2014: Happy New Year and a look ahead!

We made it! 2013 was pretty crazy, but there was plenty of fun to be had! What were my favorites for the year? Searching For Sugar Man, Pacific Rim, Europa Report, Elysium, Thor: The Dark World and Gravity were the movies I felt delivered the most pure enjoyment. They're all movies I'd enthusiastically watch again, and that's the name of the game over here - enthusiasm. Pressed to choose a Number One, I'd have to go with Gravity, which used cutting edge effects to invest us deeper into the plight of its protagonist. Visionary work, to be sure. It was also the movie I was most wrong about in terms of preconceptions, prior to actually seeing it.

As we turn the page and look forward, 2014 is already promising to be another rip-roaring year at the movies - so what am I most excited about, just over the horizon...?

Big Bad Wolves - "A series of brutal murders puts the lives of three men on a collision course." It sounds a little like Prisoners, but this Israeli film has some serious buzz around it, including Quentin Tarantino's proclamation of it being the Best Film of the year. It's garnered plenty of attention.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier - Marvel continues their conquest of the known universe, with this Rip Van Winkle sequel, featuring thawed-out Cap' dealing with more cynical conspiracies in the modern world. It remains to be seen if the Russo brothers have learned skills from their time on Community to rival the chops displayed by Joe Johnston in the original, but one thing's for sure, they've delivered one hell of a trailer...with Robert Redford!

Godzilla - Director Gareth Edwards' follow-up to his smashing Monsters debut looks astonishing. If the movie is half as arresting as the trailer, expect this to dominate theaters this May.

Guardians of the Galaxy - Marvel again, this time giving us a far-flung space opera with virtually no recognizable major characters. If anyone is unhinged enough to make America love a gun-toting Raccoon, it's director James Gunn.

Sin City: A Dame to Kill For - Sin City was one Robert Rodriguez' coolest films - there's plenty of juice in Frank Miller's graphic novels ripe for the squeezin', so this could be great. Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Eva Green, Josh Brolin, Ray Liotta and Christopher Meloni pound the beat this time on those cruel, cruel streets.

Gone Girl - Two words: David Fincher. Gillian  Flynn's bestseller about a woman mysteriously disappearing on her wedding anniversary should provide ample room for the things in Fincher's dark corners to do their thing.

Interstellar  - Christopher Nolan goes to deep space as a cast including Anne Hathaway, Matthew McConaughey, Jessica Chastain and Michael Caine use a wormhole to expand the human limitations of space travel and conquer the vast distances of interstellar space. Nolan? In outer space? Can't wait!

The Hobbit: There and Back Again - Stop your moaning and groaning. While the first two Hobbit adventures have certainly had their issues, these are some pretty delightful works of invention and while one part of my brain acknowledges the elephantine absurdity this wee fable has become, the other part is hurrying down to The Green Dragon to have a pint with my fellows and eagerly discuss! Just like this year, it's likely to be the biggest film in theaters as the year winds to a close.

Other films such as X-Men: Days of Future Past and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes almost made this list and could very well end up being phenomenal - I'm certainly beyond excited for each of them, but I'm nervous about Bryan Singer's return to X-Men, despite the awesomeness of the source comic, so I'm trepidatious. Likewise, I'm apprehensive about the Apes sequel, since the original creative team departed. I want it to be a worthy successor to the first movie, and will be thrilled if new director Matt Reeves pulls it off. 

So that's my list - not necessarily what I think the best films will be or the biggest hits, but just the ones I'm aware of that have me most eagerly awaiting them. It will be interesting to meet back here in twelve months and see how history treated these movies. As with any year, some of the tastiest surprises are bound to be the films we don't even remember hearing of  before they open! The surprises and sleepers that catch us off guard - part of what makes being movie fans such a delight!

So enjoy this New Year, my friends, and make the most of its many possibilities. Also a very big Thank You to the readers who continue to stop by and check out these posts, helping to spread the word. I appreciate your interest more than I can say! Happy New Year to you all!