Top 5 most anticipated movies of 2013

The first month of 2013 has come and gone, so now is as good a time as any to look at the rest of the year and see what kind of stuff is scheduled to come out and what is worth anticipating and actually waiting for. Sure there are going to be plenty of nerd-o’s out there who are dying to see “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug,” and everyone wants to see “Iron Man 3,” no matter how bad “Iron Man 2” was all those years ago. Anyone who knows me knows that I eagerly await Zack Snyder’s “Man of Steel,” but that’s no surprise, plenty of people are anxious to see that thing.

And really, even stuff like this new Superman movie and Guillermo Del Toro’s “Pacific Rim” which looks insane and awesome in all the right ways, doesn’t get the film lover in me excited in the same way as these five projects do, movies with amazing potential for a variety of reasons, movies that could end up being modern classics, or maybe misunderstood masterpieces that find their appreciate audiences decades from now. These five movies have incredible potential to be more than just spectacle, and could very well just BLOW. YOUR. MIND.

5. The World’s End

 

“The World’s End” will be the completion of a loosely-tied together trilogy of movies made by Brits Edgar Wright (Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World) and Simon Pegg and Nick Frost (Paul). They started with the zombie romantic comedy “Shaun of the Dead,” and followed that up with the homage to dumb American action movies “Hot Fuzz,” and now we have a movie about a group of friends who attempt to recreate an epic pub crawl from twenty years ago, with the final pub being named The World’s End. That poster there is a list of all the pubs these guys are gonna go to on this journey, and the only other piece of information we have at this time is that this pub crawl takes place while the world is actually ending in some sort of apocalypse. This is going to be a fun movie, and it’s on this list because of my love of their previous films, so the chances I will like this one are pretty high.

4. The Place Beyond the Pines

A few years ago Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams made this little low-budget drama called “Blue Valentine” that showed a couple at two stages of their relationship – their first date and the dissolution of their marriage seven years later in a depressed and drunken stupor. It is an undeniably well made and acted movie, and with “The Place Beyond The Pines” Gosling re-teams with the same director to make a crime drama that looks fairly epic, and with Bradley Cooper on a bit of a run now and the always watchable Eva Mendes and Ray Liotta pitching in, this could quite possibly be one of the best films of the year. Just look at this trailer below and tell me this doesn’t look interesting as hell?

3. Stoker

“Stoker” is the first English-language film by South Korean director Chan Wook Park (Oldboy, Thirst), and it is sure to be a wild, twisted ride. A psychological family drama thriller that apparently has elements of horror in it somehow, “Stoker” has already been getting rave reviews at film festivals and will definitely be one of the more memorable movies of the year. Besides that, when was the last time anyone had any reason to actually look forward to a Nicole Kidman movie? But lo and hehold, here we go. And this is where I am obligated to say that if you have not seen “Oldboy” yet, then you absolutely must see it and see it as soon as possible.

2. Gravity

Much like “The World’s End,” my anticipation of “Gravity” is based on the small amount of information made available about this movie. Directed by Alfonso Cuaron, and his first movie since the amazing “Children of Men” in 2006, “Gravity” features Sandra Bullock and George Clooney as astronauts, and an accident in space leaves Sandra Bullock’s character stranded in orbit, trying to figure out how to survive and somehow get back to Earth I guess? Reportedly Cuaron will push the envelope in terms of continues takes in which the camera never cuts away, a technique he has already used to superb effect in his previous movies. As wary as I am of post-conversion 3-D movies, I would definitely consider seeing this one in the post-converted format because the master filmmakers are the ones who know how to use this particular tool in the best possible ways, so while I do vow to see as few 3-D films as possible this year, I think “Gravity” is going to greatly benefit from the format. We shall see.

1. Upstream Color

Beating Cuaron for amount of time between highly anticipated releases, “Upstream Color” is the first film since 2004 from the writer and director of the most excellent sci-fi film “Primer,” and it just debuted at the Sundance Film Festival and the folks there pretty much loved it. It’s another dense and layerd sci-fi movie of some sort, and even the trailer (itself crafted by director Shane Carruth) works as something of an art film already. Carruth was a big deal for a minute there when “Primer” came out and blew everyone away, so it is about time that we get something from him that follows up on that initial promise, and based on the early word, it sound like he delivers on that promise. Maybe after this someone will fund this guy and give him a real budget to work with, but in the meantime I eagerly await his next low-budget, heady flick.

So what movies are you looking forward to in 2013? Tell us in the comments below!