I was going to write something about the passing of time and how the year went by faster than expected, but it didn't. A lot of this year was a real drag. "You've had a tough year," several people have told me. I don't like thinking about it that way because I don't want to feel sorry for myself. It only makes me sadder. To cut a long story short, some really awful things did happen this year. I don't feel like I need to write about it. Frankly, I don't want to. Instead I'll jump right into some lists of my 10 favourite movies from 2013. And this is in no particular order, because I can't decide.
I wrote a whole thing about Iron Man 3. I am totally biased when it comes to anything starring Robert Downey, Jr. He is my favourite living actor, and he should be yours, too. With Shane Black as director and That Plot Twist that pissed off a lot of Marvel fans, I was absolutely satisfied. I would love to see Downey and Black do another movie together. They've only done two in ten years, which is shameful considering their talents with comic timing. Maybe I've had enough of Iron Man movies for a while. Three with Downey is just fine, it's the right balance, etc., and maybe I get a little nervous when my friends say they're getting sick of Tony Stark. (I get all defensive, like yeah, maybe they're right, but I don't want them to be, and can Marvel Studios please just keep it fresh and amazing and not dull and repetitive like Iron Man 2 very nearly was to me?)
Derek Cianfrance was the director I never knew I wanted until I saw Blue Valentine two years ago. Naturally, when Place Beyond the Pines was released, I was salivating and quivering with excitement like a little Belieber. It was fantastic. Cianfrance and Gosling (really, the whole cast) are a cinematic force. Another director-actor work relationship I want to continue seeing.
I think I can safely say 2013 was the Year of Mads Mikkelsen. We've all appreciated his talent one way or another, but it wasn't until he was introduced to American mainstream audiences in NBC's Hannibal that suddenly the whole world turned on to the Mads. Longtime fans such as myself became Mads pushers and told everyone else what he'd done that was brilliant - most things he does, okay - but Jagten (The Hunt) stands out. I cried a lot. It was a movie that made me really feel something. I wasn't crying just because the situation was pure anguish, but because Mads Mikkelsen reached into me and pulled something out, leaving me feel raw and hopeless. And sometimes he did it without words.
Spring Breakers is a psychedelic hedonistic nightmare I fell completely in love with. It was trashy, unashamed -- actually, major sexploitation, but I was embracing the sheer ridiculousness of it -- and James Franco had me laughing every second of the journey. I thought it told a pretty straightforward story uniquely and I'd love to see more of the Disney alumni take the risk, doing movies like these.
I'm a huge fan of Steven Soderbergh. Maybe it's his ability to have the actors play a certain angle of an otherwise dark story with quirky humour. For whatever reason, Behind the Candelabra was a real gift, taking the typical biography/based on a book/we were lovers once story and producing something truly touching and beautiful. Hollywood thought this was too gay -- I still smirk at that. Like how gay is Hollywood itself? I wouldn't say Michael Douglas was born to play the role of Liberace because that would undermine a lot of his past work, but he was so convincing in this movie that I now have this well-rounded version of the character of Liberace in my head, and his homosexuality isn't played just for laughs. This movie was both a portrait and a love story, and a sad one at that. Playing the part of an aging diva to perfection, Michael Douglas can do that and still manage to keep me loving him. He really is that good. The cast, costumes, and cinematography goes beyond an HBO TV movie release. This movie deserved so much more than that.
The more and more I talk about the movies I like, I realise I come across a totally pretentious moron. Honestly, I have no idea what I'm talking about. I am a visual person and usually say things like "I love that slow shot" or "I love her dress she's wearing" if I decide to do a running commentary. I'm the person who'll whisper to you in the cinema instead of shutting my mouth. I hear Sofia Coppola is a visual person, and that her scripts and the final product are usually very different. The Bling Ring could be seen as pretentious and just rich white bread, and it mostly is that, but it plays off the vacuousness of itself. Like, why should we care about this dumb kids? You don't. Not really. But you're guilty of enjoying the ride of celebrity and excess. The opening of security footage and then cutting to the credits sequence with Sleigh Bells' Crown on the Ground snared me immediately -- it feels good being bad, doesn't it. Emma Watson steals every scene and Coppola should really indulge more in the comedy genre. She is better at it than you think.
I remember that when Stoker was released in the US someone on my Twitter feed wrote "Oh, my God, they're all so fucked up, I love it". Intriguing, I thought, because I love dysfunctional families in movies, and Stoker was dysfunctional like it's all going to end in a murder suicide. Mia Wasikowska really grew on me. This time not playing by type -- timid and hesitant -- but vicious and equally troubled. A lot of the time, I was thinking that maybe I shouldn't be enjoying it that much, but then I thought of Hitchcock and the whole indulgence of the horror genre, that really anything is acceptable and most likely to happen. India Stoker is a new hero of mine. I found Stoker to be visually stunning and I loved every second of it.
Clear History was released by HBO as a TV movie, and also like Beyond the Candelabra, it has been barely talked about, which is a real shame. I have always wondered what it must be like to miss out on something massive -- I usually get the feeling everyone is at a party together having not invited me -- but also in the Big Ideas department, like if you were that guy who bailed out of Apple before they came back. See, I can't even remember the guy's name. That's the point. Clear History is equally believable and ridiculous, like all of Larry David's comedy. You laugh because of its outrageous but also because there's a level of shared experiences, too, I guess... if you're anything like Larry David. Clear History just felt like a longer episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm, which is ideal. It didn't drag on. The highlight for me was Michael Keaton and Bill Hader as Stumpo and Rags. Please watch this movie.
So these last two movies out of my favourites from this year snuck up on me. Well, the one after this one. I looked forward to American Hustle and knew I'd like it. I guess I've liked David O. Russell's last couple movies... okay, I love them. It's easy to, and I think that's why they're successful. They're funny and have unusual characters, but not too weird so you're unable to relate to them. Basically movies made up of (white) black sheep characters who all go on a journey together and at one point everyone is yelling over each other. I guess I like that. I love the tits and hair gag that is set all the way to eleven in American Hustle. Amy Adams surely will be nominated for an Oscar. I can't deny that I've also fallen for Bradley Cooper and his talent this year. The whole cast of American Hustle is fantastic.
Before I saw Silver Linings Playbook I thought I was going to hate it. I think that's because movies that are about mental illness contain so many myths and annoy me because of their prejudice. So this is another white weirdo characters (save for the token black friend Danny played by Chris Tucker) movie by David O. Russell that I loved. I feel I could talk about something personal here but I don't think that's necessary. Mental health is a universal issue that I wish more movies would depict with accuracy, or at least with sympathy. What bugged me about this movie was Jennifer Lawrence's character Tiffany being slut-shamed so easily. But I guess that could just be Pat's character and he hadn't described women like Tiffany any other way. If I could see changes in movies in 2014, I'd like less slut-shaming, among other things.
I saw this movie long after the Oscars, and Jennifer Lawrence gave an Oscar-worthy performance. It fits well. She has an ability to make me believe her when she screams or cries or smiles.
Borrow, buy or steal all these movies. I don't care.
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