The Top Ten Movies of 2013 (+5 worst and 5 honorable mentions)
Not too many really great movies this year (especially from the Hollywood studio system). In this country, it seems like the difference between a great film and a forgettable, marginal film, is a difference that's quickly widening (let's call it America's cultural ADD). But alas, we already have hope for 2014 ("Noah", "Inherent Vice")
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- DirectorHarmony KorineStarsVanessa HudgensSelena GomezAshley BensonFour college girls hold up a restaurant in order to fund their spring break vacation. While partying, drinking, and taking drugs, they are arrested, only to be bailed out by a drug and arms dealer.Probing, timely, titillatingly subversive, slyly feminist (!?), there are so many ways to argue, describe and interpret the latest film from self-taught wunderkind Harmony Korine, who finally fulfills the promise of his remarkable debut "Gummo". Plus, if it was my Academy, Franco would get an Oscar for this.
- DirectorBruno DumontStarsJuliette BinocheJessica ErreroRobert LeroyWinter, 1915. Confined by her family to an asylum in the South of France - where she will never sculpt again - the chronicle of Camille Claudel's reclusive life, as she waits for a visit from her brother, Paul Claudel.It can be a big risk when a director of Bruno Dumont's uncompromised, Bresson-like cinematic austerity works with a big name stage and screen star like Juliette Binoche. But what we get is a film balancing a transcendent near wordless performance of quietly grand emotions with the rural echos of Dumont's mighty influence.
- DirectorCate ShortlandStarsSaskia RosendahlKai-Peter MalinaNele TrebsAs the Allies sweep across Germany, Lore leads her siblings on a journey that exposes them to the truth of their parents' beliefs. An encounter with a mysterious refugee forces Lore to rely on a person she has always been taught to hate.There is no sophomore slump for Aussie director Cate Shortland ("Somersault"), who boldly ventures beyond her comfort zone with this poetic and realistic look at the plight of a family of children orphaned by SS war criminals in the immediate aftermath of Germany's defeat.
- DirectorRyan CooglerStarsMichael B. JordanMelonie DiazOctavia SpencerThe story of Oscar Grant III, a 22-year-old Bay Area resident, who crosses paths with friends, enemies, family, and strangers on the last day of 2008.By far the best American debut film of the year, Ryan Coogler's timely masterwork should be essential viewing for everyone, especially police officers around the country as a presentation of 'how not to act'
- DirectorSteve McQueenStarsChiwetel EjioforMichael Kenneth WilliamsMichael FassbenderIn the antebellum United States, Solomon Northup, a free Black man from upstate New York, is abducted and sold into slavery.Steve McQueen, one of the great recently emerged hopes of the future of cinema, goes Hollywood here and despite a few missteps (a Brad Pitt cameo as jarring and disrupting as Ted Danson's was in "Saving Private Ryan"), his patient, single-take style and theme of the spirit-vs.-the body remain beautifully intact enough to make Tarantino's "Django" look like the moronic cartoon that is was. Plus, Michael Fassbender gives what is his most fascinating performance yet.
- DirectorTerrence MalickStarsBen AffleckOlga KurylenkoJavier BardemAfter falling in love in Paris, Marina and Neil come to Oklahoma, where problems arise. Their church's Spanish-born pastor struggles with his faith, while Neil encounters a woman from his childhood.I can't stand Ben Affleck and "To the Wonder" is by far Terrence Malick's weakest film. That said, it still managed to be perhaps the most romantic, melancholy and beautiful film of the year. And still better than about 95% of everything else.
- DirectorNicolas Winding RefnStarsRyan GoslingKristin Scott ThomasVithaya PansringarmJulian, a drug-smuggler thriving in Bangkok's criminal underworld, sees his life get even more complicated when his mother compels him to find and kill whoever is responsible for his brother's recent death.People said it was a weak follow-up to "Drive". I didn't really care for "Drive", but I liked this film. Quick, bloody and (thanks to a uber-bitch role from the always reliable Kristen Scott Thomas) gleefully un-PC, Refn's film is like if Wong Kar Wai's "Fallen Angels" met up with David Lynch on the worst corner of Bangkok.
- DirectorAlexander PayneStarsBruce DernWill ForteJune SquibbAn aging, booze-addled father makes the trip from Montana to Nebraska with his estranged son in order to claim a million-dollar Mega Sweepstakes Marketing prize.Sure, Alexander Payne's "Nebraska" has more problems than Payne's previously acclaimed films like "About Schmidt" and "Sideways" (mostly the gross miscasting of Will Forte, aka SNL's MacGruber"). But Payne's rambly-yet-deadpan style fits like a glove on Bruce Dern, that spry-yet withered face and body still a signpost of that most yearnful time, the 70's, when movies were made with heart and ramble.
- DirectorJames PonsoldtStarsMiles TellerShailene WoodleyKyle ChandlerA hard-partying high school senior's philosophy on life changes when he meets the not-so-typical "nice girl."Like "Say Anything" (a clear influence), "Spectacular Now" is that rare high school movie that actually feels true and with characters that seem real. I came away feeling like I'd known people headed down this life pathway, a compliment for any film. I'm always skeptical of the talent pool of this upcoming generation, aka the Efron-Beiber generation, but the two leads here both deserve bright futures.
- DirectorCalvin Lee ReederStarsDermot MulroneyLindsay PulsipherNatasha LyonneA quiet drifter leaves prison, finds home on the road.A really weird, ultra-violent new-age techno acid Western (if that really exists). Imagine a 4-way standoff between "El Topo", "Wild At Heart", Alex Cox and a Rockabilly band; it might be scratching the mere surface of this one.
- DirectorWoody AllenStarsCate BlanchettAlec BaldwinPeter SarsgaardA New York socialite, deeply troubled and in denial, arrives in San Francisco to impose upon her sister. She looks like a million dollars but isn't bringing money, peace or love.honorable mention: Woody's patented schtick is to me inconsistent, especially when he's nowhere to be found in the cast (for every "Match Point" and "Sweet and Lowdown" we get a "Whatever Works" and a "Tall Dark Stranger" it often seems). But sometimes we know he's often most potent when both identifying with and dicing up the upper-crust, and for that "Blue Jasmine" works although not as incisively as say a Chabrol film. & sticking Cate Blanchett and Sally Hawkins alongside Andrew Dice Clay and Louis C.K. is enough to intrigue even Allen's biggest hater.
- DirectorAriel VromenStarsMichael ShannonChris EvansJames FrancoThe story of Richard Kuklinski, the notorious contract killer and family man. When he was finally arrested in 1986, neither his wife nor his daughters had any clue about his real profession.honorable mention: Yes, the great Michael Shannon tried his hamful-hearted best to bring depth to his bad guy in "Man of Steel". But even he isn't worth sitting through that film. Not so here, where he redeems himself with his note-perfect performance of infamous hired-killer Richard Kuklinski. "The Iceman" is not a flawless movie by any means, but Shannon is unforgettable.
- DirectorAlexandre MoorsStarsIsaiah WashingtonTequan RichmondTim Blake NelsonAn abandoned boy is lured to America and drawn into the shadow of a dangerous father figure. Inspired by the real-life events that led to the 2002 Beltway sniper attacks.honorable mention: Another dark true-crime story, "Blue Caprice" follows the strange, surrogate father-son relationship of the notorious Beltway snipers, who in 2002 stunned the country with their random killings in the same way David Berkowitz or the Zodiac did. And like "Fruitvale Station" this film isn't about judgement, only observation.
- DirectorJ.C. ChandorStarsRobert RedfordAfter a collision with a shipping container at sea, a resourceful sailor finds himself, despite all efforts to the contrary, staring his mortality in the face.honorable mention: Although these stuck-in-a-space scenarios have grown tiresome for me ("Buried", "Unbroken", "127 Hours" blah, blah should I keep going), "All Is Lost" makes the list because of the daring decision made by director J.C. Chandor to keep the film as humanly realistic and devoid of Hollywood script as possible. Especially when Chandor's Oscar-nominated debut "Margin Call" was such a well scripted movie.
- DirectorAlfonso CuarónStarsSandra BullockGeorge ClooneyEd HarrisDr Ryan Stone, an engineer on her first time on a space mission, and Matt Kowalski, an astronaut on his final expedition, have to survive in space after they are hit by debris while spacewalking.honorable mention: Call it "All is Lost" with 4 times the budget, Emmerich-like disaster special-effects, and George Clooney acting like George Clooney. Call it "All is Lost--in Space!". But one things for certain, the techniques and the style of this film (thrilling suspense punctuated by airy long-takes) devised by director Alfonso Cauron and the great cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki are masterful.
- DirectorZack SnyderStarsHenry CavillAmy AdamsMichael ShannonAn alien child is evacuated from his dying world and sent to Earth to live among humans. His peace is threatened when other survivors of his home planet invade Earth.One of the Year's worst: Imagine a "Superman" movie with no humor, fun or lightness and you have this movie. Imagine "The Dark Knight Rises" but with Superman in Batman's place and extended to 3 hours, and you have this movie. Imagine a PG-13 superhero movie where half-the world parishes in a 9/11-like catastrophe and no one in the audience cares or feels anything. That's this movie.
- DirectorM. Night ShyamalanStarsJaden SmithDavid DenmanWill SmithA crash landing leaves Kitai Raige and his father Cypher stranded on Earth, a millennium after events forced humanity's escape. With Cypher injured, Kitai must embark on a perilous journey to signal for help.One of the Year's worst: Closet Scientologist Will 'L.Ron' Smith hires M. Night Shyamalan to adapt and direct his Battlefield-Earthian story about a father and his son marooned on a hostile earth in the distant future. And not to mention they for some reason have botched South-African accents and his son is played by his real life no-talent son and its got a budget of over 100 million dollars yet looks like it was made for 25. How did this get greenlighted again? Because Tom Cruise wouldn't even greenlight this, let alone want to watch it.
- DirectorTyler PerryStarsJurnee SmollettVanessa WilliamsBrandy NorwoodAn ambitious married woman's temptation by a handsome billionaire leads to betrayal, recklessness, and forever alters the course of her life.One of the Year's worst: When you're sitting in a theatre and you see the names Tyler Perry and Kim Kardashian listed alongside one another, you should tell yourself, "this is what they made emergency exits for"
- DirectorBrad FurmanStarsBen AffleckJustin TimberlakeGemma ArtertonWhen a poor college student who cracks an online poker game goes bust, he arranges a face-to-face with the man he thinks cheated him, a sly offshore entrepreneur.One of the Year's worst: When you're sitting in a theatre and you see the names Justin Timberlake and Ben Affleck listed alongside one another, you should tell yourself, "this is what they made emergency exits for"
- DirectorLee DanielsStarsForest WhitakerOprah WinfreyJohn CusackAs Cecil Gaines serves eight presidents during his tenure as a butler at the White House, the civil rights movement, Vietnam, and other major events affect this man's life, family, and American society.One of the Year's worst: Is there nothing more dunderheadly pretentious and universally awful than a soap opera director who thinks he's the next Stanley Kubrick? That's what Lee Daniels is, and this film is above and beyond his most terrible yet. Robin Williams as Eisenhower(!?), Cusack as Nixon(!??), Cyclops as Kennedy(!???). But my word doesn't matter, just as long as Lee Daniels can rolodex people like Oprah and Obama to plug his kind of misguided, sub-artistic, self-indulgent trash.