Top 13 Movies of 2013

HAHAHA! No.

Better late than never, I decided I wanted to see as many actual 2013 movies as I could before choosing my top 13. That said, there are titles I have not seen yet that might have ended up in my top 13. I have not seen: All Is Lost, The Act of Killing, Blue is the Warmest Color, Mud, Side Effects, The Spectacular Now, Stoker, Stories We Tell, To the Wonder or The We and the I. I have heard good things about them all so they might have ended up here.

If you are wondering where Place Beyond the Pines or American Hustle are, Bradley Cooper saved one and ruined the other...I'll let you guess which is which. Either way, neither are itching to be in my collection anytime soon. Nor is the sequel to my favorite comedy (Anchorman 2) or the directing debut of one of my favorite actors (Don Jon). Also, as fun as Wolf of Wall Street was, it won't ever be one of my favorite movies.

13. Gravity- Say what you will about the script (there is some weakness here) but I cannot deny that I was thrilled and breathless for most of the movie. For these first few, outside the top 10, I want to focus on movies that succeeded in whatever their mission was. I would never dispute that Cuaron can stage and film the crap out of some exciting scenes, but maybe he needs to work from someone else's screenplay besides his son's. Clooney gives a winning performance. Bullock does just fine. This movie won't change your life but it is a great thrill ride.

12. The Conjuring- I am not a fan of James Wan, historically. I did like the first Saw quite a bit before the series devolved into torture porn. As it stands, Insidious feels like half a good horror movie. Well, I am a sucker for haunted house movies and this one is fairly top notch. There are a few cheap jump scares but Wan has learned how to construct real horror tension in a scene. The clapping game leads to several solid scares and reminded me of the knocking game from The Orphanage. As a horror fan, I appreciate how well this was made.

11. Blue Jasmine- As I was writing this list, I originally had Inside Llewyn Davis here. However, the more I thought about how flawed the Blue Jasmine screenplay was (Woody has only one idea about poor people and that idea was a cliche in the 1950s plus Peter Sarsgaard makes a completely arbitrary decision just to create a crisis). Cate Blanchett carries the movie beautifully and is the saving grace of it. Even subpar Woody Allen is still better than most other movies, though. I also felt the scenes with Blanchett and Baldwin discussing their marital problems were probably straight from Woody and Mia's break up.

10. Inside Llewyn Davis- I am a huge Coen Brothers fan, ask anyone. I liked No Country For Old Men more than There Will Be Blood and that is just ridiculous. Miller's Crossing is my favorite movie of all time. So, I am especially happy to see the boys back to telling original stories instead of adaptations of previous work. I like that the story plays like a record, moving in a circle. Like the protagonist of A Simple Man, Llewyn has almost supernaturally bad luck and is surrounded by oddball characters. It is the Coens doing what they do best, but it didn't move me. When Llewyn sings, the real heart of the movie comes through when the songs come on. Speaking of, does no one in the Academy recognize the irony of nominating "Please Mr. Kennedy"?

 9. The World's End- Probably the most flat-out entertaining movie of the year for me. Loaded with funny and making some strong rebellion vs. conformity points, Edgar Wright just hits all the...er, right buttons with me. I saw lots of funny this year but these guys just operate on another level by adding real emotion and actual action. So, is the artistic achievement of Llewyn Davis? No. Is it a movie I want to watch again and again before I ever rewatch Llewyn Davis? Yes.

8. C.O.G.- Based on the story by David Sedaris, I think this cool little movie captures his voice quite well. Following a disenchanted college boy as he tries to gain life experience; COG paints a picture of someone trying to find their place in a world that is petty, greedy, jealous and self-centered. Not that the protagonist is any better. The scene with him in church (you'll know which one) was as moving to me as Daniel Day Lewis crossing the line from appeasement to genuine sorrow in front of Paul Dano's congregation in There Will Be Blood. I was really surprised and moved by this little movie.

7. Prince Avalanche- David Gordon Green steps back to small movies and gives Paul Rudd the best role of his career. He and Emile Hirsch play off of each other very well as brothers-in-law tasked with painting lines on the road through an area ravaged by recent fires. It is slow and meditative in parts but the pain of Rudd's character is palpable as the story progresses. I love this little movie and it is probably my favorite character study of the year (besides #s 1 and 2).

6. Upstream Color- Ugh, so close to being a truly incredible film. As it stands, the first two thirds of this movie are amazing to me. Shane Carruth (who wrote, directed and stars) trusts the audience to piece together what is happening by relaying most of the information you need visually. There are not any exposition dumps, just beautifully shot images leading from one scene to the next. The middle third of this movie just kills me. Two people are brought together and fall in love through forces completely beyond their control. The passion, confusion and pain involved with truly loving someone is all put up there on screen. Carruth feels the need to resolve the plot of the movie and bring closure to the storyline, which is fine, but I feel the ending detracts from the power of the rest. Still, pretty great movie.

5. Her- I almost put these two (Upstream Color and Her) in the same slot because they both use science fiction tropes to explore the nature of romantic love. Her, just in the set up and execution, moves to a place that keeps the central metaphor intact in a way Upstream Color doesn't. Joaquin Phoenix, once again, turns in great work. The Master made me see him in a completely different light and this movie continues the trend. Of course, you can't watch and not think about Spike Jonze and his divorce from Sofia Coppola. Those events had to inspire at least some of this story. If you like thinking about power dynamics and imbalances in romance, you will find something to relate to in this movie.

4. Nebraska- Alexander Payne has officially won me over. I have been on the fence about him for years but Nebraska is the type of perfectly observed comedy-drama that I love. Filled with little moments of truth (my favorite is how Will Forte's cousins immediately become aggressive and condescending upon reuniting after years), Payne has made a movie about impacts and influences. One generation messes up the next and so on until we all get stuck in our own Nebraskas. Bruce Dern gives a straight up genius performance that breaks your heart and makes it hard to like him, all at the same time. Forte and Odenkirk are inspired casting because they can convey humor with minimal effort. I just love this movie.

3. 12 Years a Slave- Well-acted, well-written and well-directed; this movie is the anti-Django. Chiwetel Ejiofor is great in this. Ever since I saw him in Serenity and Inside Man, I knew he was going places. And Steve McQueen didn't make it easy for him, surrounding him with some of the highest level actors in modern film. The only weak note is Brad Pitt, of whom I am normally enamored. Pitt plays his character as angelic and doesn't even try to fit the patois of an itinerant builder in the 1840s. Otherwise, though, great performance after great performance with Fassbender standing out as the slave master who personifies all the evils of the trade. This was brutal and manipulative and I fell for the whole thing. It was also good to see last year's MVP, Scoot McNairy, pop up in a small role. Also, this wins the Winter's Bone memorial award for "movie I could smell." Filming this must have been miserable.

2. Frances Ha- Dear God what a winning movie. Greta Gerwig absolutely dazzles as a modern counterpart to Llewyn Davis. Adrift in her 20s, she roams from roommate to roommate, making connections and destroying them while in platonic pursuit of her best friend. Baumbach is great at capturing a breezy, literate realism from his actors and this movie is no exception. I want to live in this world and know these people. Kind of a "late coming of age" drama, it hit super close to home as Gerwig finds herself realizing that not everyone gets to have their dreams come true. Just great work all around.

1. Before Midnight- I thought this would be the case before I saw it and it absolutely was everything I hoped for (and more!). At this point, I come to see Linklater films because they will present some kind of truth or exhilarating idea to me. The Before series, in particular, feels like revisiting old friends. About five years ahead of me but emotionally right on track, I have fallen in love with Jesse and Celine. Their idealism in the first movie, their chemistry in the second and now their reality in this one are all of a piece. Each movie ends on a sort of cliffhanger that the audience can interpret however they want and this one is no exception. Their fights are raw and complicated and perfect. Their conversations with friends are exactly right in the casual revelation of intimate details and the exchange of ideas that can only happen with maturity. I love these movies and I cannot wait to see Boyhood this year.