On Side Effects out of the 22 films I’d reviewed to that point. Two months later and I’ve now posted 65 total reviews and the list of top quality movies has dramatically increased.
Of the 65 total reviews I’ve posted this year, eight are reprinted reviews from last year’s Cannes and Toronto Film Festivals. These include reviews for Room 237, The Place Beyond the Pines, The Sapphires, Antiviral, Spring Breakers, To the Wonder, The Iceman and Aftershock. I never quite know which year to credit those films in, but while a couple of them are some of the better films to be released this year, I wouldn’t consider any of them as members of the “best” of 2013.
As of right now, I have eight films I would say are in strong consideration for my year end top ten. Those titles are listed below in alphabetical order…
- All is Lost
- Before Midnight
- Frances Ha
- Fruitvale Station
- Inside Llewyn Davis
- The Past
- Side Effects
- Venus In Fur
Of the 65 films I’ve reviewed this year I’d say the 15 below would qualify as the best I’ve seen, though there are films such as Fast & Furious 6 or even Beautiful Creatures, which were decent pieces of entertainment, though to call them members of “the best” would be quite the stretch.
Each link below leads to my full review for each film.
- Before Midnight (A+)
- Inside Llewyn Davis (A+) *
- All is Lost (A+) *
- Fruitvale Station (A) *
- Side Effects (A-)
- The Past (A-) *
- Room 237 (B+)
- Mud (B+)
- Frances Ha (B+)
- *
- Venus In Fur (B+) *
- The Place Beyond the Pines (B)
- 42 (B)
- *
- *
Now when it comes to the worst, just because I was in Cannes doesn’t mean I didn’t see any bad films. In fact if I were to make a list of the ten worst films I’ve seen this year, at least three — Shield of Straw, The Bastards and The Immigrant — would make that list.
As of right now, I’d say there are 12 films vying for my year-end list of the worst films of 2013, one of which being Aftershock, which I saw last year, but really deserves to be on every “worst of” list I make for the rest of my life. Here are the 12 worst films of 2013 so far, listed in alphabetical order with links to my full review for each:
- Aftershock (F)
- The Bastards (D) *
- Bullet to the Head (D)
- A Good Day To Die Hard (F)
- Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters (D)
- The Host (F)
- Identity Thief (D)
- *
- Oz the Great and Powerful (D)
- Pain and Gain (D)
- Safe Haven (D-)
- *
Now I want to hear from you, what are the best and worst films you’ve seen this year? And what films are you most looking forward to seeing over the course of the next few months?
* Denotes films I saw at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival.
