Well, since we talked about some of our most anticipated films of 2014 on today’s “Pat & JT in the Morning” (podcast starts around 23:11), I thought it would be good to actually make a list of the films I’m looking forward in 2014, as well as those that I’m definitely NOT looking forward to. Enjoy!
THE GOOD
10. Muppets Most Wanted
Why You Should See This Movie: Tina Fey, Ty Burrell, Ricky Gervais, Tom Hiddleston, and so many celebrity cameos. Also, the Kermit-lookalike criminal pretends to be Kermit, and hilarity ensues.
9. Divergent
Why You Should See This Movie: This is the next young adult book-to-film sensation (The book is on my shelf right now, and I’ll read it right before the movie). And Shailene Woodley, who plays Tris, is the anti-KStew.
8. Jupiter Ascending
Why You Should See This Movie: The Wachowskis are back with a mysterious sci-fi movie. Their most recent film, Cloud Atlas, flopped at the box office (even though it was a good movie). But you might better know them from The Matrix trilogy. Mila Kunis, Channing Tatum, and death incarnate Sean Bean star.
7. Guardians of the Galaxy
Why You Should See This Movie: Marvel has been pretty tight-lipped about the details, so I’m intrigued. Did I mention that Bradley Cooper is a talking raccoon, Vin Diesel is a talking tree, and Chris Pratt got hot?
6. The Amazing Spider-Man 2
Why You Should See This Movie: Andrew Garfield is a fantastic Spider-Man, and he has great chemistry with Emma Stone, who plays Gwen Stacy. And I’m pretty sure this movie will see the rise of the Sinister Six.
5. X-Men: Days of Future Past
Why You Should See This Movie: Five words: Peter Dinklage as a villain. Okay, more than five words: The combination of the old X-Men and the new. Plus, this trailer made me feel all kinds of things.
4. Godzilla
Why You Should See This Movie: Have you seen this trailer? Holy shit. Bryan Cranston, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, and Elizabeth Olsen star, and all are solid actors. And besides, they really can’t screw this movie up after the Matthew Broderick Godzilla mess in 1998. *shivers* It was so awful.
3. The Monuments Men
Why You Should See This Movie: George Clooney’s pet project tells the story of the Americans, British, and French who went into battle during WWII to save history’s greatest art from the Nazis. Sounds amazing, right?
2. The Grand Budapest Hotel
Why You Should See This Movie: Wes Anderson needs no explanation. Nor does Ralph Fiennes.
1. Interstellar
Why You Should See This Movie: We haven’t seen a trailer that explains what the hell this movie is about yet. But if you’ve ever heard about the Christopher Nolan Batman-Prestige theory, then you can bet your ass that Interstellar will be even more mind-blowing than The Prestige and Inception.
THE BAD
10. The Purge 2
Why You Shouldn’t See This Movie: The first Purge was okay, but it doesn’t warrant a sequel.
9. Paranormal Activity 5
Why You Shouldn’t See This Movie: Just stop it already. The first movie sucked, and they’re all the same.
8. Pompeii
Why You Shouldn’t See This Movie: Although I love Kit Harrington’s sad puppy eyes on Game of Thrones, this Jon Snow knows nothing about picking a decent movie. A love story set during the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius? No one cares. The characters are just going to die anyway (History spoiled that one for us).
7. 300: Rise of an Empire
Why You Shouldn’t See This Movie: While I’ll give this movie props for having both Lena Headey and Eva Green as main characters, I’m tired of this whole gladiator sandal-wearing warrior fetish Hollywood has right now. I know there’s a comic that correlates to this film, but the original 300 died. Just let them rest in peace.
6. Need for Speed
Why You Shouldn’t See This Movie: NOOOOOOO. We already have Fast & Furious beating this dead Ferrari.
5. Robocop
Why You Shouldn’t See This Movie: Robocop, also known as “the remake NO ONE asked for.”
4. Dumb and Dumber To
Why You Shouldn’t See This Movie: Unless you’re a 12-year-old boy, this movie won’t be funny.
3. Transformers 4: Age of Extinction
Why You Shouldn’t See This Movie: I liked the first Transformers, but Michael Bay is turning this franchise into Fast & Furious (minus the sometimes enjoyable camp). He doesn’t care if these movies are actually good because he’ll still get millions of dollars just for having hot girls, explosions, and robot fights.
2. Noah
Why You Shouldn’t See This Movie: Don’t get me wrong. Darren Aronofsky has made some pretty good movies. But Noah won’t be one of them. First of all, Russell Crowe has Vince Vaughn disease (in that he can’t play anyone other than himself). Also, how has no one noticed that this is yet another Hollywood white-wash?
1. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Why You Shouldn’t See This Movie: Goddamnit, Michael Bay. Just goddamnit.
***
What movies make YOUR “Top 10″ must-see list this year? Discuss in the comments!
bailsofhemp.com 
I was looking forward to Pompeii, assuming that it was based on the novel by Robert (Fatherland, Ghost, Enigma) Harris and kicking off with a hydraulic engineer investigating problems with the aqueducts in advance of the eruption, so all the gladiator stuff in the trailer you linked to surprised me and already looks like a lot old-hat cliches. But I see that a Polanski movie based on Harris’s book was cancelled in 2007 and they did Ghost (aka The Ghost Writer) instead, and this is something else. Pity.
I liked Cloud Atlas (and the first Matrix) and haven’t heard of Jupiter Ascending, so that might be interesting. I am looking forward to Interstellar, as Inception was one of my favourite films in recent years and from what I gather it is more 2001 than Star Wars (not so keen on The Prestige, though I liked the Christopher Priest book). Monuments Men looks good too. And The Grand Budapest Hotel… I liked Rushmore and The Royal Tenenbaums but have never seen another film by Wes Anderson, not sure why not.
“…all the gladiator stuff in the trailer you linked to surprised me and already looks like a lot old-hat cliches.” EXACTLY. It might have been a good movie, but they decided to make it look like every other movie from this period.
Also, have you seen Moonrise Kingdom? That’s the Wes Anderson film that was nominated last year for Best Original Screenplay. I thought it was fantastic.
No, I remember hearing about Moonrise Kingdom when it came out, and thinking I ought to go and see it, but never did.
Talking of Christopher “Prestige” Priest, as I did above, here is a true story he posted yesterday about his typewriter history. http://www.christopher-priest.co.uk/journal/2151/we-did-things-differently-then/
Noah movie co-stars Jennifer Connelly, whose mother is Jewish, and Logan Lerman, who is just Jewish. Surely they can play Old Testament characters.