DVDVR Best of 2013 Pimping/Discussion Thread

[caley]

It's that time again.  After internet issues kept me from completing last year's poll (And I want to thank whoever took over for me...but I can't remember who it was and can't find the discussion, so someone let me know!), I'm back to run this year's poll.

 

Rules are still mostly TBA (I expect to do something like a Top 10, with votes up to 20-25 counting for a single point, and a mid-to-late February deadline) but I thought it would be good to get pimping and discussion going now.  Anything on Rotten Tomatoes with a 2013 listing is eligible, if anything is listed as other than 2013 on there and you think it deserves mention in this thread, bring it up and we'll reach some sort of consensus.

 

I'll make a master list of recommended films in this first post once we get some discussion going, myself included.

 

So have at 'er, DVDVR!

EDIT: Due Date: February 22nd, 2014.

Ballot Length: No More than 25 with extra weight given to those in the Top 10

How to Send 'Em: Email 'em to me [email protected] or pm them to me thru the board!

 

MASTER LIST

12 Years A Slave

American Hustle

Batman: The Dark Knight Returns 2

Before Midnight

Frances Ha

Gimme the Loot

Gravity

Her

Inside Llweyn Davis

Lone Survivor

Man of Steel

Much Ado About Nothing

Mud

Nebraska

Oblivion

Pain and Gain

Parker

Philomena

Prisoners

Stoker

The Conjuring

The Crash Reel

The Iceman

The Last Stand

The Place Beyond the Pines

The Sapphires

To the Wonder

Upstream Color

We’re the Millers

Whitehouse Down

World War Z

[Niners Fan in CT]

I mentioned it in the movie thread but Lone Survivor is worth the watch. I'm not as high on it as some other people and I felt the opening 15-20 minutes were too obvious in how they were attempting to garner award consideration.. but the rest of it was solid. The action is gruesome, realistic and terrifying. Wahlberg's performance is not really too memorable but he's surrounded by a good cast. If I did a Top 25 this would probably stand a chance at coming in near the back end..

[caley]

I'm planning on hitting a bunch of flicks up in the next week or two (Pacific Rim, World War Z, To the Wonder, The Iceman, maybe Anchorman 2) at which point I'll start to post some recs.

[The Natural]

This might be my smallest ballot since caley started running this. I only managed to see a few films last year. I'm trying to think what did come out last year!

[Brian Fowler]

I feeling pretty damn strongly about my #1 and #2, based on what I've seen thus far.

 

The rest of my list is one jumbled mess, though.

[The Natural]

So as it stands, this wil be the second smallest ballot I've done (six films).

 

I need to pimp Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Part 2. Here's the review I did:

 

Batman has to deal with opposition to his return from The Joker reawaken from dormancy by Batman’s return, locally by the Gotham City police force under a new anti vigilante Commissioner and nationally by the US Government who Superman answers to. There are those who aren’t against Batman and are inspired by him.

 

Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Part 2 is another quality addition to the DC Animated Universe, its high up on the list. I really enjoyed this film for the story, the animation, the voice cast with Peter Weller as Batman/Bruce Wayne, Ariel Winter as Carrie Kelly/Robin, Mark Valley as Clark Kent/Superman, Michael Emerson as The Joker and the score. The score for this film is one of the best in a DC animated film.

 

The two sequences I was looking forward to more than delivered:

 

The final confrontation between Batman and The Joker.

 

Batman vs. Superman.

 

Which part did I prefer? I probably prefer the first for the smaller scale. Both are two of the best Batman films I’ve watched with Batman: Mask of the Phantasm, Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker, Batman Begins and The Dark Knight.

 

---

 

Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Part 1 placed in the 2012 countdown and I hope this also does.

[Chaos]

I feeling pretty damn strongly about my #1 and #2, based on what I've seen thus far.

 

The rest of my list is one jumbled mess, though.

 

I am trying to watch a lot I've missed, as I've been so busy that my film watching has been pretty limited. I could maybe come up with a top ten that I didn't absolutely hate.

 

I feel strong about my #1 and #2, but one or both of those could change when/if I see Her or Inside Llewyn Davis. 

 

EDIT: Scott Tobias formerly of the AV Club and now the head guy for The Dissolve did his master list of 100 films worthy of discussion (good or bad) in 2013. It's broken into two parts.

 

http://thedissolve.com/features/2013-in-review/304-the-big-checklist-2013s-movies-to-see-january-july/

 

http://thedissolve.com/features/2013-in-review/306-the-big-checklist-2013s-movies-to-see-august-decem/

 

For those on Letterboxd, (you can find me at letterboxd.com/mattbolin), he also posted all 100 films in a list.

 

http://letterboxd.com/scotttobias/list/the-big-checklist-movies-to-see-2013/

[The Natural]

I feeling pretty damn strongly about my #1 and #2, based on what I've seen thus far.

 

The rest of my list is one jumbled mess, though.

 

I'm pretty sure I know my #1 from my #2. #3-6 I'm unsure on.

[caley]

I have a reasonable belief that every film in my Top 5 right now might not be there in two weeks' time if some stuff I'm expecting to be good is as good as expected ('To the Wonder' and 'Only God Forgives' are two of my most-anticipated films of the year and I've finally gotten ahold of both) and depending on how quickly some of the Oscar stuff turns up locally ('Her', 'Nebraska', and 'Inside Lewyn Davis' are all flicks I'm really interested in that haven't come anywhere near my neck of the woods).

 

So as it stands right now, here are the 10 most reccomendable films I've seen, this year, which will almost certainly not be my Top 10 when all is said and done:

 

 

Gravity: In as much as it was the ultimate movie-going experience I've seen in quite some time, it has a decent shot at #1.  If it doesn't come across the same on DVD, that's more of a vote in its favour than a detraction.  90 minutes of pure suspense and entertainment.

 

The Last Stand: Old-fashioned action romp about a small-town sheriff played by Arnold Schwarzenegger who decides to stop a major criminal and his cartel from escaping through his small border town.  Ignore the previews which presented this as a buddy cop flick with Arnold and Johnny Knoxville, the latter's role is not nearly as crucial as it would suggest, and enjoy the surprising carnage that comes along in the last stretch of the film.  Pure entertainment.

 

Mud: Awesome little indie film about a mysterious drifter named Mud (Matthew McConaughey) who enlists two young boys help to get a boat out of a tree and make it water-worthy to facilitate his escape.  Wonderful performances, music and cinematography.

 

Oblivion: An entertaining and engrossing little sci-fi film about a sort of maintenance worker (Tom Cruise) left in charge of monitoring and protecting the machines that are attempting to clean up and keep the Earth going after some form of apocalyptic event.  Really neat visuals and an amazing score by m83 highlight this one.

 

Pain and Gain: Maybe the best film Michael Bay's ever directed?  A group of body-builders (Mark Wahlberg, Dwayne Johnson and Anthony Mackie) kidnap a millionaire in order to take all his stuff, but things, of course, go awry.  Really dark and really funny.  

 

Philomena: Steve Coogan is a deposed, disgraced former publicist who decides to use his forced retirement to write a book about Russian history that no one wants to read until he gets roped into writing a human interest story with the titular Philomena (Judi Dench) a woman who gave a child up for adoption at a convent in her teens and decides to track him down.  If this all sounds like a wacky road trip film, well, it's not even close.  Despite being co-written by Coogan, it's actually a really frustrating, surprisingly dark look at misdeeds by the catholic church, and while there are funny moments about the odd couple of Coogan and Dench, it's more like comedic flourishes in the midst of a drama that never quite goes exactly where you're expecting it to.

 

The Place Beyond the Pines: Even though I'm not quite sure the film pulled off everything it intended (I find the third act a little wonky), it's still really fascinating and full of great performances.  A stunt rider named Handsome Luke (Ryan Gosling) turns to a life of crime to provide for the son he didn't know he had with Eva Mendes, while being pursued by cop Bradley Cooper.  Also includes one of my favourite working character actors, Ben Mendelsohn.  I really loved the use of the handheld camera in the scenes with the dirtbikes that really emphasized the speed of what was being done.  Had a really neat score by Mike Patton, as well.

 

The Sapphires: In which Chris O'Dowd plays a manager to a girl group of Australian aboriginal women who want to entertain the troops in Vietname.  Great music and a terrific O'Dowd performance highlight this one.

 

Stoker: Interesting and dark film about a withdrawn teenage girl (Mia Wasikowska) who begins to suspect something is not right about the sudden visit of her uncle (Matthew Goode) after the death of her father and his relationship with her mother (Nicole Kidman). It's the first American film directed by Chan-wook Park and is full of his trademark visual flourishes and dark, dark subject matter.

 

Upstream Color: I can't even pretend to completely understand this one, but to say it's a film about a woman trying to rebuild and make sense of her world after being abducted and hypnotized with material derived from plants is to completely undersell what the film is, but it's the best I can do.  Plot unfolds in a distinctly non-linear fashion and it's hard to tell what's real and what's not.  But it's completely fascinating and engrossing and strangely beautiful, even if what's going on onscreen isn't always as beautiful as it looks.

[caley]

 

I feeling pretty damn strongly about my #1 and #2, based on what I've seen thus far.

 

The rest of my list is one jumbled mess, though.

 

I'm pretty sure I know my #1 from my #2. #3-6 I'm unsure on.

 

You've got lots of time to see more, as I'm expecting to make the deadline some time in late February.  Get on it, Natural! 

[Brian Fowler]

As of right now, Gravity is a strong #1, and Much Ado About Nothing is #2.

 

Beyond that, I've seen a lot I really liked from this year, and parsing them out is going to take some work, not to mention all the stuff I haven't seen yet.

[Chaos]

Of what I have seen, 12 Years a Slave is probably currently a strong #1 for me and Before Midnight will be a difficult #2 to unseat.

[Niners Fan in CT]

I've already pimped this out some but go watch Prisoners. Jackman is fantastic in this. He shows a wide range of emotions and everything he does and is going through is exactly how I would think someone would react to the situation at hand. Jake Gyllenhaal is every bit as good as the detective on the case. It's more low key than Jackman but very very good..

[S.K.o.S.]

 

 

EDIT: Scott Tobias formerly of the AV Club and now the head guy for The Dissolve did his master list of 100 films worthy of discussion (good or bad) in 2013. It's broken into two parts.

 

http://thedissolve.com/features/2013-in-review/304-the-big-checklist-2013s-movies-to-see-january-july/

 

http://thedissolve.com/features/2013-in-review/306-the-big-checklist-2013s-movies-to-see-august-decem/

 

For those on Letterboxd, (you can find me at letterboxd.com/mattbolin), he also posted all 100 films in a list.

 

http://letterboxd.com/scotttobias/list/the-big-checklist-movies-to-see-2013/

 

 

I didn't think I'd seen a whole lot this year, but I've watched 21 of those 100, so I should be able to put something together.

 

The Crash Reel is not on that list and is well worth seeing.  It's a different spin on the "head trauma in sports" debate - what if you were on the short list for the best in the world at your sport (snowboarding), and then nearly killed yourself doing it?  Would you be able to go back?  It'll be out on dvd in early February and still has a chance at a Best Documentary Oscar nomination.

[S.K.o.S.]

Here's another good resource if you're looking for 2013 movies to watch: a page that compiles and averages a whole bunch of best-of-2013 lists.

 

http://moviecitynews.com/2014/01/the-top-tens-of-2013-155-lists-and-counting/

[caley]

THE UPDATE

 

Stuff I've seen of 2013 since my previous post.

 

American Hustle: Fun, fun, fun.  Tons of great actors acting actorly all over the place.  Copious cleavage, magnificent music, and a fun twisty-turn plot.  Christian Bale is one of my performances of the year as a con man who get in over his head, trying not to lose everything.

 

World War Z: I'm not huge on zombie flicks, but I thought this was all right.  Brad Pitt is an ex-UN guy enlisted to help get to the root of a worldwide zombie outbreak.  I enjoyed the pacing in this one, the way it went quiet, frenetic, quiet, frenetic and so on.

To the Wonder: I love everything Terrence Malick does and while watching it, I just couldn't quite get hooked into this film, a story of a couple's romance told mostly in voice-overs and images, and then the last half hour hit and I was just enraptured and emotional, just in awe of everything going on at once and the way it's left somewhat open in the end.  It's also remarkable in that it's the first Terrence Malick film ever set in the present day and it's amazing the way he finds extraordinary beauty in everday things, like a Drive-Thru or a seedy motel, or the side of the interstate.  By the time it was over, it might be my favourite film of the year.

 

Nebraska: I loved this!  Right now it's my odds-on favourite at my #1 spot (Though I still have some 40 films on my to-watch list).  Just a perfect little film about a father (Bruce Dern) who thinks he's won a million dollars and the son (Will Forte) who knows he hasn't but indulges him because his father "just needs something to live for". I think this film understands families, and father-son dynamics better than anything I've seen in so long but doesn't beat you over the head with it, saying more with less.  Plus, it's just really funny and Dern and Forte and June Squibb and Bob Odenkirk are all terrific.  I loved this movie.  Loved it.

 

The Iceman: A fairly by-the-numbers look at the life of mob hitman Richard Kuklinski that would probably be fairly forgettable, except that it casts Michael Mothereffin' Shannon in the lead role and he's absolute force of nature, alternating between ice-cold murderous to warm-hearted family man in moments.  The last stretch as Kuklinski breaks down during an inteview is just riveting amazing stuff.

 

Parker: A surprisingly slow(er)-paced Jason Staham movie, with Statham as the titular Parker, a thief who gets involved with a new crew who leave him for dead and him looking for revenge.  It's entertaining, interesting and has a terrific cast: Nick Nolte, Michael Chiklis, Jennifer Lopez (I actually think she's pretty good!), Clifton Collins Jr, Bobby Cannavale, and Wendell "Bunk Moreland" Pierce.  There's also a great fight scene smack dab in the middle, one of my favourite fistfights of the year!

 

The Conjuring: Not a big horror guy, either, but this was fairly entertaining, relying more on dread and mood than gore.  And I usually hate Lili Taylor in anything and everything but she was all right here.

 

On deck: 'We're the Millers' (Gimme a break, it was free!), 'Gimme the Loot' (am halfway through and it's really damn good), 'Inside Lewyn Davis' (Just opened here), and maybe 'Whitehouse Down' (Also free).

[caley]

Four more!

 

We're the Millers: Way funnier than I expected, thanks largely to Jason Sudeikis.  Way too long, though.  They could've cut out the Jennifer Aniston stripping scene (Heck that whole stretch is about 15-20 minutes and completely pointless) and had a much better film, but I guess that would've taken away their central marketing theme.  So, yeah, not bad.

 

Her: Incredible.  Quite possibly my favourite film of the year.  Everything is perfect, everyone is perfect.  And it was shocking to see a film that is so big-hearted and honest about everything.  There's little to no irony/sarcasm to be found.  It's just this extraordinary film about love and relationships and technology and life.

 

Man of Steel: I'll be honest, you could've lopped off the first hour and a half and I wouldn't have missed any of it.  The last hour or so, though, with Superman defending Earth from General Zod and his cohorts is just terrific epic fighting and effects.  Also, I missed the Superman theme.  But it the effects are top-notch and everything looked really amazing.

 

Inside Llewyn Davis: Started a thread about this one, but it's really good.  I enjoyed it while watching it and then, hours later, I find it really sticks with you.  There's something there.  It's quite wonderful, even though it's really sad.  Saw one reviewer say it was about striving for dreams we want but don't really deserve.  Good stuff.  What a wonderful year for film!

[jaedmc]

Man of Steel: I'll be honest, you could've lopped off the first hour and a half and I wouldn't have missed any of it.  The last hour or so, though, with Superman defending Earth from General Zod and his cohorts is just terrific epic fighting and effects.  Also, I missed the Superman theme.  But it the effects are top-notch and everything looked really amazing.

 

My favorite part was when he was fighting those two people in Smallville. And he's laying on the ground in front of a SEARS and the one in the big suit tackles him a block down the street in front of another SEARS.

[caley]

All right, I'm feeling pretty good about setting a date, so here's the rules!

 

 

Due Date: February 17th, 2014.

Ballot Length: No More than 25 with extra weight given to those in the Top 10

How to Send 'Em: Email 'em to me [email protected] or pm 'em to me thru the board!

 

And if you see any film guys being filmy on here who haven't turned up in-thread, feel free to give them a heads-up that this thread exists.  The more voters the better!

[caley]

5 More...

 

In order of goodness...

 

Gimme the Loot: I loved this movie.  It's about a graffiti crew who, frustrated by other crews constantly tagging their stuff, decides they are going to tag the apple in Shea Stadium (Which is sort of the true life Holy Grail of taggers, apparently).  So the guy has a friend who can sneak them in the morning of a game in exchange for $500, so he and his partner set out in search of money.  There's not really much plot to the film, but that's not really the point of the film, either.  It's really all about hanging out with the characters, meeting other characters and spending a day in this world.  And it's really great.  The two leads are terrific and their chemistry is off-the-charts.  I really loved this one, as it felt like a celebration of life, rather than focusing on the negative.

 

Frances Ha: Boy, did I start out hating this one.  It's about a 27-year-old named Frances (The great Greta Gerwig)  who works as a dancer in NYC.  And if you hate hipsters, you are going to really dislike this, as she doesn't seem to know what she wants, spends all her time talking about her best friend, doing hipstery things and generally being annoying.  But, about halfway through, I really started to actually empathize with Frances as her lack of talent for dance seemed to repeatedly trump her actual ability, and all her friends went on to bigger and better things while she was stuck going backwards.  It's definitely not going to be for everyone, but I actually really won me over by the end.

 

The Bling Ring: About the true-life story of some California high-schoolers who used gossip sites to find out when celebrities would be out of town and Google to find their addresses and proceeded to rob many celebrities, including Paris Hilton, Orlando Bloom and Lindsay Lohan.  It's directed by Sofia Coppola, so everything that's set to music is pretty amazing but, to me, the film just lacked something.  It doesn't worry about explaining their actions, or really getting into any of the characters' heads, save the male lead, and just feels like watching vapid teenagers being vapid without any real commentary.  I guess maybe that's the point, but the whole thing comes off rather hollow, I thought.

 

White House Down: I think this was definitely a better movie than 'Olympus Has Fallen'.  Whereas I felt the plot in 'OHF' was more believable (The terrorists who take the White House in WHD do it with shocking ease), the action scenes were more entertaining in WHD, it was slightly lighter in tone (until the ham-fisted climax at least) and has a better cast.  Channing Tatum is good in the lead, cracking wise amidst acts of heroism, and the cast also includes Jamie Foxx, James Woods, Liam McPoyle, Richard Jenkins and Jason Clarke.  I dunno, it's not good, but it's entertaining enough.

 

Room 237: Crazy documentary which showcases several Stanley Kubrick obssessives theories about what is going on in 'The Shining'.  They're also basically insane: the guy who claims to see Kubrick's face in the clouds, and the guy who believes the entire film is Kubrick's apology for being involved in faking the moon landing.  The presentation is bizarre: using footage from other Kubrick films to illustrate people's words, like a guy will say "I was going to the movies" and it will show Tom Cruise from 'Eyes Wide Shut' walking down the street.  Some of the stuff they've dug up is fascinating, like the way the layout of the hotel, as demonstrated in the film is impossible but, eh, this wasn't really for me.

[S.K.o.S.]

Gimme the Loot: I loved this movie.  It's about a graffiti crew who, frustrated by other crews constantly tagging their stuff, decides they are going to tag the apple in Shea Stadium (Which is sort of the true life Holy Grail of taggers, apparently).  So the guy has a friend who can sneak them in the morning of a game in exchange for $500, so he and his partner set out in search of money.  There's not really much plot to the film, but that's not really the point of the film, either.  It's really all about hanging out with the characters, meeting other characters and spending a day in this world.  And it's really great.  The two leads are terrific and their chemistry is off-the-charts.  I really loved this one, as it felt like a celebration of life, rather than focusing on the negative.

 

I'm with you on this one.  Was waiting for you to finish it and put up your thoughts.  It has an underdog vibe to it that really works well.  Sophia going off on people is just wonderful.  She has some great one-liners.

[caley]

She's a real force of nature, somehow alternately sweet and vulnerable then turning brash and angry. Such a fun performance, I think, if there's any justice, I'd better learn her name because it seems like she could have quite a future.

[Niners Fan in CT]

I have a Top 20 pretty much set in stone right now but I'm searching for a few more films to watch before I submit it.

[Ray]

Need to add The East, Side Effects, This Is the End, American Winter and Broken City to the master list.

[caley]

Two more

 

Pacific Rim: Completely awesome.  Giant robots vs. giant aliens!  The robots are amazing.  The monsters are amazing.  The fights look cool.  Ron Perlman!  Charlie Day! Idris Elba!  I loved it.

 

A Good Day to Die Hard: Perfectly acceptable little action flick.  John McClane travels to Russia to bring back his ne'er-do-well son, only to find out he's CIA and gets involved in international espionage, which for McClane isn't really neat inventions and subterfuge but more shooting guys with machine guns and blowing things up.  There's a pretty awesome car chase that culminates in an INSANE stunt, lots of gunplay, and Russian accents galore (Even though no one in the cast is actually Russian!).  McClane's kid is pretty charisma-free, but they can't all be winners, can they?  I'm down for a 6th, honestly.