Yes, I stole a joke from 10 Things I Hate About You...
Iron Man 3 kicked things off to a good start, even if it managed to anger every comic fan out there with its handling of The Mandarin. Pacific Rim was exactly what it promised to be, and The Conjuring was great horror. Even Google advert The Internship was a massively welcome surprise, proving to be one of the most charming comedies of recent years.
Pictured: Charm
But everything else had some serious qualifiers attached - Man Of Steel had the action but was an overly-edited narrative mess. This Is The End on the other hand was desperately in need of more editing, while fellow apocalypse comedy World’s End - while a great movie - took too long to get going and repeated one of the famous jokes from Shaun Of The Dead, in the process accidentally spoiling the entire movie for everyone in the first five minutes. World War Z spent the first half building up to a second half that was left on the editing room floor. Monsters University, while warm-hearted and enjoyable, was shockingly low on laughs. Elysium played like a (great) 80s action movie rather than the intelligent sci-fi it was sold as. And Now You See Me was crap.
"This is getting too silly for me, guys... Wanna bail on the second half?"
But even though the Summer season may have been a let down, there’s plenty to look forward to between now and the Spring. Here’s our pick of the top five movies to look out for between now and the time the trees start budding again.
5: The Monuments Men
The Monuments Men is probably one of the most original takes on WWII since Stallone and Caine teamed up with Pele to football the Nazis into submission.
Based on true events, this sees Clooney (who also directs, looking for another critically acclaimed performance behind the camera) and his team heading behind enemy lines to recover the various artworks stolen by Hitler and the Nazis during the war, heading out for what co-producer Grant Heslov describes as “the ultimate treasure hunt movie”.
Our team are confounded in their attempts by the Nazis’ “scorched earth policy”, the Allies’ attempts to destroy every Nazi compound in sight, with no thought for the art that may be inside, and a team of Russians on their own quest for the Nazi loot.
A mix of Ocean’s Eleven and Saving Private Ryan, this looks like being something very interesting.
4: The Counselor
Ridley Scott directs this one, from an original script from literary heavyweight Cormac McCarthy.
That’s probably enough to put this well up on any movie-lover’s “must see” list, but just in case you need more convincing, let’s talk specifics.
Fassbender’s un-named lawyer starts down a dark path when he gets involved over his head in the business of the Mexican cartels. Filled with McCarthy’s rich dialogue, dark-as-pitch black humour, and Scott’s penchant for creating a sense of purveying and ever-growing dread, this looks like being a classy, polished and ultraviolent affair.
Oh, and Javier Bardem plays a criminal in the drug trade, in a Cormac McCarthy story. Always a good sign.
In Scott’s words, “there is no mercy” to be found here. And, personally, we can’t wait.
3: Carrie
But bear with me here, because technically Carrie is not a remake, it’s a re-adaptation. Rather than copying Brian De Palma’s movie, the team here is looking to the original novel. And it seems that Carrie will feel very much like Stephen King’s debut - this is looking like being a very faithful adaptation, right down to the framing device.
And what a team this title has attracted. The big draws are obviously Chloe Grace Moritz and Julianne Moore as the two generations of White women, and there’s no denying that that is a fine backbone for the cast. But the real excitement comes from the choice of director. Rather than going for the sort of schlock-peddlers that seem to run the horror genre these days, Carrie is directed by Kimberly Pierce, most famous of course for Boys Don’t Cry. If she can bring the same sympathetic and honest portrayal of a conflicted, scared and confused female lead to this movie, we’re going to be in for something special.
Everyone knows the story here (which is probably why the trailers don’t seem shy about showing pretty much everything that happens). But with the talent involved here, it may well be worth sitting down with Miss White once again.
The trailer promises that we will know her name. Whether it’s De Palma or Pierce we think of when we hear that name in future remains to be seen, but this is looking like a very worthy attempt.
2: Thor: The Dark World
That one line, so casually delivered, perfectly sums up the relationship between Thor and Loki, a relationship that is set to form the heart of this Marvel sequel.
On paper, The Dark World focuses on an attack on both Asgard and Earth by an army of Dark Elves led by a prosthetics-clad Chris Eccleston. The trailers have already shown some big action sequences, and Game Of Thrones’ Alan Taylor’s direction is sure to bring some epic battle scenes our way.
But it is the relationship between Thor and Loki that is the big draw. With the two forced into an uneasy alliance to combat the threat, we are guaranteed some incredible interplay. Oscar fare it may not be, but nevertheless we should expect Tom Hiddleston to once more deliver one of the most memorable performances of the year. The interplay between the two brothers has never failed to be anything less than brilliant, and bringing it to the fore once again is undoubtedly the right choice. If this is to be, as rumours suggest, Loki’s final outing in the Marvelverse, then at least he’s going to go out in style.
This is going to be one of the year’s big blockbusters, make no mistake. And with the already established ensemble all returning (with the exception of Zachary Levi, who takes over as Fandrahl), and an excellent choice in villain, this film is going to have the acting chops to support the big-screen spectacle.
Promising more Asgard, more fantasy and - mercifully - less Kat Dennings, Thor: The Dark World is looking like continuing Phase Two is superb style.
1: Gravity
It’s a disaster movie. It’s a character study. It’s high drama. It’s “the best space movie” James Cameron claims to have “ever seen”. It’s a boldly experimental take on big-budget sci-fi (Clooney and Bullock are the only two actors to appear on screen, although Ed Harris does some voice work - even Open Water, which has a similar concept, had a bigger cast than that).
A routine spacewalk for Clooney and Bullock goes seriously wrong when debris from a Russian satellite separates them from their shuttle, and leaves them floating adrift in space, with no idea how to get back.
What follows is 91 minutes of unbearable tension, stunningly disorienting and dizzying camera work, and the vastness of space turning into something incredibly claustrophobic.
Empire describe it as a mixture of Cameron and Scorsese. Bullock is tipped for an Oscar nod. The special effects look terrific.
Film of the year? If it isn’t in the running, we’ll be amazed.
And if that wasn’t enough, there’s the Tom Hanks double of Captain Phillips and Saving Mr. Banks, which may well lead to Hanks being his own Best Actor competition come awards season, there’s Oscar contenders The Wolf Of Wall Street and 12 Years A Slave, and the small matter of second outings for The Hobbit and The Hunger Games.
Which seems like a good excuse to post this...
Brace yourself: Winter movies are coming.
And it’s looking like being a great season.
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