We've pondered and pored over the films of 2012 and, while 2013 might have a lot to live up to, thankfully there's plenty of excitement on the horizon. So here are our picks of the coming months.
Django Unchained (dir. Quentin Tarantino) - 18 January
Tarantino's back with his first fully fledged western. Told with plenty of his characteristic wit and swagger it's the story of Django (Jamie Foxx) - a slave who's liberated at the film's outset and sets out to free his wife. The deserved Oscar buzz is mainly focussed on which of the scene-stealing supporting actors (Christoph Waltz and Leonardo DiCaprio) will bag a nomination.
The Sessions (dir. Ben Lewin) - 18 January
The Sessions is the true story of journalist and poet Mark O'Brien who spent most of his life confined to an iron lung, and consequently entered his thirties as a virgin. This winningly irreverent, sunny-side-up film features an exceptional John Hawkes as O'Brien. Helen Hunt plays the sexual surrogate who provides his sex education and William H. Macy is his confidante - a sympathetic, albeit awkward priest.
Lincoln (dir. Steven Spielberg) - 25 January
The name says it all and if you've been to the cinema in the last couple of months you'll have seen the much-run trailer. The actor of his generation (Daniel Day-Lewis) teams up with the most iconic of directors (Steven Spielberg). Unsurprisingly the powerful focus is Abraham Lincoln's fight to abolish slavery.
Zero Dark Thirty (dir. Kathryn Bigelow) - 25 January
Bigelow's follow-up to her Oscar winning The Hurt Locker finds her tackling similar territory and doing so with characteristic aplomb. This time it's the hunt for Osama bin Laden led by determined CIA agent (Jessica Chastain). Expect near-unbearable tension, and of course explosions.
No (dir. Pablo Larraín) - 8 February
No is one of those films which deftly illustrates that reality is stranger and far funnier than fiction. Gael García Bernal plays a cynical advertising executive who becomes involved with the seemingly hopeless campaign to oust Augusto Pinochet in Chile's 1988 referendum. Under Bernal's guidance the 'No' campaign is doggedly positive, imaginative and sometimes plain daft. Truly inspiring, askew stuff.
Lore (dir. Cate Shortland) - 22 February
Australian director Cate Shortland follows her well-received debut Somersault with a fresh yet controversial tale following the children of prominent Nazis as they find themselves friendless and fleeing the Allied forces at the end of World War II. The children are forced to fend for themselves and to question everything they were taught to believe.
Compliance (dir. Craig Zobel) - 1 March
What people will do under instruction from authority figures never fails to astonish. Craig Zobel's thriller sees fast food workers manipulated by an unseen "police officer". Based on a real series of prank calls, what might at times seem disturbingly far-fetched stays chillingly close to the facts.
Stoker (dir. Park Chan-wook) - 1 March
South Korean director Park Chan-wook is responsible for some of the most exciting films of the last decade or so - Oldboy and Thirst amongst them. His English language debut deals with a very strange family and stars Nicole Kidman, Mia Wasikowska and Matthew Goode.
Carrie (dir. Kimberly Peirce) - 5 April
Remakes aren't usually something to get excited about but this has frightening potential. The mother-daughter combo of Chloë Grace Moretz (as the titular teen) and Julianne Moore is simply great casting. To boot it's brought to us by Kimberly Peirce of Boys Don't Cry fame. Batten down the hatches and hide the knives.
The Place Beyond the Pines (dir. Derek Cianfrance) - 12 April
Derek Cianfrance follows gorgeous sob-fest Blue Valentine with another Ryan Gosling vehicle. This time Gosling plays a stunt motorbike rider reluctantly drawn into crime. Bradley Cooper, Rose Byrne and Eva Mendes provide glamorous support.
