Dear George,
We go to the movies at least
once a week, and I keep track by giving each one a letter grade. I think I like
movies so much because they allow one to temporarily set aside their mundane
everyday life and enter into worlds, events, and emotional states that they
would never otherwise know: e.g., traveling in outer space, shootouts with
gangsters, excursions to ancient China, romantic interludes, superheroes, even
life tragedies. Listed below are
my favorite 15 movies that we saw in 2013, then a cluster of “runners up”, and
finally my ten least favorites. I
should note that we only went to movies that got good reviews, so I actually
liked all my “least favorites” too.
I’ve added Rotten Tomatoes ratings below as well. All in all, 2013 was a pretty good year
for movie-going.
Love,
Dave
15 Favorites (in order)
(1) American
Hustle. Christian Bale, Bradley Cooper. Loosely based on an actual happening, a
con man and his seductive British partner are forced to work for a wild FBI
agent who pushes them into a world of Jersey powerbrokers and mafia. A great ensemble cast, a solid mix of
comedy and underlying tension, and a slam-bang ending. Rotten Tomatoes: 94%; Blog: A.
(2) The Great Gatsby. Leonardo
DiCaprio, Carey Mulligan, Toby Maguire.
In a cinema adaptation of the F. Scott Fitzgerald novel, set in Long
Island in the 1920’s, a Midwesterner finds himself drawn to the lifestyle of
his millionaire neighbor, only to conront obsession, madness, and tragedy. The film creates an opulent jazz age
world, tells a compelling tragic story, and provides Leonard DiCaprio with the
vehicle for one of his best performances.
Rotten Tomatoes: 48%; Blog: A
(3) Blue Jasmine. Cate
Blanchett, Alec Baldwin, Sally Hawkins.
After her life falls to pieces, including her marriage to wealthy
businessman Hal, elegant New York socialite Jasmine heads to San Francisco,
where she reconnects with her bumbling sister Ginger and struggles to pull
herself back together again. Woody
Allen’s best in recent years, and, with her complex, layered portrait of an
agonized Jasmine, Cate Blanchett is a top contender for the best actress
Oscar. Rotten Tomatoes: 89%; Blog:
A.
(4) Dallas Buyers Club. Matthew
McConaughey, Jared Leto. A
drug-taking, women loving, homophobic man is diagnosed with HIV/AIDS and
smuggles anti-viral medications from around the world, creating the Dallas
Buyers Club to provide the illegal medications to paying members throughout the
country. A powerful, compelling
story and a remarkable performance by McConaughey. Rotten Tomatoes, 94%; Blog: A.
(5) Nebraska. Bruce
Dern, Will Forte, Bob Odenkirk. An
elderly father is convinced he has won a million dollar magazine sweepstakes,
and his son grudgingly agrees to drive him to Nebraska to claim his
winnings. Having spent lots of
time with a parent during their final years, I connected with this funny, tragic
movie on many levels. Rotten
Tomatoes: 91%; Blog: A.
(6) The Grandmaster (Yi
dai zong shi). Tony Leung, Ziya Zhang. An action feature inspired by the life and times of
legendary martial arts master Ip Man, spanning the tumultuous Republican era
that followed the fall of China’s last dynasty and that also was the golden age
of Chinese martial arts. The
cinematography ranks among the most stunning we’ve ever seen, and the
intertwining stories of Ip Man and his unconsummated love Gong Er are spellbinding. Rotten Tomatoes: 72%; Blog: A.
(7)
The Hunt (Jagten). Mads Mikkelsen, Susse Wold. A divorced former school teacher's life is shattered when a
child’s lie throws his small community into a state of hysteria, and he is
forced to fight a lonely fight for his life and dignity. The Scandinavians are the masters of
angst, and it all comes forth in this gut-wrenching tragic tale. Rotten Tomatoes: 94%; Blog: A.
(8)
Hyde Park on Hudson. Bill Murray, Laura Linney. The Roosevelts host the King and Queen
of England for a weekend at Hyde Park, producing not only a special
relationship between the nations but a deeper understanding of the mysteries of
love, marriage, and friendship.
Warm, comic, intriguing, insightful, a superb cast – the critics got it
all wrong. Rotten Tomatoes: 38%;
Blog: A.
(9) 20 Feet from
Stardom. (Documentary)
Darlene Love. The true
story of the backup singers beyond musical legends, e.g, Springsteen, Jagger,
Sting, Stevie Wonder. The music is
terrific, the personal stories heartwarming and/or heartbreaking – not to be missed. Rotten Tomatoes: 98%; Blog: A.
(10) Wadjda. Waad Mohammed, Reem Abdullah. A 10 year old girl living in a suburb
of the capital of Saudi Arabia is determined to continue fighting for her
dreams. A compelling expose of the
cultural oppression of Middle Eastern girls and women combined with a statement
of hope for the future. Rotten
Tomatoes: 98%; Blog: A-.
(11) Quartet. Maggie Smith, Michael Gambon. The home for retired musicians is
about to host a new resident who turns out to be a famous quartet’s former
singing partner whose career as a star soloist split up their friendship. A sentimental tribute to music and the
potential for the love of life to continue well into old age. Rotten Tomatoes: 80%; Blog: B+.
(12) Inside Llewyn Davis. Oscar
Isaac, Carey Mulligan. Directed by
Ethan and Joel Cohen. A young folk
singer struggles against seeming insurmountable odds to make it as a musician
in the Greenwich Village folk scene in 1961. The film brings the character and his world to life
effectively, but the bleak depiction of loneliness, rejection, harshness, and
unrelenting pain is draining.
Rotten Tomatoes: 94%; Blog: B+.
(13) The Attack. Ali
Suliman. An Israeli Palestinian
surgeon's life is turned upside down after a suicide bombing which the police
say his dead wife was responsible for.
A powerful, disturbing portrayal of the seemingly irresolvable conflict
between Israel and the Palestinians and the assimilated Israeli Arab whose life
is destroyed as a consequence.
Rotten Tomatoes: 93%; Blog: B+.
(14)
The Angels' Share. Paul Brannigan, John Henshaw. Narrowly avoiding jail, new dad Robbie
vows to turn over a new leaf and a visit to a whisky distillery inspires him
and his mates to change their hopeless lives. A successful mix of comedy and gritty realism that brings a
tear to the eye and appreciation for the power of caring and support. Rotten Tomatoes: 88%; Blog: B+.
(15)
The Gatekeepers (Shomerei Ha'saf).
(Documentary) Five former heads of Israel's Secret
Service reflect on their successes and failures to maintain security in the
face of violence flaring up in the Gaza Strip. Simultaneously engaging and depressing, the film offers a
remarkable insider’s look at the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the
complicated mission of anti-terrorism.
Rotten Tomatoes: 91%; Blog: B+.
The Runners-Up: (16) The Lone Ranger; (17) Stories We Tell; (18) Man of Steel; (19) Brooklyn Castle; (20) A Royal Affair; (21) Philomena; (22) Saving Mr. Banks; (23) This is the End; (24) The Hunger Games: Catching Fire; (25) Fruitvale Station; (26) Lee Daniel’s The Butler; (27) Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues; (28) Thor: The Dark World; (29) Rush; (30) Hitchcock; (31) Inequality for All; (32) Short Term 12; (33) Amour; (34) Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has to Travel; (35) Enough Said; (36) The Counselor; (37) Elysium; (38) The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug; (39) Frances Ha; (40) Ann Karenina; (41) 42; (43) Side Effects.
My Least Favorites
(44) Prisoners. Hugh
Jackman, Jake Gyllenhaal. When a
father's 6 year old daughter and her friend go missing and the police release
the only suspect, the father decides he has no choice but to take matters into
his own hands. An emotionally
intense mystery, but it’s dreary and depressing and one wonders what the moral
of the story is. Rotten Tomatoes:
82%; Blog: B-.
(45) Mud. Matthew
McConaughey, Reese Witherspoon.
Two boys find a man named Mud hiding out from bounty hunters on an
island in the Mississippi and agree to help him escape with the love of his
life, Juniper. A slow-moving kids’ adventure story set in a bleak
world with a barely promising message about life’s prospects. Rotten Tomatoes:
92%; Blog: B-.
(46) On the Road. Garrett
Hedlund, Sam Riley, Kristen Stewart.
Based on Jack Kerouac's novel, Sal Paradise, Dean Moriarty, and Dean's
girlfriend Marylou travel cross-country on a personal quest for freedom from
conformity. Captures the tone of
what was the bible of my college generation, though I’m not sure I’d want to
pursue the life style as much as I did at age 20. Rotten Tomatoes: 56%; Blog: B- .
(47) The Wolverine. Hugh
Jackman, Rila Fukushima.
Wolverine’s adventures in Japan as he fights ninjas in the ceremonial
garb of the samurai. Hugh Jackman
makes a splendid superhero, but the plot and presentation are awfully
comic-bookish. Rotten Tomatoes:
68%; Blog = C+.
(48) Gangster Squad. Sean
Penn, Josh Brolin. In 1949 L.A.
mob king Mickey Cohen runs the show in town, intimating all except a secret
crew of LAPD outsiders who come together to tear Cohen's world apart. A styled, period action thriller which
holds one’s attention, but the comic book flavor and ultra-violence leave
little depth for the characters.
Rotten Tomatoes: 33%; Blog: C+.
(49) Iron Man 3. Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth
Paltrow. When Tony Stark's world is torn apart by the terrorist
Mandarin, he starts an odyssey of rebuilding and retribution. Terrific special effects are countered
by a boring and senseless plot.
Rotten Tomatoes: 84%; Blog: C.
(50) Gravity. Sandra
Bullock, George Clooney. A medical
engineer and an astronaut work together to survive after an accident leaves
them adrift in space. Special
effects and cinematics are magnificent, but the lack of a story and any
meaningful character development leave this flick in empty space. Rotten Tomatoes: 98%; Blog: C. (
(51) World War Z. Brad
Pitt, Mireille Enos. U.N. employee
Gerry Lane traverses the world to stop a zombie pandemic that is toppling
armies and threatening to decimate humanity itself. Hordes of disgusting zombies, one worse than the next, and
it’s puzzling to figure out who they represent – maybe right-wing
Republicans. Rotten Tomatoes: 67%;
Blog: C.
(52) The
Impossible. Naomi Watts, Ewen McGregor. A family begin their winter vacation in Thailand when a
terrifying roar rises from the center of the earth as a tsunami’s wall of black
water races toward them. Let’s you
know what it’s like to live through a tsunami, though the problem with true
stories is that they lack the fantasy that Hollywood is capable of. Rotten Tomatoes: 78%; Blog: C.
(53) A Good Day to Die
Hard. Bruce Willis, Mary Elizabeth Winstead. John McClane travels to Russia to help
out his son, only to discover that Jack is a CIA operative working to prevent a
nuclear-weapons heist. This movie
rates near the top for car and helicopter chases, explosions, and assault gun
shootouts, but unfortunately that’s all there is. Rotten Tomatoes: 16%; Blog: C-.
G-mail Comments
-Linda C
(1-10-14): Going to see " her" this weekend, did you see
" the
last quartet". My fav of the year. Hated Nebraska . I go
about once a week with friends…
Love to both of you
Oh , blue
jasmine one of my favorites too.
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