prompted by grashupfer's mention of the way way back, i looked way way back into my memories of 2013 movies -- we saw (at least) 37 movies in theatres (movies released in 2013 -- for quite a few of them we didn't see them in-theatre until early 2014, pre-oscars), which somewhat surprised me because it feels like we never get out, but is more in line with where i'd been in my pre-college and post-college years than the (let's say) 2008-2011 period in which i went to maybe a dozen a year.
it's incredibly difficult to compare movies for a top ten (or whatever) list, and my list (this list, anyway) is very much colored by my own personal joys at certain movies being made and is not so much a pure estimation of their quality over the ones not on the list or lower thereon.
1) saving mr. banks *
2) much ado about nothing (2013)
3) blue jasmine
4) ender's game
5) the lone ranger
6) savannah
7) 47 ronin
8) her*
9) the way way back
10) the sapphires
11) the grandmaster
12) star trek: into darkness
13) iron man 3
14) the hobbit - part ii - the desolation of smaug (pronounced s-meow-guh) (j/k)*
15) the secret life of walter mitty*
16) mud
17) dallas buyers club*
18) august: osage county*
19) oz: the great and powerful
20) the great gatsby
there were many worthwhile films we did not see, mostly because they were in limited release or make for a fine rental, and i still very much need to seek out: big sur, upstream color, salinger, in a world, unfinished song, and ip man: the final fight.
there was some competition for the absolute worst movie from 12 years a slave* and nebraska*, but hands down, the worst mistake was seeing a good day to die hard.
* 2013 movies we didn't see in a theatre until 2014
it's incredibly difficult to compare movies for a top ten (or whatever) list, and my list (this list, anyway) is very much colored by my own personal joys at certain movies being made and is not so much a pure estimation of their quality over the ones not on the list or lower thereon.
1) saving mr. banks *
2) much ado about nothing (2013)
3) blue jasmine
4) ender's game
5) the lone ranger
6) savannah
7) 47 ronin
8) her*
9) the way way back
10) the sapphires
11) the grandmaster
12) star trek: into darkness
13) iron man 3
14) the hobbit - part ii - the desolation of smaug (pronounced s-meow-guh) (j/k)*
15) the secret life of walter mitty*
16) mud
17) dallas buyers club*
18) august: osage county*
19) oz: the great and powerful
20) the great gatsby
there were many worthwhile films we did not see, mostly because they were in limited release or make for a fine rental, and i still very much need to seek out: big sur, upstream color, salinger, in a world, unfinished song, and ip man: the final fight.
there was some competition for the absolute worst movie from 12 years a slave* and nebraska*, but hands down, the worst mistake was seeing a good day to die hard.
* 2013 movies we didn't see in a theatre until 2014
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many problems with 12 years a slave but the key one is that it just wasn't well-written or directed; i will watch a movie that is 'hard to watch' in parts if the story as a whole is remarkable -- like schindler's list, the passion of the christ, or even, to a degree, dallas buyers club. i don't like to watch people suffering. which is why i avoid the saw and other torture-porn horror movies and the like. but 12 years wasn't about abolitionism, or anything uplifting, it just spent the vast majority of the movie beating you over the head with how brutal and horrible slavery was. you're not going to get any argument about that and it's already been portrayed in better movies. i didn't love django unchained but it was far better than a movie full of stock characters and stock stories. and i don't want to give any spoilers, but i'm sure you know the general premise of the story, and a related problem i had was that the movie elevated the suffering of this "free man" over all of the slaves. as if to say, yes, slavery was bad, but it becomes a supreme tragedy if an ordinary citizen has to endure it. i imagine if the story had been about a white free man who was forced into slavery and the entire focus was his escape from slavery, the response would not have been so positive. if the movie had spent any time on northrup's post-freedom abolitionist efforts, it might've had more merit, but instead the movie runs like a horror movie, "guy goes through hell at the hands of some monsters, but escapes in the end." only in a horror movie, they usually vanquish the monster by the end.