Saturday 4 January 2014

My 11 Most Anticipated Films of 2014



With 2013 well and truly behind us, I look forward to my most anticipated films of the coming 12 months. 2014 has some absolutely massive films scheduled for release; We've got action, comedy, drama, science-fiction and fantasy all on offer, so something for all cinematic tastes. What film are you looking forward to most in 2014?


Other films coming out in 2014

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, I Frankenstein, Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit, Robocop, Divergent, Maleficent, How to Train Your Dragon 2, Noah, 22 Jump Street, The Muppets Most Wanted, Transformers: Age of Extinction, The Monuments Men, The Book Thief, Need for Speed, The Expendables 3, Young Ones



11) Edge of Tomorrow (30th May - UK release date)


Cruise and Blunt in Edge of Tomorrow
Tom Cruise, Emily Blunt and Lara Pulver star in this action sci-fi film from director Doug Liman (Mr. and Mrs Smith., Jumper) about a soldier (Cruise) who is fighting a war stuck in a time-loop; Edge of Tomorrow is like Groundhog Day mixed with Aliens, a premise that makes this film a mouth-watering prospect for action-junkies.

Cruise has had a couple of strong years, with Jack Reacher and Oblivion making a decent buck at the box office. Blunt meanwhile continues to delve deeper into the sci-fi genre on the back of 2012's Looper. I'm looking forward to this one purely based on that killer premise; plus, Cruise remains every bit the mega-star he was 10 years ago - his name alone should carry this one to the top of the box-office charts. 



10) The Lego Movie (3rd April)


Director Chris Miller (21 Jump Street, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs) brings the little yellow mini-figures of Lego to life in this sure-fire blockbuster (ba-dum-tish!) that kids will click with. Starring the voices of Channing Tatum, Liam Neeson, Will Ferrell, Morgan Freeman, Cobie Smulders, Elizabeth Banks, Jonah Hill, Chris Pratt and Alison Brie, The Lego Movie is a cool premise that offers plenty of space for self-referential and meta jokes for both kids and adults to enjoy.

Expanding the multimedia franchise into silver screen cinema, Lego is a brand determined to assert itself beyond little plastic blocks that stick together. The charming Telltale video games and direct-to-DVD movies have a dedicated fanbase and the star talent behind this feature length adventure will hopefully appeal a wider audience who are just familiar with the toy sets (so, basically everyone).


9) The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 (20th November)


Jennifer Lawrence heads up the Hunger Games: Mockingjay
Part 1
The final Hunger Games novel is being split into two halves (a la Twilight, Harry Potter) and November next year sees the release of Mockingjay Part 1

Everyone's favourite reluctant freedom fighter Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) is back alongside Finnick Odair (Sam Claflin) and Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson) as open warfare between the Districts and the Capitol is now a harsh reality. 

Anticipation for this instalment will be high after the cliffhanger ending of Catching Fire whilst the drawcard of Lawrence's mass appeal in the lead role is only going improve the franchise's fortunes. Catching Fire made a ton of cash (and still is) so Mockingjay is a sure-fire hit for the emerging big studio, Lionsgate.

In my mind, Mockingjay is the weakest novel in the series (as well as the most disjointed, darkest and troubled) so how director Francis Lawrence navigates this and inserts a break mid-book will be interesting. 


8) Godzilla (15th May)


Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Elizabeth Olsen and Bryan Cranston are the trio of stars heading up Godzilla, a reboot directed by Gareth Edwards (Monsters).

With Roland Emmerich's 1998 adaptation failing to live long in people's memory, Warner Bros. and Legendary have decided that the time is ripe for this "terrifying force of nature" to be retold in "an epic rebirth of Toho's iconic Godzilla". 

After previewing the film at Comic-Con in July 2012, this film has been gaining a lot of traction amongst fans of the kaiju genre. However, the poor performance of Pacific Rim in the US may hinder Godzilla; audiences didn't connect with del Toro's homage to the kaiju genre as much as expected, so what'll separate this new reboot in the minds of the audience? Edwards and Warner Bros. are going to be relying heavily on the recognition of the Godzilla brand when marketing this one. 


7) Guardians of the Galaxy (1st August - UK release date)


Concept art for Guardians of the Galaxy
The Marvel Cinematic Universe moves into uncharted territory with this entirely new franchise based on a comic-book series of the same name. Directed by James Gunn, Guardians of the Galaxy is a big risk for Marvel; a little known property, the film can't rely upon the widespread notoriety of Iron Man, the Hulk or Captain America to draw audiences.

Pitched as a mixture of Marvel and Star Wars, GOTG is about a jet pilot who is "stranded in space and must unite a diverse team of aliens to form a squad capable of defeating cosmic threats". Starring Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Vin Diesel, Dave Bautista, Karen Gillan, Bradley Cooper and Lee Pace, this new project will showcase Marvel's ambitions to open up their universe with significantly wider scope into the future. After being teased in the post-credits sequence of Thor: The Dark World, GOTG will be unlike anything else seen before in the MCU; colourful, wacky and undoubtedly sci-fi, could the film see the studio bite off more than they can chew?


6) Transcendence (25th April - UK release date)


Directed by Wally Pfister, Transcendence is a science-fiction film about a world where technology develops the ability to out-think a human and think for itself; starring Johnny Depp, Kate Mara, Morgan Freeman, Cillian Murphy, Rebecca Hall and Paul Bettany, this film revolves around a interesting and complex sci-fi premise not unlike 2004's I-Robot and 2010's Inception.

Pfister is famous for his work with Christopher Nolan as director of photography on the Dark Knight trilogy so his directorial debut is a big drawcard on this one. Depp is also back in a leading role (this time, without Tim Burton) and will more than certainly leave the Jack Sparrow routine at home. 

Official synopsis aside, little else is known about Transcendence, with only a teaser trailer and a few images being released as of yet. Its' ranked highly on this list based purely upon this blogger's love of original and thought-provoking sci-fi films. Here's hoping this one leaves a mark in 2014. 


5) The Hobbit: There and Back Again (26th December)


Bard the Bowman and Legolas share haircare tips
Peter Jackson's Hobbit trilogy comes to close with the final instalment, There and Back Again, which sees Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman), Gandalf (Ian McKellan), Thorin Oakenshield (Richard Armitage) and the company of dwarves conclude their journey to the Lonely Mountain and recover the Arkenstone. 

Jackson has promised a bombastic conclusion to the trilogy (and farewell to Middle Earth) through the Battle of Five Armies - in the book, the Dwarves join forces with all manner of Wood Elves, Men and eagles to defeat an army of Orcs, Goblins and Wargs who are after Smaug the dragons gigantic haul of golden booty hidden within the Lonely Mountain. 

No doubt therefore that Jackson will translate this epic finale brilliantly onto the big screen, as proven through his work on the original Lord of the Rings trilogy. I've really enjoyed the Hobbit trilogy so far - the brighter colours and lighter tone have made it an enjoyable adventure that ranks alongside the original trilogy in my opinion. To see it come to an end will be an equally joyful and sad moment. 


4) Interstellar (7th November - UK release date)


Christopher Nolan returns to the directorial chair for Interstellar, a science-fiction film starring Matthew McConaughey and Anne Hathaway in the lead roles. The brief synopsis tells us that the film is about a team of intergalactic explorers who travel through a wormhole and push the boundaries of human space travel in the process. Other than that, details are pretty thin on the ground - supposedly, the film revolves around time travel and alternate dimensions. A recent trailer did what any good trailer does and revealed as little as possible. What we do know however, is that the film has a brilliant all-star cast.

Also starring is Nolan regular Michael Caine (The Dark Knight trilogy), along with Jessica Chastain (Zero Dark Thirty), Matt Damon (Bourne series) and Casey Affleck (Gone Baby Gone). I'm excited for Interstellar purely based on Nolan's past work in the sci-fi genre; Inception, his 2010 thriller that explored the world of dreams, is one of my favourite films ever made and I'm hoping Interstellar goes the same way.


3) The Amazing Spider-man 2 (17th April)


"I thought I told you to stay off my patch, punk!"
The sequel to 2012's Spidey reboot swings into cinemas next April. Directed by Marc Webb (heh, gets me every time), Spider-man/Peter Parker (Andrew Garfield) is up against a trio of new villains; The Rhino (Paul Giamatti), Electro (Jamie Foxx) and possibly the Green Goblin (maybe Dane De Haan), the latter of which has only been hinted at in the first trailer.

Speaking of the trailer, how good was it? I had very little expectation for Amazing Spider-man 2 until the trailer landed at the start of December. All of a sudden, I'm pumped to see where the series is going. With all sorts of hints and foreshadowing going on, it looks as though this next film is setting up something bigger and wider far into the future - we already know that a third and fourth film are penned in for 2016 and 2018.

Anyway, also returning for this instalment are Emma Stone as Gwen Stacey and Sally Field as Aunt May. Felicity Jones joins the cast but her role is so far being kept under wraps - it has been hinted she'll be playing the role of Black Cat.


2) Captain America: The Winter Solider (3rd April)


Cap gets all moody and atmospheric
Captain America gets a second solo outing in this sequel, The Winter Solider. Set after the events of The Avengers, Captain America is once again faced with a dangerous foe in the form of  Starring Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Samuel L. Jackson, Robert Redford, Anthony Mackie and Sebastian Stan, The Winter Solider has been described as a paranoia-laden Cold War thriller, set in modern times.

The first trailer was unveiled in October and it looks great; there's a ton of action set-pieces on show as well as some added detail into the tone of the film. Redford looks like he'll be great as the head of SHIELD whilst The Winter Solider looks like a suitably bad-ass villain for Cap to take on.

With the shadowy SHIELD playing a big role in this instalment, I predict plenty of double agents, backstabbing and questionable morals. "SHIELD takes the world as it is, not as we'd like it to be" affirms Sam Jackson, reprising his role as Nick Fury, "This isn't freedom" Cap replies in the trailer "This is fear".

All sounds like a great mixture for tasty comic-book movie awesomeness to me.


1) X-Men: Days of Future Past (22nd May)


Xavier and the gang had ditched yellow spandex in
favour of brown, brown and more brown
The X-Men franchise is about to get a whole lot bigger in Days of Future Past, an ambitious sequel to both 2006's The Last Stand and 2011's First Class. Set in an apocalyptic future where mutants are nearing extinction at the hands of the evil Sentinels, Professor Xavier (Patrick Stewart) and Magneto (Ian McKellan) send Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) back into their own past to convince their younger selves (James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender) to prevent the event that triggered their doom.

With a cast list as long as your arm, Days of Future Past finally moves the X-Men series forward rather than treading water like it has been in recent times - don't get me wrong, The Wolverine was really good but it was too much of a one-man show for my liking. This time around, we'll get to see the older and younger versions of both Xavier and Magneto butt heads with one another, as well as Jennifer Lawrence, Nicholas Hoult, Halle Berry, Ellen Page and Anna Paquin all reprise their respective roles.

"Logan, I was a very different man. Lead me. Guide me. Be patient with me." older Xavier pleads in the brief teaser trailer. "Patience isn't my strongest suit" comes the witty retort. Things are looking pretty grim for the future versions of the X-Men in the trailer and hopefully, director Bryan Singer has gotten the franchise back on track. Mixing together two time periods is going to be complex and ambitious from Singer, but if the film pulls it off, it'll be the best X-Men yet.


What films are you most excited for in 2014? Let me know by leaving me a comment below! Subscribe to feeling fuzzier - a film blog for reviews on all of these films, and more. Thanks for reading. 

2 comments:

  1. I agree with most of your picks here. After an awesome teaser (and after discovering Matt Reeves was directing), Dawn of the Planet of the Apes rose significantly up the ranks of my own most anticipated, however, though in addition to that, I'd probably also go with Captain America and X-Men as my two most anticipated of the next year right now. :)

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    1. Yeah, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes is looking pretty sweet as well! Can't wait for X-Men and Captain America, the latter being an awesome 21st present haha. Thanks Marvel!

      That teaser trailer (and the huuge cast) got me interested by Interstellar. Nolan knows how to make audiences sit up and take notice. Thanks for commenting Chris!

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