What you may need to know:

1. Michael Bay is the most successful movie director of the modern era, thanks to his work on such works of delicacy as The Rock (1996), Armageddon (1998) and the Transformers trilogy. We say his masterpiece is Bad Boys II (2003).

2. Bay is a key proponent of what film critics are calling Chaos Cinema.

3. When your movies make a couple of billion dollars at the box-office, you get to do what you want; in Bay’s case, it’s a low-budget true story about psychotic bodybuilding kidnappers, starring Mark Wahlberg,  the dude from Monk (Tony Shalhoub) and The Rock.

4. In France, they call him Le Rock.

5. Bay and Wahlberg are already re-teaming for (you guessed it) Transformers 4.

6. Truth be told, this looks rather good.

7. Think Coen Brothers on steroids.

Release Date: April 2013

What you may need to know.

1. We showed you the teaser trailer the other week; now here’s a first proper gander at next summer’s monsters vs. giant robots epic. They’re already planning the sequel.

2. If there’s a rousing speech to be given, let it be given by Idris Elba, a man so cool that in 2013 he emerged from both Prometheus and an appearance on Brendan O’Connor’s Saturday Night Show with his dignity intact, nay enhanced. The latter, lest we forget, also gave us the finest random Twitter pic of 2012: Stringer Bell reveals Donegal roots.

3. Pacific Rim director Guillermo Del Toro was supposed to have directed The Hobbit, but bailed at the last minute, and did this instead. The Hobbit could definitely have done with a few giant kick-ass robots and/or Idris Elba.

4. Quoteth Broadsheet perennial Nat King Coleslaw, upon watching this
trailer: ‘Bloody hell’.

Release Date: Summer 2013

What you may need to know

1. The concept: Tom Cruise is Wall-E

2. This is the second Cruise flick in a row where he plays a character
named Jack: we sense a potential Scientologist conspiracy.

3. This is the first of two back-to-back sci-fi epics The Cruiser has
just shot; that Battleshipfield Earth re-boot can’t be far off.

4. It’s directed by Joseph Kosinski, who did Tron Legacy (2010). He’s doing
another Tron flick next.

5. The female leads are British actress Andrea Riseborough and Seven Psychopaths (2012) star Olga Kurylenko. Even odds says Tom’s married one of them by the time this has opened.

6. They really should include this on the soundtrack.

7. Trailer Truism: the unexpected arrival of Morgan Freeman always provokes laughter.

8. Fact: Risky Business is THIRTY years old next year. Which reminds us
of the best thing its leading man has done this century.

Release Date: April 2013

What you may need to know.

1. Immatürity for Charity’ reunites the posse behind Your Bad Self. We
liked Your Bad Self.

2. It was written by and stars ginger hot ticket Domhnall Gleeson, who
just wrapped the new Richard Curtis flick, and features in the next
Lenny Abrahamson and John Martin McDonagh movies.

3. It was directed by John Butler, who’s shooting his first feature, The
Stag, from a script by Oscar nominee (and Moone Boy star) Peter
McDonald – we already hear great things.

4. Featured players include Domnhall’s Dad Brendan, his brother Brian,
renowned author and thespian Amy Huberman and vicious gangland thug
Robert Sheehan.

5. It’s all for a great cause, St. Frances Hospice in Raheny (they take donations).

Release Date: 9.30PM, December 27th, RTE 2

What you may need to know:

1. Do you know who loved the last Superman movie? Quentin Tarantino. Do
you know who else loved it? NOBODY.

2. This re-boot is being overseen by Chris Nolan. They’re hoping for a bit of that Dark Knight magic. Marvel have been kicking DC’s ass at the movies for years.

3. It’s directed by Zach Snyder, whose best film is still his first one – the Dawn Of The Dead remake.

4. Who’s Superman? Henry Cavill, from The Tudors. He’s from Jersey. No,
not New Jersey, more like The Channel Islands, yo.

5. Keep an eye out for Amy Adams as Lois Lane, Rusty Crowe as Jor El,
Kevin Costner and Diane Lane as Ma and Pa Kent and the mighty Michael
Shannon as Zod.

6. John Williams’ theme is ever-so conspicuous by its absence.

Release Date: Next Summer

What you may need to know:

1. It’s about bloody time. GEEK OUT!

2. All Hollywood trailers must now contain that BWARGHHHH! sound. We blame Inception.

3. It’s all about the Cumberbatch. No, he doesn’t play Khan.

4. How excited? Very excited.

5. It’s playing in IMAX. Dublin just got an IMAX screen. Happy days.

6. NB: The Japanese version of the trailer contains an extra moment that’s very Wrath Of Khan – watch here.

Release Date: May 2013

What you might need to know:

1. TV is the new cinema.

2. Showrunners is a documentary exploring the world of TV showrunners..

3.. It’s directed by Dubliner Des Doyle.

4. It features the likes of Joss Whedon, Vince ‘Breaking Bad’ Gilligan, Damien ‘Lost’ Lindelof, Terence ‘Boardwalk Empire’ Winter and Don Cheadle. Possibly because everything could do with a little Cheadle.

5. They’re currently raising funds to finish the thing (see here:)

Release Date: That’s up to YOU.

What you may need to know:

1. Justified might be the best TV show you haven’t caught up with. Get
the box-sets pronto.

2. Marshall Raylan Givens first appeared in Elmore Leonard’s novels Pronto and Riding The Rap. A later short story, Fire In The Hole, inspired the series.

3. Leonard likes Justified so much, he wrote a new novel about the character, entitled Raylan.

4. It stars Timothy Olyphant, best remembered for the late, lamented Deadwood. The real scene-stealer, however, is bad guy Walton Goggins, formerly of The Shield, soon to be in Tarantino’s Django Unchained (2012).

5. Season 4 features Patton Oswalt as Givens’ new sidekick. Current rule of US TV: any show is better with Patton Oswalt in it.

Release Date: January

What you may need to know:

1. Best or Worst movie title of the year? Hmmm…

2. It’s written and directed by Roman Coppola, son of Francis, brother of Sofia, and frequent Wes Anderson collaborator – he co-wrote Moonrise Kingdom (2012).

3. Charlie Sheen is about to film NINETY back-to-back episodes of his rubbish new sitcom Anger Management, after which he insists he’s going to retire, presumably to devote time to his many hobbies. Winning!

4. Always a pleasure to see Jason Schwarzman and Bill Murray. They have appeared in several Wes Anderson movies together, most notably the incomparable Rushmore (1998).

5. It looks like Schwarzman is already in the running for a Fashion Icon of 2013 gong.

6. Bill Murray has finally, absolutely, definitely said no to Ghostbusters 3. First Rule Of Bill Murray: Just Take The Trip.

Release Date: Spring 2013