Following through! Part three of three! In the post-Oscars glow of this fine Monday night, I look at my top 5 most anticipated films of 2014! Will we be talking about any of these films come this time next year? Even with my poor intuition I can't help but think so. Let's see what you think!
5.) Godzilla by Gareth Edwards (Release: May 16th)
If I had a dollar for every time I saw an amazing trailer for a film that ended up being a complete dumpster fire disaster, I would have way too many dollars. And, needless to say, I'm going to be devastated if Godzilla follows that pattern. When it was announced that they were making a new Godzilla picture, I was immediately struck by PTSD flashbacks of 1998 and seeing Roland Emmerich's adaptation in the theatre. When it came out I was 7 years old, about to turn 8. It was the first PG-13 movie I was allowed to see and I remember being so nervous and excited at the prospect of what I was going to witness. It was also the first time I remember being genuinely upset with a film. I remember being struck by how much of a nothing the monster was. Sure, it was big. MONSTROUS! But it was like looking at a skyscraper-sized piece of paper. There was no substance, no personality. It had the size, but lacked the power. But this time, things just might be different. Gareth Edwards is not Roland Emmerich and what he was able to do with only $500,000 dollars in 2010's Monsters was spectacular. This time he's been given 320 times the budget and if the glorious, glorious trailers are any indication, he's making it count. The monster looks and FEELS impossibly huge. With just second-long glimpses in the trailer, the fear of total destruction is already firmly entrenched in my mind. Not only that, but Bryan Cranston is doing some amazing character work and along with the likes of Elizabeth Olsen and Aaron Taylor-Johnson, the cast is much, much stronger on the whole than than it was in 1998. Am I worried? Of course, I don't know if I can handle another heartbreak. But it's impossible not to get excited with the two absolutely stunning trailers we've already gotten.
4.) Only Lovers Left Alive by Jim Jarmusch (Release: TBD)
I have become, as I'm sure the vast majority of you are, completely exhausted with the ubiquity of vampires in books, film and television. Like zombies, they are literally everywhere. When Wal*Mart has a section dedicated to you, you know it's time to stop. UNLESS IT'S JIM JARMUSCH DOING IT. One of the living gods of independent cinema, Jim Jarmusch has been cranking out sensational and powerful cinema for 30 years. Stranger Than Paradise, Down by Law, Dead Man, Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai, the list goes on and on. He also did a quiet dramedy in 2005 called Broken Flowers in which Bill Murray gets a letter explaining that he has a son and then goes on a cross-country trip tracking down his former lovers in an attempt to find the mother. It's one of my favorite films of all time and is on Netflix and you need to see it RIGHT NOW.
Being a big fan of Jarmusch's and knowing his filmography pretty well, if you asked me what genre he'd never do, a vampire drama would be near the top. Actually, it wouldn't because what the hell is that? But it looks absolutely incredible with a knockout cast including Tilda Swinton, Tom Hiddleston, Mia Wasikowska, John Hurt and Jarmusch regular and all around amazing (and massively underrated) actor, Jeffrey Wright. Nominated for the top prize at Cannes, Only Lovers Left Alive tells the story of two centuries-old vampire lovers (Hiddleston and Swinton) who... actually that's all I really know about it. And honestly, I don't need anything else. This seems like something that is custom fitted to me in every way. The United Kingdom already has it and it's not clear when we're going to get it in the States, but when we do, don't let this one slip by. It will undoubtedly fly under the radar even with being about vampires and you really aren't going to want to miss it.
3.) Interstellar by Christopher Nolan (Release: November 7th)
Let the McConaughnaissance continue! Fresh off his Oscar win for Best Actor (Alright, alright, alright!), McConaughey looks to keep his outstanding career resurrection going and perhaps bring himself right back to where he stood last night (If you've seen True Detective, you know how much he likes a good circle) with the latest film and first original creation by Christopher Nolan since 2010's Inception - Interstellar. Like Only Lovers Left Alive, not much is known about the film, but essentially scientists discover a wormhole and send a team of explorers to investigate, sending them on a voyage that will push the boundaries of space and time. Christopher Nolan is Kubrick-like in his chilly filmmaking and it is going to be interesting seeing what fruits come to bear from his collaboration with McConaughey who would have to channel Olivier, Brando and Daniel Day-Lewis just to attempt to play "cold." But even with that brief glimpse of McConaughey driving away in his pickup, it already looks like they've created something emotionally resonant. Not to mention, this marks Nolan's first film since 2000 without cinematographer Wally Pfister - teaming with Hoyte Van Hoytema whose work on Spike Jonze's Her was marvelous. Oh, and it's an original sci-fi story from the man that brought us Inception, Memento and The Prestige. So, there's also that.
2.) The Grand Budapest Hotel by Wes Anderson (March 7th)
That's right! My second most anticipated film of 2014 and it will be here this Friday! Wes Anderson is easily in my top three of favorite directors. Some people complain that he always makes the same movies and that may have truth to it. But who cares? I can name bands whose songs all sound the same and they're some of the greatest of all time. Granted, around The Darjeeling Limited, his style briefly soured for me. However, he followed that up with Fantastic Mr. Fox and Moonrise Kingdom and all was forgiven. I've finally accepted that Wes Anderson has settled into his aesthetic like one of those elderly people living in a rent-controlled apartment who refuses to leave so some big business can tear the building down to build a mini-mall and my love and respect for it has grown exponentially. This time around, he looks to be at his most Wes Anderson-y as he tells the story of a hotel concierge (Ralph Fiennes) who teams up with one of his employees to prove his innocence after he is framed for murder. As always, the cast is magnificently stacked with talent and from the trailer it seems that there is an organic emotional journey underlining the wacky caper. Every single one of these elements have been aces for Anderson in the past, and I don't expect this time to be any different. Here's just hoping that the Academy won't forget it come next March.
And the moment you've all been waiting for! My number one most anticipated film of 2014! And the award goes to...
1.) Inherent Vice by Paul Thomas Anderson (Release: December 12th)
This shouldn't really be a shock to anyone who knows my taste in film. I mentioned that Wes Anderson is easily in my top three favorite directors. The only people he's behind are the Coen Brothers and my number one - the other Anderson, Paul Thomas. In my opinion, Paul Thomas Anderson is the greatest filmmaker of his generation. No one makes the kind of movies he makes. No one shoots movies like he shoots them. No one does it like Paul Thomas Anderson. This time around, as if I needed more of a reason to be all in, I have a particular interest because of the wonderful source material. The film is an adaptation of Thomas Pynchon's (V., Gravity's Rainbow) 2009 novel of the same name. What is essentially a detective novel, it's a shaggy-dog mystery set in Southern California and centered around a pothead private dick named Doc Sportello who is thrust into investigating the disappearance of his ex-girlfriend and her current lover Mickey Wolfmann, an importance real-estate mogul. Of all of Pynchon's novels, Inherent Vice seems the most tailor-made for adaptation and, in my opinion, there is no one more perfect for handling the novel's sprawling cast of characters and Pynchon's kooky and dense rhythms than Paul Thomas Anderson. Anytime you have this much talent in one place, something magical is going to happen. Inherent Vice may just have that magic and that's why it's my most anticipated film of 2014. Whether or not it ends up being my favorite film of the year remains to be seen.
And I can't wait to start seeing.
