We're donning the rose-tinted specs to gaze into the crystal ball and predict the big romances of next year
• 2014 movie preview: comedy
• 2014 movie preview: sci-fi
• 2014 movie preview: drama
• 2014 movie preview: Oscar essentials
Next week stay tuned for five more 2014 movie previews
*Only Lovers Left Alive*Jim Jarmusch? Check. Tilda Swinton? Check. Tom Hiddleston? Check. That's three of our favourite things already and we haven't even mentioned that this is a vampire story featuring underground rock. Plenty to get your fangs into with this surprise crowd-wower on its first airing at the tail end of Cannes 2013.
Out in the UK on 21 February and the US on 11 April
*Fault in Our Stars*Remember Restless, Gus van Sant's strangely awful drama about a funeral crasher and a girl with a terminal illness? This sounds ever so slightly similar: two quirky outsiders, one toting an oxygen tank, the other a prosthetic leg, both with cancer. Yet early buzz is very strong, and stars Shailene Woodley and Ansel Elgort are formidable young actors. Laura Dern and Willem Dafoe lend parental support.
Out in the US on 6 June and the UK on 20 June
*Serena*We're sticking this one in as positive reinforcement - in fact we'd hoped Susanne Bier's period romance with Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence would come out before American Hustle (it's been in the can for yonks). Details are bleary on what exactly the problem is, but its absence is only making our hearts yearn stronger.
Out - who knows?
*The Reluctant Professor*Marc Lawrence and Hugh Grant have teamed up twice already - for the sometimes brilliant Music & Lyrics and the shocking Did You Hear About the Morgans? Both director and star have sufficient points in the bank to make us excited about this one, in which Grant plays a washed-up screenwriter forced to take a teaching job. The love interest is Marisa Tomei, who should prove a stronger foil than Drew Barrymore on Sarah Jessica Parker. Old faithfuls Allison Janney and JK Simmons lend support.
Release dates tbc
*Laggies*Keira Knightley is back in a big way in 2014, with a slew of movies including this Sundance premiere from Salt Lake favourite Lynn Shelton. She plays a woman stuck in permanent adolescence who lies to her fiancé about going on a retreat and spends the time hanging out with friends instead. The lead role headed Knightley's way only after Anne Hathaway and Rebecca Hall passed, but still, this looks promising. Sam Rockwell, Chloe Moretz and Gretchen Mol co-star.
Release dates tbc
*Love is Strange*Another romance, another Sundance premiere. This stars John Lithgow and Alfred Molina as a couple forced to live apart in New York. Both actors are no stranger to nudity and the director here is Ira Sachs, who made the very moving - and fairly hardcore - Keep the Lights On; so we're anticipating some big reveals here. Broadway vet Harriet Sansom Harris co-stars alongside Candelabra's Cheyenne Jackson and Marisa Tomei, who we've already established, is A Good Thing.
Release dates tbc
*They Came Together*Paul Rudd, Amy Poehler, Michael Shannon, Ed Helms, Cobie Smulders. A cracking line-up for this anti-corporate romantic comedy about a knick-knack shop owner (Poehler) facing off against a big businessman (Rudd). The cast alone gets it a place, but did we also mention it's a semi-parody of You've Got Mail and that the only photo from it has Poehler and Rudd dressed up as Benjamin Franklin? Nothing says romance more than matching unflattering fancy dress.
Release dates tbc
*The Lobster *Dogtooth director Yorgos Lanthimos makes his English-language debut with this dystopian fantasy about forced dating in the future. Unless people find a partner in 45 days, "they are transformed into an animal of their choosing and released into the woods". One man escapes, then falls in love. Ben Whishaw, Jason Clarke, Lea Sedoux and Olivia Colman star.
Release dates tbc
*Nymphomaniac*Not romance. Sex. Four hours of the stuff with a brief interval for the audience to grab a breather. Lars von Trier – him of the genital mutilation (Antichrist) and the extended disability joke (The Idiots) – knows how to push our buttons more than your average enfant terrible. Charlotte Gainsbourg and Stacy Martin share panting duties as Jo, a sex addict detailing her conquests to an older male confidant. In Denmark, Von Trier's premiered the film, which contains scenes of penetrative sex, bondage and fellatio, on Christmas Day. Happy holidays!
Out in the UK on 21 February and the US on 21 March Reported by guardian.co.uk 5 hours ago.
• 2014 movie preview: comedy
• 2014 movie preview: sci-fi
• 2014 movie preview: drama
• 2014 movie preview: Oscar essentials
Next week stay tuned for five more 2014 movie previews
*Only Lovers Left Alive*Jim Jarmusch? Check. Tilda Swinton? Check. Tom Hiddleston? Check. That's three of our favourite things already and we haven't even mentioned that this is a vampire story featuring underground rock. Plenty to get your fangs into with this surprise crowd-wower on its first airing at the tail end of Cannes 2013.
Out in the UK on 21 February and the US on 11 April
*Fault in Our Stars*Remember Restless, Gus van Sant's strangely awful drama about a funeral crasher and a girl with a terminal illness? This sounds ever so slightly similar: two quirky outsiders, one toting an oxygen tank, the other a prosthetic leg, both with cancer. Yet early buzz is very strong, and stars Shailene Woodley and Ansel Elgort are formidable young actors. Laura Dern and Willem Dafoe lend parental support.
Out in the US on 6 June and the UK on 20 June
*Serena*We're sticking this one in as positive reinforcement - in fact we'd hoped Susanne Bier's period romance with Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence would come out before American Hustle (it's been in the can for yonks). Details are bleary on what exactly the problem is, but its absence is only making our hearts yearn stronger.
Out - who knows?
*The Reluctant Professor*Marc Lawrence and Hugh Grant have teamed up twice already - for the sometimes brilliant Music & Lyrics and the shocking Did You Hear About the Morgans? Both director and star have sufficient points in the bank to make us excited about this one, in which Grant plays a washed-up screenwriter forced to take a teaching job. The love interest is Marisa Tomei, who should prove a stronger foil than Drew Barrymore on Sarah Jessica Parker. Old faithfuls Allison Janney and JK Simmons lend support.
Release dates tbc
*Laggies*Keira Knightley is back in a big way in 2014, with a slew of movies including this Sundance premiere from Salt Lake favourite Lynn Shelton. She plays a woman stuck in permanent adolescence who lies to her fiancé about going on a retreat and spends the time hanging out with friends instead. The lead role headed Knightley's way only after Anne Hathaway and Rebecca Hall passed, but still, this looks promising. Sam Rockwell, Chloe Moretz and Gretchen Mol co-star.
Release dates tbc
*Love is Strange*Another romance, another Sundance premiere. This stars John Lithgow and Alfred Molina as a couple forced to live apart in New York. Both actors are no stranger to nudity and the director here is Ira Sachs, who made the very moving - and fairly hardcore - Keep the Lights On; so we're anticipating some big reveals here. Broadway vet Harriet Sansom Harris co-stars alongside Candelabra's Cheyenne Jackson and Marisa Tomei, who we've already established, is A Good Thing.
Release dates tbc
*They Came Together*Paul Rudd, Amy Poehler, Michael Shannon, Ed Helms, Cobie Smulders. A cracking line-up for this anti-corporate romantic comedy about a knick-knack shop owner (Poehler) facing off against a big businessman (Rudd). The cast alone gets it a place, but did we also mention it's a semi-parody of You've Got Mail and that the only photo from it has Poehler and Rudd dressed up as Benjamin Franklin? Nothing says romance more than matching unflattering fancy dress.
Release dates tbc
*The Lobster *Dogtooth director Yorgos Lanthimos makes his English-language debut with this dystopian fantasy about forced dating in the future. Unless people find a partner in 45 days, "they are transformed into an animal of their choosing and released into the woods". One man escapes, then falls in love. Ben Whishaw, Jason Clarke, Lea Sedoux and Olivia Colman star.
Release dates tbc
*Nymphomaniac*Not romance. Sex. Four hours of the stuff with a brief interval for the audience to grab a breather. Lars von Trier – him of the genital mutilation (Antichrist) and the extended disability joke (The Idiots) – knows how to push our buttons more than your average enfant terrible. Charlotte Gainsbourg and Stacy Martin share panting duties as Jo, a sex addict detailing her conquests to an older male confidant. In Denmark, Von Trier's premiered the film, which contains scenes of penetrative sex, bondage and fellatio, on Christmas Day. Happy holidays!
Out in the UK on 21 February and the US on 21 March Reported by guardian.co.uk 5 hours ago.