inception, and the exploding popularity of Jersey Shore landed Snooki inside a falling ball on New Year’s Eve. But none of this compares to what 2011 has in store when it comes to movies, music and the good ‘ol television tube.

Melancholia

Lars von Trier’s films are, by rule of thumb, as joyful as a vasectomy. But the Danish bad boy has already vamped up his latest project with a tantalizing promise: an unhappy ending. As though the genital-squashing finale of Antichrist was purely cathartic by contrast, von Trier’s darker Melancholia is ominously billed as a disaster film regarding a planetary collision.

Boasting a truly bizarre cast, including Charlotte Gainsbourg, Kiefer Sutherland and Kirsten Dunst, Melancholia has already begun filming in Germany and is expected to premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in May. Those envisioning a spectacle of digital chaos are strongly advised to check out Von Trier’s Dogville and Breaking the Waves, whose respective tales of sexual violation are complimented by stark, nearly unbearable minimalism.

If anything, the production of Melancholia suggests that Roland Emmerich’s monopoly on the filmed cataclysm might soon be challenged.

M83

After many months of touring behind the gorgeous John Hughes love letter Saturdays = Youth, French synth sorcerer Anthony Gonzalez has reportedly returned to his orchestral, apocalyptic roots.

Currently based in Los Angeles, Gonzalez has described his forthcoming LP as “very, very, very epic.” Given the stereo-crippling waves and choral screams of Before The Dawn Heals Us and  Dead Cities, Red Seas & Lost Ghosts, this early tease practically carries a warning for all potential listeners to invest in a new subwoofer and a reputable ear specialist.

Still, if Gonzalez has retained his usual melodic mastery and added a new Juno to the keyboard collection, the new disc is likely to be one of the more mesmerizing works of the year. Expect some of the 20 already-recorded demos to hit the web in the coming months and — if we’re lucky — an early M83 gig or two in our own fair city.

The Final Oprah

If the finale of Lost was worthy of generating an announcement from The White House on its conflict with President Obama’s state of the union address, the closing episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show might literally be declared a national holiday.

After 25 seasons of book endorsements, galvanizing guest spots and party favors that would make Solomon blush, Winfrey’s series will come to an end Sept. 9. What this mythic hour of network television will entail is anyone’s best guess. Compilations of past broadcasts and tearful embraces are likely, but one can always hope for a conclusion more worthy of David Copperfield: an apparition of stuffed snow peas, the revelation that Oprah cordially loathes reading, an exit through the ceiling via smoke and concealed wires?

The world will be watching.

The Walking Dead Season 2

Halloween night 2010 got a little more intense with the premiere of The Walking Dead, the intricately psychological, gore-happy AMC series based on Robert Kirkman’s graphic novel of the same name. The first season added some embellishments to the original work but stayed mostly true to the storyline and the psychological depth. The cast breathed life into the characters and the zombies were terrifically bloody and dead.

The show captured the attention of three to four million viewers within the first season and the ending left the characters to fend for themselves after finding another survivor and escaping from an exploding Center for Disease Control building.

With many other upcoming premieres, including a new season of Breaking Bad, AMC has to yet to find the right date for the horror show to reel in viewers once again — and the wait may last until Halloween 2011.

Sucker Punch

It’s rare to watch a movie about scantily clad girls wielding swords against fire-breathing dragons. So why not make a two-hour movie about it? The trailer for director Zach Snyder’s newest film features loud music, video game-like graphics and a tale about a few girls with names like “Baby Doll” and “Sweet Pea” fighting all sorts of creatures to fulfill a mysterious quest in a world far from reality.

Predictably enough, the story takes place in a mental asylum, where the patients look for something beyond the mental asylum and their horrid lives.

The group of girls is pitted against the evil men of the nuthouse and the slow-mo fights against creatures gives glimpses of what resembles a fantasy-like, psychological action film. The flick is set to hit theaters March 25 — and oddly enough includes Disney star Vanessa Hudgens.

Born This Way

You either love or hate Lady Gaga. The raw meat outfit, catchy tracks and gutsy music videos landed the artist a top spot in not only the music industry, but in popular culture.

This next year will determine whether the strange starlet will continue stretching her stardom or whether music fans will finally lose interest. Her new album, Born This Way, is set to hit the music world May 23 — and only Gaga knows what she will concoct to outdo her precedents for the shocking and the strange. Because of how much attention she received in 2010, the album can’t be anything less than absolute madness.