GregHowley.com

With 2012 closing out, I've begun looking forward to 2013. I'd like to share with you here the things I'm looking forward to in the coming year.

Certainly the sequels and remakes are as thick as ever. I'm not particularly interested in Die Hard 5, the Robocop remake, or even The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug after having seen how poorly the first entry in the new trilogy was handled. But there are a number of sequels I'm really looking forward to: Iron Man 3 on May 3rd, Thor: The Dark World on November 8th, Catching Fire on November 22nd, and most of all Anchorman 2 on December 20th. I heart Ron Burgundy. I'm also really looking forward to Riddick, the sequel to Pitch Black and The Chronicles of Riddick. I've seen the Riddick movies plenty, and I've played all the games. They've decreased in quality as they've gone - Dark Athena was crap - but I'm still on board.

The year starts with an epic finale. On January 8th, the final book in Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time series is out: A Memory of Light. I've read all the books in the series, despite the fact that they're all upwards of 800 pages. Heck - I even re-read the first six or so, back when I had the time. The culmination of a series that's been in print for over 20 years is finally upon us, and given Brandon Sanderson's much-appreciated revitalization of the series, I'm very much looking forward to sticking a fork in The Wheel of Time.

Fringe comes back in January as well, finishing off its final season. It's become my absolute favorite TV show in recent years. While the first season rated maybe a '6', and the second started off the same way, the end of season two really took off, bringing season two to an average of '8', and season three is probably a '10', being amongst the best television I've ever watched. Season four lagged, coming in at a '8' again, and season five is shaping up to be about the same, but none of this changes my affection for the show or its characters. Walter Bishop is one of my all-time favorite mad scientists, and Anna Torv's acting as Olivia Dunham is top-notch.

We'll also get the ending to season three of The Walking Dead, which has shaped up far better than season two. Yay! And the final season of Dexter comes up in 2013. I recently read an insightful series synopsis of Dexter over at Terminally Incoherent, and if you're up for a very long read you should check it out.

February brings the sequel to one of my favorite books, Little Brother. I expect Homeland to carry on with many of the same themes: civil rights, technological solutions, and youthful activism.

Before looking into 2013 movies, I'd never heard of The Incredible Burt Wonderstone. But after seeing this picture, I'm very interested. I don't think I actually recognised either actor at first with those crazy wigs. But the competing magicians thing brings to mind movies like Blades of Glory and the competing ice skaters, Dodgeball with its competing Gymnasiums, or The Campaign with competing politicians. Granted, none of those were amazing movies. But I'm willing to give Jim Carrey and Steve Carrell a shot as performance magicians. Especially since Steve Buscemi is in the movie.

March 22nd through March 24th brings PAX East. I will be in Boston playing board games and listening to geeky panel discussions amidst throngs of nerds. It's always a major highlight of my year.

At the end of March, what I expect to be the final good season of Game of Thrones to begin. Honestly, after A Storm of Swords, the series just stinks. If they split the book into two seasons, they might end up with a good season three and four, but I'm concerned that it would lead to the same boring and gratuitous padding that made the first Hobbit movie so poor. Don't get me wrong - I loves me some Game of Thrones - but as much as I expect the upcoming season to be good, there's an end in sight.

You've probably already seen the trailer for Tom Cruise's new movie Oblivion. He plays a drone repairman finishing up the mission to extract vital resources from Earth after a decades-long war against an alien race. But when he rescues a beautiful stranger from a downed spacecraft, he comes to question everything. How good will the movie be? Who knows. But there's one thing we can count on - a lot of money went into the special effects here.

A video game called The Last of Us is out on May 7th. There aren't a lot of games I'm following in 2013, but this is one of them. They're calling it survival horror, and that always catches my interest. Given the waning quality of survival horror titles in recent years, I'm always looking out for a good one. The fact that The Last of Us plans to incorporate stealth gameplay is only a plus in my book.

Here's one that's got me very interested: After Earth with Wil and Jaden Smith. A thousand years after the apocolypse, a crash leaves the father and son stranded on Earth. Now, the father is badly injured, and they've got to survive on a planet with hyper-evolved animals while being pursued by an unstoppable alien.

Man of Steel June 14. Yes, it's just another remake, but it's got to be better than the last one, right?

The World War Z movie is out on June 20th. I've got low expectations, given that it looks like the movie will have nothing whatsoever to do with the amazing book. I guess it could be a decent action movie, or a good zombie movie, but it won't be World War Z to me.

On July 12th, we get Pacific Rim. What? You've never heard of it? Well, let me paint you a picture: MECHS VERSUS MONSTERS. Excited yet? Yeah, me too. I wouldn't be surprised to learn that this movie is the remnants of what was once a Voltron movie, but I'm nevertheless excited.

The August 9th sci-fi movie Elysium is about social class. In 2159, the wealthy live on the space station Elysium, while the lower-income masses remain on a worn-out Earth. Matt Damon plays an ex-con with a plan that could (somehow) bring equality. I've got no idea if the movie will be any good, but I like Matt Damon, I like Jodie Foster, and I like science fiction. I'll probably see it.

Ender's Game the movie is coming out on November 1st. While I wasn't as huge a fan of the book as everyone else, and I've never read any sequels, I'll give it a go.

The second season of my favorite TV show of 2012 will be coming out at some point in 2013, although I can't say exactly when. The Legend of Korra, Book 2: Spirits. I've written about the show before. Although it's a cartoon, it's fantastic. I recommend it highly.

I'm cautiously optimistic about the 2013 film Gravity. No, it's not the one where Earth's gravity mysteriously disappears - that one would be interesting, even though suspending disbelief would be incredibly difficult. This one is less science fiction and more drama. It's about astronauts stranded on a space station, and it's filmed in the style of Children of Men. That style and that premise sound like they could yield a very interesting movie. I'm interested despite Sandra Bullock and George Clooney.

Lastly, the video game I'm looking forward to most in 2013. Beyond: Two Souls is a game from Quantic Dream, and I love pretty much everything they've done. I think it's a safe bet that I'll be happy with this game. Ellen Page stars as a protagonist who has a spirit alongside her that gives her superhuman powers. I don't know much of the story right now, and I don't need to. I'm all over this game.