Most Anticipated Films for 2014

While the Oscars looks to the past, we look to the future. Here are the movies I'm most looking forward to this year. 

• The Grand Budapest Hotel - Wes Anderson, in what looks like his best since Royal Tanenbaums. Projected release: March 7. Prediction: Awesome.
• Noah - Russell Crowe is on a boat! This is being made by the guy who did Black Swan. He has vowed to piss off the primary audience that wants to go see a movie called Noah. High bust potential. Projected release: March 28. Prediction: Debacle.
• Captain America: Winter Soldier - After Marvel mailed in the Captain America launch, will they give him his due this time? Events in Ukraine could make the Winter Soldier deadly on point...or badly mistimed. Projected release: March 26. Prediction: Diet patriotism doesn't taste like the real thing.
• Transcendence - This is as close as you can get to being a Christopher Nolan movie without being one. Will he have a Bill Parcells' like directing tree? If so, it starts with his cinematographer this sci-fi pic with Johnny Depp and other people you like. Projected release: April 18. Prediction: Too soon to call.
• The Amazing Spider Man 2 - This one, however, looks a little too "ripped from the headlines". I hope I'm wrong, I liked the first one. Projected release: May 2. Prediction: Disappointment.
• Godzilla - He's back, looking himself, and not like a giant iguana. Projected Release: May 16. Prediction: Better than last time. 
• X-Men: Days of Future Past - The two megacasts collide in the world's first double-sequel. Early favorite for top earner of the year. Projected release: May 23. Prediction: Epic.
• Dawn of the Planet of the Apes - The prequel was a revelation. I don't think there's enough juice in this story line to sustain a franchise. Projected release: July 11. Prediction: Flop.
• Hercules - Finally...the Rock...has come back to Thrace. Projected release: July 25. Prediction: The good kind of bad.
• This is Where I Leave You - I don't know what it's about but a lot of funny people are in it. Projected release: September 12. Prediction: easy money in the autumn dead period.
• The Interview - A cross between Knocked Up, Frost/Nixon and Team America World Police, starring the brat pack. Projected release: 10 October. Prediction: Hilarious.
• The Judge - Robert Downey Jr and Vera Farmiga do a movie together. Projected release: 10 October. Prediction: I like this movie but no one else does.
• Interstellar - The most inspiring preview you'll ever see. Projected release: 7 November. Prediction: Christopher Nolan doesn't make bad movies.
• Dumb and Dumber To - The original Harry and Lloyd reunite. Projected release: 14 November. Prediction: Jim Carey's put up or shut up moment.
• Exodus - Ridley Scott and Christian Bale do Moses. Projected release: 12 December. Prediction: An overambitious disaster.
• Inherent Vice - Paul Thomas Anderson returns to the 70's. Projected release: 12 December. Prediction: Oscar fodder. 
• The Hobbit: There and Back Again - This better be good. Projected release: 17 December. Prediction: A mediocre end to a mediocre trilogy.

My favorite movies of 2013

My favorite movies of the year

10. Thor: The Dark World - About halfway through the movie, I turned to no one in particular and said, "Is it just me, or is this really good?"
9. The Great Gatsby - Some things are better off as novels, so this is the best Gatsby you're going to get. I think Luhrman missed out by not bringing it forward into our era the way he did with Romeo & Juliet.
8. Rush - It's good. Hemsworth ruining the reporter who goes after his rival's private life is one of the year's best scenes. But it loses points for me because if you saw Senna, which you must, then you realize that the producers saw that movie and decided to make a movie version, based on another rivalry, and with a happier ending. So if you don't have time for two movies, pick Senna.
7. Inside Llewyn Davis - I warned you I was wrong.
6. Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues - I'm counting the brilliant advertising campaign, which increased Dodge Durango sales by 60%, proving that 60% of the time, it works every time. I never tire of this character. Maybe I was laughing alone, but you'll be laughing with me in a few years.
5. Don Jon - Gets a little too heady for its own good at the end. Still, solid flick.
4. Her
3. The World's End - I require one Simon Pegg/Nic Frost buddy movie a year.
2. American Hustle
1. The Wolf of Wall Street

HONORABLE MENTIONS: 12 Years a Slave, About Time, Blue Jasmine, Fast & Furious 6, Gravity, Now You See Me, Star Trek: Into Darkness, The Wolverine, This is the End

The movies that technically came out in 2012 except there was no way to actually see them, and therefore I liked them in 2013:
The Gatekeepers
Joss Whedon's Much Ado About Nothing