Journal: 2013 in Film

[StevePulaski]

A shot from Alexander Payne's Nebraska.

2013 started out a pretty murky, uninspired year, with me not liking any theatrically-released film I saw until March 2013 with the release of Oz: The Great and Powerful. However, from maybe September to December, it was remarkably smooth sailing, with me awarding four stars and A+'s consistently thanks to the number of terrific films that came out during the time. The only issue with that is that I had to leave out a lot of great films that could've really used a place on my list (including one omission that may shock people, given my review). But I still feel that this top ten list of my favorites of this year stands strong and includes not only numerous studio releases but lesser-known independent works people should definitely make an effort to see.

My Top Ten Favorite Films of 2013

1. Fruitvale Station: I contemplated long and hard on what film was going to top my list of favorite films of the year immediately after I saw Martin Scorsese's Wolf of Wall Street. I loved every minute of that one-hundred and seventy nine minute endeavor, but since July, I sat firmly with my pick of my favorite film of 2013 Fruitvale Station, a criminally unseen drama by most of the American public. It saddens me how many times I've mentioned this film to friends for them to say "what is that? What's it called? Was it really that good?" Then I tell them about the approach, the angle, and the characters and they can't wait to see it. The film is based on the life of Oscar Grant (Michael B. Jordan), who was shot and killed on New Year's Day 2009 at the Fruitvale Bay Area Rapid Transit station in Oakland, California after getting caught in the middle of a fight on a crowded subway. He was shot accidentally by a police officer, while Grant was presumably handcuffed and not resisting at all. The film makes an attempt at depicting what exactly happened that day before that shooting, New Year's Eve, showing Grant making future plans with his girlfriend, spending time with his daughter, and simply doing hid diligence to the himself, his family, and the world. A heartbreaking scene comes towards the end during Grant's last interaction with his daughter and promises that they will go to Chuck-E-Cheese early in the new year and buy tons of tokens and get a large pizza (but not for mommy, for she's on a low-carb diet). All you ever hear in the movie is one gunshot, but it's that one gunshot that reminds you that that's all it really takes, silencing those other action films in the background that spew gunfire for fun. This is a master-class piece of filmmaking from first-time director Ryan Coogler, and will hopefully get Michael B. Jordan his first Academy Award nomination.

My review of Fruitvale Station, stevethemovieman.proboards.com/thread/3788?page=1

2. The Wolf of Wall Street: The Wolf of Wall Street is a film just as good as Martin Scorsese's Goodfellas - a film that has the mind, appearance, and content of a loud, raucous frat-boy party, but the brain and the sense from a wise director and an equally intelligent writer (Terence Winter, respectively). I say this because of their depiction of the film's main character, Jordan Belfort (Leonardo DiCaprio), as they don't turn the film into a moralist piece where the writer and director actively campaign to depict the character as a nasty subhuman but allow his actions to lead to his downfall. Furthermore, the excess in the film is greatly appreciated, as it makes the story probably just as wild, if not more wild than it actually was, with all the confetti, money, drugs, hookers, and fast cars you could want. Ultimately, it sounds like a film I'd condemn, but because there is actually a good amount of social commentary (consider the scene where DiCaprio mocks a client on the phone while he is trying to sell penny-stocks), an outstanding performance by DiCaprio that may be the one that seals the Oscar-deal, a blistering soundtrack, and a nonstop, three hour thrill-ride of emotion, excess, and complete chaos. I loved every minute and hunger for a second viewing.

My review of The Wolf of Wall Street, influxmagazine.com/the-wolf-of-wall-street/

3. 12 Years a Slave: Steve McQueen's 12 Years a Slave blew all expectations out of the water, and I praised his preceding features Hunger and Shame pretty highly, as well as holding them on quite the pedestal. 12 Years a Slave is a deeply effective motion-picture, with incredible devotion to showing the brutalities of slavery, as well as the absence of any kind of better treatment depending on how hard you worked as a slave. This is what sets the film on a whole other level - the absence of any kind of humanity based on work-ethic. The person who picked the most cotton was just as much of a subhuman as the one who picked the least amount of cotton. Slavery social classes were nonexistent. McQueen works with a much larger scale, a bigger group of actors, and a script set over a longer amount of time, but handles the challenge tremendously, as this is an incredible picture that, like many of the films on this list, deserves to be seen and seen again. The worst thing we can do is forget it.

My review of 12 Years a Slave, influxmagazine.com/12-years-a-slave/

4. Nebraska: I've made my love for Alexander Payne's films pretty blatant in the last couple of years, from The Descendants, to Sideways, to About Schmidt, I love Payne's dramas with all my heart. His characters always feel cut from real life and thrown into a cinematic-scenario, and his portraits of their environments are just as vivid as them half the time. Nebraska fits in perfectly with Payne's filmography, following the lives of Woody (Bruce Dern), a senile alcoholic who believes he just won $1,000,000 thanks to a piece of scam-mail he received in the mail. His son (Will Forte) implores him that the letter is fraudulent but Woody wants to travel from his home in Billings, Montana all the way to Lincoln, Nebraska to claim his prize. His son plays along, much to the dismay of his mother and Woody's wife (June Squibb), who sees them both as foolish. This seems like a conventional road movie, but the scenes depicting large family gatherings have an incredible earnestness and relatability factor to them. You feel like you're watching a film featuring your relatives, accentuating all their quirks and oddball tendencies right before your eyes. Nebraska also shows a region of America that has been nothing but hurt and abused during the recent economic recession and the black and white videography Payne employs shows this completely. The film is another masterpiece to add to Payne's laundry list of them already.

My review of Nebraska, stevethemovieman.proboards.com/thread/3948/nebraska

5. Spring Breakers: I've already written a lengthy review and a blog on why I believe Harmony Korine's Spring Breakers is one of the best films of the year, and have found myself engaged in several debates in it with friends who either refuse to look at the movie deeper or criticize it for its repetitive, pointless nature. However, I still have one question that needs to get answered by those people, specifically the teenagers I spoke to about the movie. You're likely familiar with the raucous party-flick Project X, which made my pick for last year's worst of the year. Maybe you even liked that film, which was nothing more than a showcase for juvenile behavior and pervasive consumption of alcohol. It was pretty repetitive and pointless, I'd say, but maybe you enjoyed it. If so, why did you like Project X, a film with nothing to say, but couldn't find it in your hard to think a little while watching Spring Breakers. Also, if you say you liked the film because the party scenes were "awesome," congratulations, the film went entirely over your head.

My review of Spring Breakers, stevethemovieman.proboards.com/thread/3592?page=1
My blog on Spring Breakers, stevepulaski.blogspot.com/2013/12/im-right-youre-wrong-second-look-at.html

6. The Dirties: Much like Fruitvale Station, I'm almost positive many would like The Dirties if they knew what the hell it was. The film, helped distributed and promoted by filmmaker Kevin Smith, follows the lives of two high school film geeks who are making a film about the bullies at their school they nickname "The Dirties." After their short receives poor reception from the class, the two come up with ideas for a sequel. One proposes the idea that in the sequel they actually kill "The Dirties." The other one thinks his friend his joking when he isn't. The film has indie filmmaker tendencies of shaky-camera and choppy editing, but its depiction of the descent into madness after being pushed over the edge is nonetheless gripping and a must-see, especially in current times. For director Matt Johnson's first feature (again, like Ryan Coogler with Frutvale Station), it's an incredibly ambitious step.

My review of The Dirties, stevethemovieman.proboards.com/thread/3894/dirties

7. Scenic Route: If anything, 2013 was the year of promising debuts and the brother Goetz - Kevin and Michael - are no exception. Scenic Route is a terrific little drama about two characters who find themselves both lost in life long before their car breaks down on a lonely, deserted road. When push comes to shove, instances of sabotage and betrayal become clear and it isn't long before the film transcends from a strong character study into a psychological thriller. The cinematography, acting style, and directing style are also very comparative to Gus Van Sant's film Gerry, another film that utilized long takes and crafty minimalism. Thanks to the great performances by Josh Duhamel and Dan Fogler, along with an ending that should throw many people off (just think about it, for it isn't that complicated), here's another criminally underrated film of 2013.

My review of Scenic Route, stevethemovieman.proboards.com/thread/3723?page=1

8. Prisoners: I hunger for great thrillers and Prisoners delivered on every conceivable level for me. At two and a half hours long, the film features incredible cinematography showing the barren and bleak landscape of Pennsylvania, a great performance by Hugh Jackman, an even more fantastic performance by Paul Dano (in a perfect world, Dano would get an Oscar nod for his portrayal of a character confined to the vaguest qualities of a human being), and, finally, just an enticing mystery that takes its time to develop although never feels forced, convoluted, or rushed. The film was released in mid-September and set the bar perfectly for the onslaught of great films to come.

My review of Prisoners, influxmagazine.com/prisoners/

9. Captain Phillips: For a mainstream Hollywood film, Captain Phillips did two incredibly risky things with its premise. For one, it predicated much of its runtime on suspense and uncertainty that rarely seemed to let up, especially during the unpredictable final act where anything went. Furthermore, based on the true story of a ship being highjacked by Somalian pirates, director Paul Greengrass and writer Billy Ray make the bold move at trying to humanize the story of the Somalian pirates, who are born into a life of little redeeming value and must resort to being the enemy for their own survival. It's not enough to make you side for them, but it does provide for a surprisingly sympathetic note and a strong humanization to a group of people so easy to dehumanize. Throw in a probably some of the best editing I've seen all year and you have number nine of my favorites from this year.

My review of Captain Phillips, influxmagazine.com/captain-phillips/

10. Mud: Jeff Nichols' Mud remained my favorite film of 2013 from the time I saw it in May to July when I saw Fruitvale Station. Now, the film is number ten on my list of favorites - just shows how much something can change in the matter of months. Mud, however, is a terrific coming of age character study, on par with the year's other releases of the same genre such as The Kings of Summer and The Way, Way Back. Mud is grittier, though, and provides for a bleaker outlook on life than the aforementioned films. Jeff Nichols, the director of 2011's sleeper-hit Take Shelter, concocts a more straight-forward picture here, but also welcomes harsher themes such as family struggles, adolescent bonding, and the complexities of being young and unsure, only to be burdened by a serious issue that you have no control over. This is yet another winner for Matthew McConaughey, who continues his long-line of great films, not to mention one that made me seriously contemplate the adventures I had with close friends as a kid (see my review below).

My review of Mud, influxmagazine.com/review-mud/

Honorable Mentions (in no particular order): Blue Jasmine, Clear History, Dallas Buyers Club, Drinking Buddies, Frances Ha, and Gravity.

[StevePulaski]

You can't have one without the other, meaning you can't log the strongest films from 2013 without also logging the bad ones. And, man, 2013 had some colossal miscalculations. It seemed that if films were bad this year they were good this year, they were very good, if not excellent, while if films were bad they were really bad. Take note that many of these releases came out in January and February, the dumping ground for Hollywood cinema and a couple were released in August. Another January is upon us and I'm willing to bet some films I see this month will be included on next year's worst list of 2014. But here are my picks for the worst films of 2013, along with, as always, the inclusion of top five decent films you should also make an effort to check out.

The Top Ten Worst Films of 2013

1. Movie 43: Looking back on Movie 43, I was foolishly excited for this film - I even included it on my list of top ten most anticipated releases on the website MovieFail. How did I miss the fact that a film with twenty-five huge actors was coming out in the worst time to release a film? How did I miss the fact that nobody from this film was doing publicity for it, and the marketing campaign only emphasized actors and not a plot? Needless to say, I should've paid closer attention. Movie 43 is an early candidate for the worst film I've seen this new decade. A loathsome, deeply unfunny, appalling comedic work stringing together several shorts in any and all hopes for a laugh. My psyche still hasn't gotten over seeing Halle Berry mash guacamole with her prosthetic breast, nor how the film shockingly shamed Chloe Grace Moretz by putting her character on her period while her idiot brother and her friend run around the house looking for something to stop the bleeding (maxi-pad on a stick, anyone?). And how could I forget the juvenile opening sketch involving Hugh Jackman with a pair of testicles on his chin? The film is unspeakably awful and remains one of the most depressing films I've ever witnessed in the theater. My half-star review of it I call my most scathing review I've ever written in addition. I hint I'm close to running out of words to describe the film but, in short, it's one of the most reprehensible comedies I have yet to see.

My review of Movie 43, stevethemovieman.proboards.com/thread/3521

2. The Starving Games: I continue this list with another unabashedly awful comedy, this time a parody film by the likes of Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer, the duo behind Epic Movie, Meet the Spartans, etc. Unlike my review of Movie 43, where I felt alive and infuriated while writing the review of it, upon finishing The Starving Games, I sort of just shrugged it off. The film is an obvious parody of The Hunger Games, featuring quite possibly every stale joke or spoof of its subject matter you could make only as unfunny as ever. Like all Friedberg and Seltzer endeavors the film feels like a competition with itself to include the most sight gags, pop-culture references, and in-jokes in a short amount of time. I could go on and on about awful this film is too, but the fact that this film did not go theatrical, take a shocking five years to shoot, edit, and release to only have a middling release on video-on-demand, unlike previous Friedberg and Seltzer films, makes me happy and optimistic.

My review of The Starving Games, stevethemovieman.proboards.com/thread/3916/starving-games

3. Scary Movie V: Three films in and we're at (a) another comedy and (b) another parody/skit-show, this time the fifth installment of a franchise that I would've been keen on seeing end after three (or one). Scary Movie V answers the mediocre Scary Movie 4 by being so bad, hackneyed, and short it makes you completely forget about the previous film's very existence. Clocking in at a surprisingly short and wasteful sixty-eight minutes, the film finds itself lumbering all throughout its own premise and vague-resemblance of a story, attempting to extract any kind of laugh it can get from you - a bad one, a good one, a desperate one, who cares? The film is also very jumpy, shifting tones, nudging out its own plot to make room for more parodies/pop culture references, and, in an effort to be current, actually took horror films that were due to come out the same year as subjects to parody (case and point Evil Dead and Mama, two films that were not out when Scary Movie V was filming or being written). This means that without trailers or hard source material, the only thing the writers and directors could spoof would be the plot, which explains why a number of these parodies feel shallow and and unexplored. I admire the effort to stay current but the film should just not have happened. I think I said it best in my review, however, "When a film dedicated to lampooning other films is trying this hard to make the audiences laugh, it doesn't seem to be any better, more sophisticated, or on any other level than the films being mocked."

My review of Scary Movie V, stevethemovieman.proboards.com/thread/3757

4. A Haunted House: We'll add another failed parody film in for good measure, in addition. A Haunted House was also released in January, but surprisingly took in enough cash from ambitious moviegoers to warrant a sequel this year that is slated for a March 2014 release. From the brief trailer, it'd be hard to find a trailer - unless you're looking at The Hangover: Part II's, that doesn't seem to be a word-for-word, shot-for-shot copy of its predecessor. It's horrifyingly unoriginal, but it matches the level of humor in its predecessor because it was nothing but unoriginal. A Haunted House irritates me for the same reason the aforementioned films do - in efforts to seem better, funnier, more original, and witty, rather than making something that was actually the combination of those traits, the filmmakers take the easy way out and finger-point more successful films in order to make a quick-buck. We get it, Paranormal Activity has grown monotonous, horror movie characters are sometimes kind of stupid, and there is a lot of screaming and yelling involved. We don't need to, every year, be constantly reminded with such films as A Haunted House, Paranormal Movie, and the maturely-titled Paranormal Whacktivity that that's what makes up a great many of them. The parody genre is simply dead - nothing you can really do about it unless you want to opt for the David Zucker style of parodying cliches in genres and common quirks found in those films, predicating your material off of wit and wry humor. But who the hell wants to do that when cheap garbage like this can churn a quicker profit?

My review of A Haunted House, stevethemovieman.proboards.com/thread/3531

5. Grown Ups 2: Here's another comedy that, finally, isn't a parody film but might as well be. Grown Ups 2 is a plotless disaster with shallow humor even by the standards set forth by Adam Sandler and his Happy Madison gang. The biggest disappointment of all with these Grown Ups films is given the cast of characters involved, the films should be a lot funnier. When you bill your film with actors such as Adam Sandler, Kevin James, David Spade, and Chris Rock, I'm going to hold my expectations pretty high. But when you fill the film with so much lackadaisical humor, stale sight-gags, and such a messy structure is when I'll sigh and make a conscious attempt not to tune the film out. Also, don't get me started how the film manages to split its three acts into bathroom humor, family is forever, and eighties costume party. The film is as predictable as a Fruity Pebbles commercial and not in the good, wholesome way.

My review of Grown Ups 2, stevethemovieman.proboards.com/thread/3766?page=1

6. Tyler Perry's Temptation: It took me till number six on my list of worst films of 2013 to include one that wasn't a comedy or a parody film, but I did it. If you want to talk wooden, muddled, and a film with a screwed up moral compass, you can talk Tyler Perry's Temptation, one of three Tyler Perry-branded films that was a complete disaster this year. Temptation not only features some of the weakest acting of the year (I'll be absolutely stunned if Kim Kardashian's performance doesn't obtain the Razzie Award), it features some of the strangest moralizing of the year. We follow a workaholic woman around throughout the whole film, whose husband may be a little distracted by things such as the football game, so she begins to flirt and romanticize with an up-and-coming social network designer she frequently sees at the office. While doing this, the way Perry sets all this up is as if we're supposed to support this woman's choice to cheat on her husband just because her and her husband have a rocky relationship. It isn't until things take a steep dive do we realize that she is wrong. This is an incredibly biased focus, if I've ever seen one, seemingly supporting a woman doing one thing until it takes a turn for the worse, as if we're watching a film shot by one of the woman's friends. The entire picture is overwrought with petty moralizing, as Perry so often likes to do, as well as incredulous setups that tread the line of plausibility. There's certain kind of adult entertainment I can get into. Temptation is a pulp magazine compared to it.

My review of Tyler Perry's Temptation, stevethemovieman.proboards.com/thread/3604?page=1

7. Getaway: The opening paragraph of my review of Courtney Solomon's Getaway, I believe, sums the film up pretty damn well; "The title of Courtney Solomon's latest film would work more efficiently if it was intended as a warning to potential viewers. Getaway is stockpiled madness on film: a cacophony of collisions, gears shifting, screaming, tires screeching, stock suspense riffs in the music, and vehicles hurdling around corners and down long highways, sometimes congested, sometimes vast and open, but mostly obscured through abysmal filming." In short, this is an eighty-two minute car chase, involving Ethan Hawke and Selena Gomez screaming at each other and racing down road in a customized vehicle, taking orders from an unknown villain on a car-phone in order to rescue Hawke's wife, who was kidnapped by this particular villain. Probably the best element of Getaway is that it takes place during Christmastime and we either hear the bland, interchangeable music score or the common jingles of the season during the car chase. When a breakneck racing movie ends with "Jingle Bell Rock," you know you've just seen something special (or lethal) for your mind. Getaway, however, takes the cake for the most poorly-edited film of the year.

My review of Getaway, stevethemovieman.proboards.com/thread/3940/getaway

8. Only God Forgives: Much debate has been made about Nicolas Winding Refn's Only God Forgives, with many loathing it and many praising it. I had a good friend of mine Gabe Loomis, a fellow fan of indie films and artistically-potent cinema, provide The Steve Pulaski Message Board with a video review, which just so happens to completely disagree with my review. Loomis found it to be a crafty work of indie cinema, while I found it to be an art film that felt like every other art film and would probably work as a mind-blowing experience for somebody who hasn't been exposed to any film of the likes before. The film is redundant, with a lot of staring, a lot of neon hues for backgrounds, and a lot of gratuitous violence, which Refn seems to have a fetish for. Had Refn's critically-acclaimed Drive not come out before Only God Forgives may've buoyed this particular film's reception a bit, but in the long run, this is a terribly boring picture that tries to make a big impact on a viewer until it remembers late in the game it really has nothing to say.

My review of Only God Forgives, stevethemovieman.proboards.com/thread/3779
Gabe Loomis's video review of Only God Forgives, www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQ3DPE8I8Co

9. Texas Chainsaw 3D: Since 2012, my first trip to the theater of the new year has been seeing a pretty bad horror film. In 2012, it was The Devil Inside, which made number two on last year's worst list, in 2013 it was Texas Chainsaw 3D, and in 2014, it's on track to be Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones. Texas Chainsaw 3D, on the other hand, is a miserable horror film, not even attempting to follow the tracks of the film it's branching off of and making use of one good idea in the mix of about thirty bad ones. I'm happy I watched the cult film from the 1970's, a brutal, mesmerizing affair, before this one, for it picks up right where it left off, however possesses so many continuity errors and plot errors that it's disgusting and, above all, distracting. So distracting it's nearly impossible to enjoy the film on its own merits because of such a feature. The 3D, as you can expect, is murky as all hell, but the one element the film includes that has some interest is turning Leatherface into a sympathetic character of sorts. However, by that time in Texas Chainsaw 3D, the film has already botched the original film's story, utilized tireless jump scares, and concocted such a dark atmosphere that any attempt for sympathy is a pretty damn notable one considering all the madness we just sat through/

I go into the continuity errors of Texas Chainsaw 3D in my review, stevethemovieman.proboards.com/thread/3498

10. Tyler Perry Presents Peeples: Peeples is the second Tyler Perry-branded film (can't say "Tyler Perry film" because he is only a producer credit) in the span of three months I loathed, with his only release of 2013 that I surprisingly really enjoyed being A Madea Christmas. Peeples, however, is the cinematic equivalent of flat soda. A frighteningly offputting comedy about a genial man planning on proposing to his girlfriend while on vacation with her family. However, it just so happens her family is cult-like in their behavior, exhausting every little instance of planning and orderly conduct with military precision. The fatal flaw with this film is, again, a strange focus, which makes the man wanting to propose the enemy because he doesn't fit in with the Peeples' family. The way we're supposed to laugh at his shortcomings, snicker at him for not fitting in, and watch as he tries to be kind but winds up screwing up some divine rule the Peeples family have put in place makes this for one of the strangest, oddest releases of the year. The moral of this story could very well be "nice guys eventually finish, but take a beating beforehand."

My review of Tyler Perry Presents Peeples, stevethemovieman.proboards.com/thread/3679/tyler-perry-presents-peeples

Honor Mentions (in no particular order): A Glimpse Inside the Mind of Charles Swan III, The Hangover: Part III, The Host, Rapture-Palooza, Safe Haven, and Sharknado.

My Top Five Decent Films of 2013 (in no particular order):

1. At Any Price: A purebread drama about values and a father-and-son bond when both men have vastly different agendas, stevethemovieman.proboards.com/thread/3835/any-price

2. Zero Dark Dirty: An uproariously funny, politically incorrect drama about a group of third-rate American talent traveling to Afghanistan to entertain and befriend the country citizens, stevethemovieman.proboards.com/thread/3863/zero-dark-dirty

3. The Internship: A smart movie about age and the older-people caught in a younger, technology-driven world disguised as a stupid film, which most people unfortunately bought into, stevethemovieman.proboards.com/thread/3893/internship

4. Now You See Me: A crowd-pleasing picture focusing on the main principles cinema was founded on - illusion and visual trickery, influxmagazine.com/now-you-see-me-is-magically-cinematic-review/

5, Out of the Furnace: A criminally unseen and quickly-forgotten picture about the disintegration of the American Dream with three remarkable performances at its core, stevethemovieman.proboards.com/thread/3959/out-furnace