The 2013 Film List

Happy New Year!

If you've stumbled upon this blog, or if you happen to be someone who's crazy enough to have followed this blog for a certain amount of time (sometimes I get 4 views on an entry - 4 whole views!!) you are more than welcome, and I wish you a Happy New Year!

As is tradition, my resolutions will always, always invole the wish to see more live theatre and more films in the cinema. This will usually fall apart in early February, but there's still hope!

So here, as always, is the Film List for 2013 - the ten films I really, really want to go and see in the cinema - not in any particular order, just ten of them. Bring it on.

1. Les Miserables - The big screen adaptaion of the blockbuster musical - early prediction here that Anne Hathaway will be nominated and may even win an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress at least, according to early reports. Plus a mate of mine was an extra in it. I could have been but my beard wasn't as impressive.

2. Gangster Squad - Ryan Gosling and Josh Brolin take on Sean Penn, who looks like he's on full scenery-chewing mode in the trailer. Could be The Untouchables for the 21st Century.

3. Django Unchained - Tarantino is back, with his take on a revisionist western - he's been on fire recently (not literally) and with Jamie Foxx, Leonardo DiCaprio and his pal from Inglorious Basterds, Christoph Waltz, this looks to be very decent indeed.

4. Monsters University - Pixar always like to do something a little different; this time they're taking on the prequel. They haven't had the graetest couple of years recently, nothign to match the glories of Wall-E, Up and Toy Story 3; plus a prequel, as history dictates, is notorious in its difficulty at pulling off. But it will be good to vist Mike and Sully again - if anyone can do it, surely Pixar can.

5. Oz: The Great And Powerful - Speaking of prequels, Disney are hoping to do to the classic American legend of Oz what they tired (and sadly failed) to do with Narnia - this is so obviously a franchise starter, it reeks of it. But with a trio of lovelies like Mila Kunis, Michelle Williams and the always watchable Rachel Weisz, they may be on to a good thing.

6. Hitchcock - Yes, it's Oscar bait, but at least star Anthony Hopkins is making no song and dance about it for this film, snubbing the usual Academy ass kissing that accompanies such bait. A look into the making of arguably his second greatest work (after Rear Window in this blog's humble opinion), Psycho, this could be a very interesting biopic. 

7. This Is 40 - Judd Apatow revisits two of the supporting characters from his excellent Knocked Up, looking at life for those hitting mid-life. It could just be the start of a more mature catalogue of films from the director/producer/hit maker.

8. The Great Gatsby - Baz Luhrmann's film should have been released last year, but because of studio involvement, it went away from the Awards season and into the Summer Blockbuster pool for this year. This could sink the film or it could be a triumph - the book has an awesome status that the film needs to live up to.

9. The World's End - Finally, finally, we get to see the concluding part of the Cornetto Trilogy of Simon Pegg, Nick Frost and Edgar Wright; the two films previously, Shaun Of The Dead and Hot Fuzz, took irreverent looks at genre classics and gave them a brilliantly Brittish twist. Here's hoping that they can do the same with the Apocalypse. They'll make it more cheerful, anyway.

10. Star Trek Into Darkness - I am not a Trekkie. This is not a Trekkie blog. If you are a Trekkie, respect and honour to you. I am not one. The last Star Trek, J. J. Abrams game changing, franchise renewing blockbuster, was one of the most fun and enjoyable sci-fi films I've seen for a long while. It was a Trek film for Trekkies and non-Trekkies alike. And Benedict Cumberbatch is in this one. He's the bad guy. Win.

Honourable Mentions:

Wreck-It Ralph; Cloud Atlas; Man Of Steel; Jack Ryan; Passion; Hyde Park On Hidson; A Good Day To Die Hard; Pacific Rim; The Place Beyond The Pines; Byzantium; The End Of The World; White House Down; Movie 43; Robot & Frank