2013 was a great year for movies, but could 2014 possibly be even better?
2013 was certainly a very interesting year in cinema. At the top, we’ve seen some of the best films to be released in years including, but not limited to, 12 Years a Slave, The Wolf of Wall Street, Inside Llewyn Davis, Her, and Gravity. When it came to blockbusters, however, opinions were much more varied. There were some very well received ones including The Hunger Games: Catching Fire and Star Trek Into Darkness, but overall the year felt tired on the blockbuster front.
Luckily, 2014 has some big movies in the works that look like it has a chance of being better than 2013.
‘The Monuments Men’
When The Monuments Men was delayed until 2014, it was bittersweet. As much as we really wanted to see it make its December 21 release date, it’ll be great to have an Oscar-caliber film released in the typically barren early months of the year.
Co-written, directed, produced, and starring George Clooney, The Monuments Men boasts an equally impressive cast and story. Along with Clooney, Matt Damon, Cate Blanchett, Bill Murray, John Goodman, Jean Dujardin, Hugh Bonneville, and more fill up this all-star cast. Tasked with finding and protecting over 5 million pieces of stolen art, the small crew was called by the name that was given to the film as well as the book it was based upon. The question of whether or not art is important is one that will be faced throughout the film, and the answer to that question promises to be a resounding “yes.”
If the trailer is any indication, The Monuments Men looks to be funny, dramatic, important, and well made. With the extra time Clooney took to make the film the best it could be, it’s obvious the final product is going to be something special.
‘The Monuments Men’ will steal back stolen art on February 7
‘The Grand Budapest Hotel’
The Grand Budapest Hotel, the next film directed by Wes Andreson, appears to be so Wes Anderson-y that it almost makes you wonder if Anderson is trying to parody himself. Make no mistake, that’s not a bad thing. It’s actually pretty amazing.
As the trailer to the right shows, The Grand Budapest Hotel appears to star 87% percent of Hollywood. It stars Ralph Fiennes, F. Murray Abraham, Edward Norton, Mathieu Amalric, Saoirse Ronan, Adrien Brody, Willem Dafoe, Léa Seydoux, Jeff Goldblum, Jason Schwartzman, Jude Law, Tilda Swinton, Harvey Keitel, Tom Wilkinson, Bill Murray, Owen Wilson, and introduces Tony Revolori. With a list that long it wouldn’t come as a big surprise to find out that Anderson forgot that a couple more actors actually are in the movie too. We’ll let you know when Anderson announces their castings after making the final edits.
The most interesting choice that completely plays into Anderson’s unique style is his use of different aspect ratios in the film. As the film will take place over the course of many years, the film was shot with the correct aspect ratio of the time for each scene. Coupled with the other filming aspects that make Anderson one of the more unique directors working today, The Grand Budapest Hotel promises to be a fantastically made movie on every level.
Book your stay at ‘The Grand Budapest Hotel’ on March 7
‘Captain America: The Winter Soldier’
Welcome, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, the Marvel Phase Two sequel with the best odds of being great.
The only other Phase Two film featuring other Avengers, Captain America: The Winter Soldier features not only our favorite star spangled man with a plan, but Black Widow, Nick Fury, and Maria Hill as well. We’ll also be introduced to Robert Redford as Alexander Pierce, Nick Fury’s boss, Anthony Mackie as Sam Wilson, and Emily VanCamp as a mysterious “Agent 13.” You probably already know who that character is, but if not, we won’t spoil the fun. The plot will closely tie into the inner workings of S.H.I.E.L.D., and hopefully in a much better way than Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (note: we aren’t too concerned here).
Captain America: The Winter Soldier promises to be epic on so many levels. As seen in that trailer, it looks like it’ll contain some really amazing action sequences, and the teased scene in the elevator could very well be the best we’ll see in the entirety of 2014. The film also promises to raise some moral questions (and probably answer them too). Is what S.H.I.E.L.D. does moral? We can’t wait to see how they handle this issue. The film is also likely to be the biggest link to The Avengers: Age of Ultron and we can’t wait to be forced to be excited for an entire year. The anticipation, it’s making us wait.
Keep both eyes watching ‘Captain America: The Winter Soldier’ on April 4
‘Neighbors’
Neighbors was totally not on our radar. The two trailers released so far have told us how wrong that truly was.
Seth Rogen stars in Neighbors as Mac Radner a man living with his wife Kelly (Rose Byrne) and their new baby. They live in the perfect neighborhood where nothing could go wrong, right? Wrong. When Jason (Zac Efron) and his fraternity move in next door, everything changes. As the trailer to the side shows, Rogen’s character broke a promise given to Efron’s, and that broken promise leads to war. A war that, thankfully for us that love hilarious comedy, promises to give an abundance of laughs. Both trailers released so far have shown that the film is going to be absolutely packed with quality humor.
While it shouldn’t come to be too much of a surprise to see Rogen star in a funny comedy, it really actually does. The comedies that he’s starred in not written by him (typically with Evan Goldberg) have had a tendency to be less than stellar lately, so it’s good to see that this one won’t be. Also, this is the second of two films that have put Zac Efron back on our radar. His films have been more miss than hit lately, but That Awkward Moment and Neighbors look to make 2014 a great year for Efron.
Seth Rogen gets awful ‘Neighbors’ on May 9
‘Godzilla’
If the return of the King of the Monsters wasn’t enough, every detail about this Godzilla has us ecstatic.
What better way to help us cope with the fact that we will never again see a new episode of Breaking Bad than to cast star Bryan Cranston in Godzilla? That’s rhetorical, by the way. Cranston is just one member of a cast that has us drooling. Godzilla will also feature the first pairing of Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Elizabeth Olsen. Taylor-Johnson will play Lieutenant Ford and Olsen will play his wife. The husband-wife pairing is certainly an interesting one given that they’ll be playing brother-sister duo of Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch in The Avengers: The Age of Ultron, a duo that’s typically a liiiiitle closer than most siblings.
Godzilla will be directed by Gareth Edwards, and after his work with Monsters in 2010, it’ll be great to see what he can do with a huge budget. It’ll be interesting to see a Godzilla film with this level of production value. While the franchise isn’t known for its special effects, having them added will certainly not be a bad thing. It will, of course, come down to the story. Could Godzilla have a chance at being thrown in the same conversation as Gojira, the original? We can only hope we’re that lucky.
Face a ‘Godzilla’ like never before on May 16
‘X-Men: Days of Future Past’
With six X-Men movies behind us, the franchise will be taking a bold (and likely smart) choice with X-Men: Days of Future Past.
X-Men and X2 director Bryan Singer is returning to direct the latest installment in the franchise, and with it he appears to be bringing the best of (what should have been) his trilogy and combining it with the fantastic prequel that was X-Men: First Class. They were smart to connect the film to both of Singer’s films as well as First Class, as those have easily been the three most well received in the series. The film promises to turn everything we’ve known and turn it on its head by completely changing the timeline and sending characters back in time as well as setting up the big next film, X-Men: Apocalypse.
It will certainly be great to see original trilogy actors including Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, Hugh Jackman, and Halle Berry, intermingle with actors from First Class including Michael Fassbender, James McAvoy, Nicholas Hoult, and Jennifer Lawrence. Hopefully the decision to send Wolverine back won’t take away from the brilliant imaginings of the other mutants set up in the previous film. The film will include those characters and even some new ones, but the potential to be too crowded is overweighed by the potential to be awesome.
Take more than a glimpse at ‘X-Men: Days of Future Past’ on May 23
‘Maleficent’
If you take one of the best and scariest Disney villains and retell the classic story from her perspective with Angelina Jolie as the star, do we really even need to say why we’re so excited?
Even if that sentence above didn’t convince you, the teaser trailer to the side should. While we realize that not everybody is likely to be fans of the Disney animated classics, the trailer shows that this is so much more. While the quality of storytelling can’t be assured from a trailer, it does show us that the movie looks like it’ll be technically great. And don’t be a Debbie Downer and say that these live-action fairy tale reimaginings are constantly no good. While we aren’t here to add more easy jabs taken at Kristen Stewart (whose Snow White left something to be desired), Angelina Jolie is clearly in a completely different class.
Even if Jolie weren’t in the titular role, it would still be easy to praise this cast. Including the likes of Sharlto Copley, Juno Temple, Elle Fanning, Brenton Thwaites, Peter Capaldi, Ella Purnell, Miranda Richardson, and Imelda Staunton, the cast is top-notch. Coupled with the great look that was given both with the camera and in post-production, it’s easy to be excited for this one. And just watch that trailer again. Wow.
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