Unknown actor will be big star of 2014

Chiwetel Ejiofor’s brilliant performance in 12 Years A Slave should win him an Oscar.

Happy New Year everyone! I hope your lum is reeking already and continues well into 2014!

I just love saying that sort of thing to Californians they don’t understand a word.

Well, after two weeks of Aunty Betty’s ginger wine and constant rain in the UK I’ve returned to Hollywood to dry out a wee bit.

I was feeling shattered after all the festivities. On the plus side, the 11-hour flight to LA was the quickest ever. The “fasten your seatbelts” announcement merged into the “we’re now landing at Los Angeles International” one.

2014 is going to be a great year and there are lots of things to look forward to. The first one starts on Friday with the release of the gripping movie 12 Years A Slave.

Rising star Chiwetel Ejiofor is brilliant alongside Brad Pitt and Michael Fassbender in the true story of a free black man who is kidnapped and sold into slavery in the Deep South. It’s a fantastic watch and could clean up at the Oscars it ticks all the boxes.

There are heavyweight stars acting out of their skin and it deals with a very serious subject in a sombre way. In other words, it’s a shoo-in for Best Picture I’d bet the Broons Annual I got for Christmas on it.

Expect to see a Best Actor award for Ejiofor too. You may have seen him in Children of Men and Serenity, and he even popped up on festive telly in Love, Actually but we’ll be seeing a lot more from him after his brilliant performance.

It’s been a wonderful year for films and I’m looking forward to the 86th Academy Awards where I’ll be reporting live for Daybreak and Lorraine.

Legendary producer Harvey Weinstein reckons this is the best year for movies since the Second World War. As well as 12 Years A Slave, there’s Gravity, American Hustle and Captain Phillips.

And let’s not forget the “wee film that just might” Philomena. At the very least it should get an Oscar nod for Dame Judi Dench.

I’m really looking forward to the Clint Eastwood directed Jersey Boys. It’s based on the stage show charting the life of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons. I’m the world’s biggest Jersey Boys fan I’ve seen it eight times.

I’ve harboured ambitions of playing one of the roles but sadly Clint must have lost my phone numberagain!

Elsewhere there are plenty of blockbusters to keep the kids happy. As usual, most are sequels because, well, if it ain’t broke then don’t fix it.

Scot James McAvoy will return in X Men: Days Of Future Past, while Spider-Man and Captain America are due to return, too.

But it’s not just spandex-clad comic book stars who will be returning. There’s set to be an unlikely comeback for some very “old school” heroes .

Exodus will star Christian Bale as Moses leading the Israelites out of the desert. And Russell Crowe is set to experience nearly as much rain as Scotland has enjoyed over the past couple of weeks in Noah. He plays the man who built the Ark to save all the animals from drowning. Except the fish, they were fine.

It’s not just movies, though. In March last year, everyone was talking about David Bowie’s album The Next Day. The Thin White Duke surprised everyone by announcing a new single, Where Are We Now, and releasing it on the same day.

Mrs Jay-Z, better known as Beyonce, did something similar last month with her new album. This seems to be catching on so you can probably expect a few more big artists to do the same in 2014 we’ve not heard from Adele in a while.

On January 14, I’ll pick up Bruce Springsteen’s new record, High Hopes. I plan to listen to it while tidying the house for New Year. So I’ll be doing a spring clean with Springsteen.

Bruce is known as The Boss. Reckon it’s because he has his own parking space and leaves work early every day?