Though "putrid" isn't quite the word to describe this Charlie Stratton adaptation of Zola's classic (though it does boast one or two bloated corpses), there is sense of overripeness to the film, a tinge of déjà vu in that we've seen this story played out countless times before and already know how it is going to end. Elizabeth Olsen (of Martha Marcy May Marlene fame) plays the parentless Thérèse, whose overbearing aunt, Madame Raquin (Jessica Lange), forces her into an engagement with her only child, the sickly and decidedly humdrum Camille (portrayed by Tom Felton). 

Now that the awards season is almost over, with only the Academy Awards remaining, our attention turns toward the most eagerly awaited films of 2014. This past year focused on real-life stories, with stellar accomplishments like 12 Years a Slave, American Hustle, Wolf of Wall Street, The Butler, and Mandela. However, 2014 is looking to both expand on and provide some counterpoint to this trend, with a new crop of fantasy, sci-fi, futuristic, and supernatural films, as well as historical fiction.

Joel McCrea leads the way as John Jones, a New York newspaper reporter sent to Europe in 1939 to cover the looming possibility of a world war. For his first assignment, he is asked to cover an event hosted by the Universal Peace Party, an organization devoted to preventing the international conflict. The guest of honor at the event is supposed to be a Dutch diplomat named Van Meer (Albert Bassermann), but he cancels his appearance at the last moment. Days later, the diplomat appears to be assassinated.

In his directorial debut, Armando Bo (who co-wrote the script with Nicolás Giacobone) uses the seemingly oversaturated Buenos Aires celebrity-impersonators scene to explore the depths of character of one man, Carlos “Elvis” Gutierrez, who is struggling to match his fantasies with the hard realities he faces.   As far as he is concerned, Carlos is the King, not only on stage among impersonators but in his mind as well.

Writer-director J.C. Chandor follows his well-received, 2011 drama “Margin Call” with an unusual cinematic feat: a one-actor picture with virtually no dialogue. The movie, “All Is Lost,” centers on an unnamed protagonist who becomes stranded at sea, and Chandor’s only actor is cinema icon Robert Redford. In the film, Redford’s character awakens to find his small sailboat lodged on a metal cargo container that was drifting at sea. The collision tore a hole in the side of his craft, which is rapidly taking water. 

McConaughey famously lost more than 40 pounds to portray real-life AIDS victim Ron Woodruff. The Dallas resident refused to see his disease as a death sentence and began smuggling experimental medications into the U.S., then selling them to others with HIV. Leto plays a transgender woman named Rayon, who was created by screenwriters as a composite of numerous people in Woodruff’s life.

Interestingly, “Rush” has much to say about the things that drive men to compete. The film relates the real-life story of the 1976 Formula One rivalry between English driver James Hunt (Chris Hemsworth) and Austrian racer Niki Lauda (Daniel Brühl). The film is loaded with drama both because of the racing backdrop and because Hunt and Lauda are presented as polar opposites. Hunt is depicted as a fast-living playboy who delights in the attention that racing affords him. 

Cats and Asian Americans reign supreme on Youtube, but in Hollywood it’s another story: discrimination, stereotypes and exclusion are the norm for Asians, both on television and the silver screen. The most recent evidence of this came during the Golden Globe awards ceremony, where viewers were hard-pressed to find an Asian face in the audience, let alone an Asian name among the nominees. The TV camera showed flashes of the marvelous Lucy Liu and comedian Ansari Aziz, as if trying to make sure that these two “cats” would somehow make up for the lack of Asian diversity. 

For whatever reason we turn to fantasy, whether the genre’s commercial bubble--if it is, indeed, a bubble--"pops" within the next year or the next decade, society will most likely continue turning to stories of the inexplicable and marvelous regardless of the frequency with which new fantasy films are being produced. Because as long as there as there are fears to be solaced, through disillusionment with technology, politics, or otherwise, humans will probably always be a little quixotic, longing for a time in which something like the strangely beautiful, strangely gleaming iPod could simply be chalked up to good, old-fashioned magic.

Director Paul Greengrass offered a remarkable look at the 9/11 terrorist attacks in his 2006 film “United 93,” and he tackles another real-life event with “Captain Phillips.” The movie, which is terrific in every sense, focuses on the 2009 Indian Ocean hijacking of the cargo ship Maersk Alabama. During that incident, Somali pirates boarded the vessel and then took Captain Richard Phillips hostage.