My 2013 In Lists
Once again, I'm using this is a place to store my lists. Let's see how far I get before I run out of fresh superlatives.
Here's what my year looked like:
Favorite Entertainment Of The Year (Special Category)
The Return of Arrested Development
I hold the original series among my very favorite things in pop culture. So, as truly excited as I was for these shows (and the potential movie behind it), I was also a little worried about the notion of a new season of episodes untying the bow at the end of the third season. I would have been kind of devastated with even a show that was like the old one but a little less funny, and amazingly I got this new thing instead (anustart, if you will). Not only was it as funny as ever, it was even more complex and ambitious in the way it charted the way that the family dragged both themselves and each other down (even more so once they were all separated). A series of extra-length webisodes that added up to an 8 1/2 hour episode, the show found both a surfeit of new comic ground to cover and a surprising darkness and emotional heft (particularly now that the kids are grown up and growing into their own Bluth-ness). Eight months later, and I'm still thinking about that last scene between Michael and George Michael (and chuckling every time I think about George Michael's pool party or "The Sound of Silence"). My only real complaint is that now I can't wait for the movie (or the next season, or the series of Sherlock-style moviesodes, or the Scandalmakers of Buster's murder trial). Until then, take to the sea!
Favorite Films of 2013
The Act of Killing
This movie is stunning. I mean I was literally stunned while watching it. It may be an inauspicious beginning to a big list of comments about my favorite movies of the year, but I am pretty much at a loss for words when it comes to this one. I think it's amazing and essential and unlike anything else I can think of. And the final scene is one of the most unforgettable things I've ever seen in a movie.
Escape From Tomorrow
The hubub around this movie was centered on the way they'd shot it, and it definitely carries a particularly fascinating and illicit energy because of that (and it's full of shockingly arresting or beautiful images when you remember the conditions they were working under). But I also think it's a cheeky, grimly funny horror movie. It wanders between acidic commentary on middle-class American ("Disneyfied") culture and a Lynchian fever-dream vibe that I really dug.
Frances Ha
Easily my favorite of Noah Baumbach's films, it also finds perfect expression for what I find interesting (and, yes, delightful and attractive) about Greta Gerwig. I loved how warm and wise it was in following a character who spends most of the movie lost and wandering.
Frozen
Whether this is looked back on as a Beauty and the Beast high point or just a Little Mermaid opening act for the next Walt Disney Animation Studios renaissance/hot streak (which, for my money, had its beginning in Meet the Robinsons, Bolt notwithstanding), it's a hilarious, exciting and beautiful movie. It's got more than one clever story development that puts it in direct conversation with the cultural monolith that is the Disney Princess Movie, while also being a superb example of the form. I also am not sure I can even articulate why I found it almost unbearably moving.
Gravity
This was a singularly immersive experience. The long, looping shots full of beauty and terror, the terrific lead performance by Sandra Bullock, and the primally satisfying ending make this one my favorite science fiction picture in a year with some sci-fi movies I liked a whole lot.
The Great Gatsby
Baz Luhrmann joins the ranks of filmmakers that make excellent use of 3D with a spectacular and emotional take on Fitzgerald's novel (erasing the sour taste of the awful 1974 version). The cast is terrific, the filmmaking is spectacular, and it was worth the price of admission just for DiCaprio's entrance on opening night.
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
Another few hours in Middle-Earth very well-spent. The movie is full of spectacular realizations of stuff I've loved and wanted to see since I was a kid, including one of the all-time great movie dragons. I was excited by the new material (and seeds they seem to plant for the third film) and by the development and depiction of the characters and situations from the book. That barrel ride was a blast, Lake Town is really neat, and Bilbo's conversation with Smaug is perfect. And it all ends with a great cliffhanger cut to black.
Inside Llewyn Davis
Another tremendous movie for the Coens, this one manages the trick of being both warmer and more emotional (largely through the deeply felt musical performances) AND as despairing or unforgiving as its Barton Fink/Man Who Wasn't There/Serious Man brethren. Basically, this just further bolsters their insane masterpiece-to-body of work ratio.
The Lone Ranger
Unsurprisingly, this was my jam. Gore Verbinski is on a very short list of guys that can consistently make these giant movies simultaneously look as massive and expensive as they are AND idiosyncratic and light on their feet. The fifteen minute long action sequence at the end is indeed thrilling, but I was just as engaged by the development of the two main characters, the way Verbinski and company incorporated an angrier view of the real history of the west into a blockbuster movie, and the way that the movie placed a white hat serial hero into a modern western setting and explored what that turns him into (without undermining him completely).
Nebraska
As with my love for About Schmidt, I know some of my love for this movie comes from the midwestern male DNA in my family. Basically, Alexander Payne has his finger directly on something about my grandfathers and my dad. This one also has wonderful performances by Bruce Dern, June Squibb, Bob Odenkirk and my beloved Will Forte(!). And the black-and-white photography and musical score are just perfect.
Short Term 12
This movie really stuck with me. It's a small story, but it is so full of delicate emotion and moments of tender empathy that the more dramatic or serious elements felt all the more momentous.
12 Years a Slave
An incredible (or, I guess, all too sadly credible) story that becomes even more harrowing thanks to some tremendous performances and some sickly beautiful filmmaking. It uses the white-person-friendly Kafkaesque horror of a free man being kidnapped into slavery and having no recourse to justice, and then moves on to really examine the way that such a horrible institution distorts and degrades the entire moral landscape for everybody involved.
The World's End
I've loved all of Edgar Wright's movies so far, and this still feels like a step up in terms of depth and complexity. It's really funny (as quotable as any of his other pictures), the action is fun and inventive, the cast/performances are terrific, and it uses both the human relationships and the sci-fi premise for a surprisingly textured exploration of nostalgia, depression, addiction, and cultural homogenization.
The Wolf of Wall Street
Holy cow. This shotgun blast of a movie is, admittedly, even more amazing to me because it was directed by a septuagenarian. Leonardo DiCaprio is a man possessed here, and ends up with a performance that is so singular and energetic and alive that I almost forget that he's always been so good. And the rest of the movie matches him moment for moment.
The Movies That All Could Have Been On This List, Based on How Much I Liked Them
Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues
Before Midnight
Blancanieves
The Bling Ring
Blue Jasmine
Captain Phillips
Cheap Thrills
The Conjuring
Computer Chess
42
Gimme the Loot
Her
The History of Future Folk
I Declare War
Iron Man 3
John Dies at the End
Kon-Tiki
Monsters University
Much Ado About Nothing
Mud
Oz: The Great and Powerful
Pacific Rim
Prince Avalanche
Saving Mr. Banks
Spring Breakers
Stoker
Stories We Tell
This Is The End
Thor: The Dark World
Upstream Color
V/H/S/2
The We and the I
Willow Creek
You're Next
Least Favorite:
I don't really tend to remember the list of worst movies I've seen in a given year, but I found A Good Day to Die Hard to be such a dispiriting slog that I just have to mention it. This movie defeated me.
Favorite Television Shows of 2013
Bob's Burgers
Still really funny and idiosyncratic, and it just continues to improve. Honestly, this would get on the list for the "Topsy" episode alone.
Bunheads
As glad as I am that we at least got these last eight episodes, they were so funny and lovely that I'm just sad I won't be able to put this show on next year's list too. I really grew to love these characters, and I hope there's a DVD set that I can send to my niece someday.
The Daily Show & The Colbert Report
The Daily Show remained fantastic, whether hosted by Jon Stewart (seen here talking about Chicago style pizza) or John Oliver (seen here discussing Carlos Danger), and Colbert continued to be one of the quickest, sharpest wits on television.
Doctor Who
I wasn't actually crazy about the season that aired this year, with plenty of episodes that had promising ideas or funny bits of business but still ended up in the "almost" column. But the "...of the Doctor" trilogy that included the season finale "The Name of the Doctor," the 50th anniversary special "The Day of the Doctor" (which I saw in 3D in a movie theater full of Who-fans), and the Christmas Special "The Time of the Doctor" (as well as the webisode prologue to the 50th special "The Night of the Doctor") were so good that I can add it to the list without reservation. These episodes managed the delicate feat of paying terrific tribute to the 50 year history of the show while still providing fresh and inventive science fiction stories that play to the strengths of the current creative team, ending up with something that was alternately hilarious, clever, thrilling, and moving. Left me sad to see Matt Smith go but excited to see Peter Capaldi's Doctor.
Gravity Falls
If I told you there was an animated show that had an Adventures of Pete & Pete/Eerie Indiana vibe, with ambitions of incorporating some Twin Peaks/X-Files style weirdness and serial elements, it should come as no surprise to you that it'd be on this list. And it's pretty funny!
Hannibal
This show managed the difficult feat of reclaiming Hannibal Lecter as a figure of menace and power. With a tone that feels unique on television and excellent performances, it also has a sickly beauty and fascination with death that marks it as a Bryan Fuller show (even as it replaces the light and sweetness of his other shows with a funereal suspense).
Mad Men
Another fantastic season. This show's quality is so consistently high that it may be easy to take it for granted, until you watch the episodes and remember how incredibly well written, acted, and shot they are.
30 Rock
Only five episodes of this show aired in 2013, but not only were they the last five episodes ever, they were really fantastic. This last run provided surprising emotional payoff for stuff that I didn't even realize I was invested in, and it did it while maintaining that incredible joke-per-minute ratio. If there was any question that it was an all-timer, the show cemented its place with this last season.
Treme
With a five-episode final season, Treme went out as it had lived: a humane, funny, thoughtful show positively shot through with great music.
Memorial Corner:
This year also saw the end of Breaking Bad, which remained exciting and harrowing through the end, Happy Endings, which I loved and miss plenty when looking at the 2014 sitcom landscape, Futurama, which had another couple of really fantastic episodes ("Fry and Leela's Big Fling" & "Murder on the Planet Express") and an excellent finale that capped of their Fry/Leela time-travel trilogy (along with "Bender's Big Score" and "The Late Philip J. Fry"), and Star Wars: The Clone Wars, which ended with a run of great episodes that thrilled this Star Wars fan.
Pop Culture (Mostly Movies) That I'm Most Excited For In 2014
Muppets Most Wanted
I've pretty much only heard positive word about this one, and the trailers are quite funny! I'm also looking forward to another bunch of Bret McKenzie Muppet songs.
Godzilla
The last time an American attempt at making a Godzilla movie came out, I was in Chicago at a Godzilla fan convention with a friend of my father's. I will try not to be insufferable in the lead up to this one, but I've got so much excitement (and so many Godzilla-related opinions) that this counts as fair warning.
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
A sequel to the shockingly terrific Rise of the Planet of the Apes. I'd be interested in any Planet of the Apes movie (I love the original series so), but I've got high expectations for this one.
Big Eyes
Tim Burton directing Amy Adams and Christoph Waltz with a screenplay by Scott Alexander & Larry Karaszewski (Ed Wood)? It's practically engineered to be on this list.
The Grand Budapest Hotel
This looks FANTASTIC. Some kind of mystery or caper that takes place over three time periods with a sprawling cast of terrific actors. I cannot wait.
Captain America: The Winter Soldier/Guardians of the Galaxy
With Iron Man 3 & Thor: The Dark World further contributing to my Marvel movie fandom, of course I'm on board for these two. Captain America is a sequel to maybe my favorite Phase One movie (and stars maybe my favorite Avenger), and everything I've heard about Guardians makes it sound crazy, colorful, funny, and really unique. And we can probably reserve this slot for next year too, with Avengers: Age of Ultron and Edgar Wright's Ant-Man on the docket.
The Hobbit: There and Back Again
I'm equal parts excited to see how this all concludes (with lots of stuff I've dreamed of seeing on-screen since I was a kid) and sad that this will be my last new trip to Jackson's Middle-Earth. I'm honestly looking forward to a week-long Tolkien movie marathon when this is all done.
Cosmos: A Space-Time Odyssey
Kudos to Seth MacFarlane using some of his Fox capital on getting this new Cosmos (with Neil deGrasse Tyson!) on a network. I'm really excited to see what Dr. Tyson came up with.
The Twelfth Doctor
As I mentioned, the last three Who episodes have rekindled my excitement for the series, and I'm really looking forward to seeing what they do with Peter Capaldi's Doctor.
Toy Story That Time Forgot
This is a Toy Story Christmas special that will presumably incorporate some kind of lost world motif. Merry Christmas, future Nathaniel!