I was broke all year so I didn't get to see a ton of movies, but here's a list anyway:
01 The Wolf Of Wallstreet - I had no idea Scorcese and Dicaprio could be this hilarious. 02 The World's End - Might be my favorite of the cornetto trilogy. 03 Her - Spike Jonze can do no wrong as far as I'm concerned. 04 This Is The End - Probably the most I've laughed in a theater since the first Anchorman. 05 The Conjuring - My first James Waan movie. I'll watch anything he does now. 06 The Hunger Games: Catching Fire - I didn't like the first movie at all, but this was a surprisingly great adventure film. 07 Before Midnight - It's a miracle that these movies are all as good as they are. 08 Francis Ha - Spoke to me personally. 09 Gravity - Not exactly subtle, but I still loved it. 10 Insidious Chapter 2 - Silly as fuck, but that why I liked it.
Am I the only one who didn't like Frozen at all? Everything about it was so bland.
1 Pacific Rim
2. Man Of Steel
3. Despicable Me 2
4. Star Trek Into Darkness
5. Dallas Buyers Club
6. The Worlds End
7. Gravity
8. 2 Guns
9. Spring Breakers
10. Thor 2
Despite the deadline quickly approaching, I think more people should check out Beyond the Hills. It's from the same director of 4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days, and I go so far as to say it's a more challenging, morally grey film than that. Its very limited March US release last year certainly didn't do it any favors.
1 - Gravity
2 - Blue Is the Warmest Color
3 - Jagten
4 - Captain Phillips
5 - The Wolf of Wall Street
6 - Blue Jasmine
7 - Dallas Buyers Club
8 - Mud
9 - Rush
10 - Star Trek Into Darkness
Gravity was a stunning experience at the cinema, Blue is the Warmest Color was both very explicit and an acting tour de force, Jagten was quiet and powerful, Captain Philips showed how good an actor Tom Hanks can be in the right role, Blue Jasmine showed for the umpteenth time how good Cate Blanchett can be in any role.
Dishonorable mentions: Oz the Great and Powerful (worst film I saw last year), Pacific Rim (biggest disappointment), Monsters University (meh sequel to one of my favorite animated movies), 12 Years A Slave was a one note treatment on the horror of slavery (fitting that the most memorable part of the soundtrack was also one piercing note).
Arriving at my top ten was easy, putting them in order, much harder but here goes...
1. 12 Years a Slave
2. Rush
3. Short Term 12
4. Stoker
5. Gravity
6. Prisoners
7. Dallas Buyers Club
8. Blue is the Warmest Color
9. The Place Beyond the Pines
10. Captain Phillips
Lousy year for big blockbusters, comic book movies in particular. Notable movies I haven't seen are the Wolf of Wall Street, Her and American Hustle. Might try to watch Nebraska before the cut-off, though it'll be tight.
1. The Great Beauty (La grande bellezza)
2. Inside Llewyn Davis
3. 12 Years a Slave
4. Prisoners
5. Before Midnight
6. Short Term 12
7. The Spectacular Now
8. Gravity
9. Blue Jasmine
10. Her
Gutted that I didn't get to see A Touch of Sin, but I'm fairly happy with that list.
Wow this came out of no where, I had no clue about this movie until reading some of the GAF lists. Took me by complete surprise. Such a heart felt film with out the melodrama. At one moment you hate the kids, then you feel remorse for them, then you feel joy, as this repeats over and over through out the movie, it makes everything feel very real. This is one of those films that will stay with me for years.
2. Wolf Of Wall Street
3. Prisoners
4. Inside Llewyn Davis
5. Her
6. 12 Years a Slave
7. The Silence (AFAIK it was a US release in 2013?)
8. The Place Beyond The Pines
9. The Act of Killing
10. Mud
still haven't seen- Philomena, Frances Ha, Before Midnight or Blue is the Warmest Color
This is the movie that triggered my emotions the most this year. A splendid performance by Mads and just a great film overall.
2. Nebraska
Such a great and moving roadtrip movie by Alexander Payne. Great cast, lovely humor and a touching story.
3. Captain Philips
Amazing performance by the two leads. But more specific that final scene with Tom Hanks, that was so good.
4. Gravity
Alfonso Cuaron created a brilliant cinema experience with his 3D camera work. This movie sucked me in and kept my attention for the full 90 minutes that followed. I really felt like I was part of the journey.
5. The Wolf of Wall Street
Another Scorsese classic with a great lead role by Leonardo DiCaprio who found himself surrounded by an also great cast. It was a lengthy film but it didn't felt like it at all to me.
6. Inside Llewyn Davis
Another great film by the Coen brothers. Oscar Isaac did great and a fantastic supporting role from John Goodman. Also found myself laughing out loud a lot during this film.
7. Short Term 12
Great little film. The characters and their problems are so real that it feels like your watching real people dealing with every day life rather than some actors playing a story.
8. 12 Years a Slave
Steve McQueen did a fantastic job on the camera work and made this no easy watch at times. Paired with a great cast and good soundtrack that makes it's worthy of a top ten spot for me.
9. Frozen
Disney Animation is doing well the past few years and added another good one with Frozen. A more progressive Disney story than ever before with a lot of good songs. I loved it.
10. Mud
I think we can say 2013 was the year in which Matthew McConaughey really surfaced as a great actor. He did a great job in Mud as the mysterious guy seeking help from two young boys who met him by accident. Besides the good acting the beautiful nature shots were also noticable in this film.
Honorable mentions: Rush, Prisoners, Dallas Buyers Club, The World's End, La Grande Bellezza, Blue Jasmine, The Way Way Back, Saving Mr. Banks, Enough Said, Fruitvale Station and American Hustle.
I haven't seen yet: La Vie D'adele, Le Passé, Her, The Wind Rises and Before Midnight.
1. The Wolf of Wall Street
2. Her
3. Captain Phillips
4. Dallas Buyers Club
5. Filth
6. The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug
7. Gravity
8. Prisoners
9. Pacific Rim
10. Short Term 12
1. Before Midnight
2. Frances Ha
3. Her
4. Blue is the Warmest Color
5. 12 Years a Slave
6. Wolf of Wall Street
7. To The Wonder
8. The World's End
9. All is Lost
10. Like Father, Like Son
On the bright side at least we're not all raving about Labor Day.
Plenty of consensus favorites I'm not especially keen on.
Captain Phillips, Inside Llewyn Davis, Pacific Rim, The World's End.
Gave each of them a 6 out of 10 rating or lower.
It's no big deal, though. If we all liked the same movies, this process would be boring.
Just finished watching The Congress. That movie felt like it had 3 or 4 amazing ideas and just sort of mashed 'em all together without really bothering to develop them.
It made a vivid impression. Can't say that about most films - even ones I enjoyed more.
Not too happy about making a list right now, as Her isn't released until the 27th over here and I'm fairly certain that it would take my top spot. I also still need to watch a ton of other contenders.
Right now it's:
1. Short Term 12
2. Jagten (The Hunt)
3. Gravity
4. The Stories We Tell
5. Before Midnight
6. The Way Way Back
7. The World's End
8. Mud
9. The Spectacular Now
10. Rush
But half of this list I liked but didn't love.
Yet to see: Her, 12 Years A Slave, Fruitvale Station, Black Fish, Blue Is The Warmest Color, Inside Llewyn Davis, Blue Jasmin, Frances Ha, American Hustle, The Act of Killing, The Wolf of Wallstreet, The Wind Rises, Frozen and some others mentioned in this thread. Overall it seems like it was an outstanding year for film.
12 Years a Slave can be crossed off of my list. Watched it last night. Good movie, great acting, cinematography etc... But it didn't really grab me and won't be getting a top 10 spot on my list. It probably resonates more with American audiences. Also Hans Zimmer needs to fucking stop using the Inception theme in every movie. First Captain Philips, now this. He's ruining a great piece of music with over exposure.
12 Years a Slave can be crossed off of my list. Watched it last night. Good movie, great acting, cinematography etc... But it didn't really grab me and won't be getting a top 10 spot on my list. It probably resonates more with American audiences. Also Hans Zimmer needs to fucking stop using the Inception theme in every movie. First Captain Philips, now this. He's ruining a great piece of music with over exposure.
12 Years a Slave can be crossed off of my list. Watched it last night. Good movie, great acting, cinematography etc... But it didn't really grab me and won't be getting a top 10 spot on my list. It probably resonates more with American audiences. Also Hans Zimmer needs to fucking stop using the Inception theme in every movie. First Captain Philips, now this. He's ruining a great piece of music with over exposure.
"The film score to Captain Phillips was originally to be composed by Henry Jackman.[17] However, director Paul Greengrass was reportedly unsatisfied with the score and demanded several re-writes.Al Clay and Jack Dolman wrote replacement music, as well as Hans Zimmer and other associates from Remote Control Productions, but attribution of cues to each composer was unclear and Zimmer remained uncredited for his contribution."
Bumped off Rush for Inside Llewyn Davis. Fantastic work by the Coen Brothers. Such a melancholic film filled with a great dark sense of humor and fantastic music. Really loved it.
1 - Blue Jasmine
2 - Gravity
3 - Place Beyond The Pines
4 - Spring Breakers
5 - This Is The End
6 - The Worlds End
7 - Drinking Buddies
8 - Upstream Color
9 - American Hustle
10 - Prisoners
I would tag quote you but your tag references lesbians and basset hounds.
There are no basset hounds in Blue is the Warmest Color.
Now if your tag said "everything would be better with more lesbians and spaghetti" now that would be perfectly relevant.
Because Blue is the Warmest Color had lots and lots of... spaghetti.
In fact, after watching the North American premiere at TIFF (with Léa and Adèle on stage in hot dresses to answer questions afterwards) all I could think about was... spaghetti.
I had spaghetti the next day for lunch. It was delicious.
I did not see nearly as many 2013 films as I wanted, but I guess that's what happens when screenings for class take up your movie watching time. Meh, I'll just do a top 5.
1.Inside Llewyn Davis
2.Her
3.Dallas Buyers Club
4.12 Years A Slave
5.Wolf of Wall Street
1. Gravity
2. Pacific Rim
3. Wolf of Wall Street
4. Her
5. The World's End
6. 12 Years a Slave
7. Short Term 12
8. The Way Way Back
9. Inside Llewyn Davis
10. American Hustle
Unfortunately I missed many movies I was hoping to see like Blue is the Warmest Color and The Wolf of Wall Street.
1- Before Midnight
2- The Act of Killing
3- Her
4- Nebraska
5- Stories We Tell
6- Frances Ha
7- The Past
8- 12 Years a Slave
9- Inside Llewyn Davis
10- Stoker
1. Before Midnight
2. Prisoners
3. What Maisie Knew
4. Her
5. Captain Phillips
6. Mud
7. The World's End
8. August: Osage County
9. The Iceman
10. The Way, Way Back
I wish this list wasn't so rushed. I still have to see basically half of the Best Picture nominees. But my top three are pretty solid.
-I adored the first two, so this one had lofty expectations, despite being released almost out of nowhere. It still is absolutely unbelievable how the trio (Delpy, Hawke, and Linklater) seamlessly handle the dialouge in these movies. Every bit is powerful while feeling completely natural. The
fight scene is one to remember (and completely destructive)
-If anything had high expectations though, it was this movie. SOTD and Hot Fuzz are two of my favorite comedies ever. This movie delivers on ending the Cornetto trilogy on a high note. I would say it's the least "funny" of the three (not that insulting considering), but it has a poignant story at heart and an extremely impressive performance by Pegg. Edgar Wright continues to be the most entertaining director making movies; continuing to show how to do action right.
- I was a little worried this movie would be too "indie core" based off the trailers. Luckily I was incorrect in my assumption. Movie was absolutely beautiful. Phoenix proves again why he's one of my favorite actors working. I was impressed at how developed and real the AI/Human relationship component was. Even more stunning was the world that was created, and how authentic everything felt.
The letter at the end hit home and killed me honestly.
- Powerful movie and an absolute stunner in the technical aspects. Sometimes drifts a bit into corny territory, but it still remains a memorable piece of filmmaking. I was impressed by Bullock and of course this further proves Cuaron is special, though it's no Children of Men.
-Disney animation is definitely on a roll. I believe it started with Princess and the Frog, and they continue to improve release to release. The central conflict of the sisters is one of my favorite Disney stories of the year. Olaf wasn't annoying! It features a few tracks that get stuck in my head often. The only misstep in the whole movie being
-The best Leo/Scorsese team up yet. DiCaprio handled his role perfectly, as he dominated almost the whole movie. Entertaining as hell. 3 hours is a bit of a scary thought, but the movie kind of breezes through it.
- Another movie with a lead that just completely owns the role. Blanchett plays her heart breaking, hypocritical character perfectly. Movie can change tones from witty and clever to depressing easily. I realize I haven't seen most of Allen's movies, but thus far, this may be my favorite.
-The black and white may seem a tad try hard, but don't write this movie off. Extremely clever and fun to watch. Will definitely be a movie that hits right in the heart of many of our generation. Gerwig is so lovable, and charming. Almost perfectly aimless.
-A long, deliberately paced thriller. Two completely enthtralling performances, and maybe the best cinematography you'll see this year. Caught me off guard.
-This one was very close to being replaced at this spot. The other movies on my honorable mentions just didn't reach the same highs. When this movie is on, it's really on. Featuring some of my favorite action sequences of the year (especially the often praised Hong Kong scene). On the other hand, it REALLY drags when you have to see the fairly uninteresting characters carry scenes, specifically in between the beginning and the previously mentioned fight scene. Seriously, Charlie Hunnam is so fucking dull. Luckily it does sport some great visuals and fun scenes. Has more potential though, if there is a sequel, hopefully it realizes it.
Honorable Mentions: Fruitvale Station, This is the End, Upstream Color, Spring Breakers, Monster's University.
Missed Out On: 12 Years as a Slave, Blue is the Warmest Color, Inside Llewyn Davis, Short Term 12, The Congress, Act of Killing. I feel bad about every one of these. hopefully I'll catch up this month.
Waiting for HBO or Netflix cause I don't really care: The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug.
Biggest Disappointment: Man of Steel. What a dull, soulless movie. Not the worst thing, but it's pretty mediocre. My hype for it didn't help.
I wasn't going to include Simon Killer, but since you had it on your list I double checked the release date. Letterboxd has it as 2012 for whatever reason.