Best Movies of 2013
It’s March and I still haven’t posted my list of the best movies released in 2013! What better day than the day of the Oscars? As often as I go to the movies, it seems I miss hundreds of movies. It seems there are more and more movies being released every year and more and more platforms to release them on. I try to follow a few rules while compiling a year end list but these various platforms, change of release dates, and numerous film festivals make it more difficult to remain consistent. If a film was only released digitally via iTunes and Amazon without a proper theatrical release date yet, does that count as a 2013 film? What about all the movies I see at film festivals or the ones I see at advanced screenings? Do those count as well, or must I wait for a proper release? It’s all too confusing. I still haven’t seen Richard Linklater’s Before Midnight and I’m emotionally invested in his series of movies following the romance of Ethan Hawke’s Jesse and Julie Deply’s Celine. I know it would appear very high on a year end list like this but it missed its chance because it ran out of theaters too quickly. I can also blame my boyfriend for never seeing the earlier films and my excitement to watch them with him but we only seemed to get through Before Sunrise. It is a very emotionally exhausting piece of work and we needed some time before we ventured into the next installment.
Fruitvale Station, The Act of Killing, Joss Whedon’s Much Ado About Nothing, Laurence Anyways and Captain Phillips are just a few films that were certainly on my radar but I never had a chance to see. Perhaps, I should have seen them instead of the movies that made my “Worst Films of 2013” list. Movies are a commitment. They’re not like albums you can listen to while reading a book, driving or dancing at the club. If you’re like me, they get your undivided attention. Cell phone is turned off and nothing else matters but the movie projected on the screen in front of you. I spent a considerable amount of time in dark movie theaters this past year. Thanks to the creation of MoviePass, I can see up to 30 (or 31!) movies a month for the price of 2 movie tickets. It might have been the best thing to happen to a cinephile since the invention of the film projector.
An Alamo Drafthouse might have opened in New York but it’s in Yonkers and who wants to travel all the way up there? Their Upper East Side location fumbled and we’re only left with the brilliant (yet small) Nighthawk Cinema in Williamsburg. The film industry claims that no one is going to the movies anymore but I beg to differ. Movies sell out more than they ever had. It’s sometimes impossible to see a movie at Nighthawk. 2013 was the first time I went to the “movie theater of the future” in Regal Park, Queens. You can reserve your seat in advance and it’s not actually a seat you’re reserving, it’s an entire couch that reclines and everything. No one should be this comfortable in public. It’s a brilliant idea, but if you’re sleepy and have a tendency to nod off during a movie, I wouldn’t recommend a theater like this.
2013 was the first year I attended a film festival as press thanks to SXSW and PopBytes and it was one hell of a journey. It was very exhausting and a bit nerve-wracking since all film screenings were open to the public which made it super difficult to claim a seat in a theater. But I was able to see Neil LaBute’s Some Girls and watch Jena Malone run into a glass door in M. Blash’s The Wait. Rob Zombie’s The Lords of Salem was the worst film I saw in Austin that week but his Q&A was thoughtful and interesting. But seeing him and Sheri Moon enjoying a coffee outside of Starbucks was more rewarding than all of the above. Brie Larson made me feel things in Short Term 12. Chloë Sevigny wore one of those old school leather biker hats to the premiere of The Wait and The Spectacular Now was not as spectacular as Sundance made it seem.
I’ve never seen Love Actually but I did see Richard Curtis’ About Time last year and even though I was laughing, I was still in the fetal position during the entire film. There may or may not have been a tear or two that slipped from my tear ducts. I Give It a Year was underrated even if they misused Anna Faris. Prisoners was a good-looking, smart crime thriller and Bret Easton Ellis called Her a “hazy, earnest prostitute/john movie” and it changed my entire perspective of Spike Jonze’s masterpiece.
I saw The Hunger Games: Catching Fire twice in theaters and I would watch it eight more times. Does that make me a preteen? The Great Gatsby might not have fulfilled all of my former English major’s expectations but I thoroughly enjoyed the spectacle. Hearing various versions of Lana Del Rey’s “Young and Beautiful” throughout the movie probably helped. Her sulking melodies seemed to echo in every scene, as if she were a ghost haunting every frame, reminding us of her existence. I’m not even going to mention how her song was snubbed by the Oscars for not being nominated because the Academy Awards are such a joke.
What was with all the black and white films, Frances Ha and Nebraska? How does Cate Blanchett do what she does? And why doesn’t Juliette Lewis get the credit she deserves? She stole every scene in August: Osage County and there was a lot of talent in that movie. I was in the same theater as Bill Clinton when he introduced the documentary Bridegroom at the Tribeca Film Festival. The film was devastating and amateurish but definitely moving. The Museum of Arts and Design had a Gregg Araki retrospective and I went to every screening including Three Bewildered People in the Night and the MTV pilot This is How the World Ends. If Araki only knew how much he influenced my youth. His master class was a three-hour interview that could have gone on for three more hours if I had my way.
So without further ado here is my “Best Movies of 2013” list. Please understand that this list is subject to change at any given moment. I don’t dwell too long on the hierarchy of movies. How can one compare a comedy like The Heat to something like 12 Years a Slave? You just can’t. Just remember the number that resides next to these movies is insignificant. All of the movies listed here are worthy of your time. All of these movies have affected me in some way and deserve recognition.
Best Movies of 2013
40. The Canyons
39. The Great Gatsby
38. The Bling Ring
37. Stories We Tell
36. Touchy Feely
35. About Time
34. In a World…
33. The Brass Teapot
32. Some Girls
31. I Give It a Year
30. +1
29. All That I Am
28. Dark Touch
27. 12 Years a Slave
26. White Reindeer
25. Prisoners
24. American Hustle
23. Dallas Buyers Club
22. Nebraska
21. The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
20. Enough Said
19. The Wolf of Wall Street
18. Prince Avalanche
17. Drinking Buddies
16. Frances Ha
15. Four
14. Side Effects
13. Inside Llewyn Davis
12. Stoker
11. Upstream Color
10. Gravity
09. Her
08. Kill Your Darlings
07. Lotus Eaters
06. You’re Next
05. Some Velvet Morning
04. Blue Jasmine
03. Blue Is the Warmest Color
02. Spring Breakers
01. Short Term 12
Fruitvale Station, The Act of Killing, Joss Whedon’s Much Ado About Nothing, Laurence Anyways and Captain Phillips are just a few films that were certainly on my radar but I never had a chance to see. Perhaps, I should have seen them instead of the movies that made my “Worst Films of 2013” list. Movies are a commitment. They’re not like albums you can listen to while reading a book, driving or dancing at the club. If you’re like me, they get your undivided attention. Cell phone is turned off and nothing else matters but the movie projected on the screen in front of you. I spent a considerable amount of time in dark movie theaters this past year. Thanks to the creation of MoviePass, I can see up to 30 (or 31!) movies a month for the price of 2 movie tickets. It might have been the best thing to happen to a cinephile since the invention of the film projector.
An Alamo Drafthouse might have opened in New York but it’s in Yonkers and who wants to travel all the way up there? Their Upper East Side location fumbled and we’re only left with the brilliant (yet small) Nighthawk Cinema in Williamsburg. The film industry claims that no one is going to the movies anymore but I beg to differ. Movies sell out more than they ever had. It’s sometimes impossible to see a movie at Nighthawk. 2013 was the first time I went to the “movie theater of the future” in Regal Park, Queens. You can reserve your seat in advance and it’s not actually a seat you’re reserving, it’s an entire couch that reclines and everything. No one should be this comfortable in public. It’s a brilliant idea, but if you’re sleepy and have a tendency to nod off during a movie, I wouldn’t recommend a theater like this.
2013 was the first year I attended a film festival as press thanks to SXSW and PopBytes and it was one hell of a journey. It was very exhausting and a bit nerve-wracking since all film screenings were open to the public which made it super difficult to claim a seat in a theater. But I was able to see Neil LaBute’s Some Girls and watch Jena Malone run into a glass door in M. Blash’s The Wait. Rob Zombie’s The Lords of Salem was the worst film I saw in Austin that week but his Q&A was thoughtful and interesting. But seeing him and Sheri Moon enjoying a coffee outside of Starbucks was more rewarding than all of the above. Brie Larson made me feel things in Short Term 12. Chloë Sevigny wore one of those old school leather biker hats to the premiere of The Wait and The Spectacular Now was not as spectacular as Sundance made it seem.
I’ve never seen Love Actually but I did see Richard Curtis’ About Time last year and even though I was laughing, I was still in the fetal position during the entire film. There may or may not have been a tear or two that slipped from my tear ducts. I Give It a Year was underrated even if they misused Anna Faris. Prisoners was a good-looking, smart crime thriller and Bret Easton Ellis called Her a “hazy, earnest prostitute/john movie” and it changed my entire perspective of Spike Jonze’s masterpiece.
I saw The Hunger Games: Catching Fire twice in theaters and I would watch it eight more times. Does that make me a preteen? The Great Gatsby might not have fulfilled all of my former English major’s expectations but I thoroughly enjoyed the spectacle. Hearing various versions of Lana Del Rey’s “Young and Beautiful” throughout the movie probably helped. Her sulking melodies seemed to echo in every scene, as if she were a ghost haunting every frame, reminding us of her existence. I’m not even going to mention how her song was snubbed by the Oscars for not being nominated because the Academy Awards are such a joke.
What was with all the black and white films, Frances Ha and Nebraska? How does Cate Blanchett do what she does? And why doesn’t Juliette Lewis get the credit she deserves? She stole every scene in August: Osage County and there was a lot of talent in that movie. I was in the same theater as Bill Clinton when he introduced the documentary Bridegroom at the Tribeca Film Festival. The film was devastating and amateurish but definitely moving. The Museum of Arts and Design had a Gregg Araki retrospective and I went to every screening including Three Bewildered People in the Night and the MTV pilot This is How the World Ends. If Araki only knew how much he influenced my youth. His master class was a three-hour interview that could have gone on for three more hours if I had my way.
So without further ado here is my “Best Movies of 2013” list. Please understand that this list is subject to change at any given moment. I don’t dwell too long on the hierarchy of movies. How can one compare a comedy like The Heat to something like 12 Years a Slave? You just can’t. Just remember the number that resides next to these movies is insignificant. All of the movies listed here are worthy of your time. All of these movies have affected me in some way and deserve recognition.
Best Movies of 2013
40. The Canyons
39. The Great Gatsby
38. The Bling Ring
37. Stories We Tell
36. Touchy Feely
35. About Time
34. In a World…
33. The Brass Teapot
32. Some Girls
31. I Give It a Year
30. +1
29. All That I Am
28. Dark Touch
27. 12 Years a Slave
26. White Reindeer
25. Prisoners
24. American Hustle
23. Dallas Buyers Club
22. Nebraska
21. The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
20. Enough Said
19. The Wolf of Wall Street
18. Prince Avalanche
17. Drinking Buddies
16. Frances Ha
15. Four
14. Side Effects
13. Inside Llewyn Davis
12. Stoker
11. Upstream Color
10. Gravity
09. Her
08. Kill Your Darlings
07. Lotus Eaters
06. You’re Next
05. Some Velvet Morning
04. Blue Jasmine
03. Blue Is the Warmest Color
02. Spring Breakers
01. Short Term 12
