2014 Releases (UK)

Ten films to look out for late this year

Benedict Cumberbatch in 'The Imitation Game'

As we're in the middle of the summer blockbuster hoo-ha, dominated by studio produced monsters like Transformers: Age of Extinction, I thought best to look ahead to what the back end of 2014 will be offering us. 

As always, I'll be spotlighting films that won't benefit from huge promotion. Excluded then are the likes of David Fincher's Gone Girl, Sin City: A Dame to Kill For, Christopher Nolan's Interstellar, the Angelina Jolie-directed Unbroken, Trash, the latest Hobbit and Hunger Games instalments and The Imitation Game.

Life After Beth - 3 October

Has there ever been someone better suited to playing a zombie than Aubry Plaza? Probably not a compliment. Jeff Baena's off-beat humour hasn't impressed me much in the past (I Heart Huckabees), but the trailer to this low-budget comedy looks genuinely hysterical. Plaza, of Parks and Recreation and Safety Not Guaranteed fame, is the resurrected girlfriend of Dane DeHaan's Zach, who seems conflicted about the whole thing. Anna Kendrick, John C. Reilly and Matthew Gray Gubler complete the promising cast. 

Laggies - 10 October

Breakout indie director Lynn Shelton's sixth film in five years, Laggies could be a return to form after relative misfire Touchy Feely. Keira Knightly's Megan, after buying alcohol for Chloe Grace Moretz's character, hides out at her new underage friend's house to avoid her fiancé. The film gained steady buzz at Sundance and, with the indomitable Sam Rockwell in tow, is shaping up to live up to the promise shown by Shelton's excellent Your Sister's Sister.

The Drop - 14 Nov

Based on a short story by crime writer Dennis Lehane, this drama follows Bob (Tom Hardy) to the dark corners of Boston's criminal culture after a botched heist. Helmed by promising Belgian director Michael Roskam (Bullhead) and scripted by Lehane himself, the trailer suggests a slow burn story with an explosive ending. An impressive cast list also includes Noomi Rapace, Matthias Shoenaerts, James Frecheville and James Gandolfini in his last role.

Kill the Messenger - 28 Nov

A passion project for star and producer Jeremy Renner, this real-life conspiracy thriller focusses on journalist Gary Webb (Renner) as he tries to unravel a political mystery involving imported cocaine and the CIA. The vicious smear campaign that ensued makes this a shocking story that Renner felt needed to be told. Directed by Homeland favourite Michael Cuesta, the film boasts a stellar cast including Michael Sheen, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Robert Patrick, Barry Pepper, Ray Liotta, Andy Garcia and Michael K Williams.

A Most Violent Year - 26 Dec

After the underrated Margin Call and critically acclaimed one-man-show All is Lost, my money's on it being third time lucky for writer-director JC Chandor to pick up an Oscar Best Film nod. Jessica Chastain, for my money the best actress working today, and Oscar Isaac are a couple trying grow their oil business in crime-ridden 1981 New York. The thriller also features David Oyelowo and hopefully another sinister performance from Drive's Albert Brooks. 

Get a Job - No date

On the list more out of hope than expectation. It's been 12 largely stagnant years since director Dylan Kidd's brilliantly funny and melancholic debut Roger Dodger, which kickstarted Jesse Eisenberg's career. This new comedy centres on a group of graduates struggling to gain employment. The cast is to die for: Bryan Cranston, Anna Kendrick, Alison Bree, Christopher Mintz-Plasse and Marcia Gay Harden, with Miles Teller in the lead. Kidd had this in the can last year, so he's certainly taking his sweet time.

Macbeth - No date
Before the much anticipated Assassin's Creed movie scheduled for 2015, Michael Fassbender and director Justin Kurzel join forces for an adaptation of Shakespeare's Macbeth. The set photos so far have suggested a typically broody and atmospheric take on the ill-fated Scottish general, with Marion Cotillard perfectly cast as Lady Macbeth. Paddy Considine, David Thewlis and rising star Jack Reynor complete the line up.

Child 44 - No date

Tom Hardy, once again, takes the lead in this Stalin-era crime drama based on the best-selling novel. Hardy's character is tasked with investigating a series of child murders, initiating a densely plotted search for a serial killer. Adapted by legendary crime writer Richard Price and helmed by Safe House director Daniel Espinosa, this is a rare and promising Hollywood foray into Soviet Russia. The outstanding cast includes Gary Oldman, Noomi Rapace, Jason Clarke, Joel Kinnaman, Vincent Cassell, Paddy Considine and Dev Patel.

Suite Française - No date

In Nazi-occupied France, a woman waiting for her prisoner-of-war husband falls for a German soldier. Based on the novel published 60 years after the writer's death at Auschwitz, this tragic story is likely to be a big awards player come the end of the year. Michelle Williams, gunning for a fourth Oscar nomination, stars alongside Matthias Schoenaerts, with Sam Riley, Kristin Scott Thomas and Margot Robbie in tow.

Birdman - 2 Jan

Firsly, what a trailer! Secondly, yes, this is a cheat as it's in January. But, my God, that trailer. Director Alejandro González Iñárritu has done some interesting films (Amores Perros, 21 Grams), but his last two movies, Babel and Buitiful, I didn't even make it through because they were so relentlessly serious and bleak. Birdman, however, looks like huge fun. Michael Keaton, riffing on his Batman past, plays a washed-up actor, famous for playing a superhero, who tries to mount a Broadway comeback. The killer cast also features Edward Norton, Naomi Watts, Emma Stone, Zach Galifianakis, Andrea Riseborough and Amy Ryan.