Sane person: New Years already happened!
Me: Then, with it being the start of a new year...
Sane Person: It's June!
Me: FINE, with it being awards season...
Sane Person: The Oscars were 3 month ago!
Needless to say, I don't keep track of time well. So (6 months late) here's the list of my 11 favorite films of 2013.
11. Nebraska
With such an off beat plot and such an off beat way of filming, it seems the oddest thing about this movie is how normal it treats everything. Nebraska stands out in the "popular indie" scene because of how well it reflects reality and the sad, real idea of aging while having it's own original plot. And that's the best way to describe this movie: real yet original. Characters speak like real people, all the surroundings look real, but it's all being applied to an unordinary plot. To those unaware, Nebraska is about an aging,stubborn father who falls for a scam and believes he's won a million dollars, prompting him to cross 4 states to get to Nebraska and collect his prize, to the grudging response of his family. However, as they go, they realize certain people from the father's past are expecting their share of the prize. Looking at this plot, it's easy to see how this film would've been a witty Wes Anderson wannabe, but it acts so normal about every bizarre situation that occurs, so there's an interesting, and really funny balance. A balance that's accented by the all around perfect performances, especially June Squibb. There are certain parts that seems a little convoluted for the sake of thickening the plot, but then we get to see Squibb make fun of a dead person that wanted to "get in her pants" by lifting her skirt right over his grave, so it's all fine.
10. About Time
Hey look, another "normal" movie already! Well, it does involve time travel, but what makes this film different than other time travel movies is how the time travel doesn't play in to the story in a way done before. This isn't a morality tale because we already have our "Groundhog Day" and this isn't a "race against the clock to fix the solution" because we already have our "Back to the Future". It really is the story of the evolution of a couple from random first encounter all the way to comfortable marriage, bouncing and gently floating from situation to situation with gorgeous cinematography, laid back pacing, great balance of drama and comedy, and easy chemistry between the lead characters. The time travel plays in more as an extra, playful little bonus. Not an afterthought, but a way to keep the pacing from dragging and make the story more engaging throughout some of the mini-plots (not subplots, more like plot cul de sacs that the movie jumps from one to the next). The novelty element of time travel isn't needed since there is no full plot in the first place, but amazingly the fantasy and reality flow together so easily, there are nearly no awkward or jarring moments because of it. This is a movie that perfectly represents relaxed, non-struglling, well off, middle class characters and makes them surprisingly entertaining unto themselves, just with a little time travel mixed in...ya know, for fun.
9. Frozen
Unless you've had your head buried under a rock for the past 6 months or so, you know what this movie is. Tumblr and teenagers in general latched onto it immediately, so much so that now there's a fairly sized backlash, but why is it so popular?
To me, I think what made this movie stick out amongst Disney's recent, usually "just okay" fair is how well it combines the old and the new of Disney. The old being Disney's idea of princesses and far off, generically european lands, and elements of fantasy. The new being strong, complex female characters as the leads, a stronger focus on family relationships rather than romantic, and actual, honest to god plot twists. Well ok, there's like one, but I can tell you it was not expected, and you never can actually tell where the movie is going, as the characters objectives are constantly changing. This doesn't feel like Disney trying to be Dreamworks, like a lot of Disney's films over the past 15 years or so. And even though the flaws of the pointless songs and the "oh so necessary" comedic relief that accomplishes nothing are there, Frozen prevails with the clear heart put in.
8. The Wind Rises
When you look at Hayoa Miyazaki's long, staggeringly great career, it seems like the man would want his final film to be in his fantasy comfort zone. But I'm so glad he ended up making a slow, romantic WW2 epic. This is one of the greatest testaments to Miyazaki as a visual director, with powerful, subtle bits of symbolism and beautiful designs of dreamscapes and cities. There's also a lot to be said about the focus of the film, which is very focused on one man (Jiro) and the people surrounding him. We never even see what happens with the fighter planes the main character is designing for Japan. Well, we know what happens, and he knows, but we don't get long action-based sequences of battles, we spend all of the time given with Jiro, and over the course of 2 hours, the focus never loses from him.
The film most comparable to this is probably "Forrest Gump". Both are centered around characters that deal with important and relevant issues during a certain period of time in their country. Between the two, I personally prefer Wind Rises. With as much as I love Forrest Gump and it's going to pain me to say this, Miyazaki's film is a lot less convoluted, gimmicky, and much more visually striking and original. The Wind Rises is a beautiful film from all angles, it's melodramatic to the extent a film of the "Epic" genre should be, but it's not overplayed and moves like reality. And, more than the animation, more than the visual aspect, the beautiful storytelling what makes this the perfect note to end Miyazaki's career on.
7. Saving Mr. Banks
There is no physical villain. The only thing to drive the plot forward is solid enough relationships between the characters. This means Disney movies are maturing, guys, it's a big deal. Seriously look at our two main characters. The first, P.L. Travers, is the author of "Mary Poppins", and very stubborn in having the film made her way. The 2nd is Walt Disney, who's magical, whimsical and fun. The very obvious direction for the film to go in is Disney opens up Travers, Mary Poppins gets made, and that's it. Sure, that happens as expected, but there's a little more to it than that. For one, Walt Disney isn't perfect. He has genuine flaws and an arc of his own. He's obtuse, doesn't exactly get the deeper meanings of the book. There are even some little bits of him smoking and lightly cussing that, even though they're usually a bit shoehorned in, support the idea that Walt Disney wasn't just America's perfect father. And Travers is stubborn, but she's lovable in that in some weird way, and she has a genuine, believable backstory. Even the supporting characters are well rounded. Instead of just being 2-D props, people like the Sherman brothers who write the music, and Paul Giamatti's personal driver character are engaging and characters of their own. Like I said, there is no physical central antagonist, so the plot is only driven forward by interesting characters and interactions.
6. The Conjuring
"Saw" was the wind-up, "Insidious" was the pitch, and "The Conjuring" is the home run. For a horror movie to become as big of a hit as The Conjuring did is amazing in it's own right, since we live in a world where the best of mainstream horror is usually considered by mass audiences to be only ok. Where Insidious was about creating an atmosphere to create a background for the jump scares, The Conjuring is a slow burn of intensity. James Wan entirely depends on the atmosphere to get the horror across, and in a way, the lack of actual "scares" makes it more terrifying, because it's realistic. Of course, it's still over the top horror to an extent, because James Wan loves his over the top supernatural horror. (I point to "The Orphanage" for subtle, completely realistic supernatural horror) But in it's horrifically memorable, over the top paranormal activity, The Conjuring's scares feel like they're not meant just to be a way to get a cheap scream out of the audience. They're meant to have the audience lose themselves in the sense of dread the movie creates, which should be the true objective of a horror movie, and an objective The Conjuring follows through so well. Not to mention the sense of dread in this movie is backed up by a perfect cast, including the perfect and extremely underrated Vera Farmiga. That might feel a bit random, but it's hard to find passionate acting in a horror movie.
One of the first complaints I hear about this movie is that the monster was revealed too quickly, which is a point I disagree with, because while building the monster up slowly throughout the course of the story and revealing it at the end is scary in a cinematic sense, I like the realistic and unexpected nature of revealing it in act 1, because a ghost would never care about slowly revealing themselves throughout a story, they'd just show themselves. While everything is over the top, it feels more like an over the top haunt attacks like a ghost actually would, instead of ways convenient for a scare. It's a pretty good summation of the movie: reality over the cinematic. It's hard to find a passionate horror movie, and one that tries something new and exciting in a world where mainstream american horror just repeats itself over and over again, like the Conjuring, is something of a godsend.
5. Her
Think of Happy Madison making a movie out of the idea "guy falls in love with a robot", and then you might see why I appreciate 'Her' so much. It is so easy for Her to become a joke, with an extremely tentative idea that lies on a thin line between laughable pretense and quiet little bit of genius. But Her pulls it off, in this meditative, simple way. Even when you pull back all the layers of social commentary and thought provoking questions that are probably here, there is still a genuinely engaging, realistic love story at it's core. All of the emotions from all of the characters feel real, but there's this distance about them that match up with the atmosphere, which feels detached, and cold, with the warmth growing on you throughout. Great performances match the intricate production design and cinematography. The romance between the main character and his machine feel human, and the way the robot learns feels natural, like she's actually learning as a human, which really plays with your emotions and forces you to question the usual robot question: "What does it mean to be alive?" But Her doesn't pull at your heartstrings in any melodramatic ways, it feels genuine. And it all builds up to the most fitting yet unexpected emotional climaxes and then, an ambiguous little resolution that ends a perfectly bittersweet story on a perfectly bittersweet note.
4. Philomena
This is just such a great example of how to make a mature movie. It's romanticized, but still grounded so well in dimensional characters that arc and learn realistically. Looking at the characters in the movie, hell, just looking at them on the poster, you would think Dench plays the manic pixie dream girl that is going to set Coogan, the atheistic, cynical curmudgeon free. But, throughout the movie, while Coogan learns to be more accepting and respectful, he still is the same person at the end, with some positive changes. He's never framed by the movie as being a bad person, he is framed as a person with a different outlook on life than Dench. And Dench goes through her own character arc, accepting Coogan for who he is and a few other small things. And the rest of the script, outside of well developed characters, is immaculate. The pacing is perfect, moving between scenes of well fitting witty comedy and scenes of dramatic dialogues, all of it natural and flowing. It's a fine enough script on it's own, moving along with simple brilliance, but it's a twist that occurs about halfway through the film that really stands as a testament to the strength of the writing. I won't spoil, but it's such a powerful emotional moment that in any other script would've come at the end or beginning. It would've been a much more obvious, less impacting spot to the audience. It's all bought to life by amazing performances from Dench and Coogan and the chemistry between them. Really just an immaculately made film, and one made with passion and not calculation.
3. The Spectacular Now
Going back to the whole 'manic pixie dream girl' motif, dang does this movie turn the cliche on its head. Here, the mpdg, Sutter, is: a guy, the main character, and most importantly; not framed as being entirely correct. He's a wild partier, but also really irresponsible, showing the dark side of the mpdg. Meanwhile, the romantic interest, Aimee, is a contrast to him by being a "nice girl", but it's not in any cliched way. She is unrevealed to the world of teenage-dom, at least less so than Sutter, and is fairly quiet, but she's not wholly, unusually innocent, and does have a unique personality and interests. the whole film is appropriately, and at the same time ambitiously, slow moving and unsentimental. It looks at the whole experience of the characters, from alcoholism to sexual discovery to family issues, with complete honesty. It doesn't flinch when presenting these issues, doesn't gloss over anything with sappiness or pretend that teens and the world are innocent, but it doesn't shove these issues at you with exploitation, focusing on the shock of "oh no, the children are drinking and fornicating!" for cheap entertainment. The Spectacular Now is a fully honest film that gets slowly, and masterfully subtly, darker and darker as it progresses, creating a very different teenage love story. It ends on a beautifully ambiguous note for the two characters, who are played remarkably by Miles Teller and Shailene Woodley,which accents the simple greatness of this movie. Life will throw a lot at you, there will be dark spots, but life will go on. It might not get instantly better and happy, but it'll go on.
2. 12 Years a Slave
I mean, what can I say? If you haven't seen this film, go see it, it's the definitive slavery film. You most likely don't fully want to watch this, it's not an enjoyable movie. It is necessary, however. I am completely confident that this is the film that will serve, for years to come, as the immaculate, un-romanticized capsule of what slavery was like in America. 12 Years dangerously rests on a fine line between pure, uncensored genius and schlocky exploitation, but consistently keeps itself from diving into shocking for the sake of shock. It shocks the audience by taking well grounded characters and putting them in situations that almost seem unreal at the hand of the white man. This is one of the few movies where I do fully excuse one-dimensionally evil people as the antagonist, because from the perspective of the slaves, all they're seeing is the evil and brutality white men have toward them. The representation of oppressors in films about overcoming oppression usually makes them to be one-dimensionally evil for the sake of making it easier for sensitive audiences to swallow, and that's still on display mostly here, but there is a step forward. Some of the plantation owners the main character gets passed between show slight amounts of compassion, enough to relay dimensionality and create more than a one dimensional villain. The real antagonist on display here is the idea of slavery, and the film gets that, showing the brutality of the cold-hearted system through many gut wrenching scenes. A mom being forced away from her children, a slave being hanged on display as a warning for the others, and the most famous, a slave being tied to a post and whipped repeatedly, while naked, for getting a bar of soap, climaxing a long subplot about the sexual frustrations toward this slave form the owner. It's done in a masterfully primal and unforgiving long take, a highlight of the masterful cinematography, and bought to life by Lupita Nyong'o, a breakout star who holds her own in a powerhouse ensemble of perfectly cast all-stars. Everything sums up to a fully, and I mean fully, flawless film. The slavery film.
1. Gravity
With such an off beat plot and such an off beat way of filming, it seems the oddest thing about this movie is how normal it treats everything. Nebraska stands out in the "popular indie" scene because of how well it reflects reality and the sad, real idea of aging while having it's own original plot. And that's the best way to describe this movie: real yet original. Characters speak like real people, all the surroundings look real, but it's all being applied to an unordinary plot. To those unaware, Nebraska is about an aging,stubborn father who falls for a scam and believes he's won a million dollars, prompting him to cross 4 states to get to Nebraska and collect his prize, to the grudging response of his family. However, as they go, they realize certain people from the father's past are expecting their share of the prize. Looking at this plot, it's easy to see how this film would've been a witty Wes Anderson wannabe, but it acts so normal about every bizarre situation that occurs, so there's an interesting, and really funny balance. A balance that's accented by the all around perfect performances, especially June Squibb. There are certain parts that seems a little convoluted for the sake of thickening the plot, but then we get to see Squibb make fun of a dead person that wanted to "get in her pants" by lifting her skirt right over his grave, so it's all fine.10. About Time
Hey look, another "normal" movie already! Well, it does involve time travel, but what makes this film different than other time travel movies is how the time travel doesn't play in to the story in a way done before. This isn't a morality tale because we already have our "Groundhog Day" and this isn't a "race against the clock to fix the solution" because we already have our "Back to the Future". It really is the story of the evolution of a couple from random first encounter all the way to comfortable marriage, bouncing and gently floating from situation to situation with gorgeous cinematography, laid back pacing, great balance of drama and comedy, and easy chemistry between the lead characters. The time travel plays in more as an extra, playful little bonus. Not an afterthought, but a way to keep the pacing from dragging and make the story more engaging throughout some of the mini-plots (not subplots, more like plot cul de sacs that the movie jumps from one to the next). The novelty element of time travel isn't needed since there is no full plot in the first place, but amazingly the fantasy and reality flow together so easily, there are nearly no awkward or jarring moments because of it. This is a movie that perfectly represents relaxed, non-struglling, well off, middle class characters and makes them surprisingly entertaining unto themselves, just with a little time travel mixed in...ya know, for fun.9. Frozen
To me, I think what made this movie stick out amongst Disney's recent, usually "just okay" fair is how well it combines the old and the new of Disney. The old being Disney's idea of princesses and far off, generically european lands, and elements of fantasy. The new being strong, complex female characters as the leads, a stronger focus on family relationships rather than romantic, and actual, honest to god plot twists. Well ok, there's like one, but I can tell you it was not expected, and you never can actually tell where the movie is going, as the characters objectives are constantly changing. This doesn't feel like Disney trying to be Dreamworks, like a lot of Disney's films over the past 15 years or so. And even though the flaws of the pointless songs and the "oh so necessary" comedic relief that accomplishes nothing are there, Frozen prevails with the clear heart put in.
8. The Wind Rises
When you look at Hayoa Miyazaki's long, staggeringly great career, it seems like the man would want his final film to be in his fantasy comfort zone. But I'm so glad he ended up making a slow, romantic WW2 epic. This is one of the greatest testaments to Miyazaki as a visual director, with powerful, subtle bits of symbolism and beautiful designs of dreamscapes and cities. There's also a lot to be said about the focus of the film, which is very focused on one man (Jiro) and the people surrounding him. We never even see what happens with the fighter planes the main character is designing for Japan. Well, we know what happens, and he knows, but we don't get long action-based sequences of battles, we spend all of the time given with Jiro, and over the course of 2 hours, the focus never loses from him. The film most comparable to this is probably "Forrest Gump". Both are centered around characters that deal with important and relevant issues during a certain period of time in their country. Between the two, I personally prefer Wind Rises. With as much as I love Forrest Gump and it's going to pain me to say this, Miyazaki's film is a lot less convoluted, gimmicky, and much more visually striking and original. The Wind Rises is a beautiful film from all angles, it's melodramatic to the extent a film of the "Epic" genre should be, but it's not overplayed and moves like reality. And, more than the animation, more than the visual aspect, the beautiful storytelling what makes this the perfect note to end Miyazaki's career on.
7. Saving Mr. Banks
There is no physical villain. The only thing to drive the plot forward is solid enough relationships between the characters. This means Disney movies are maturing, guys, it's a big deal. Seriously look at our two main characters. The first, P.L. Travers, is the author of "Mary Poppins", and very stubborn in having the film made her way. The 2nd is Walt Disney, who's magical, whimsical and fun. The very obvious direction for the film to go in is Disney opens up Travers, Mary Poppins gets made, and that's it. Sure, that happens as expected, but there's a little more to it than that. For one, Walt Disney isn't perfect. He has genuine flaws and an arc of his own. He's obtuse, doesn't exactly get the deeper meanings of the book. There are even some little bits of him smoking and lightly cussing that, even though they're usually a bit shoehorned in, support the idea that Walt Disney wasn't just America's perfect father. And Travers is stubborn, but she's lovable in that in some weird way, and she has a genuine, believable backstory. Even the supporting characters are well rounded. Instead of just being 2-D props, people like the Sherman brothers who write the music, and Paul Giamatti's personal driver character are engaging and characters of their own. Like I said, there is no physical central antagonist, so the plot is only driven forward by interesting characters and interactions. 6. The Conjuring
"Saw" was the wind-up, "Insidious" was the pitch, and "The Conjuring" is the home run. For a horror movie to become as big of a hit as The Conjuring did is amazing in it's own right, since we live in a world where the best of mainstream horror is usually considered by mass audiences to be only ok. Where Insidious was about creating an atmosphere to create a background for the jump scares, The Conjuring is a slow burn of intensity. James Wan entirely depends on the atmosphere to get the horror across, and in a way, the lack of actual "scares" makes it more terrifying, because it's realistic. Of course, it's still over the top horror to an extent, because James Wan loves his over the top supernatural horror. (I point to "The Orphanage" for subtle, completely realistic supernatural horror) But in it's horrifically memorable, over the top paranormal activity, The Conjuring's scares feel like they're not meant just to be a way to get a cheap scream out of the audience. They're meant to have the audience lose themselves in the sense of dread the movie creates, which should be the true objective of a horror movie, and an objective The Conjuring follows through so well. Not to mention the sense of dread in this movie is backed up by a perfect cast, including the perfect and extremely underrated Vera Farmiga. That might feel a bit random, but it's hard to find passionate acting in a horror movie.One of the first complaints I hear about this movie is that the monster was revealed too quickly, which is a point I disagree with, because while building the monster up slowly throughout the course of the story and revealing it at the end is scary in a cinematic sense, I like the realistic and unexpected nature of revealing it in act 1, because a ghost would never care about slowly revealing themselves throughout a story, they'd just show themselves. While everything is over the top, it feels more like an over the top haunt attacks like a ghost actually would, instead of ways convenient for a scare. It's a pretty good summation of the movie: reality over the cinematic. It's hard to find a passionate horror movie, and one that tries something new and exciting in a world where mainstream american horror just repeats itself over and over again, like the Conjuring, is something of a godsend.
5. Her
4. Philomena
This is just such a great example of how to make a mature movie. It's romanticized, but still grounded so well in dimensional characters that arc and learn realistically. Looking at the characters in the movie, hell, just looking at them on the poster, you would think Dench plays the manic pixie dream girl that is going to set Coogan, the atheistic, cynical curmudgeon free. But, throughout the movie, while Coogan learns to be more accepting and respectful, he still is the same person at the end, with some positive changes. He's never framed by the movie as being a bad person, he is framed as a person with a different outlook on life than Dench. And Dench goes through her own character arc, accepting Coogan for who he is and a few other small things. And the rest of the script, outside of well developed characters, is immaculate. The pacing is perfect, moving between scenes of well fitting witty comedy and scenes of dramatic dialogues, all of it natural and flowing. It's a fine enough script on it's own, moving along with simple brilliance, but it's a twist that occurs about halfway through the film that really stands as a testament to the strength of the writing. I won't spoil, but it's such a powerful emotional moment that in any other script would've come at the end or beginning. It would've been a much more obvious, less impacting spot to the audience. It's all bought to life by amazing performances from Dench and Coogan and the chemistry between them. Really just an immaculately made film, and one made with passion and not calculation.
3. The Spectacular Now
Going back to the whole 'manic pixie dream girl' motif, dang does this movie turn the cliche on its head. Here, the mpdg, Sutter, is: a guy, the main character, and most importantly; not framed as being entirely correct. He's a wild partier, but also really irresponsible, showing the dark side of the mpdg. Meanwhile, the romantic interest, Aimee, is a contrast to him by being a "nice girl", but it's not in any cliched way. She is unrevealed to the world of teenage-dom, at least less so than Sutter, and is fairly quiet, but she's not wholly, unusually innocent, and does have a unique personality and interests. the whole film is appropriately, and at the same time ambitiously, slow moving and unsentimental. It looks at the whole experience of the characters, from alcoholism to sexual discovery to family issues, with complete honesty. It doesn't flinch when presenting these issues, doesn't gloss over anything with sappiness or pretend that teens and the world are innocent, but it doesn't shove these issues at you with exploitation, focusing on the shock of "oh no, the children are drinking and fornicating!" for cheap entertainment. The Spectacular Now is a fully honest film that gets slowly, and masterfully subtly, darker and darker as it progresses, creating a very different teenage love story. It ends on a beautifully ambiguous note for the two characters, who are played remarkably by Miles Teller and Shailene Woodley,which accents the simple greatness of this movie. Life will throw a lot at you, there will be dark spots, but life will go on. It might not get instantly better and happy, but it'll go on.2. 12 Years a Slave
1. Gravity
Ok, so for those unaware, I did a long ramble of a review when I first saw Gravity, calling it one of the most masterful, exhilarating films I had ever seen in a theatre...and I still mostly stand by what I said, and I still stand by this being my favorite movie of the year. It's perfectly shot, edited, and scored to create an encapsulating environment that balances the cold, epic extension and suffering claustrophobia of space. But since then, I have come to realize it's a touched flawed. The symbolism, which I once considered genius, is a bit heavy handed and obvious. With Sandra Bullock's whole emotional arc, I can see how it would be considered shallow and obvious, and two of the first moments of the movie's rising action is a jump scare and cheap gore. (by the way, this film not having perfect scientific fact doesn't count as a flaw, it's a fictional movie, not a documentary) However, these flaws that I would usually pick apart didn't bother me at all, and I didn't realize them till long after I watched the film, for a reason. This film so involved me in its environment that they didn't matter. I rack my brain and I can't find another movie that I so genuinely got invested in all throughout. I was frozen in my seat the whole time, staring at the movie with absolute dread and suspense, completely forgetting about the theatre and world around me. With almost every movie I've ever seen, even my favorites, my mind might wander for a few seconds or minutes and I'll realize the world around me again, the running time, what plot point I think will come up next, even thinking "hey, this is a good performance" or "wow, that set looks amazing". But here, the effects are so perfected, the cinematography and editing is so tight and atmospheric, the acting and script is so well done, the music is so well put together and subtle, that I completely lost myself in the atmosphere this film created, my mind completely blank as it exposed itself to this film. Sure, looking back the story might be cheesy, the visual symbols might be too on the nose, the movie might only work if you see it in IMAX 3D, and only entertain you the first time you see it anyways. But, this film made me, an overly analytical film critic, completely forget that I was watching a film for a whole 90 minutes, and that is an amazing, maybe once in a lifetime feat unto itself.
I liked Gravity, I liked 12 Years, but my favorite was Her. Really a deep and emotional film.
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