10 – The Lego Movie
What once looked like just some large long running-format commrecial as evolved into one of my most anticipated movies of 2014. Consider this: Phil Lord and Chris Miller, the guys who directed Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs and 21 Jump Street (and it’s sequel 22 Jump Street) are directing. Then there is the voice cast, which includes talent like Chris Pratt and Elizabeth Banks with Morgan Freeman as a wizard, Will Ferrell as the evil business man in lego form, Liam Neeson as a good cop/bad cop, Will Arnett as Batman, Jonah Hill as Green Lantern, Channing Tatum as Superman, Cobie Smulders as Wonder Woman. With a wonderful collection of characters voiced by a cast with a strong comedic background, what is not to love. (ML)
9 – The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1
Mockingjay was not my favorite book out of the trilogy. It was so dreary and depressing, I couldn’t even cry atthe end. Catching Fire director Francis Lawrence is returning to direct the last two films and he did an excellent job handling the themes of Catching Fire, so I’m confident in his abilities for Mockingjay. I’m just a bit disappointed that these last two won’t be shot in IMAX, as there are so many sequences that would lend themselves perfectly to the format. (CH)
8 – Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
Rise of the Planet of the Apes was the biggest surprise for me in 2011. I loved the film, and I can’t wait to see where they go with it now. Andy Serkis (Caesar) is one of the best actors of this generation, but he goes mostly unnoticed since he does almost exclusively motion capture roles. (DK)
7 – Transcendence
I am a sucker for thought-provoking science fiction films (see Looper, Source Code). Wally Pfister is one of the best cinematographers in the business, and I expect a fairly seamless transition to his role as a first time director. The just-released teaser has me intrigued, and I hope this will be a welcomed warm-up of originality before the onslaught of summer franchise pictures hit. (AG)
6 – The Amazing Spider-Man 2
Spider-Man is my favorite superhero and I was totally against the first film in this new franchise, it was just too soon to reboot. But that film turned out okay and then Marc Webb and everyone at Sony dropped the bomb that this film was kicking off a Spider-Man cinematic universe. This film looks crowded with three villains (and a rumored fourth in Shocker), but I’m willing to bet that all of them won’t be tied up in this installment. Get it, “tied up”? Because Spider-Man shoots webs? (CH)
Click here to find out what our top five most anticipated movies of 2014 are.
