Happy
New Year Followers!!! Welcome to 2014!!! We are officially in the New Year and
I couldn’t be more excited!!! The first batch of movies for 2014 will start
arriving in a matter of days and there is so much to look forward to from the
continuation of Marvel Phase 2 to the always exciting Summer Movie Season.
Let’s start the New Year off right by sharing the top ten films you should look
out for this year…
Ride Along
Arriving
in week 3 of 2014, Ice Cube and comedic powerhouse Kevin Hart team up in the
explosive action comedy. Ride Along follows Ben, a video gamer and police
academy grad hoping to marry his longtime girlfriend. However, he has one
problem: his girlfriend’s brutal and hard-nosed cop brother James. Not
convinced this man is fit to marry his sister, James takes Ben on a one day
ride along to test his wit and might. Hilarity ensues as Ice Cube and Kevin
Hart go head to head in what hopes to be the first big comedic showing of 2014.
Divergent
Based on the
best-selling novel by Veronica Roth, Limitless director Neil Berger brings the
factions of Abnegation, Erudite, Candor, Amity, and Dauntless to life in
Divergent. Headlined by The Descendants and The Spectacular Now star Shailene
Woodley, Divergent follows Tris Prior, an Abnegation born woman who transfers
to the thrill seeking Dauntless faction upon learning she is divergent, an
individual who can’t fit into one specific faction. For reasons she can’t
explain, being Divergent is considered a threat to the current society and their way
of thinking. With rumors of government overthrow looming, Tris must decipher
why being Divergent is dangerous as well as watching her back as she tries to
become a member of dauntless. What has boldly been considered as “the Next
Hunger Games”, Divergent has tremendous pressure on it to live up to the newly
given title. With veteran actors such as Kate Winslet, Maggie Q, and Ashley
Judd and young up and comers Miles Teller, Ansel Ergot, and Zoe Kravitz,
Divergent has the pieces in place to be the next young adult powerhouse.
Captain
America: The Winter Soldier
The next
installment in Marvel Phase 2 arrives in the form of the return of Steve
Rodgers!!! Captain America: The Winter Soldier tells the story of the Avenger’s
continued adjustment to modern society. Soon, a dangerous new adversary arrives
causing chaos around the city. Captain America and Black Widow along with Nick
Fury and new member to the team Sam Wilson aka The Falcon work together to stop
this new threat and discover that his identity is someone from Steve’s past. As
we are now just one year away from Avengers: Age of Ultron, Marvel is building
up the anticipation in what looks to be the best film in Marvel Phase 2!! (Yep,
I Said It!!! Sorry, Tony Stark..)
The
Amazing Spider Man 2
Another year,
another Summer Movie Season opened by Marvel. But this time, It’s Peter
Parker’s turn to kick things off. Sony Pictures releases the next chapter in
the rebooted Spider-Man franchise with The Amazing Spider-Man 2. After
defeating Dr. Curt Connors aka the Lizard, Peter Parker is balancing his
responsibilities as Spider-Man and maintaining a romantic relationship with his
girlfriend Gwen Stacy. But soon, new clues that could lead to why Peter’s
parents disappeared arise and along with them, old friends such as Harry
Osborne and new threats including The Rhino and Electro. Peter Parker’s
greatest battle begins as he finds himself closer to unlocking the truth about
his parents. Garnering a sleeker, darker, more action packed identity than the
previous installment, Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone return along with new cast
members Dane DeHann, Paul Giamatti, and Jamie Foxx for the next installment in
the Spider-Man franchise.
Godzilla
Serving as a
reboot and a reinvention to one the most iconic monsters in cinema history,
Warner Bros and Legendary Pictures bring the iconic Kaiju back to the big
screen after 16 years. After a radioactive accident, a gigantic monster begins
to wreak havoc across the globe. Now, it’s up to a young military soldier and
scientist to discover how to combat this massive beast that is known by only
one name: GODZILLA!!! Arron Taylor-Johnson, Elizabeth Olsen, and Bryan Crayston
star in this action packed reboot that guaranteed to shed the memory of the
recent 1998 movie.
X-Men:
Days of Future Past
Continuing the
famed superhero franchise, 20th Century Fox and Marvel Studios bring
together the Old School and New School in X-Men Days of Future Past. Faced with
a threat that could devastate all of mutant kind, Logan aka Wolverine travels
back in time to the 70s and convince a young Charles Xavier and Magneto to stop
a plot that could lead to a full scale war between mutant killing sentinels and
the X-Men. A tremendous collection of X-Men veterans and newcomers such as Hugh
Jackman, Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellan, Michael Fassbender, James McAvoy, Halle
Berry, Ellen Page, Jennifer Lawrence, Nicholas Hoult, and many others come
together in a movie that could be as close to an Avengers type spectacle that
we’ll get before 2015.
Transformers:
Age of Extinction
Love em or hate
em, the autobots and decepticons are back in the next installment of the
Transformers franchise. Set four years after Dark of The Moon, The transformers
have disappeared off the face of the earth and are nowhere to be found. But
soon, a discovery by a mechanic, his daughter, and her boyfriend bring the
autobots, decpticons, and the government down on them and in typical fashion
massive chaos ensues. Taking a similar route as GI Joe Retaliation, Transformers:
Age of Extinction come in with a completely revamped look that includes a new
cast of human characters including Mark Wahlberg, Nicola Peltz, and Jack Reynor
and a new cast of autobots and decpticons with the only returning chracters
being Optimus Prime and Bumblebee. With Michael Bay returning to director’s
chair, you can guarantee one thing: explosions, pandemonium, and more
explosions!!! On June 27th, The bots are back!!!!
Dawn
of the Planet of the Apes
Sequel to the
box office surprise of 2011 Rise of The Planet of the Apes, Dawn of the Planet
of the Apes continues the story of genetically intelligent simians rise to
power and humanity holding on to existence. 8 years after the fatal virus wipes
out most of humanity, Humans are now on the brink of extinction and the Apes,
led by Ceasar, hold global dominance. With tensions rising between man and
beast, war is imminent as the control of the planet hangs in the balance.
Serving as follow up to the breakout film of 2011, Caesar returns to the screen
and has clearly matured over time. I look forward to seeing if the series has
progressed into becoming a true franchise powerhouse.
Interstellar
Christopher Nolan
returns to the director’s chair and directs an all-star cast in Interstellar.
In Interstellar, a group of explorers discover a wormhole that could surpass
the limitations of space travel and travel to discover its secrets. Matthew
McConaughey leads an out of this world cast consisting of Anne Hathaway, Matt
Damon, David Oyelowo, Jessica Chastain, and John Lithgow in this sci-fi epic
that will no question be on the 2014 watch list.
The
Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1
With a destroyed
arena, districts rebelling, her star crossed lover Peeta a prisoner of the
Capitol along with Johanna Mason, and now in the hands of rebels from a
district thought to have been destroyed, Katniss Everdeen certainly has a lot
more on her plate as the nation of Panem enters an inevitable state of war. In
the next chapter in the blockbuster franchise, the 17 year old victor from
District 12 now finds herself the symbol of revolution as the Districts prepare
for violent conflict with the Capitol. With Gale Hawthone, her sister Prim, and
others by her side, it’s good to know Katniss won’t be alone in this fight. She
survived the games twice, she is the Capitol’s problem child, she is the symbol
of hope for people who have none..she is…the Mockingjay. Serving as the first
part of the finale to the Hunger Games saga, Jennifer Lawrence returns as
Katniss Everdeen in the anticipated next installment. a nation on the brink of
war, both sides have dealt their hand, and now the time has come for
revolution. The Mockingjay will rise…
Be on the lookout for these films among others in
the next few months. Have a happy New Year Followers and see ya this Summer!!! J
