2013 Potentially Oscar Nominated Movies

This year I feel like a lot of my feelings on movies were heavily influenced by how I felt about the direction, more so than with other years. Also, I think I am getting increasingly critical (cynical) of what I watch. As of right now I have seen 1423 movies in my life and most of them are ranked above three stars so they are mostly not things like Michael Bay films. I have seen a lot of the so called greatest movies ever made and the more I see, the more difficult I am becoming to impress. I don’t know how Roger Ebert can do it.

As usual I will be including movies nominated for Oscars (especially Best Picture, Actor, Actress, Director, Animated Film, and Foreign Film), Golden Globes, and other movies that got a lot of hype or that I feel are of note. If I don’t include that last category I usually end up not able to talk about other movies I have seen this year that deserve to be noted (like Drive, Shame, and Melancholia last year).

Also like previous years because of my hatred for having so many nominees for Best Picture, I will be marking my five picks with an asterisk and any movie mentioned that was not nominated for an Oscar with a plus sign.

Previous Years:    2011     2012

Movies I Really Liked:

Django Unchained*: This is the feel good movie of the year . . . or at least it was for me. I saw it on Christmas with my BFF Adam and his dad and grandma and we all left the theater smiling. Nothing like a Tarantino movie to bring people together for the holidays. I don’t know what to say about how much I loved this. The cast is ridiculous, the movie made me laugh hysterically, clutch my armrest in fear that the heroes wouldn’t succeed, and even avert my eyes from two scenes that were actually a bit to brutal for my usually iron clad stomach. Things are not sugar-coated in this movie until the happy ending is earned and you can leave feeling like it was all worth it. I could make a joke about DiCaprio’s Oscar snub but I won’t. I just want to point out that obviously he was working for that Oscar; his two costars both have already won them!

Argo*: This is a movie I really need to rewatch because when I saw it in the theater I was so wrapped in the plot that I wasn’t paying attention to much else. It’s a great example of a movie where the conclusion is not the important part; it’s how you get there. You know how the movie is going to end but damn is it not good at making you wonder and worry. It helps that it’s also an interesting moment in history and one that is pretty relevant to current conflicts. My only problem with this movie is that I have a hard time distinguishing between a good movie and a good story. I think I’ve settled on “it’s a good story but the movie makes it a well told one.”

Zero Dark Thirty*: This was a movie I kind of expected to hate. I wasn’t a big fan of The Hurt Locker and in particular, Kathryn Bigelow’s nauseating way of shooting scenes so I kind of rolled my eyes at this movie. I was really surprised to find that I kind of loved it. It is more of a mystery and a character study than anything else with a brief side journey into a war movie towards the end. Although I found it hard to get into at first because of my previously mentioned negativity, at a point it hooked me and I could not look away. Jessica Chastin, who I had no previous opinion of in spite of seeing her in a ton of films, was fantastic. Also, I have to note that the end scene of this movie is utterly perfect and I can be a real sucker for a perfect end scene. If I have any complaints it’s that the movie can be a bit too sporadic during the beginning, jumping around from scene to scene without any real establishing or development of any character other than the main but I think with a movie of this scene, to do so would probably be a bit tedious.

Beasts Of The Southern Wild*: This movie smacked me upside the head and I am still trying to figure out what happened. I know that it was beautiful and probably the most unique movie of the year and that it seemed to be successfully doing exactly what last year’s Tree of Life was trying to do but without any of the nonsensical musings or pretentiousness. This is one I will need to watch again if I want to be more coherent about it but I can just say for now that this was great.

Moonrise Kingdom: I never am quite sure how I feel about Wes Anderson movies but I know what I thought of this one: I thought it was adorable and beautifully made. Usually I have a problem with things that are too sentimental but this movie just felt so sincere and never tried to play with my emotions like other movies of the sort might. I actually got a few laughs out of it and I loved the 60s setting. This movie perfectly captures what it is like to be twelve years old. 

A Royal Affair: I have seen a lot of historical drama movies so a movie with a setting in the 1700s or 1800s about a monarchy has to really do something special for me to sit up and take notice and damn, this movie did. First of all, this movie is not just about a marriage affair like I thought it might be but in fact, a gigantic change in the political face of Denmark. This is a movie of epic proportions and it’s beautiful and constantly intriguing. It’s a long watch but damn is it worth it.

The Sessions: This was a fascinating film that I find I have very little to say about. I don’t know why. It was really good, had a really unique premise and great execution, good acting; I’m just stuck. Maybe it’s because I’m writing this one after having written a bunch of others and I’m tapped out. Yay, for character studies!

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel+: I saw this movie on a total whim while in Cape Cod with my mom where the nearest theater only showed four movies and this was one of them. It was a really fun movie with a lot of interesting characters who each had their own story to tell that showed different aspects of finding a new life in your old age and the idea of finding yourself in a strange land making it relevant to someone of any age. “It will all be alright in the end. If it’s not alright then it’s not the end.”

This Is Not A Film+: I don’t know who has seen this movie but I think it definitely deserves recognition for one reason: it was smuggled out of Iran and into the Cannes Film Festival on a flash drive hidden in a birthday cake. It’s a documentary (kinda) about an Iranian filmmaker under house arrest. Ten minutes in I was wondering why I was watching home movies of a guy answering calls and feeding his pet iguana but thirty minutes in I realized I was watching something kind of brilliant. I kind of hope most of it wasn’t scripted but there are some parts that are so thematically significant that it’s hard to believe they are spontaneous. Certainly not a film for everyone but I really loved it.

Cabin in The Woods+: Joss Whedon had two movies come out this year (almost three; Much Ado About Nothing isn’t coming out officially until June 2013 and I can’t wait) and I actually thought this was the better of the two. It had the right amount of horror and comedy, well written and likeable characters, and it’s a fantastic deconstruction of the horror genre that then takes all the conventions and turns it entirely on its head. Of course, if you know Joss Whedeon’s work with television, the end might not shock you as much as the regular filmgoer. I personally laughed at how typical it is for him but, no spoilers.

Perks of Being A Wallflower+: Having the writer of a book direct the movie of it turned out to be a perfect combination here. I love pretty much everything about this movie: the directing, the adaption of the book, the acting, the accuracy of the time period (one I actually lived though and can remember well). One of the best coming of age movies ever from one of the best coming of age books ever. It’s actually kind of tragic how movies that are directed at a teen audience are so easily overlooked for awards.

Movies I Liked:

Lincoln*: I wanted to like this movie more than I did and sometimes that can be a real killer. Don’t get me wrong; it’s a great movie and everyone else can tell you why. Problem is, in spite of me rating it with an amount of stars that could place it in either this category or the above (4 stars; more than four is automatically above and less is here or lower), I had to only put it in “liked”. I blame Steven Spielberg. I am done with Spielberg. Seriously. His directing style is so sentimental and utterly uncreative at this point that all his recent movies feel old. Like with War Horse (which was quite inferior to this one), there was a scene where I just groaned out loud at a directing decision. This time it was a shot of a flame in Lincoln’s bedroom after he died that Lincoln giving the Gettysburg address is superimposed onto. Way to try to pull emotion from your audience. I do not appreciate manipulative directing. Those feelings should be earned. For my last pick for Best Picture I was torn between this one and Life of Pi and while I think Life of Pi is actually probably a better pick, I caved on this one. I may change it.

Silver Linings Playbook: Ugh. I really, really liked this movie at first and then the last half hour just took it down so much for me. In the beginning this movie was really interesting with all this great acting (Jennifer Lawrence is perfect. In general) and this great theme of everyone seemingly crazy even though only two of the characters are seen as such by the rest and then for some reason it takes this weird turn where suddenly everything is based on a superstition and a dance competition and in the last few minutes we are full on romantic comedy cliché. I’m starting to come to the conclusion that this is the kind of movie David O. Russell makes: a movie that is really strong until you get to the last half hour.

Les Miserables: I can’t say anything about this movie that I haven’t already said. Click here.

Flight: This was a really solid movie that I was ultimately lost interest in as it went on. The first half hour is incredibly strong and then I feel like it kind of limps along to the court hearing at the end. Denzel Washington’s performance is very good but as a movie I only liked it.

The Impossible: This is one of those movies that are mostly based in suspense and emotion. It was certainly solid but for me I think I was having a hard time with it because I kept thinking of the movie Hereafter which also has the topic of the Southeast Asian tsunami as a portion of it. I love a good emotional drama as much as anyone but I didn’t feel like there was much new to be said here that I hadn’t seen in other disaster movies.

Rust And Bone+: There was so nice directing, acting and themes here but I had a problem with the flow of the plot. Aspects of the story-telling seemed to clunk along without reason and it kept bothering me that the characters didn’t seem to be acting like normal human beings. For instance, after Marion Cotillard’s character gets in her accident, she decides to call some bouncer who drove her home from a club one night? Who does that? Also, everything is wrapped up in the end really strangely to me. He runs off but his son nearly dies so he realizes he’s in love? There’s so much missing here.

Cloud Atlas: If I had an “underrated” section, this would probably belong there but alas, I do not. Although, I’m not so sure if it’s that this movie is underrated or that I think the reasons why people are complaining about it don’t seem like valid complaints to me. The people who hate the idea that all the main characters are the same person are missing the point to me. I didn’t even look at it that way. I just looked at them as people whose lives are connected because each has an effect on the other. I think it makes more sense to look at it as each character played by the same actor is the same person. The visuals, camera work and such are all fine. The make-up is occasionally uncanny valley (all the white guys made Asian look like Benedict Cumberbatch) but I saw this as a Brechtian choice and not a realistic one. So why didn’t I like this movie as much as I had hoped? Each individual plot was interesting but only as a very short story. Everything was drawn out WAY too long and so something interesting in a small dose becomes exhausting.

Dark Knight Rises+: Christopher Nolan really knows how to create a masterpiece around a theme and what he has done to the Batman canon, as a Batman fan, gives me so much joy. His modern take is certainly something the world needed. The main fault with this movie that kept me from loving it was that there were a few too many lapses in logic for me. One lapse actually made me burst out laughing. There really needed to be some red pen action with the script because a lot of things were inconsistent or out of nowhere. The ending was great though; just wanted to say that.

The Hunger Games+: As someone who loves the books, I am not going to get hung up on things they left out because that would be utterly useless. This is what I will say: this movie was perfectly cast but the directing was often nausea inducing and the film really needed some small details to help make the plot make sense to someone who hasn’t read the book. Also, the lightning was sometimes egregiously bad. Hopefully a change in director will mean an improvement for the next film.

Pitch Perfect+: I honestly thought this movie could be really stupid but considering how much my friends liked it, I eventually gave in and watched it. It actually brought a smile to my face and gave me a few really good laughs. The music is obviously, awesome and I kind of love how self aware this movie is. Anna Kendrick and Rebel Wilson were just delightful.

Movies That Were Over-hyped:

Amour: . . . Here’s the thing. I thought this was a really good movie but there were a couple things about it and the way it is being talked about that kind of drive me up a wall. First of all, Michael Hanake is a great film writer but I find that there are a lot of times when his directing really gets on my nerves. There’s a really great shot of an audience watching a piano recital in this film that I thought was really interesting and appropriate but then he’ll do stuff like linger on one thing with no symbolic purpose for a seriously long time and it takes me right out of the film. The good things about this film are its unapologetic realism and I loved how the theme was underlying in every conversation even if you weren’t thinking to look for it. That was in part to the great writing. The acting was also really great. My problem with how this film is being talked about is that everyone is acting like this movie is so unique and innovative and it truthfully isn’t. This has been done before. Also, if you were surprised by what happens an hour and 45 minutes in, you are terrible at context clues.

Life of Pi: Every once in a while I come across a movie that is technically good in every reasonable sense I can think of but that I end up having a problem with. Enter this one. It’s well directed, well acted, makes great use of CGI (something I only really notice if it’s particularly bad but it was good here), and it has a very interesting story that made me want to continue watching. All in all, there is no doubt that this is a good movie. The problem is me. I really could not get behind the main themes of this film. Pi adopts a nickname that is irrational and his life follows suit with his fascination with religion (inherently irrational), the unsolved sinking of the boat, the friendship with an animal that should eat him, the island he visits, everything. And when nothing makes sense, what does? God. Faith. Things that are not rational. Speaking as someone who will believe nothing without proof but does hold a very small notion that things are meant to happen as they happen, I had difficulty accepting what this movie was dishing out. I can acknowledge that it was good but there I am.

The Avengers: So I thought this movie was good and yes, it is very impressive how Joss Whedon managed to bring all these different characters together and give them all screen time and something to do but I guess overall I didn’t walk out of the movie thinking, “OMG, Amazing” so much as I was thinking, “Well, that was quite good.” Sometimes I think my inability to be impressed by computer-created visuals is a detriment to my ability to enjoy big budget movies.

Movies I Disliked:

Magic Mike+: I’m reaching an endpoint with Steven Soderbergh. He hasn’t made a movie I’ve liked in a very long time so I think I’m pretty much done. His directing aside, the plot of this movie was very conventional and unimpressive. Channing Tatum didn’t make me want to gouge my eyes out as much as usual but that’s about all I can say (Matthew McConaughey still made me want to kill).

Animated Films Special Section:

Usually I talk about animated films in the regular sections above but this year I found that my feelings on the animated films nominated didn’t really have enough diversity to accurately categorize them in those sections so I’m instead going to talk about them on a case by case basis and compare them to each other because in this case that’s pretty easy to do.

I saw Brave, Wreck-It Ralph, Frankenweenie, and ParaNorman. 

I actually liked Brave the least out of all of them and I was very surprised. Pixar always puts out good to excellent work and this movie was certainly good but I didn’t find it particularly memorable or well crafted from a plot perspective. Its themes were present but ultimately weak and it almost seemed like someone came up with a setting but didn’t think too hard on the story. Although, I will note that I usually don’t notice animation unless it’s particularly bad and this animation was freaking beautiful.

Frankenweenie was probably my next lowest and you could probably argue me into shifting the positions of this one and Brave. I found out after seeing it that this was originally an animated short film instead of a full one and I honestly could tell that it probably worked better in short form. The idea is cute but about halfway through the movie it’s like they’ve run out of things to do with the idea. Then the theme just runs right off the rails in the final act and I don’t even know what I am supposed to be gathering from it. Love is power and greed is evil?

Both Wreck-It Ralph and ParaNorman I enjoyed immensely. They both had me laughing the entire time with Ralph being more universal jokes and delightful references to gaming culture throughout the ages and Norman being occasionally more advanced humor and references to horror movies (and also as a New Englander I had a certain level of joy from the historical witch premise itself). I was really invested in both movies and would be happy to see either of them take home the award but I’m not going to hold my breath. I’ve kind of convinced myself that Brave will win because it’s Pixar even though I don’t think it was the best by any stretch of the imagination.

Other well-rated movies I want to see from this year but haven’t include:
Anna Karenina (3.5 or 3 stars; beautiful directing/visuals/music; issues with acting/casting/script), 
Chronicle (4 stars; surprisingly good and smart considering the premise),
Compliance (4 stars; disturbing and very effective), 
Cosmopolis (2.5 stars; lots of statements but says little, dry but weirdly memorable),
Farewell My Queen (4 stars; great but don't go in expecting it to be all about Marie), 
Girl Model (4 stars; I've seen better docs but this one conveys its point well), 
The Hobbit (Truthfully, I think I may wait to watch this until the others come out), 
Holy Motors (4.5 stars; brilliant piece of WTF), 
How To Survive A Plague (4.5 stars; really good and powerful doc), 
The Intouchables (4 stars; a bit cliche but not manipulative, funny and sweet), 
Jiro Dreams Of Sushi (5 stars; perfect documentary, just perfect), 
Looper (4 stars; really solid and thought provoking action flick), 
The Master (4 stars; solid movie, crazy good acting),
Salmon Fishing In The Yemen (3 stars; had its moments but melodramatic overall), 
Skyfall (4 stars; and I don't even like James Bond movies but I thought this was pretty great).
Sleepwalk With Me (3.5 stars; interesting and pretty funny), 
Seven Psychopaths (4 stars, maybe 4.5; kind of brilliant, liked it even better than "In Bruges"), 
Take This Waltz (3.5 stars; emotional and quirky but not without flaws), 
Then I can comfortably leave this year behind.