Obviously, with that much of an overflow, it was a nearly
impossible task to rank the movies in order of preference. Luckily, my main
favorites stood out pretty clearly, but it was still pretty tough to narrow it
down. Since this was such a unique year, I considered doing a top twenty list
instead, but it just didn’t seem to have the same level of reverence, I suppose
for the same reason I resent the Oscars’ new 10-nominee policy. So, I’m
sticking with ten favorites. And here they are:
#10: Fruitvale Station – Every year
there’s at least one major Oscar snub and this year it seemed to fall squarely
on Fruitvale Station (although
overlooking Monsters University for
best animated feature is a pretty big oversight as well). As I said in my
pre-Oscars post, Fruitvale Station is
so convincingly re-created, it plays almost like a documentary. Every aspect of
it is superb: Writing, acting, directing, cinematography, editing, everything.
This film deserved nominations in all of those categories and more. What’s most
insulting is that only nine films were nominated for best picture this year,
meaning the Academy thought it was better for there to remain a vacant slot
rather give Fruitvale Station a shot
at the title. Disgraceful. I’m especially perplexed because it was not only a
fantastic film, but it was (a) based on a true story (over half of this year’s
nominations for best picture were based on true stories), and (b) was relevant
to current events (in the wake of the Trayvon Martin shooting) making it a
strong social parable. Oh, well. Great films being unappreciated by award
committees is nothing new, but it’s a shame when the result is less people
seeing it. So, do yourself a favor and see Fruitvale
Station.
#9: Philomena – Here’s a true story that
actually was given credit where
credit was due. I didn’t know too much about it going in and may not have
bothered with it had I been told that it was about a woman looking for her long
lost son given up for adoption. My sister-in-law said she was real interested
in seeing it and it was playing at the theater I volunteer at, so I checked it
out to let her know how it was. I loved it, so it was as good an outcome as one
can hope for going into a movie cold. Speaking personally, I’m a big fan of
anything that shines a light on the hypocrisy and corruption of organized
religion and skewers it effectively, but that wasn’t what made this movie
great. It’s definitely a character story and the characters are very
interesting and sympathetic. In hindsight, I was surprised at how funny the
film was, given the melancholy subject matter. It was roundly entertaining and
actually made me want to read the book. I probably won’t get around to it, but
I would like to watch the film again.
#8: Zero Charisma – I played Dungeons & Dragons once when I was in grade school. I lost interest in it real fast,
though, because the “Dungeonmaster” (or is it “Dragonmaster?”) had a bit of a god complex and seemed to enjoy
toying with the rest of us. At one point, I accused him of just making it up as
he went along and creating a game that couldn’t be won purely for the sake of
his own amusement. He got really pissed and I stopped playing. This is a movie
about him in adult form. It’s a tough sell for a movie to have a protagonist
that the audience really doesn’t like, but it works here, because that’s the
whole point. I’m not sure why I liked it so much (certainly not because I’m
into RPG’s, because I’m not), but I think maybe because it was so honest. All
too often in movies, when the hero is an outcast, they paint it as though they
are simply misunderstood victims. In real life, they’re usually outcasts
because they are downright unlikeable people who consequently alienate themselves. Napoleon Dynamite was like this. So was Eagle vs. Shark. These characters were people who created their own
misery, made other people miserable, and yet were audacious enough to blame
their misfortune on external circumstances. I have tremendous respect for any
movie that plays fair by not whitewashing the truth and remains entertaining
while doing it. It’s even better when the movie is funny, and I thought Zero Charisma was hilarious.
#7: Captain Phillips – I feel like I’ve
written too much about this movie already (since I saw it at Cinetopia twice
and included it in my Oscar essay in January), so I hope I don’t repeat myself
too much in talking about it again. In a nutshell, I suppose this is as close
as any of us will (hopefully) get to knowing what it is like to be kidnapped by
Somali pirates. It’s a tense film that escalates to the point where the ending
feels almost like an act of mercy. The end is a bit of a surprise, too. The
surprise isn’t in what happens (if you know anything about the story, you
already know Captain Phillips survives), but how it makes you feel. I’ve heard
a number of people remark that they weren’t expecting to cry at the finale
because action films rarely bring about that kind of reaction. But whatever
tears you may experience are not because there’s a heartfelt reunion with the
captain’s wife or because beloved characters get killed or anything as simple
as that. It’s because what we’ve seen is so traumatizing, they are tears of
compassion and perhaps even some pity. Tears for living in a world where things
like this can (and do) happen. That’s powerful stuff. 
#6: The Wolf of Wall Street – This is
film is classic Scorsese cranked up to eleven. One could even consider it the
third part of a Scorsese trilogy about the inevitable downfall of a criminally
Machiavellian rise to power (GoodFellas
being the trilogy’s first entry and Casino
being the second). A fellow movie fan labeled this one as “Caligula on cocaine” and that’s pretty much right on the money. I
don’t believe I’ve ever seen such a hedonistic film in my life and it’s pretty
exhilarating in the same “guilty pleasure” way Jackass was. The film has gotten a lot of flack saying it glorifies
this kind of lifestyle, but I don’t believe it condoned the things it showed
anymore than Captain Phillips
condoned piracy. In fact, I think suggesting this film glorifies such reprehensible
behavior says more about the accusers than it does about the filmmakers. It
certainly didn’t make me want to go out and become a stockbroker and screw
innocent people out of money and then spend it on drugs and prostitutes and
wreck cars and get divorced and find myself arrested and nothing to show for it
in the end. I had fun watching it happen to someone else, though.
#5: 2 Guns – Now that we’re in the top
half of my list of favorite films from 2013, we graduate from award-worthy
empirically “good” films to the “fun” stuff. As I said in my original review of
the film, 2 Guns harkens back to the
days of the mid-80’s when action films were fun and silly and felt more like
amusement park rides than actual movies, when there was as much humor as
violence and, even when they didn’t particularly make sense and defied all
reasonable plausibility, you didn’t care because you were having way too much
of a good time. In 2 Guns, we’ve got
people walking away from explosions in slow-motion, arguments manifested as car
chases, a stampede of cattle during a shoot-out, and even a scene where Mark Wahlberg literally farts on one of the badguys. If this doesn’t sound like a
movie you’d enjoy… well, I was gonna say “Don’t see it,” but I’m more inclined
to say “Lighten up.” I saw it on my birthday and I couldn’t have picked a
better film to celebrate being alive.
#4: Elysium – This film got a mixed
reception from critics and audiences and I can only assume it’s because District 9 came first and some people
thought Neill Blomkamp’s sophomore opus didn’t measure up. I enjoyed District 9, but I liked Elysium even more. I remember some
friends saying other friends of theirs didn’t care for it (one of them calling
it “Elysi-dumb” and probably patting
himself on the back for being so witty), but I implored my friends to see it
anyway. Most of them liked it, too. So, I’m not sure where the disconnect is.
Just a question of apples and oranges, I guess. With that in mind, I find it
difficult to think of ways to talk you into checking this out, if you haven’t
already. Ranking it as number 4 out of 84 movies I saw last year is enough of
an endorsement, I suppose. But, for the sake of comparison, I liked it more
than Pacific Rim
and Oblivion and even Iron Man 3 (all of which were pretty
decent sci-fi films as well). The action was good, the story was interesting,
the special effects were absolutely incredible, and it kept me guessing. Maybe
there’s not as much of an audience for science fiction as there used to be, but
for my money, this is about as good as it gets.
#3: The Heat – Like Philomena, I sort of stumbled into seeing The Heat. Although, unlike Philomena,
I knew what The Heat was about and
wasn’t particularly interested in seeing it to begin with. Not because it came
across as a chick flick, but because the trailers didn’t strike me as
particularly funny. Even the red-band trailer (which pretty much just showed
the same jokes with more swear words), didn’t have much to offer. That’s a bad
sign for a comedy. Somehow, though, this film managed to be almost the funniest
one of the year (second only to my #1 pick). Most impressively, it’s not the
kind of comedy that’s only funny in places where the successful gags compensate
for the weak ones. This movie is consistently funny from start to finish and
it’s hard to pick a favorite part. A great deal of it has to do with casting.
Sandra Bullock is one of the most thoroughly likable actresses today (and, as
such, it was a stroke of genius for Alfonso Cuarón to cast her in Gravity, given it was essentially a
one-woman show) and Melissa McCarthy’s been on a hot streak lately. The
combination of these two absolutely kill it and it doesn’t hurt that the script
is strong to begin with. The film did well when it came out, but you don’t hear
people talking about it now as they did when Bridesmaids came out on DVD. There were two other comedies this
year that made a lot of noise and featured almost entirely male casts (This Is the End and Anchorman 2) and I frankly thought they both kinda sucked. The
arrogant, self-indulgent comedy of those two films could learn a thing or two
from The Heat and the women in it.
#2: Star Trek Into Darkness – As far as
sci-fi films go, this one might have been chided even more than Elysium was. For starters, Star Trek
fans are almost impossible to please (as are all hardcore fans of any geek
subculture) because they have their own “rules” of what’s allowed and what’s possible.
I don’t really care what they think, though. This movie was a blast. It was a
bit heavy-handed with the massive destruction (a point of contention I had with
Man of Steel) and there were a great
deal of “camera-winking” references peppered throughout, but I ultimately felt
like those were part of the fun. I got the same enjoyment out of it that I got
from 2 Guns, making it one of the
best times I had at the movies last year. I loved the previous Star Trek and I liked this one even more
and I’m eagerly anticipating the next one. Anybody who disagrees with me can go
sulk in their own misery for all I care.
#1: The World’s End – I saw this film
three times in the theater and I would’ve watched even more. Half an hour in,
it was already my favorite movie of the year. Immediately after seeing it, I
must have texted a dozen people telling them they had to see it, too. And,
indeed, most of them texted me back after they did see it saying something to the effect of “You weren’t kidding,
that was amazing.” It’s somewhat of a movie miracle since it succeeds so
effectively as a comedy and an action spectacular and a science-fiction
thriller and a kung-fu movie and a post-apocalyptic adventure and a drinking
game. I’m pleased that, in a year when I saw every movie that was conceivably
worth seeing, the best one seemed almost as though it had taken what worked so
well from all the other ones and combined it into one masterful cyclone of
awesomeness. I don’t know what else to say, except thank you Edgar Wright and company!
So, that was my 2013 as far as the best of the best. Since
this was such a unique year, I thought (in lieu of a top twenty) I’d mention a
few other movies that stood out for one reason or another. I’ll probably never
see this many movies in a single year ever again, so I might as well make my annual
report as thorough as I can:
Worst movie of the
year (by far): Upstream Color – I
hated this movie so much, I actually felt violent afterwards.
Most underrated: Oldboy – This did not deserve to
flop anywhere near as badly as it did. In fact, as far as remakes go, it’s
actually pretty good.
Biggest
disappointment: A Good Day to Die Hard
– I actually liked Die Hard 4 and was
impressed by how earnest they were in remaining loyal to the franchise, but this
one didn’t even try.
Nicest surprise: The Purge – Wasn’t expecting much,
but this turned out to be the best horror film of the year.
Most squandered
potential: Last Vegas – Robert DeNiro, Michael Douglas, Morgan Freeman, and Kevin Kline in the same movie and
this was the best they could do?
Most mixed-feelings: Her – Brilliant in places, lame in
others. What did you think?
Most impressive
technical feat: Gravity – If
there’s one movie that deserves to be seen in IMAX 3-D, it’s this one.
Best kids’ movie for
adults: Monsters University
– Leave it to PIXAR.
Most original story
from a tired genre: Warm Bodies –
If you’re gonna make a zombie movie, you’d better do something new and
interesting with it and this one’s pretty clever.
The only movie I’ve ever
been to where I was the only person in the entire theater: Delivery Man – Ironically, the movie wasn’t that bad (but it
wasn’t that good, either).
And, finally: Even though it wasn’t in my top ten (as far as
personal favorites go), I can honestly say with a clear conscience that 12 Years a Slave did indeed deserve to
win the Oscar for Best Picture of the year. So, in that instance, justice
prevailed.
So, in closing, I should say if there’s a movie in 2013
you’re curious about and want to know what I thought of it, just ask. Chances
are I saw it.
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