There are four movies in my Top 25 this year that were in my list in 2013, but Snowpiercer probably has improved the most in interest for me. Snowpiercer, which has been released in South Korea but not here, is a Korean film that is in English and has a good and mostly English speaking cast. The film is led by Chris Evans (Captain America), but also includes Tilda Swinton, John Hurt, Ed Harris, Octavia Spencer and from the great Vengeance Trilogy, Korean actor Kang-ho Song. Enough about the cast…Snowpiercer takes place in a world in which a global warming experiment-gone wrong as killed much of the Earth’s population. The remaining survivors live on a train called the Snowpiercer that contains a class system and continuously travels the globe. The main plot seems to show the lower class rising up to take down the domineering upper class. I like the idea of the characters having to work their way through a train, which has a very linear path. Should be an interesting and unique sci-fi/action film.
The Avengers universe has proved to be incredibly successful, so why wouldn’t they continue to release sequel films for their main characters. This year’s serving is of Captain America, played by Chris Evans, now having appeared in the first Captain America film and The Avengers. In his first solo adventure since the events of The Avengers, Cap will face a familiar face from his past. Technically this isn’t a solo adventure however, as Scarlett Johansson’s Black Widow will be assisting, as well as Falcon, another Marvel character making his debut in the film world.
This new sci-fi film from Christopher Nolan has been tightly sealed and very little information has been released. Hopefully that means
good things! Interstellar stars newly-minted Oscar winner Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, Casey Affleck, Michael Caine and more in a near future where a group of explorers discover a wormhole in space.
Wes Anderson brings us another beautifully quirky world in his latest film. I have grown more and more fond of Wes Anderson over the years, as I feel like it can take time to really get his films. The Grand Budapest Hotel takes place at a luxury hotel in a fictional mountainous European country and the story appears to revolve around a murder mystery. Many of Anderson's usual cast of actors appear, including Adrien Brody, Willem Dafoe, Jeff Goldblum, Bill Murray, Tilda Swinton, Edward Norton, Jason Schwartzman and Owen Wilson. New to the Anderson universe is the lead of the film, Ralph Fiennes, as the head concierge of the hotel.
GotG is Marvel's next attempt to bring lesser known characters from its comic book universe to their ever-expanding film universe. The Guardians are a group of ragtag space misfits who come together as team and in the film, must help save the universe. The characters are collection of different alien species led by American Pilot Peter Quill aka Star-Lord (Chris Pratt). The rest of the team includes Gamora (Zoe Saldana), Drax the Destroyer (Dave Bautista) as well as two animated characters, tree-like humanoid Groot (Vin Diesel) and genetically engineered racoon Rocket (Bradley Cooper). I have very little knowledge of these Marvel characters, but I love the idea of the next tier of heroes getting a chance in the moveis. I think the cast is great and I also enjoy the director/writer, James Gunn (Super, Slither). Hopefully GotG will succeed by exceeding its lower expectations compared to the Avengers films.