Shortcut links:
• BEST MOVIES: 2013
• BEST DOCUMENTARIES: 2013
• BEST TV: 2013
Note: This will often spotlight directors for special merit.
But Auteur Theory is a shoebox; films are a collaborative effort with everyone involved.
B E S T
M O V I E S :
2 0 1 3
E R O S
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• BEFORE MIDNIGHT ⇧
After the warm-up of BEFORE SUNRISE (1995) and BEFORE SUNSET (2004), this brave film bristles with a bold maturity that is wondrous, bruising, and poignant.
✭✭✭✭✭
• BLUE IS THE WARMEST COLOR (France)
One of the most resonant and engaging romance stories that I've ever seen.
• HER
The nuances of cyber-love. I didn't think this would work, but it is excellent and inspired at every turn.
T H I N K
✭✭✭✭✭
• 12 YEARS A SLAVE ⇧
THE movie, of any year.
A true story of repression and liberation in the slavery South.
Required viewing for anyone with a brain and soul.
• KILL YOUR DARLINGS
The true story of the murder that brought Kerouac, Ginsberg, and Burroughs together.
• THE EAST ⇧
Brit Marling scores again; the star/co-writer/co-producer (ANOTHER EARTH, SOUND OF MY VOICE) fights the power with this smart thriller.
• DALLAS BUYERS CLUB
Harrowing true story of a man's battle against AIDS,
and the corrupt government and drug companies that let it run rampant for profit.
• THE FIFTH ESTATE
An interesting, generally well-rounded drama about Wikileaks.
Benedict Cumberbatch.
[see also documentary, "We Steal Secrets" (2013)]
• MANDELA: Long Walk To Freedom
Idris Elba and Naomie Harris.
A fast-paced highlight reel of an important life, with just enough character.
• THE BUTLER
A broad strokes overview of the Civil Rights struggle told through one man's family, with strong moments.
• MUHAMMAD ALI'S GREATEST FIGHT
The behind-the-scenes story of how The Greatest's conscientious objection to the Vietnam War nearly tore up the Supreme Court.
➤ • The Struggle For the Moral Soul: MARTIN LUTHER KING and Civil Rights
✭✭✭✭✭
• FRUITVALE STATION ⇧
An excellent film, devastating.
The true story of a struggling young man in Oakland and what the Law did to him.
• TO THE WONDER
No to defeatist existentialism.
Yes to epic visuals, a majestic score, and a truly wondrous Olga Kurylenko.
• MUD
A coming-of-age thriller in the Southern swamps. Great cast.
• CAPTAIN PHILLIPS
A cargo ship is seized out of desperation.
Gripping, intense, multi-sided.
• A HIJACKING (Denmark)
A Danish parallel to CAPTAIN PHILLIPS;
Instead of action, this focuses on the Corporate nickel-and-diming of the hostages' lives, and its toll.
• ALL IS LOST
Redford.
The elder man and the sea, or, The Naturalist vs. Nature.
✭✭✭✭✭
• WADJDA (Saudi Arabia) ⇧
A must-see. A young Saudi girl is determined to get a bike, even though only boys can have them.
Youthful hope vs. the stranglehold of religious sexism in Saudi Arabia, by female director Haifaa al-Mansour.
• THE GRANDMASTER (Hong Kong)
A Wong Kar-wai (IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE) spectacle with Tony Leung and goddess Zhang Ziyi.
Gorgeous martial arts epic interlaced with war, revenge, and heartbreak.
• RENOIR (France)
A quiet drama about Jean Renoir's later years (and the origins of his filmmaker sons) that does a remarkable job emulating the light and impressionism of his work in its cinematography.
• MUSEUM HOURS (Austria)
Understated story of new friends bonding over discussions of life and culture in an art museum.
• THE SELFISH GIANT (U.K.)
Brutal dramedy about two hardscrabble boys doing all the wrong moves to survive.
• THE LAST MATCH, a.k.a., 'La Partida' (Cuba/Spain)
Two young Cuban men discover their attraction to each other, and the dangers of others' reactions.
• THE PAST, a.k.a., 'Le Passe' (France/Iran) ⇧
✭✭✭✭✭
The director of A SEPARATION (2011) scores again.
An effortlessly complex human drama more gripping and surprising than any suspense thriller.
• NO (Chile)
Engrossing dramady about the populist voting drive in 1988 to purge the dictator Pinochet from power.
S M I L E
• IN A WORLD ⇧
Lake Bell (writer/director/star) wants to be the first great female Movie Trailer narrator.
• SAVING MR. BANKS
When Walt Disney met P.L. Travers, and the havoc of bringing MARY POPPINS to film life.
Emma Thompson, practically perfect in every way!
• INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS
Coen Brothers. A shaggy dog story about the early-'60s Folk movement, with left-field moments and stunning music by star Oscar Isaac.
• THE WORLD'S END (U.K.)
Never watching spoiling trailers has served me well again!
This seemed like a routine buddy comedy, until 30 minutes in when everything suddenly went... insane.
• THE WOLF OF WALL STREET
Or, 'A$$hole Chic (A Satire)'.
The most fiercely absurdist Scorsese has been since his cult flick AFTER HOURS.
• GIMME THE LOOT
A couple of NYC graffiti artists need money and manage to goof up everything they touch.
Interesting cast, odd turns, and zany moments.
• R100 (Japan)
A man signs a contract with a dominatrix agency, who begin to attack him at all times like ninjas.
The fun film gets exponentially wilder right into the huge finale.
D R E A M
✭✭✭✭✭
• GRAVITY ⇧
A quantuum leap forward in cinema craft, as seismic as 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY and STAR WARS.
And a beautiful rebirth parable underneath.
• STAR TREK: Into Darkness
This is an excellent reinterpretation -and escalation- of classic elements, fresh with new possibility.
Any naysayers are fools.
• THOR 2: The Dark World
The only Superman film done right this year.
• ELYSIUM
This is how most of us live right now; mass poverty with no healthcare, overlorded by The Rich on high.
This is real life.
• PIERCING BRIGHTNESS (UK)
Experimental indie; thin story with good craft.
• PACIFIC RIM
Robots vs. Monsters!
I haven't been a Kaiju movie afficianado, but this Del Toro film is magnificent!
• THE HOBBIT: The Desolation of Smaug ⇧
Tauriel!
Underrated, Dept.:
• OBLIVION
This film constantly plays notes from other classic SF films, knowing your familiarity and feinting clever with them.
Feels like reading a good SciFi short story.
• AFTER EARTH
A dsystopic future parable starring Will Smith and his son, Jaden.
Some wonkiness, but in general it's very enjoyable.
N I G H T M A R E
✭✭✭✭✭
• UPSTREAM COLOR ⇧
The creator of PRIMER returns with a sharp headtrip film that demands every moment of your concentration and imagination.
Excellent craft, mindbending smarts, and the ever-versatile Amy Seimetz.
• EUROPA REPORT ⇧
"All these worlds are yours except Europa. Attempt no landing there."
-Arthur C. Clarke, "2010: ODYSSEY TWO"
• CARRIE
There are two films interpreting Stephen King's classic book; both are worth your time.
Director Kimberly Peirce (BOYS DON'T CRY) skips DePalma's Hitchcock stylings in favor of focusing new nuance to characters and actions in every scene.
• THE TRUTH ABOUT EMANUEL
Thoughtful, twisty psychological Indie by writer/director Francesca Gregorini.
• SIDE EFFECTS
Soderbergh's quietly subversive homage to a particular Hitchcock film, with merit all its own.
• STRANGER BY THE LAKE (France)
At an isolated cruisers beach, a man sees the guy he cares for murder someone.
G R A P H I C
I M A G E S
• BLUE IS THE WARMEST COLOR (France) ⇧
✭✭✭✭✭
> Four Color Films review
This brilliant film is based on Julie Maroh's graphic novel, "Le Bleu est une Couleur Chaude", thoroughly expanded and deepened.
• IRON MAN 3
> Four Color Films review
Fun but uneven mix of IRON MAN and KISS KISS BANG BANG.
(Slighting Gwyneth Paltrow and Rebecca Hall was foolish.)
• THOR 2: The Dark World
> Four Color Films review
An antidote to MAN OF KILL.
• AGENTS OF S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
The best DOLLHOUSE writers combine the better parts of MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE and ALIAS with the Marvel mythos.
A R T F L I X
• STEVEN UNIVERSE ⇧
Ultra-Pop zaniness!
• TOY STORY HALLOWEEN (TV special)
Every time they sequel TOY STORY, it only improves!
• MONSTERS UNIVERSITY
Pixar makes films for adults who remember the wonder of being a kid.
• FROM UP ON POPPY HILL
Studio Ghibli. Nuff said.
• ERNEST AND CELESTINE (France)
Exquisite watercolor film that warms you like a splendid meal.
• RIO 2096: A STORY OF LOVE AND FURY (Brazil)
Hand animated allegory about the oppressive history of Brazil, challenged across 600 years by an immortal and his reincarnated love.
B E S T
D O C U M E N T A R I E S :
2 0 1 3
✭✭✭✭✭
• THE AFRICAN AMERICANS (PBS mini-series) ⇧
Henry Louis Gates, Jr. gives an excellent and always timely overview of the crucial history and contributions of Africans in the United States.
• WE STEAL SECRETS: The Story of WikiLeaks
An admirable journalistic attempt to show all sides of the Julian Assange and Bradley Manning controversies.
• INEQUALITY FOR ALL
Robert Reich reveals how the economy is a grift machine.
• FIRE IN THE BLOOD
In the '90s, drug companies blocked access to affordable anti-AIDS medicines, causing the deaths of millions of 'third world' people.
• FAR OUT ISN'T FAR ENOUGH: The Tomi Ungerer Story
A children's book author/illustrator deals with uncomfortable truths and gets hammered by reactionaries.
• STORIES WE TELL
A journalist discovers her hidden parentage, and examines all the roots and repercussions of this.
• ROOM 237
We bring our own meanings to everything;
revel in these unique interpretations of Kubrick's THE SHINING (1980).
• MUSCLE SHOALS
Rival to Motown and Stax, the Muscle Shoals studio made many of the greatest Rock and Soul songs ever.
• SOUND CITY
A seedy studio, a magic mixing board, and a history of great music.
B E S T
T V :
2 0 1 3
D R A M A
✭✭✭✭✭
• RECTIFY 1 ⇧
The best show on television.
Has a zen understanding of human joy and pain that is often breathtaking.
✭✭✭✭✭
• MASTERS OF SEX 1 ⇧
How Masters and Johnson liberated the libido! Lizzy Caplan is a force.
✭✭✭✭✭
• BREAKING BAD 5
A shattering and elegant close for one of Television's greatest shows.
• THE KILLING 3
Grim, ambitious, fearless performances, Amy Seimetz.
• LOW WINTER SUN 1
An urban crimed drama starring Mark Strong, remaking his original British series.
• MAD MEN 6
• BATES MOTEL 1
The co-showrunner of 'Lost' remakes PSYCHO as TWIN PEAKS.
• TOP OF THE LAKE (mini-series)
A murder in the remote woods. Jane Campion does TWIN PEAKS in New Zealand.
• HANNIBAL 1
At last, the spotlight shifts from Hannibal Lecter to the game-changing and very first empathic investigator, Will Graham (RED DRAGON, 1981)!
Now Moriarty has the Holmes that disappeared from the subsequent books.
W O N D E R
• THE RETURNED (a.k.a., Les Revenants/ They Come Back) 1 (France) ⇧
Parallels the spirit of Stephen King in poetic depths that the bubble-dum UNDER THE DOME never will.
• GAME OF THRONES 3
Brutal.
• AGENTS OF S.H.I.E.L.D. 1
It'll never beat Kirby or Steranko, but I like it.
• ALMOST HUMAN 1
Cop and robot partner. Formulaic, but good leads.
• SLEEPY HOLLOW 1
Crazed fun.
With more retcon backstory than Supergirl.
U K
✭✭✭✭✭
• ORPHAN BLACK (Canada/BBC) 1 ⇧
Tatiana Maslaney.
The clone odyssey. Same genes, different dreams.
• DOCTOR WHO 7
Thank you, Matt Smith, for your livewire run.
• MISFITS 5
Final season fo the punk 'superheroes'. The first two seasons mattered most.
• THE FALL 1
Gillian Anderson gets spotlight in a taut, bracing murder procedural set in Ireland.
• BROADCHURCH 1
David Tennant. Jody Whittaker.
A death devestates a coastal town, as two detectives battle each other.
• RIPPER STREET 2
A Whitechapel police precinct, grappling in the wake of the Ripper murders.
COPPER is good, but RIPPER STREET is great.
• BLACK MIRROR 2 ⇧
The acidic anthology set 'five minutes in the future' tops itself with another trio of brutal, cautionary speculative fictions.
• "DOCTOR WHO: An Adventure in Space and Time"
A splendid take on the making of the original First Doctor serials (1963-'66).
David Bradley is marvelous as Willam Hartnell. So much so that he should portray the First Doctor at some point on the current series.
(Update: And he did, on the 2017 Christmas Special.)
C O M E D Y
• ENLIGHTENED 2 ⇧
Destroy evil corporations. Save your soul.
• ELEMENTARY 2
The fine American parallel to SHERLOCK hits its stride, with more mythos and exponential depth.
• ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT 4
From wobble to stand to jog to sprint; an odd season that regains its original glory full-on by the end.
• STEVEN UNIVERSE 1
The beach! Pizza! Super powers! Aliens! Plus songs!
© Tym Stevens
See also:
• BEST MOVIES + TV: 2023
• BEST MUSIC: 2023
• BEST COMICS: 2023
• BEST MOVIES + TV: 2022
• BEST MUSIC: 2022
• BEST COMICS: 2022
• BEST MOVIES + TV: 2021
• BEST MUSIC: 2021
• BEST COMICS: 2021
• BEST MOVIES + TV: 2020
• BEST MUSIC: 2020
• BEST COMICS: 2020
• BEST MOVIES + TV: 2019
• BEST MUSIC: 2019
• BEST COMICS: 2019
• BEST MOVIES + TV: 2018
• BEST MUSIC: 2018
• BEST COMICS: 2018
• BEST MOVIES + TV: 2017
• BEST MUSIC: 2017
• BEST COMICS: 2017
• BEST MOVIES + TV: 2016
• BEST MUSIC: 2016
• BEST COMICS: 2016
• BEST MOVIES + TV: 2015
• BEST MUSIC: 2015
• BEST COMICS: 2015
• BEST MOVIES + TV: 2014
• BEST MUSIC: 2014
• BEST COMICS: 2014
• BEST MUSIC: 2013
• BEST COMICS: 2013
• BEST MOVIES + TV: 2012
• BEST MUSIC: 2012
• BEST COMICS: 2012
• BEST MOVIES + TV: 2011
• BEST MUSIC: 2011
• BEST COMICS: 2011
• BEST MOVIES + TV: 2000-2010
• BEST MUSIC: 2000-2010
• BEST COMICS: 2000-2010
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