From the list of films that you see below you, I picked the best films of the year because of one trait that most of them had: A human element. It seemed that amongst all the superhero films and all the loud action films that true storytelling might soon be going by the wayside. But thankfully that didn't happen.
The films on this list show all the elements that make great films. Great filmmaking talent. Superb Storytelling and great acting. Without further ado and with the Academy Awards taking place this Sunday, here are my picks for the top ten films of 2013.
10.
Prisoners was a surprise for me when it was released in late September. I expected an intense film but not one that had this many great characters in it. Every character had a great backstory to them. From Hugh Jackman's career best performance as an angry father whose is desperately trying to find his daughter anyway possible. To Jake Gyllenhall's detective who is assigned to find Jackman's son. To Paul Dano as the mentally challenged young man who is the prime suspect in the case. Everything in this film is set up for maximum impact. Even the controversial ending I loved. I won't spoil but to just say that I can't think of any other way to end it. The character, like many people in this film, was a prisoner of their own making.
9.
Paul Greengrass is a great filmmaker. That is no surprise. Captain Phillips was an intense true story about the MV Maersk Alabama being hijacked by Somali pirates in 2009. It is written with great skill by Billy Ray, whose also wrote the under appreciated Shattered Glass and Breach. Again, not a surprise considering what a great writer Ray is. But what gets this film onto the list is Tom Hanks. Hanks has always been a great leading man and a good actor. But not since Cast Away have I seen Hanks give such an emotional performance. What he does here is amazing. Not only guiding audiences through the emotional roller coaster that he goes through as Phillips but also giving a great performance alongside actors who have never acted before. Barkhad Abdi needs to be commended as well for his performance as the lead Somali pirate. He really shows us why his character makes the hard choices he does before he take over the Alabama. Just a great intense film all around.
8.
Stoker is just a damn creepy film. The director of the original Oldboy, Park Chan-wook, just keeps viewers on the edge the whole time. We see that the family in the film is unhinged but Chan-wook does a great job sustaining the tension on how unsettling this family is. You never know what to expect. Mia Wasikowska plays India Stoker, a young girl who on her 18th birthday loses her father in a horrible car accident. At the funeral, Stoker and her unstable mother played by Nicole Kidman, receive a visit from Charlie, the brother of Stoker's father. The fun in this film is watching Stoker and Charlie interact with each other in devious ways. These two people are not normal. You know they are capable of dark, evil things. But yet you can't take your eyes off of them. That is the power Stoker has over you and it is magnificent to watch.
7.
David O. Russell is a filmmaker on a roll. All the more surprising considering that before 2010, he was someone many people left for dead after all the on set horror stories about his behavior. But he cleaned up his act and now has risen to the level we thought he was capable of early on in his career. The Fighter and Silver Linings Playbook were both great films. But American Hustle is his best film. Some people have complained that Russell ripped off Martin Scorsese with this film. I don't think that is the case at all. Russell has always loved stories about characters trying to escape their circumstances and Hustle shows that off. Here we get five characters who are trying to do just that.against the backdrop of the ABSCAM operation in the late 70's. There is not a bad performance in this film. Christian Bale and Jennifer Lawrence both give the best performances in the film. It is great to see such life come from such a complicated film and it is even better to see Russell pull it off beautifully.
6.
Matthew McConaughey is getting raves and plenty of awards attention for Dallas Buyers Club and he should. It is a great performance. But the best film that he did this year to me was Mud. It is a simple and small film that is just great southern storytelling. Director Jeff Nichols has mentioned numerous times that the story was influenced by Mark Twain's storytelling and that is clearly evident in the film. While McConaughey gives a great performance, the story is really about the two children, Ellis and Neckbone, who find McConaughey's character hiding out along the banks of the Mississippi River. Tye Sheridian is especially great as Ellis. He has a lot of innocence to him that makes us care about him throughout the film. McConaughey though shows that with this film and with the other great performances he has given lately, that he is ready to leave behind the dumb romantic comedy roles and do films that are up to his potential as a leading man. Mud is one of those films.
5.
It's been a great couple of years for teen films. We have had a few great ones come out the last few years after having to suffer through the awful horror of "young adult" films that followed in the wake of Twilight. But starting with The Perks of Being a Wallflower, I think we are starting to see the slow emergence of good truthful teen films come back to us. One of those films is The Spectacular Now. It is a flat out great film. A lot of that has to do with the two lead actors in this film, Miles Teller and Shailene Woodley. The chemistry these two have is amazing and it keeps the film grounded in reality. Through them, we experience what it felt like to be in love for the first time. The stupid decisions we make as teens because we are always told that our high school years are the best times of our lives. Director James Ponsoldt makes sure the film is not rushed. It moves at it's own pace. If for nothing else, the film works because the two lead characters feel like people we grew up with in high school. Find this film and watch it. It's a true buried treasure from the heart.
4.
Some films you know are going to be brilliant. The second it was announced that director Richard Linklater had shot Before Midnight, I knew it was a film that was not going to disappoint and it didn't. Midnight show Linklater, Ethan Hawke, and Julie Delpy are in complete control of these characters. All three have written a film that is mostly just talk. But the talk is never boring. The dialogue clues us in on what is happening in the lives of Jesse and Celine. It's been nine years since Before Sunset. The two of them have kids now and we can since the relationship is about to hit a major crossroad. When it does, all the feelings the two have felt about each other for the past nine years comes out. To watch Hawke and Delpy play these roles again is something to behold. None of the scenes they have together strike a false note. This maybe the end of the story for these two characters. But it wouldn't surprise me if in another nine years, we get another film about Jesse and Celine as they enter into old age together. We all would welcome it.
3.
12 Years a Slave is not just a historical film. It is a nightmare. That is the best word to describe it. A nightmare. It was hard enough to be a black man in the 1800's. But director Steve McQueen makes sure we feel the horror of what Solomon Northup went through. It's hard enough for someone to be born into slavery. But to see Solomon, a free black man living up in the north, have his freedom taken away from him is just inhuman. McQueen though makes sure to never let up on the nightmare. He surrounds the story with great characters. Most notably, Edwin Epps, a cruel slave owner played with evil brilliance by Michael Fassbender. To hear Epps quote bible scripture in order to justify slavery is a truly awful thing to hear and see. The film ends on just the right note. Even if all was to go right, McQueen is right in saying that we must never forget what slavery did to this country and what a truly inhuman, evil thing it was. A powerful, well told film.
2.
Rush is a great story about a subject that we thought we were bored enough with: auto racing. But the film, which covers the 1976 Formula One racing season, does something unexpected. It gets inside the heated rivalry between James Hunt (Chris Hemsworth) and Niki Lauda (Daniel Bruhl). Formula One is already considered a dangerous sport. Why in the world would these two drivers risk everything they have over something like car racing? That is the question director Ron Howard and writer Peter Morgan ask. At his best Howard is a director that is exceptional at putting you right into the middle of dangerous situations. Think back to the fires in Backdraft or the damaged shuttle going through space in Apollo 13. For Howard, Rush is his best film in a decade. With great cinematography, amazing writing, and great acting by the two lead actors, Rush is an great film to watch. Whether it is following the cars around the track or watching the horror of one of the drivers being burnt alive in 800 degree heat after a crash, Rush is just pure a simple storytelling done to excellent effect. Ron Howard needs to do more films like this. Rush shows what a great director he can be at times.
1.
Watching Gravity for the first time this year, I almost got the sense of what it must of been like to watch 2001: A Space Odyssey back in the day. The sense of wonder and being completely in awe of what was on the screen. This film was an excellent experience. One that not only was completely immersive, but one that pushed the boundaries of film forward. Director Alfonso Curon did things in this movie that were truly impressive. The special effects in this film were amazing but you never felt them take center stage. The story and the acting is what kept our attention. Sandra Bullock was grace under pressure. She plays an astronaunt who is stuck floating in space with George Clooney after space debris has hit destroyed the space shuttle they were attached to. The both of them have to survive the deep cold space as they try to avoid debris and other disasters from happening to them. That is it. The story is simple. Yet from that Curon is able to do amazing things. All the way to the end, Curon is able to leave you breathless. This film is an achievement that Curon and his film crew should be proud of. They made a film that comes once in a lifetime and was undoubtedly the best film of 2013.
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