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| They gave it 6 stars! |
I'm not going to bore you with my mother's garden stories, let's get to the list!
Starring: Ralph Fiennes, Saoirse Ronan, Edward Norton
Director: Wes Anderson
Writer: Wes Anderson
Release Date: March 7
Say what you will about Wes Anderson, but I like his movies. Every year Woody Allen shits out the same movie and the critics eat it up like he's some amazing artist. But then Wes Anderson has pretty much perfected the Wes Anderson movie and everyone writes about how Wes Anderson is so pretentious and his movies are so lame. It's kind of infuriating. I get it - you kind of have to like his sensibility and if you're not into it, that's fine. But don't say he isn't a good filmmaker. And I think with The Grand Budapest Hotel, Anderson has achieved Nirvana. He's reached a point of enlightenment with his filmmaking that transcends any thoughtful critique. You're either going to enjoy it or you will hate it. It's as simple as that and no amount of arguing either way is going to persuade the other person. I myself have found his quirky, ne'er do well characters and pastel and doll-like settings to be quite charming and fun to watch. The trailer makes this movie out to be Anderson on cocaine - there is so much happening that I feel like the movie is going to last 3 hours. Or it will be a very quick hour and a half. Either way, I'm going to sit back and enjoy this film because I know I'm in for a treat.
Starring: George Clooney, Matt Damon, Cate Blanchett
Director: George Clooney
Writers: George Clooney, Grant Heslov
Release Date: February 7
This could have been a contender. Set for a holiday release this year, George Clooney and company could not get the film finished in time. This would have been a sure-fire Oscar nominee, but now it's stuck in the frozen tundra of February, where next year's Oscar race won't even begin until at least 7 months later. Still, that doesn't make me any less excited to see this movie. You have the always charming Clooney and Damon on top of a fantastic cast that includes Cate Blanchett, John Goodman and Bill Murray. And it's about World War II and Nazis, which is always a very strong setting for a drama/comedy like this. And it's all based on the real life story of a group of men sent in to retrieve stolen art from the Nazis to return them to their rightful owners. How can this not be exciting!?!
Starring: Kristen Bell, James Franco, Krysten Ritter
Director: Rob Thomas
Writer: Rob Thomas, Diane Ruggiero
Release Date: March 14
Yes this is a little bit biased of me, but I was a backer for this movie on Kickstarter (got my T-shirt to prove it!). But damn if I'm not excited to see what's up with Neptune's own teenage private investigator now that she's all growns up. If you haven't been on the internets at all this year, Veronica Mars blew up the internet by amassing over $5 million in 30 days. To say that people were ready for a movie is an understatement. Veronica Mars was a fantastic show that combined the appeal of a procedural (in that there was a mystery case every week) with the comedy and charm of Nancy Drew (albeit with more bite and maybe a bit more adult. Okay a lot more adult). I highly recommend you gorge yourself of the three seasons right now. It should only take you about a week to get through them all. I'll wait. Back? Okay because now fast forward 10 years later and Veronica reluctantly finds herself back in Neptune because of her old boyfriend, Logan, has been accused of (cue the music) MURDER! DUN DUN DUH!!! I hope this movie does well enough for the studio to consider making another movie, because I'm pretty sure we could all use a little more Mars love in our life.
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| This franchise is taking a turn into weirdsville |
12. Fast & Furious 7
Starring: Paul Walker, Vin Diesel, Dwayne Johnson
Director: James Wan
Writer: Chris Morgan
Release Date: July 11
I don't know if this movie is going to make it out next year with the sad and untimely death of Paul Walker. It was quite a shock to hear the news and now the movie is on hiatus until the writers and everyone involved can give a proper treatment to the script that will honor Walker and his character. That last couple of Fast & Furious movies have made me a believer in this franchise. I wouldn't say I was a super fan, but after seeing the fifth one and now the sixth, I can definitely say I will throw down my money to see the next installment day one. The filmmakers have done a great job at not only providing some amazing set pieces and action, but giving us grand teasers at the end of each movie lately. It's like the equivalent of dropping the mic onstage and walking off. Your jaw is literally open for a whole minute and your mind is racing with possibilities. Seriously, the end teaser of the sixth movie really blew me away. I'm excited to see where they decide to go and I'm interested to see how they treat Walker's character, who's relationship with Vin Diesel's character has been the glue for this whole franchise. Word on the street was that the filmmakers approached Denzel Washington to play a small role in the upcoming movie that will turn into a much larger role in the eighth installment. He turned it down (BOO!), but we got Kurt Russell instead (yay!?). That at least tells me that they have an eye on the future and possibly an outline of where the story is headed. I'm most definitely excited to take the ride with them.
11. Sex Tape/Basic Math
Starring: Jason Segal, Cameron Diaz, Rob Corddry
Director: Jake Kasden
Writers: Kate Angelo
Release Date: August 1
Warning: do not try to do a Google Image search with just the words Sex Tape. It's not as titillating as it would seem, trust me. Any who, I always try and find a comedy or two that I think will be fantastic. Usually there always ends up being one or two comedies every year that are hysterical. While sometimes my predictions don't exactly end up that accurate (Hangover Part II was number 4 in 2011! Five Year Engagement came in at number 5 in 2012!) but I can't help myself over the potential of these comedies. And the level of talent involved here is awesome: Jake Kasden has been a very successful director - he started out with the cult classic show Freaks and Geeks and moved into movies with Walk Hard and Bad Teacher. He's been doing New Girl episodes lately and I'm itching to see what he does with this movie. The premise is simple - a couple wakes up to find their sex tape from the night before has gone missing. Jason Segal and Cameron Diaz, who have proven to have at least some sort of chemistry on screen - are playing the couple. I'll pretty much watch anything Segal is involved with and Diaz has always surprised me with how funny she can be (Bad Teacher was a really, really funny movie). The title could change in the next few months (it's changed on me during writing this list!) so keep an eye out for this one!
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