FILM IN 2014 | FILM PREVIEWS
As we start a new year in the world of the silver screen Buzz’s very own film buff Kerion Self looks at what 2014 has to offer.
And so, as the dust settles on 2013, the awards season looms, and thoughts turn to the next big thing. What will 2014 bring? More of the cinematic same? Or will there be more riskier gambits like Gravity, a surprise blockbuster that managed to have humanity as well as special effects?…yeah it’s mostly tried and tested blockbusters.
So, the superheroes. Marvel has had a rather splendid year with Iron Man and Thor installments bringing in plenty of coin, Iron Man 3 was also a better film than its predecessor and so the celluloid cash machine continues. 2014 brings a Captain America sequel, with the all-American hero coming up against the Winter Soldier, this time with more added Black Widow/Scarlet Johansonn, pleasing teen boys everywhere. There’s also a new Spiderman adventure which will hopefully have upped its game from the unnecessary retooling of its predecessor, Jamie Foxx signing on for villain duties as the electricity wielding Electro.
There’s an X Men mash up in Days of Future Past, which unites the original X Men team with their First Class incarnations in a fiddly tale of time travel based on a much loved arc of the comic book. Wolverine forms the link between the two and Bryan Singer is back on directing duties making it the most anticipated superhero movie of the year.
More of a gamble is Guardians of The Galaxy, a little known sci-fi comic book strand that is getting its own CGI augmented outing with Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana and former Dr Who assistant Karen Gillan defending the universe. Could be a quirky addition to the traditional heroic roster.
Inevitable sequels include Transformers 4, this time with Mark Wahlberg and Dinobots! Fast and Furious 7 with Vin Diesel growling amidst the car chases and facing off against baddie and fellow growler Jason Statham! Expendables 3 with added Harrison Ford! Sin City 2 with more hardboiled CGI violence and scantily clad ladies! Dawn of the Planet of the Apes with more…apeage.
More welcome on the sequel front are the Muppets in Muppets Most Wanted which sees Kermit and the gang caught up in a European jewel heist with Ricky Gervais, Tina Fey and Ty Burrell. There’s another Hunger Games installment with the first part of Mockingjay with another to follow in 2015 and The Hobbit finally comes to a conclusion with There And Back Again.
Literary fans will no doubt rejoice that 50 Shades of Grey is coming to the screen…no? Well, lovers of soft porn BDSM will then, as Sam Taylor Johnson directs Dakota Johnson and Jamie Dornan in a spanky cinematic poisoned chalice. Disney reboots Sleeping Beauty telling the classic fairytale from the villain’s perspective as Angelina Jolie stars as Maleficent. Fans of the Bible also have cause to make merry as Noah and his ark in the shape of Russell Crowe and some wood come to the big screen courtesy of Darren Aronofsky and Ridley Scott retells the story of Moses in Exodus, with some added secular caveats no doubt.
Swords and sandals will also feature in a 300 prequel: Rise of an Empire with more slo-motion homoeroticism and CGI beheadings in an unnecessary extra dollop of savagery. Pompeii gets destroyed in Pompeii with Kit Harington running about dodging molten lava, and Hercules in the shape of The Rock goes all gritty while hitting people a lot.
Robocop and Godzilla are both offered a fresh lease of life. Paul Verhoeven’s satirical sci-fi masterpiece is updated i.e. has some better SFX with The Killing’s Joel Kinnaman donning the silver and updated black suit. Let’s hope it still has some fascistic bite. After the previous horrid monster movie incarnation for Japan’s favorite radioactively enhanced lizard, a Godzilla remake seemed unlikely. Gareth Evans who made the excellent indie creature feature Monsters may well breathe new life into the behemoth and an eclectic cast that includes Juliette Binoche, Elisabeth Olsen and Bryan Cranston promises much.
It’s not all popcorn mind. There are classy upcoming dramas too. Dallas Buyers Club which features an astonishing performance from Matthew McConaughey as a homophobic AIDS sufferer who smuggled vital HIV medication. The Monuments Men is a star studded Dirty Dozen for culture as George Clooney leads Bill Murray, Matt Damon, John Goodman and Cate Blanchett in a quest to save great art from the Nazis during World War II. The Invisible Woman shows novelist Charles Dickens in a new light under the lense of Ralph Fiennes, and Richard Ayoade follows up the excellent Submarine with a noir-y Dostoyevsky adaptation The Double.
Plenty to look forward to then. But, of course I’ve saved the best for last. Both Postman Pat and Paddington are heading for the big screen! ….Hmm? Not so much? How about a feature film of Mrs Brown’s Boys then? Yes. It’s true. Egad.
words KERION SELF