Stoker

- The Hollywood debut project for the director of ever-praised Oldboy, Park Chan Wook directs supposedly one of the most praised unproduced script of 2010. Chronicling a teenage girl, India (played by Mia Wasikowska), who is spiraling down the unsettling realities and family issues with the arrival of his uncle to her house after her father's death, this film is looking like it's probably going to be a classic Oscar-bait. It is also looking like it will be absolutely thrilling to watch, just like Park's previous works such as Oldboy, Lady Vengeance, and Joint Security Area.

Sadly, this isn't a film about vampires, but you can experience the director's take on that genre in Thirst.




Snowpiercer

- Another Korean director's Hollywood Debut, this time the director of what I think is the best crime drama of 21st century, Memories of Murder, and also the best monster movie of 21st century, the Host, Bong Joon Ho seeks to prove his ingenuity in the land of dreams with a quite dreamless movie. Set in the near future where the earth has entered the ice age and only people that have survived the catastrophe are sheltered in an always-moving train, the film will surely be an interest to many fans of apocalyptic world, and is likely to grasp them with Bong's unparalleled attention-to-detail directing methods.

This film, based on the French comic of the same name (or it is when translated to English), is featuring an all-star cast with Chris Evans (Captain America), Song Kang Ho (Memories of Murder, The Host), Ed Harris, Jamie Bell, Tilda Swinton, John Hurt etc.




The Last Stand

- The last of Korean trio who are debuting in Hollywood this year, The Last Stand a pure-action focused popcorn movie featuring none other than the Governator himself. Directed by Kim Ji Woon, the director of A Bittersweet Life, The Good The Bad and The Weird, A Tale of Two Sisters, and last but not least, I Saw the Devil, it follows the old US sheriff taking his last stand against fleeing Mexican cartel with FBI agents on their tail. It is corny, it's cheesy, it is 80's and it looks hella fun.

It is also the motion picture event signalling the return of Arnie back as the main gunner, and with Kim Ji Woon's, quite frankly, unmatched action cinematography and choreography (just watch The Good, The Bad, and The Weird and A Bittersweet Life), this movie is sure to please lots of people.




Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

- The second chapter of the Hobbit trilogy will focus on the fall of Dol Guldur, the refuge place of Dark Lord Sauron and the fortress of the Witchking of Angmar. It will also likely to see the Bilbo's encounter of the titular Smaug as well. I have not watched the Unexpected Journey yet, but seeing how it is Peter Jackson, and seeing how Hobbit actually gets more epic around the half way point, I have no doubt this will deliver, setting up a nice closure in the inevitable Battle of Five Armies.

And I always liked the Dol Guldur stories and Moria stories in appendixes.




Kick-ass 2

- Matthew Vaughn's acclaimed satirical hero movie Kick-ass is getting a sequel, and this time the stakes are higher. Jim carrey leads the cast into battle against Red Mist (reborn as the Mother Fvcker), while Chloe Moretz deals with the terrifying horror that is high school. It still remains to be seen whether the change of director will result in a favourable outcome, but it still is Kick-ass as we remember it, it seems, and well, it looks Kick-ass.

My only gripe would be that Chloe Moretz got taller.




The Great Gatsby

- A sure Oscar-bait based on the classic inter-war era novel of same name by F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby is yet another quest for Leonardo DiCaprio to find himself in the Oscar nominees selection. Let us hope that this is the one that wins him that Oscar he has deserved so many times before. Also featuring the adorable Cary Mulligan (Shame, An Education, and Drive) as Daisy, one can only hope that this is the film that finally does the justice to its classic source material.

At the very list, it looks like it will be a fine feast for your eyes with very authentic portrayal of lavish 20's America.




Red 2

- I really liked Red. It wasn't just because half of it was shot in Toronto, but the whole premise was interesting. The way I see it, it is like Expendables, but infinitely better in every fvcking way. It was genuinely funny, well-acted, had amicable characters, and overall, Helen Mirren shooting big guns. Can you think of any 60-year-old atress that looks this awesome while shooting guns. No, you can't, because there isn't any. That is why Red is awesome, and that is also the reason why Red 2 will be, inevitably, awesome.

The film also features my person favourite, Byung-Hun Lee (A Bittersweet Life, I Saw the Devil, The Good The Bad The Weird). It is about time he gets a proper role in Hollywood movie; he was the only good part in G. I. Joe, but still, it's G. I. Joe. This guy needs a better recognition, and here is hoping that Red 2 will provide that.




Oldboy

- The remake of perhaps the best Korean film ever made, this thriller sets an average man, kidnapped and imprisoned for 15 years, to find his captors and his intentions in five days, only to be imprisoned again if fails. Directed by Spike Lee (Inside Man, Malcolm X), it seems it will follow the story of its original 2003 film of same name, but it is not clear whether the ending, which is considered arguably the best twist ever to be presented on screen, will remain the same. However, it is Oldboy, and I myself quite liked Spike Lee with his Malcolm X and Inside Man, so I remain optimistic.

Sadly, I don't think it will have the octopus scene.




Pacific Rim

- Giant aliens. Giant Robots. Giant robots fighting giant aliens. Guillermo Del Toro. Guillermo fvcking Del Toro. B-movie vibe.

I want this movie yesterday.




Monsters University

- A Pixar movie. Enough said.

I actually watched Brave again yesterday, this time, more properly. And it wasn't as bad as I thought it was at first. In fact, I liked it more than Cars! And Bugs Life! It was quite frankly, great! My faith has been restored.




The Counselor

- Undoubtedly low on pretty much everyone's radar, this new Brad Pitt movie will be directed by none other than Ridcley Scott (Blade Runner, American Gangster, Gladiator), and will be written by perhaps the best contemporary American writer, Cormac McCarthy (the author of The Road, No Country for Old Men). The movie is also an all-star cast, starting with Brad Pitt, Michael Fassebender (Shame, X-Men First Class), Javier Bardem (No Country for Old Men, Skyfall), Cameron Diaz, and Penelope Cruz.

The movie follows a Southern lawyer slowly spiraling down the life as he finds himself involved in a drug trafficking, and knowing Ridley Scott's previous work on American Gangster, no doubt this will be an amazing film.




The Berlin File

- A Korean espionage film directed by Ryoo Seung-Wan, the film follows a North Korean spy (Ha Jung-Woo, Chaser) and his wife (Gianna Jun, My Sassy Girl, The Thieves) in Berlin being hunted by both a South Korean spy and a North Korean assassin.

This seems to be the first proper Korean blockbuster of 2013, and everything from the cast to the director seems reasonable. Its premise seems a bit too much been-there-done-that, but at the very least, it should be better than that dreadful Tower, which is nothing more than a blatant rip-off of 1974's Towering Inferno.