2013 Movies

[BainIhrno]

Well, another year of movies… I've only seen 7 movies this year, but there's not a whole lot that looks interesting outside of that…. it seems that the quality of movies is decreasing these past few years.

 

Anyway, the movies I did see...

 

1. The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (9/10) - This is my clear winner for 2013. I honestly thought Smaug was the best dragon I have seen on film to date - he was genuinely terrifying, and had a great voice (Benedict Cumberbatch is quickly becoming one of my favorite actors). There was a lot of exciting battles, great special effects, and great acting. It didn't have the same emotional impact as the LOTR trilogy, but was still very fun and exciting.

 

2. Star Trek: Into Darkness (7/10) - It had an interesting story, but it eventually became clear that the writers were more interested in the special effects than the plot (seriously, did we really need a prolonged scene of the crew trying to stop the Enterprise from blowing up? That's really the best they can come up with?) Still, some exciting scenes and a great performance by Cumberbatch.

 

3. Frozen (7/10) - A good storyline, but as with many Disney movies, too much was unexplained and felt very simple.

 

4. The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (7/10) - It was okay, but felt repetitive of the first one. Additionally, I felt the heroes didn't get enough to do on their own, almost everything that happened seemed to be the work of 'outside forces' rather than the main characters.

 

5. Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters (6/10) - Attempts to use Greek mythology in an interesting new way, but did anything of substance really happen in this film that hasn't already been done 100 times already?

 

6. Mortal Instruments: City of Bones (6/10) - Cut all the scenes out where there is no fighting, and it would be pretty much the same film. The fighting scenes were exciting, but the film ultimately feels very cliched.

 

7. Despicable Me 2 (5/10) - Stupid. The villain was a dumb Mexican stereotype, and large portions of the film were quite dull.

 

Did anyone else see anything better?

[Lilith]

the only film i saw in a cinema this year was grabity, a movie about the mysterious universal force that makes everything grab on to everything else. not a whole lot of plot to it but as a spectacle it was pretty great. a good watch if you like space movies and/or disaster movies. really gained a lot from seeing it on a big ol' imax screen in 3d so i can't exactly recommend that anyone get it on video to watch at home

[Cairo Jim]

The Hobbit is the only movie that I'm aware of that came out this year, and since I enjoyed the first, I'm keen on seeing the second

[Lilith]

correction: i have been informed that the film is actually titled gravity, and is about the mysterious universal force that makes everything grav on to everything else. sorry for misleading you all.

[A less presumptuous name.]

I saw Gravity and thought it was a pretty nice film, although I agree that it really wasn't full of plot. Thor II was fantastic - so much better than the first.

 

I'd like to see Frozen and the second Hobbit movie before the end of the year, so I'll lay low here to avoid spoilers.

 

I'm sure I've seen other movies, but honestly, 12 months is about 6 times more than my memory can handle.

[Vexivero]

Riddick was pretty good, although I'm kinda biased because that entire series is one of my favorites of all time. Vin Diesel is just a badass actor though, no denying that.

 

—Vexivero, who still enjoys Riddick, but also has to go. He'll be doing more editing tomorrow.

[nikki.]

okay, so this year I saw lots of films, but lots of them were kind of underwhelming:

 

- the hobbit 2: disappointing, and ugh. i liked sherlock, but why is Benedict Cummerbund in everything these days? definitely suffered from being a middle film, though nothing was as cringe-worthy as the goblin king scene in the first one.

 

- now you see me: meh. this was one of several films i was dragged to. honestly didn't care for anything in it.

 

- man of steel: entirely missable, literally, at times, since the last half of the film is basically two super-speedy guys fighting REAAAALLY fast. luckily a lot of the set pieces are repeated over and over, so you'll get an idea of what's happening.

 

- the world's end: easily the weakest of the cornetto trilogy. watch Hot Fuzz instead

 

- iron man 3: they really should have stopped at iron man. this one was even worse than the second, despite the cool sequence with all the suits.

 

- star trek into darkness: seriously, this film really needed a colon in the title. SERIOUSLY. also, hey, cummerbund and lens flares. probably one of the better offerings this year though, even if Mickey Smith tried to mess it up.

 

- the great gatsby: either it completely missed the point of the book, or it did it SO WELL, i completely missed it getting the point. need to rewatch.

 

- alpha papa: average. probably better to watch the tv show instead.

 

- thor 2: least favourite avenger, and less loki-time.

 

- blackfish: this was a pretty cool documentary about killer whales and seaworld. i'd recommend a watch.

 

- from up on poppy hill: one of my favourite ghibli films, and the first one i got to see at the cinema. probably biased, but it was great.

 

- filth: stupidly, i did not know this was irvine welsh until i got in there. it was great, and McAvoy, who I am usually lukewarm too, was really very excellent.

 

- rush: hey! that's the guy i was named after!

 

- the pervert's guide to ideology: hmm. i love zizek, but i felt this wasn't nearly as engaging as the pervert's guide to cinema. wasn't as witty, the examples weren't as good, and the theory seemed stretched over too long a time. better editing would've made this infinitely better. never mind.

 

so yeah. a mixed bag. probably From Up On Poppy Hill, Filth, and... I'm struggling to name a third film, so just those two were my favourites.

[adc.]

5. Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters (6/10) - Attempts to use Greek mythology in an interesting new way, but did anything of substance really happen in this film that hasn't already been done 100 times already?

 

I hate movies, really. But when we went back to our homeland last vacation, we decided to watch on a movie theather. So I thought by watching this movie, I'll stop hating it, lol nope.

 

So it's Percy Jackson, it's about someone sabotaging a precious tree and they need to look for the only cure, so they journey on a galaxy far, far away. Then they found the cure but they aren't the only one who needs it. A typical plot. 6/10 - 3 for story, 3 for the special effects and graphics.

 

Enjoyed the movie a bit, but I enjoyed what we're eating more.

-----

-Nightwatcher

[nikki.]

- blackfish: this was a pretty cool documentary about killer whales and seaworld. i'd recommend a watch.

 

it has been suggested that my use of the word "cool" above is slightly stupid. blackfish is a really moving and engaging documentary. and worth your time, but it is not "cool".

[springacres]

I don't go to many movies, but I'm glad I'm not the only one who thought the goblin king scene in TH1 was cringe-worthy. Hello, Peter Jackson, there is such a thing as taking too much artistic license...

[Goldengirl]

I talked to a friend about a critical film class she took once and the result is that I can no longer merely enjoy movies; I dig into them far too deeply to merely enjoy them as they are. I suppose learning really is that contagious. Furthermore, I'm not going to give a lot of actual synopsis reviews, since that job has been done already, most likely far better than what I could do. As a result, read my criticisms with a grain of salt.

 

Mama: This film explored a lot of interesting themes (how often do you see a film with feral children?) but I thought that it really failed to bring them to any satisfactory conclusion at the end, even though there was a major opportunity to do so. Moreover, I had a hard time taking the ghost seriously, as the animation made it seem more goofy than scary. This is one of those things were less is more, I think.

 

Identity Thief: You know, this movie's probably great if you just want something light and humorous. The sex scene was a little more drawn out than I thought was necessary, but that's just a matter of taste. However, I felt pretty put off by Rebel Wilson's character, and this is something I noticed happen in another movie she was in (Pitch Perfect). Directors get a feel good emotion out of putting her in a movie, as if they're progressive and revolutionizing Hollywood. However, in both movies, she plays characters who are crass, boorish, and unrestrained, serving as foils to prim and proper characters. I don't think this is a particularly positive representation of fatness, although I conclude that I can only say so much on how beneficial her inclusion in media is, not being of the relevant body type.

 

Oz the Great and Powerful: This was a decent movie, and it paid adequate homage to The Wizard of Oz for my tastes. I was disappointed that the wizard was not actually magical, but that's also just a matter of taste. How tied up the Wicked Witch got over the Wizard struck me as excessively unrealistic, however, and made a lot of the movie rather pointless to me.

Star Trek Into Darkness: I mean, yeah, this was a good movie, but man was it melodramatic. It was excessively clear to me how Kirk was going to be saved, to point out the most glaring example. Yikes.

 

The Great Gatsby: I actually really liked this movie, surprisingly. I haven't read the book yet, though I still fully intend to after I finish the book I'm reading now, but from what I heard the movie was pretty faithful. A lot of people I've talked to were critical about how modern the soundtrack was, but I thought that the soundtrack gave the perfect connotations for the party lifestyle in the movie. Having a bunch of jazz numbers would have been oddly stultifying, I think.

 

World War Z: As far as zombie movies go, this was good. However, a third of the movie is set in Israel and sends a lot of unsettling messages about Israel and territory, flipping the image of Israel from occupier to provider. That kind of narrative may be what ultimately prevails and is worth propagating at some point in time, but I feel like there needs to a lot of change from the status quo and a lot of discussion before I can casually see media that presents ideas like that.

 

We're the Millers: Pretty good, a light relaxing comedy. The protagonist gets to make a lot of witty remarks that people don't really respond to in the movie, fulfilling a specific type of fantasy that I think people have ("If only I could tell you what I really thought...") without their being any real ramifications. The writers were just lazy, though, in my opinion. The basic premise of the movie is that a bunch of people get together to pose as a family to smuggle drugs across the border. The parent figures in the movie have adequate motivations and back story, but I'm still not sure why or how two teenagers were able to leave their homes to go smuggle drugs on a drop of a hat. Other than those points, though, I thought this movie was basically as it should be.

[Callie]

12 Years a Slave: 9/10 - A compelling, heart-rending historical drama that never stoops to the level of bowdlerizing its subject material; few films can compare in direction and acting. The hype is not without warrant, but remember: it's a film about someone who escaped, not someone subjected to an entire lifetime of enslavement.

 

American Hustle: 7/10 - Tries to be Goodfellas, but fails to reach the bar. There are many great scenes and an incredible acting ensemble, but it's a vibrant collage assembled with musty kindergarten glue.

 

Gravity: 7/10 - I have not seen a film with better visual effects; however, I have seen many films with better screenplays.

 

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire: 7/10 - All around, it's better than the previous film. I have more lingering questions than would be expected of a second installment in a trilogy, though.

 

Mud: 7/10 - A southern gothic film that presents itself like a fairy tale. The characterization and acting are top-notch, but some elements of the plot are a little corny.

 

Elysium: 5/10 - Matt Damon, the only white person left on earth, (wait, what?) is tasked with infiltrating the spacecraft residence of the rich and powerful. He gains a powered exoskeleton that makes for some great action sequences, but he can't save the film from its lackluster writing. It's interesting to see Jodie Foster as an antagonist, though.

 

Star Trek Into Darkness: 4/10 - The writers were loath to create a convincing exposition, so they threw the clichéd "random dying child" routine at us. Some dudes are warping around in space and stuff explodes and stuff. We meet some smart, blonde girl who is randomly half-naked and then we meet a recycled villain from an earlier movie. Then we see some more stuff blow up and the movie ends. It was bright out that day, so I had an amusing sneezing fit when I left the theater.

 

Side Effects: 3/10 - Boring, and the attempt at a plot twist is nothing more than a prejudiced trope.

 

Thor: The Dark World: 1/10 - Flagrantly awful. I am told that the supposed merit of blockbusters consists of stunts and special effects, but this film is ultimately just an eyesore. Characters? Forget about it... Thor is an insipid, two-dimensional superhero who's really just beefcake in armor; Dr. Foster claims to have three degrees but is only capable of obsessing about Thor and spewing forth dubious technobabble. There's also a dude named Loki. During World War II, the plot to this film was proposed as an alternative to Navajo codetalkers, but it failed due to the writers' inability to decrypt it. Unfortunately, Thor succeeds and the stock villains fail to destroy the universe, leaving the whole of humanity subject to the experience of watching Thor: The Dark World (rendering the title oddly appropriate).

 

 

I plan to see the latest Hobbit movie at some point, but I was not impressed by the first installment. There are a number of independent films I want to watch, but I'll have to wait until they're available to rent.

[WLDD]

What you think about Supernatural, I really but really like it :3 <3

[Actaeon]

I probably missed a few, and some of these may have come out in late '12, but here's what I remember seeing in 2013:

 

Enough Said (6/10): Typical but well-acted romance.

 

All is Lost (9/10): Spectacular performance by Redford. Visually stunning.

 

12 Years a Slave (6/10): So hard hitting you wonder if you're responding to the movie or the plot.

 

Django Unchained (8/10): Tarantino continues to coast on shock value, but does so with style.

It would have been a good antidote to 12YaS, but instead, the next film I watched was...

 

Captain Phillips (6/10): I like an occasional break from the suspense. This didn't deliver on that score.

 

20 Feet from Stardom (7/10): Told an unseen side of the story, kept your foot tapping.

 

Blue Jasmine (7/10): Blanchett's performance is inspired, but the film seems a little flat for Woody Allen.

 

Frances Ha (8/10): Captures early adulthood in both a broad and specific tale.

 

The Company You Keep (5/10): Cool concept, but wholly predictable.

 

Silver Linings Playbook (6/10): Solid, but... maybe I'm just not that into romance flicks.

 

Trance (4/10): One of those thrillers that insults your intelligence by thinking it's mind bending.

 

On the Road (7/10): A lot of people weren't too happy with this adaptation, but I enjoyed it.

 

Life of Pi (7/10): Visually stunning, faithful adaptation to a decent novel.

 

The Butler (4/10): Gimmicky in casting and too willing to take creative license with history.

 

The Hobbit 2 (2/10): An extended, over the top, CG fight scene. Would have walked out if it wasn't Tolkien.

 

Promised Land (5/10): Decent film that's a little to flippant with an issue that I take fairly seriously.

 

Searching for Sugar Man (8/10): Very cool documentary about a man who wasn't as obscure as he thought.

 

Lincoln (7/10): Solid acting, but a bit overhyped. I liked "The Conspirator" better.

 

Iron Man 3 (7/10): About as much as you can ask for from a superhero movie. Has some depth between action sequences.

 

Despicable Me 2 (6/10): Not as good as the original, but the minions are cute whether yellow or purple.

 

Star Trek: Into Darkness (6/10): Dunno if it would help or hurt if I was a Trekkie. As is, it just seems mediocre.

 

Pacific Rim (5/10): I expected this to be terrible. It was actually marginally enjoyable.

 

Rush (7/10): I've never been into Formula 1, but this kept me interested. It was a little weird to have Thor in it.

 

There seemed to be a coming of age theme this year, so these four kinda get judged against each other-

 

The Spectacular Now (6/10): A little implausible emotionally, but the right amount of heartwarming.

 

The Way Way Back (5/10): Couldn't make myself like the main character.

 

The Kings of Summer (6/10): Formulaic but well executed

 

Mud (7/10): Cool setting, solid acting, and more character development than you usually get in one of these.

 

I never made it to "Gravity", but it sounds somewhat similar to "All is Lost" except for the setting. Didn't really regret skipping most of the other blockbusters (Man of Steel, Fast and the Furious, Hunger Games, etc)

[Dintiradan]

Films I watched:

 

Man of Steel: Ehhhhh. It wasn't as bad as many people make it out to be, but it certainly wasn't the great film I wanted it to be either. Oddly enough, I wish Snyder had more of an influence than Nolan. Both have their flaws, but the Nolanisms tend to be the most jarring moments in the film. Overall it's a decent cape flick, but it has a lot of warts that detract from the experience, and ultimately it's made me pessimistic about the potential future of a DC cinematic universe.

 

Gravity: I really liked this one, though I can see that it isn't for everyone. It isn't plot/story driven -- in fact you could probably safely cut a minute or two of exposition from it, and have the characters be solely characterized by their actions. It's a spectacle first and foremost, with the fantastic cinematography that comes with Cuaron. Not flawless, but still very much worth it.

 

Epic: Just watched this a couple days ago with the niblings, but it came out early this year so it counts. It's okay, I guess? Not terrible? I liked it better than the other movies I've seen from Blue Sky, but that's not saying a lot.

 

Films I plan on seeing:

 

The Hobbit 2: Hope to catch in in theatres once the crowds die down.

 

The Great Gatsby: This is a maybe; I'll rent it if I see it at the library. It looks great, but the most common criticism is that it misses the point of the novel, which would be a dealbreaker. The Baz Luhrmann films I've seen have gotten monotonically worse over time in my opinion, so I might give it a pass anyway.

[Xaiya]

I'm not really much of a movie person, but I did happen to see four 2013 movies, which is strange seeing as I'm usually late to watching any. I didn't see any of these in theater, so I can't comment on that aspect, but here we go:

 

Pacific Rim: Awful. I personally feel it is far overrated. Obviously it wasn't meant for its story, but it doesn't even try to be decent, except for, surprisingly enough:

 

The two primary protagonists did not kiss, avoiding that cliche. It honestly would not matter if they did, since it was expected enough that it'd be ignored, but that they didn't is somewhat noteworthy.

 

I am normally very good with my suspension of belief, but some elements I just could not ignore being so laughably (or depressingly) absurd. Pacific Rim is probably best seen for its action if it is to be seen at all, but even the action is really quite disappointing. The scenes feel clunky and, while destructive, are not entertainingly so.

 

Star Trek: Into Darkness: It's worth a watch, even if it isn't spectacular. I have not seen the original series, so I lack some context to judge it with, but overall I'd say it's ok.

 

Iron Man 3: Meh. Re-watching the first would be more entertaining overall, but it did have some nice elements to it. Particularly, it showed that Tony Stark is Iron Man even without his suit (In other words, not totally worthless outside of it), which was nice. The action scenes were particularly neat, even if there was very little fully suited-up Iron Man action. I'm not a fan of comic-books, but if I watch anything involving heroes from them, it's going to be with the human ones.

 

Kick-Ass 2: Cute. Funny. Perhaps not as crudely funny as the first, but certainly worth a watch if you're not squeamish and don't mind crude sexual innuendos. Do be familiar with the first, though. My only complaint:

 

The high school scenes with Hit Girl (whatever her real name is) with that one group of girls are just annoying. Seeing irritating girls desperately clinging to self worth by bullying others is not really what I'd call entertaining, although how they ended up after HG used the "device" on them was as satisfying as it was disgusting.

 

[Lilith]

Gravity: I really liked this one, though I can see that it isn't for everyone. It isn't plot/story driven -- in fact you could probably safely cut a minute or two of exposition from it, and have the characters be solely characterized by their actions. It's a spectacle first and foremost, with the fantastic cinematography that comes with Cuaron. Not flawless, but still very much worth it.

 

yeah in hindsight i kinda wish they had done that. the whole ~tragic backstory~ thing for sandra bullock's character kinda felt unnecessary and rubbed me the wrong way in the context of the rest of the movie

[Actaeon]

That's one thing "All is Lost" does. In addition to the near complete lack of dialogue, it opens at sea and closes at sea (leaving a fair amount of ambiguity as to whether the unnamed main character dies or is rescued). It looks like the theatre in town is gonna offer a couple of matinees of Gravity next weekend, so I may go ahead and watch it for comparison. I have nothing to lose but a couple hours of my time.

 

I've been thinking of catching some of the Academy screenings this week or next. Has anyone seen / can recommend "Blue is the Warmest Color", "Prisoners", "The Past", or "The Grandmaster"?