Last time I took a look back on 2013, this time I'm previewing some of the releases to look forward to this year. Are there any movies I didn't mention that you are anticipating in 2014? Comment to let me know!
Top Ten Most
Anticipated Movies of 2014
This year is going to be a great year for films. While it
may not contain some of the seriously anticipated ones due for release in 2015
(Avengers: Age of Ultron, Star Wars Episode VII, Batman vs. Superman, Jurassic World), this year has many
sequels lined up that I’m actually looking forward to, as well as some new takes
on old films and a couple original movies. I’ve left out a few that are on my
radar (Jupiter Ascending and Robocop to name a couple), but these are
the ten I’m most excited for. Also, the order is subject to change as more
promotional material is released leading up to the films’ release dates.
10. Captain America: The Winter Soldier
First up is the next film in Marvel’s Cinematic Universe.
With the exception of The Incredible Hulk,
I have seen every film in the M.C.U. at theaters so far, so it’s a given that I’ll be
seeing The Winter Soldier. The first Captain America was a decent
introduction to the character, but felt like one big lead up to The Avengers and lacked some of the
punch of the other Marvel films. Having said that, I still enjoyed the film,
and sort of compare it to the first Thor:
a good intro, but could have been improved. Hopefully this sequel improves in
the same way the Thor sequel did. It
has been said that The Winter Soldier
will be more of a political thriller. The first trailer looks promising; it’s
clear this film will be different from what we’ve seen in the M.C.U. so far,
but with enough familiar action and explosions that it will suffice in the
superhero department as well. Captain
America: The Winter Soldier comes out April 4th.
9. 22 Jump Street
21 Jump Street was
the funniest movie I saw in 2012. I’ve only seen the trailer for this sequel
once, but it looks like they’re taking it in the right direction. The first
film had a certain level of self awareness, and that appears to be intact yet
again. The only thing I’m worried about is the plot will likely be a repeat of
the first. In 21 Jump Street, Jonah
Hill and Channing Tatum were sent into a high school to locate the origins of a
new drug. Now, they are going to college, to do the exact same thing. This
could go either way; it could be dull and repetitious, or it could be an
opportunity at some very self referential humour. I’m hoping they at least
acknowledge the fact that they’ve already done this. Aside from that, I’m
really looking forward to seeing this comedy duo return, and hopefully they
bring the laughs with them. 22 Jump
Street comes out June 13th.
8. A Million Ways to Die in the West
I haven’t heard much about this movie yet, but knowing who
is behind it alone has drawn my interest. Seth MacFarlane directs, co-writes,
and stars in this comedy western, also set to feature Charlize Theron, Liam
Neeson, and Neil Patrick Harris, among others. Not everyone will agree, but I
think Seth MacFarlane is smart, talented, and has a knack for comedy. I love Family Guy, and I thought 2012’s Ted was a promising start to his film
career. Quentin Tarantino’s last film Django
Unchained put a new spin on the western genre, and who better to put a
completely different spin on it than Seth MacFarlane and his team of writers?
His comic expertise along with a stellar cast will hopefully make for one of
the funniest original comedies this year. A
Million Ways to Die in the West comes out May 30th.
7. Guardians of the Galaxy
Captain America: The
Winter Soldier is said to be different from other Marvel films, but I doubt
it will be as unique as Guardians of the
Galaxy promises to be. Written and directed by James Gunn, the man behind Slither—one of my favourite horror
comedies—and featuring a terrific cast including Bradley Cooper, Zoe Saldana,
Vin Diesel, Michael Rooker, and many more, Guardians
has yet to reveal much in the way of trailers, screen shots, or set visits. The
reason I’m excited about this epic space adventure is I know next to nothing
about the source material or how they plan to fit it into the Marvel Cinematic
Universe. The characters are all otherworldly—certainly more so than any of the
Marvel heroes that make up The Avengers—so
it should be interesting to see them interact and work as a team to defeat the
villain, which I have just found out will be Ronan the Accusor (yet another
character I am unfamiliar with). From what I’ve read, fans of the comics are
eagerly awaiting this film, so hopefully it will satisfy the vision they hope
to see, as well as deliver an exciting and original adventure for the rest of
us. Guardians of the Galaxy comes out
August 1st.
6. Dumb and Dumber To
Finally, a sequel to one of the funniest comedies of the
nineties is set to arrive this year. Dumb
and Dumber starred Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels as two bumbling idiots who
stay friends through thick and thin, and while it might not be the most
original or groundbreaking comedy plot, it certainly excels in the laughs
department. I never saw the prequel Dumb
and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd, but I heard about how bad it was, and
the fact that Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels weren’t in it does not make me want
to see it. Now, twenty years after the original, Harry Dunne and Lloyd
Christmas return. It’s both assuring and disconcerting that writer/director
team the Farrelly Brothers are returning. Dumb
and Dumber was their directorial debut, but these are the same two guys who
were involved with Movie 43, the
worst film of 2013, and one of the worst films of the decade so far. A sequel
to Dumb and Dumber has been delayed
too long, so it should be satisfying just to see Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels
team up again for another hilarious adventure. Dumb and Dumber To comes out November 14th.
5. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
Tim Burton’s attempt at a Planet of the Apes remake in 2001 was an abysmal failure. When the
trailer for the latest reboot attempt surfaced, I laughed and fully expected it
to be as bad or worse than Tim Burton’s attempt, just based on the title alone.
But as I learned, don’t judge a movie by its title. I found out actor Andy
Serkis would be doing motion capture for the main ape Caesar, and the apes
would be done in photorealistic cgi rather than makeup as had been done in all
previous Apes films. It had my
interest, but I was still hugely skeptical. As it turned out, Rise of the Planet of the Apes was one
of my favourite movies of 2011, and did a terrific job of successfully
rebooting the franchise. I was a little disappointed to find out director
Rupert Wyatt and star James Franco wouldn’t be returning for the sequel.
However, the directing reigns were handed over to Matt Reeves—a friend of J.J.
Abrams, both of whom worked on the giant monster movie Cloverfield. I have high hopes and confidence that Reeves will
deliver, and the new cast includes Dark
Knight star Gary Oldman who is reliably excellent, and will have Andy
Serkis return as Caesar. The plot sounds very interesting, and the first teaser
trailer was a great hook. I can’t wait to go ape shit in the theater on July 14th!
4. X-Men: Days of Future Past
For whatever reason, I’m not a major fan of Bryan Singer’s
first two X-Men movies. I think they
are well made and entertaining, but not incredible. I haven’t seen X-Men: The Last Stand, but I have seen X-Men Origins: Wolverine, which was a steaming
pile (not just compared to the first two X-Men).
2011’s X-Men: First Class, a prequel
film with a different cast, actually impressed me much more than any of the previous
X-Men movies. Wolverine’s second solo
film, which came out this year, was a huge improvement over Origins, but still lacked the punch of First Class. This year, we get what I
think might be the best X-Men movie
yet. Blending the casts from the original trilogy and First Class, plus introducing a time travel plot and some of the
coolest villains from the X-Men
universe (the Sentinels) is all terrific, but what’s really great is Bryan
Singer returning as director. It’s been a while since he’s directed a good film
(his last directorial effort Jack the
Giant Slayer failed to really please), and the ensemble cast resulting from
the combination of casts should be really impressive. X-Men: Days of Future
Past comes out May 23rd.
3. Interstellar
Even though the first teaser didn’t satisfy my curiosity, I
am still hugely excited for Christopher Nolan’s next film, and the reasons are
simple. One, Nolan is among the best film directors in the industry
today—everything he does is captivating, whether it’s re-inventing Batman three successful times over or making
Inception a house hold term. Two,
this is an original sci-fi epic, not a sequel, remake, or based on a book, comic,
or any other property. Three, I know hardly anything about the plot, other than
it involves space, wormholes, and other heady sci-fi concepts. Hopefully they
all gel to make an enriched cinematic experience. I read that this film may end
up being the defining space film for the decade, rather than Gravity. If anyone could do that, it’s
Christopher Nolan. Interstellar comes out November 7th.
2. The Hobbit: There and Back Again
If you’ve read my last list on my favourite movies I saw in
theaters last year, then you know how much I loved the second entry in The Hobbit trilogy. If everything goes
right, the third entry has the potential to be even better. Smaug stole the
show in Desolation of Smaug, which I
was completely okay with because he was so awesome. I don’t want to spoil the
ending, but it is a guarantee Smaug will return in the third film, although his
part probably won’t be nearly as big as it was in the second chapter. The shape
shifting bear buddy of Gandalf’s was not in Desolation
of Smaug as much as I had expected him to be, so his part in the third
chapter will be (according to my friends) much bigger and more important. An
epic war is poised to happen, so the action scenes should be numerous and
thrilling. Even though I’m expecting an action blockbuster, I also expect this
third and final film to be quite emotional; it will be the last Middle Earth
film to round out Peter Jackson’s two epic trilogies. If Jackson improves this
sequel as much as he did Desolation of
Smaug compared to An Unexpected
Journey, then There and Back Again
will be the crowning film event for the final month of 2014. The Hobbit: There
and Back Again comes out December 17th.
1. Godzilla
This film is by far the one I am most excited for. It had
been announced many years ago that Godzilla
would return in 2012. However, whatever plans Warner Bros. and Legendary
Pictures had fell through, and I’ve had to wait two whole years since then for
the new American Godzilla film.
Hopefully, the wait will be worth it. If you’ve been living under a rock for
the past two decades (or are not a diehard Godzilla
fan such as myself), then you might not know that Hollywood attempted a Godzilla film back in 1998. It was
directed by Roland Emmerich, who has become well known for brainless summer
action and disaster films. To be fair, Emmerich’s Godzilla film is not all terrible—there is some decent action and
city destruction—it’s just a downright embarrassment to have slapped the Godzilla name on that film. Every fan of
Godzilla will tell you the monster
you saw in Emmerich’s Godzilla was
not Godzilla—he was merely Godzilla in name only. Fans now refer to the
film/creature as G.I.N.O., or Zilla, because it took the ‘God’ out of
‘Godzilla’. I could not agree more. Godzilla didn’t even look like Godzilla, he
was just an overgrown iguana with spines, didn’t have the trademark atomic
breath, and was killed by missiles. The real Godzilla DOES NOT get killed by the
military and ALWAYS blows radioactive fire! Even a child knows that! Everything
about the new Godzilla film appears
to be perfect. Godzilla’s appearance is much closer to the original, his
trademark roar, atomic breath, and brutality are all intact, the human cast is
all very good (including Breaking Bad
star Bryan Cranston for crying out loud!), and it has been confirmed that
Godzilla will fight at least one other monster. Having said all that, I still
had concerns. Director Gareth Edwards is a relative newcomer, having only
directed one feature film prior to this called Monsters, which was also a giant monster movie. I have faith in
him, however, not simply because he clearly knows giant monsters, but because
he was the writer, director, cinematographer, and visual effects artist on Monsters. I think he has a good handle
on visual effects, so I’m not too worried about the cgi that will be used to
bring Godzilla to life looking bad like it did in Emmerich’s film. Also, from
what I’ve read, Edwards is a true fan of the original Japanese films, and will
be paying respect to them in all the right ways, by making this Godzilla a darker, more serious film and
bring the beast back to its destructive origins. It has also been made clear
that Godzilla is the star, and while I think a strong human cast is important,
putting Godzilla first is way more important, and Edwards clearly understands
this. The first teaser trailer alone for this film was brilliantly put
together. Everything seems to be shaping up to make this Godzilla film one of the best films of 2014. Hopefully. Godzilla
stomps into theaters May 16th.
No comments:
Post a Comment