Top Five Friday : Upcoming 2013 Films

Last week on Top Five Friday, I listed the best films that have been released so far this year.  But this week I felt that instead of looking behind, I should look forward to the rest of 2013.  So here are the five films that I believe will be worth your hard-earned money.

Only God Forgives – Released August 2^nd

Ryan Gosling stars as Julian, a drug-smuggler thriving in the criminal underworld of Bangkok. After his brother is murdered, he is compelled by his mother to find out the truth surrounding his death and enact revenge on his killer.

From director Nicolas Winding Refn, Only God Forgives sees him reteaming with Ryan Gosling, who starred in Refn's previous film Drive. Drive was, by far, one of the best films of 2011, with Refn and Gosling giving incredible direction and a powerful performance respectively. Ever since Bronson, I've been awed by Refn's ability to balance character development, storyline and brutal scenes of bloody violence, and I'm hoping for the same from this. The level of violence took me by surprise in Drive, but the trailer for Only God Forgives hardly shirks away from wearing it's violence on it's sleeve.

Even if Only God Forgives fails to live up to the expectation raised due to the surprise critical success of Drive, I'm sure it will make for a captivating and interesting watch.

Alan Partridge – Released August 7^th

AHA! Finally Steve Coogan's most famous character gets taken to the silver screen! Carrying on from his Mid Morning Matters web-based series, Alan is working at a radio station that gets taken over by a disgruntled ex-employee. Alan is sent in to negotiate and gets taken hostage instead. Hilarity will ensue.

I'm such a huge fan of Coogan and there has been rumour of a Partridge circulating for years, so I was overjoyed when a script was confirmed as written and the trailer was finally released! The script was worked on by writers such as Peter Baynham and Armando Iannucci, some of the funniest people currently writing British sitcoms, and from the evidence of the trailer, it's going to contain such as many laughs as the TV series with characters such as Michael The Geordie and the ever put-down Lynn making their return. Even if you haven't seen I'm Alan Partridge, I'm sure you will still appreciate the humour and find it much funnier than films like Scary Movie V, Movie 43 and The Hangover Part III.

Captain Phillips – Released October 18^th

Tom Hanks returns to iconic drama roles as the eponymous Captain Richard Phillips, who was taken hostage by Somali pirates back in 2009.  Helmed by incredibly versatile and gritty director Paul Greengrass, the story will be a realistic portrayal of the true life event with Hanks bearding up and returning to the sea.  There is high potential for Greengrass to repeat the success that he encountered with the similar film United 93, which portrayed the final moments of the passengers who fought off their plane's hijackers on September 11^th, 2001.  Both Greengrass and Hanks know how to balance tension and realistic drama, which could combine into a draining and exhilarating retelling of one man's sacrifice.

Thor: The Dark World - Released October 30th 

The lead up to The Avengers 2 continues.  This time, we return to Asgard to see how everyone's favourite God of Thunder has been since we last saw him.  Loki has been returned, Odin continues to rule, but Thor must return to Earth and his love, Jane, to defend us against oncoming threats; found in Christopher Eccleston's Malekith and his army of Dark Elves from Svartalfheim.

Thor was easily my favourite of the Avenger-Assembling films. It contained wit, action, humour and heart. Chris Hemsworth was a great casting decision as the Demi-God, with his charisma winning me over with his first shining grin, as well as Tom Hiddleston as the mischievous Loki. Kenneth Branagh managed to convince me of the existence of an entirely implausible world such as Asgard through an honest and blunt approach, with characters appearing truly three-dimensional, even if they could control lightning bolts and fly. This film looks like it's carrying on straight where it left off. The action looks explosive, the villains look terrifying and Loki just looks awesome. Bring on more hammer-swinging!

Don Jon - Released November 15th

Originally titled Don Jon's Addiction, Joseph Gordon-Levitt's directorial debut tells the story of Jon (nicknamed Don Jon), a man with an obsession with pornography. This leads him to have unrealistic expectations with love and sex, especially with his new girlfriend Scarlett Johansson. With the help of his family, friends and church, he works on finding happiness and intimacy in real life, rather than that on his laptop.

From his incredible performances in films such as Mysterious Skin, 50/50 and Brick, JGL has easily become one of my favourite actors and I can't wait to see how his life spent in the film industry will influence his directorial style. With supporting roles filled with talents such as Brie Larson, Julianne Moore and Scarlett Johansson, I'm quite excited to see the ensemble performance they will give, especially Ms Johansson.  From the trailer, she looks like she's able to finally show her acting capability rather than just being a pretty face.

And that's the five. I really do hope these live up to the expectations that I have for them. But I do recommend that you keep an eye out for these five films.  Thanks for reading and I'll see you next week for more Top Five Friday!