Predicting the Critics' Choice Awards

The 18th Annual Critics' Choice Movie Awards are tonight at 8/7 PM on the CW.  While I know the People's Choice Awards were last night (which on a side note, I was pleased to see The Hunger Games win, as well as Nathan Fillion), I really feel that today is the real start of the award's season.  Having started off with this morning's Oscar nominations, which you can read my reactions to here, to the Critics' Choice Movie Awards tonight, this is where everything starts to get real serious and the foot race to the Oscars begin.

The Critics' Choice Movie Awards are voted on by the Broadcast Film Critics Association, which is basically a large sampling of film critics from across the country, all coming together and picking what they thought were the best films of 2012.  So those guys and gals you read in the newspapers, they're the ones who choose the winners, so with that said, the Critics' Choice Movie Awards do tend to go more for critical favorites rather than popular opinion, like the Golden Globes and the Oscars tend to do.  In some ways, Critics' Choice tend to be the more popular award show amongst the arthouse crowd, and it's because the critics are typically the only ones who will honor artiness for the sake of being artsy.

If you've been keeping up with all of the critics' awards filtering out over the past two months, then you'll know that two movies are the ones to beat tonight -- Zero Dark Thirty and The Master.  While both films came away fairly battered and scarred from the Oscar nominations this morning, the critics will more than likely make up for the lack of Oscar nominations for both films with some hardware.  Other films to be mindful of tonight, obviously Lincoln, but I also would not count Argo out.  As it is, the critics do love to share the love, so it's often hard to predict them, but I am going to do my best.  For a full list of nominees, check here, and for my predictions, check below:

Best Picture - Zero Dark Thirty
Best Director - Kathryn Bigelow, Zero Dark Thirty
Best Actor - Daniel Day-Lewis, Lincoln
Best Actress - Jessica Chastain, Zero Dark Thirty
Best Supporting Actor - Tommy Lee Jones, Lincoln
Best Supporting Actress - Anne Hathaway, Les Miserables
Best Young Actor/Actress - Quvenzanhe Wallis, Beasts of the Southern Wild
Best Acting Ensemble - Lincoln
Best Original Screenplay - Paul Thomas Anderson, The Master
Best Adapted Screenplay - Tony Kushner, Lincoln
Best Cinematography - The Master
Best Art Direction - Life of Pi
Best Editing - Zero Dark Thirty
Best Costume Design - Anna Karenina
Best Makeup - Cloud Atlas
Best Visual Effects - Life of Pi
Best Animated Feature - Wreck-It Ralph
Best Action Movie - Skyfall
Best Actor in an Action Movie - Jake Gylenhall, End of Watch
Best Actress in an Action Movie - Judi Dench, Skyfall
Best Comedy - Silver Linings Playbook
Best Actor in a Comedy Movie - Jack Black, Bernie
Best Actress in a Comedy Movie - Jennifer Lawrence, Silver Linings Playbook
Best Sci-Fi/Horror Movie - Looper
Best Foreign Language Film - Amour
Best Documentary Feature - West of Memphis
Best Song - "Skyfall" from Skyfall
Best Score  - Lincoln

Remember to check back in later tonight, where I'll update my final tally to see how many I got right, and how many I was astronomically wrong about.  Predicting just makes it all the more fun to watch, so make your own predictions and tune in tonight on the CW.

UPDATE:  Okay, 19 out of 28.  Not too shabby considering how all over the place the critics were this year.  The biggest surprises were obviously the huge showing for Argo, with Ben Affleck winning Best Director and the film also taking home Best Picture, with critical favorites like Zero Dark Thirty and The Master being mostly overlooked.  Overall, though, it was a great show, and I have to say I was pleasantly surprised more often than I thought I would, and you know what, that's the type of award's show I like watching, not one where you can predict every winner before they're announced.  For a full list of winners, check 'em out here.

Reactions to the 2013 Oscar Nominations!

Wow!  That's all I can say after the Oscar nominations this morning.  Lincoln has now jumped out as a clear frontrunner with the Academy, racking up 12 nominations, the most nominations that any film nominated for both Best Picture and Best Director has, which is a genuine sign of it being the one to possibly place your money on come February 24th.  Personally, with Steven Spielberg as my favorite filmmaker of all-time, I'm ecstatic to possibly see him win his third Best Director Oscar.  Back in the Golden Age of Hollywood, the heavyweights like Capra and John Ford won multiple times, and Spielberg is just as deserving as those heavyweights.  Of course, the big news is the strong showings for Silver Linings Playbook and Beasts of the Southern Wild.

I honestly was not a fan of Beasts of the Southern Wild, but I highly respected the vision of director Benh Zeitlin, and felt that in all actuality, the script and the cinematography were what bogged it down, so to see recognition for Quvenzanhe Wallis for Best Actress was very welcome indeed.  Probably most surprising though, was to see first-time filmmaker Zeitlin nominated for Best Director.  While I didn't like the script, it was pretty much a forgone conclusion it was going to be nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay, and I thought that was where Zeitlin would get his one nomination, along with Lucy Alibar.  To see Zeitlin nominated, not just for his first film, but also for a film that only cost a little over a million dollars to produce, shows how much the Academy loves this small, Independent film that has been making waves since the Sundance Film Festival last January, further reinforcing why Sundance is such an important festival for Indies looking to get major recognition, both critically and financially.

Then, there's Silver Linings Playbook, which came out swinging, getting a nomination in all acting categories, followed by Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Director for David O. Russell, who was ignored by the Director's Guild, but finds just love here.  I honestly love this film and am so happy to see that the Audience Award winner from the Toronto International Film Festival not just get nominated, but also be the film looking to possibly spoil the whole thing by winning Best Picture.

Typically, if a film's screenplay is nominated, along with Best Picture, Best Director, and for an odd reason, though it has proven itself to be true almost every year in the past, Best Editing, then one of those films that racks up all four of those nominations will typically win Best Picture at the Oscars.  There were only three films to do just that:  Lincoln, Life of Pi, and Silver Linings Playbook.  Lincoln and Silver Linings both have an edge by getting multiple acting nods on top of the four nominations mentioned above, but one cannot deny how well-liked Life of Pi is.  Considered an unfilmable novel and then turned into one of the more enjoyable family entertainments from the Holiday season, it's just an uplifting film, one that, while I found it occasionally slow-moving, I did really enjoy, and obviously, so did the Academy.  So I would definitely say, it's a three way race to the finish line for those films, just my two cents.

As for other big surprises, an amazingly strong showing for the foreign film, Amour, getting nods not just for Best Foreign Language Film, but also pulling a coo and getting nods for Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actress.  This is a film that I have not seen yet, but really do want to see, if it will ever come out where I live.  What's real impressive though, is that this is a foreign language film breaking the barrier between English and another language, and to be honest, is just being considered another film alongside all of the American and British productions recognized.  This is uber-rare for this to happen, and it just shows how much love there is for this film.  Even if it doesn't win anything else, I would say that Best Foreign Language Film is a certainty for it.  Speaking of Foreign Language Film, anyone else shocked that the highest grossing French film of all-time, The Intouchables, was not even nominated?  The Academy loves to go sentimental with this category, but they omitted quite possibly the most sentimental film in the running.  Of course, the two biggest surprises were the snubs for Argo and Zero Dark Thirty.

All I've heard the past month is how Argo and Zero Dark Thirty were the films to beat, and while they both had impressive hauls, both films missed out for Best Director, which puts their perceived Best Picture hopes in the gutter.  It could still happen for both films, but it is real rare for the Academy to give Best Picture to a film not even nominated for Best Director, and when I mean real rare, it's like less than a 5% chance.  Honestly, though, I am so happy with the nominations and how they've completely changed the story of this year's award's season.  I was afraid it was getting to the point that we were gonna see a sweep from Zero Dark Thirty, considering how so many pundits were going on-and-on about how this was the one to beat, and yet it failed to get Oscar traction where it needed it, dashing, I believe, its Best Picture hopes.  So why did these two films miss?

Well, the Academy loves films that are emotional, both of these films were more cerebral than emotional, plus it shows that the Academy still isn't behind Ben Affleck as a director, which is a total shame in my opinion, I mean, have they not seen Gone Baby Gone?  As well, it reinforces the sexism of the Academy by ignoring Kathryn Bigelow, the only female winner for Best Director ever, not even giving her a shot for a second Oscar.  Of course, another film that, perhaps not so surprisingly got a little bit of a cold shoulder, was Les Miserables.  While it did net Best Picture as well as Best Actor for Hugh Jackman and Best Supporting Actress for Anne Hathaway, who will most likely win, no nod for Best Director for Tom Hooper.  There has been a lot of backlash in the industry to many of Hooper's stylistic choices he made with the film, and that is probably the reason he didn't get nominated like he did with the DGA.

So there you have it, award's season is in full swing, and I cannot be any more excited.  Tonight are the Critic's Choice Awards airing on the CW, of all places.  Expect Zero Dark Thirty to be the big winner there, if anything else wins with the critics, I would be shocked, and honestly, this may be this films only shot at bringing home major hardware this award's season.  Of final note, you can check out the full list of Oscar nominees here, and remember to check back here at the Review for predictions on all the major award's shows.

For Your Consideration: Final Round-Up

With the Oscar nominations coming tomorrow morning, I decided to take one last look back at the films from 2012 that should get nominated tomorrow, but most likely wont.

For me, 2012 was a fantastic year of movies, I mean, I literally gave more favorable reviews than negative ones, which I don't think I've had a year where I loved this many movies since 2009.  Reading other websites and film magazines, I get the general consensus that everyone feels that 2012 was one of the better years of film in years, and for that reason that also will make this year's Academy Awards one of the more up in the air competitions since perhaps 2005, when films like Crash and Brokeback Mountain were duking it out for the top prize.

This year, there really is a case that could be made for at least five movies to possibly win -- Zero Dark Thirty for its topical story, Argo for it's Hollywood saves the day narrative, Lincoln for its portrait of one of the most popular Presidents of all-time, Les Miserables for the Broadway crowd, and even Silver Linings Playbook on the fringe for just being such an enjoyable, well-loved film.

With so much stiff competition in 2012, many films fell by the wayside that might have made the cut in weaker years, but what really inspires this kind of post every year is that, while this has been an incredibly strong year for film, the Academy Awards often will not highlight some of the best films from any given year because of prejudices against superheroes, Hollywood blockbusters, and stuff that is often not considered artsy in their minds.  These are the films I want to look at today, the films that were artsy enough and would have made it had this not just been such an amazing year, as well as the films that will get snubbed purely because of their genre.   As always, it's easier to traverse such a post when it's in some sort of organized form, so I decided to list the films and the performances that I feel deserve recognition come tomorrow and wont get it.

Jack Black for Bernie 

Bernie was by far one of the funniest movies of 2012, and it was because of Jack Black as an effeminate Texan mortician accused of murder.  Black's performance was so dialed down from his usual, over-the-top schtick, I actually believed his performance, and found it all the funnier by him playing it straight and just letting the absurdity of the situations be what drives the humor.  A reserved performance from an actor who should have been recognized back in 2005 for his nuanced supporting work in King Kong (just my opinion, folks).

Best Adapted Screenplay for Skyfall

What writers Neal Purvis, Robert Wade, and John Logan, did with James Bond's 23rd adventure, Skyfall, was make an anti-Bond film that wound up being a true-blue Bond film thanks to their marvelous writing.  They delved deeper into these characters than any other Bond movie, they rocked Bond's world, made him less of a superhero, and yet that made him all the more awesome when he overcame his own shortcomings to save the day.  With the per-requisite supporting cast put back into the Bond world, as well as exotic locales and two of the better Bond girls since the Roger Moore-era, Skyfall felt like James Bond, while it still moved you emotionally.  While Skyfall is a dark horse contender in Supporting Actor for Javier Bardem's brilliant portrayal as bad guy Silva, as well as being a dark horse for Best Picture, the film's most deserved nomination is one that it probably wont get.

Elizabeth Olsen and Best Original Screenplay for Liberal Arts

Liberal Arts is one of those Indies that was well reviewed, and fairly well received by the arthouse crowd in general, and yet it hasn't generated one ounce of award's buzz.  Written, directed, and starring, How I Met Your Mother-star Josh Radnor, Liberal Arts was one of the more charming films of 2012.  Radnor's script was in all honesty the type of script you were taught to write in screenwriting classes.  It follows the three-act structure to perfection, while tying every character and situation to a central theme, not to mention Radnor's amazing ear for dialogue, with some of the more natural dialogue I've heard in a long time in this film.  Then, there's the performance from young actress, Elizabeth Olsen, as a college student who falls for Josh Radnor's 35-year-old admission's officer.  Olsen further proves herself as a charismatic, versatile star who just needs the right vehicle for her career to really launch off, but come on, she at least deserves to be mentioned in the Best Actress category for her work here.

Tom Hiddleston, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Picture for The Avengers

If there is one movie that I truly am furious about it's omission from any award's conversation so far, it's The Avengers.  How this film didn't even pop up with a Best Ensemble nomination from the Screen Actor's Guild is beside me.  Not only has The Avengers quickly become the third highest grossing film of all-time, but it did something that had never been done before.  Marvel took four separate film franchises, spanning five different films, and put all of those characters into one large event movie and it rocked the socks off of almost any other blockbuster from the past twenty years.  Seeing as how Best Picture nominates the producers, I really don't see why a movie that was such a huge risk, winding up to be so phenomenally awesome and successful, isn't grounds for nomination?  Then there's Joss Whedon's script, which balanced the personalities of all of these individual characters, who have proven to hold their own films very well, and then you have actor Tom Hiddleston as Loki, playing the quintessential villain.  It's always said, a hero is only as good as their villain, and Loki came across as a genuine threat thanks to Hiddleston's nuanced performance, that bests even Javier Bardem from Skyfall, and if that performance is getting Oscar buzz, then Hiddleston should be nominated for Best Supporting Actor.  It just baffles me, even after all these years covering the Oscars.  I mean, why so much bias to films that deliver awesomeness, emotion, and entertainment, all packaged into one?  That is the question.

Across the Board for The Hunger Games

The Hunger Games is probably the one film from 2012 that I feel genuinely deserves to be recognized in all categories.  This should not be interpreted as me saying it's the best film of 2012, but from a production standpoint, it was probably the most well put together.  From the immense time and detail put into bringing the world of the novels to life, through massive sets, spectacular make-up work and costumes, to the intense performances from the likes of Jennifer Lawrence and Woody Harrelson, all the way to the pitch perfect screenplay from Suzanne Collins and Gary Ross, it all worked.  Not to mention the editing and cinematography, that sold the gritty world that Gary Ross was creating for this sci-fi thriller.  And come on, Gary Ross for Best Director.  If you're gonna nominate him for Seabiscuit, then he has to be nominated for The Hunger Games.  Few films of this scale bear an artist's mark quite like this film does, from every performance to every decision involving the look and feel of the world, it all feels of one vision, and that stems from the director.  Given all I said above, it's a no-brainer that I also feel that a good adaptation of a Young Adult book series should be given a Best Picture nod rather than just saying it's the new Twilight.  Alas, it wont, due to bias against films based on teen books, as well as bias towards the science fiction genre in general.  If Harry Potter never broke through the glass ceiling with the Oscars, then there is no way The Hunger Games will, but it so should.  The books are serious works of literature, and the film is a seriously thought provoking piece of cinema.

Movie Review: "The Impossible"

Director J.A. Bayona's survival film, The Impossible, tells the harrowing true story of one family on vacation in Thailand on December 26th 2004, when the historic tsunami hit and separated this family.  The whole film follows two different stories:  the oldest son (Tom Holland) with his injured mom (Naomi Watts), trying to get her to safety, while the other two sons and their dad (Ewan McGreggor), search for his wife and son. 

The Impossible's script never really fleshes out the backstories of these characters, but what makes the film so affecting are the in-the-moment performances by the actors and the tense direction from Bayona.  The way Watts, McGreggor, Holland, and the other two child actors that make up the family, play their roles is where the film lives.  They take the events that they're given, and even though there is nothing to their characters that inform how or why they'd make decisions, the actor's decide to make their decisions based upon primal instincts of what one would do if their loved ones were lost or in danger. 

All of the child actors are perfectly cast, and teenager Tom Holland actually has the largest role in the film, delivering a soulful performance showing an emotional maturity that few actors in his age range have.  Then Watts and McGreggor both re-enforce why they're two of the premiere actors in the industry, with one close-up shot where Watts is being dragged to safety through the disaster area, being a moment worthy of Oscar contention.

While The Impossible's script is lacking in depth of character, the raw nature of the performances and the directing, as well as the beautiful cinematography, makes The Impossible a film worth seeing, but be warned, the rawness of seeing such devastation and physical injury could be unsettling for some moviegoers.

I give The Impossible a B+

Most Anticipated - 2013

2013 is here!  A new year of film, and time to make all of those resolutions to yourself that you never really follow up.  For once, I would like to actually fulfill one New Year's Resolution by year's end, perhaps I have always aimed too high, but to be honest, it's just cause I'm a procrastinator.  This year, no procrastination, my New Year's Resolution is to write and direct my first feature film, with it being done in time to submit to 2014's Sundance Film Festival.  I'm aiming high, I know, but I feel it can be done.  The big thing is, I don't have the script yet, but that's my first order of business.  To be perfectly honest, I feel that I could have the film made by year's end, but in time to make the deadline for submissions to Sundance really puts me on the clock and gives me a pseudo-deadline so I can't procrastinate and say, well, next year.  But enough chit-chat about what I wanna try and accomplish personally this next year, what I really want to do here is geek out about the films to come this year.

With 2012 now in the rearview mirror, I feel I can actually get legitimately excited by the films of 2013, and there is a ton coming out this year that has me giddy.  While I still haven't fully wrapped up my coverage on the films of 2012, I plan on posting my 2012 Best of Film Lists starting January 14th.  Till then, it's all about 2013.  2013 is a year that looks to be full of tons of awesome comic book adaptations and continuations of great film franchises.  While at the outset it seems to be scant on original ideas, the geek inside of me can't deny my excitement for all of these films that will be hitting theaters this whole next year.  So I'll honestly just stop trying to drum up excitement, and I am gonna get on to what are my 10 Most Anticipated Films of 2013!

10.  Jack Ryan

Tom Clancy's famed CIA analyst, Jack Ryan, finally returns to the bigscreen next Christmas, with actor Chris Pine (Captain Kirk from 2009's Star Trek) filling the shoes of Alec Baldwin, Harrison Ford, and Ben Affleck, respectively.  Being the fourth in a long line of Jack Ryan's is a daunting task, in particular when you're having to live up to Ford's iconic portrayals in Patriot Games and Clear and Present Danger, but Jack Ryan has many things going for it.  Not only is Pine one of the more charismatic action stars since Harrison Ford's heyday ended, but the film also features a big name cast, from Keira Knightley, to Kevin Costner, all the way to Kenneth Branagh pulling double duty as both director and bad guy in the film.  With Branagh fresh off the success of the first Thor film, proving his action chops, I can't wait to see how this one turns out.  I just hope they uphold the tone of the previous Ryan films.  Jack Ryan has never necessarily been a James Bond man of action, but rather a thinking man who isn't the best person out in the field to execute the mission.  All of the other films were more thinking man's thrillers, we'll see if they go more for insane action come Christmas Day.

9.  Rush

The first of two films on this list that I had on last year's list as well.  As things often go in Hollywood, movies get delayed as things like effects and whatnot start coming into the mix.  What I'm most intrigued about Rush is that it follows Formula-One racer Niki Lauda, who must get back behind the wheel to race rival, James Hunt, only mere weeks after a devastating crash in 1976.  The film has prestige product written all around it, for two reasons:  it's a biopic, and it's directed by Ron Howard, however, like Howard's work with Apollo 13, this has a chance to be as entertaining as it is prestigious.  With car racing being a central motif throughout the film, it will make this one of the more entertaining biopic's made in who know's when.  Plus, as I said last year, I really want to see Thor himself, Chris Hemsworth, sink his teeth into a more dramatic role with the part of James Hunt.  Check it out when it hits this September.

8.  The Wolverine

After the debacle that was X-Men Origins:  Wolverine, I almost thought Hugh Jackman should hang up the claws, but I have to say I'm oddly excited for that film's follow-up, The Wolverine.  First off, it's not a direct sequel to that prequel film, but rather it follows the third X-Men film, X-Men:  The Last Stand.  Second, it tells the story of quite possibly the most popular Wolverine comic story of all-time, where Wolverine goes to Japan, trains under a samurai and gets mixed up with the Yakuza.  What really intrigues me is that director James Mangold said that this will be one of the first superhero films ever made where the good guys and bad guys aren't so clear.  Almost every character will be in that morally gray area, which will make for what could be one of the more unique superhero films ever produced.  We'll see, but given the darker, more grounded tone Mangold seems to be going for, and also noticing how ripped Hugh Jackman got to reprise the role, there is no way I wont be in the theater come July for this one.

7.  Saving Mr. Banks

For me, this is one of the more intriguing films coming out in 2013.  The screenplay, which gained notoriety when it made 2011's Black List of the best unproduced screenplays in the industry, as voted on by film producers, the film will now finally be coming to a theater near you, courtesy of Disney.  This truly is a perfect family film for Disney that could also put them in the major awards' hunt next year if they so choose.  The film tells the story of Mary Poppins' author P.L. Travers (portrayed by Emma Thompson), and the multi-year long negotiations between her and Walt Disney to get the book to the silver screen, while we see Travers' childhood and how it inspired Mary Poppins.  This is the type of film that could easily turn into schmaltz, but given the talent onboard, it's hard not to think this truly is something more than just your average biopic.  Emma Thompson is a magnificent actress, and is perfect casting, but the performance I can't wait to see is Tom Hanks as Walt Disney.  I have to say I was initially taken aback by it, but the more I think about, the more I realize, the best way to portray an icon is to have an icon play him, and Tom Hanks just seems to be the right fit.  This is one to keep your eyes on as it comes out Christmas week next December.

6.  Gravity
Another film that was on last year's list, but got delayed.  Director Alfonso Cuaron (Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Children of Men) makes his bigscreen return with this film, telling the story of two astronauts trying to return to Earth after their ship is damaged, leaving them drifting through space. Children of Men is one of the finest sci-fi films of the past decade, and Cuaron is one of the more original directors currently working.  His insane imagination and propensity for long takes rather than quick cutting has made him famous, with word of a twenty minute long opening shot for Gravity having me giddy with excitement.  Then, there's the cast, which is essentially a two person show between Sandra Bullock and George Clooney.  A large name cast for a cast so small.  While Bullock only got the role after Angelina Jolie and Natalie Portman both dropped out, ditto for Clooney after Robert Downey, Jr. departed the film, both Bullock and Clooney are top notch actors and it's exciting to think about the two playing off one another as their characters are trying to survive.  Gravity is supposed to hit theaters this October, fingers crossed that perfectionist Cuaron wont delay it again.

5.  Thor:  The Dark World
The first Thor has really grown on me since it first was released two years ago, and this is by far the film I'm most excited about out of Marvel's Phase Two following up The Avengers.  First, we never got a true follow-up in The Avengers to the relationship between Thor and human love, Jane Foster, and their romantic comedy-like relationship was one of the highlights of the first film.  Second, Game of Thrones director, Alan Taylor, comes onboard to steer the film and try to embellish on the fantastical aspects of the Nine Realms of the Universe.  Then, there's just the idea of getting to see Chris Hemsworth portray Thor again, which is always a treat, as well as getting to see what's become of Tom Hiddleston's Loki following the events of The Avengers.  Then, there's Christopher Eccleston joining the film as baddie, Malekith the Dark Elf.  Eccleston is such a marvelous actor, I have no doubt that he'll deliver a villain that is possibly even more vile than Loki from the first film.  Plus, who doesn't want to see more of Thor in super-powered battle with a slightly larger budget?  Thor:  The Dark World comes out in November.

4.  Man of Steel
Superman has had many ups-and-downs on the bigscreen, with the last attempt at rebooting Superman, 2006's Superman Returns, falling flat on its face.  In many ways, Man of Steel feels like Warner Bros. last ditch effort to revive Superman, and if this one fails, then it may be over for Superman, for at least the foreseeable future.  The big thing that has me excited for this one is that it looks so different from any other superhero film that's ever been made.  The filmmakers seem to be approaching this film with a what if type premise of:  What if a man showed up in our real world with these type of powers, and how would our real world react?  My biggest fear, with the film trying to ground Superman in reality is that the film loses its sense of who Superman is and doesn't allow him to ever have any fun, but I choose to have faith here.  Produced by Christopher Nolan, written by Batman Begins scribe, David Goyer, and directed by Zack Snyder (300), who at the very least has an amazing visual sense, this film has a lot of talent going for it.  Then there's the all star cast that falls in around Henry Cavill's Superman.  From Amy Adams to Diane Lane to Kevin Costner, all the way to Russell Crowe and Laurence Fishbourne.  That's a huge cast of A+ talent, all onboard, so perhaps there is truly something special about this story that had so many big names willing to sign on.  We'll find out when Man of Steel comes out this June.

3.  The Hobbit:  The Desolation of Smaug
The Hobbit:  An Unexpected Journey was one of my favorite films of 2012, and I cannot wait to see the final two installments of The Hobbit story.  The Hobbit:  The Desolation of Smaug, looks to feature all of the most exciting parts of the book.  From the battle with the gigantic spiders, to a recently released picture showing Bilbo Baggins entering the dragon's lair, promising the showdown between Bilbo and the dragon, Smaug, The Desolation of Smaug could very easily top An Unexpected Journey, which I thought was perfect.  Plus, we're gonna see the return of Orlando Bloom as Legolas, and Peter Jackson and company have already teased the notion that we'll get to see what Gandalf did when he disappeared for most of the latter portion of the book.  Like the first film, The Desolation of Smaug looks to delve even deeper into the back stories of the characters in The Hobbit, and that was my personal favorite part of the first film, so I cannot express how excited I am for this one.  We'll see if The Desolation of Smaug lives up to the hype this December.

2.  The Hunger Games:  Catching Fire
A sequel to another one of my favorite films from 2012, The Hunger Games:  Catching Fire also happens to be based on a best selling young adult novel that I love, as well.  The second installment out of The Hunger Games series ups the ante from the first time around, with the threat of revolution just around the corner in the country of Panem, as Katniss and Peeta find themselves thrown back into the thick of things when the 75th Annual Hunger Games rolls around and evil President Snow decrees that previous victors will have to fight again.  Catching Fire is perhaps the finest book of the trilogy, and with all of the original cast returning, as well as new additions, such as Phillip Seymour Hoffman, this film has a lot going for it.  The only fear I have is that the first film's writer/director, Gary Ross, felt he couldn't mount a sequel fast enough and the director's chair has now been filled by Francis Lawrence (I Am Legend, Water for Elephants).  As we saw with the Harry Potter series, the changing of directors often led to an inconsistency in tone and style.  Here's hoping that The Hunger Games:  Catching Fire will feel like a spiritual successor to the first film when it releases this November.

1.  Star Trek:  Into Darkness
The sequel to my favorite film of 2009.  If you were a fan of the first Star Trek, there really shouldn't be any cause for concern.  The entire cast and crew from the first film has returned, with J.J. Abrams once more steering the ship as director.  The first Trek was one of the more fun and enjoyable films made in years, and the cast had a genuine chemistry that made the film what it was.  With Into Darkness, it looks as if Abrams and company are delving deeper into the bonds between the crew members of the Enterprise as they face a genuinely terrifying threat, from a villain that is currently being called John Harrison, but many fans believe to be the new rendition of Khan, the bad guy famously portrayed by Ricardo Montalban.  Whether or not the baddie is Khan, the first trailer was mind-blowing, promising a larger scale and more action than the first film.  And from what I understand, while the film is called, Star Trek:  Into Darkness, early reports from the first nine minutes of the film that were screened before The Hobbit:  An Unexpected Journey in Imax, claim that the film will still retain the sense of humor and fun from the previous installment.  We'll see how dark the film really is when it reaches theaters this May.