First of all, a couple of movies I thought were going to be released in 2013 but have actually (apparently) been moved forward and will now be in cinemas at the end of 2012. YAY!
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The Wachowskis' "Cloud Atlas" has apparently been moved forward to October this year. It's starring Tom Hanks and apparently it's got a big budget. This could be interesting.
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Another film that's now apparently being released in 2012 is "Gambit". Expected in November. The main reason to be interested in this one is that it's written (not directed) by the Coen Brothers. It's also starring Colin Firth and Alan Rickman, which is pretty cool.
These really belong in my other list, but this is the first I've heard that they're coming out in 2012.
Check out my list of "movies to look out for in 2012" here.
So, in ascending order (i.e. the best is at the bottom of the list), you'll find below...
My Top 39 Movies To Look Out For In 2013!
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Singularity
(11/11/13 - USA)
"A young man's body is made up a swarm of nanobots, giving him all sorts of powers." Roland Emmerich doing a sci-fi film rather than a disaster film? I don't think any of his films have really matched his debut "Universal Soldier". Perhaps this'll finally manage it?
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Tomb Raider
I loved Angelina Jolie's stint as Tomb Raider and think she tried her best with the horrendous second film. Not sure that Olivia Wilde can follow in her footsteps, but I'll give it a shot.
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Silent Night Of The Living Dead
(??/11/13)
Absolutely crazy-sounding horror comedy. Not an awful lot of hope that this will be good, but Tom Savini's on board so I'll have my fingers crossed anyway....
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Cleopatra
David Fincher does the story of Cleopatra. Sounds pretty cool except for one thing. I haven't enjoyed a Fincher movie since 1999 when he released "Fight Club". Hmmm....
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The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
(22/11/13)
I haven't seen the first movie yet, but I'm looking forward to it and have been a fan of Jennifer Lawrence since her awesome performance in "Winter's Bone". Director is Francis Lawrence. Now, I kind of enjoyed "Constantine" overall, but that was more because of the good performances from Tilda Swinton and Rachel Weisz, the stunning special effects and the general pick 'n' mix of Hellblazer story elements rather than because of impressive direction. Still, I'll undoubtedly be checking this out eventually.
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The Wolverine
(26/07/13)
Originally slated to be directed by Darren Aronofsky (Black Swan, The Wrestler), but now being directed by James Mangold (Knight and Day, Identity). That's a pretty big step backwards. Still, apparently it's the same script that Aronofsky was so impressed by, so perhaps it'll be good (or at least better than that first horrendous Wolverine solo-movie).
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The Host
(09/03/13)
Andrew Niccol does another intriguing sci-fi story. This time it's essentially a follow-on from the storyline of the sci-fi classic "Invasion of the Body Snatchers". Starring Saoirse Ronan. The catch? It's based on a novel by Stephenie Meyer. Gah! Here's hoping it's been adapted for the big screen creatively enough that the origin of the source material isn't too obvious.
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I Walked With A Zombie
From Adam Marcus, the director of "Jason Goes To Hell". A teacher comes to home-school children on a mysterious plantation, but soon finds herself trapped.
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Monsters University
(12/07/13)
Keeping Pixar's high standards in mind, "Monsters Inc" felt like a bit of a disappointment for me. This prequel now has a trailer and it really didn't make me laugh at all. Sure, that's just a trailer, but I'm not hugely excited about this one. But heck, I've made mistakes trying to pre-judge Pixar movies in advance before, so who knows?
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All You Need Is Kill
Doug Liman, director of "The Bourne Identity" and "Mr. and Mrs. Smith" has a new movie with a rather intriguing sci-fi plot. A solider fighting in a war with aliens finds himself caught in a time loop of his last day in the battle, though he becomes a better skilled along the way. Yeah, I'm basically a real sucker for sci-fi. Starring Tom Cruise... um... oh dear. Apparently this is adapted from a book. The sub-heading on the book cover reads: "Die in battle. Reborn in glory."
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Timeless
Philip Noyce, director of "Salt" and "Patriot Games", is doing a sci-fi movie too. This time it's about time travel. A widower discovers that he has been left a fortune by his dead wife and decides to go back in time to settle a matter with her.
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Hummingbird
(15/03/13)
The writer of "Eastern Promises" and "Dirty Pretty Things" directs a film for himself. According to IMDB this is a thriller centered on an war veteran who has reinvented himself as an upper-class Londoner has to embrace his violent past when his girlfriend is murdered. Starring Jason Statham and Benedict Wong.
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Freezing People Is Easy
A comedy about a man experimenting within the burgeoning field of cryogenics during the 1960s.
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Jack The Giant Killer
(22/03/13 - USA)
I've been a bit on the fence about all of Bryan Singer's films. I wasn't a huge fan of The Usual Suspects, I wasn't quite as impressed as I wanted to be with the "X Men" movies and I was thoroughly non-plussed by Superman Returns. However, now he's doing one of these fairytale films, this time starring Nicholas Hoult (X Men: First Class, A Single Man). Could be good.
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Cobra: The Space Pirate
Alexandre Aja, the director who managed to make a suitably entertaining flick out of something that looked from the outside to be the most ridiculously stupid film imagineable (i.e. Piranha 3D), is now doing a film about a space pirate called "Cobra". This ought to be worth keeping an eye on...
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The Evil Dead
(12/04/13)
Sam Raimi helped to write it and he approves of the hispanic director, Fede Alvarez (who's only done short films so far). Only thing that confuses me is why Diablo Cody is one of the writers. Seriously, everything I've seen from her has been utter trash (though "Young Adult" could as yet change my mind about that - possibly). I'm keen to see what comes of this reboot.
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Carrie
(12/04/13)
Chloe Moretz stars in a new version of "Carrie". Sounds cool.
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Thor 2
(15/11/13)
More Thor action and I'm definitely up for that. Director Alan Taylor is mainly known for his TV work in some pretty awesome shows (Game of Thrones, Boardwalk Empire, etc.).
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Oz: The Great and Powerful
08/03/13
Personally I HATED Sam Raimi's Spider-Man films, but after the fantastic "Drag Me To Hell" I'm really interested in Raimi's prequel to "The Wizard of Oz". It doesn't sound like another of his incredible horror comedies, so I'm not entirely sold yet, but I'm intrigued all the same.
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The Bitter Pill
(15/03/13)
I was a bit worried about Stephen Soderbergh when he started doing a whole series of "Ocean's... " films, but his recent entry "The Informant!" was actually pretty good. His more recent film "Contagion" was excellent. (I haven't seen "Haywire" yet.) I'm actually quite interested in following his work again. This time around it's the story of a woman who is anxious about her husband's nearing release from prison and uses medication to handle the anxiety.
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Blood
Paul Bettany, Mark Strong, Stephen Graham and Brian Cox all star in this film about two police officers investigating a crime they committed. Director's only prior film-directing credit is "The Awakening" which I haven't seen.
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Man of Steel
(14/06/13)
Another attempt to return Superman to the big screen. Richard Donner's "Superman" movie was a milestone and, to my mind, remains the best superhero movie ever made. Bryan Singer's "Superman Returns" ended up copying a great deal from the original classic and didn't really seem to have much of its own to offer. This new feature is perhaps on a more solid footing in redoing the storyline involving General Zod. Let's hope this doesn't feel like it's a rip-off of Superman II, though with Zack Snyder's unique visual style I think even a rip-off of Superman II ought to be fairly satisfying. Oddly (unlike Bryan Singer's film) this does the origin story again. I know I've been fairly chilled about the new Spider-Man movie redoing the origin, but Raimi's Spider-Man wasn't the classic that Donner's Superman was. In spite of my worries, I'm still expecting great things, especially since Zack Snyder isn't writing this time.
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Hidden Force
Paul Verhoeven does another film in Dutch. After the excellent "Black Book" I'm really excited about this. It's adapted from a book by Louis Couperus and according to the director it's about "rebellion against colonial rule, the emergence of fundamentalist Islam, the behaviour between people, adultery and psychic powers. It is a story about things that we do not understand but it does happen". Weird, but intriguing.
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Untitled Henry Selick 3-D Project
(04/10/13 - USA)
The first Henry Selick film since Coraline. I'm excited.
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Elysium
(01/05/13)
Neill Blomkamp, director of "District 9", makes another stab at sci-fi. Having learnt from his (admittedly pretty decent) debut feature, I'm interested to see what he comes up with.
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Hellfest
The latest feature from the director of "The Descent" and "Doomsday", Neil Marshall. Apparently it's set at a theme park where a costumed killer slaughters visitors who arrive on Halloween.
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Untitled Star Trek Sequel
(17/05/13)
I think what people enjoyed most of all about the first Star Trek reboot was the potential it opened up for a new series of films about our favourite Star Trek characters. This follow-up has a lot to prove because if it fails, I think it will lower the previous film in our estimation too...
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The Invisible Woman
I've heard mixed things about Ralph Fiennes previous go at directing "Coriolanus", but this time the film stars Kristin Scott Thomas and that's been a good sign for a number of films in recent years (I've Loved You So Long, Sarah's Key). "The Invisible Woman" is about Charles Dickens' secret mistress. I'm presuming there's rather more to the story than that.
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Iron Man 3
(03/05/13)
Director of "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" Shane Black reunites with Robert Downey Jnr. for the third Iron Man movie.
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I Walk With The Dead / Only God Forgives
Upcoming movies from Nicolas Winding Refn (director of "Drive" and the "Pusher" series). I know that Carey Mulligan (Drive, An Education, "Blink" Doctor Who episode) will be in "I Walk With The Dead" (YAY!), but I don't really know anything about "Only God Forgives" (except that it's already compeleted and they just need to release the damn thing).
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Robocop
(09/08/13)
Director of "Elite Squad: The Enemy Within" (far superior to the first Elite Squad movie), there oddly seem to be some key similarities between the themes of Robocop and the ideas explored in the Elite Squad films. I think this might actually do a good job of building up the serious elements rather than just having us impatient for the satirical bits. The cast list now even includes Hugh Laurie, Samuel L. Jackson and Gary Oldman now.
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Machete Kills / Machete Kills Again.... In Space!
Robert Rodriguez turns out to have a trick up his sleeve to keep us interested in a second Machete sequel. Considering the insane title for the second sequel, plus the decision to put out both films in the same year I'm reckoning Rodriguez has an ace up his sleeve with the first sequel too. I'm keen to see what he's planning.
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Snowpiercer
From Joon-Ho Bong, the director of "The Host" and "Mother". Quite an incredible cast list involved now including: Jamie Bell (The Eagle), Chris Evans (Avengers Assemble), Octavia Spencer (um... The Help?), Alison Pill (Scott Pilgrim Vs The World), Ewen Bremner (Trainspotting), John Hurt (Hellboy 2), Tilda Swinton (Julia) and even Kang-Ho Song (The Host).
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Mud
(19/12/12 - France)
Jeff Nichols' follow up to last year's "Take Shelter". According to IMDB the plot is about two teenage boys who encounter a fugitive and form a pact with him. The pact is both to help him evade the bounty hunters on his trail and to reunite him with his true love. Apparently we should expect something a great deal more upbeat than his previous effort. The director also admits to taking a great deal of inspiration from Mark Twain. As with "Take Shelter", Nichols is working with Michael Shannon. The film also stars Matthew McConauhey and Reece Witherspoon.
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Untitled Charlie Kaufman and Spike Jonze Project
All we know so far is that this is about a man who falls in love with the voice of his computer, but this combination of two names alone is enough reason to be excited. Previous features together include "Being John Malkovich" and "Adaptation". ZOMG!
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Inside Llewyn Davis
(08/02/13 - USA)
The latest Coen brothers film. That's all you need to know.
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Pacific Rim
(12/07/13)
Latest film from Guillermo Del Toro (director of Pan's Labyrinth and Hellboy II). Sounds a bit like Evangelion (i.e. fights with aliens using metal robot suits). I have super-high expectations for this.
The Wachowskis' "Cloud Atlas" has apparently been moved forward to October this year. It's starring Tom Hanks and apparently it's got a big budget. This could be interesting.
Another film that's now apparently being released in 2012 is "Gambit". Expected in November. The main reason to be interested in this one is that it's written (not directed) by the Coen Brothers. It's also starring Colin Firth and Alan Rickman, which is pretty cool.
These really belong in my other list, but this is the first I've heard that they're coming out in 2012.
Check out my list of "movies to look out for in 2012" here.
So, in ascending order (i.e. the best is at the bottom of the list), you'll find below...
My Top 39 Movies To Look Out For In 2013!
Singularity
(11/11/13 - USA)
"A young man's body is made up a swarm of nanobots, giving him all sorts of powers." Roland Emmerich doing a sci-fi film rather than a disaster film? I don't think any of his films have really matched his debut "Universal Soldier". Perhaps this'll finally manage it?
Tomb Raider
I loved Angelina Jolie's stint as Tomb Raider and think she tried her best with the horrendous second film. Not sure that Olivia Wilde can follow in her footsteps, but I'll give it a shot.
Silent Night Of The Living Dead
(??/11/13)
Absolutely crazy-sounding horror comedy. Not an awful lot of hope that this will be good, but Tom Savini's on board so I'll have my fingers crossed anyway....
Cleopatra
David Fincher does the story of Cleopatra. Sounds pretty cool except for one thing. I haven't enjoyed a Fincher movie since 1999 when he released "Fight Club". Hmmm....
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
(22/11/13)
I haven't seen the first movie yet, but I'm looking forward to it and have been a fan of Jennifer Lawrence since her awesome performance in "Winter's Bone". Director is Francis Lawrence. Now, I kind of enjoyed "Constantine" overall, but that was more because of the good performances from Tilda Swinton and Rachel Weisz, the stunning special effects and the general pick 'n' mix of Hellblazer story elements rather than because of impressive direction. Still, I'll undoubtedly be checking this out eventually.
The Wolverine
(26/07/13)
Originally slated to be directed by Darren Aronofsky (Black Swan, The Wrestler), but now being directed by James Mangold (Knight and Day, Identity). That's a pretty big step backwards. Still, apparently it's the same script that Aronofsky was so impressed by, so perhaps it'll be good (or at least better than that first horrendous Wolverine solo-movie).
The Host
(09/03/13)
Andrew Niccol does another intriguing sci-fi story. This time it's essentially a follow-on from the storyline of the sci-fi classic "Invasion of the Body Snatchers". Starring Saoirse Ronan. The catch? It's based on a novel by Stephenie Meyer. Gah! Here's hoping it's been adapted for the big screen creatively enough that the origin of the source material isn't too obvious.
I Walked With A Zombie
From Adam Marcus, the director of "Jason Goes To Hell". A teacher comes to home-school children on a mysterious plantation, but soon finds herself trapped.
Monsters University
(12/07/13)
Keeping Pixar's high standards in mind, "Monsters Inc" felt like a bit of a disappointment for me. This prequel now has a trailer and it really didn't make me laugh at all. Sure, that's just a trailer, but I'm not hugely excited about this one. But heck, I've made mistakes trying to pre-judge Pixar movies in advance before, so who knows?
All You Need Is Kill
Doug Liman, director of "The Bourne Identity" and "Mr. and Mrs. Smith" has a new movie with a rather intriguing sci-fi plot. A solider fighting in a war with aliens finds himself caught in a time loop of his last day in the battle, though he becomes a better skilled along the way. Yeah, I'm basically a real sucker for sci-fi. Starring Tom Cruise... um... oh dear. Apparently this is adapted from a book. The sub-heading on the book cover reads: "Die in battle. Reborn in glory."
Timeless
Philip Noyce, director of "Salt" and "Patriot Games", is doing a sci-fi movie too. This time it's about time travel. A widower discovers that he has been left a fortune by his dead wife and decides to go back in time to settle a matter with her.
Hummingbird
(15/03/13)
The writer of "Eastern Promises" and "Dirty Pretty Things" directs a film for himself. According to IMDB this is a thriller centered on an war veteran who has reinvented himself as an upper-class Londoner has to embrace his violent past when his girlfriend is murdered. Starring Jason Statham and Benedict Wong.
Freezing People Is Easy
A comedy about a man experimenting within the burgeoning field of cryogenics during the 1960s.
Jack The Giant Killer
(22/03/13 - USA)
I've been a bit on the fence about all of Bryan Singer's films. I wasn't a huge fan of The Usual Suspects, I wasn't quite as impressed as I wanted to be with the "X Men" movies and I was thoroughly non-plussed by Superman Returns. However, now he's doing one of these fairytale films, this time starring Nicholas Hoult (X Men: First Class, A Single Man). Could be good.
Cobra: The Space Pirate
Alexandre Aja, the director who managed to make a suitably entertaining flick out of something that looked from the outside to be the most ridiculously stupid film imagineable (i.e. Piranha 3D), is now doing a film about a space pirate called "Cobra". This ought to be worth keeping an eye on...
The Evil Dead
(12/04/13)
Sam Raimi helped to write it and he approves of the hispanic director, Fede Alvarez (who's only done short films so far). Only thing that confuses me is why Diablo Cody is one of the writers. Seriously, everything I've seen from her has been utter trash (though "Young Adult" could as yet change my mind about that - possibly). I'm keen to see what comes of this reboot.
Carrie
(12/04/13)
Chloe Moretz stars in a new version of "Carrie". Sounds cool.
Thor 2
(15/11/13)
More Thor action and I'm definitely up for that. Director Alan Taylor is mainly known for his TV work in some pretty awesome shows (Game of Thrones, Boardwalk Empire, etc.).
Oz: The Great and Powerful
08/03/13
Personally I HATED Sam Raimi's Spider-Man films, but after the fantastic "Drag Me To Hell" I'm really interested in Raimi's prequel to "The Wizard of Oz". It doesn't sound like another of his incredible horror comedies, so I'm not entirely sold yet, but I'm intrigued all the same.
The Bitter Pill
(15/03/13)
I was a bit worried about Stephen Soderbergh when he started doing a whole series of "Ocean's... " films, but his recent entry "The Informant!" was actually pretty good. His more recent film "Contagion" was excellent. (I haven't seen "Haywire" yet.) I'm actually quite interested in following his work again. This time around it's the story of a woman who is anxious about her husband's nearing release from prison and uses medication to handle the anxiety.
Blood
Paul Bettany, Mark Strong, Stephen Graham and Brian Cox all star in this film about two police officers investigating a crime they committed. Director's only prior film-directing credit is "The Awakening" which I haven't seen.
Man of Steel
(14/06/13)
Another attempt to return Superman to the big screen. Richard Donner's "Superman" movie was a milestone and, to my mind, remains the best superhero movie ever made. Bryan Singer's "Superman Returns" ended up copying a great deal from the original classic and didn't really seem to have much of its own to offer. This new feature is perhaps on a more solid footing in redoing the storyline involving General Zod. Let's hope this doesn't feel like it's a rip-off of Superman II, though with Zack Snyder's unique visual style I think even a rip-off of Superman II ought to be fairly satisfying. Oddly (unlike Bryan Singer's film) this does the origin story again. I know I've been fairly chilled about the new Spider-Man movie redoing the origin, but Raimi's Spider-Man wasn't the classic that Donner's Superman was. In spite of my worries, I'm still expecting great things, especially since Zack Snyder isn't writing this time.
Hidden Force
Paul Verhoeven does another film in Dutch. After the excellent "Black Book" I'm really excited about this. It's adapted from a book by Louis Couperus and according to the director it's about "rebellion against colonial rule, the emergence of fundamentalist Islam, the behaviour between people, adultery and psychic powers. It is a story about things that we do not understand but it does happen". Weird, but intriguing.
Untitled Henry Selick 3-D Project
(04/10/13 - USA)
The first Henry Selick film since Coraline. I'm excited.
Elysium
(01/05/13)
Neill Blomkamp, director of "District 9", makes another stab at sci-fi. Having learnt from his (admittedly pretty decent) debut feature, I'm interested to see what he comes up with.
Hellfest
The latest feature from the director of "The Descent" and "Doomsday", Neil Marshall. Apparently it's set at a theme park where a costumed killer slaughters visitors who arrive on Halloween.
Untitled Star Trek Sequel
(17/05/13)
I think what people enjoyed most of all about the first Star Trek reboot was the potential it opened up for a new series of films about our favourite Star Trek characters. This follow-up has a lot to prove because if it fails, I think it will lower the previous film in our estimation too...
The Invisible Woman
I've heard mixed things about Ralph Fiennes previous go at directing "Coriolanus", but this time the film stars Kristin Scott Thomas and that's been a good sign for a number of films in recent years (I've Loved You So Long, Sarah's Key). "The Invisible Woman" is about Charles Dickens' secret mistress. I'm presuming there's rather more to the story than that.
Iron Man 3
(03/05/13)
Director of "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" Shane Black reunites with Robert Downey Jnr. for the third Iron Man movie.
I Walk With The Dead / Only God Forgives
Upcoming movies from Nicolas Winding Refn (director of "Drive" and the "Pusher" series). I know that Carey Mulligan (Drive, An Education, "Blink" Doctor Who episode) will be in "I Walk With The Dead" (YAY!), but I don't really know anything about "Only God Forgives" (except that it's already compeleted and they just need to release the damn thing).
Robocop
(09/08/13)
Director of "Elite Squad: The Enemy Within" (far superior to the first Elite Squad movie), there oddly seem to be some key similarities between the themes of Robocop and the ideas explored in the Elite Squad films. I think this might actually do a good job of building up the serious elements rather than just having us impatient for the satirical bits. The cast list now even includes Hugh Laurie, Samuel L. Jackson and Gary Oldman now.
Machete Kills / Machete Kills Again.... In Space!
Robert Rodriguez turns out to have a trick up his sleeve to keep us interested in a second Machete sequel. Considering the insane title for the second sequel, plus the decision to put out both films in the same year I'm reckoning Rodriguez has an ace up his sleeve with the first sequel too. I'm keen to see what he's planning.
Snowpiercer
From Joon-Ho Bong, the director of "The Host" and "Mother". Quite an incredible cast list involved now including: Jamie Bell (The Eagle), Chris Evans (Avengers Assemble), Octavia Spencer (um... The Help?), Alison Pill (Scott Pilgrim Vs The World), Ewen Bremner (Trainspotting), John Hurt (Hellboy 2), Tilda Swinton (Julia) and even Kang-Ho Song (The Host).
Mud
(19/12/12 - France)
Jeff Nichols' follow up to last year's "Take Shelter". According to IMDB the plot is about two teenage boys who encounter a fugitive and form a pact with him. The pact is both to help him evade the bounty hunters on his trail and to reunite him with his true love. Apparently we should expect something a great deal more upbeat than his previous effort. The director also admits to taking a great deal of inspiration from Mark Twain. As with "Take Shelter", Nichols is working with Michael Shannon. The film also stars Matthew McConauhey and Reece Witherspoon.
Untitled Charlie Kaufman and Spike Jonze Project
All we know so far is that this is about a man who falls in love with the voice of his computer, but this combination of two names alone is enough reason to be excited. Previous features together include "Being John Malkovich" and "Adaptation". ZOMG!
Inside Llewyn Davis
(08/02/13 - USA)
The latest Coen brothers film. That's all you need to know.
Pacific Rim
(12/07/13)
Latest film from Guillermo Del Toro (director of Pan's Labyrinth and Hellboy II). Sounds a bit like Evangelion (i.e. fights with aliens using metal robot suits). I have super-high expectations for this.