The final four months of the year are upon us and it would seem the studios have decided to save the absolute best for last. Boiling down the final four months of the year to a list of ten films I’m most anticipating was no easy chore, though it was made slightly easier as I’ve already seen All is Lost, Inside Llewyn Davis and Nebraska at the Cannes Film Festival, three films that would have certainly been jockeying for position among these ten.
Among my top ten there isn’t really a single blockbuster though I am interested in seeing a few. I’m curious to see how Peter Jackson will approach The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug after the tedious slog that was the first film. Will The Hunger Games: Catching Fire prove more memorable than the first, which I was overly kind to in my review, but haven’t thought of since? I’m interested in seeing how Kenneth Branagh handles Jack Ryan and how Chris Pine is in the title role and my most anticipated guilty pleasure over the coming months is Thor: The Dark World. As a fan of the ridiculous nature of the first film I’m hoping this one will be as mindlessly entertaining.
The only real comedy I had in consideration was Anchorman: The Legend Continues, though I’m sure Don Jon and Machete Kills will supply some measure of comedic entertainment.
Awards season titles I’m looking forward to, but didn’t make the ultimate top ten include Steve McQueen‘s 12 Years a Slave, August: Osage County, Dallas Buyers Club, Jason Reitman‘s Labor Day, Parkland, The Fifth Estate, Rush and Prisoners, all of which I will be seeing in Toronto beginning next Thursday, September 5.
Additionally, I want to see the new Salinger documentary and Paul Greengrass‘ Captain Phillips. I want to see how Scott Cooper handles Out of the Furnace and will Jon Lee Hancock deliver with Saving Mr. Banks?
The recently dated Escape from Tomorrow and Lone Survivor are also a couple of curiosities worth looking out for. However, there can only be ten movies in a top ten, thus the reason it is called a top ten… but you knew that already.
So, without further delay, let me run down my ten most anticipated films left to come over the months of September-December 2013 and afterward share your thoughts and most anticipated films in the comments below.
I’ve included a pictures for all ten of the films as well as trailers for all but one of them as nothing has yet been officially released. Enjoy!
#10
Oldboy
November 27
There’s something about Spike Lee‘s tonal approach to his movies that I think will serve as a major asset to his remake of Oldboy. The biggest concern I have about the film is the approach to the overall narrative and, without saying too much, how the third act is handled. For those of us that have seen Chan-wook Park‘s 2003 feature there will be a tendency to be highly critical of any familiar turns in the plot. However, having never read Nobuaki Minegishi‘s manga from which the original film and this one were based, there could very easily be some surprises in store.
Oldboy follows the story of an advertising executive (Josh Brolin) who is kidnapped and held hostage for 20 years in solitary confinement without any indication of his captor’s motive. When he is inexplicably released, he embarks on an obsessive mission to discover who orchestrated his bizarre and torturous punishment only to find he is still trapped in a web of conspiracy and torment. His quest for revenge leads him into an ill-fated relationship with a young social worker (Elizabeth Olsen) and ultimately to an illusive man (Sharlto Copley) who allegedly holds the key to his salvation.
#9
Foxcatcher
December 20
Bennett Miller has given us Capote and Moneyball, two films powered by fantastic and, in the case of Moneycall, surprising performances. Can Miller do for the likes of either Steve Carell or Channing Tatum what he did for Jonah Hill? Miller knows how to pick the stories he wants to tell so I have no concerns there, my only thought with this one is just how much will I enjoy Foxcatcher, because there’s really no question in my mind that I will enjoy it.
Foxcatcher tells the gripping, true story of Olympic Wrestling Champion brothers Mark Schultz (Channing Tatum) and Dave Schultz (Mark Ruffalo) and their relationship with the eccentric John du Pont (Steve Carell), heir to the du Pont Chemical fortune that led to murder.
