Up and Coming...

on
The old blog has been a bit neglected of late, so I've managed to scrape together a spare seven minutes and pull something at least a tiny bit interesting together. I've settled on a post that I wrote last year (about the same time) but updated for this year. In short, it's all about next years cinema and the delights (and a sprinkling of stinkers) that await us. Last year I did a full 12 months worth, but this year I’m including trailers, and for the most part that means the first three months so far.

Now, this is by no means an exhaustive list (which lets face it, would be exhausting) but more a list of what appear to be the one’s to watch and a nod to the one’s to miss over the  first quarter of 2013.  Depending on where you live, some of these might already be showing in your local cineplex, but I’ve based the list on releases scheduled for the UK.

So, without further ado - let's get on with it and see what we've got in January, February and March....

January
First of all, the must-see stuff...

Lincoln - Spielbergs biopic of the famous American president with Daniel-Day Lewis in the lead.
Dir: Steven Spielberg - Starring: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Daniel Day-Lewis.
Age Rating: TBC    Runtime: 149 mins      

What Richard Did - Irish drama with exceptional performances from a group of young friends when Richard did something
Dir: Lenny Abrahamson - Starring: Jack Reynor, Roisin Murphy, Sam Keeley.
Age Rating: 15    Runtime: 88 mins     

Quartet - Comedy Drama at a home for retired opera singers...
Dir: Dustin Hoffman - Starring: Maggie Smith, Michael Gambon, Billy Connolly.
Age Rating: 12A    Runtime: 98 mins     

The Impossible - Fact based drama telling the story of a family caught in the 2004 Tsunami.
Dir: Juan Antonio Bayona - Starring: Ewan McGregor, Naomi Watts, Geraldine Chaplin.
Age Rating: 12A    Runtime: 114 mins     

Gangster Squad - Sean Penn and Ryan Gosling fight the East coast mafia in West coast Los Angeles during the 1940’s and 50’s
Dir: Ruben Fleischer - Starring: Ryan Gosling, Josh Brolin, Sean Penn.
Age Rating: 15    Runtime: 113 mins     

Zero Dark Thirty - tells the story of the hunt for Isama bin Laden. With Kathryn Bigelow in the chair, expect great stuff.
Dir: Kathryn Bigelow - Starring: Joel Edgerton, Jessica Chastain, Mark Strong.
Age Rating: TBC     

And then the stuff I can gladly miss....

May I Kill U? - Alleged comedy in which Kevin Bishop breaks out from the small screen as a bicycle cop 
Texas Chainsaw 3D - More of the gruesome Texas Chainsaw Massacre franchise, now with added 3D - which we really don’t need.
V/H/S - Horror about a group of misfits stealing videotape and finding more than they bargained for

And so onwards to....

February
and things start ramping up. There’a a whole bunch of things to see. I’ve dramatically trimmed the list though. First the must sees...

A Good Day To Die Hard (Die Hard 5) - Needs No introduction, guaranteed fun on a stick.
Dir: John Moore - Starring: Bruce Willis, Patrick Stewart, Sebastian Koch.
Age Rating: TBC     

Cloud Atlas - Bit of an epic story from the Wachowski’s (“The Matrix”). Complex and riveting
Dir: Tom Tykwer, Lana Wachowski and Andy Wachowski - Starring: Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Hugo Weaving.
Age Rating: 15    Runtime: 172 mins     

Bullhead - Cattle farming at it’s finest. Really?? Actually looks interesting. Think “Drive” with cows in the Netherlands.
Dir: Michael R. Roskam - Starring: Matthias Schoenaerts, Jeroen Perceval.
Age Rating: TBC    Runtime: 124 mins    Language: Dutch

Flight - Airline pilot Denzel Washington saves a flight from disaster, and then the fun begins. In particular - John Goodman.
Dir: Robert Zemeckis - Starring: Denzel Washington, Kelly Reilly, Don Cheadle.
Age Rating: 15    Runtime: 138 mins     

The Iceman - The true story of Richard Kuklinski, the notorious contract killer and family man. 
Dir: Ariel Vromen - Starring: Michael Shannon, Ray Liotta, David Schwimmer
Age Rating: TBC     

I Give It a Year - Weddings - British Comedy - Sounds a bit four weddings, but actually it isn’t....  It does look pretty funny in a crude sort of way though.
Dir: Dan Mazer - Starring: Anna Faris, Rose Byrne, Simon Baker.
Age Rating: TBC     

Warm Bodies - Comedy Zombie Drama Romance...  If you can believe that.
Dir: Jonathan Levine - Starring: Analeigh Tipton, Teresa Palmer, John Malkovich.
Age Rating: TBC     

Wreck-It Ralph - John C.Reilly plays a video game character who’s not happy being a bad guy. Innovative kids comedy (no doubt with adult humor) and of course geek!
Dir: Rich Moore - Starring: Jack McBrayer, Jane Lynch, John C. Reilly.
Age Rating: TBC     

Notables to watch out for ..

  • Terrence Stamp Singing in Song for Marion
  • Emma Thompson’s witchery in Beautiful Creatures
  • John Simm in Michael Winterbottom’s Everyday
  • Guillermo Del Toro’s Horror movie Mama
  • Barbara Streisand & Seth Rogen’s Comedy Road Trip movie The Guilt Trip
  • Bullet to the head with Sly Stallone back from the 80’s with Walter Hill in charge

And February’s must misses...

  • All Stars - Dance movie.... Pah!
  • Movie 43 - Ensemble Comedy....  Meh.
  • Run for Your Wife - Danny Dyer in a romantic comedy??  Do me a favor.

Marching onwards to March.... (see what I did there?)

Gotta go and see...

Oz: The Great and Powerful - The back story to The Wizard of Oz. How a small time circus magician had to fight a witch. For no other reason that the cinema history, I will have to see this.
Dir: Sam Raimi - Starring: Mila Kunis, James Franco, Rachel Weisz.
Age Rating: TBC 

Broken City - Wahlberg is on fire, and Crowe’s accent is still fascinating. Thriller/Drama
Dir: Allen Hughes - Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Russell Crowe.
Age Rating: TBC     

The Paperboy - Zac Efron & Nicole Kidman. John Cusack’s character looks stunningly different to his usual brooding roles. Deep South thriller.
Dir: Lee Daniels - Starring: Zac Efron, Matthew McConaughey, Nicole Kidman.
Age Rating: TBC    Runtime: 107 mins 

Jack the Giant Killer (or Slayer) - Ewan McGregor is always interesting. What bothers me about this is that usually the fairy tale reboots are a load of old tosh. This looks a bit more promising though. I think I’ll need to give it a watch.
Dir: Bryan Singer - Starring: Ewan McGregor, Bill Nighy, Stanley Tucci.
Age Rating: TBC  

Stoker - Another Psychological Thriller. Mia Wasikowska looks disturbing.
Dir: Chan-wook Park - Starring: Nicole Kidman, Mia Wasikowska, Dermot Mulroney.
Age Rating: TBC

Vinyl - British (welsh) comedy with Phil Daniels on fine form.
Dir: Sara Sugarman - Starring: Keith Allen, Jamie Blackley, Phil Daniels.
Age Rating: TBC     

The Host - Intersting SciFi/Alien Invasion movie. Apart from it coming from the pen of the Twilight Saga’s author, it could be interesting.
Dir: Andrew Niccol - Starring: Saoirse Ronan, Jake Abel, Max Irons.
Age Rating: TBC    

Notable...

  • Fire with Fire - There’s just never enough Bruce Willis . Witness Protection, here comes the bad guy action movie.
  • Robot & Frank - Anti tech retiree Frank Langella gets a Robot and gets into trouble.
  • The Look of Love - The Porn Baron, Paul Raymond with Imogen Poots, Anna Friel and Stephen Fry.
  • Side Effects (also known as The Bitter Pill) - Jude Law in a Drug conspiracy
  • Trashed - Jeremy Irons narrates and stars in an ecological disaster documentary
  • Welcome to the Punch - James McAvoy, David Morrissey and Mark Strong are some of the best current british actors and all three of them in one place has to be promising. Action/Crime type thing.
  • About Time - Richard Curtis doe SciFi comedy. Expect Bill Nighy and a pregnant Rachel McAdams.
  • The Croods - Family adventure fun from Dreamworks Animation
  • Citadel - It’s Frodo in a Horror Movie...
  • Compliance - Dark Psychological Thriller
  • Trance - Danny Boyle has James McAvoy recovering a lost painting - sounds boring - bound not to be.

And not bothered about...

  • Identity Thief - although possibly a couple of giggles in here, I can wait for the DVD
  • The Bay - Mysterious stuff in the water and another bloody “found footage” film
  • Good Vibrations - Dylan Moran tells the Terri Hooley Story. Expect great soundtrack though.
  • Jadoo - Comedy chef brothers with Tom Mison
  • Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters - Yet again another old fairy tale rebooted. Forgetting about Jack the Giant Killer for a moment, I’ve yet to see one of these efforts work out to be any good, so I’ll wait for the DVD.
  • Cuban Fury - Nick Frost and Chris ODowd (who I enjoy watching) dancing about.
  • John Dies at the End - Drug addled insanity, and we know the ending
  • G.I.Joe: Retaliation - Warmongering action type stuff with Channing Tatum
  • 21 and Over - Feels like a younger version of the Hangover.

So that’s it for the beginning of the year. Some reasonably cool stuff. If I had to pick one from each month I’d have these 3:

Enjoy until next time.

This post originally appeared here: Posterous

Comments

Post a Comment