Ones to watch 2014

Ones to watch 2014

Arriving March 7th, THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL looks like another slice of fried gold from Wes Anderson. Ralph Fiennes headlines as a hotel concierge bequeathed a painting by elderly guest/lover (Tilda Swinton), much to the chagrin of her son (Adrian Brody), resulting in a cat and mouse chase as they attempt to determine the paintings true owner. Also featuring the likes of Bill Murray, Willem Dafoe, Jeff Goldblum, Edward Norton, and Owen Wilson, Anderson has assembled a cast so esoteric it makes the heart swell. Expect a bonkers treat.

A week later sees the release of Terry Gilliams THE ZERO THEOREM, starring  Christoph Waltz as a computer analyst working to find the meaning of life. Poor old Terry hasn't had much luck recently so it's a relief here to find him working in a similar ball park as his earlier masterworks Brazil and Twelve Monkeys. The Orwellian plot sounds pleasingly kooky and, if all else fails, the wonderful Waltz has a habit of winning an Oscar whenever anyone points a camera at him, so we can expect a characteristically top notch performance from him.

Fans of Sci Fi are in for a treat again later in the year when Brit wunderkind Christopher Nolan unleashes INTERSTELLAR (November 7th). Details on the plot are thin for this one (it is Nolan after all), but we do know that it's based on a concept by legendary physicist Kip Thorne and focusses on a group of astronauts as they head through a wormhole into another universe, or dimension... or something. Based on Nolan's previous high watermark, we can expect an cerebral visual feast of a movie, and with a cracking cast featuring the likes of Anne Hathaway, Matthew McConaughey (who is on great form recently) and Nolan regular Michael Caine, it'll be a surefire winner.

Finally, fans of smaller scale indie fare will no doubt find much to love in Zach Braff's sophomore effort, WISH I WAS HERE (sic), the "spiritual follow up" to his charming 2004 debut Garden State. Although not an actual sequel to the earlier film, it's very much in the same vein, with Braff starring as an actor, father and husband struggling to find the purpose of life as he approaches his forties. Featuring perennial indie darling Kate Hudson as his wife and Scrubs alumnus Donald Faison, this looks like it'll be a funny, sweet and a tiny bit life affirming.


**Originally written for the York Vision website**