15 Movies of 2013

This here, if you couldn't figure it out by the title, is my preview of the 2013 year in movies. Now obviously there are a lot more than just 15 movies coming out this year, but this is a list of 15 movies coming out this year that I am excited for. I actually like the number 10 when it comes to lists, so that was my original goal. I went through a list of all the officially announced movies, and wrote down a bunch. I then whittled that list all the way down to 15. I stared at that for list for like 10 minutes trying to figure out how to bring it down to 10. Couldn't do it. So thus it is 15. Now as far as the order, I did one list recently that was done by popularity. I did a second list that was ordered by personal opinion. Now I am going to throw in yet another curveball and do this list a third way. Yes, the movies chosen are ones that I personally am looking forward to, so that would go towards the personal opinion category, but the specific order of this is listed Chronologically - 1 being soonest to come out and 15 being furthest from coming out. So without any further ado, lets start.

1- Jack the Giant Slayer - This was originally going to be apart of an odd fairy tale craze last year where we were to have four fairy tale movies in four months, but it, along with Hansel and Gretel, decided to cower away from a crowded 2012 and instead move to 2013. I'm not sure what they accomplished with this other than deciding that Jack was a slayer of giants instead of a killer of giants, but after both Snow Whites last year disappointed and Hansel and Gretel looking way over the top, Jack the Giant Slayer looks to be the best of the four. The trailers for it are awesome.

2- Oz: The Great and Powerful - I'm not sure if having Sam Raimi at the head of this project totally excites me and I am nervous that it will turn out just like Alice in Wonderland, an over-the-top pretty movie with little substance to it, but nonetheless I am interested in another attempt to jump into the world of Oz. It seems like after all these years, someone finally realized that there is a ton of material to go off of. The 1939 classic was based off only one out of like fourteen or so books. I'm also a fairly decent James Franco fan. I thought he was probably the best part of Sam Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy.

3- Iron Man 3 - After a very successful Avengers phase one, Avengers phase two will begin with the third installment in the Iron Man series. After the monsterous success of Avengers, it'll be interesting to see how that effects the follow-up movies. Standing alone without Avengers, the Iron Man series did rather well, although a somewhat disappointed second installment would usually lead to a decline financially. But as said, Avengers should prevent that. Iron Man 3 is actually looking a lot darker and a lot better than number two.

4- Star Trek Into Darkness - I still hate this name. I don't know if I will ever like it. But its a don't judge a movie by its name scenario here as the movie is looking quite good. Now, I'm not a huge trekkie, but I have family that is and so Star Trek is something that I have always enjoyed. Early trailers for this make me think that this movie is more of a pure action film and less of an actual Star Trekkie movie if that makes any sense at all, but I did enjoy the first one and I plan on enjoying this second one, regardless of whether its an action film or a Star Trek film.

5- Fast & Furious 6 - The Fast and Furious movies are movies that I would probably consider to be guilty pleasures. They are all about the sweet car races and pretty girls. However, the fifth movie in this series surprised me by actually being a great movie with a lot more depth than the first four as well as an actual semi-decent story to go along with it. However, it also resolved itself quite well. Then there was the post credits scene that unresolved things. "Do you believe in ghosts?' If you saw it then you know what I am referring to. I'm interested to see where they take this sixth one.

6- Man of Steel - A Justice League movie has been in the works for a long time, but never has panned out and so it has never happened. However, Justice League creators got all giddy when The Avengers had record breaking success and so like Hollywood likes doing, Justice League is going to happen and will try to replicate the success of The Avengers. However, how well Justice League does depends hugely on how Man of Steel performs. Superman is naturally a hard movie to make because of the nature of Superman himself. After the first reboot with Superman Returns generally being considered a failure, Zack Snyder is attempting this second reboot and with a little bit of Christopher Nolan writing magic that he has, I am optimistic that he will succeed.

7- World War Z - Last year the Mayan Calendar ended, which meant the world was supposed to end and a zombie apocalypse would ensue. Well, that obviously didn't happen, but what it did do was inspire a bunch of filmmakers to start writing zombie movies and end of the world movies and we are certain to get our fair share of them. World War Z is one of those movies that will happen because of this and while it could be a pretty ridiculous movie, it could also be rather entertaining. Getting Brad Pitt is a big plus. I don't think I've ever seen a movie where I have hated his performance.

8- Despicable Me 2 - I really have no idea as to what they are going to do with this movie. It's one of those movies that works perfectly good as a stand alone movie and a sequel doesn't really make sense at first. However, I am still super excited for this because every time I watch Despicable Me I enjoy it more and more. The best part is all the details in the background and of course the beloved minions. Their approach of using minion shorts as advertising for Despicable Me 2 is extremely productive, at least for me.

9- The Lone Ranger - It's no secret at all what the creators of Lone Ranger are trying to do here. If you don't know, let me clue you in. Can you name a movie that was produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, was directed by Gore Verbinski, and was written by Ted Elliot and Terry Rossio that starred Johnny Depp and had music from Hans Zimmer? If you guessed Pirates of the Carribbean you would have the correct answer. However, if you also guessed the current movie in discussion, The Lone Ranger, you would also be correct. Yup, that exact same crew is back for this movie and it is looking fantastic. It also has a pretty open July that can accommodate a Pirates-esque run. Remember, the first Pirates didn't open big ($45M in July), but held well and eventually topped $300M and is now considered a classic. So what are they trying to do with Lone Ranger? Yup, you guessed it. Repeat that success and begin a new franchise. We'll see if they pull it off.

10- The Wolverine - I am personally pretty good at annoying X-Men fans. I've never been a huge fan of the series and I didn't particularly like First Class, but I enjoyed X-Men Origins: Wolverine. When I first heard about this movie, I immediately assumed that it was a Wolverine sequel and was thus baffled by the sequel title that was almost the exact same as the first, but with an added "The" and a removed "X-Men Origins". I was pleasantly surprised when I learned that this is not a sequel to that at all, but rather takes place after the events of everything. So this isn't an X-Men prequel, but an X-Men epilogue movie? Even if they aren't connected, I enjoyed the other Wolverine movie, so I'm excited for this new Wolverine Movie.

11- Red 2 - The first Red was a movie that was quite the pleasant surprise. I went into expecting a typical Bruce Willis action movie. What I got was a great action movie that was also extremely funny. Red 2 is far enough away that we don't know much of the plot as of yet, but what I do know is that a Red 2 is scheduled for this year and that makes me happy. I also know that much of the original cast is brought back and added to that cast is Anthony Hopkins, Catherine Zeta-Jones, David Thewlis, and Neal McDonough. That tells me that Red 2 could be just as good if not better than Red and that also makes me really excited.

12- Ender's Game - Can you believe it? Ender's Game the movie is finally coming to theaters! That's a movie that people have wanted to make probably since it was written back in 1985. I'd heard rumors myself about a movie ever since I first read the book about ten or so years ago. Finally Orson Scott Card was presented with a script he liked and let them do this movie. And now it is coming. And it has a pretty hardcore cast to go along with it. It includes two of my favorite young actors with Asa Butterfield (Hugo) as the lead role Ender and Hailee Steinfeld (True Grit) as Petra. It also includes Harrison Ford, Ben Kingsley, and Viola Davis in the cast. How awesome is that? Now I had two big concerns with the book. One was we had little kids ages 4 - 12 being trained as soldiers, with Ender's older siblings having a huge political influence at ages 14. Too young. I had always thought that if they adjusted the ages from 4-14 a bit to make it 12 - 18 it would be much better. Apparently someone agreed with me on that because all the main child actors, if you go look at their ages on IMDb, are all between 12 - 18. *fist pump*. Also, I didn't appreciate all the unnecessary violence and child nudity. Following the book exactly would lead to an R-rated movie. Now I can't speak for the all the violence. Maybe we'll see Ender kill a bully by stomping on his face until he dies or kill another kid by kicking him really hard in the groin while both are in the shower. Maybe we'll see blood gushing everywhere after incidents in the battle room. But I'm pretty sure this will be a PG-13 movie, so it will be mild enough for that. And I'm also positive that we won't see Asa, Hailee, and the other teenage actors/actresses walking around naked in the shower or in their dorm rooms. So I am fairly certain that I will be satisfied with this movie. Now I apologize. That was a long paragraph, but I've been holding all that information in for quite a long time and this has been my first opportunity to write it down. Let's move on.

13- Thor: The Dark World - Out of the five pre-Avenger movies, Thor was my favorite. This was a controversial choice. Most people hated the movie Thor. But then when he appeared in The Avengers, people liked him a lot more. While I am curious to see how all the post Avengers movies do, this is actually the one I am most curious about. I know I am really excited for this sequel, but I wonder how others will take it. I also wonder how well it will do in the Box Office. The first one only made $180M. Which isn't bad, but its also a lot lower than both Iron Man movies. How high will The Avengers propell Thor 2? Will it break $200M? Will it break $300M? We will see. Details were in fact leaked about the plot and while I won't dive into them, I will say if they are true, this is going to be a fantastic movie.

14- The Hunger Games: Catching Fire - I am personally a fan of this movie being called just Catching Fire. I don't like "The Hunger Games:" attatched to it, but I suppose that is necessary so that those who haven't touched the books won't get confused when a movie called Catching Fire rolls around. The first Hunger Games book is generally loved all around by Hunger Games fans and while not everyone loved the second and third books as much as the first, I personally think the second one was the best of the three, so I am super stoked about this Catching Fire movie. I wonder, though, how they are going to go about this. A lot of secrets are kept from Katniss about what is going on and only revealed at the very end. Are they going to do the same in the movie or are they going to reveal them to us earlier on before Katniss knows? The first book took liberties to venture on to other perspectives and not just Katniss's, so it will be interesting to see how much the second movie does with that.

15- The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug - If you remember my recent review of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, you will know that I was somewhat disappointed in how things happened. So maybe you would think that I would leave The Hobbit Part 2 off of this list? Well, if you thought that, you are wrong. While I was disappointed in the first one, I have high hopes that the second one will be much better. While I may be more excited for the other movie adaptions with Ender's Game and Catching Fire, I'm still excited for this movie to happen. Any idea on how far into they are going to go before they stop this movie? I would be interested in your input on this.