With 2013 finally here the A&E Staff has come together to write about what movies, music, videogames, and other forms of entertainment they are looking forward to most in the New Year.
Tim Waugh
First off, I feel obligated to include some comic book goodness. Conveniently, Marvel’s upcoming spring/summer event is shaping up to be it’s best since 2006. The apocalyptic Age of Ultron begins in March. That along with the recent Spider-Man shake ups and Scott Snyder’s upcoming Superman series are making me want to read more of those funny books than ever before. Speaking of Superman, that Man of Steel sure looks (hopefully) good. If Zach Snyder can rein it in we could potentially have the best Supes movie since 1980. This along with the giant robot craziness of Pacific Rim are making 2013’s summer movie season the best since, well, 2012… Also, Dave Grohl has a new documentary out called Sound City about… Sound City. That looks great. Also Grohl is supposedly heading into the studio to record a new album with Queens of the Stone Age, that sounds great.
Nicholas Greenwood
1. Owen King – Double Feature – Owen has a very, very familiar last name. His dad is Stephen King and his brother is novelist/comic book scribe, Joe Hill, but Owen is his own writer. Double Feature, his debut novel, is a story about the son of a famous b-list movie actor who is trying to forge his own way in the world while directing his first movie. It comes out in March.
2. Gravity – The new film by director Alfonso Cuaron, who directed the best of the Harry Potter movies (Prisoner of Azkaban), is back after a long hiatus with a new movie. Not much is known about it other than it takes place in space on board a space station and it’s supposed to feature a 17-20 minute long opening scene/take. He’s earned his place as a director to look for every time a movie of his is announced. The film stars Sandra Bullock and George Clooney and comes out in October.
3. Stephen King – Doctor Sleep – This list is a little weighed down by the King family. The elder, Stephen has two in fact, and his son Joe has one called NOS4A2 (cleverly disguised license plate version of Nosferatu). Doctor Sleep though is King’s follow up (36 years later) to The Shining. Sleep follows the life of Danny, the son in The Shining and what happened to him post the events of The Shining. King describes the book as a return to his old horror style of writing. His more recent works have been light on the horror, so this is a nice welcome return. Look for Doctor Sleep in September.
Ibrahim Ashour
I’m most looking forward to handful of things in the field of leisure time. Firstly, the album Old by Danny Brown. Secondly, Mykki Blanco and anything she/he has planned for 2013. Thirdly, I am eagerly anticipating several game releases: Bioshock Infinite, The Last of Us, and Pokemon X and Y. On the other hand I am not looking forward to a various assortment of happenings. I’m not looking forward to how bad the new generation of Pokemon will inevitably be. I’m not looking forward to any sort of political entertainment (the standard for the field is so low), and I am most certainly not ready for or trying to anticipate any of the washed-out, aging, has been bands or celebrities making a return to music to rehash material for profiteering music execs.
David Benson
The Rerelease of Jurassic Park in 3D: As most people can say, Jurassic Park is an amazing film that still holds up. It’s actually one of my favorite film series. This year marks its twenty-year anniversary and to celebrate this, Universal decided that it will rerelease the film in theaters in 3D. However you feel about 3D (I have my own opinions), I’m excited to see this film on the big screen again.
The Fionna and Cake comic mini-series: I’m a fan of the popular cartoon on Cartoon Network, Adventure Time. Recently I’ve been starting to read the comics from the comic company Kaboom!, and this year they have decided to make a six issue mini-series based off an episode from the main show called “Fionna and Cake”. Fionna and Cake are gender swapped versions of the male leads of the show that live in their own world separate to the one in Adventure Time.
The 50th Anniversary of Doctor Who: I have been a Whovian for two years now, not just of the modern series but in the old series. Not only is it exciting to know that such a long show is still going but, based on the news from the BBC, it’s going to be a celebration to remember.
Alex Hollatz
There are a lot of things I’m looking forward to this year. There are so many albums I’m looking forward to that it’s dumb to narrow it down to one or two, but I am without a doubt looking forward to the third album Vampire Weekend that is due for release in May. They’re my favorite band working right now and it’ll be nice to hear some new music from them after they disappeared for a few years. Second, I can’t wait for Tyler, The Creator’s Wolf. His first album, Goblin, was the soundtrack of my Fall semester. Wolf was originally supposed to come out in 2012, but Tyler has decided to keep working at perfecting the album and this has only made me more anxious. Lastly, The Place Beyond The Pines, the new movie by Derek Cianfrance that re-teams him with the star of his breakout film Blue Valentine, Ryan Gosling. It’s a generational crime epic, supposedly in the vein of the 70’s masterpiece The Deer Hunter, and in Cianfrance’s hands I have no doubt it’ll be one of the best films of the year.
Pat Keller
Community: The last time one of the most original comedies in recent memory aired on television was in May. It has seemed as though NBC is trying to hinder the show’s success by pushing its newest season into oblivion by moving the show’s creator and head writer out of the way. Now we are introduced to a show run by the writing team that helped start “Happy Endings.” What with Chevy Chase scheduled to leave at the end of this year’s run and new writers coming in, this season (which starts on Thursday, February 7th at 8pm) should be quite a ride.
The Following: FOX’s most ambitious show in years is delivering on all fronts. Its atmosphere is enticing and sometimes creepy, and that is what will put you into an uneasy and disturbed feeling. A few jump-scares are scattered throughout, a cheap scare gimmick, but the show in and of itself is of a terrifying nature. Also, to its merit, it is a very well-written crime-drama. The entire storyline is a macabre tale of one sadistic serial killer’s cult following that tortures (only mentally, as of the first two episodes) the detective who put him behind bars. Two episodes have aired already, but there are twelve more to be played every Monday night at 9 on FOX.
Dr. Who: If you’re an American and have heard of it; that means you’re television prowess is astronomical. There has been not one Dr. Who episode viewed by me yet, and that’s why I am looking forward to it. This series dates that back to the 1960s is a supposed sci-fi masterpiece. The most recent of the shows runs started in 2005 and has brewed up a storm of immensely devoted enthusiasts. Since the most recent six seasons are available on Netflix, that is the jumping off point. There will most likely be an article written of my first-impression, and if there is any truth to this British phenomenon of sorts from the BBC, it will be a positive one.
Andrew Maznek
This semester, I’m looking forward to a slew of albums being released. Among the artists releasing new albums in the coming months, I’m particularly looking forward to releases from Yeah Yeah Yeah’s, My Bloody Valentine, Nick Cave & The Badseeds, The National and many others.