Joe's 2013 Top 20, Bottom 10 and More
Top 20 of 2013
20. Ender's Game: It failed to really catch on at the box office ($61 million domestically over a $110 million budget), but "Ender" was a unique, rewarding sci-fi spectacle. The movie long thought to be unfilmable turned out to be spectacular; the Battle School sequences are incredible if not quite long enough, and the film deftly handles seemingly unrelated issues like morality in a time of war and stunting the development of children for the "greater good."
19. Spring Breakers: A nihilistic look at the excesses of our "gimme gimme gimme" society, "Spring Breakers" is a feverish sex dream run amok. Four naive college students (Vanessa Hudgens, Selena Gomez, Rachel Korine and Amber Benson) take off for spring break looking for their coming-of-age dream, only to find it really may be a nightmare. Filled with naked women, drug dealers and a grill'd-up James Franco, this isn't the kind of film you enjoy watching, but it's a film you'll be thinking about it long after Ellie Goulding's pop hit "Lights" runs over the end credits.
18. Broken: An affecting British drama starring Tim Roth and Cillian Murphy in a film where interconnecting storylines intersect. A rape allegation leads to the beating of a teen boy, which leads to emotional problems and turmoil that throws an entire neighborhood into chaos in this tragic, touching tale.
17. All is Lost: Robert Redford goes solo in this unique, almost-wordless drama about a man stranded on his sinking sailboat. Redford's one-man performance is striking, saying a lot by saying only a little. To compare this to "Cast Away" is natural but a little unfair to both movies, as they're not really all that similar except on a superficial level.
16. Dallas Buyers Club: Matthew McConaughey goes skinny to play Ron Woodroof, a real-life man who contracted HIV in the 1980s, when many considered it to still be the Gay Plague. When the FDA moves too slow for treatment, Woodroof takes matters into his own hands and begins smuggling pharmaceuticals from Mexico, which he then begins selling to others suffering from AIDS. Jared Leto is tremendous in a supporting role, and McConaughey continues a spectacular couple of years of roles.
15. Blue is the Warmest Color: More than That Lesbian Flick, "Blue" captures perfectly the passion of first love and the pain of it burning out. Adele Exarchopoulos more than deserves her Best Actress nod from the Indiana Film Journalists Association, and the explicit sex scenes only make the other parts of the relationship that much more powerful.
14. Pacific Rim: Guillermo del Toro creates the candy-coated thrill ride of the summer that can be summed up as Giant Robots vs. Giant Monsters. del Toro is the Pope of nerddom and mashes a variety of Japanese genres together to create the year's giddiest, geekiest summer blockbuster that, as is del Toro's specialty, constructs an arena for the behemoths to duke it out that feels grounded in a real world.
13. This is the End: No time at the movies this year was more insane than "This is the End," and "End" may take that title back further than that. Seth Rogen, Jay Baruchel, James Franco, Craig Robinson, Jonah Hill and Danny McBride all play themselves, stuck in Franco's house as the Biblical end times come, bringing rapey demons, giant anatomically correct demons, and other sorts of demons for a movie that's "The Mist" crossed with the Book of Revelation crossed with any of Judd Apatow's movies over the past decade or so. In a good way.
12. Byzantium: A film that flew under the radar completely in 2013, "Byzantium" takes the vampire genre and makes it a metaphor for feminism. Gemma Arterton and Saorise Ronan wrestle with being both monsters and women in a world that would treat them the same as either.
11. Frozen: A delightful, wonderful film that really stands out in a weak year for animation — featuring an emotional central story, a sidekick that is naive and boisterous without being obnoxious and some wonderfully twisty romantic angles. Plus, there's that nifty cameo from Rapunzel and Eugene from "Tangled," giving Disney a little internal consistency.
10. Mud: Maybe the toughest choices over the past two years have been choosing which of Matthew McConaughey's roles have been the best. Here, he is spectacular as a fugitive who befriends two rural boys dealing with their own issues at home. Wonderfully acted, "Mud" was one of the gems of 2013.
9. Gravity: Sandra Bullock and George Clooney are astronauts stranded in space when debris destroys their space shuttle in Alfonso Cuaron's dizzying, claustrophobic thriller. Much of the film is a one-person show with Bullock floating through space trying to make contact with Earth, and what a ride it is.
8. Thanks for Sharing: A tender, sometimes funny film that treats sex addiction as a real affliction, not as a punchline. Mark Ruffalo stars as a man who starts dating a cancer survivor (Gwyneth Paltrow) while battling his own demons. Tim Robbins, Josh Gad and Alecia Moore (better known to you and me as the pop star P!nk) co-star as sex addicts trying to cope with their addiction in a world that thinks it's "something guys say when they cheat."
7. Prisoners: When two girls are kidnapped, their parents (Hugh Jackman & Maria Bello and Terrence Howard & Viola Davis) have to cope and search for answers with the help of a cop (Jake Gyllenhaal). When the fathers think they have a bead on who took them (Paul Dano), they take matters into their own hands. A taut, emotional film, "Prisoners" is a draining, powerful experience bursting with great performances.
6. Captain Phillips: It would be easy to say Tom Hanks owns this film (and he does in many respects), but Barkhad Abdi, playing the leader of Captain Phillips' captors, holds every scene he shares with Hanks. This based-on-a-true-story film is a powder keg waiting to explode, and Hanks and Abdi take turns holding the fuse.
5. Nebraska: A multi-state road trip (from Montana to Nebraska at that) to retrieve a fictional prize of $1 million that Woody (Bruce Dern) thinks he's won. When his son (Will Forte) indulges his fantasy, he learns more about his dad, his family and himself than he ever dreamed. A witty, breezy flick, "Nebraska" is an unexpected pleasure.
4. Short Term 12: The young head of a home for group for troubled teens struggles with her job and balancing a romantic relationship with her co-worker. "Short Term 12" is a layered, nuanced flick about taking care of yourself while you're helping others. Brie Larson is spectacular in the lead role, and there's a realism to the film that doesn't fall into the trap of schmaltz or overt sentimentality. It's real, raw and very emotional.
3. The Wolf of Wall Street: A dizzying thrill ride through debauchery, "Wolf" delivers on every level. Yes, the movie pushes three hours in length, but it's a wild three hours. Leo DiCaprio, Jonah Hill and cronies own Wall Street and can't decide which vice is their favorite, so they just take them all, and a whirlwind of cocaine, hookers, houses, boats, quaaludes and booze fill Martin Scorsese's film, which veers closer to comedy than drama. Don't miss Matthew McConaughey in one perfect scene early on, then try not to miss anything else through the rest of the movie.
2. Before Midnight: One common criticism I have of romantic movies is that they end at "happily ever after," leaving audiences (i.e., young people) with no notion of what that phrase really means. "Before Midnight" captures the essence of marriage perfectly, once the veneer of the vexing beautiful woman and the dashing, charming man fades, and reality intervenes, stifled annoyances erupt and evenings are ruined. While there's plenty of that signature breezy, engaging conversation, "Midnight" offers so much more, looking at how even the most perfect couple gets blindsided by real life once the whirlwind of courtship subsides. It should be law that anyone marrying for the first time should have to watch the three films of this series.
1. 12 Years a Slave: A film that captures the true essence of slavery onscreen in a way I've never seen before, "12 Years" is a harrowing portrait of a free man who falls victim to politics at the cost of a large portion of his life. In this film based on a true story, Chiwetel Ejiofor plays Solomon Northup, who lived in New York as a free man only to be abducted and sold into slavery in the south. He goes through a horrific ordeal, enduring abuses at the hands of people who dare call themselves civilized. A powerful, affecting film made all the more powerful by its ending.