The shape of things to come

With Spielberg, Scorsese and Tarantino among the big-name directors about to release long-awaited new films, 2003 looks set to be a memorable year for cinema-goers. Here, Ryan Gilbey previews the best movies of the new year

GANGS OF NEW YORK (January)

A friend recently described Martin Scorsese's long-cherished historical gangland tale as a movie with a split personality: while Scorsese set out to make Once Upon a Time in America, producer Harvey Weinstein had his heart set on another Titanic. Whatever the picture's flaws, I can't be alone in believing that no human being can afford to miss the sight of Daniel Day-Lewis in a daft hat and a disagreeable moustache.

CATCH ME IF YOU CAN (January)

Leonardo DiCaprio has a wash and shave after Scorsese's grubby epic, and comes up gleaming as the real-life con man Frank Abagnale Jr in Steven Spielberg's footloose comic thriller. Tom Hanks gives chase; the animated credit sequence by the Shoreditch-based Nexus merits comparison with the work of the great Saul Bass.

THE HOURS (February)

With an armful of awards already to its credit, DNA that screams culture (writer David Hare, director Stephen Daldry, the spirit of Virginia Woolf along for the ride), three knockout stars (Meryl Streep, Julianne Moore, and Nicole Kidman in a prosthetic nose as Woolf) and a Valentine's Day release date, the only way this film can fail is if Osama bin Laden proclaims it his movie of the year. That aside, mind your backs as the Oscarmobile rolls into town, and magazines commission think-pieces on how you too can have an authentic Virginia Woolf hooter in five easy stages.

ADAPTATION (February)

Opinion on this follow-up to Being John Malkovich from writer Charlie Kaufman and director Spike Jonze has been violently divided, with some viewers considering it "extraordinary" while others think it rates only a plain old "incredible". Whichever side of this controversial fence you find yourself on, Adaptation should score highly on your weird-o-meter. Nicolas Cage plays both Charlie Kaufman, desperately trying to adapt Susan Orlean's book The Orchid Thief into a hit movie, and his savvy twin brother Donald. Meanwhile, Meryl Streep pops up in the film-within-a-film as Orlean herself.

FAR FROM HEAVEN (March)

A spectacular comeback for Todd Haynes after the critical mauling that greeted Velvet Goldmine four years ago, this plush but piercing 1950s-set melodrama starring Julianne Moore borrows the plot from Douglas Sirk's All That Heaven Allows (forbidden desires in middle America) and makes it feel as urgent as ever. Far From Heaven, but damn close to perfection.

25TH HOUR (April)

Spike Lee's tribute to the spirit of post-9/11 New York may be nowhere near as ferocious and intelligent as Bamboozled, but amongst the longeurs you can still hit upon buried treasure: a couple of sparkling montages that celebrate NYC and pull back, just, from Benetton-ad prettiness; some moving footage of the Ground Zero clean-up operation; and a chilling, heartbreaking performance from Barry Pepper, hitherto known chiefly as the wild-eyed sniper in Saving Private Ryan, as one of a trio of pals reassessing their lives.

CONFESSIONS OF A DANGEROUS MIND (May)

This year's Philip Seymour Hoffman Ubiquity Award goes not to Philip Seymour Hoffman, who with only three films currently slated for release (Love Liza, Punch-Drunk Love, 25th Hour) has been a real workshy slacker, but to George Clooney. Not only has Clooney directed and starred in this dark comedy about a TV bigshot turned CIA assassin (the underrated Sam Rockwell), he has also found time to star in the Coen brothers' twisted farce Intolerable Cruelty, Steven Soderbergh's trippy sci-fi drama Solaris and the heist comedy Welcome to Collinwood, as well as producing the latter, and executive-producing Todd Haynes' Far From Heaven. Another year like this and we'll have forgiven him for Batman and Robin.

THE TRUTH ABOUT CHARLIE (May)

If anyone else had attempted a remake of Stanley Donen's quick-witted, slow-burning 1963 mini-classic Charade, I would have recommended a lynch-mob. Heck, I'd have volunteered to lead it myself. But while Thandie Newton and Mark Wahlberg are, even on a good day, no match for Audrey Hepburn and Cary Grant, the picture itself should be safe in the nimble hands of Jonathan Demme, who spent a few days knocking around ideas with young buck Paul Thomas Anderson (whose own Punch-Drunk Love opens in February) in preparation for this cine-literate update. Sure to be a popcorn movie with pizzazz.

X-MEN 2 (May) / THE HULK (July)

Superhero movies with sound pedigrees, for the more discerning viewer. Hopefully Bryan Singer (The Usual Suspects) will delve deeper into the combination of pulp and gloom that lent the first X-Men its pungent flavour. What Ang Lee (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) will do with The Hulk is anyone's guess. But with stand-up comic turned movie hardnut Eric Bana (Chopper, Black Hawk Down) in the lead role, you can be sure he's taking it seriously.

THE MATRIX RELOADED (May)/THE MATRIX REVOLUTIONS (November)

My eyelids surrendered midway through reading the synopsis for The Matrix Reloaded – "Neo and the rebel leaders estimate they have 72 hours until 250,000 probes attack..." – but for many eggheads, the arrival of Matrixes 2 and 3 in the same year will be the best thing since that Jean-Luc Picard mouse-pad they picked up at the last Star Trek convention. Spiffy graphics and Keanu Reeves for those beguiled by the implacable progress of technology; an idiosyncratic supporting cast – including Monica Bellucci, Oz's Harold Perrineau Jr – for us flesh-and-blood types.

CHARLIE'S ANGELS: FULL THROTTLE (July)

The first Charlie's Angels movie really hit the spot for me: knowing but never smug, disposable but sweet-natured, it was a gas through and through. Diaz, Barrymore and Liu have ditched Bill Murray for this sequel (oops!) and will need charm on their side if they're going to beat the forthcoming S Club 7 movie to become Camp Treat of the Year.

IT'S ALL ABOUT LOVE (Spring/Summer)

There's not a whiff of Dogme 95 austerity about this studio-bound, deliberately artificial love story from Thomas Vinterberg (Festen). What it does have, though, is stars: Joaquin Phoenix, Claire Danes and Sean Penn add Brownie points to their CVs by pitching up in Copenhagen to shoot this futuristic romance set on the edge of apocalypse. And to that wag at the back who called out One From The Heart – pipe down, you cynic.

DOGVILLE (Autumn)

Similarly, Lars von Trier (The Idiots) has set aside his Dogme 95 past in this project starringNicole Kidman, Lauren Bacall and James Caan. Shot in Copenhagen (does this sound familiar?), it's a 1930s drama set in Colorado's Rocky Mountains. Poised to premiere at Cannes, it couldn't possibly be another Palme d'Or for von Trier. Could it?

SWIMMING POOL (Autumn/Winter)

Those people who have read the script of François Ozon's follow-up to 8 Women testify to a return to the edgy suspense of 1997s See The Sea, which is bad news for anyone hoping for more wigs, lippy and leopard-print – unless Ozon has put Charles Dance through a particularly perverse makeover. Dance teams up with those previous Ozon collaborators Charlotte Rampling and impish little Ludivine Sagnier in a thriller that was shot last year in London and the South of France.

KILL BILL (October)/ THE RULES OF ATTRACTION (March)

After the autumnal contemplation of Jackie Brown, Quentin Tarantino flies the lad flag once more with this kung-fu revenge thriller about a hired killer (Uma Thurman) out to even the score with the boss (David Carradine) who tried to bump her off. Warren Beatty was attached to the bad-guy role until he suggested to Tarantino that it might be more Carradine's bag; however, QT and WB insist they're still planning a future collaboration. Ahhhh. But the really pressing question is: whatever happened to Tarantino'sPulp Fiction co-writer Roger Avary? He's back with an imaginative and only-slightly sicko adaptation of Bret Easton Ellis's "difficult" (ie ignored) second novel The Rules of Attraction. Iconoclast alert: James van der Beek – Dawson himself – is shown masturbating over internet porn, punching a girl in the face, and enjoying a man-on-man snog.

THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RETURN OF THE KING (December)

Is it that time of year again already? Savour Peter Jackson's Tolkien trilogy in its purest form, before the inevitable special editions and 2nd assistant director's cuts that will surely be clogging up multiplex screens for centuries to come. I can't tell you what will be in this third instalment because the books are all Elvish to me, but fans will have cause for consternation now that Gandalf himself, Ian McKellen, is moonlighting on the set of the next Harry Potter, where he will fill the shoes of the late Richard Harris. That movie, meanwhile, is pencilled in for summer 2004 – so meet me here this time next year and I'll tell you all about it.