{"id":537,"date":"2014-03-29T08:56:19","date_gmt":"2014-03-29T15:56:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/carnivorouscouch.com\/?p=537"},"modified":"2015-04-03T16:52:50","modified_gmt":"2015-04-03T23:52:50","slug":"most-anticipated-movies-of-2014-30-21","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/carnivorousstudios.com\/?p=537","title":{"rendered":"Most Anticipated Movies of 2014: #30-21"},"content":{"rendered":"

#30: Noah<\/strong><\/p>\n

Director: Darren Aronosfsky<\/p>\n

Starring: Russell Crowe<\/p>\n

Plot: It\u2019s the story of Noah\u2019s Ark. Read a book. There\u2019s a good one I can recommend.<\/p>\n

Pros: Darren Aronofsky is one of the most talented American directors working today and he is good at making great big films (Black Swan<\/i>) as well as films that feel more intimate (The Wrestler<\/i>). He has a fantastic track record with actors, and I can never count out Crowe, even after the embarrassment that was Les Miserables<\/i>. <\/i>The material should already be pretty gripping on its own, so watch out if Aronofsky finds a creative new way to tap into this antiquated story.<\/p>\n

Cons: Most of my qualms come from what has been a terribly lackluster TV marketing campaign. Also, why is this releasing in the doldrums of March, while Ridley Scott\u2019s biblical picture gets to come out in December during peak movie season? Are they trying to stand out by debuting at a quieter time or do they just know they have a disappointing product?<\/p>\n

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#29: Sin City: A Dame To Kill For<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Sin<\/a><\/p>\n

Director: Robert Rodriguez<\/p>\n

Starring: Eva Green, Mickey Rourke, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Bruce Willis, Josh Brolin, Rosario Dawson<\/p>\n

Plot: The town’s most hard-boiled citizens cross paths with some of its more reviled inhabitants.<\/p>\n

Pros: Sin City<\/i> was not only a giddy rush of fun and menace, but has also stood the time as a genuinely great film. I think it\u2019s easily Rodriguez\u2019s best, so maybe this second trip to the well with beloved graphic novelist Frank Miller will be a worthy return to form for the cult director. Mickey Rourke should have gotten Supporting Actor traction for his work as Marv, so it thrills me to no end to see the vulnerable bruiser returning. If they can just give us another potent collection of moody noir stories, it will at least be worth seeing.<\/p>\n

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Cons: Well, for one thing, production problems. The film was supposed to debut last year and then didn\u2019t, because Rodriguez was still struggling with post-production. The last time a strongly hyped, visual smorgasbord film got pushed back a year, it was Baz Luhrmann\u2019s The Great Gatsby<\/i>. That did not go so well. For any of us. Also, I\u2019m sorry to say it, but Rodriguez just isn\u2019t that great of a director. I love Sin City<\/i> and I liked Planet Terror <\/i>quite a bit, but I think the Machete films are a chore to sit through. If this weren\u2019t a Sin City<\/i> sequel, but just another Robert Rodriguez film, it\u2019s an open question whether it would even make my list.<\/p>\n

#28: Jersey Boys<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"jersey-boys-poster-29287\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Director: Clint Eastwood<\/p>\n

Starring: John Lloyd Young, Christopher Walken<\/p>\n

Plot: Jersey Boys is a musical biography of the Four Seasons-the rise, the tough times and personal clashes, and the ultimate triumph of a group of friends whose music became symbolic of a generation.<\/p>\n

Pros: I hear very good things about the Jersey Boys<\/i> stage show. If handled right, the film could be a rousing and loving tribute to a great musical group. Clint Eastwood has made a number of great films in the past, from A Perfect World<\/i> and Unforgiven<\/i> to Mystic River<\/i> and Million Dollar Baby<\/i>. One other thing I am excited to hear is that, instead of casting a famous face, he has chosen John Lloyd Young for the lead role of Frankie Valli. Young won the Tony Award in 2006 for playing Valli on stage, so it\u2019s good to know that Eastwood prioritized voice and talent over name recognition.<\/p>\n

Cons: Okay, first off, Clint Eastwood has not made a really good movie since 2006’s Letters From Iwo Jima<\/em>. I found The Changeling, Gran Torino, <\/em>and Hereafter <\/em>to all be tedious and heavy-handed. And I barely remembered seeing\u00a0the modest In<\/em>victus <\/em>24 hours after the fact. At age 83, it’s entirely possible that the Hollywood icon’s best work is finally behind him. But most importantly, we’re looking at a musical from a man who has never directed a musical number in his life. If he pulls this off, he will be doing a lot more than just returning to form. Eastwood will be succeeding in a genre that is erratically different from anything he’s ever tried before.<\/p>\n

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<\/strong>#27: Transcendence<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"transcendence-poster\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Director: Wally Pfister<\/p>\n

Starring: Johnny Depp, Cillian Murphy, Kate Mara, Morgan Freeman<\/p>\n

Plot: A terminally ill scientist downloads his mind into a computer. This grants him power beyond his wildest dreams, and soon he becomes unstoppable.<\/p>\n

Pros: This is a very talented group of actors. Depp has maybe lost his step these days, but his strong voice work in Rango <\/i>wasn\u2019t so long ago, and I firmly believe he will come back from his schticky exile. This concept sounds pretty interesting and I\u2019m always happy to see a good sci-fi project. But, I\u2019m most excited by the director! First-time director Wally Pfister is the long-time cinematographer of Christopher Nolan, which makes him one of the non-Ledger related reasons that The Dark Knight<\/i> is amazing. Pfister has one of the finest eyes working in film. Just think what Inception <\/i>would have been without the incredible camerawork and you\u2019ll get a sense of what an important cinematic artist he is. Whatever happens with this project, good on him for taking the bold first step into directing! I\u2019m excited to see what he does with it.<\/p>\n

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Cons: In terms of its release date, it managed to clear the early year dumping season, but it’s still a mighty early debut (April 18). This could indicate a lack of studio confidence, or a feeling that this is a merely decent effort from a brand new director. Of course, that’s the other problem. Pfister has composed magnificent images for Nolan’s films, and it’s always heartening to see a director who knows how to set up a shot (hello, Stanley Kubrick!). But being a director is also a completely different ball of wax from cinematography, and there’s no guarantee that Pfister will be able to make that difficult transition.<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

#26: Maps To the Stars<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Maps-To-The-Stars-Promo-Poster\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Director: David Cronenberg<\/p>\n

Starring: Robert Pattinson, John Cusack, Julianne Moore, Mia Wasikowska<\/p>\n

Plot: Complex look at Hollywood and what it reveals about Western culture.<\/p>\n

Pros: Cronenberg is the creepy-cool pride of Canada, a filmmaker who has been making unnerving, stimulating films for decades now. While his two latest, A Dangerous Method<\/i> and Cosmopolis<\/i>, were not slam-dunks, I understand they were thoughtful and worthy efforts. I love A History of Violence<\/i> and I think it\u2019s high time for him to make a grand resurgence. Could this shadowy look at Hollywood be his own personal Mulholland Drive<\/i>?<\/p>\n

Cons: No, I’m not going to say Robert Pattinson. I actually hear he and Cronenberg worked well together on the director’s 2012 film, Cosmopolis<\/em>. If anything, the challenge will be making sure the satire lands. Hollywood may be an easy target, but that also makes it hard for show business satires to truly stand out. Maps <\/em>could be insightful and darkly funny, or it could just be glib and lazy.<\/p>\n

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#25: Fury<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Fury\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Director: David Ayer<\/p>\n

Starring: Brad Pitt, Michael Pena, Logan Lerman, Jon Bernthal<\/p>\n

Plot: A battle-hardened army sergeant named Wardaddy commands a Sherman tank and her five-man crew on a deadly mission behind enemy lines. Wardaddy and his men face odds in their attempts to strike at Nazi Germany.<\/p>\n

Pros: I have heard that Ayer helped direct Jake Gyllenhall and Michael Pena to arguably the best work of their respective careers in 2012\u2019s End of Watch<\/i>. If he can find great character shading in a police officer drama, then this World War II film should give him an even bigger canvas to paint on. If he can work that same kind of magic for the still-Oscarless Brad Pitt, there\u2019s no telling how far the film might go.<\/p>\n

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Cons: The story of Ayers thus far is that he crafts middling-to-very-good cop dramas. He wrote S.W.A.T.<\/em> and Training Day<\/em>. Most recently, he directed\u00a0End of Watch<\/em>, with Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Pena, which scored good reviews. The characters in this upcoming project are soldiers instead of law enforcement officers, but will this be essentially more of the same for Ayers? If Fury<\/em> is to be a big contender at the end of the year, Ayers will need to grow by even bigger leaps and bounds as a writer and as a director.<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

#24: Suite Francaise<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"_OSF0145-3.orf\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Director: Saul Dibb<\/p>\n

Starring: Michelle Williams, Matthias Schoenaerts, Margot Robbie<\/p>\n

Plot: During the early years of German occupation of France, romance blooms between Lucile Angellier, a French villager and Bruno von Falk, a German soldier.<\/p>\n

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Pros: Michelle Williams\u2019 last film, My Week With Maralyn<\/i>, came close to netting her an Oscar even though the movie itself wasn\u2019t all that good. Matthias Schoenaerts (Bullhead<\/i>) <\/i>is an international star who appears to be on the rise. Margot Robbie was quite impressive last year in Scorsese\u2019s The Wolf of Wall Street<\/i>. If this talented cast can make the promising material sing, this could be one of the year\u2019s most pleasant surprises.<\/p>\n

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Cons: The director’s last major film, The Duchess, <\/em>was just passable. As promising as this historical romance sounds on paper, we’ve seen a great many swooning prestige pictures fall flat. At the end of the day, the film will need to actually have the goods if it wants to be more than just a bargain bin romance novel in period piece clothing.<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

#23: Into the Woods<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Into<\/a><\/p>\n

Director: Rob Marshall<\/p>\n

Starring: Meryl Streep, Anna Kendrick, Johnny Depp, Chris Pine, Emily Blunt<\/p>\n

Plot: In this adaptation of Steven Sondheim\u2019s acclaimed musical, a witch conspires to teach important lessons to various characters of popular children’s stories including Little Red Riding Hood, Cinderella, Jack and the Beanstalk and Rapunzel.<\/p>\n

Pros: The last time a Steven Sondheim musical became a movie, 2007\u2019s Sweeney Todd<\/i>, it received rave reviews and ended up being the best film of Tim Burton\u2019s career (that\u2019s my opinion anyway). If this Sondheim adaptation is anywhere near as good, it could do the same thing for Rob Marshall, who directed the Oscar-winning Chicago<\/i> back in 2002. The cast is dynamite and I hear that Anna Kendrick is a spectacular singer.<\/p>\n

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Cons: Rob Marshall is really a middling director at best. Since directing Chicago<\/i>, he has yet to make a film that is even remotely good. Memoirs of A Geisha<\/i> was incredibly lackluster and Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides<\/i> was terrible. Even if he\u2019s returning to his bread and butter by doing a musical, let\u2019s not forget that 2009\u2019s Nine<\/i> wasn\u2019t much to look at or listen to. If he couldn\u2019t direct a good performance out of Daniel Day-Lewis, who\u2019s to say he can do any better with Meryl Streep?<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong>#22: Magic In the Moonlight<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Magic<\/a><\/p>\n

Director: Woody Allen<\/p>\n

Starring: Colin Firth, Emma Stone<\/p>\n

Plot: A romantic comedy about an Englishman brought in to help unmask a possible swindle. Personal and professional complications ensue.<\/p>\n

Pros: Woody Allen is just coming off of Blue Jasmine<\/i>, one of his best films in years, and one in which he captured the best performance of Cate Blanchett\u2019s career. Colin Firth is a great actor and Emma Stone is a fantastic, funny young talent. In fact, based on what I\u2019ve seen of Stone, I think she could turn out to be one of the best Woody surrogates of all time. All of these people have momentum, and that has to count for a lot.<\/p>\n

Cons: Momentum typically does count for a lot. Unless you’re Woody Allen, in which case you eye it suspiciously and slowly back away from it. Allen is known for producing a strong film and then following it up with a disposable trifle or a tone-deaf dud. The last time he even followed up a good film with another good film was with 1997’s Deconstructing Harry, <\/em>which came a year after his musical, Everyone Says I Love You<\/em>. More often than not, he follows up Midnight In Paris<\/em> with To Rome With Love <\/em>or Match Point <\/em>with Scoop.\u00a0<\/em>If you’re a gambler, the odds really favor Magic In the Moonlight <\/em>being a disappointment.<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

#21: The Imitation Game<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Imitation<\/a><\/p>\n

Director: Morten Tyldum<\/p>\n

Starring: Benedict Cumberbatch, Keira Knightley<\/p>\n

Plot: A biography of the English mathematician and logician, Alan Turing, who helped crack the Enigma code during World War II.<\/p>\n

Pros: Alan Turing is a fascinating historical subject and the British cast is very good. We\u2019ve been eagerly awaiting the triumphant arrival of Benedict Cumberbatch, who continually picks up new fans for his excellent work in Sherlock<\/i>. The director is relatively green, but his last two films (Headhunters<\/i> and Fallen Angels<\/i>) have gotten reasonably good reviews. Perhaps more refreshingly, it sounds like they have been exciting, tense pieces of work. If he can bring a little energy to this historical biopic, he\u2019ll already be ahead of most of his competitors.<\/p>\n

Cons: My hesitation is that we’ve been expecting Cumberbatch to fully arrive for years now, but he’s still got one foot in the lobby. His major projects last year were August<\/em>: Osage County <\/em>and The Fifth Estate<\/em>, both of which ended up falling below expectations. I know Cumberbatch is a great actor, but the movie is going to need to feature more than a strong performance from him if it’s going to be worth our time. Making a biopic that is fresh and interesting is a notoriously tricky task, as so many end up feeling didactic and episodic. After his Julian Assange biography flopped last year, it’s not so difficult to envision the same thing happening this year. The team behind this project seems ready to tackle the challenge, but it will still be a challenge.<\/p>\n

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That does it for now. Check in tomorrow, when we start to crack into the real meat of the year. New films from David Fincher, Jeff Nichols, Jason Reitman, and Tim Burton are all soon to come!<\/p>\n

#63-51<\/a>
\n#50-41<\/a>
\n#40-31<\/a>
\n#20-11<\/a>
\n#10-1<\/a><\/p>\n

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<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

#30: Noah Director: Darren Aronosfsky Starring: Russell Crowe Plot: It\u2019s the story of Noah\u2019s Ark. Read a book. There\u2019s a good one I can recommend. Pros: Darren Aronofsky is one of the most talented American directors working today and he is good at making great big films (Black Swan) as well as films that feel […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":745,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-537","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog-posts","category-film-blog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/carnivorousstudios.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/537","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/carnivorousstudios.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/carnivorousstudios.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carnivorousstudios.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carnivorousstudios.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=537"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"https:\/\/carnivorousstudios.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/537\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":892,"href":"https:\/\/carnivorousstudios.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/537\/revisions\/892"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carnivorousstudios.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/745"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/carnivorousstudios.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=537"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carnivorousstudios.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=537"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carnivorousstudios.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=537"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}