Under The Skin
2014 is set to be another truly fantastic year for British cinema, as a whole host of exciting movies are on the horizon.
Some of the films boast some of Hollywood's biggest stars, while others are set to launch the career's of some new talent.
We take a look at some of the moves that cannot be missed this year if you are a British film fan.
- Under The Skin - released 14th March
Under The Skin is a collaboration between the UK and America, and is set to be one of the most original films we will see all year.
The movie is a big screen adaptation of the novel of the same name by Michel Faber, and sees Jonathan Glazer return to the director's chair: if will be his first film since Birth.
Under The Skin is the story of an alien in human form. Part road movie, part science fiction, part real, it’s a film about seeing our world through alien eyes.
Scarlett Johansson will take on the central character, in a role that we have never seen her in before.
The movie has been met with great reviews on the festival circuit, and we won't see anything like this for the rest of the year.
- Calvary - released 11th April
Brendan Gleeson has taken on some interesting movies and roles in recent year, but Calvary will see him reunite with director John Michael McDonagh.
The pair worked together on The Guard, and now McDonagh is back in the director's char - he has also penned the screenplay.
Gleeson will take on the central role of Father James Lavelle, and is joined by a fantastic supporting cast that includes Chris O’Dowd, Kelly Reilly and Aidan Gillen.
After being told he will be murdered in one week’s time Father James Lavelle (Gleeson) finds himself with seven days to determine his would be killer and put his affairs in order.
Prevented by the 'seal of confessional' from going to the police, Father Lavelle opts to engage with and tries to understand his small minded and morally scurrilous parishioners with the hope of dissuading the one amongst them intent on his death.
Calvary has already played at the Sundance Film Festival and Berlin Film Festival, and I am looking forward to seeing what McDonagh delivers with his second movie.
- Jimmy's Hall - released 30th May
A Ken Loach film is always something to look forward to, and he is back in the director’s chair this spring with latest project Jimmy’s Hall.
Loach has brought us movies such as Kes, The Wind That Shakes The Barley and Looking for Eric over the years, and now he is back with a drama that has been penned by Paul Laverty: it is his first film since the Angels’ Share back in 2012.
The movie follows Political activist Jimmy Gralton, who is deported from Ireland during the country's 'Red Scare' of the 1930s.
Barry Ward is set to take on the role of Gralton, while Simone Kirby, Andrew Scott and Jim Norton are set to make up the cast list. Loach has made some terrific dramatic movies during his career, and we are in for another treat with Jimmy’s Hall.
- Black Sea - released later this year
Kevin Macdonald is another director to watch out for this year as he is back with new adventure/thriller Black Sea. This is a second movie in quick succession for Macdonald, having brought up the adaptation of How I Live Now last year.
Black See sees him team up with Jude Law for the first time, as the British actor leads a great cast: Jodie Whittaker, Scot McNairy and Karl Davies are all also on board.
In order to make good with his former employers, a submarine captain takes a job with a shadowy backer to search the depths of the Black Sea for a sub that's rumoured to be loaded with gold.
Dennis Kelly is best known for his work in TV with the likes of Pulling and Utopia, and now he has penned his first feature film screenplay.
Macdonald is a director who has moved between documentary and live action features during his career, and it is always exciting to see him in the director’s chair.
- Starred Up - released 21st March
Jack O’Connell is an actor that you really should be keeping an eye on over the next twelve months or so, and Starred Up is one of the movies that he is going to be starring in.
Starred Up has already being playing to acclaim on the festival circuit - it played in Toronto and in London last year - as David Mackenzie returns to the director’s chair.
O'Connell takes on the central role of Eric, and stars alongside Rupert Friend, Ben Mendelsohn and Sam Spruell.
Eric Love is a violent and troubled teenager making the difficult transition from a young offenders’ institute to adult prison.
He seems to be destined for a life behind bars, but the prison’s unconventional therapist (Friend) is determined to help Eric find a way through, assisted by of one of the prison’s longest serving inmates - Neville (Mendelsohn) - who just happens to be Eric’s father.
O’Connell may be starring in 300: Rise of an Empire at the moment, but it is Starred Up that is the movie that is really whipping up a storm. O’Connell really is going to be a huge star.
- Slow West - released later this year.
Michael Fassbender has already given a tremendous performance this year in 12 Years A Slave, but Slow West is another of his movies to watch out for.
If you are a Fassbender fan then you are in for a treat in 2014, as we are going to be seeing plenty of the actor. Slow West is just one of the projects on the horizon as he tackles the Western genre.
Slow West marks the feature film directorial of John MacLean - who also penned the screenplay - as he makes the leap away from short movies.
The movie will follow a seventeen-year-old boy as he makes his way across 19th Century frontier America. However, he will not be making this journey alone, as he is accompanied by mysterious traveller Silas.
Fassbender will take on the role of Silas, and is joined on the cast list by Kodi Smit-McPhee, Rory McCann and Ben Mendelson.
Fassbender has turned in some excellent work in the last few years, and Slow West promises to be another movie not to forget.
- A Long Way Down - released 21st March
We have already seen a handful of Nick Hornby novels adapted for the big screen, and A Long Way Down is the latest to set the film treatment.
A Long Way Down has been directed by Pascal Chaurneil, and he has brought together a really terrific cast. Pierce Brosnan, Toni Collette, Imogen Poots and Aaron Paul will take on the central four characters of Martin, Maureen, Jess and J.J. Rosamund Pike, Sam Neill and Tuppence Middleton are also on board.
Four lost souls - a disgraced TV presenter, a foul-mouthed teen, an isolated single mother and a solipsistic muso - decide to end their lives on the same night, New Year’s Eve.
When this disillusioned quartet of strangers meet unintentionally at the same suicide hotspot, a London high-rise with the well-earned nickname Topper’s Tower, they mutually agree to call off their plans for six weeks.
Together they form an unconventional, dysfunctional family, becoming media sensations as the Topper House Four and searching together for the reasons to keep on living.
The movie premiered at the Berlin Film Festival in February and will be heading to the big screen in the UK later this month.
- Posh - released 19th September
Lone Scherfig is one of the female directors to watch out for this year, as she is set to return with her new film Posh.
This is the first big screen outing for Scherfig since the success of One Day, in a movie that is based on the play by Laura Wade.
Natalie Dormer, Jessica Brown Findlay, Sam Claflin, Douglas Booth, Max Irons, Sam Reid and Holliday Grainger are all on board.
Set amongst the privileged elite of Oxford University, Posh follows Miles (Irons) and Alistair (Claflin), two first year students determined to join the infamous Riot Club, where reputations can be made or destroyed over the course of a single evening.
Screenwriter Laura Wade has adapted her critically-acclaimed play, with development support from the BFI Film Fund and Film4.
Scherfig has delivered movies such as One Day and the Oscar nominated An Education, and Posh promises to be another gem.
- Trash - released 1st May
Stephen Daldry is another director who is no stranger to delivering fantastic movies - The Reader and Billy Elliot being two examples - and now he is back with Trash.
Trash is Daldry’s first directorial outing since Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, as he brings Andy Mulligan’s novel to the big screen: the book has been adapted by none other than Richard Curtis.
Trash is set in an unnamed Third World country, and follows three youngsters who make a discovery in a rubbish dump. However, they are soon running from the police and trying to right a wrong.
Rooney Mara and Martin Sheen are set to star in the film, alongside Wagner Moura, Selton Mello and Andre Ramiro.
Daldry has a knack for making character driven movies, and Trash looks set to follow in that fine tradition.
- Imitation Game - released later this year.
Another UK/US film collaboration comes in the form of The Imitation Game, as Morten Tyldum returns to the director’s chair for the first time since the success of Headhunters.
The movie will follow the story of Alan Turing, a British wartime cryptographer who was a key figure in cracking the Nazi’s Enigma code during World War II. He would later be prosecuted for homosexuality.
Benedict Cumberbatch is set to take on the central role of Turing: this is one of the biggest leading roles of his film career and could send his star rocketing even further.
A terrific cast is assembled around him as Keira Knightley, Mark Strong, Matthew Goode, Allen Leech, Tuppence Middleton, Charles dance and Rory Kinnear are all on board.
The movie sees The Weinstein Company team up with Studio Canal and FilmNation… could this be an early Oscar contender? We all know how much the Academy loves a biopic film.
- Pride - released 12th September
Our final British movie to watch out for this year is Pride, which is another movie that has brought together a great cast list.
The movie will see Bill Nighy back on the big screen, while Dominic West, Andrew Scott, George MacKay, Paddy Considine and Imelda Staunton will also star.
The movie will follow a group of gay and lesbian activists as they raise money to support the striking miners during the eighties. When they arrive in a Welsh mining town to make their donation, the two communities strike up a bond.
Pride is the second directorial outing for Matthew Warchus - he made his debut with Simpatico - and the script has been penned by Stephen Beresford.
Overall, it looks like it is going to be another great year for British film, as there are some great movies to watch out for over the next twelve months.