With the end of the world as we know it just around the corner in December 2012 (according to John Cusack anyway), next year could well be the last full year of action movies we ever have. Consequently, I thought it would be useful to give you an overview of everything coming out that might be worth your 12 bucks and let you fulfill that New Year resolution to be organized and actually make use of that schedule book you get every year in your stocking. After all, it could be your last chance to do so.

JANUARY

You’ll have to wait a full two weeks for your first multiplex action fix in the shape of the intriguing superhero movie The Green Hornet which hits screens January 14th. Interested to see how Michel Gondry wrangles Seth Rogen, Christoph Waltz, Cameron Diaz and Taiwanese megastar Jay Chou into the same movie? Yeah, me too. Ye of little faith should note that the movie was also scribed by Rogen and his trusty writing partner Evan Goldberg who are 2 for 2 in my book with Superbad and Pineapple Express. Still not convinced? Well you can always check out:

Ong Bak 3 the same weekend, January 14th

The Mechanic with Jason Statham doing what he does best – taking names – in the remake of the 1972 Charles Bronson film, January 21st.

FEBRUARY

Most people are probably going to flock to D.J. Caruso’s I Am Number Four on the 18th because they’ll market the shit out of it, but watch this trailer and try telling me with a straight face it’s not just Twilight with aliens.

I’m far more interested in Kevin MacDonald’s The Eagle on February 11th with Channing Tatum, especially when the trailer takes them beyond Hadrian’s Wall and into my homeland Caledonia to confront some of my badass Celtic brethren. But then again I’m unabashedly biased.

Sanctum, on February 4th, might be the most fun with the James Cameron produced, 3D underwater camp-fest. It looks like the kind of guilty pleasure I’ve been hoping for ever since the release of Deep Blue Sea way back in 1999.

MARCH

This is going to be a crazy month for action movies. First off, on March 4th, there’s Apollo 18 where we will learn what NASA really discovered on the moon after they claimed to end the Apollo Space program. Hint: it rhymes with schmaliens.

Limitless, releases on March 18th, starring De Niro and Bradley Cooper, which centers on a down-and-out writer who gets his hands on a secret pharmaceutical drug that unleashes your full potential, transforming you into a superhuman, but not without some lethal and lasting side effects, including “trip-switching,” a phenomenon in which time moves with a stop-motion quality.

Sucker Punch directed by Zack Snyder should not be forgot. It’s due on March 25th and, if nothing else, looks like it will be a visual feast.

Battle: Los Angeles, on March 11th, serves up a potent cocktail of Cloverfield and Independence Day.

APRIL

Slim pickings in April it seems. I’m excited about Source Code starring Jake Gyllenhaal on April 15th, which is kind of like Speed meets Groundhog Day. Basically, a guy wakes up on a train, having no recollection of how he got there à la Bourne. He stumbles around trying to remember anything. And then… BOOM the train BLOWS UP. And he’s dead. But then, à la Deja Vu he wakes up in a weird lab only to realize that he’s going to be sent back in time to find out who blew up the train. Before he can make sense of this or ask any questions, he’s sent back to the exact same moment where the movie started and has 17 minutes to find out who’s responsible before the train blows up again. This was one of the best specs I read this year and I’m betting on it being the word of mouth hit of 2011.

Hanna, scheduled for April 11th, is directed by Joe Wright who is best know for Atonement and Pride & Prejudice. He told us in an interview that his greatest influences for the tone and action in Hanna were Blue Velvet and Old Boy. The trailer promises plenty of action.

Priest, on May 13, is a Mad Max meets Underworld. It’s a post-apocalyptic sci fi thriller, is set in an alternate world — one ravaged by centuries of war between man and vampires. The story revolves around a legendary warrior priest (Paul Bettany) from the last vampire war who now lives in obscurity among the other downtrodden human inhabitants in walled-in dystopian cities ruled by the Church. When his niece (Lily Collins) is abducted by a murderous pack of vampires, Priest breaks his sacred vows to venture out on an obsessive quest to find her before they turn her into one of them.

MAY

On May 6th, action fans will get a chance to see what Kenneth Branagh, best known for his Shakespearean adaptations, does with Thor. It’s such an incongruous choice of director that I can’t help but feel that Branagh is either going to hit it out the park or fail spectacularly. Both scenarios will probably be worthy of your cash.

Pirates of the Caribbean: Stranger Tides is the next installment in the multi-billion dollar Pirates franchise. This time Captain Jack Sparrow crosses paths with a woman from his past (Penélope Cruz), and he’s not sure if it’s love, or if she’s a ruthless con artist who’s using him to find the fabled Fountain of Youth.

JUNE

A banner month. The Green Lantern is my first pick because Ryan Reynolds needs some love after divorcing Scarlett Johannson and I like that the trailer contained the line: “Make yourself at home, there’s water in the tap.” Write that one down.

X-Men: First Class is scheduled to make a return to the big screen on June 3rd. It seems like Matthew Vaughan, who did so well with Kick Ass last year, is going to pull a Nolan and make it all a little darker and edgier, with a script from Bryan Singer that delves into the formative years of Xavier and Magento during the 1960s, with parallels to the rise of MLK Jr. and Malcolm X. Sounds pretty damn clever to me. I also like the look of a cast that includes James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Kevin Bacon, and January Jones.

Rise of the Apes features the increasingly impressive James Franco in a prequel to Planet of the Apes.

Super 8 is a top secret flick from some young upstart by the name of J.J. Abrams about the chain of super affordable motels … that’s not right… it’s aliens again. I’m sensing a theme of the year here. It’s all part of the government’s gradual disclosure project I tell thee!

JULY

It’s probably safe to say that Transformers 3: Dark of the Moon will break records for the most 3D explosions ever featured in a movie, but I’m glad to hear Michael Bay has promised to shy away from the dorkiness of the second movie and the new trailer which just dropped is undeniably slick. Again, it’s this dark side of the moon thing. What with this, and Apollo 18 and another script called Dark Moon by Olatunde Osunsanmi (the writer-director of the The Fourth Kind) which was picked up Warner Bros. in October. What’s going on Hollywood? Too much listening to Pink Floyd? The real question for the ages, however, is not which movie will prevail but whether Victoria’s Secret model Rosie Huntington-Whitely can fill the acting shoes (and push-up bra) of Megan Fox.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 also releases on July 15th and this time in all the glorious wonderfulness of 3D. Hurrah!

Cowboys and Aliens from John Favreau premieres on July 29th, in which Apache Indians and Western settlers must lay their differences aside when an alien spaceship crash lands in Silver City, Arizona, giving Harrison Ford, as the Federal Marshall in town, yet more opportunity to scowl and look disgruntled — never a bad thing.

Captain America: The First Avenger, from director Joe Johnston, comes out on July 22nd. Did I mention we have an exclusive director’s blog on that one: check it out here.

AUGUST

So far, it’s going to be pretty slim pickings in August. Your best bet is probably going to be The Darkest Hour, on August 5th, which revolves around a group of young people who struggle to survive, yep you guessed it, an alien attack — this time in Russia. Produced by Timur Bekmambetov ( director of Wanted and Daywatch), directed by Chris Gorak (who was the art director of Fight Club) and starring Emile Hirsch, Olivia Thirlby, Max Minghella, Rachael Taylor, and Joel Kinnaman, the project should at least have some fresh settings for some good set pieces.

30 minutes or Less also has me excited because of the reunion of Zombieland’s director Ruben Fleischer and actor Jesse Eisenberg, as well as Danny McBride, Aziz Ansari, Michael Peña, Nick Swardson and Fred Ward in a story that revolves around two fledgling criminals kidnapping a pizza delivery driver and forcing him to rob a bank within 30 minutes.

Final Destination 5 on August 26th, because no matter where you hide … you can’t cheat this series of sequels.

SEPTEMBER

Columbiana on the 2nd with producer Luc Besson and Transporter 3 director Olivier Megaton stars Zoe Saldana as a Colombian woman who becomes an assassin after witnessing her parents’ murder as a child. After training as a hitman for her uncle, she takes on other vigilante murders that lead her to the ultimate target, the mobster who killed her parents. This means we’ll get all the classic revenge cinema badassery of Taken but with the bonus of a sexier pair of legs… no offense Liam.

Warrior, on September 9, delivers all the ground, pound and drama you might need, with this MMA drama of an ex-Marine haunted by a tragic past returning to his hometown of Pittsburgh and enlisting his father, a recovered alcoholic and his former coach, (Randy Couture) to train him for an MMA tournament awarding the biggest purse in the history of the sport.

Now, on September 30, is a thriller about a society where no one ages beyond 25, except for those rich enough to buy time. Follows a rebel from the ghetto (Justin Timberlake) who is falsely accused of murdering a wealthy man for his time, and goes on the run with a beautiful hostage (Amanda Seyfried).

OCTOBER

October is a bit of a blast from the past. First with a prequel to John Carpenter’s 1982 sci-fi flick The Thing which comes out on the 14th and is directed by Dutch filmmaker Matthijs van Heijningen Jr. Matthijs’s film will take place right before the first film, with the original Norwegian crew that discovered the alien.

Real Steel on October 7th, stars Hugh Jackman as Charlie Kenton, a washed-up fighter who lost his chance at a title when 2000-pound, 8-foot-tall steel robots took over the boxing ring. Now nothing but a small-time promoter, Charlie earns just enough money piecing together low-end bots from scrap metal to get from one underground boxing venue to the next. When Charlie hits rock bottom, he reluctantly teams up with his estranged son Max (Dakota Goyo) to build and train a championship contender. As the stakes in the brutal, no-holds-barred arena are raised, Charlie and Max, against all odds, get one last shot at a comeback.

The Three Musketeers, is an option on October 14th, with Summit Entertainment’s 3D’er helmed by Paul W.S. Anderson and starring Logan Lerman (Percy Jackson & the Olympians) as D’Artagnan; Ray Stevenson (The Book of Eli) as Porthos; Luke Evans (Clash of the Titans) as Athos; Matthew MacFadyen (Pride and Prejudice) as Aramis; Christoph Waltz (Inglourious Basterds) as Cardinal Richelieu; Mads Mikkelsen (Clash of the Titans) as Rochefort; Milla Jovovich (Anderson’s wife and star of the Resident Evil films) as Milady de Winter who is described as ’17th century Bond girl’ and Orlando Bloom, he of floppy tousled hair, as the film’s nemesis, the Duke of Buckingham.

NOVEMBER

On November 4th, the once prodigious director Brett Ratner returns with the Bernie Madoff-inspired action comedy Tower Heist which finds a group of hard working guys conspiring to rob the high-rise residence of a wealthy business man after they find out they are the victim of his Ponzi scheme. A cast of Ben Stiller, Casey Affleck, Matthew Broderick, Eddie Murphy and Alan Alda makes me quietly hopeful about this one — as well as cameo’s from Dave Chappelle, Charlie Murphy and Joss Whedon!

There’s also some Twilight movie coming out on November 18th about the incongruous love triangle between a high school girl, a vampire and a werewolf. Strictly a personal opinion here, but I’d rather sew my face to the floor.

DECEMBER

If this is in fact our last December of action movies before the end of days then I’m pretty happy that we are going out with a bang. Mission Impossible IV — sorry Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol — has already filmed in Dubai, Prague, Moscow and Vancouver. There have been numerous publicity stills of Tom Cruise doing heroic stunts like dangling from the world’s tallest building in Dubai. I’m very intrigued by the choice of Brad Bird (Ratatouille,The Incredibles, The Iron Giant), as director for this one and I like the inclusion of Jeremy Renner to the proceedings as he was bloody good in The Hurt Locker last year.

The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn also comes out on December 23rd. Many Americans won’t be immediately familiar with this anthology of comic strips created by the Belgian artist Georges Rémi, who wrote under the pen name of Hergé that follows the swashbuckling adventures of young Belgian reporter Tintin and his trusty fox terrier dog Snowy. But I have a feeling you’ve all heard of Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson, right? Well, Spielberg’s directing this one which is currently in post-production and Producer Peter Jackson, whose company Weta Digital is providing the 3D computer animation, intends to direct a sequel. Oh, and Spielberg and Jackson also hope to co-direct a third film. THIS is the next Indiana Jones people and I think it could also be a huge jump in 3D motion capture technology. The Tintin series of books straddled a variety of genres: swashbuckling adventures with elements of fantasy, mysteries, political thrillers, and science fiction. The stories within the Tintin series always featured slapstick humor, accompanied in later albums by satire, and political and cultural commentary. It’s a rich canvas to work from and it is pretty much the perennial inspiration for me to pick up a pen and try my hand at writing. Peter and Steven, in you I trust.

Related posts on 30ninjas.com:

• It’s All Geek To Me — SUPER HAPPY FUN-TIME AWESOME 2011 SUMMER MOVIE RUNDOWN!
• Its All Geek To Me — A Ridiculously Subjective Fall TV and Movie Preview
• The Lightning Round — Gaming News for Thursday, May 5th, 2011
• Animes That Cry Out for a Live-Action Movie
• 30 Pirates Exclusive — New Street Fighter Movie!
• New New Godzilla Movie Hopefully Better Than Old New Godzilla Movie