#25
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
Dir. Francis Lawrence
Let's get the top 25 rolling with a bit of a surprise. When The Hunger Games came out last year, it was the cultural phenomenon everyone expected it to be. I saw it and I thought it was just okay. It didn't even crack my top 50 from last year. I've watched it a few more times on cable and I have to say I've grown to appreciate it a bit more. Flash forward a year and we have the second film in the series, Catching Fire. The always great Jennifer Lawrence is back as Katniss Everdeen and, this time, Francis Lawrence (no relation) takes over the directing chair left vacant by Gary Ross. Throw in some solid performances from Woody Harrelson, Donald Sutherland, and franchise-newcomer Philip Seymour Hoffman (one of our greatest actors who will be sorely missed) and what you have is a film that's head-and-shoulders above it's predecessor. I've never read the books, so I'm not sure how the books shape up in terms of quality, but overall I just found Catching Fire to be much smarter than the first. It's themes of revolution and political unrest made for a lot more interesting and enticing film compared to kids killing themselves in a jungle. In a way, this film sort of saved the franchise in my own eyes. Something I used to have almost no interest in, suddenly I'm excited to see where it goes next. The cliffhanger at the end helps too.
I'm going to go on a little bit of a rant here, so bear with me. Here we are at #23 on this list. That's pretty high considering I saw 183 films this year. If you're any good at math, that means I liked American Hustle more than 160 other films I saw this year. That's probably true. It's a good movie. The first thing that pops out is obviously the stellar cast. Christian Bale leads the way and per usual, he gets lost in the role. Amy Adams is tremendous in a very multi-layered role. Bradley Cooper is great also, picking up right where he left off with Silver Linings Playbook. Jennifer Lawrence is at maybe the best she's ever been. Throw in some Jeremy Renner, a splash of Louis C.K., and then a little Robert DeNiro and you have maybe the best ensemble of the year. So, where does this rant kick in? Right here. American Hustle brings up an age-old question among the film community, can great performances make a great film? Most of the time, I answer yes, but here I'm not so sure. For some reason, I didn't fully connect with this movie. At time I found it to be brilliant, at others dull and bland. It was a mixed bag of emotions throughout the film. I gotta put this one on David O. Russell's shoulders. That may not be his fault entirely. With Three Kings, The Fighter, and Silver Linings Playbook, maybe I (along with many others) have put his on too high a pedestal, thus putting every ounce of his work under extreme scrutiny. Is that possible? Absolutely. I think that's sometimes the problem with movies today: That we let expectations get in the way of everything. With this film, I got pulled into the hype machine, which ultimately ruined the movie for me. In that regard it's my fault. Wherever the blame lays, the matter of the fact is this was possibly the most disappointing film of the year for me. Still, I will stick by my ranking, for now. At the very least, I need a repeat viewing to see where I truly stand on this one.
Documentarian Alex Gibney is back. After having his film The Armstrong Lie kick off this list at #50, he now has his second entry of the year with We Steal Secrets: The Story of WikiLeaks. Like I mentioned in my little blurb about the documentary The Square, sometimes I know about stories, but don't know the stories behind them. When it comes to Julian Assange, Gibney had me covered on the subject. As the founder of WikiLeaks, Assange has always been a controversial figure. Some vilified him as a outlaw, some celebrated him as a hero. It would be easy for a filmmaker, especially a documentary filmmaker, to pick a side and run with it. But Gibney really shows both end of the spectrum. It's a fair and balanced look at a larger-than-life figure. I haven't even mentioned yet that the story is actually really interesting. It's a modern-day espionage tale, that keeps you a lot more interested than you may expect to be.
#24
Metallica Through the Never
Dir. Nimród Antal
Over the years, my musical tastes have changed. I'm always discovering new things and it feels like I have a new favorite genre every day. There is one thing that has remained true over the last decade or so, Metallica. I love Metallica and their repertoire of music. The band has already been the subject of a damn good film, the 2004 documentary Some Kind of Monster, but this is a very different type of music. At first glance this film appears to be nothing more than your run-of-the-mill concert film and that's true, kind of. Part of this is a concert, but not just any concert film, one of the best concert films. I mean that. This has to be some of the best footage filmed at concert since Scorsese did The Last Waltz in 1977. Metallica is known to put on one of the top stage shows in the world and seeing this film in 3D in a theater really captured what it was like to be front row in the arena. It was the definition of spectacle. But that's not all we have going on in the movie. The other part of the film is a narrative story starring Dane DeHaan. To be honest, the narrative portion of the film feels like an extended music video, but that's okay. It was something new and unique and I respect Metallica and director Nimród Antal for giving it a try. Now I can't really recommend this movie to the regular film-goer. But, if your a fan of Metallica, or a fan of classic rock, then I suggest checking this one out.
#23
American Hustle
Dir. David O. Russell
#22
We Steal Secrets
Dir. Alex Gibney
#21
The Act of Killing
It was a great year for documentaries. The Act of Killing marks the 7th doc to make my list (by comparison, only three were on the list last year) and it is by far the most important. Filmmakers Joshua Oppenheimer and Christine Cynn gave cameras and creative freedom to Anwar Congo, a former leader of the death-squads in Indonesia, to recreate his own life story. With some amusing and some disturbing results he does so, and in the process discovers some things about himself. This film is one big gut-punch. The range of emotions you go through watching it is amazing. From amused, to sad, to disturbed, to angry, to whatever, the film just keeps you engaged. I remember when it was over feeling emotionally and even physically drained from watching it and that's the intention. It's a film that grabs you by the throat and refuses to let go, yelling in your face to watch and feel and that's exactly what you do. It's a tough watch, but you must do. You will get a whole new perspective on life. Really.
#20
The Spectacular Now
I just missed seeing James Ponsoldt's Smashed in time for it to be on my 2012 year-end list, but rest assured it would have been. With that film, Ponsoldt really made me want to see more of his work and luckily I didn't have to wait to long. With a script by Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber, the team who wrote Marc Webb's (500) Days of Summer, Ponsoldt showed his continued growth and further cemented his spot as one of the top up-and-coming directors working today. Like Smashed, where Ponsoldt was able to get fantastic performances out of Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Aaron Paul, the two leads in this one are, well, spectacular. Miles Teller and Shailene Woodley display some great chemistry on-screen while giving the best performances of their young careers. We haven't seen Woodley act since she came out of nowhere in 2011 in Alexander Payne's The Descendants, but it appears she has no plans of slowing up and she proves that was no fluke. Teller seems poised to be the next big thing in Hollywood, already landing some roles in some upcoming big-time blockbuster franchises. Those two are a couple of young actors you can expect to be around for a very long time.
#19
The Bling Ring
#19 brings us to the first part of the year's best double feature (part two comes a little bit later), Sofia Coppola's The Bling Ring. The film is based on the true story of a group of young Hollywood socialites robbing the homes of various stars. Coppola has made her career to this point making films that explore the mindset of young Americans. Films like The Virgin Suicides and Somewhere are some of the best coming-of-age stories of the last 20 years. Here, Coppola doesn't just tell a true crime story, she explores the goes inside the heads of the kids and in the process, creates a study of all of our minds and our obsession with celebrity and she does it with a group of mostly no-name young actors (Emma Watson being the exception and her role is much smaller than marketing will lead on). One of the knocks on the film is that the performances are pretty one note and annoying. Phrases like "Totally" and "Like" are used a lot and people had a problem with it. Those people have probably never spent extended time in a room with teenagers.
#18
Gravity
If there is one movie that is the pick of many critics as the top movie of the year or at least a top-10er it's Alfonso Cuarón's Gravity. It didn't quite make it there for me, but it wasn't from lack of trying. No film from this year, or any year for that matter, looks like Gravity. It is visually stunning from start-to-finish, thanks to new technology developed by Cuarón and his brother specifically for this film. Normally, I don't like effects heavy films and much prefer in-camera special effects, but when the effects look this good it doesn't even matter. One reporter even asked Cuarón what it was like filming in space. That guy's an idiot, but that's how good the effects are. The movie is just one giant theater experience. You have to see it in a theater, if you missed it, you missed out. Plain and simple. With that said, I wasn't as interested in the story as some people were and I thought Clooney and Bullock were really good, but just were overshadowed by all that was going on around them. This is Cuarón's film and there is no doubt he's taking home Best Director.
Dir. Noah Baumbach
Dir. Ron Howard
#17
Frances Ha
If you are, or have ever been, a 20-something, then you will relate to Frances Ha. The story of a woman who is trying to follow her dreams, but keeps coming up short and ultimately has nothing. That sounds really depressing and deep below the surface it kind of is, but the film is actually really funny. Great Gerwig is charming as Frances and from the moment she first appears on screen, you really connect to her character. You're rooting for her to finally make it because you've probably been there yourself. I like Noah Baumbach decision to film this in black and white. I think it gave the film a classic feel, especially the classic French films from the 60's. Combine that with the subject matter, and the film feels like HBO's Girls by way of Godard.
#16
Rush
Ron Howard is one of the most beloved American filmmakers working today. To a lot of people he's made some really classic films over the last 30 years. Me, I'm not really as enthusiastic as others. Sure, I like Apollo 13, A Beautiful Mind, Cinderella Man, and Frost/Nixon (and Arrested Development, of course), but other than that, I'm not a fan. When the trailer for his new film Rush came out, I was a little skeptical because I thought it looked like a rather generic sports drama, about Formula 1 no less. Still, I gave it a shot and by the end of it, all the negativity went away because simply put, I love this movie. There are so many reasons to love it. For one, it looks great. There are some fantastic shots throughout the film that really capture the sport of auto-racing and emphasis the hidden beauty of it. Then there's the two lead performances by Chris Hemsworth and Daniel Brühl. Both give great performances, especially Brühl, who I was really banking on to get a Best Supporting Actor nod. While Hemsworth can thank Thor for his breakout, we will probably be pointing to Rush in the future when talking about Brühl. Peter Morgan's script is wonderfully told and unlike most sports movies that tend to focus on one character or one team, this film really focus on both James Hunt and Niki Lauda equally and the intense rivalry they had with each other, as well as the tremendous amount of respect the two showed. It may be the best representation of a rivalry ever put on screen.
#15
Prisoners
Dir. Denis Villeneuve
At the beginning of each year, I make a mental list of films that I think will be worth my time as the year progresses. Prisoners was not one of these films. It came out of nowhere and I'm surprised it snuck up on me. This is a film that is right up my alley. This is maybe the darkest film of the year, so dark that I'm shocked it was released by Warner Bros. This isn't really something you would see a studio have the balls to put out in the open, so in that sense I have to commend the WB. This is a bleak film. There is almost nothing positive that comes out of this story. It's always raining, it's always cold, the characters always think and feel the worst, in other words this movie won't give you a pick-me-up. That doesn't really matter when everything is so well-done as it is here. The film is almost immaculately directed by Villeneuve, perfectly shot by the world's best cinematographer Roger Deakins, and acted with a lot more passion and intensity than any other film this year, with the likes of Hugh Jackman and Jake Gyllenhaal leading the way. Despite all it's praise, the film came up all but empty this awards season, meaning it's one of the most underrated films of the year.
Dir. Scott Cooper
Dir. Spike Jonze
Dir. Jeff Nichols
#14
Out of the Furnace
Speaking of underrated, here's Out of the Furnace. Unlike Prisoners which was critically adored and just didn't gain any recognition it deserved, Out of the Furnace didn't receive sparkling reviews. The film currently sits at a rotten 52% on Rotten Tomatoes and for the life of me I cannot figure out why. This is a great film. It features one of the year's best and most star-studded cast, featuring the likes of Christian Bale, Casey Affleck, Woody Harrelson, Zoe Saldana, Sam Sheppard, Forest Whitaker, and Willem Dafoe. Bale is the main attraction here. He gives one of the best performances of his storied career, one that I've heard called maybe his best ever. He gained an Best Actor nod this year, but unfortunately it's for his work in American Hustle. He definitely deserved it for this film instead. Harrelson is also great here and chews the scenery every time he's on the screen. Scott Cooper jumped on my radar a few years ago with his debut feature Crazy Heart. Out of the Furnace is very much in the same language as that film, but has a lot of it's own unique elements to it. I feel like critics missed the boat on this one and should consider giving it a second look.
#13
Her
Spike Jonze is one of my favorite filmmakers, although I didn't really realize it. Her marks only the fourth film in his 15 year feature career and in my eyes he makes it a perfect 4-for-4. Her is the first time Jonze's directed his own script and I guess it went okay. He only garnered Best Original Screenplay and Best Picture nods. This is a unique film, as most of Jonze work is. It's a little zany, but says a lot about our society. Many people point to it just as love story between a man and his computer and consider it a film about our relationship with our technology. It's not. It's just a story about love and it doesn't matter who is involved. Who is involved in this one is Joaquin Phoenix and Scarlett Johansson. Both give fantastic performances that had to difficult to pull off. Phoenix had to talk to a phone the whole movie, while ScarJo had to redo lines that Samantha Morton had already recorded. Phoenix we already knew was great, but I think a lot of people don't give Scarlett enough credit. I think her beauty really gets in the way of the fact that she's actually a really great actress. Her is the second 2013 film where she came in and took over the show. She's definitely one of the best working today.
#12
Mud
Alright, alright, alright. The McConaissance continues with Jeff Nichols' Mud, another great coming-of-age story, which isn't that rare these days. Despite McConaughey playing the titular character here (and quite well, obviously), he's not really the star. That honor goes to 18 year old Tye Sheridan. This is only the second time Sheridan has acted on screen after his debut in Terrence Malick's Tree of Life. That's a decent resume for a young kid to have. He's really good in this and has a promising career ahead of him. Sheridan isn't the only one involved in this film that has a short, yet impressive, filmography. Mud is only the third feature from director Jeff Nichols and he's already established himself as one of the top American directors working. Each of his films have captured a slice of Americana like very few are able to. Like Sheridan, he's only going to get better at what he does.
#11
All is Lost
Dir. J.C. Chandor
During the process of counting down the last 40 films, I've frequently mentioned both performances in films and the filmmakers who direct them. When it comes to All is Lost, it's a little easier to describe than with other films. When it comes to performances, there is only one, the legend Robert Redford. He's the only person in this film and he has no lines (well, except for an opening voice-over and a very passionate use of the word "fuck), but he just dominates the role. The amount of pain and despair he conveys with just a look shows why he is one of the all-time greats. At 77 years young, he really shows no signs of slowing down. What makes this film so brilliant is the combination of such a titan of film and a young upstart like J.C. Chandor. Chandor's career started out with a bang when he earned a Best Original Screenplay nomination for his debut feature, Margin Call. I just recently watched that film for the first time and it's obvious he is a special talent. And as great as Margin Call was, this film is leaps and bounds ahead of it. As difficult as it had to be for Redford to act alone at sea, it had to have been just as hard for Chandor to direct, but he showed the steadiness of a wiley veteran. No sophomore jinx here. He's currently filming his new film A Most Violent Year, which is set for a 2015 release, then he hopefully goes to work on the just announced Vince Lombardi biopic. As a Green Bay Packer fan (and shareholder), I couldn't be happier with the choice to handle Coach Lombardi's story.
#10
The Place Beyond the Pines
Dir. Derek Cianfrance
We're heading down the homestretch and if you've made it this far, congratulations. I already mentioned in my blurb about The Broken Circle Breakdown, one of my favorite films of 2010 was Derek Cianfrance's Blue Valentine. In fact, that's one of my favorite films of all-time. With that, I knew any work Cianfrance puts out there would instantly become must-see for me. Enter The Place Beyond the Pines. With the year's most ambitious script (penned by Cianfrance, Ben Coccio, and Darius Marder) in hand, he crafts an epic on a tremendously large scope about fathers, sons, and legacies. The story is told in three parts with a very different plot structure than most films of a similar nature. Its a little difficult to put into words without traveling into spoiler territory, but it's definitely unlike anything you have seen before. Cianfrance re-teams with his Blue Valentine star Ryan Gosling and welcomes Eva Mendes, Ben Mendelsohn, Bradley Cooper, Ray Liotta, Rose Byrne, Dane DeHaan, and Emory Cohen. A really impressive cast, showing that I wasn't the only one Blue Valentine made an impression on. Each of these actors are at the top of their game and some of them even proved they can hang in there with the best. At over two and a half hours, this is one of those films that take a lot out of you to watch, but the payoff is something truly amazing and it can't be missed.
#9
Nebraska
Dir. Alexander Payne
I'm a big fan of Alexander Payne's. Films like Election, Sideways, About Schmidt, and The Descendants are among some of my favorites. Still, I wasn't completely sold on Nebraska. The film was gathering some good reviews, but to me it appeared to be one of those movies that appeal to older people and that they think is great, but it goes right over my head. I was wrong. I got this film and I found it to be a very smart and very touching look at a father-son relationship. That and it was was really funny, which shocked. I knew it was a comedy, I just didn't expect to laugh as much as I did. The star here is Bruce Dern, the veteran character actor finally getting his due. He's great and it's hard to imagine anyone else in the role (although someone recently suggested Gene Hackman would have been good, too. I must admit that sounds awesome). SNL alum Will Forte is also showcased here and what a pleasant surprise he is. MacGruber shows some incredibly impressive acting chops, not just comedically, but also dramatically. He's really solid in this flick. Another veteran character actor (and Best Supporting Actress nominee) June Squibb also came out of nowhere in this one. She has some of the funniest bits in the film and shows no fear for an 86 year old. Besides the performances, one of my favorite aspects of the film was Payne's and cinematographer Phedon Papamichael's decision to film this in black-and-white. That's always a risky decision in this day and age, but I think it works here for sure.
#8
Short Term 12
Dir. Destin Cretton
Of all the films I've seen this year, the most human of them all has to be Short Term 12. What I mean by that is that there wasn't another film this year that more accurately captured the highs and lows of life like Destin Cretton's debut. The film has it all. It has some drama, some laughs, maybe even some tears depending on the viewer. The catalyst of the film is Brie Larson. The 24 year old Larson has been around for a while. This year alone she turned in some solid supporting roles in Don Jon and The Spectacular Now and in years past she starred in 21 Jump Street as well as a small arc as Ruxin's nanny on The League. Here, she gives one of the years best performances, hands down, and unfortunately she's not going to get any major recognition for it. Cretton surrounds her with a great bunch of relatively unknown young actors and all of them show some solid skills. This is a film that requires a lot of chemistry between actors and it's apparent that these kids had it. Cretton? He's on his way. His second film, The Glass Castle, is currently in pre-production with Jennifer Lawrence attached to star.
#7
Inside Llewyn Davis
Dir. Joel & Ethan Coen
In the realm of cinema, it very rarely gets much better than a film by the Coen Brothers. Inside Llewyn Davis is their first film since 2010's superb True Grit and it was well worth the wait. Joel and Ethan recruited Oscar Isaac to lead this film about a struggling folk singer in 1960's New York. That's two awesome things in one. First, there is probably no one better to make a film about a 60's folk singer than the Coens. That's just a story tailor-made for them and they obviously succeed with it. The film is actually a little sad, but with the Coen's witty dialogue and their cast of colorful characters, you completely forget about it. You have to laugh. The second awesome thing? Oscar Isaac. After his role in 2011's Drive, it really looked like Isaac was poised for a breakout and here it finally happens. He gets a chance to lead a project from two very high-profile filmmakers and he shines. He's so good in this film. He feeds off the Coens' script and he feeds off his supporting actors, like his Drive co-star and one of my personal favorites Carey Mulligan, Justin Timberlake, Adam Driver, and Coen-mainstay John Goodman. Isaac is a force to be reckoned with here and I'm happy for him. Hopefully this leads to more big things.
#6
Blue Is the Warmest Color
Dir. Abdellatif Kechiche
Few things in the film industry are more prestigious than winning the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival. Such classics as Taxi Driver, Apocalypse Now, and Pulp Fiction can claim immortality when they took home the award in their respective year. This year's winner was Abdellatif Kechiche's three hour-French-lesbian-love-drama Blue Is the Warmest Color. That's right, a three hour-French-lesbian-love-drama. Now, the runtime may sound a bit daunting, but it really isn't. This film just flies by and that's because of the performances from the two leads Adèle Exarchopoulos and Léa Seydoux. Both are absolutely mesmerizing in the film. Seydoux may be recognizable to some American viewers from such films as Midnight in Paris and Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol, but Exarchopoulos is a revelation. She carries this big film at the ripe old age of 20. Right now she's stuck in France, but I imagine she caught the eye of Hollywood, so I think it's only a matter of time before she makes the jump across the pond. Now, you can't talk about this film without discussing the elephant in the room: the sex. There's some sex in this film and let's just say it earns it's NC-17 rating. It's pretty graphic stuff and from a strictly male-standpoint kind of great, but the problem I have is that the sex is what dominated the conversation when it came to the film. The scenes are there and some of them are rather lengthy, but in the grand scheme of things, they're a very minimal part of a three hour long film. Overall, this is just a great exploration of a relationship between two individuals. It really doesn't matter that they're lesbians. If you've ever had an inkling of love in your life, then you are going to connect to this film.
Here's the film that was 18 years in the making. The saga started back in 1995 with the release of Before Sunrise, the story of two people, an American man (Jesse) and a French woman (Celine), who met on a train and decided to spend a night together walking around Vienna. Nine year later in 2004, Jesse and Celine reconnected for a day in Paris in Before Sunset. Now, another nine years later, the two lovers are back and closing out one of the greatest movie trilogies of all-time with Before Midnight. I was lucky enough to have discover the first two films in the series about two years ago and they instantly became some of my all-time favorites. The films consist of really nothing more than two characters walking and talking, but over the course of the films, you begin to connect with Ethan Hawke's Jesse and Julie Delpy's Celine. I can't say enough how much I love these films. With Before Midnight, Linklater, Hawke, and Delpy perfectly wrap everything up. It's a smart film featuring a real-life view on relationships, love, and life in general. I'm reading through this and I can tell I'm just babbling, but that's because I don't know how to put into words why this film and the entire series is so great. It just is. If you've never seen any of it, you have to. It's one of the must-watch pieces of cinema. Trust me, you will not be disappointed.
#5
Before Midnight
Dir. Richard Linklater
#4
Spring Breakers
Dir. Harmony Korrine
This is a prime example of why you shouldn't judge a book (or a film) by it's cover. Going into this year, Spring Breakers was always penciled in as one of my most anticipated films of the year. In preparation for the film, I got myself acclimated with the work of Harmony Korrine. I watched films like Gummo and Trash Humpers and, yes, they're as crazy as they sound. So needless to say, I was ready for what I was about to get myself into. It didn't let me down. The best way to describe this film is to use something I heard from one of my favorite bloggers, Kris Tapley over at HitFix. He described the film as "an exploration of Spring Break as a state of mind." There's no way I could've said it any better. On the surface this film looks like it's just a bunch of Disney Channel girls having a good time in Florida during Spring Break, but it really isn't. Korrine crafts a dark and twisted tale about the minds of youth today (if you go to my Bling Ring review from above, you'll notice I said it was the first part of a great double feature. This is part two. Both films fit together like a glove). One thing that could prove worrisome to some may be the performances by the actors. Anytime you have a film with the likes of Selena Gomez, Vanessa Hudgens, and Ashley Benson there's always a little seed of doubt planted that they can't quite pull off. No worries, they did a fine job. I can't really say they were great in their roles, but they're adequate and do decent work. All that doesn't really matter when you surround yourself with someone who so completely out of their mind like James Franco is in this one. He gives one of the years best performances hands down. The thing that makes it so great is that just taking one look at him, you have to laugh because his character looks so ridiculous. But as you delve deeper into the film, you find that he's actually a very flawed, troubled, and dark individual and you fear him. He just did such a great job giving that character life. I can't say enough good things about the film. Everyone needs to see it to believe it. It really deserves its spot on the list.
#3
Only God Forgives
Dir. Nicolas Winding Refn
Over the last few months, I've read a lot of these kinds of lists just to gauge where everyone else was at compared to me. With each list I read, I waited for someone to step up and declare their love for Nicolas Winding Refn's polarizing film Only God Forgives. Nobody did. So I'm going to be the first. I love Only God Forgives. I know I'm not the only one, but I'm in a very small group. I actually get it. I understand the reasons why people hate this film, those things just don't bother me. For some reason, this film just clicked for me. To be fair, ever since Refn and Ryan Gosling's last effort, a little film called Drive, I thought they could do no wrong. To also be fair, this film is nothing like that one. Yes, despite having the same director and the same star, the two films couldn't feel more different. They both have a similar visual style and very much feel like a Refn film, but that's about where the similarities end. Gosling again plays the silent anti-hero, which people are saying is the only thing he can do. Those people are wrong. He's only played a character like that twice, in this and in Drive. So if anything, it's Nicolas Winding Refn's thing. Kristin Scott Thomas plays an uber-bitch, and I mean that with the utmost respect. A fascinating performance. Trust me on this. Don't believe the negativity. You need to form your own opinion when it comes to this film. You need to give it a shot. If you want to appreciate it as much as me, I suggest you go to YouTube and watch interviews with Refn about the film. Once you understand his vision and what he wanted to accomplish, then you'll understand the film and hopefully like it a little bit more.
#2
12 Years a Slave
Dir. Steve McQueen
Steve McQueen just can't seem to get over the hump. In my four years of doing these lists, McQueen has released two films, 2011's Shame and this year's 12 Years a Slave. Both of those films ended their respective years at #2 on my list. But, I'm sure he doesn't care because my lists don't mean a single thing. 12 Years a Slave is a monumental feat of filmmaking. With his previous works Hunger and the aforementioned Shame, McQueen announced to the world that he would be a force to be reckoned with for years to come. Slave just strengthens that. Obviously, slavery was one of the darkest times in American history and there is no better director to tackle it than McQueen. His relentless and unflinching approach to his craft helps to accurately portray life on a Southern plantation in the 1800's. There are moments of this film that you just expect the camera to pan away and cut, but they never do. Tough moments to watch, but a ballsy move by McQueen to not shy away from showing anything. The direction is only a part of what makes this film so effecting. Without the work of Chiwetel Ejiofor, who knows where this film goes. He gives a heart-wrenching performance as Solomon Northup. His performance is definitely the most powerful of the year. He has such a forceful presence on screen, a complete necessity for a role such as this. The other actors in the movie, like Benedict Cumberbatch, Paul Dano, Michael Fassbender, Sarah Paulson, Lupito Nyong'o, and Brad Pitt, all have big impacts on the film, regardless of how big or small their roles may be. I remember seeing this film in a packed theater and at the end of it sitting there motionless in complete awe of what transpired on screen. I wasn't the only one. No one moved and there were more than a few sniffles audible. This is a just a tremendous film in all aspects, unforgettable in every way.
#1
The Wolf of Wall Street
Dir. Martin Scorsese
Let's just start by pointing one thing out: nobody, and I mean NOBODY, makes a film like Martin Scorsese. Marty is the greatest
filmmaker alive and at 71 years young, it appears he still has a lot in
him. The Wolf of Wall Street, simply put, is one of the best films of his storied career. For a man who's directed a films called GoodFellas, Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, Mean Streets, Casino, The King of Comedy and The Departed, I'd say that's quite an accomplishment. And it's amazing that at his age that he's still making films with as much energy and as much relevance as Wolf.
There are so many things that make Wolf great in my eyes, but the one thing that stands out the most has to be just how hilarious it is. Marty's films have always had a sense of humor. Something like GoodFellas is actually pretty funny for the majority of the film until the shit hits the fan in the third act. This film is very similar in that respect, it's just that things go wrong a little later on. For the vast majority of it's three hour runtime, I was dying. There some side-splitting moments in this film that even I didn't think Marty or star Leonardo DiCaprio had in them.
Speaking of Leo, what a performance he gives. As Jordan Belfort, he gives what may be the best of his career and, again, that's saying something. He mixes his trademark intensity with some great comedic chops which we've never really seen before. There's even one moment in this film of fantastic physical comedy (if you've seen the film you know what I'm talking about). Like I mentioned above, I didn't think he had it in him, but it was a welcome surprise.
DiCaprio isn't the only great member of this cast, not by a longshot. First off, there's Jonah Hill. I didn't really realize just how much I liked him until I saw this film. I thought back to some other films I've seen him in and I began to figure out that he's definitely in the category of favorite actors for me. He's so funny in this and the chemistry he shares with Leo is some of the best in recent memory. They're so funny together, it's ridiculous. Next, there's my new favorite (if you know what I mean) Margot Robbie. Where did she come from? She nails her role as Belfort's second wife. She has the whole Brooklyn/Long Island thing down pat. Absolutely perfect. She's got the attitude and she's got the swagger and, most importantly, she's got the accent. I really can't believe she didn't get any major award recognition. I mean who said no to this? WHO?!? Whatever, awards are stupid. There's also some great performances by heavyweights Rob Reiner, Kyle Chandler, Jon Bernthal, Jean Dujardin, and, who else? Oh yeah Matthew McConaughey. Dude just ran Hollywood this year, didn't he? He just keeps on livin'. L-I-V-I-N livin'.
I could talk (or in this case write) for days about this film. It's three hours of pure mayhem, but I love it. Most important to me, however, is that it reminded me just how much I love Scorsese. The reason I love film so much is because of the work of Martin Scorsese, so I guess it's only fitting that on this, the last Best of list I make, Marty takes the top spot. The Wolf of Wall Street, the Best of 2013.
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