My 15 Most Anticipated Films of 2013

15. THE WOLVERINE

The Wolverine is based on the character’s most famous comic book storyline of all time. On one hand, this is a good thing: the source material is the best opportunity yet for a truly great movie featuring an X-Man. On the other hand, it also means that if this doesn’t work, we can all pack up and go home as far as X-Men solo projects are concerned. Some of the directors that danced around this are promising (Darren Aronofsky), the project eventually landing on James Mangold (Walk the Line, 3:10 to Yuma, uh, Kate and Leopold) and Hugh Jackman is always fantastic as this character, no matter the movie, so let’s hope they’ve finally given him a film worthy of his performances.

 14. NOW YOU SEE ME

Sure, it’s easy to sum up the trailer as The Prestige meets Ocean’s Eleven (The Prestige 2: More Prestigious?) and the presence of seriously inconsistent director Louis Leterrier (Clash of the Titans, The Transporter, The Incredible Hulk) is a worry, but I’d like to go back to my original point. It’s The Prestige meets Ocean’s Eleven. Even if Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Dave Franco, Isla Fisher, Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman and Mark Ruffalo weren’t involved, I’d be in. But that cast plus this premise? No-brainer. Let’s hope Leterrier delivers on the huge level of promise.

13. THOR: THE DARK WORLD

It’s definitely the support act to Iron Man 3's main event, but Thor 2 promises to be the biggest dive into fantasy geekery attempted by Marvel so far, which is exciting in its own way. If you went back in time to the mid-2000s and pitched a comic book film project involving a Norse demi-god and the Dark Elves, directed by someone best known for his work in television, you’d be laughed out of the room. Such is the power of The Avengers: even with all its fantasy trappings, the second Thor film is still an excellent chance of being a huge hit in 2013, and the promise of Marvel letting their fantasy freak flag fly is an exciting,  yet nerve-racking one. Plus, Chris Hemsworth is born to play this character.

12. THE TO-DO LIST

As possibly the world’s biggest fan of Bill Hader, I’m enormously excited for The To-Do List, in which he stars opposite the amazing Aubrey Plaza (Parks and Recreation). As a bonus, his wife Maggie Carey has written and directed this film which features Plaza as a studious high school graduate who wants to have more sexual experiences before she starts college. It looks like terrific fun and features just about every television show MVP in existence: Andy Samberg, Connie Britton, Scott Porter, Nolan Gould, Adam Pally and Donald Glover. I think it could be the break-out comedy film of the year.

11. THE COUNSELOR

This is author Cormac McCarthy’s first original screenplay, which means it holds the promise of being both very, very good and very, very bleak. He’s got a director with plenty of runs on the board in Ridley Scott and a cast that includes Michael Fassbender, Brad Pitt, Javier Bardem and Cameron Diaz (interestingly, in a possible antagonist role). McCarthy is a phenomenal author, so let’s hope his talent as a novelist filters through to his script, about a lawyer who finds himself in the world of drug trafficking.

10. ELYSIUM

Two of the finest films of 2009 (as well of two of the finest sci-fi films of the entire decade) in Star Trek and District 9 both get a follow up of sorts in 2013 – Star Trek with a direct sequel and District 9’s director following up with Elysium. Neil Blomkamp made a science-fiction film with a social conscience the first time around and his next film seems to have the same idea; even more intriguingly, Jodie Foster and Sharlto Copley are on board as villains. Oh, and did I mention Matt Damon was the lead?

9. THE DOUBLE

Jesse Eisenberg further capitalises on all the films he must have been offered as soon as The Social Network came out in The Double, a choice that proves he’s just as interested in the small projects as the big ones. The intriguing premise (a government employee is forced to contend with a mysterious doppelganger) comes from none other than Fyodor Dostoyevsky, and the director is the superb Richard Ayoade, who made the clever, emotional Submarine. It’s a dark horse, but it’s one to keep a very close eye on.

8. ANCHORMAN: THE LEGEND CONTINUES

I know absolutely nothing about this, but did you see the first one? I think Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy is by far the best of the various comedies starring Will Ferrell and it’s definitely the only one I’d be keen to see a sequel to. Luckily, that’s exactly what we’ve got. The only question is whether the writers can surprise us like they did the first time around; that’s one of the most important elements of successful comedy. If they work out how to do that it'll be half the battle. It’s all moustaches and lamp from that point forward.

7. STAR TREK: INTO DARKNESS

As a complete Star Trek novice, I was as surprised as anyone to be such a huge fan of the 2009 film reboot – the performances were wall-to-wall terrific and J. J. Abrams’ direction was first-class. The only thing really lacking in that first movie was a memorable villain (although Eric Bana did his best), but they’ve come up with a serious upgrade in that respect by casting the phenomenal Benedict Cumberbatch (and I don't care who he's playing). If Abrams can improve his action directing and Cumberbatch delivers on his promise as the villain, it’s hard to see how they’ll mess up this hugely anticipated sequel.

6. THE PLACE BEYOND THE PINES

I know pretty much nothing about this movie other than I’m looking forward to it. Ryan Gosling and Bradley Cooper co-star, early notices are excellent and they say the less you know about it going in, the better. I’m happy to be among the faithful.

5. MAN OF STEEL

Out of every movie on this list, this is probably the one with the widest Possible Quality Spectrum: it could run the gauntlet from huge Zack Snyder misfire to the movie that reinvents Superman for a brand new generation. The promise of Christopher Nolan godfathering this one to the screen is hard to not get excited about, as is the cast of Amy Adams, Michael Shannon, Kevin Costner, Diane Lane and Russell Crowe. Henry Cavill is an unknown but promising quality, but he’s not nearly as important to this movie as how this question is answered: how will this movie get over the hump of Superman’s all-powerful nature and lack of quality in his rogues' gallery? If Snyder can make us truly care about an invulnerable character, he's more than halfway there.

4. THE WORLD’S END

The third film in Pegg, Frost and Wright’s Three Colours Cornetto/Blood and Ice Cream trilogy, The World’s End sees four mates who try to recreate a pub crawl from their youth find themselves in a position to save the world from annihilation. Did you like Hot Fuzz? Did you like Shaun of the Dead? Then you’ll be as excited as I am for this.

3. TWELVE YEARS A SLAVE

If you haven’t seen Hunger or Shame, then you understandably might not be as excited as I am for the third project from director/star dream team Steve McQueen and Michael Fassbender. The project concerns a man living in New York in the 1800s who is sold into slavery in the Deep South and the cast reads like a list of my favourite actors: Fassbender, Benedict Cumberbatch, Brad Pitt, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Michael Kenneth Williams, Taran Killam and Paul Giamatti. This has all the potential in the world.

2. IRON MAN 3

It would have been tough for Jon Favreau’s replacement on the Iron Man series to be considered an upgrade (there’s so much affection for that first film and the second one is fine, if not up to the standard of the original), but we’ve come remarkably close with Shane Black. Not only has he worked with Robert Downey Jnr before on the outstanding Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, but he’s proved himself a dab hand at the most important part of getting any Iron Man film right: dialogue. The trailer looks cool, the cast is great and Marvel’s Phase Two is incredibly exciting: no reason this shouldn’t be a cracker.

1. THE MONUMENTS MEN

George Clooney, Matt Damon, Jean Dujardin, Daniel Craig, Cate Blanchett, Bill Murray and John Goodman star in a film about… well, with that cast and Clooney directing, who really cares? As it happens, the plot for the film sounds as fascinating as the people involved: a team of art historians and museum curators race to recover famous works of art stolen by Nazis before Hitler recovers them. It’s likely to be released right on the button of Oscar season, and I cannot wait.

…AND FIVE I’M DREADING

TO THE WONDER

I found ‘The Tree of Life’ pretentious and dull (though very beautiful) and ‘To the Wonder’ seems like it has all the same trappings. I look forward to pretentious voiceovers, Ben Affleck looking thoughtfully around office buildings and someone twirling through a field. (I know, I know. Heretic.)

SCARY MOVIE 5

Bad films make money (often a lot more money than good films), but surely no one is genuinely looking forward to another one of these? Surely the market will finally respond with the giant financial thumbs down that will finally kill this thing off?

HANSEL AND GRETEL: WITCH HUNTERS

I really like the character of Hawkeye (of Avengers fame) even though the 2012 movie wasted his character a little bit by making him into a zombie. I worry that the man who plays him in Jeremy Renner is starting to lose his Hollywood traction, though: his notices for that film and The Bourne Legacy weren't great. Judging by the trailer and advance buzz, this might be the film that sends him well and truly back from the world of blockbusters.

THE BIG WEDDING

The cast of this one reads like a laundry list of actors that make atrocious choices: Katherine Heigl, Robert De Niro, Robin Williams, Diane Keaton, Susan Sarandon, Amanda Seyfried and Topher Grace. So the question I pose is this: if all these actors have made a terrible choice at the same time, exactly how bad is this movie going to be? (The trailer looks as terrible as one would expect, and even television showkiller Kyle Bornheimer is on board to sink this thing once and for all.)

PERCY JACKSON: SEA OF MONSTERS

The first movie was a horribly uninspired Harry Potter rip-off and the books are pretty awful as well. How this received a sequel is beyond me; even worse, they’ve completely burnt a pretty great premise (normal teenager finds out he’s a Greek demi-god.)