Looking over my list of favorites, something occurred to me: this is a list my arrogant college self would have probably hated. There's definitely not as many art house type movies here, but I'm okay with that. While I love movies, and I'll never stop watching them or appreciating great ones, I've realized that movies I love don't have to be the indie darling. It can be that stupid comedy that gives you enough laughs that it starts to hurt after awhile. So, much like I said with last year's list, these are my favorite movies of the year, and no one else.
Although everyone is praising 2013 as an overall great year for movies, part of me disagrees with that. Many of the movies near the top of my list are great, great movies, but there weren't all that many "pretty good" movies. I thought this summer was pretty disappointing for blockbusters. I loved Man of Steel, but was very meh on the likes of Iron Man 3 and Pacific Rim, both of which I was really looking forward to really enjoying. The Great Gatsby was also fairly disappointing, considering it was originally slated for December, 2012 as an Oscar hopeful. While Thor: The Dark World made up for Iron Man 3's disappointment, it still didn't do much to get me excited for Phase 2 of Marvel's Cinematic Universe.
Besides the comedies I have on my list, none of them really stood out this year. In short, I was pretty indifferent about most movies this year. I had a real easy time making my list this year, which told me even more about the quality of movies in 2013. In past years I had a hard time on which movies to place on my top 10, and even more so where they should be slotted. I'm almost certain it took me all of 20 minutes to complete my list. There were two movies I went back and forth on for number 10, but I finally decided on the movie that I kept coming back to.
I'll start my list just like every other year, with the seven that missed the cut. It's been seven movies since I started my "Best Of" lists, but this year, it could have been three movies and been just as fine. But, I'm OCD about this kind of stuff.
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| Written and Directed by Brian Helgeland Produced by Thomas Tull |
Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues
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| Directed by Adam McKay Written by Will Ferrell and Adam McKay Produced by Judd Apatow, Will Ferrell, and Adam McKay |
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
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| Directed by Francis Lawrence Written by Michael Arndt and Simon Beaufoy Produced by Nina Jacobson and Jon Kilik |
Man of Steel
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| Directed by Zack Snyder Written by David S. Goyer Produced by Christopher Nolan, Charles Roven, Deborah Snyder, and Emma Thomas |
Nebraska
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| Directed by Alexander Payne Written by Bob Nelson Produced by Albert Berger and Ron Yerxa |
Philomena
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| Directed by Stephen Frears Written by Steve Coogan and Jeff Pope Produced by Steve Coogan, Tracey Seaward, and Gabrielle Tana |
Prisoners
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| Directed by Denis Villeneuve Written by Aaron Guzikowski Produced by Kira Davis, Broderick Johnson, Adam Kolbrenner, and Andrew A. Kosove |
Those are seven very good movies that you should definitely watch when you can. However, they are inferior to the 10 listed below. So, let's get down to it.
10) Her
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| Written and Directed by Spike Jonze Produced by Megan Ellison, Spike Jonze, and Vincent Landay |
Her is definitely the most unique movie experience of 2013, and that is thanks in large part to writer/director Spike Jonze. It's a frightening look at a future that is all too close to becoming true. Much of the movie is Phoenix acting alone, and it reminds us just how great of an actor he can be. Chris Pratt has a great small role, and Amy Adams is as great as ever. The real high point of the movie, though is Scarlett Johansson. She's never on screen, yet her performance as the voice of the Operating System Samantha was the make or break role Obviously, she nails it, and I almost wish she would have had more support for an Oscar nomination.
9) This Is the End
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| Written and Directed by Evan Goldberg and Seth Rogen Produced by Evan Goldberg, Seth Rogen, and James Weaver |
It's offensive, rude, crude, weird, dumb, random, yet gut-busting hilarious. This Is The End is definitely NOT for the easily offended or very religious, but damn is this a funny movie. Each actor plays a hybrid version of themselves and what the public imagines them to be, and each of them nail it. No one has an issue making fun of themselves. The apocalyptic setting makes for some funny moments, but it's really the scenes of the actors just doing things that are the highlight.
8) Inside Llewyn Davis
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| Written and Directed by Ethan Coen and Joel Coen Produced by Ethan Coen, Joel Coen, and Scott Rudin |
The Coen Brothers are seemingly at their most comfortable with music movies. First it was O Brother, and now Llewyn Davis. I wouldn't say this movie surpasses O Brother in terms of quality, but it's obvious that the Coen Brothers just love to make these kind of movies. The "Please Mr. Kennedy" sequence has the perfect balance of being funny and fascinating that it couldn't have been filmed by anyone else. Justin Timberlake is quite terrific, and it's nice to see Oscar Isaac finally get a great starring role after so many secondary characters.
7) Captain Phillips
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| Directed by Paul Greengrass Written by Billy Ray Produced by Dana Brunetti, Michael De Luca, and Scott Rudin |
Captain Phillips is the type of true story that was an almost no brainer to be made into a big budget Hollywood movie. The fact that it didn't get rushed to get made and has behind it one of the best actors of his time (Hanks) and a great director (Greengrass) says something immediately about the production value. The movie is not only nail bitingly intense, but also very much a character driven. The final moments, especially Hanks' acting, is arguably the best crowd pleasing moment of the year.
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| Directed by Jean-Marc Vallée Written by Craig Borten and Melisa Wallack Produced by Robbie Brenner and Rachel Winter |
This is the type of movie where the acting performances take it from being a decent movie to one of the year's best. Although the story line gets a little too overcrowded by trying to say too much and tackle too many different issues, Dallas Buyers Club is one of the more enjoyable movies to watch, despite the grim story. Jared Leto is an absolute lock for Best Supporting Actor. McConaughey's physical transformation makes him very much the front runner for Best Actor. He has been on one hell of a run lately, and Buyers Club shows just how great of an actor he can be when given the proper role.
5) Frozen
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| Directed by Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee Written by Jennifer Lee Produced by Peter Del Vecho |
There was a time during the early 2000's that Disney was going through an identity crisis. If it wasn't for Pixar Studios creating amazing movies, Disney could have easily lost all of their movie credibility. Lately, the tide has changed. With movies like Wreck-It-Ralph and Tangled, Disney is starting to find the creative juice again. Frozen is the movie where Disney finally grows up, and realizes not every movie has to be about a knight in shining armor to be a good story. The animation is beautiful, and the music! Frozen is easily Disney's best animated feature since, probably, The Lion King (not counting Pixar movies). It also makes me excited about the future of Disney movies, which hasn't been the case since I really started getting into movies.
4) 12 Years a Slave
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| Directed by Steve McQueen Written by John Ridley Produced by Dede Gardner, Anthony Katagas, Jeremy Kleiner, Steve McQueen, and Brad Pitt |
12 Years a Slave is without a doubt the most intense and difficult movie to watch of any on this list. Although I prefer Shame, Steve McQueen's third feature is easily his most emotionally moving and best crafted movie. He creates scenes that are filmed not in new ways, but different and more risk taking than perhaps other filmmakers would have done. There are a few scenes that I couldn't look away from despite how difficult the material is to watch, because of how amazingly well done they were filmed. It's the type of film that I will be thinking about for years, but I'm not sure if I'll ever be able to watch it again.
3) American Hustle
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| Directed by David O. Russell Written by Eric Warren Singer and David O. Russell Produced by Megan Ellison, Jonathan Gordon, Charles Roven, and Richard Suckle |
Despite the over two hour run time, American Hustle goes by in a flash. It's the type of movie that is simply great actors acting great together. The audience is the one that benefits the most. Despite the great performances from the entire cast, Jennifer Lawrence steals all her scenes with another amazing role. She should continue to stick with David O. Russell for future movies, as they could make some amazing work together.
2) The Wolf of Wall Street
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| Directed by Martin Scorsese Written by Terence Winter Produced by Riza Aziz, Leonardo DiCaprio, Joey McFarland, Martin Scorsese, and Emma Tillinger Koskoff |
Many people hate The Wolf of Wall Street because they think it glorifies the scumbags on screen. In fact, it does the complete opposite. DiCaprio's Jordan Belfort is not a character we root for, yet we are so completely fascinated with his lifestyle that we can't help but hope that we could at least have a little taste at it one day. In that sense, the people that loathe this movie are the ones afraid to admit they would trade places, if only for a day. The final scene so perfectly encapsulates that idea, and society's thoughts on this lifestyle in general.
1) Gravity
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| Directed by Alfonso Cuarón Written by Alfonso Cuarón and Jonás Cuarón Produced by Alfonso Cuarón and David Heyman |
Similarly to when I first saw Argo in 2012, I knew almost instantly Gravity was my favorite movie of 2013. I haven't seen anything quite like Gravity in a long time, in terms of story, acting, cinematography, and overall direction. It is a unique experience, and nothing even comes close to how great it is. The story sometimes muddles for too long, but the amount of amazing moments (that opening long take!) more than make up for any issues I have with the story. I constantly found myself comparing everything I saw to Gravity after the first viewing. It's a great action movie, a terrific character study, and one of the most well made movies I've seen in a long time. It's going to be hard to top this in the next few years.
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