My Most Anticipated Films of 2013

New year means new expectations, new desires and the anticipation of being wowed by Hollywood one more time. 2012 was one of the best years in recent memory for film, so expecting 2013 to surpass or match it would be greedy.

But we can hope.

2013 has some amazing titles being released and I have managed to whittle down 20 films and some honorable mentions that have peaked my curiosity the most. Whether it’s a third installment of alcohol consumption or the third installment of Tony Stark, the next twelve months are sure to deliver.

Here are my most anticipated films of 2013.

1. The Place Beyond the Pines – March 29 – Ryan Gosling’s second film of 2013 (Gangster Squad being the first) is one I’ve been following for ages it seems. Debuting at the Toronto Film Festival this year to raucous praise, it finally hits theaters in two months. Starring alongside Bradley Cooper, Eva Mendes and Ben Mendelsohn, Gosling reunites with Blue Valentine director Derek Cianfrance as a bank robber on a motorcycle. Watch Trailer – here.

2. Man of Steel – June 14 – Zack Snyder’s Superman epic has been on the tip of everyone’s tongue. After 2012 delivered The Dark Knight Rises and The Avengers, the superhero bar has been raised to astronomical levels. Henry Cavil stars as Clark Kent alongside Michael Shannon, Amy Adams, Kevin Costner and more. With Christopher Nolan serving as an EP, and from the looks of the first two trailers, Superman is about to get the reboot we’ve all been waiting for. Watch Trailer – here.

3. Twelve Years a Slave - TBD 2013 - When Steve McQueen makes a movie, you watch it. It’s that simple. He’s paired with Michael Fassbender twice before, and each time it’s been a home run. He’s doing so again and tackling the sensitive subject of slavery; and as Quentin Tarantino has found out with Django Unchained, it’s a slippery slope. That being said, McQueen is no stranger to controversial films as Twelve Years a Slave is based on the 1853 autobiography written by Solomon Northup, a New York citizen who was kidnapped in Washington in 1841 and rescued from a cotton plantation in Louisiana in 1853. Chiwetel Ejiofor will play Northup, who regained his freedom after Samuel Bass, a Canadian carpenter who opposed slavery, smuggled letters to Northup’s wife, Anne Hampton (Kelsey Scott), ultimately starting the legal process to earn him back his freedom. Fassbender will play Edwin Epps, the film’s chief villain, a cruel plantation owner with whom Northup spends a significant portion of his 12 years in bondage. The film also stars Quvenzhané Wallis, Paul Dano, Benedict Cumberbatch, Scoot McNairy, Garret Dillahunt, Paul Giamatti, Sarah Paulson and Brad Pitt.

4. The Counselor - November 15 – Ridley Scott’s next film has wrapped and boasts as talented a cast as you’re going to get in 2013. The story centers on a present-day Southwest lawyer, played by Michael Fassbender who thinks he can dip a toe into the drug business without getting sucked down. A bad decision; He tries his best to survive it and get out of a desperate situation, but can he? The film co-stars Brad Pitt, Javier Bardem, Cameron Diaz, Penélope Cruz, John Leguizamo, Natalie Dormer and Goran Visnjic.

5. Iron Man 3 – May 3 – Besides the fact that Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark is one of the most perfect casting choices ever in film, Iron Man is simply one of the coolest superheroes. So who doesn’t want to see him again? The third film is following the trend of more serious and “darker” stories as Iron Man has the evil Mandarin to contest with now, played by Ben Kingsley, and it’s sure to be a treat. The trailer was my favorite one released in 2012 and I’m pretty damn giddy over it.

6. Now You See Me – June 7 – A sucker for anything involving magic, illusions and starring Jesse Eisenberg, Now You See Me has a refreshing story to tell, a cast to die for and a trailer that blew me away. Magicians who rob banks…c’mon the story sells itself! Watch trailer – here.

7. The Hangover Part III – May 24 – We are simply invested. You can’t just skip this one, don’t deny it. Todd Phillips has said that this film will be very different than the first two and the formula followed by Part II which disappointed millions will not rear it’s ugly head this time around. Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms and Zach Galifianakis are back to close the chapter on the Hangover saga and from what we speculate the story could involve a mental institution, a road trip, a secret from the trio’s past and more. Check out the first images and details – here.

8. Serena – TBD 2013 - Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper blew the doors off of 2012 with Silver Linings Playbook both nominated for Oscars and Golden Globes, with Lawrence winning her Globe. They shot this film right after SLP in which the story follows newlyweds George (Cooper) and Serena Pemberton (Lawrence) who travel from Boston to the mountains of North Carolina where they begin to build a timber empire in 1929. Serena soon shows herself to be the equal of any man: overseeing crews, hunting rattle-snakes, even saving a man’s life in the wilderness. Together, this king and queen rule their dominion, killing or vanquishing all who stand in the way of their ambitions. But when Serena learns she can never bear a child, the story takes a dark turn. Seems to be another vehicle for Lawrence to prove just how versatile and dominant of a force she is in Hollywood and I can’t wait to see her as Serena.

9. Elysium - Aug 9 – We’ve seen Matt Damon with a shaved head for a while now as he was shooting the futuristic, sci-fi film set in 2159 where he plays a man who takes on a daunting mission in a world where the very wealthy live on the pristine, man-made space station called Elysium, and fight to keep the citizens of Earth from illegally immigrating. Jodie Foster, Sharlto Copley, William Fichtner, Alice Braga, Diego Luna and Wagner Moura round out the cast for the picture. Here’s our first official look at Damon.

10. Runner, Runner - Sept 27 – A gambling man I am, and I grew up during the internet poker boom. I spent countless hours playing poker in high school; online, at friend’s houses and at the lunch tables. Online gambling has become a phenomenon bigger then anyone could have probably imagined and now Ben Affleck and Justin Timberlake are making a movie about it. Affleck plays a businessman who owns an offshore gambling operation who eventually finds his relationship with his protégé (Timberlake) reaching a boiling point. The film was scripted by Rounders co-writers Brian Koppelman and David Levien.

11. Only God Forgives- May 23rd – The Drive duo of Ryan Gosling and director Nicolas Winding Refn team up again for a bloody trip through Thailand. Gosling plays Julian, a former kickboxer and gangster living in Bangkok, when his brother is murdered by a ruthless Thai police lieutenant, Julian is urged by his mother (Kristen Scott Thomas) to seek vengeance or risk his own death. The quick teaser we recently got indicates how graphic and violent the film will be, a specialty for Refn – watch.

12. Prisoners - Sept 20 - It’s a Boston-set thriller that centers on Keller Dover, a father whose life is thrown into spin when his young daughter and her best friend go missing. Not content to leave the police to find them, Dover tirelessly pursues his own search, which leads to conflict with the hotshot detective assigned to the case. Jake Gyllenhaal and Hugh Jackman star alongside Maria Bello, Viola Davis, Melissa Leo and Paul Dano. Cast, story – sold.

13. White House Down – June 28- This one should cause some anxiety over in Washington D.C. Directed by Roland Emmerich, the film stars Jamie Foxx as James Sawyer, the President of the United States and Channing Tatus as John Cale a man whose dream job is protecting the POTUS. After being denied the position, but not wanting to let his daughter down, he takes her on a tour of the White House, when the complex is overtaken by a heavily armed terrorist paramilitary group. Now, with the nation’s government falling into chaos and time running out, it’s up to Cale to save the president, his daughter, and the country. The film also stars Jason Clarke, James Woods, Richard Jenkins and Maggie Gyllenhaal.

14. The Wolverine – July 26 – Hugh Jackman returns and reprises his famous, iconic role of Wolverine in a new origin story following Logan while he is in Japan. It’s a very serious take on the character and director James Mangold has promised to deliver the most action-packed version of the character we’ve seen. Here’s more details on The Wolverine.

15. The To Do List – Aug 16 - Aubrey Plaza in a comedy, where do I sign up? A cast comprised of Donald Glover, Rachel Bilson, Bill Hader, Andy Samberg, Alia Shawkat, Mae Whitman, Johnny Simmons, Connie Britton, Clark Gregg, Christopher Mintz-Plasse and Scott Porter all in a sex comedy. Laughs are sure to be had. The To Do List follows the story of Brandy Klark (Plaza), a Type-A, overachiever who comes up with a “to-do list” featuring all the risqué extra-curricular activities she missed out on in high school and wants to complete before college. Watch trailer – here.

16. The Wolf of Wall Street - TBD 2013 - Upon hearing the film was given the green light, I made sure to purchase Jordan Belfort’s autobiography to see what Martin Scorsese, Leonardo DiCaprio and Jonah Hill were getting into. This wild story of sex, drugs and fraud is one you probably won’t believe, but it’s all true. The book/film centers on Belfort (DiCaprio), a Long Island penny stockbroker who served 20 months in prison for refusing to cooperate in a massive 1990s securities fraud case that involved widespread corruption on Wall Street and in the corporate banking world, including mob infiltration. Kyle Chandler, Jean Dujardin, Rob Reiner, Julie Andrews, Jon Favreau,Matthew McConaughey and Shea Whigham co-star. Here are images from the film, as production has just wrapped.

17. Foxcatcher – TBD 2013 – Another true story, Foxcather is based on John du Pont, played by Steve Carell, the paranoid schizophrenic heir to the du Pont chemical fortune who built a wrestling training facility called Team Foxcatcher on his Pennsylvania estate. David Schultz played by Mark Ruffalo was a longtime friend of du Pont who had repeatedly tried to help him before du Pont shot and killed him in 1996. The film co-stars Channing Tatum, Sienna Miller, Anthony Michael Hall and Vanessa Redgrave.

18. Snowpiercers - TBD 2013 - The film is an adaptation of the French graphic novel “Le Transperceneige” and centers on a story that takes place aboard a train known as the Snowpiercer. The train is carrying the only survivors of a disastrous attempt to prevent global warming that has created an ice age in which the survivors struggle to adapt to existence in the only safe climate. The cast includes Chris Evans, Jamie Bell, Tilda Swinton, Kang-ho Song, John Hurt,Alison Pill, Octavia Spencer, Ewen Bremner and Ed Harris.

19. Dallas Buyers Club – TBD 2013 - Matthew McConaughey is pulling a Christian Bale and going all method on us as he loses a ton of weight for Dallas Buyers Club. It’s a film we’ve been hearing about for some time as MM stars as Ron Woodroof, a drug taking, women loving, homophobic man who, in 1986 was diagnosed with full blown HIV/AIDS and given thirty days to live. Based on a true story, he started taking the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved AZT, the only legal drug available in the U.S, which brought him to the brink of death. To survive, he smuggled non-toxic, anti-viral medications from all over the world, but yet still illegal in the U.S. Other AIDS patients sought out his medications forgoing hospitals, doctors and AZT. With the help of his Doctor, Eve Saks and a fellow patient, Rayon, Ron unintentionally created the Dallas Buyers Club, the first of dozens which would form around the country, providing its paying members with these alternative treatments. The clubs, growing in numbers and clientele, were brought to the attention of the FDA and pharmaceutical companies which waged an all out war on Ron. Gael Garcia Bernal, Jennifer Garner, Jared Leto and Steve Zahn co-star.

20. Anchorman: The Legend Continues – Dec 20 - The sequel to the Will Ferrell comedy classic arrives this year as we are taken a few years after the original where the 24-hour news cycle is becoming all the rage. This pretty much sells itself, but all the old names are back – Ron Burgundy, Brian Fantana, Brick Tamland, and Champ Kind as Paul Rudd, Steve Carell, Christina Applegate and David Koechner join Ferrell in the Judd Apatow directed, Adam McKay written sequel. Watch: Burgundy himself announce the sequel a few months ago.

Honorable mentions – Horns, Mad Max: Fury Road, Inside Llewyn Davis, SpringBreakers, Captain Phillips, Nymphomaniac, Rush, Malavita, Kick-Ass 2.

There you have it folks, a lot to look forward to! Mark those calendars! What are you’re most anticipated films of 2013?