Broken City DATE March 1 DIRECTOR Allen Hughes CAST Mark Wahlberg, Russell Crowe, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Jeffrey Wright, Kyle Chandler, Barry Pepper FUN FACT Director Allen Hughes usually co-directs with his twin brother Albert. SYNOPSIS : Ex-cop Billy Taggart (Wahlberg) is asked by the Mayor of New York, Nicholas Hostetler (Crowe), to tail his wife (Zeta-Jones) and find out if she's having an affair. When her lover turns up dead, Taggart finds himself at the centre of a much larger scandal. WHAT TO EXPECT This looks like most Mark Wahlberg thrillers - furrowed brow, intense exclamations - but the addition of a fake-tanned Russell Crowe as a smarmy politician should kick things up a bit. • Watch the trailer on YouTube
The Liability DATE January 25 DIRECTOR Craig Viveiros CAST Tim Roth, Jack O'Connell, Talulah Riley, Peter Mullan FUN FACT Lead Jack O'Connell has a role in 300: Rise Of An Empire, also due next year. SYNOPSIS Adam (O'Connell) wrecks his stepfather's car and needs a job to pay him back. He agrees to drive for Roy (Roth), an aging hitman - but things go a little off course when they encounter The Girl (Riley) during a job. WHAT TO EXPECT This is going to DVD after only a few days in cinemas, which never fills us with confidence, but if British gangster movies are your thing the cast here could deliver a decent actioner. • Watch the trailer below
The Iceman DATE June 7 DIRECTOR Ariel Vromen CAST Michael Shannon, Chris Evans, Ray Liotta, James Franco, Winona Ryder, Robert Davi, David Schwimmer, Stephen Dorff FUN FACT Kuklinski claimed that he killed Jimmy Hoffa, the union boss whose disappearance remains unsolved and whole body was never found. SYNOPSIS Richard Kuklinski (Michael Shannon) was a family man whose business, unbeknownst to his wife (Ryder) and family, was contract killing, with his first murder at the age of 13 and over 100 more to follow over a 22-year career from 1964 to 1986. He earned his nickname after freezing his victims at an industrial facility to disguise their time of death. WHAT TO EXPECT It's a heck of a cast, disguised by a heck of a selection of wigs, beards and odd facial hair. The story's an almost unbelievable one - except that it's true - and we're looking forward to seeing Shannon get some bad guy practice in before his turn as General Zod later in the year. Our Damo called this "sporadically spellbinding" when he saw it in Venice, so we're optimistic. • Watch the trailer on YouTube
Run For Your Wife DATE February 14 DIRECTOR Ray Cooney, John Luton CAST Danny Dyer, Denise Van Outen, Sarah Harding, Neil Morrissey, Judi Dench, Lionel Blair, Maureen Lipman, Richard Briers, Rolf Harris, Prunella Scales, Ray Winstone, Cliff Richard FUN FACT The film is full of cameos (Judi Dench as a bag lady?) because celebrities agreed to appear and donate their fees to charity. SYNOPSIS Bigamist John (Dyer) is happily married to both Michelle (Van Outen) and Stephanie (Harding). Neither wife knows about the other and John, thanks to taxi driving shifts, manages to juggle his double life. But when the police spot his paperwork and start to investigate, it all threatens to come crumbling down around the rat bastard hapless cabbie. WHAT TO EXPECT The fun to be had here comes in spotting those celebrity cameos, so keep your eyes peeled around the edge of the frame even if you don't like Dyer in the foreground. And hey, maybe Strictly star Van Outen will suddenly break into a killer samba! • Watch the trailer below
Fire With Fire DATE March 8 DIRECTOR David Barrett CAST Josh Duhamel, Bruce Willis, Rosario Dawson, Vincent D'Onofrio FUN FACT This went straight to DVD in the US. SYNOPSIS When fireman Jeremy Coleman (Duhamel) witnesses a robbery and agrees to testify he makes himself a target for gangster Hagan (D'Onofrio). But when Hagan attacks, Coleman takes the law into his own hands. WHAT TO EXPECT One man standing up against a system when the law can't, an ordinary guy having an unguessed-at capacity for taking down gangsters, Bruce Willis growling, etc. • Watch the trailer on YouTube
Hummingbird DATE January 25 DIRECTOR Steven Knight CAST Jason Statham, Agata Buzek, Benedict Wong FUN FACT There are at least 325 hummingbird species in the world. None of them look like Jason Statham. SYNOPSIS Ex-soldier Joey Jones (Statham) is trying to forget his past after adopting the identity of a rich man who carelessly left his Covent Garden apartment unsecured. When Joey's pregnant girlfriend turns up dead in the river, he uses his connections with the Chinese mob to find those responsible. WHAT TO EXPECT Statham here is breaking heads, as usual, but might also break into actual acting as well. It is, after all, the directorial debut of Steven Knight, one of the best writers in the business, so we don't think it will be just another Transporter.
Welcome To The Punch DATE March 15 DIRECTOR Eran Creevy CAST James McAvoy, Mark Strong, David Morrissey, Andrea Riseborough, Peter Mullan, Steve Oram, Daniel Mays, Elyes Gabel FUN FACT Creevy and Strong came along to Empire Presents Big Screen at the Indigo2 last year - which was also a filming location for the movie. SYNOPSIS When notorious criminal Jacob Sternwood (Strong) returns to London after a long absence to help out his son (Gabel), detective Max Lewinsky (McAvoy) has another chance to take him down. But as he goes after Sternwood, both men discover a bigger conspiracy. Team up, you guys! WHAT TO EXPECT The cast are rock solid, so with any luck, this should be a classier crime drama than most to emerge from these shores. • Watch the trailer below
Pain & Gain DATE May 3 DIRECTOR Michael Bay CAST Dwayne Johnson, Mark Wahlberg, Ed Harris, Rebel Wilson, Anthony Mackie, Ken Jeong, Tony Shalhoub, Rob Corddry BASED ON A true story, which you can read about here. SYNOPSIS Two Miami bodybuilders, Daniel Lugo (Wahlberg) and Paul Doyle (Johnson), hit upon a get-rich scheme involving extortion and kidnapping. Their plans do not go to plan - particularly when private investigator Ed Du Bois (Harris) takes an interest and starts investigating one of their victims. WHAT TO EXPECT Who needs great hunks of shape shifting metal when you have great hunks of The Rock? And of course Walhberg, a similarly muscly man. The true story has the potential to be fascinating - it's a weird blend of violent crime and impressive stupidity - but we wait to see how it will translate through Bay's hands. • Watch the trailer on MichaelBay.com
Captain Phillips DATE October 11 DIRECTOR Paul Greengrass CAST Tom Hanks, Catherine Keener, Max Martini, Michael Chernus, Yul Vazquez BASED ON The true story of the Maersk Alabama kidnapping. SYNOPSIS Somali pirates boarded the MV Maersk Alabama in April 2009 and, when their plans to take the ship were frustrated, escaped in a lifeboat with Captain Phillips (Hanks) as a hostage. WHAT TO EXPECT We imagine that this will be a little less frenetic than Greengrass' Matt Damon efforts, since Hanks isn't quite so athletic (no disrespect, sir), but we expect something just as gripping and tense. Also, after all those loveable pirates in the Disney series, it's about time we had some onscreen who were slightly less rock star.
No Good Deed DATE November 29 DIRECTOR Sam Miller CAST Taraji P. Henson, Idris Elba FUN FACT This is not to be confused with the 2002 film of the same name, this year's Tyler Perry movie Good Deeds or either Mr. Deeds film. SYNOPSIS A former District Attorney (Henson) turned stay-at-home mother is kidnapped, along with her kids, by an escaped prisoner (Elba) posing as the victim of a car accident. WHAT TO EXPECT The plot hasn't exactly set our world on fire, but the combination of Elba, Henson and frequent Luther director Miller means that this could fall at the classier end of the crime drama.
Now You See Me DATE June 21 DIRECTOR Louis Leterrier CAST Jesse Eisenberg, Amanda Seyfried, Woody Harrelson, Mélanie Laurent, Isla Fisher, Dave Franco, Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman SYNOPSIS The Four Horsemen are a magician super-group led by Atlas (Eisenberg) who have been robbing banks and exposing fraudsters as part of their stage show, giving their audiences the proceeds. Special Agent Dylan (Ruffalo) is trying to track them down, but is hampered by turning into a big green rage monster his distrust for those around him. WHAT TO EXPECT Leterrier's better known for explosions than tricksy-turny plots like this one promises to be, but the trailer suggests he might be on to something and the synopsis, all Ocean's Eleven meets The Prestige, sounds terrific. Eisenberg appears to be playing Mark Zuckerberg again, but opposite Harrelson's Zen master that might work. • Watch the trailer on YouTube
Stand Up Guys DATE February 1 (US) DIRECTOR Fisher Stevens CAST Al Pacino, Christopher Walken, Alan Arkin, Julianne Margulies FUN FACT Bon Jovi are contributing two songs to the soundtrack. It's like Young Guns 2 for old people! SYNOPSIS Valentine (Pacino) is back in town after a spell in prison and reunites with old friends (Walken, Arkin). Just one problem: Walken's been assigned to kill Valentine the next morning, so it really is set to be their last night together. Still, why let that put a damper on proceedings? WHAT TO EXPECT Pacino asks a girl for a dance in the trailer, giving this a slightly Scent Of A Woman feel, and the tone seems balanced somewhere between the natural melancholy occasioned when your best friend is about to kill you and the zany glee of stealing a sports car and taking Alan Arkin for a joyride. Stevens (yes, him from Short Circuit 2) just needs to make sure that that mix somehow works. • Watch the trailer on YouTube
Dead Man Down DATE March 8 DIRECTOR Niels Arden Oplev CAST Colin Farrell, Noomi Rapace, Dominic Cooper, Terrence Howard, Isabelle Huppert, Armand Assante FUN FACT Colin Farrell is very well versed in fine art. SYNOPSIS Victor (Farrell) is right-hand man to Alphonse Hoyt (Howard), an underground crime lord, but secretly wants vengeance against him for the death of his wife and child. His chance comes when he finds Beatrice (Rapace), a victim turned avenger who's after Hoyt as well. No typecasting for Rapace there, then. The pair strike up a relationship and form a plan of revenge. WHAT TO EXPECT This will be Oplev's first film since the original Girl With The Dragon Tattoo in 2009, so we imagine he's determined to show that that wasn't a flash in the pan. The plot has the potential for the same sort of tension and the same intense relationship between damaged people, so it might be a good vehicle to do just that. • Watch the trailer on YouTube
Malavita DATE October 18 (US) DIRECTOR Luc Besson CAST Robert De Niro, Tommy Lee Jones, Michelle Pfeiffer, Diana Agron, John D'Leo BASED ON The novel by French author Tonino Benacquista, who co-wrote The Beat That My Heart Skipped with Jacques Audiard. In English, Malavita has been published as Badfellas. SYNOPSIS The notorious Manzoni crime family (De Niro, Pfeiffer, Agron, D'Leo) is relocated to rural Normandy as part of the Witness Protection Programme. However, it's less of a case of fitting in with the locals and more of keeping their own traditions intact. WHAT TO EXPECT We're expecting something of a black comedy even though the film is described as a dramatic thriller, given the set-up, cast and director. And who would have thought Pfeiffer would still be married to the mob after all these years?
Quick Poll Which of these films are you looking forward to most?
