By Can you believe that all those movies from yesterday only got us halfway through the year? Seriously, part one of our 2013 preview was full of epic win and it really didn’t even cover the big blockbuster parts of the year. Summer and winter are where the studious really start pulling out all the stops and it’s reflected in the films coming out.
The end of the year brings us plenty of blockbuster sequels that we’re all looking forward to and a few remakes as well, but it also manages to surprise us with a few smaller films that are sure to wet your appetite for things that aren’t based on things that came before them. Read on to find out what we’re looking out for as 2013 moves into its second half.
Of course we can’t list everything, so let us know what you’re looking forward to this year in the comments, our community blogs or our brand new forums!
Director: Guillermo Del Toro
Release date: July 12, 2013
This is it. This is the movie I am anticipating more than anything else this year. Why? Because Guillermo f**king Del Toro. ‘Nuff said. – Thor Latham
Director: James Mangold
Release date: July 26, 2013
I don’t ask for much in life. All I need to get by is a nice sandwich, a comfy chair, and maybe get to see Hugh Jackman shirtless every now and then. Thanks to The Wolverine (the seventeenth X-Men film), looks like I’ll get some of that in spades. Sure Wolvie is going to Japan to fight the Silver Samurai explore himself after the traumatizing events of X3, so the tone of the film will be darker than ever, but I’m not sure if I can pay attention to all of that. Either way, Mangold seems like he knows the material so I’m sure we’ll be in for one wild ride, bub. – Nick Valdez
The World’s End
Director: Edgar Wright
Release date: August 14, 2013 (UK); October 25, 2013 (US)
Another Edgar Wright/Simon Pegg/Nick Frost collaboration comes out this year, marking the finale to their Cornetto Trilogy. The World’s End starts as an epic pub crawl among old friends, but it promises to be so much more. I’ve heard it may be about aliens, but who knows. (The Cornetto color this time around is green, so maybe martians, Triffids, or those things from The Green Slime?) Along for the ride are Paddy Considine, Martin Freeman, and Rosamund Pike. I don’t know if they can top Shaun of the Dead (red Cornettos) and Hot Fuzz (blue Cornettos), but I’m very eager to see if they can. – Hubert Vigilla
Yurusarezaru mono (Unforgiven)
Director: Sang-il Lee
Release date: September 13, 2013 (Japan)
Samurai films have been turned into westerns a couple times in the past (e.g., Seven Samurai into The Magnificent Seven), but Yurusarezaru mono goes the other way around, turning Clint Eastwood’s masterpiece into a samurai film. The look, feel, and themes of the Eastwood movie should fit perfectly in a period chambara film, though it’ll be interesting to see how the Japanese remake deviates and adds new takes on the original. While I haven’t seen any of Sang-il Lee’s films, the teaser for Yurusarezaru mono looks very promising, and I have nothing but faith in Ken Watanabe as the lead. – Hubert Vigilla
Director: Spike Lee
Release Date: October 11, 2013
Ooh, Mars Blackmon himself is entering dangerously uncharted territories with the upcoming adaptation of the insanely popular (and just as critically-acclaimed) South Korean film of the same name. Doubt set in the fans’ minds over whether or not Spike would be able to capture what made the original so good. No matter how the film and hype develops between now and October, it’s a safe bet that Oldboy will be under an intense microscope. – Geoff Henao
Director: Kimberly Peirce
Release Date: October 18, 2013
I’ve always been in love with Carrie‘s premise. A troubled girl with a terrible mother getting the sudden ability to change her life? Amazing. And while I’m looking forward to the remake, I get the feeling it might be treading old ground without changing too much (we already know how it ends!). That’s fine and dandy sometimes, but I want the new film to show a different side of Carrie. Maybe a more capable one? I’m sure the fabulous Moretz is up to the daunting task of redefining Carrie’s character. At the very least, I’m sure that we’re not all going to laugh at her. – Nick Valdez
Director: Alan Taylor
Release date: November 8, 2013
I haven’t seen much of Alan Taylor’s work, but I have certainly seen Game of Thrones, of which he’s directed six episodes. And Game of Thrones is sort of like Thor without all the Norwegian gods of thunder. Pretty much everyone from the first film is back, save for Joshua Dallas. He’s been replaced by Zachary Levi, and that’s pretty awesome. I liked Thor a whole lot more than a lot of people, and am, presumably, more excited than most for a sequel. – Sean
Director: Francis Lawrence
Release date: November 22, 2013
The first Hunger Games may not have been the best film, but it was different enough from the Twilights and Never Say Nevers to set a new standard for teen films. With the final two books of the series (and three final films, UGH) focusing more on the politics of Panem rather than the kid killing (and the addition of Phillip Seymour Freakin’ Hoffman!), Catching Fire will hopefully be far more nuanced than its predecessor. If not, this is still going to make a stupid amount of money regardless of its quality. Oh well, win some lose some I guess. – Nick Valdez
Director: Adam McKay
Release Date: December 20, 2013
Possibly the film I have the most trepidation about all year is Anchorman: The Legend Continues. I feel that the first film hit a comedy spot so hard to hit that any attempts to follow up on it are just going to fail. There’s just a very different kind of humor in the original Anchorman and it clicked for that movie, but I’m not sure if it’s going to click for another one. I’ve got my fingers crossed, because if it works it will work awesomely, but if it falls it will fall hard. – Matthew Razak
Her
Director: Spike Jonze
Release date: TBD
It’s been a few years since the last Spike Jonze feature film (2009’s criminally underrated Where the Wild Things Are), so his return to the director’s chair is something to get happy about. With Her, his first solo screenplay, Jonze is taking a look at how we interact with technology in a tale about one man (Joaquin Phoenix) falling in love with his smart phone OS. Her should be hitting the festival circuit this year, with a late 2013 release probable. This should whet everyone’s appetite for an inevitable and long overdue reteaming of Jonze and Charlie Kaufman. – Hubert Vigilla
Director: Bong Joon Ho
Release Date: TBD
I know even less about Snowpiercer than I do about Stoker (my other most anticipated English-language film made by a Korean director), but in some ways I am even more excited. Bong Joon Ho’s The Host, released in 2006, has enough English in it to prove to me that he has a good grasp on the language (Park Chan-wook’s Joint Security Agency, on the other hand, made me feel otherwise), so with my one potential worry out of the way I can just be excited. The idea of seeing Chris Evans playing alongside Song Kang-Ho is kind of ridiculous, but it’s also amazing. Whereas The Last Stand and Stoker leave the Korean roots behind, Snowpiercer seems like it will be melding the two cultures in some hopefully interesting ways. Then again, I have no clue what the film is about, so maybe I’m completely off base. Even if I am, though, it’s gonna be awesome. – Alec Kubas-Meyer
