Top 10 Anticipated Movies of 2013

10. The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (December 25th, 2013)
Director: Ben Stiller
Writer: Steve Conrad
Starring: Ben Stiller, Kristen Wiig, Patton Oswalt, Adam Scott, Shirley MacLaine
Studio: 20th Century Fox

Ben Stiller has proven himself a capable director in the past from The Cable Guy to Tropic Thunder, but here he may have his biggest challenge yet: modernizing a well-known short story from the 1940s. James Thurber’s tale involved a man who went through a day of mundane misery by daydreaming himself in fantastical situations like being a criminal on trial or a gunner in a war zone. Before any trailers were released, a set picture was released of Ben Stiller in old age makeup. I’m already calling for a Best Makeup and Hairstyling nomination for the film because he looks practically unrecognizable in it. Whatever the film will look like in the end is anybody’s guess.

9. R.I.P.D. (June 18th, 2013)
Director: Robert Schwentke
Writers: Phil Hay/Matt Manfredi
Starring: Ryan Reynolds, Jeff Bridges, Kevin Bacon, Stephanie Szostak, Mary Louise Parker
Studio: Universal Pictures

Ryan Reynolds has not been having any luck with comic book films – playing second banana to Blade in Blade: Trinity, having his mouth sewn up to play the world’s worst version of Deadpool in X-Men Origins: Wolverine and the less said about Green Lantern, the better. However, his newest entry into comic book films involves not superheroes, but the supernatural: ghosts. The graphic novel, “R.I.P.D.” features a dead cop being inducted into a paranormal police agency keeping the dead away from the living. Although the tone of the graphic novel was dramatic, the film will be a “PG-13 buddy comedy”. The buddy for Ryan Reynolds, in this case, is Academy Award-winner Jeff Bridges who appears to be playing Rooster Cogburn again. Whether or not this will revitalize Reynolds’ career remains to be seen, though many are already predicting doom and gloom.

8. Oz: The Great and Powerful (March 8th, 2013)
Director: Sam Raimi
Writers: David Lindsay-Abaire/Mitchell Kapner
Starring: James Franco, Mila Kunis, Rachel Weisz, Michelle Williams, Zach Braff, Joey King, Abigail Spencer, Bruce Campbell
Studio: Walt Disney Pictures


After the collapse of Spider-Man 4 and directing only Drag Me to Hell in 2009, Sam Raimi was a director without a studio. Then he was offered a new take on the magical world of Oz by Walt Disney Pictures. Previous attempts at securing Robert Downey Jr. and Johnny Depp as the star had failed until Raimi made a call to former Spider-Man co-star James Franco. Taking the chance to reinterpret Oz by referencing the L. Frank Baum books, while still paying homage to the classic 1939 film, Raimi makes his first family film about a man in need of a second chance and finds it in the least likely place. A bit autobiographical, perhaps?

7. The Lone Ranger (July 3rd, 2013)
Director: Gore Verbinski
Writers: Ted Elliott, Terry Rossio and Justin Haythe
Starring: Johnny Depp, Armie Hammer, Ruth Wilson, Tom Wilkinson, Helena Bonham Carter, Barry Pepper, James Badge Dale
Studio: Walt Disney Pictures


One might call Johnny Depp, "Disney's favored son". He is, inarguably, the studio's golden boy after the meteoric success of the Pirates of the Caribbean films and Alice in Wonderland. Naturally, they want to keep him happy so they can make more movies with him. This time, however, it may not have been as financially stable an idea as they might have hoped. The first sign of trouble came when a script leak revealed that the film had more supernatural ideas ("wendigo" - Native American werewolves) than the original television show. When fans revolted, Disney quietly had the script reworked into a more traditional Western. Then, Cowboys & Aliens came out and failed to find an audience. Disney freaked and temporarily pulled the plug on the production. Normally, this wouldn't be news and yet it became news. Some would say Verbinski got angry at Disney and leaked the information to Deadline Hollywood. Others say it was someone in Rich Ross' office that accidentally sent out the word and led to him getting fired a year later. However, the studio and the filmmakers eventually got the film rolling. The film does look interesting enough - I'm excited to see Armie Hammer after a doubly impressive turn in The Social Network and Depp is kookier than ever - but nothing has been seen that bears a strong resemblance to the famous television show. No "William Tell Overture", nor a "Hi-Yo Silver". Only time will tell if they made a wise decision.

6. Fast & Furious 6 (May 24th, 2013)
Director: Justin Lin
Writer: Chris Morgan
Starring: Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Dwayne Johnson, Jordana Brewster, Eva Mendes, Michelle Rodriguez, Gina Carano, Luke Evans
Studio: Universal Pictures

The Fast and The Furious franchise is one that many would not have seen being as long as it is now. While the first film (directed by Rob Cohen) was well-received, its sequel, 2 Fast 2 Furious (directed by John Singleton) was not; mostly, many claim, due to the absence of Vin Diesel (the face of the franchise). A third film, The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, featured all new cast members with Diesel making a cameo appearance near the end of the film. When the sales of this film (directed by Justin Lin) peaked up, Universal brought back Lin, Diesel, co-star Paul Walker into a new film, Fast & Furious. This became Universal’s highest-grossing film of 2009. A sequel was quickly put together, Fast Five, moving the franchise from racing to heists. For the first time, critics were also not shy about their appreciation of the film. Now, with an all-star cast and a capable director, the adventures of Dominic Toretto and Brian O’Connor will continue.

5. Man of Steel (June 14th, 2013)
Director: Zack Snyder
Writer: David S. Goyer
Starring: Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Russell Crowe, Kevin Costner, Diane Lane, Michael Shannon, Christopher Meloni, Laurence Fishburne
Studio: Warner Bros. Pictures


In an interview for his 2009 film, Watchmen, director Zack Snyder said, “In this world, if Superman really existed, he’d grab all the world leaders together in a room and say, ‘Behave or I’ll kill you.’” Interesting look at a character he had no idea he’d soon be involved with. Whereas Watchmen was a deconstruction of superheroes, Man of Steel will feature the construction of one superhero, the first and greatest. With an A-list cast, producer Christopher Nolan, Snyder has been given full-reign over Superman, in the midst of an ongoing legal battle between DC Comics and the heirs of Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. If this film works, it will reinvent the character for a whole new generation of audiences. And if not, it’ll be Superman Returns all over again.

4. Oblivion (April 26th, 2013)
Director: Joseph Kosinski
Writers: Joseph Kosinski/William Monahan
Starring: Tom Cruise, Morgan Freeman, Melissa Leo, Zoe Bell
Studio: Universal Pictures


With TRON: Legacy, Joseph Kosinski is now the highest-grossing first-time director (beating out J.J. Abrams’ Mission: Impossible III). His next film would be based on a graphic novel that he helped to write and design, “Oblivion”. Originally set up as a project with Disney (along with a planned remake of The Black Hole), the executives decided the film wasn’t for the appropriate audience for the company and allowed Kosinski to take the film elsewhere. At Universal, Kosinski was allowed to make the movie however he wanted – too violent for Disney’s taste. Ironically, the film looks like a live-action version of Wall-E with the robots being played by humans – a wasteland worker finds a beautiful woman in cryogenic stasis and has to bring her aboard a starship in orbit.

3. Iron Man 3 (May 3rd, 2013)
Director: Shane Black
Writers: Drew Pence/Shane Black
Starring: Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle, Jon Favreau, Guy Pearce, William Sadler, Rebecca Hall, James Badge Dale and Ben Kingsley
Studio: Walt Disney Pictures/Marvel Studios


Many say Robert Downey Jr.’s career resurgence really began with Shane Black’s Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. This was Black's first film as director, having written films like Lethal Weapon, The Last Boy Scout, Last Action Hero and The Long Kiss Goodnight. While Bang Bang was a great comedic detective story, the film was not distributed widely. However, it was seen by Jon Favreau. After his attempt at making a John Carter film was dashed, he was put in charge of making an Iron Man film. After seeing Downey’s performance, he demanded Marvel Studios allow him to make a screen-test. The rest is cinematic history. Downey played Tony Stark in Iron Man, a cameo scene at the end of The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man 2 and Marvel’s The Avengers. It's clear he knows and loves this character. Audiences love him playing this character. With 3, he says the film will delve into sides of Tony Stark we have not yet seen. The film is building a mystery around it: the Mandarin, Tony's Extremis armor, the destruction of his Malibu home, his crash-landing in the snow. What does it all mean? This is the question to be answered by a great mystery writer, by Shane Black.

2. Pacific Rim (July 12th, 2013)
Director: Guillermo del Toro
Writer: Travis Beacham
Starring: Charlie Hunnam, Idris Elba, Charlie Day, Rinko Kikuchi, Max Martini, Willem Dafoe, Robert Kazinsky, Clifton Collins Jr., Diego Klattenhoff, Ron Perlman
Studio: Warner Bros. Pictures


Guillermo del Toro hasn’t had the best of times lately. After finishing Hellboy: The Golden Army, he had planned to take over Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings franchise by writing and directing The Hobbit films. However, due to delays in pre-production and the sheer massive scale of Middle-Earth, del Toro left the projects (though he was still credited as co-writer) and Jackson got it back. From there, he teamed up with Disney and make family-friendly horror films under the division label “Disney Double Dare You” with films like Trollhunters and a reimagining of The Haunted Mansion. When that went under, del Toro tried to set up an adaptation of At the Mountains of Madness at Universal until they decided they were not going to give him the money. Finally, he was able to get a producing venture with DreamWorks Animation with films like Megamind, Kung Fu Panda 2 and Rise of the Guardians. Finally, Universal came calling with a film that plays to del Toro’s monster sensibilities – humans in giant robot suits fighting giant monsters. This is del Toro’s first feature film in five years. I think it looks fantastic and epic in scope. It's also nice to hear Ellen McLain doing her GLaDOS voice again. I hope, in that span of time, del Toro is ready to bring us his best.

1. Star Trek Into Darkness (May 17th, 2013)
Director: J.J. Abrams
Writers: Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman and Damon Lindelof
Starring: Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Karl Urban, Zoe Saldana, Simon Pegg, John Cho, Anton Yelchin, Bruce Greenwood, Benedict Cumberbatch, Alice Eve, Peter Weller
Studio: Paramount Pictures


After Star Trek '09 came out, I began looking into the old "Trek" series of shows and films. I had initially rejected anything "Trek" because it seemed too high-minded unlike the cool and easy-to-understand Star Wars. What I soon realized what that Trek is classical music and Wars was rock 'n roll. Abrams' Trek was a bit of both, but more on the side of rock 'n roll. It'll be nice to see these enjoyable characters back again on another adventure. The big mystery this time around is who Benedict Cumberbatch is really playing. Is it Khan? Is it Gary Mitchell? We've been told that the name of his character is John Harrison. However, others have mentioned that initially Liam Neeson was playing a character named Henri Ducard in Batman Begins. It wasn't until two-thirds of the movie revealed that Ducard was simply an alias for the much larger villain known as Ra's Al Ghul. Until we hear different, it is to assume that "John Harrison" is really the name of Cumberbatch's character and not just a Beatles nod. Still, I'm ready for a ride back into the final frontier.


Honorable Mentions:

The Last Stand
Warm Bodies
G.I. Joe: Retaliation
This Is The End
The Internship
Now You See Me
Monsters University
Frozen

Best of 2012

After the dismal returns of 2011, 2012 sprung to the challenge and gave us some of the best movies in years. Here's my Top 10 of 2012 list!

10. The Hunger Games


What could have been a stupid book adaptation of Twilight proportions was given a bit of dignity thanks to its director and lead actress. Gary Ross, who at the time hadn’t directed a movie since 2003’s Seabiscuit, was a pretty unconventional choice for director but he apparently had a love for the book and wanted to bring it to the screen any way he could. Jennifer Lawrence, once a sitcom co-star with Bill Engvall turned Oscar-nominee (Winter’s Bone), had once tried out for Bella in Twilight. Thankfully, that fell through and she was able to take up the strong character of Katniss Everdeen in this film. Sure, the film did eventually get its Twilight-esque following due to the “dreamy” romance between Katniss and Peeta (Josh Hutcherson), but at least it’s a romance of quality and not fantasy. Woody Harrelson and Elizabeth Banks turn in memorable performances (although her makeup is wild and his wig is questionable).

9. The Amazing Spider-Man


Reactions to a Spider-Man reboot after the fan-based failure of Spider-Man 3 and the death of Spider-Man 4 were pretty horrendous. However, I can honestly say that it was much better than I imagined it would be, though completely telling the origin story was completely unnecessary. Though it pains me to say, Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone look great together… which makes sense because they’re now a couple in real life – sigh. Martin Sheen and Sally Field are an interesting pairing for Uncle Ben and Aunt May. It’s certainly not easy following Cliff Robertson’s performance from Spider-Man and the film doesn’t try to upstage him (by not using the famous “With great power comes great responsibility”). Where I have problems with the film is in the characterization of Curt Connors/The Lizard, the plot points shown in the trailers that weren’t in the film and the non-nerdy Peter Parker. Still, it got all the niceties out of the way, and in 2014, we should get a sequel that can go anywhere (Jamie Foxx as Electro? Interesting…).

8. Katy Perry: Part of Me 3D


This documentary proves without a doubt that Katy Perry is the hardest-working woman in music today. With every concert, she goes out and gives it her all. Her rise to stardom is compelling, especially with her Pentecostal Christian upbringing. I appreciate that the film didn’t vilify all of Christianity but only the extremists. It’s a tragedy that Russell Brand was so cruel to her by ending their marriage due to his selfish ends; a mistake *I* certainly wouldn’t make, were I to be so lucky.

7. Argo


Ben Affleck has made the successful transition from your normal, everyday leading man to a more-than-competent director. His films aren’t blockbusters, but they make their money back and more so. He tells this impossible-to-believe-but-it-really-happened story about how the CIA and Hollywood teamed up in a secret operation to rescue six hostages held captive in Iran. The film deftly changes from thriller to comedy fairly well, though most of the humor arises from the supporting cast set in Hollywood – Alan Arkin and John Goodman.

6. Django Unchained


Though Quentin Tarantino is a filmmaker from the South, he’s never made a film IN the South. Not until now. This outrageous story of a kindly German bounty hunter and his new former slave protégé is hand-crafted by a master of movies all the way through. Taking homage from Django and other “spaghetti Westerns”, Tarantino has made what he calls, “a Southern”. There's a scene-stealer in each act: Christoph Waltz (Act I), Leonardo DiCaprio (Act II) and Samuel L. Jackson (Act III). DiCaprio's Calvin Candie is the definition of wicked and its so very clear he's finally allowing himself to have some fun with a role. It's funny, bloody, and cool - just like a Tarantino film should be.

5. Wreck-It Ralph


I can't blame a film for not being what I wanted it to be rather than what it is. While I would argue that the marketing was somewhat deceptive, it still doesn't change the content of the film. And by and by, Wreck-It Ralph is a good movie. I just feel there was enough potential in the story to have it be great and not get weighed down by Vanellope Von Schweetz essentially taking precedence over the title character of the story. The actors give great performances, in particular, John C. Reilly. It seems he was very dedicated to this movie, helping the filmmakers craft the story (culminating in a separate credit under "additional story material"). It's great that Disney Animation decided to do something different, that had nothing to do with Disney princesses (OR SO I THOUGHT) but they took a look at the world of video games and had some fun with it. Now if only Nintendo would let Disney make some animated movies off of their characters...

4. John Carter


Never have I seen a recent movie so badly beaten down by the Hollywood press machine. I mean, this was a WAR between Disney, Andrew Stanton and the crew against Nikki Finke and Deadline Hollywood. Trailer music was criticized, Stanton's ability to direct a live-action film was questioned, Disney's *dependence* on Pixar and John Lasseter was mocked. Yet, against all odds, John Carter was released and... bombed miserably. But then, something incredible happened. An underground swell of affection for the film led to John Carter Blu-Rays flying off the shelves in certain regions of the States. Facebook groups were dedicated to getting the cast and crew of the film “Back to Barsoom”. All over a science-fiction film with talented actors, great performance capture, practical sets and an amazing 100-year-old story to tell.

3. Cloud Atlas


It’s certainly an unusual storytelling experiment, but as Cloud Atlas urges you to “extend your patience for just a moment”, you’ll be rewarded with an immensely entertaining experience. The multiple genres are exercised very well – romance, drama, comedy, sci-fi and mystery/thriller. The cast bring all of themselves to their multiple characters and the makeup is dazzling. The Wachowskis and Tykwer took a chance on telling six parts of an unusual story and it's awe-inspiring in its epic scale and imagination.

2. The Dark Knight Rises


Though it seemed impossible to top the previous film, Christopher Nolan has brought an incredible curtain down on his Dark Knight trilogy. I've very rarely had chills sitting in a theater, but the ending to this film had me on pins and needles. This is what Christopher Nolan does best: he reins in audiences who are going in thinking one thing about a movie, but then turns them on a dime and manages to deliver a breathtaking surprise. I literally cannot wait to see what he does next.

1. Marvel’s The Avengers


What a surprise, huh? Going through this list, I could not find one that entertained me more than The Avengers. It's a thrilling superhero ride from start to finish and delivers exactly what we superhero movie fans want: all our favorite superheroes all together in one film. In that way, it's miraculous. No other film has put together heroes established in other films from different studios. Ever. Warner Bros. is now trying to repeat the meteoric success of Avengers with Justice League instead of doing separate films, introducing each hero. Arguably, this could also be in response to the failure of Green Lantern. I don't have much good feelings about that, because Warners does not have anyone with them who will take care of DC's characters the way Joss Whedon is with Disney/Marvel. That was genius of them to hire him on to not only oversee the stories of Phase 2 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe but also to develop a TV show, "Marvel's S.H.I.E.L.D." (one that will presumably have more than one season). In all, Avengers is a honest and true love letter to the Marvel Comics characters co-created by the master Stan Lee. Who could ask for better than that?

Honorable Mentions
Haywire
Lincoln
The Pirates! Band of Misfits
Prometheus