2014 Movie Preview

DREAMS ’14: LOOKING AHEAD TO A BRAND NEW YEAR

by Bennett Campbell Ferguson

 Above: Matthew McConaughey drives toward the future in Christopher Nolan's "Interstellar"

 

Bottles have been opened, songs have been sung, and already, it’s hard not to wait and wonder about what new films we’ll have fallen in love with by this time next year.  As always, I have faith that the results will be surprising.  But here are a few 2014 movies that I’m salivating:

THE DOUBLE (Richard Ayoade) With “Submarine,” actor-turned-director Richard Ayoade proved himself to be a master of creating surreal visions within the confines of ordinary routines.  Now, with this modern-day adaptation of Dostoevsky’s novella, he turns his quirky eye to a clerk (Jesse Eisenberg) finds himself confronted by an exact copy of himself.  In addition to Mr. Eisenberg, this bizarre scenario is populated by two talented “Submarine” acting alums (Noah Taylor and Yasmin Page) and Mia Wasikoska (“Alice in Wonderland,” “The Kids Are All Right”). 

Release date to be determined.    

INTERSTELLAR (Christopher Nolan) “From Christopher Nolan.”  For me, those are three of the most intoxicating words to be found in the midst of a movie trailer, a promise that something giddily profound is being spun by the brilliant director of the “Dark Knight” trilogy and “Inception.”  Of course beyond that, “Interstellar” remains a mystery—all that is known thus far is that the film involves a journey into outer space.  But knowing Mr. Nolan, that voyage will inevitably play host to glorious suspense and exhilaratingly complicated storytelling along the way. 

            Release date: November 7^TH.

IO E TE (Bernardo Bertolucci) Bernardo Bertolucci’s return to filmmaking may have been inspired by James Cameron (the notorious Italian auteur has credited “Avatar” with reigniting his passion for cinema), but don’t expect his latest to deposit you in a digital dreamland, but rather, a basement.  Quite literally, in fact—in this 3D film, Mr. Bertolucci tells the story of a fourteen year old boy (Jacopo Olmo Antinori) who tells his family he’s going on vacation…but instead disappears into the bowels beneath his mother’s apartment.  If you’ve seen “The Dreamers,” you know that Mr. Bertolucci understands exactly how to rouse such a saga to vibrant life—by packing it with bright colors, beautiful emotions, and a bounty of vividly lovable characters. 

Release date to be determined.

NOAH (Darren Aronofsky) Does the world want an ocean-sized retelling of “Noah’s Ark”?  Hard to say.  But the fact that “Noah” is Darren Aronofsky’s first epic since his 2006 masterpiece “The Fountain” is reason enough to watch this film, which stars Russell Crowe as Noah and Jennifer Connelly, Emma Watson, and Logan Lerman as the other survivors of an apocalyptic flood.  What’s more, the return of longtime Aronofsky cinematographer Matthew Libatique has already borne artistic fruit—the movie’s trailer features a rivetingly disorienting shot of a drop of water landing on an eyeball. 

Release date: March 28^TH.

X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST (Bryan Singer) Even after artistic missteps like “X-Men: First Class” and “The Wolverine,” the X-Men series remains one of the most profound and entertaining screen sagas of modern era—a powerfully emotional adventure that is as much a character drama as it is an intolerance-attacking allegory.  Nowhere is that more apparent than in the story of this film, in which genocide has nearly exterminated the tragic superheroes of title.  But happily, there’s hope, as the movie also follows the tortured mutant known as Logan (played by Hugh Jackman) as he journeys back through time, hoping to reverse to course of history and save the lives of his devoted friends, before their ruthless enemies can conquer them once and for all…. 

            Release date: May 23^RD.

Also Coming In 2014:
“The Amazing Spider-Man 2” (Marc Webb)
"The Immigrant" (James Gray")
"Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit" (Kenneth Branagh)
"Transcendence" (Wally Pfister)