2013 has come to an end. While a lot of the hollywood juggernauts
are being saved for 2015, we still have another year before that. But, 2014
does have its fair share to offer us moviegoers as it's going to bring a
plethora of awesome sequels as well as some unique flicks. So let's get
started.
Honourable Mentions:
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1
Guardians of the Galaxy
The Expendables 3
10. The Edge of Tomorrow
(June 6th, 2014)
9. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (May
2nd, 2014)
I wasn't a big fan of the first movie. It was entertaining and
had some cool web-slinging moments, but for some reason it just didn't feel
right. I was still attached to the earlier Sam Raimi Spider-Man trilogy.
Hopefully, this sequel can veer the audience towards believing in this
Spider-Man. What it really is that I'm anticipating is Dane DeHaan as Harry
Osborn; he's a great new actor and looks like he can bring something much
needed to this franchise. From the posters and new trailer, it looks as if he's
going to don the persona of the Green Goblin, Spidey's most well-known nemesis.
That would total this movie's supervillain count to three, when you add that to
Electro and Rhino. One problem that Spider-Man 3 had was that it lost
focus because it was too overcrowded with big bad guys. It'll be interesting to
see if they can get it right this time.
8. The Wind Rises (February
21st, 2014)
This movie probably isn't as well-known as the rest on this list;
but it's already been nominated for the Golden Globe for Best Foreign Film, and that's quite feat for an animated movie. The
Wind Rises has already released in Japan and gained critical acclaim.
That's expected because it's the newest film of Hayao Miyazaki. If you don't
know who that is, he's basically the king of anime when it comes to story,
emotion, and immersion (Princess Mononoke, Howl's Moving Castle, Spirited
Way). But this time around, his cartoons tackle the true story of the life
of Jiro Horikoshi, the man who designed Japanese fighter planes during World
War II. If it's everything it's being hyped to be, The Wind Rises could
be one of the best animated films in a long time.
7. The Monuments Men (February
7th, 2014)
From the trailers for this movie, it looks like one of those
high-profile Oscar movies, almost like last year's Argo (which ended up
winning Best Picture). But the release date of this movie kind of scares me,
because February is not normally the movie season for gems. If we're looking at it optimistically,
the film has already been released to critics and is being considered in this
year's awards. Otherwise, it would be forgotten next time around since it's
coming out so early. Nonetheless, Monuments Men looks to be an
entertaining yet engrossing movie, as it tells the true story of a group of
soldiers who actually aren't even soldiers; they're just in the war to recover
all of the art that's been taken by the Nazis in order to preserve them or
return them to their rightful owners. It's got a really credible cast,
starring George Clooney, Matt Damon, John Goodman, Bill Murray, Jean Dujardin, and Cate Blanchett. Also directed by Clooney, it looks like it could end up being
quite a memorable World War II movie.
6. Noah (March 28th, 2014)
The biblical story of Noah's Ark looks to be one of the most epic
movies of 2014, as it features such a huge scale. It looks like one of those
movies that will inevitably have awesome sweeping cinematography, complemented
by an epic musical score. And that should be the case, as a huge budget has
been poured into this film; which should help it to have great special effects.
Noah, himself, is played by Russell Crowe who is one of my top 5 favorite
actors. He's supported by a cast of Jennifer Connelly, Emma Watson, Kevin
Durand, Logan Lerman, and the legendary Anthony Hopkins. Add to that one of the
most experienced directors in the fields of character development and
engrossing narratives, Darren Aronofsky, and we should have a breathtaking film
to look forward to.
5. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (July 11th, 2014)
A sequel to a prequel of one of the most classic movies in
American cinema. Rise of the Planet of the Apes blew away my
expectations and is one of my favorite movies of 2011. It was engrossing, and
you never knew what to think. Just as well, Andy Serkis's motion capture
portrayal of Caesar, the main ape, was groundbreaking. (Spoilers for Rise
ahead!) At the end of that movie, we saw the apes becoming dominant and the
human race dying away from a plague-like disease. In Dawn, years later,
we see Caesar as the leader of warrior-like apes and the human race as
struggling to survive. This movie looks so appealing because it looks as if it
can capitalize on everything in the first movie, as well as even further tie it
to the original Planet of the Apes. Also, it's technically a
post-apocalyptic film; and I'm a sucker for those.
4. Captain America: The Winter
Soldier (April 4th, 2014)
To me, Captain America: The First Avenger was probably the
weakest film in phase one of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (besides Iron Man
2, but we pretend that that one didn't happen). It was an entertaining
movie and Chris Evans is good in the role, but it just didn't capture the
essence of importance and is sometimes forgotten as a movie. However, the
trailer for this sequel utterly blew my mind. Winter Soldier takes place
in present day, and I imagine it will further deal with Cap still getting used
to how the world is now (which shouldn't be easy since he went straight from
the 1940s to 2012). Also, the trailer touches upon the concept of freedom and
fear in the country, and that's what really got me. I mean, it had all of its
awesome money shots, action sequences, and cool moments; but what got me was
the possibility of this movie having that kind of social layering. Captain
America should be an icon, and he truly cares for the people; he's not just a
soldier for the government. That's why his line in the trailer, "This
isn't freedom, it's fear," is so great. Add to that what looks to be an
awesome villain, the Winter Soldier, and we could have the best movie of the
franchise's second phase.
3. X-Men: Days of Future Past (May
23rd, 2014)
X-Men is one of my favourite movie series, X2: X-Men
United is one of my favourite superhero films of all time. The first X-Men
movie is what opened up to us that we could have so many successful and
awesome superhero movies. Before then, all there was that Hollywood wanted to
count on was Batman, Superman, and Spider-Man. Who could blame them? Those
three are arguably the best known heroes with the highest likability factor.
However, X-Men opened up the door to further vary the superhero genre.
While it had a bit of a dip in quality with X-Men Origins: Wolverine (which
we don't talk about, ever), the franchise quickly got back on its feet by
releasing one of the best superhero movies of all time, X-Men: First Class,
which served as a prequel and dealt with the characters of the series in a much
earlier time period where they were younger. Days of Future Past looks
to be one of the most unique movie moves ever as it's going to bridge the gap
between the original movies and the prequel movie; in that, the older cast will
meet the younger cast as their younger counterparts. We'll get virtually the
best of everything, as the story is adapted off of one of the best X-Men comic
book story arcs, the massive cast of stars will be giving their all, director
Bryan Singer of the first two X-Men movies returns, and hopefully
everything will blend swimmingly to give us a complex, yet fun comic book movie
to start the summer right.
2. The Hobbit: There And Back
Again (December 17th, 2014)
The opposite from starting the summer could be ending the year.
And if it goes right, 2014 could end with a bang. This is the third movie in The
Hobbit trilogy, as well as the final film in the Lord of the Rings series.
If you didn't already know, the Lord of the Rings trilogy is
collectively my favourite movie of all time, and so I was greatly looking
forward to The Hobbit movies as they serve as prequels to the series,
and offer a chance to get back into the amazing world of Middle-Earth. Having
read the books, I have knowledge of what will go on, but Peter Jackson has
taken his own liberty in adding a ton of content taken from all of J.R.R.
Tolkein's Middle-Earth related works. This gives us the chance to not know
what's fully coming and ultimately not know what to expect. While the first Hobbit
film was good, I felt it didn't fully capture the essence and epic value of
The Lord of the Rings, but the second did go into the right direction.
If they're consistent, There And Back Again could end up being an epic
fantasy classic that's fun for the family while offering service to fans and
critics alike. The second movie left us off just wanting so much more, so this
movie could get it right off the bat and offer the flawless special effects and
action that the second film had, as well as the acting and directing that the
whole series has flourished upon. Regardless, I know for sure that I'll be back
again for it.
1. Interstellar
(November 7th, 2014)
There's not a lot that anybody knows about this movie. It looks
to be an incredibly ambiguous film that can't really be explained to its full
potential unless you actually attentively watch it. That's not uncommon, coming
from arguably the best filmmaker in cinema today, Christopher Nolan. Some will
argue that he's not a classic filmmaker yet, but he is my favorite as he's
consistently released films that could almost all be considered classics in
their own respect, as well as a great number of my favorite movies of all time.
Just put Nolan's name on something and I will flock to the theatre to see it. Interstellar
is written by Chris Nolan and his brother Jonathan Nolan, who co-wrote The
Dark Knight trilogy, Memento, and The Prestige (all
incredible and engrossing films). There's not much known about the story,
except that it features a group of explorers who make use of a newly discovered wormhole in order to surpass the limitation on human space travel. Even from
that synopsis, we can't really tell much about the plot, other than the fact
that it will be a complex sci-fi movie that will really require the viewer to
use their noggin and remain invested. It stars Matthew McConaughey (who's
recently gotten back on his game), Anne Hathaway (fresh off of her Oscar win),
Jessica Chastain (a powerful leading lady), Casey Affleck (probably one of the
most consistent actors in choosing the movies he acts in and one of my personal
favourites), and Michael Caine (who's come to be a Christopher Nolan staple).
Though there's not much known about Interstellar, I'm certain that it's
my most anticipated movie for the year, as just the little that is known has
piqued such great intrigue.
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