#3
Gone Girl
October 3
[amz asin=”B006LSZECO” size=”small”]I hear mixed things about Gone Girl. Half the people I’ve talked to loved Gillian Flynn‘s novel, the other half consider it just another average piece of airport fiction. The question is, can director David Fincher elevate the story to something worthwhile? If history tells me anything he absolutely can, but the raised eyebrows of some tell me this one hinges on a twist in the narrative that lands with more of a thud than a shudder. I haven’t read the book, I don’t know what happens and I hope that works in my favor. We’ll find out ten months from now.
On a warm summer morning in North Carthage, Missouri, it is Nick (Ben Affleck) and Amy Dunne’s fifth wedding anniversary. Presents are being wrapped and reservations are being made when Nick’s clever and beautiful wife disappears from their rented McMansion on the Mississippi River. Husband-of-the-Year Nick isn’t doing himself any favors with cringe-worthy daydreams about the slope and shape of his wife’s head, but passages from Amy’s diary reveal the alpha-girl perfectionist could have put anyone dangerously on edge. Under mounting pressure from the police and the media–as well as Amy’s fiercely doting parents–the town golden boy parades an endless series of lies, deceits, and inappropriate behavior. Nick is oddly evasive, and he’s definitely bitter–but is he really a killer?
As the cops close in, every couple in town is soon wondering how well they know the one that they love. With his twin sister, Margo, at his side, Nick stands by his innocence. Trouble is, if Nick didn’t do it, where is that beautiful wife? And what was in that silvery gift box hidden in the back of her bedroom closet?
With her razor-sharp writing and trademark psychological insight, Gillian Flynn delivers a fast-paced, devilishly dark, and ingeniously plotted thriller that confirms her status as one of the hottest writers around.
#2
Interstellar
November 7
It’s Christopher Nolan, so, of course Interstellar is the most anticipated blockbuster of the year. You can talk about how excited you are for the next obscure piece of cinema out of France, China and Turkey, but in the end I think we all hold out hope there will be one big budget feature to knock our socks off and Nolan tends to deliver just that.
Interstellar chronicles the adventures of a group of explorers who make use of a newly discovered wormhole to surpass the limitations on human space travel and conquer the vast distances involved in an interstellar voyage.
#1
Boyhood
TBA
UPDATE: Boyhood will premiere at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival on January 19.
I was hesitant including this one on the list, but in the end it seems like it has a strong chance of hitting theaters this year and the decision was either to not include it at all or to make it my #1 as Richard Linklater‘s Boyhood (aka Untitled 12-Year Project) is a film that should be topping most everyone’s list.
Twelve years in the making, Linklater has teamed with Ethan Hawke, Patricia Arquette and Ellar Coltrane to bring to life the story of a young boy, told in short segments. Here’s how Hawke described the film in a recent Reddit AMA:
First up, I guess I should tell people what BOYHOOD is. It’s a project also known as THE TWELVE YEAR PROJECT; Richard Linklater and I have made a short film every year for the last 11 years, one more to go, that follows the development of a young boy from age 6 to 18. I play the father, and it’s Tolstoy-esque in scope. I thought the BEFORE series was the most unique thing I would ever be a part of, but Rick has engaged me in something even more strange. Doing a scene with a young boy at the age of 7 when he talks about why do raccoons die, and at the age of 12 when he talks about video games, and 17 when he asks me about girls, and have it be the same actor – to watch his voice and body morph – it’s a little bit like timelapse photography of a human being. I can’t wait for people to see it.
Next year, he will graduate high school and we will finish the film. It will probably come out in 2 years.
It sounds like it’s essentially a dramatized version of Michael Apted‘s Up series of documentaries and I absolutely cannot wait to see it.
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A film shot over the course of twelve years following the development of a young boy (Ellar Coltrane) from age 7 to 18.
So there it is. I’m sure many of the titles were obvious, but I hope a few weren’t entirely on your radar for the new year and give you a little something to look forward to that you may otherwise not have known about. You can check out the three previous installments in this list of my Top 40 Most Anticipated Movies of 2014 using the navigation below and please share your most anticipated movies in the comments before you go.
Most Anticipated 2014 Navigation #1-10 | #31-40
