14 So-Called ‘Must-See’ Films In 2014 (That Might Actually Be Worth Watching)

1. Transcendance

Release Date: 18th April (US), 25th April (UK) Why It€™s A Must See: If it feels like we€™re getting two Christopher Nolan films this year then we sort of are. Wally Pfister has been Nolan€™s cinematographer since Memento, helping define the visuals of dreamscapes and Gotham, but this year he takes a divergence, for the first time sitting in the director€™s chair. Transcendence is a brilliant cerebral sci-fi concept; part technology-based cautionary tale, part exploration of grief. The story follows Johnny Depp€™s Will Caster, a pioneer in artificial intelligence who, after being mortally wounded by a radicalist assassin, uploads his brain function into a machine. Things take a power-hungry turn, but I won€™t go any further lest we enter spoiler territory. The screenplay was on 2012€™s Black List (a collection of Hollywood€™s best unproduced scripts), the cast includes Depp, Rebecca Hall and Paul Bettany, as well as a bunch of Nolan alumni and, of course, Pfister€™s got eye for a good shot; everything about the film suggests this will be a cracker. Why You Should Be Worried: Erm... I don€™t know. There€™s some guy eating nachos in the screening? Way too crunchy to be a cinema snack. Or someone brings a kid too young for the film and they start climbing the chairs. Even then the film looks solid enough to ignore them. Bottom Line: The real must see of the year. Which films are you looking out for this year? And which have the biggest drawbacks? Letters on a postcard, or in the comments below.