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Saturday, January 5, 2013

Movie preview 2013: The Most Anticipated films this year


Jessica Chastain gives a strong performance in Kathryn Bigelow's Zero Dark Thirty, a spy procedural about the decade-long hunt for Osama bin Laden (Jan. 11).


Jessica Chastain gives a strong performance in Kathryn Bigelow's Zero Dark Thirty, a spy procedural about the decade-long hunt for Osama bin Laden (Jan. 11).


Most buzzed-about 2013 remakes, E5
Previewing an upcoming film season can easily become a fool’s game. In January, the scheduling docket is swamped with the predictable pile of prequels, sequels, remakes and reboots. And by springtime, awards hopefuls, indies with festival-audience approval and foreign crackerjacks seep into cinemas, upend everyone’s what-to-see lists. This year, to add to the confusion, some of the most talked-about films expected to arrive in 2013 — Hossein Amini’s thriller TheTwo Faces of January, the latest Ryan Gosling/Nicolas Winding Refn collaboration Only God Forgives and Charlie Kaufman’s Frank or Francis, to name three — might not even hit the screen by year’s end. Whatever happens, here’s a primer on where to start circling your calendar. (Release dates subject to change.)
JANUARY
THE MUST SEE
Zero Dark Thirty: Director Kathryn Bigelow’s moody spy procedural about the hunt for Osama bin Laden set the U.S. political chattering class ablaze after its American release last month and stepped to the fore as a Best Picture favourite at next month’s Oscars. The provocative film examines the morality of torture and boasts a strong performance by star Jessica Chastain. Opens Jan. 11
KEEP AN EYE ON
Movie 43: Working without his longtime creative partner and brother Bobby, Peter Farrelly and 11 other filmmakers — including Brett Ratner and actress Elizabeth Banks — each direct 12 different storylines in what’s being dubbed “the most outrageous comedy ever made” — according to the film’s tag line, at least. Farrelly has produced several critical stinkers over the last decade but the sheer star power enlisted for Movie 43 is enough to give one hope. However improbably, Halle Berry, Richard Gere, Kate Winslet, Liev Schreiber, Hugh Jackman and Naomi Watts all star. Opens Jan. 25
Also: Gangster Squad (Jan. 11); Mama (Jan. 18); Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters (Jan. 25)
FEBRUARY
THE MUST SEE
Side Effects: If Steven Soderbergh’s assertions are real this should be the director’s final pre-retirement film. Or second-last. It’s been hard to keep track throughout a two-year binge in which Soderbergh directed three movies. In any event, one of Hollywood’s great chameleonic moviemakers turns in a psychological thriller set in the pharmaceutical industry, starring Rooney Mara, Channing Tatum, Jude Law and Catherine Zeta-Jones. Opens Feb. 8
KEEP AN EYE ON
A Good Day to Die Hard: In the fifth instalment in the 25-year-old Die Hard action franchise, John McClane (played by a balder but still-badass Bruce Willis) travels to Moscow to rescue his son, falling into a terrorist plot involving bad guys of Hollywood past: the Russians. Expect widespread destruction, which will be most spectacular in IMAX. Opens Feb. 14
Also: Identity Thief (Feb. 8); Beautiful Creatures (Feb. 13); The 85th Academy Awards (Feb. 24)
MARCH
THE MUST SEE
The Place Beyond the Pines: Ryan Gosling and Bradley Cooper star in this multi-generational crime drama by Derek Cianfrance, the director’s first major follow-up to Blue Valentine.In Pines, which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival last year, Gosling plays a wandering stunt biker who turns to bank robbery to support his newborn child; Cooper — further cementing himself as a legitimate dramatic actor — is the cop chasing him. Mutedly beautiful, disquieting and raw. Opens March 29
KEEP AN EYE ON
Stoker: The first English-language film from South Korean director Park Chan-wook, whose 2003 movie Oldboy gets the Spike Lee treatment in October, portrays a gothic and murderous soul in a family coping with a father’s death. Mia Wasikowska stars as the haunted daughter, battered by a manipulative mother (Nicole Kidman) and drawn to a mysterious uncle (Matthew Goode). Chan-wook’s Korean films are often emotionally brutal and horrifically violent. Stoker’s “R” rating suggests little will change. Opens March 1
Also: Jack the Giant Slayer (March 1); Oz: The Great and Powerful (March 8); Oblivion (April 19)
APRIL
THE MUST SEE
To The Wonder: After directing four films between 1973 and 2005, Terrence Malick has gone on something of a spree. Wonder lands a mere 22 months after the critically acclaimed The Tree of Life and we’ll likely see another Malick film, called Knight of Cups, by 2014. Wonder, however, has drawn comparisons, for better or worse, to its immediate predecessor, with critics lauding Malick’s dazzling visuals but lambasting the esoteric storyline. The film stars Ben Affleck and Canadian Rachel McAdams as childhood lovers reunited as adults. Opens April 12
KEEP AN EYE ON
The Reluctant Fundamentalist: Following up her widely panned 2009 Amelia Earhart biopic, director Mira Nair adapts Mohsin Hamid’s Man Booker Prize-nominated novel of the same name. Riz Ahmed, who shined in the 2010 British black comedy Four Lions, stars as a Pakistani Princeton graduate-cum-Wall Street investment banker suspected in the kidnapping of an American in Lahore. The political thriller also stars Liev Schreiber, Kate Hudson and Kiefer Sutherland. Opens April 24
Also: The Company You Keep (April 5); Evil Dead (April 12); 42 (April 12)
MAY
THE MUST SEE
The Great Gatsby: The buzz for Baz Luhrmann’s adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s seminal novel has been building for months. Lurhmann’s histrionic style is polarizing to say the least, but critics are already crowning the film an Oscar heavyweight. With Leonardo DiCaprio, who pairs up with Luhrmann for the first time since Romeo + Juliet (1996), as Gatsby and Carey Mulligan as his erstwhile lover Daisy Buchanan. Opens May 10
KEEP AN EYE ON
Frances Ha: May is the start of the summer blockbuster season so expect Star Trek Into Darkness (May 17), the second entry in J.J. Abrams’s series reboot, and The Hangover III (May 24)to steal attention from under-the-radar releases such as Frances Ha, Noah Baumbach’s darling black-and-white comedy about a dancer flitting about New York in search of a cure for her early life crisis — think: Woody Allen meets Whit Stillman. Stars Greta Gerwig. Opens May 17
Also: Iron Man 3 (May 3); About Time (May 10); The Fast & the Furious 6 (May 24)
JUNE
THE MUST SEE
Man of Steel: Among this month’s bumper crop of sci-fi releases — After Earth (June 7) by director M. Night Shyamalan and Brad Pitt’s zombie apocalypse flick World War Z (June 21) — 300 director Zack Snyder’s Superman reboot is easily the most anticipated. Relative unknown Henry Cavill dons the blue-and-red alongside Russell Crowe as Jor-El, Kevin Costner as Clark Kent’s father and Amy Adams as Lois Lane. Opens June 14
KEEP AN EYE ON
This Is the End: Seth Rogen, Paul Rudd, Jonah Hill, James Franco, Jason Segel, Michael Cera, Danny McBride and Emma Watson play versions of themselves in this self-referential end-of-the-world comedy. Written and directed by Rogen and Evan Goldberg. Opens June 14
Also: Monsters University (June 21); Kick-Ass 2 (June 28)
JULY
THE MUST SEE
Pacific Rim: Mexican filmmaker Guillermo del Toro returns to the director’s chair with this alien invasion film. First looks suggest a cross between Real Steel and Transformers but expect a phantasmagoric dollop of philosophy from the masterful del Toro, who directed the Hellboy movies. Opens July 12
KEEP AN EYE ON
The Conjuring: Saw director and horror film it-boy James Wan directs Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga as demonologists scoping out the site of the Amityville murders. Opens July 19
Also: Despicable Me 2 (July 3); The Lone Ranger (July 3); The Wolverine (July 26)
AUGUST
THE MUST SEE
Elysium: A heavy hush surrounds Neill Blomkamp’s District 9 sci-fi follow-up about class warfare in the year 2159. Matt Damon and Jodie Foster star. Opens Aug. 9
KEEP AN EYE ON
300: Rise of an Empire: Frank Miller writes and produces this prequel to the 2006 adaptation of his fictionalized graphic novel series set in ancient Greece. Miller also directs Sin City: A Dame To Kill For with Robert Rodriguez later this year. Opens Aug. 2
Also: RED 2 (Aug. 2); Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters (Aug. 16)
SEPTEMBER
THE MUST SEE
Rush: With festival season setting over Toronto, theatrical releases are often tossed by the way side. But keep an eye on money-in-the-bank director Ron Howard’s biopic about Formula One drivers James Hunt and Niki Lauda, who survived a near-fatal crash during the 1976 season to battle for that year’s championship. Chris Hemsworth and Olivia Wilde star. Opens Sept. 20
KEEP AN EYE ON
Prisoners: Canadian director Denis Villeneuve broke out in 2011 with the French-language Incendies, earning an Academy Award nomination for Best Foreign Language Film. His rapid ascension continues with two English-language thrillers opening this year. Prisoners stars Jake Gyllenhaal as a desperate carpenter who goes vigilante after his daughter is kidnapped. Also in 2013, look for An Enemy, which was shot in Toronto last year and stars Gyllenhaal and Mélanie Laurent.Prisoners opens Sept. 20
Also: The 38th Toronto International Film Festival (Sept. 5 to 15); I, Frankenstein (Sept. 13)
OCTOBER
THE MUST SEE
Captain Phillips: In April 2009, the American cargo ship MV Maersk Alabama was hijacked by a band of Somali pirates. A harrowing (and public) standoff between the Somalis and U.S. navy unfolded over five days, culminating in the dramatic rescue of the brigands’ lone hostage: the ship’s captain, Richard Phillips. Rarely has a real-life tale been so obviously bound for the big screen. Paul Greengrass directs with Tom Hanks in the title role. Opens Oct. 11
KEEP AN EYE ON
Oldboy: In one of the year’s most-anticipated remakes, Spike Lee takes on South Korean director Park Chan-wook’s stylish 2003 neo-noir about a man imprisoned for 20 years without explanation. Upon his release, he embarks on a violent quest for answers. Josh Brolin and Elizabeth Olsen co-star. Opens Oct. 11
Also: Sin City: A Dame To Kill For (Oct. 4); Carrie (Oct. 18); Malavita (Oct. 18); The World’s End (Oct. 25)
NOVEMBER
THE MUST SEE
The Counselor: Pre-holiday season offerings The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (Nov. 22)and Thor: The Dark World (Nov. 8) will bring predictable box-office returns and crowded theatres. Ergo, seek out this likely Oscar contender about a lawyer (Michael Fassbender) caught up in the illegal drug trade. Ridley Scott directs the thriller, which is based on an original screenplay by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Cormac McCarthy. Opens Nov. 15
KEEP AN EYE ON
Ender’s Game: Orson Scott Card’s 1985 sci-fi novel hits the screen after years mired in rights discussions and pre-production. The film stars Harrison Ford and Ben Kingsley as military commanders preparing for an alien invasion. Asa Butterfield, who starred in Martin Scorsese’s Hugo (2011), plays Ender Wiggin, a boy whose precocious military acumen foists upon him the always-complicated responsibility to save mankind. Opens Nov. 1
Also: Frozen (Nov. 27)
DECEMBER
THE MUST SEE
The Monuments Men: Judged by its cast alone, Monuments,a World War II thriller about an intrepid group of museum curators and art historians who saved some of the world’s most valued pieces of art from Nazi pillagers, emerges as an early Oscar favourite for Best Picture. The film, based on a true story, stars Daniel Craig, Bill Murray, Cate Blanchett and George Clooney, who also directs. Opens Dec. 20
KEEP AN EYE ON
Inside Llewyn Davis; The Wolf of Wall Street; Twelve Years a Slave: These surefire awards contenders have no firm release dates but expect limited releases late in the year with broad distribution in December or early 2014. The Coen Brothers are behind Inside Llewyn Davis, a fictional biopic of a 1960s Greenwich Village folk-singing troubadour played by Oscar Isaac; Martin Scorsese directs Leonardo DiCaprio in The Wolf of Wall Street, a crime drama about Wall Street malfeasance; and Shame director Steve McQueen helms Twelve Years a Slave, based on a 19th-century memoir about a New Yorker free man’s kidnapping and enslavement in the antebellum South.
Also: The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (Dec. 13); Anchorman: The Legend Continues (Dec. 20); Saving Mr. Banks (Dec. 20)
Note: This article has been edited from a previous version.


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