Coming soon: 40 unmissable movies

There’s a very good reason to be excited about the return of Tony Stark, and it’s got nothing to do with shiny robot suits, spectacular special effects or wisecracking Hollywood stars. The real reason we’re looking forward to ‘Iron Man 3’ is that it marks the return to directing – after eight long years – of Shane Black, writer of the ‘Lethal Weapon’ series, not to mention action classics ‘The Last Boy Scout’ and ‘The Long Kiss Goodnight’. His directorial debut, 2005’s pithy crime romp ‘Kiss Kiss Bang Bang’, was an inexplicable flop, but thanks to the machinations of that film’s star Robert Downey Jr he’s been given a second chance to prove his mettle.

The plot sounds like standard superhero fare – while clean-up continues on the Stark building following the alien invasion seen in ‘Avengers Assemble’, Tony Stark finds himself facing a new enemy, the mysterious Mandarin. But when said villain is played by Ben Kingsley, when Guy Pearce is on hand as a virus-creating scientist, when the full cast of the first two movies is returning, and when Shane Black is in the big chair, expect something above and beyond the usual multiplex smash ‘n’ grab.

‘Iron Man 3’ is out on Apr 26 2013.

Two words: marauding monsters. Two more words: giant robots. One more word: FIGHT! Yes, in the wake of his departure from ‘The Hobbit’ – not to mention the collapse of about five other projects including his beloved HP Lovecraft adaptation ‘At the Mountains of Madness’, ‘Hellboy’ director Guillermo del Toro seemed to realise the fact that Hollywood is inexplicably mistrustful of his unique (but generally lucrative) vision, and made them an offer they couldn’t refuse: global carnage on an epic scale.

‘Pacific Rim’ is set in the near future, when a race of vast and ancient creatures have been released from their slumber beneath the sea bed to wreak havoc on humanity. Our response – to build huge automated defenders to take on the sea-slime. With a largely unknown cast (the biggest name is probably Hackney’s own Idris Elba), the producers are relying on the public’s desire for mayhem and monsters – and the nerdosphere’s worshipful love of Del Toro – to sell the flick. Bring it on.

‘Pacific Rim’ is out on Jul 12 2013.

The first instalment in Peter Jackson’s prequel series to his own ‘Lord of the Rings’ trilogy, ‘The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey’, received a bit of a drubbing from critics on its release. But many of those who know the books – and had serious misgivings about Jackson’s ability to expand a single, slender volume into an epic trilogy – found it an engaging surprise: yes, it’s overlong and tonally messy, but it’s pleasingly huge in scale, smartly incorporating disparate elements of Tolkien’s mythology to bulk up the story.

Expect this to continue in part two, as Thorin’s dwarves and their Hobbit companion tangle with the spiders of Mirkwood and the machinations of the frosty Elf king Thranduil on their way to the dragon-infested Lonely Mountain, while Gandalf and his wizarding chums branch off to take a look at the ruined tower of Dol Guldur, and the mysterious Necromancer who lurks therein. Whether the problems with the film’s 48 frames-per-second shooting rate will have been fixed this time around remains to be seen.

‘The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug’ is out on Dec 3 2013.

Steven Spielberg seems to have achieved a nice balance in his directorial output recently: for every serious, dramatic ‘War Horse’, there’s a light, fun-filled ‘Tintin’. Now he’s following this year’s moody presidential Oscar-bait ‘Lincoln’ with a return to his sci-fi roots with ‘Robopocalypse’, based on the novel by Daniel H Wilson.

Wilson’s book is written as reportage, as the survivors of a futuristic war between humanity and sentient machinery recount their experiences. It’s not, to be fair, a very good read, drawing too heavily on sources like the ‘Terminator’ and ‘Matrix’ movie series, and offering relatively few fresh ideas. But Spielberg’s movie already looks like a huge improvement: his first act was to hire ‘Cabin in the Woods’ director Drew Goddard on as screenwriter, who’s sure to cut through Wilson’s lumpen prose and deliver a far spikier storyline.

The cast looks good, too, with erstwhile Catwoman Anne Hathaway, likeable ‘Thor’ star Chris Hemsworth and bookish Brit Ben Whishaw all signing up. Expect serious action, wisecracking dialogue, ruined cityscapes, marauding death-bots and loads of explosions.

‘Robopocalypse’ is out on April 25 2014.