2014 looks set to be a great year in film, so I decided to round the all up in a personal top 10!
Note: All release dates are based on UK release.
10: Lone Survivor
Director: Peter Berg
Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Taylor Kitsch, Emilie Hirsch, Ben Foster, Emily 
Bana
Release Date: 31st January
This is a bit of a wild card. I only became aware of it recently (turns out those boards on the side of buses are actually useful!) and after checking out the trailer, I thought it looked pretty decent. I couldn’t work out a great deal of plot from the trailer, but it looks to be in the same sort of groove as The Hurt Locker, which was an excellent film. Again, it’s based on a true story, so this may also be worth checking out!
9: Edge of Tomorrow
Director: Doug Liman
Starring: Tom Cruise, Emily Blunt, Bill Paxton, Kick Gurry, Tony Way
Release Date: 6th June
Although I do love my science fiction, I’ve tend to favour the subtle, more subdued films such as Gravity or Moon, rather than all the big high-CGI, gung-ho action thrillers. However, this looks like a pretty thought-provoking film, so I figured I could just slip it into my top 10.
8: How to Train your Dragon 2
Director: Dean DeBlois
Starring: Jay Baruchel, Gerard Butler, Craig Ferguson, America Ferrara, Jonah Hill, Cate Blanchett
Release Date: 13th June
This may be a film for younger audiences, but I still love an innocent animated film every now and again. I thoroughly enjoyed the first film in this franchise, mainly because of the original fantasy setting – something we don’t see enough of these days – and it was also genuinely funny. I have high hopes for this to follow in it’s giant footsteps.
7: Noah
Director: Darren Aronofsky
Starring: Russell Crowe, Emma Watson, Ray Winstone, Jennifer Connelly, Anthony Hopkins
Release Date: 28th March
It’s obviously up for debate whether this is classed as “true” history or not, but whatever you believe, you can’t deny it’s set to be a great film. It may be a bit of a romanticized biblical adaptation, but in these modern times we need a bit of drama. Another great cast, and I suspect the trailer may make it look better than it’ll turn out to be, but still worth a look I reckon.
6: The Railway Man
Director: Jonathan Teplitzky
Starring: Colin Firth, Nicole Kidman, Jeremy Irvine, Stellan Skarsgard, Hiroyuki Sanada
Release Date: 10th January
Yet another true historical, also set in the Second World War! This has got a pretty decent cast and it looks like a heart-wrenching tale of human (or should I say inhuman) injustice, but redemption. From the trailer, it looks like it’s going to flip between the past and the present day (or at least progress to the present day), and I think that’s going to be a great way to tell this particular story.
5: The Monuments Men
Director: George Clooney
Starring: George Clooney, Matt Damon, Bill Murray, John Goodman, Jean Dujardin, Hugh Bonneville, Cate Blanchett
Release Date: 7th February 
Another historical film here, set during the final years of World War 2. An unlikely platoon of American soldiers are tasked by President Roosevelt to rescue the surviving artworks held by the Nazis, in an attempt to save all culture before the rise of Hitler. This has got a stunning cast, including George Clooney, Cate Blanchett and Bill Murray, and looks set to be another one of those “untold stories” that benefits from a silver-screen adaptation.
4: The Lego Movie
Directors: Phil Lord, Chris Miller
Starring: Chris Pratt, Will Ferrell, Elizabeth Banks, Will Arnett, Liam Neeson, Morgan Freeman 
Release Date: 7th February
A bit of an odd one here at No. 4, but I’m a bit odd like that. A Lego Movie? Wha….? How doesn’t that sound fun!? I’ve seen the trailer a couple of times and it just looks like a bundle of laughs. If it’s a success, I could see it turning into a massive sub-franchise of Lego films. It looks really original and just a fun film to watch so it gets this spot!
3: 12 Years a Slave
Director: Steve McQueen
Starring: Chiwetel Ejiofor, Michael Fassbender, Benedict Cumberbatch, Brad Pitt, Paul Giamatti
Release Date: 10th January
I love historical movies, especially if they’re true. I watched Lincoln last year, and this seems to be in the same vein. It looks brutal, but the truth is always brutal. I also plan to read the book from which this was adapted (written by Solomon Northup, based on his own experiences) some time, but everything about this film looks like it’s one of the stand-out films of this year.
2: The Book Thief
Director: Brian Percival
Starring: Sophie Nélisse, Nico Liersch, Geoffrey Rush, Emily Watson
Release Date: 31st January
I haven’t read this book yet, although I bought it the other day (it wasn’t stolen, if that’s what you’re thinking!). I have it lined up to read after the book I am currently reading, so expect a review of that soon. I’ll hopefully then watch the film and compare the two. However, I have heard great things about the book and the film trailer looks pretty top-notch as well, so it gets my Number 2 spot!
1: The Hobbit: There and Back Again
Director: Peter Jackson
Starring: Martin Freeman, Ian McKellen, Richard Armitage, Benedict Cumberbatch, Luke Evans
Release Date: 17th December
This is the top film in 2014 that I am looking forward to because, as followers of my blog will know, I love fantasy books and fantasy films. In general terms, The Hobbit hasn’t stood up to the brilliance of The Lord of the Rings, but it has still been a great ride. In this third and final 
instalment, we have the Battle of the Five Armies to look forward to, so the effects team can really go all-out on the visuals here – the fans can’t fault that! Just such a shame we have to wait a whole year between the films!
The One that Got Away: Hunger games: Mockingjay- Part 1
Director: Francis Lawrence
Starring: Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Woody Harrelson, Elizabeth Banks, Phillip Seymour-Hoffman, Donald Sutherland
Release Date: 21st November
I’m putting this one in as a bit of a footnote, to be honest. I had high hopes for the Hunger Games film adaptations, and those hopes have gradually sloped downhill. I thought the first film was average bordering on good. The second film was a great improvement and, from where we stand now, I’m going to say the best film in the series. After I found out that the third and final book (which I thought was a bit of a disappointment in any case) was going to be split in two… Well, you get the idea. I didn’t think a great deal happened in the third book, so I have no idea how they’re going to stretch out into at least 4 hours. Therefore, this goes in my disappointment box.
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