The Most Anticipated Movies of 2014: Risk it for the Biscuit

The List: 1-5 | 6-10 | 11-15 | 16-20 | 21-25 | 26-30 | 31-35 | 36-40 | 41-45 | 46-50 | Runners-Up

We've made it to the mountaintop, folks. Despite the extended breaks in between, I made it! It's been fun to speculate (as always) about what's going to be awesome next year. I said at the beginning that 2014 is a filler year - and while I'm still way, way more excited for 2015, next year should be filled with some really fun movies and way more original titles. As I'm writing this, I've already had a victim of push back - Fast and Furious 7 has been officially moved to an already-crowded 2015. So stay tuned on a replacement, as soon as I can figure that out!

The Most Anticipated Movies of 2014: Sequelitis

 The List: 1-5 | 6-10 | 11-15 | 16-20 | 21-25 | 26-30 | 31-35 | 36-40 | 41-45 | 46-50 | Runners-Up

Well, we've reached the Top 10. Most of these movies are sequels. While I do enjoy original stories, there's nothing quite like seeing a movie transcend it's original and become something great. Star Wars did it. The Terminator did it. Bill and Ted most definitely did it. So despite everyone's whining about sequels, these are the moments when a movie can become a cultural phenomenon (The Dark Knight) or at the very least, a good franchise. I expect nothing but awesome sauce for these next 10 movies. It won't be surprising if they fail to meet my expectations, but there's always a chance we'll get to see something special!

The Most Anticipated Movies of 2014: Kickstarting!

 The List: 1-5 | 6-10 | 11-15 | 16-20 | 21-25 | 26-30 | 31-35 | 36-40 | 41-45 | 46-50 | Runners-Up

They gave it 6 stars!

 I'm not going to bore you with my mother's garden stories, let's get to the list!

The Most Anticipated Movies of 2014: Geekdom!

The List: 1-5 | 6-10 | 11-15 | 16-20 | 21-25 | 26-30 | 31-35 | 36-40 | 41-45 | 46-50 | Runners-Up

"I wanna dip my balls in it!" "Louie! Louie! Louie!"

2 sequels and 3 original science fiction movies. It's no surprise that about a third of my top 25 is science fiction. I grew up with it, I get excited about that stuff. It's been a wonderful 5 years to be a science fiction geek. In fact, it's been an awesome time to be a geek or a nerd - they've been ruling the internet and pop culture now for what seems like a really long time. Growing up in the 90s, it was definitely not cool to like Star Trek or read Robert Heinlein novels or enjoy MTV's The State. Now you're considered out of the loop if you don't watch Game of Thrones or enjoy comic books or their film adaptations. It's been pretty fun, that's why I'm enjoying my time here at the top. Because I know at some point science fiction, fantasy and other "Geek culture" might become not cool again. And then I'll be forced to discuss my love for Battlestar Galactica on a fansite message board. Sigh.

The Most Anticipated Movies of 2014: Nostalgia

The List: 1-5 | 6-10 | 11-15 | 16-20 | 21-25 | 26-30 | 31-35 | 36-40 | 41-45 | 46-50 | Runners-Up

We've entered the Top 25 - these are by far the films I will more than likely plunk down some of my mostly hard-earned dollars to see right away. These next few movies are an eclectic mix of reboots, sequels and totally original films. And in part, this list sums up how 2014 is going to shake out - there's a lot of risky movies and reboots being planned alongside a healthy amount of sequels and guaranteed blockbusters. Nestled in between is all that original stuff that people tend to forget about when they complain every year about the lack of originality in Hollywood. Most of the oldies I see at work are the one who complain the most, but I always find it refreshing when I see a sweet old lady come up to the register and plunk down five or so movies with a big smile on her face because she's excited to check out Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters or Cloud Atlas. I'm gonna miss those old ladies. (I just realized while re-reading this last sentence that it may come across as either A) I will murder those old ladies possibly in their sleep or B) they will be dying soon because they are old. I can neither confirm nor deny these possibilities).

The Most Anticipated Movies of 2014: Reboot!

The List: 1-5 | 6-10 | 11-15 | 16-20 | 21-25 | 26-30 | 31-35 | 36-40 | 41-45 | 46-50 | Runners-Up

I didn't mean to leave everyone hanging last week. I didn't die! In fact, I'm busy building IKEA shelves to fit all my movies and I was way too excited for that task than the more important task of bestowing upon the world my vision for 2014. Don't fret, I'm back and I will make sure your world is collectively rocked. Now let's get it on!

The Most Anticipated Movies of 2014: Delayed

The List: 1-5 | 6-10 | 11-15 | 16-20 | 21-25 | 26-30 | 31-35 | 36-40 | 41-45 | 46-50 | Runners-Up

Sometimes writing these lists, you end up picking some duds. But the worst is when I pick a movie and it doesn't even come out that year. There's been a few in 2013 that got pushed back to 2014 and a couple of them are in this next section. Most of the time it has to do with post-production problems. Other times it's simply that the studio does not have any faith in the project. I always can find a filler if that happens this year (hell, I even forgot until the last minute that the Veronica Mars movie was coming out next year!). As much as I love doing these lists, I relish the moments when I find myself in the theater watching something that I haven't previewed or heard little about and it just blows me away. Good times, those are.

The Most Anticipated Movies of 2014: Frustration

 The List: 1-5 | 6-10 | 11-15 | 16-20 | 21-25 | 26-30 | 31-35 | 36-40 | 41-45 | 46-50 | Runners-Up

 

Pretty much how I feel about making decisions on this list.

This year, I've noticed, has been one of the more tougher ones to figure out the movies in the bottom half of the top 50. Mainly because a lot of the movies this time around don't have trailers or much information about them. I'm just blindly going along with my knowledge of who's involved in the film more that anything else. I'm pretty cool like that. It's especially tougher when you're talking about comedies because so much of those films rely on tone and visual gags that it's hard to determine what I'm going to like unless I see a trailer. So I'll just take the praise right now that I picked a few comedy gems for next year and I also selected some comedy duds, but they were low on my list, so no biggie. Either way it's a win-win situation for me!

The Most Anticipated Movies of 2014: Small is the New Big

The List: 1-5 | 6-10 | 11-15 | 16-20 | 21-25 | 26-30 | 31-35 | 36-40 | 41-45 | 46-50 | Runners-Up
 

Artist rendering of The Lone Ranger's budget.

I think sometimes I overlook the smaller movies that come out during the year. Sure, nothing gets me more excited than a sweet-looking sci-fi epic that's bound to have cost hundreds of millions of dollars. But I also really, really love those smaller, more independent-minded films. Most of these next films have very little in common with the summer blockbuster, but they may just end up being some of my favorite movies of the year. There's always a few of these movies that creep up out of nowhere to find a spot on my top 10 (Perks of Being a Wallflower is one of those movies from last year and it didn't even make my list!). So I may not rank these movies very high on my list, but they could just end up besting that movie with the superhero in it.

The Most Anticipated Movies of 2014: Filler?

The List: 1-5 | 6-10 | 11-15 | 16-20 | 21-25 | 26-30 | 31-35 | 36-40 | 41-45 | 46-50 | Runners-Up

My official motto

Let's just cut right to the chase: We're all just waiting for 2015 to drop. 2014 is officially a filler year. Not that there won't be some great, if not spectacular, movies coming out next year. It's just that 2015 is poised to be one of those rare years where the stars align and the Geek Gods rain franchise/sequel mana down from heaven in the form of a Batman/Superman crossover movie, a new Star Wars movie, an Avengers movie and a new Jurassic Park movie. This is on top of the conclusion to the Hunger Games movies, another entry in the Mission: Impossible and Bond series and the Mad Max and Terminator franchises get some sort of reboot. Seriously, I could write a bevy of blog posts on 2015 right now.

But next year is 2014 (this seems like a painfully obvious statement but I need constant reinforcement in my life). I'm excited about next year, just not pee-your-pants kind of excited. Yes, I pee my pants with excitement sometimes. BECAUSE PEEING YOUR PANTS IS THE COOLEST; and if it's the coolest, you can call me Miles Davis.

Just to break things down a bit - there are about 20 sequels, reboots and franchise movies on this list. Maybe a little bit more or less, depending on what you consider a reboot or remake (take for example, last year's Great Gatsby. Technically it's a new movie, but The Great Gatsby has been made before - I did count it as a remake on my list FYI). That's actually a bit down from last year when half my list was part of a remake or franchise. So hooray for originality this year! Now onto the list!