#27
Black Mass
TBA
[amz asin=”0307986551″ size=”small”]I’ve tried to keep this list of anticipated films limited to films I feel rather confident actually will hit theaters in 2014. So you won’t be seeing any of Terrence Malick‘s possible films on this list (not that I’m sure I’d even want to) or any other countless number of films that make up more of our “wish” lists than anticipated lists.
That said, Black Mass seems to make me something of a hypocrite in this sense since I’m not holding my breath Barry Levinson (Sleepers, Wag the Dog) will have this film in theaters or even late year festivals this year, but I’m, nevertheless, looking forward to seeing what screenwriter Mark Mallouk has done with his adaptation of Dick Lehr and Gerard O’Neill‘s book “Whitey: The Life of America’s Most Notorious Mob Boss” and what Joel Edgerton will do in the role of Whitey Bolger. Could be good.
John Connolly and James “Whitey” Bulger grew up together on the streets of South Boston. Decades later, in the late 1970s, they would meet again. By then, Connolly was a major figure in the FBI’s Boston office and Whitey had become godfather of the Irish Mob. What happened between them – a dirty deal to trade secrets and take down Boston’s Italian Mafia in the process – would spiral out of control, leading to murders, drug dealing, racketeering indictments, and, ultimately, to Bulger making the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted List.
#26
The Judge
October 10
Directed by David Dobkin (Wedding Crashers) and starring Robert Downey Jr. and Robert Duvall, this one piqued my interest but sort of sneaking up on me and with a supporting cast that includes Vera Farmiga, Vincent D’Onofrio, Dax Shepard, Leighton Meester, Melissa Leo, Billy Bob Thornton, Balthazar Getty, David Krumholtz, Grace Zabriskie and Denis O’Hare I can’t help but hold some measure of interest.
In The Judge, big city lawyer Hank Palmer (Robert Downey Jr.) returns to his childhood home where his estranged father, the town’s judge (Robert Duvall), is suspected of murder. He sets out to discover the truth and along the way reconnects with the family he walked away from years before.
#25
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1
November 21
[amz asin=”0439023513″ size=”small”]I feel I overpraised the first Hunger Games and then The Hunger Games: Catching Fire felt like merely an installment rather than a whole film, but to be entirely honest, after reading the three books that make up this book-trilogy-turned-filmed-quadrilogy, Mockingjay is all I’ve been waiting for and, to be more specific, Mockingjay – Part 2, but until that arrives I’m still very interested in seeing how they handle this third book as the violence goes from seven to ten with an ending I can’t imagine anyone that read the book saw coming… at least not entirely.
Against all odds, Katniss Everdeen has survived the Hunger Games twice. But now that she’s made it out of the bloody arena alive, she’s still not safe. The Capitol is angry. The Capitol wants revenge. Who do they think should pay for the unrest? Katniss. And what’s worse, President Snow has made it clear that no one else is safe either. Not Katniss’s family, not her friends, not the people of District 12. Powerful and haunting, this thrilling final installment of Suzanne Collins’s groundbreaking The Hunger Games trilogy promises to be one of the most talked about books of the year.
#24
Dumb and Dumber To
November 14
I can’t help it, I’m anticipating the return of Harry and Lloyd in a way I almost feel ashamed. Everything about this movie sounds so dumb and unnecessary that I think it’s what has me so excited to see it. Perhaps I’m setting myself up for a complete disappointment, but the minute I heard Brady Bluhm was returning as Billy Dumb and Dumber To became a must see.
Sequel to 1994’s Dumb and Dumber starring Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels as Lloyd Christmas and Harry Dunne as they hit the road to find Harry’s long-lost daughter to donate a kidney for a transplant.
