20 to see in 2013
First, a couple of qualifications. I've avoided including films that have been released in the US but not the UK because anticipation is everything, and when reviews begin to spew forth that can be diluted. Even the couple on here that have received festival screenings have lost their lustre a little. Secondly, the absence of foreign language films. In part, this is an acknowledgement of my own ignorance. But it also relates to areas such as promotion and foreknowledge. Foreign language films often have the benefit of being a pleasant discovery. With Hollywood movies, if there is a positive realisation, it's that it wasn't the big pile of shit you expected from all the advance publicity. So here are some films I'm at least curious to see over the next year.
1. The Zero Theorem
There’s probably a sound argument that
Terry Gilliam has been past his best ever since Don Quixote floundered, but
I’ve found merit in all three off his films since then. Dr Parnassus may have
been something of a greatest hits package, and showed an indulgence that
perhaps could have done with someone telling him "No", but I welcomed his imagination given vent again, unfettered (except by budget). Theorem’s script,
by Pat Rushin, had been knocking around Gilliam’s door for a while and the
production fell into place as Quixote continued to resist all attempts at financing. The plot concerns a computer hacker whose attempt to discover the
reason for existence is continually interrupted by the Management. Shot in Romania,
mostly centred on one set, it was reportedly made on a miniscule budget but
managed to attract a starry cast by dint of Gilliam’s rep. Christopher Waltz takes the lead,
supported by (Gilliam returnee) Matt Damon, Ben Wishaw, Tilda Swinton, David
Thewlis and Melanie Thierry.
2. Inside Llewyn Davis
We were spoilt with a Coen Brothers film a
year for four consecutive years until 2010. Their follow up to by far their
biggest hit, True Grit, isn’t going to replicate that success but it should receive more exposure than 2009’s A Serious Man. Based loosely on Dave Von Ronk’s
posthumous memoir, The Mayor of MacDougal Street, this is a comedy set within
the 1960s New York folk music scene. John Goodman returns to their fold for the
first time in 12 years, while F Murray Abraham is an actor you know should have
been in a Coens movie before now. The cast consists mainly of newbies, however, some of
whom are called upon to flex their singing muscles. Oscar Isaac plays the
titular character, while Carey Mulligan and Garrett Hedlund lend support. The
question mark hangs over Justin Timberlake; can Joel and Ethan wrest a great
performance from him? Bruno Delbonnel (who has collaborated with Jean Pierre
Jeunet and previously lensed the brothers’ Paris, je t’aime segment) fills in
for the unavailable Roger Deakins, possibly shooting on Super 16.
3. Calvary
Jon Michael McDonagh’s debut feature The
Guard was shot through with the same streak of black comedy as his brother
Martin’s In Bruges. Ultimately, it proved lighter and more optimistic. Whether that
could be said of Calvary remains to be seen. McDonagh has commented that, while
humorous, it is much more serious and dramatic in narrative than The Guard.
Brendan Gleeson returns as the director-writer’s lead of choice and an eclectic
cast includes Chris O’Dowd, Kelly Reilly and Dylan Moran.
4. Upstream Color
I’m quite happy to admit that while I loved
Shane Carruth’s Primer I knew full well that trying to pull apart its dense
plot logic and time-travel mechanics would be a dangerous obsession I didn’t
want to ensnare myself in. After eight year gap he returns with another science
fiction tale which, if the trailer is anything to go by, owes a debt to the
narrative obliqueness of Terrence Malick. The plot summary is almost willfully
resistance to brevity, but appears to concern a couple drawn together through
their connection to the lifecycle of an ageless life force/organism. Carruth
stars again.
5. To the Wonder
And other Terrence Malick projects. TTW has
already been shown at several film festivals, where it has received a predictably
mixed response. Reportedly it furthers the metaphysical meditation conjured by
The Tree of Life, but here centres on two romantic relationships. Voice-overs,
whispered dialogue, a taciturn central character (Affleck); none of this should
be surprising, and indeed is likely to be welcomed by Malick fans. I guess the
only note of caution is that Malick’s films seemed all the richer for their
rarity. Will we receive too much of a good thing in 2013? Also due are Knight
of Cups and his untitled story set against the music scene in Austin Texas.
Both of these feature Christian Bale (I think it’s safe to say he won’t be cut
out of the finished films, but anyone else is probably fair game).
6. Elysium
Neill Blomkamp made a big impact with
District 9, and the reward is another story of his own devising. Once again he
returns to the well of sci-fi with a social conscience (the wealthy live on a
space station, enforcing a strict anti-immigration policy, while everyone
else slums it on an overcrowded, ruined Earth). And once again his protagonist (Matt
Damon) sports some serious weapon tech hardware. Jodie Foster and Sharlto
Copley are on board as villains, and the great William Fichtner has a role
also. 2013 suggests studios have been persuaded to back a number of original,
high-concept SF productions so hopefully some of them will be successful (if
this welcome trend is to continue).
7. Gravity
Another science-fiction film, this long in
post-production feature comes from Alfonso Cuaron, whose previous foray into
that genre was the remarkable Children of Men. It’s essentially a two-hander
(although that may be reduced by one for much of the running time) between
Sandra Bullock and George Clooney as astronauts left drifting in space following
a shuttle disaster. It seemed for a while that this might never get made
(finding a bankable leading lady proved problematic) but advance word suggests that what ends up on screen will be well worth the wait (as in, stunning).
8. The World’s End
Strange to think it’s nearly a decade since
Shaun of the Dead (and far beyond that since Spaced). The geekgasm that Simon Pegg
and Edgar Wright triggered with their movie-love has turned a bit sour in some
quarters, much of this down to the perceived over-exposure of Pegg (and his
high profile casting in two J J Abrams franchises).
The long-anticipated final
installment in their Three Flavours Cornetto Trilogy sees them reunite with
Nick Frost for a science fiction comedy beginning with an epic pub-crawl. Shaun’s
reputation has only grown in the intervening years, whereas Hot Fuzz’s has
perhaps been slightly tarnished. Paul was patchy, frequently lazy
where it could have been inspired, and possible evidence that alchemy occurs
only when the full trio are present. Or maybe it just shows that Pegg and Wright are
better writers than Pegg and Frost.
Wright, the missing man on that film, had a
rocky ride with his own project. Scott Pilgrim represented his first taste of
indifference outside of the vocal online community. Pilgrim may have been an
expensive misfire, but no one could claim Wright didn’t put everything into it.
So expectations are high, if not quite resulting in the salivation that awaited
their every move in the post-Shaun period. The supporting cast includes Martin
Freeman, Rosamund Pike and Paddy Considine. Probably one to savour, as who
knows when or if the trio will reunite.
9. Side Effects
It can a fool’s errand hyping up a Steven
Soderbergh movie. Both Contagion and Haywire sounded great on paper, but the
director didn’t quite succeed with his genre dabbling in either case. In
contrast, I had little expectation for The Informant! and it turned out to be a giddy
delight. Side Effects is written by Scott Z Burns who previously wrote
Contagion and Informant!, and is billed as a psychological thriller set against
a background of addiction to prescription meds. With a cast including Rooney
Mara and previous collaborators Channing Tatum, Jude Law and Catherine
Zeta-Jones, if this is the director’s last big screen project for a while
hopefully he’ll be going out with a bang.
10. Iron Man 3
The previous Iron Man was distinctly
underwhelming (that, and Cowboys and Aliens, lead one to suspect that Jon
Favreau may have just got lucky with the first Tony Stark outing), but the
character successfully emerged from Avengers at the top of the Marvel pack. The
key ingredient in the anticipation for IM3 is director/co-writer Shane Black,
who first made a splash at the tender age of 25 with his script for Lethal
Weapon. Following 1996’s The Long Kiss Goodnight he seemed to vanish as a
credited writer, until his directorial debut, the pre-career resurgence Downey
Jr starrer Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. Kiss Kiss is a gloriously irreverent little action
comedy movie, which went belly-up at the box office. But he became friends with
his star, and script doctored earlier Iron Mans. It’s credit to Marvel that
they were approved the relatively untested director taking the reins. But in
the post-Whedon Avengers world, that suddenly seems like a no-brainer. The
trailer makes it look grimmer than it probably is, and with Ben Kingsley as the
villain this could be the pick of the year’s superhero blockbusters.
11. Star Trek Into Darkness
As with Guy Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes, it
was a surprise how well Star Trek was rebooted. The first film
just flies, largely banishing misgivings over J J Abrams doing his
un-Roddenberry thing with the universe. Largely, because devout fans will never
be happy at perceived sacrilege (to the extent that some claim he out-and-out
doesn’t get Trek). If film XI in the series had a failing it was that the plot
was an unwieldy attempt to justify recasting the original crew while simultaneously claiming
it as canon. The villain was a damp squib too, something that
seems to have been consciously remedied with this follow-up (Benedict
Cumberbatch is front-and-centre in the advertising). As for all the “Is he
Khan?” discussions, there seems to have been a shift to “How is he connected to
Khan?” I'd argue that feeding off the iconic status of Wrath of Khan is a bad move, as
it suggests a lack of confidence with striking out into new territory (and
didn’t both Nemesis and, to some extent, Nero in XI come unstuck trying to copy
that formula?), but I have little doubt that Abrams’ film will be a superior
thrill ride.
12. Much Ado About Nothing
As with To the Wonder, Joss Whedon’s
quickie “home movie” premiered at the Toronto Film Festival, but doesn’t receive a
cinema release until 2013. Praise has been effusive for his monochrome
Shakespeare adaptation, and there seems little reason to doubt the good word.
Whedon regulars were enlisted/lined-up for parts (Nathan Fillion, Amy Acker,
Alexis Denisof, Reed Diamond, Fran Kanz) and filming took place on the quiet.
13. The Lone Ranger
Johnny Depp has tumbled in reputation from daring
fanboy darling to over-exposed hack, wheeling out the same old “weird” routine,
in the past five years. Somewhere around the time of the second Pirates of the Caribbean movie he
stopped being their precious and became irritating. He was now a box office draw
(terrible!), and worse he was joined at the hip with Tim Burton (who has come
in for, possibly, even more vitriol) in EVERY movie.
I note this because I’ve
not “lost faith”. I’ve enjoyed his return outings as Jack Sparrow, even some movies he’s been savaged for (The Tourist, Dark Shadows). There have been misteps
with Burton (Willy Wonka and the Mad Hatter) and he could certainly be accused
of failing to pick varied material, but I can’t fault him for teaming up with
Gore Verbinski again. On Stranger Tides suffered from the absence of
Verbinski’s imaginative compositions, but his departure from that series
does not seem to have affected the relationship between star and director. They
teamed on Rango (their first western together) and now reunite in the live
action arena (with Pirates writers Terry Rossio and Ted Elliott). There have
already been swathes of bad press written about The Lone Ranger; the runaway
budget, the need for such expense on a remake that no one cares about,
Depp’s take on Tonto. None of which puts me off if they are channelling the
energies that went into Pirates (but fortunately minus Bloom and Knightley).
14. A Good Day to Die Hard/Red 2
Cheating perhaps, and quite possibly, as
justice for picking two films for one position, both of these Bruce Willis
sequels will turn out to be stinkers. Live Free and Die Hard did very nicely at
the box office but was criticised by fans of the series who claimed John
McClane never showed up and the jet scene was ridiculous etc. As if Die Hard 2
didn’t start the series down a preposterous route. And wasn’t a lousy film. The
omens aren’t good for Die Hard 5; John Moore is directing and his filmography
consists of tepid action fare and forgettable remakes. The scale of McCane’s
environment continues to increase in a manner at odds with the first film’s
premise (who could have foreseen Die Hard in a tower block evolving into Die
Hard across Russia?) Likewise, the “One man against… “ set-up has been eroded since the third installment
repositioned Die Hard as a buddy movie. So this time McClane teams up with his
CIA son. Yet, the trailers have really worked for me; Willis seems to be
wisecracking, the music consciously reminds us of the first film. “Yippe Ki-yay
Mother Russia” is either a terrible pun or a glorious one, depending on your
sensibility (I tended to the latter). Come February, we shall see.
Red was a lot of fun, mainly down to an
amusing script, the chemistry between the ensemble cast and solid direction
from Robert Schwentke. What’s to prevent the sequel from being The Whole Ten
Yards? Hopefully director Dean Parisot, who scored a minor classic with Galaxy
Quest then took a tumble with Fun with Dick and Jane. Anthony Hopkins is
aboard, but that doesn’t mean anything.
15. The Monuments Men
The “based on a true story” strongly
implies the formula of historical curiosity turned into prestige project that
did so well for Argo. Which makes George Clooney’s involvement in both none-too
surprising. Clooney directs, stars and co-authors the screenplay (the same as
The Ides of March, then), although for my money his best film as director
remains his first. The rest of the cast are a dream; Cate Blanchett, Bill
Murray, John Goodman, Jean Dujardin, Bob Balaban, Matt Damon (perhaps), Daniel
Craig. The plot? The attempts by a team of art historians to recover works stolen by
the Nazis before Hitler destroys them.
16. Before Midnight
I liked, but did not love, Before Sunrise.
Which made Before Sunset, nine years later, a very pleasant surprise as it
seemed philosophically and romantically much richer. There’s always the
possibility that returning to the well again another nine years on might screw
up what was so tantalising about where Sunset left Ethan Hawke and Julie
Delpy’s characters. But it’s probably worth the risk.
17. Malavita
One might reasonably assert that there’s little reason
to anticipate anything Luc Besson has a hand in, since his indiscriminate hack storylines have formed the basis for the likes of the Transporter series,
Takens, Lockout and Colombiana. And, as a director, he hasn’t wowed anyone in
15 years. But I’m willing to be hopeful. De Niro and Pfeiffer heading up a mob
family relocated to France under the Witness Protection Program? Come on Luc,
make it sing.
18. Riddick
This is all about David Twohy, rather than
his chrome-domed star. Pitch Black is a sharp, economically-scripted and shot, science
fiction horror. The follow up is contrastingly bloated, and stuffed full of unnecessary
mythologising. But still, it was an agreeable movie hoisted by its own petard.
It’s only been the petitioning of Vin Diesel (okay, so it’s not all about
Twohy) that has guaranteed this third part and I suspect it will prove a
the equal of the first. I’m more dubious about its potential for success, however.
Twohy’s last film, A Perfect Getaway, was a twisty little beauty and he seems a safe bet for delivering when he’s working within limitations.
19. The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
The Walter Mitty remake has gone through so
many different stars and iterations (including Jim Carrey and Mike Myers) that
it looked like it would be eternally in production hell. No bad thing, as
anyone who has seen the Danny Kaye version would probably view a new take as
borderline sacrilegious. But then Ben Stiller attached himself to it. Yes the
star of A Night at the Museum. But wait, he also attached himself as director.
Yes, the director of Zoolander and Tropic Thunder. I’m a fan of Stiller the
director, not so much Stiller the jobbing actor. So I’m hopeful that this might
be one big Hollywood comedy worth seeing.
20. Twelve Years a Slave
Steve McQueen’s follow-up to Shame is based
on the 1853 memoir of Solomon Northup and boasts an enviable cast headed up by
Chiwetel Ejiofor. Add in Michael Fassbender, Benedict Cumberhatch, Brad Pitt and
Michael Kenneth Williams. No doubt a very different tone to Tarantino’s recent popcorn approach to the subject of slavery.