1. Her
2. Stranger by the Lake
3. Behind the Candelabra
4. Breakfast with Curtis
5. We Steal Secrets: The Story of Wikileaks
6. Camille Claudel, 1915
7. Laurence Anyways
8. Frances Ha
9. Blue Jasmine
10. Spring Breakers
i'm going to remain calm about seeing her. at your top, oh my. i'll need dark knight breathing exercises this year. her will appear and appear and i have to reach a zen state of idgaf
^ :). to backtrack, i like the rest of your list, and i'm jealous you've seen camille claudel, 1915!! i need to/want to. and breakfast with curtis, paradise: hope
and gravity, nebraska, only god forgives, bastards, etc. there are always some i haven't seen and some i didn't know about. plus i don't think these lists are important in general, except to remind oneself how one enjoyed a year of movies. mine will look something like
ain't them bodies saints -- lowery went sooo top shelf this year. atbs, upstream color, sun don't shine, pitstop. such a fucking impressive year. and i adored last year's bad fever. of course my preference is for lowery's own movie. really happy for him
gloria -- when i watch a movie that attempts to recreate american 70s movies by imitating american 70s movies i think "nooononoo, that won't work, that's not what they meant" gloria is what they meant -- cinema tuned to fit the character. gloria's the center of the movie and she's wicked badass. hell yeah gloria
instructions not included -- i saw this movie with my mother and sister and it was like watching a soap opera with them. we were emotional. sometimes we laughed and wiggled in our seats. i've enjoyed encountering many others who can relate. most proud of this multiplex movie, in terms of the multiplex
the great beauty -- what's the prettier movie from this year? hold on, i'm concentrating. ummm
nothing bad can happen -- the level of culture and honesty and character in this movie, it's almost embarrassingly obvious how good it is. drafthouse picked this up for distribution. drafthouse is damn good at spotting a good movie
american hustle -- he had a movie playpen and he let the actors be rowdy. good call
we are the best! -- this is my new favorite childhood movie that i saw as an adult but i immediately remember as my favorite childhood movie
a glimpse inside the mind of charles swan iii -- lol
12 years a slave//blue is the warmest color -- to remember how good 2013 was for movies. these two wouldn't have been made another year, and people wouldn't have been as confused about how to respond to them. they kicked some ass
after earth -- to remember how fucking crazy movies can be. i have no idea why this exists or why anyone thought it was a good idea to make, so i like it
Quote from: jenkins<3 on December 28, 2013, 11:27:22 AM
instructions not included -- i saw this movie with my mother and sister and it was like watching a soap opera with them. we were emotional. sometimes we laughed and wiggled in our seats. i've enjoyed encountering many others who can relate. most proud of this multiplex movie, in terms of the multiplex
This baffles me a little. Absolutely every person I know who has seen it in Mexico has agreed the film is a sappy, manipulative, uncinematic piece of shit. the soap opera reference seems apt though,,,...which also kind of explains it's huge success....
my very limited list would be:
spring breakers
the act of killing
phil spector
behind the candelabra
gravity
frances ha
captain phillips
blue jasmine
the untold history of the usa
it's total soap opera. you're baffled why i didn't prefer after earth? oh idk
your explanation of why you like after earth makes total sense to me.
I'd include Post Tenebras Lux, even though I saw it in october of 2012.
Another fine mexican recommendation would be Halley (not to be confused with Heli) by Sebastian Hoffman.
imagining 2012/2013 as the same year
laurence anyways
the great beauty
post tenebras lux
the master
rust and bone
gloria
tchoupitoulas
spring breakers
nothing bad can happen
~like that
I'll be getting to Post Tenebras soon. Kinda counts as 2013.
Otherwise I really haven't watched much stuff that I really liked with the exception of Upstream Color, Only God Forgives and Pacific Rim.
Quote from: Punch on December 28, 2013, 06:41:11 PM
1 Mud (did anyone see this?)
Yeah, it was good but Take Shelter was better.
1. her
2. behind the candelabra
3. the grandmaster (130 min cut)
4. before midnight
5. the hunt
6. blue jasmine
7. to the wonder/twixt
8. frances ha
9. pain & gain
10. inside llewyn davis
Shoutout to Xixax/Ghostboy (but not by name)...
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It may have gotten off to a slow start but by the time the curtain fell on 2013, it was clear that it was one of the strongest years for film in recent memory. Though there wasn't a film that knocked my socks off quite the way that "The Master" did last year, the sheer quantity of great films from great filmmakers was simply overwhelming. This year I saw a record 133 films in the theatre (with 100+ of them being new releases) and saw 40+ of those at Sundance, SXSW, TIFF and NYFF. I had a chance to revisit nearly every film in my Top 10 and found that many played even better on second viewing, allowing me to accept their flaws and further appreciate in their accomplishments without the burden of expectations. 2013 is maybe the first year I can remember where I wasn't invested in the awards race simply because the frontrunners are all so good: McQueen, Cuaron, Scorsese, the Coen Bros., Jonze, O. Russell. Whoever ends up on top, I think most cinephiles would agree that we already won. Here are my favorite films from 2013.
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1. 12 Years A Slave (Steve McQueen) Back in September, when the lights first came up after the TIFF premiere of "12 Years A Slave," I didn't know I had just seen the best film of 2013. I knew I had seen something powerful but it wasn't until a second viewing that it became clear it was the only choice for #1. A beautiful, brutal, emotional portrait of the horrors of slavery, this film absolutely gutted me both times I saw it. With just his 3rd film visual artist turned virtuoso director Steve McQueen proves he is the real deal and is unflinching in his portrayal of the era. I was brought to tears not just by certain scenes but by certain images — like the overhead shot of Solomon and his fellow kidnapees stacked up against one another on a truck bed — that were just too overpowering and I'll never forget the film's final minutes which were accompanied by audible sobbing from my entire auditorium (as well as my own lip quivering tears). But it was a second viewing that allowed me to appreciate the film on a more technical level, admiring the structure, its judicious use of flashback, the beautiful assemblage of each searing montage and the powerful simplicity of Hans Zimmer's score. Images of Solomon's journey have been seared into my subconscious: men gathered in the field, a plate with some blackberries and a crumb of biscuit, the skin of someone's back lashed to fraying ends, a black body swinging in the summer breeze. McQueen uses both picture and sound like blunt instruments. He doesn't want you to forget. He wants to leave a mark.
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2. Gravity (Alfonso Cuarón) Each year the multiplex is full with films that are supposed to inspire awe and wonder with each spectacular CGI-assisted set piece but despite this bigger-bigger-bigger, more-more-more insistence on showing audiences the impossible, we're so rarely thrilled by these sequences. Why? Because 99% of the time, we know it's all CGI and once the magician shows you his hand, you have a harder time believing in magic. Leave it to Alfonso Cuarón to make us all believe in the magic of the movies again with "Gravity," his minimalist space epic. Watch that dizzying 17 minute opening shot of the astronauts slowly orbiting into frame and it's impossible not to feel like your own feet have left the ground. From there he slowly and confidently raises the bar with each sequence designed to make sure your jaw never leaves the floor. So why the hell don't you get that feeling during "Iron Man 3"? Because Cuarón understands how important it is not just to show you something impressive, but to make you truly believe it. To pull this off, he and his crew spent 5 years making the film inventing the technology as they went and hoping it would be ready by the time they needed it. (Compare that to the standard 18 month rush to meet a release date of most would-be blockbusters and the difference is clear.) But the gamble paid off. The film isn't perfect — admittedly I didn't connect to the emotional journey of Sandra Bullock's despondent astronaut as much as I wanted to — but it is a landmark and an awe-inspiring reminder of why we all go to the movies in the first place.
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3. The Wolf Of Wall Street (Martin Scorsese) It occurred to me at some point during Martin Scorsese's debauched 3 hour epic "The Wolf Of Wall Street" that Leonardo DiCaprio is the most important movie star alive. He's the only A-list actor making only the films he wants to make and yet he's somehow managed to keep both his box office appeal and artistic integrity in tact without compromise. This makes him the perfect, if not the only, actor who could've brought Jordan Belfort to life (which is to do as much with his clout as with his talent). But oh, what a performance. After a decade of furrowing his brow for a variety of tortured characters, DiCaprio finally gets to cut loose and looks he's having the time of his life. Spastic, comic, charismatic, despicable, overcranked and utterly fearless, he gives the best male performance of the year and possibly the best of his career. At 3 hours the film flies by and somewhat brilliantly sidesteps the typical third act of these kinds of narratives where the morally corrupted lead gets what's coming to him. His punishment here is so inconsequential that many have wondered if the film is indicting Belfort at all rather than celebrating him. But rather than slap the character on the wrist to let the audience off the hook, the film's final shot puts the indictment back on the audience itself, the one who just went along for the ride. While I'm not sure 'Wolf' sits on the top shelf of Scorsese's filmography next to "Taxi Driver," "Goodfellas" or "Raging Bull," that's hardly a slight. It's a great film whose mixed reception only proves that it will stand the test of time.
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4. Stories We Tell (Sarah Polley) It's no coincidence that the rise of digital filmmaking over the past decade has coincided with the rise of documentary films. Most docs fall into a few basic categories (political, narrative, entertainment) and one's interest in the film can usually be gauged based on your interest in its subject. But every so often a documentary comes along that seems to break the form wide open and reminds us of the limitless possibilities that the format provides. Enter Sarah Polley's lovely, magnificent "Stories We Tell," an autobiographical doc that examines the filmmaker's own tangled family history centering on her mother, an actress whose big personality left an indelible mark on everyone she was close to. On the surface this would seem to be an exercise in extreme navel gazing, but what may have begun as a family photo album blossoms into an exploration of the fleeting nature of memory and how the truth may be a little bit different depending on who's telling it. While the events that occur in the film are interesting, the way that they unfold is unforgettable. Through interviews, old home movies, newly staged voiceover and a few other surprises, Polley follows the story through its many unexpected twists, uncovering secrets she hadn't set out to expose and uses the structure of the film to reflect and underline the themes of the story itself. It's a truly rare doc where the story being told is enhanced so dramatically by the way in which it's being told. Polley may have happened into the twisty nature of her film by accident but that doesn't make it any less brilliant.
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5. Short Term 12 (Destin Daniel Cretton) Rejected from Sundance, "Short Term 12" went on to become a mini-sensation at SXSW and currently sits at 98% on Rotten Tomatoes with over $1m at the U.S. box office (more of a milestone for indie film than you think). It's really the little movie that could and should be the success story of the year but you probably haven't seen it maybe for the same reasons that I skipped out on it: it sounds like it's going to be an after school special. In the film, Brie Larson plays Grace, a worker in a foster care facility who has dedicated her life to helping the kids who have slipped through the cracks and if you've seen enough indies, you've probably seen a dozen films like this veer into the obvious, the dire, the cloying. Admittedly I walked into the film a little bit skeptical but that cynicism quickly vanished as the film walks the tightrope and miraculously manages to get everything just right. Writer/Director Destin Daniel Cretton has experience working in these facilities which helps the film avoid the pitfalls commonly made by outsiders. The film is funny, warm and utterly human and over 96 short minutes I was completely swept up in this world. The kids are all wonderful and there is such a tremendous empathy for these characters that it extends beyond their fictional representations. But the true anchor is Larson — a former child sitcom star and recent scene stealer in "The Spectacular Now" and "21 Jump Street" — who gives what should be a star making performance as Grace, the complicated but compassionate young woman who is the beating heart of the film.
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6. Spring Breakers (Harmony Korine) The opening scene of "Spring Breakers" is a grotesque menagerie of bikini bodies, writhing to the sounds of Skrillex. It's ugly and hilarious and immediately a warning that, despite some MTV-friendly promos, this is probably not going to be the escapist fare you probably had in mind. I first saw the film at its raucous SXSW premiere and like most of the crowd, was alternately thrilled and bewildered by it. It's wild and chaotic, occasionally a little boring but never less than beautiful to look at thanks to Benoit Debie's neon-lit cinematography and Harmony Korine's eye for the absurd. Here, Korine brings his outsider art to the mainstream by co-opting celeb teen princesses and MTV imagery for this subversive-corruptive-hilarious-fever dream that looks like a Hype Williams video but feels like a neon nightmare. It plays less like a traditional narrative and more like a 94 minute montage of recurring images and sounds. (Korine said he was inspired in the editing by EDM.) The centerpiece of this experiment is the now infamous gonzo Britney Spears sequence which begins at the piano with James Franco's Alien warbling the words to "Sometimes" and is continued by Ms. Spears herself over a montage of complete insanity. Coming in a close second is the "Look at my shit" speech, the robbery sequence and the dark fairy tale finale which offers no resolutions or retributions. But the thing I love most about the film is that it's going to scar a generation of tweens looking for something fun and a little dangerous and will find something much more subversive staring back at them. Spring break foreverrrr.
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7. Her (Spike Jonze) Who knew that a decade on from his two Charlie Kaufman-scripted collaborations "Being John Malkovich" and "Adaptation," that they would turn out to be the most commercial films in Spike Jonze's still young career? Just compare those with his most recent pair of films, his "Where The Wild Things Are" adaptation and "Her," his sci-fi romance (both scripted or co-scripted by Jonze), and you'll see that left to his own devices Jonze is a much looser and bolder filmmaker than most people had given him credit for. His latest, probably the strangest and most effective love story since "Punch-Drunk Love," is dividing audiences who either connect deeply to the central character's longing for connection or find its heart-on-a-sleeve narrative too emo or affected. I thought it was a fascinatingly messy film whose brilliance (Jonze vision of the future, his desire to ask questions without answering them, Joaquin Phoenix's performance, etc.) far outweighed its shortcomings (it feels a little long). Though his earlier features were more polished, there is something utterly singular about his more recent films. There are few filmmakers unafraid to bare their emotions quite like Jonze has lately and as much as I adore his collaborations with Charlie Kaufman, with "Where The Wild Things Are," his 30 min short "I'm Here" and "Her," it's great to finally see Jonze's voice onscreen. There's nothing else like it.
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8. Inside Llewyn Davis (Coen Bros.) Throughout the 80s and 90s, the Coen Bros. had an unimpeachable track record but seemed to lose their way in the aughts through work-for-hire jobs, comedies that missed the mark and adaptations where their unique voice felt muted. As much as "No Country For Old Men" felt like a successful step outside their comfort zone, it also felt like the Academy had rewarded them — four Oscars including Picture, Director & Screenplay — for not being themselves for once. And while I enjoyed 'No Country' I've felt a much stronger affection for their recent character studies "A Serious Man" and "Inside Llewyn Davis" for being the most distinctly them of their career. Like the aforementioned 'Serious Man,' 'Llewyn Davis' is a droll, hyperspecific comedy about the randomness — or is it earned? — cruelty of the universe and the daily suffering endured by a man just trying to live his life. In this case the man is the titular folk singer (portrayed to perfection by Oscar Isaac) and his universe is Greenwich Village in 1961 where his decisions come back to haunt him. The film has a brilliantly circular narrative and tugs at a half dozen story threads it never bothers to tie up because it has no interest in doing so. Loosely based on a biography of mostly forgotten folk legend Dave Van Ronk, what separates the Coens from most of their peers is that rather than adapt it into another lame biopic, they've cherry picked the best details as inspiration for something wholly original and infinitely more satisfying. As close to perfect a film as I've seen this year.
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9. Pacific Rim (Guillermo del Toro) I know what you're thinking and yes, I am aware that "Pacific Rim"'s central conceit is kind of ridiculous, the script is built on cliches and Charlie Hunnam is a bland lead with a questionable Fauxmerican accent. But I just don't care, because Guillermo del Toro's robots vs. monsters epic was easily the most fun I had at the movies all year, which is ironic because prior to its release, I had not been especially been looking forward to it. So while I went into the film fairly skeptical, somewhere around the 40-minute mark, with a giant smile plastered across my face, I had an epiphany that put everything into perspective: maybe del Toro just isn't an "A" filmmaker and maybe he never will be? Unlike some of his contemporaries who sought to elevate genre material into something more respectable, with "Pacific Rim" del Toro made one of the biggest "B" films of all time that just happens to look like the most beautifully realized "A" movie you've ever seen. Del Toro's passion for the material, silly as it may be, bleeds through into every joyous frame. While I'm not generally a fan of CGI or 3D, this film proved to be quite the exception: a beautifully stylized world that I just wanted to spend more time in which may explain why I ended up seeing it 3 times in theatres, more than any other film this year. So while I can't really argue with anyone who couldn't see past their issues with the film, if you didn't shriek with delight when that fucking monster sprouted wings, I just don't know what to tell you.
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10. Ain't Them Bodies Saints (David Lowery) A little over a decade ago, in the midst of my cinematic education, I began visiting a message board with a small group of other budding cinephiles. Most of us were in college, many in film school and prior to Twitter and Facebook, it was really the best way to find a group of like minded movie geeks and argue about whatever you were discovering that week. Cut to a decade later and I'm seated for the World Premiere of "Ain't Them Bodies Saints," an outlaw romance starring Casey Affleck, Rooney Mara and Keith Carradine, written and directed by my old message board buddy, David Lowery. Because of the talent attached, expectations were high but I needn't have worried. A 1970s influenced, intimate drama with great performances and cinematography that would make Gordon Willis proud, 'Saints' was one of the most rapturously received films at the Sundance that year and the best thing I saw at the festival. Though it may be impossible to extricate my feelings of pride for the author with my feelings about the film itself, that doesn't stop this from being one of my favorite cinematic experiences of the year. I can't wait to see what he does next.
11. Afternoon Delight (Jill Soloway), 12. Before Midnight (Richard Linklater), 13. This Is The End (Seth Rogen & Evan Goldberg), 14. Pain & Gain (Michael Bay), 15. Blue Jasmine (Woody Allen), 16. American Hustle (David O. Russell), 17. About Time (Richard Curtis), 18. Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues (Adam McKay), 19. Nebraska (Alexander Payne), 20. The Kings Of Summer (Jordan Vogt-Roberts).
Runners Up: Prisoners (Denis Villeneuve), Crystal Fairy (Sebastian Silva), Frozen (Chris Buck & Jennifer Lee), Don Jon (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), All Is Lost (J.C. Chandor), The Spectacular Now (James Ponsoldt), 20 Feet From Stardom (Morgan Neville), Drinking Buddies (Joe Swanberg), The East (Zal Batmanglij), Rewind This! (Josh Johnson), Dallas Buyers Club (Jean-Marc Vallee).
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wow what a year for movies, can't do just ten. all of these would've easily been in the top 10 of any other year in recent memory. here they are in approximate order, my top 25:
Computer Chess
Bastards
Wolf of Wall Street
Lenny Cooke
12 Years A Slave
The Act of Killing
At Berkeley
Inside Llewyn Davis
Post-Tenebras Lux
Frances Ha
Behind The Candelabra
Before Midnight
Fast 6
Laurence Anyways
Nebraska
Blue Jasmine
Spring Breakers
Pacific Rim
Prisoners
Sun Don't Shine
Place Beyond The Pines
To The Wonder
The Desolation Of Smaug
Ain't Them Bodies Saints
Her
Upstream Color
netflix is so helpful right now for the catchup season. for streaming they have: prince avalanche, crystal fairy, angels' share, upstream color, sightseers, computer chess, post tenebras lux. i've recently watched funeral kings, this is martin bonner, big trouble in little china (unrelated), and gimme the loot. all wonderful
gimme the loot spurred this post. seeing it helped me remember how easy it is for the good ones to go missing. saying, if i made another 2013 list right now, gimme the loot would for sure be on it. it's a nyc movie centered on its dimensional lead character, with gaspingly authentic textures, and the trail here is something like frownland, chop shop, pleasure of being robbed, gabi on the roof in july -- do you know what i mean? i forget who xixax's movie people are. wondering if matt35mm, jg, wilderesque, [movie people], have seen gimme the loot. this is as serious as my recommendations can get, and it's on netflix streaming
hey im a movie person too, and yes, gimme the loot is awesome.
Haven't seen GIMME THE LOOT. I will very soon. Thanks for the recommendation.
Haven't seen it but heard good stuff about it.
how's everyone doing on their 2013? please share your 2013
had this idea which excites (me), to remember 2013 in terms of the 2013 movies i experience here in january/february 2014. it's fun to do bc otherwise there's the potential of faded memories, mistaken memories, and etc calendar blames. these movies i hadn't seen and i'm seeing again. after february all the past year's movies i've wanted to see i'l have seen, and there remain only those movies i made the mistake of not seeing (catching fire? probs) or hadn't heard about. gtk
1
atbs
2
gimme the loot
3 (tie)
before midnight
furious 6
sightseers
6 (tie)
all is lost
pit stop
crystal fairy
9
bastards
10
funeral kings
atbs isn't the only movie i rewatched. the bling ring, the world's end, computer chess, and prince avalanche, my memories of you match my experience. i like atbs better now, tbh
huh. that's my january '14 list of '13 movies, which i'm making for new remembrances. but now i know in general all '13 chat belongs here. please tell me yours thanks
Top 5 is something like:
1. Inside Llewyn Davis
2. Her
3. Pacific Rim
4. Only God Forgives
5. Upstream Color
Still have a lot left to watch.
1. The Wolf of Wall street
Can't remember the last time I had that much fun watching a movie. Best Scorsese since Casino. A scumbag movie about scumbag people reflecting a scumbag society. 3 hours flew by. If Dicaprio is ever gonna win an Oscar it's gonna be for this one.
2. 12 Years a slave
McQueen knows how to make me cry. Great acting by everyone. Sad without entering into cheesy and melodramatic. Great score. McQueen comes with a bit of a more "mainstream/accessible" style. One of the best endings of the year.
3. Gravity
Gorgeous. Jaw dropping cinematics that would make Kubrick proud. Always been a Cuaron supporter (Viva el cine latinoamericano, cabrones!). Honestly surprised by how good Bullock was.
4. Dallas Buyer's Club
If Leo doesn't win, It's mcconaughey's time. Jared Leto was superb as well. Great story.
5. Her
Joaquin Phoenix great once again, overlooked once again.
6. American Hustle
David O. Russell's movies are very hit or miss for me, this one was alright. I honestly stopped giving a fuck about the story half way through and just sat there enjoying the amazing performances. Jennifer Lawrence >> Everybody.
7. Inside llewyn Davis
Much better on second viewing. Quirky, sad and cruel and yet laugh out loud funny which is the Coen's trademark. Explain the cat? Or maybe there is no explanation.... maybe that's the point? ???????... Great ending though... "Au revoir".... "It ain't the leaving, that is grieving me... but my own true love whose bound to stay behind". : )
8. Pacific Rim
The visuals.
9. Prisoners
Snubbed big time.
10. Anchorman 2
My type of humor. I watched this 3 times at the theater. Get high as a kite, sit back and enjoy this masterpiece.
cool. those are appropriate lists for the top 10 topic. also looking for, like
Quote from: polkablues on January 03, 2013, 01:10:59 AM
Polkablues' 5 Middlest Movies of 2012
Your ultimate guide to what was neither here nor there in the year of the failed apocalypse
(4-way tie for fifth place)
5. Haywire
A movie that aimed low and nailed its target square in the balls. Especially middling when held up against Soderbergh's other output from last year.
5. Wreck-It Ralph
Perfectly delightful, but even a sugar-addled 7-year-old could tell it's not Pixar.
5. Total Recall
A much better movie than the original. A much less batshit insane movie than the original. A much more forgettable movie than the original.
5. House at the End of the Street
Even Jennifer Lawrence's white tank-tops can not elevate this script beyond passable.
1. For a Good Time, Call...
I honestly couldn't even tell you if I liked this movie or not. Easily the middlest movie I've seen in years.
I randomly lurked in the Shoutbox and found Jenkins talking shit about this place being in hibernation/only PTA people not movie people, which compelled me to do one of these even though they're a bastardization and make me feel like vomiting.
1st Tier: (films i can watch on repeat, and constantly dig more and more into, craving/recalling scenes as I walk through the day and HAVE watched repeatedly in theaters)
Post Tenebras Lux (3 times
The Act of Killing (3 times)
Inside Llewyn Davis (4 times)
Nebraska (2 times)
Like Someone In Love (need to see again)
2nd Tier: (films that do something cinematically fucking brilliant but may not be films I'd be wanting to see again any time soon, because their moods are somewhat funky and maybe messy, and not cohesive as a whole, but a great intent)
12 Years a Slave
The Great Beauty
3rd Tier (films that are just great, fun, well crafted, good MOVIES...if that makes sense.)
Mother of George
ATBS
Blue Jasmine
Gravity
Rust and Bone
Wolf of Wall Street
Blue is the Warmest Color
"it was a verrryyy good year...", and a very surprising one. Only when looking at the whole do I realize how great it really was, many of these films were sleepers (great yet don't exude a lot of excitement), I'm having trouble saying this, but so many of these films were not like "The Master" "Django Unchained" "To the Wonder"...films that people have been waiting for for years. And it's great to see cinema open up in this way.
Like for example, I went to the theater, never seeing the trailer for Act of Killing, just looking at the poster, and decided to plunge...that was a fucking miraculous discovery.
lol. shhh, you read secrets. you're divulging!!(!!)
thanks. good movieing up. gotta imdb mother george. agree it was a great movie year even without the gushers. have watched and enjoyed a spectrum of movies
Edit: Jenkins, Mother of George was shot by Lowery's DP on ATBS, so first just expect photographic greatness on that level alone.
Just did an edit to talk about what the hell I mean by tiers, because it's not a traditional attitude towards them.
(PS: I get entertainment/enjoy your comments on movies/etc. dude, we should meet up by the way, I'm in Berkeley, I think you're in SF, anyways we'll talk about this somewhere else.)
1. The Wolf of Wall Street
2. Before Midnight
3. Her
4. Inside Llewyn Davis
5. 12 Years a Slave
6. The Place Beyond the Pines
7. Nebraska
8. Spring Breakers
9. Frances Ha
10. Only God Forgives
In ascending order:
The Heat
Much Ado About Nothing
Blue Jasmine
Fruitvale Station
Gravity
Frances Ha
Her
Beyond the Hills
The Wolf of Wall Street
12 Years a Slave
IN NO ORDER (all dates imdb)
- john dies at the end
- lords of salem
- upstream color
- ain't them bodies saints
- stoker
- VHS 2
- wolf of wall street
- spring breakers
- post tenebras lux
- blue is the warmest color
runners up/no room: the grandmaster, wrong, byzantium, its a disaster
last night was the last night for oscar nom screenings (voting began on feb 14 btw). i've watched and rewatched many movies since december while on my 2013 movie quest, now i feel pretty done, and of course i miss all kinds of older movies and types of movies. headed back to those. didn't see all of 2013's movies, never see all of a year's movies, but i definitely saw plenty. positive i'm forgetting some. remembering:
paradise: faith (netflix) -- overall easy enough to fill your movie with wacky characters and outlandish events, but i think seidl does this in a hard way, with a stern and committed value to the rusty characters he portrays. they're warped people and he doesn't leave them, he doesn't betray them, he doesn't fix them. there they are. why do i watch his movies? i don't know, but i keep watching, and i don't know why people like this keep existing, but they keep existing. ugly and rotten, yet there's beauty where beauty doesn't belong, and i'm thankful for someone putting that on camera
only god forgives (netflix) -- career success with drive, followed by refn writing a movie larry smith shot, and it lands with a cold thud. so, for me, it's good refn is serious. he's obviously serious. he could've cashed on drive, he could've made more drive, but he didn't, he went reckless and wild, and in only god forgives there's a focus that's bizarre, that doesn't really work, but my eyes were magnetized, and refn did what he wanted to do. somewhere i heard the idea that movies which are easiest to like, which are immediately likable, tend not to be the best movies, because the best movies take our time to grow. i like that, seems pretty true. will this movie grow over time? doubt it. but it'll always be what refn wanted, so i'll always like it anyway
don jon -- jgl isn't a new jersey guy, and i think there are some easy punches in here, related to mainstream depictions of new jersey culture, which are no doubt rooted in actual new jersey culture. but i kept thinking he was surfing a wave that isn't his. he's faking. so, ok, let him fake it. why can't he fake it? he can fake it. these are movies we're talking about, this is drama that's being created. what happened here, for me, is the opposite of what i described seidl doing. there's perhaps a sexual problem inherent to new jersey club culture and internet porn, and this movie does a fine enough job with a portrait of its elements, but by the end julianne moore comes along and explains sex to don jon, and he has a human relationship with julianne moore and he's changed. oh fuck. that easy? whatever. nice to see julianne moore in a good role. i like her role here, and the other 2013 moore role i saw was carrie. carrie didn't help the moore situation. i think don jon helps the moore situation. thanks for that, at least
in a world... -- if you want to view the culture of los angeles this movie is a good place to start. admired how lake bell displayed the twists between people and the entertainment industry, the mess of it all, and admired the accuracy of scenes depicting disparate personalities engaging with each other. was this movie recognized as good? not sure, but i don't think it really was, or not very much. it's not for everyone but it's excellent, and i'd compare it to albert brooks '79-'85 (his three movies in that time)
short term 12 -- like the above mentioned lake bell movie, i see here the emergence of an artist of formidable talent, whose cinematic vision helps form an atmosphere that closely resembles the one in which its character exists. watching this movie, for me, felt like being these people. that's my favorite thing you know
philomena -- imo it's tough to beat the island people in terms of dedication to authentic characters. judi dench performs as an elderly character how bruce dern performs as an elderly character in nebraska, and pairing philomena with nebraska would make a delightful double doozy. you'd see, for example, that the irish are more badass than americans. dench's character has derailed as the elderly tend to derail, into an emotional and practical place built by a life lived, and it takes tremendous acting to showcase this, to strip herself of the protective cultural shield granted to her as a professional actor, and to behave like a normal person. impressive indeed. stephen frears consistently pursues breathing characters, and here he does a fine job. cinematically, he's not andrea arnold or lynne ramsay, he's stephen frears, but the quality he allows is dench's acting. also, not bad steve coogan, not bad at all
spoiler
nebraska -- sorry(?), but brad pitt in 12 years, you know what i mean, well that's how i feel about the robbery in nebraska. it's a real "come on" moment for me. ridiculous. it's meant to be, because this is a comedy and it's a silly robbery and it illustrates small-town minds, but two cousins/nephews robbing a cousin/uncle and it ends with a punch in a bar and come on. come on! will say, after seeing nebraska i felt very mellow and unargumentative and i had reflective thoughts about life and attitude and cinema. i like a lot of what this movie means. i don't like this movie btw
gravity -- i accidentally began with the movies i most liked (mmm, makes sense), and now i'm doubling on movies a lot of people liked and i didn't really like. awkward. this is to remind me of my experiences watching 2013 movies, that's what i'm up to. the tech here is next level, for sure, and this is the year digital cinema became like global warming, this is the year it's so fucking obvious digital cinema is happening and coming to kill celluloid, that's frightening, react against it if you want, save the celluloid planet if you wanna, i'll watch it either way, but digital cinema is here, and gravity used digital cameras with robotic operations, a digital backdrop, and people acting by moving their faces. i admired cuarón's technique like everyone else did, holy fuck i can't believe he put this together, and if digital is the killer, it doesn't seem so bad since we have gravity, which we know couldn't have been made in the old tried/true ways. oh, the movie itself, right: what happens is some floating around and fetal positioning
the wind rises -- i tried twice, dammit. both times with subtitles, in gorgeous theaters (egyptian and sgt), with the thought that this might be miyazaki's last movie. i adore miyazaki. i remain in discord with the wind rises. it's wound so nicely around vibrant textures, but i miss spirited away, i miss miyazaki's fantasies, i just do. he's so fantastic and incredibly imaginative and here all his talent is being used for a narrative that exists during the time of japan's growth, to animate the type of inspiration and motivation that led to japan's advancements. irl stuff. it speaks about these things to remind people that the development of society depends on them, that's a thoughtful and pleasant message. i miss dragons :( the dual-dreams sequences gave me the most tingles
the great gatsby -- doubt anyone cares what anyone thought about the great gatsby. phewww. wanted to make sure i saw it in a theater in 3d, which i did. i want lurhmann's art department or an art department as good as baz lurhmann's. k
(still pretty accurate btw (http://xixax.com/index.php?topic=12823.msg330600#msg330600). you could switch out a couple for a couple, but pretty accurate still)
So.. that's not your top ten. Why are you posting it here?
This isn't "ten movies I watched."
jb's choice
good chat pubrick. one of our best
Tbh there were only 3 films that i really really liked last year, i don't think i could do list of ten
Here:
1. Inside Llyewn Davis
2. Her
3. The Place Beyond the Pines ( i really dont understand why other people on here seem to find it disappointing?
There were other films that i did like, such as Upstream Colour, Wolf of Wall Street, Desolation of Smaug, Stoker but none that i thought were great like the ones said above. for example, if DOS wasn't in the middle earth universe i probably would find it a lot less interesting and a lot more average, and if stoker wasnt a park chan wook film i probably wouldn't have watched it more than once. actually, thinkin about it, i reckon if i watched UC a few more times i would like it more and more...
i didn't watch all that many films last year, so i might check out some that u guys mentioned in ur lists and hopefully something that i like as much as my top 3 will pop up :yabbse-grin: i want to watch stuff like The Act of Killing, Stranger by the Lake and Only God Forgives but just haven't got round to it yet