(1) Ridley Scott’s The Counsellor (November 15th) has one of the most exciting casts of the year - Brad Pitt, Michael Fassbender, Penelope Cruz, Javier Bardem and Cameron Diaz to name just a few. Even more excitingly, it will be the first original screenplay written by acclaimed novelist Cormac McCarthy.
We’ve already written about the hugely enthusiastic response to (2) Alfonso Cuaron’s Gravity, which at this point is looking like 2013’s most spectacular sci-fi. November 8th is such a long-time away...
(3) Nebraska (6th December) is the latest from Alexander Payne (Sideways, The Descendants). Silver Linings Playbook director David O. Russell will be hoping to replicate that film’s success with (4) American Hustle (20th December) - and he’s managed to re-recruit Jennifer Lawrence, Robert de Niro and Bradley Cooper, as well as his The Fighter stars Amy Adams and Christian Bale. St. Stephen’s Day will see the release of (5) Ben Stiller’s The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, which is worth paying attention to after its quite remarkable trailer:
Biopics
Awards season means a sudden flurry of films ‘based on a true story’, and this year the studios have opted to portray some of the best known contemporary personalities. F1 fans will likely be thrilled by (6) Rush, the Ron Howard directed racing thriller that follows the fierce rivalry between James Hunt (Chris Hemsworth) and Niki Lauda (Daniel Bruhl). Early word is extremely positive, and you won’t have to wait long to find out if it’s accurate: the film’s out on Friday. Naomi Watts is playing Princess Diana (called, imaginatively, (7) Diana) in a film due out on September 20th and, well, the critics have not been kind.
Elsewhere, you have Benedict Cumberbatch as Julian Assange in (8) The Fifth Estate (11th October). Tom Hanks will has been granted one of his most demanding roles in years with (9) Paul Greengrass' Captain Phillips (18th October). Hanks will play the eponymous Phillips - the captain of an American cargo ship that was hijacked by Somali pirates in 2009.
Nicole Kidman channels Grace Kelly in November’s (10) Grace of Monaco. And ringing in the new year, Idris Elba will will play the title role in (11) Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom, the most high-profile cinematic portrayal of the South African icon yet. It’s just about missing a 2013 release date in Ireland, and is currently scheduled for 3rd January 2014.
Blockbusters
Of course, alongside the Oscar contenders and ‘prestige’ offerings that tend to dominate the Winter schedule, late 2013 will offer no shortage of blockbusters. Prominent sequels that will inevitably own the box office over the coming months include (12) Thor 2: The Dark World (30th October), (13) The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (21st November) and (14) The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (13th December). And don’t forget (15) Anchorman: The Legend Continues (20th December). We have it on good authority it’s kind of a big deal.
Of the new contenders, (16) Ender’s Game (25th October) is one of the most intriguing prospects - an adaptation of Orson Scott Card’s popular sci-fi novel. The film has a strong ensemble cast, featuring both familiar stars (Harrison Ford, Ben Kingsley) and up-and-coming youngsters (Asa Butterfield, Hailee Steinfeld, Abigail Breslin).
(17) Carrie is getting a remake, starring Kick Ass star Chloe Grace Moretz. In a slightly odd move, it misses Halloween: Irish audiences should expect it on 29th November, by which point US viewers will have had well over a month to inform us if it’s dreadful or not.
This is, we’re aware, a Hollywood-centric list, but alas definitive release dates for foreign language & independent films are hard enough to come by. Still, hopefully quite a few of the year’s most acclaimed releases will show up over the next few months. We’re certainly getting Cannes winner (18) Blue Is The Warmest Colour in November, and fingers crossed the likes of Asghar Farhadi’s (19) The Past also show up sooner rather than later. The acclaimed retro comedy (20) Computer Chess - an affectionate, nostalgic lookat a group of computer geeks in the 1980s - is getting a UK release in November, so hopefully some Irish cinemas will follow suit.
Oh, and one of the most exciting releases of all isn’t new at all, but rather a brand new restoration of silent vampire classic (21) Nosferatu which will be gracing arthouse screens in the run-up to Halloween.
And heading into 2014…
As is often the way, a number of prominent films will only reach Irish screens in January or February following their year-end U.S. release (and associated Oscar eligibility). George Clooney is writing / starring / directing World War II drama (22) The Monuments Men (9th January), and the likes of Matt Damon, Bill Murray and Cate Blanchett are along for the ride.
The Coen Brothers’ acclaimed (23) Inside Llewyn Davis premiered at Cannes way back in May, but we won’t see it until 24th January. That's the same release date, incidentally, (24) 12 Years a Slave has been at least temporarily assigned. The Steve McQueen directed film is an epic, challenging examination of one American slave’s life, and has just been shown at the Toronto Film Festival to a flurry of five-star reviews.
The latest Martin Scorsese / Leonardo di Caprio collaboration (25) The Wolf of Wall Street is also looking to brighten up January, and (26) Spike Jonze’s Her will hopefully enjoy a January release too.
Hey, it’s not like you have anything better to do in miserable January than hitting the cinema every other day, and it will double as good preparation for the Dublin Film Festival in February.
