Best of 2013 Releases

Top Ten Releases of 2013*:

These are the ten films that have stuck with me, given me the most pleasure, or really impressed me the most in 2013. In compiling this list, I have not gone back to see what grade I gave the films at the initial viewing. I am instead focused on what films stuck with me the most in the last twelve months.

10. Blackfish

One of the best documentaries I watched all year, and a stirring indictment of Sea World.

9. Captain Phillips

A crackerjack action thriller heightened into something more due to the film's final scenes. Incredibly powerful performance by Tom Hanks.

8. The Place Beyond the Pines

Like three movies in one. I really dug into all the performances (I'll even cut Bradley Cooper some slack here) and found myself still thinking about this one weeks and months later.

7. The World's End

I'm only sad that the Blood and Ice Cream trilogy is coming to an end--and with some real emotional heft as well. Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, and Edgar Wright are one of the great comedy teams in recent memory. Here's hoping they're not done working together.

6. The Way Way Back

Sure the teen coming of age story is well-trod ground, but this film really hit all the right notes for me. Funny, touching, and ultimately optimistic.

5. Pacific Rim

Maybe the most flat out fun I had at the movies all year long. This is the only movie I paid full price to see twice--and one of those was in IMAX (worth it). I know it's full of cliches, but I had such a good time that I didn't even mind.

4. Mud

Mud quickly made it onto my Intro to Film Studies syllabus due to Jeff Nichols' skill, care, and work in this modern day Mark Twain tale. Fantastic.

3. Gravity

The thing about a movie in space is it doesn't have to make you hold your breath, but Gravity sustained tension and weight (pun intended) throughout, and I'm only sad I won't be seeing it on the big screen again.

2. American Hustle

Again, just a whole lot of fun at the movies, anchored by fantastic actors all having a lot of fun (OK, maybe I have to start acknowledging that I like Bradley Cooper more than I think I do). Kept me smiling from beginning to end.

1. 12 Years a Slave

Profound, powerful, painful. Steve McQueen's 12 Years a Slave is everything a great movie should be, with scenes that stick with you, performances that are wholly human, and depth to warrant repeated watching. Incredible film by an incredible filmmaker.

Honorable Mentions: Only God Forgives, Don Jon, Spring Breakers, Oblivion, Rush, Room 237, Pain and Gain, Side Effects, Frances Ha, Blue Jasmine

Films I Saw Twice or More This Year:

Pain and Gain

Pacific Rim

Mud

Greatest Film Moments of the Year:

3. James Franco's monologue from Spring Breakers

2. Chiwetel Ejiofor's look into the camera in 12 Years a Slave

1. The final five minutes of Captain Phillips

*Due to location, opportunity, or my own time limitations I have not yet had a chance to see the following critical hits that may or may not cause this list to be revised: Leviathan, Beyond the Hills, From up on Poppy Hill, Upstream Color, To the Wonder, Stories We Tell, Before Midnight, The Kings of Summer, A Hijacking, Museum Hours, Fruitvale Station, Still Mine, The Hunt, The Act of Killing, The Spectacular Now, In a World, Ain't Them Bodies Saints, Short Term 12, The Grandmaster, Salinger, Enough Said, All is Lost, Blue is the Warmest Color, Dallas Buyer's Club, Man of Tai Chi, The Wind Rises, The Book Thief, Nebraska, The Wind Rises, Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom, Inside Llewyn Davis, Her, August Osage County, and The Wolf of Wall Street.

That means in addition to all the stuff I missed and might have liked (I'm not the most discerning critic), I also have yet to see 34 critically recognized films. Dang.  Looks like I have plenty of places to begin for 2014!