Movies to see in 2013.

Movie awards season is coming to a close which means the studios are gearing up their 2013 money makers. I’ve taken a look ahead through the release schedule and picked out 13 movies I like the look of.

So here they are (in no particular order).

1 – Stoker

Directed by Park Chan-wook (who brought us the fabulous ‘Oldboy’) and written by Wentworth Miller (yes the guy out of Prison Break) this little horror stars Mia Wasikowska, Matthew Goode, and Nicole Kidman.

It went down a storm at Sundance so hopefully it will get a wide release. I will be seeking it out anyway in one form or another.

2 – A Good Day to Die Hard

I know ‘Live Free or Die Hard / Die Hard 4.0′ wasn’t exactly what fans of the series expected.  Cars were used as bullets and trucks were racing against fighter jets, but it was still good clean fun.

A bit of John McClane banter and some well shot action scenes were all I needed in a movie in my younger days.

So I’m hoping the fifth Die Hard will just do, exactly as it says on the tin.

3 – Evil Dead

Remakes never sit easy with me. It stinks of a lack of originality, especially when it’s a remake of something so iconic and respected as Evil Dead.

So why am I looking forward to this particular remake?

For one reason its produced by the original producers Rob Tapert, Sam Raimi (Who wrote and directed the original) and Bruce Campbell (Iconic star of the original series). The other reason as evident in the early trailers, is that new director Fede Alvarez is making a straight up balls to the wall horror. It does not appear as if he is trying to recreate the mischievous mayhem of Raimi’s original, which is great move.

I wanted to hate this but haven’t been able to yet, I think I’m actually going to quite like it.

4 – Iron Man 3

The first post Avengers movie and the start of Marvels Phase two promises much. New director Shane Black is reunited with star Rober Downey Jr for the first time since the wonderful ‘Kiss, Kiss, Bang,Bang’. And we finally get to see Iron Man’s nemesis, The Mandarin on the big screen.

Iron Man 2 was all over the place and a bit of mess (on Spider-Man 3 levels). This time they have had time to work on a coherent script and a longer production schedule.

It looks like Tony Stark is really going through the shit this time, as the trailers hints towards the extremis story line.

5 – Warm Bodies

A Zom Com which stars Nicholas Hoult as a zombie who starts to become more human after he falls in love with a girl after eating her boyfriends brain.

Now doesn’t that sound like fun?

6 – Thor: The Dark World

Following on from Iron Man 3 we get the second movie in the build up to Avengers 2 in 2015. The first Thor movie mightn’t have been the box office draw of the bigger name comic book heroes, but I found it great fun. And it always manages to raise a smile on repeat viewings.

After the success of The Avengers, the cinema audience is now more familiar with Thor and the world he comes from. Which should make it an easier task for new director Alan Taylor.

More of the same please Odinson.

7 – Oz: The Great and Powerful

A top class director (Sam Raimi), top class cast (James Franco, Mila Kunis,Michelle Williams and Rachel Weisz) mega budget (rumored > $200) what could go wrong?

It’s hard to know how this one is going to play out. If it’s equal to the sum of it’s parts and doesn’t suffer from it’s artificial world making it seem too cartoony this could be a family classic for years to come. It could also end up being another Tim Burton ‘Alice in Wonderland’.

The critics will be out to bash this one and compare it to the 1939 classic, but I will still be checking it out and making up my own mind.

8 – The Wolverine

Hugh Jackman just loves this character. He has already confirmed that he will be returning to the role that made him famous for a seventh time in X-Men: Days of Future Past, but before that he takes Logan to Japan.

After the disaster of X-Men Origins:Wolverine, I don’t believe Jackman would allow himself to be associated with another sub par Wolverine movie. Darren Aronofsky was heavily involved in the pre-production. Which gives an indication of the quality they are looking to produce.

I’ve a good feeling about this one. Wolverines Japanese adventures have always been some of his best stand alone stories.

9 – Pacific Rim

This Guillermo del Toro directed tribute to giant monster movies looks like it’s going to be something special.

Ancient giant monsters arise out of a crevice in the pacific ocean. To fight back mankind develops giant robots to tackle in the monsters in direct combat. This sounds like the movie Transformers could have been.

10 – Sin City: A Dame to Kill For

Joint directors Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller return to the neo-noir world of Miller’s graphic novels for the first time since 2005. This one has been in production for what seems like forever.

Returning cast members Jessica Alba, Rosario Dawson, Bruce Willis and Mickey Rourke are joined by newcomers Josh Brolin, Juno Temple and Ray Liotta in another mix of tales from the Sin City.

The original wasn’t to everyone’s taste and I can only imagine this one won’t be either. That’ll do me just fine.

11 – I, Frankenstein

Not much is known about this production. It is based on a graphic novel by Kevin Grevioux (Underworld) and stars Aaron Eckhart as Frankenstein’s monster (named Adam) fighting in a battle between two immortal clans.

Aaron Eckhart has a knack for picking good scripts and this one sounds intriguing. I really enjoyed the first Underworld movie and if screen writer Grevioux is on decent form and director Stuart Beattie is up to to the task this could be a nice little gem.

12 - Kick-Ass 2: Balls to the Wall

Kick Ass is one of the best comic book adaptations.  And the danger is that a sequel will just cash in on the name and dilute the impact of the original.

This time around it will have to work a lot harder for laughs with Chloë Grace Moretz’s Hit-girl no longer having the shock value it had in the first movie. Jim Carrey has been added to the cast as colonel stars and stripes, a vigilant inspired by Kick Ass.

Carrey on form can carry a movie on his own. The problem is, we haven’t seen that Jim Carrey in a very long time.

I love the first Kick Ass. So I will be holding out high hopes for this second instalment.

13 – Man of Steel

Superman the movie remains such an iconic piece of cinema that every superman movie since as struggled to live up to it’s standards. Superman II was a great second instalment, but since it was largely a part of the first movies production it doesn’t really stand alone.

Superman III had a few high points (the junk yard battle between Clark and Dark Superman still looks great). However it also suffered from misplaced humour and a story-line very much of its time. Meaning it hasn’t aged well at all.

Superman IV was awful, nothing else to be said!

Superman Returns, I enjoyed but it didn’t quite capture the magic to relaunch Supes on the big screen in the post Spider-Man, Batman Begins world.

Now we get a Christopher Nolan produced Superman movie directed by Zack Synder.

The mistake made by Superman Returns, was it was trying to keep the tone and humour of Donner’s original and mix it with the emotions of the Spider-Man movies. If Man of Steel can focus on trying to humanize Kal-el and not try to recreate the humour of Donner’s original, this could be a winner.

I’m liking the look of the trailer and having Russel Crowe and Kevin Costner as Clark’s Kryptonian and Earth Fathers respectively is a great move. Also having a super powered villain in the form of Michael Shannon’s general Zod means Superman will face a genuine physical threat. Which is something never in place when Lex Luthor was the antagonist.