I’ve been contemplating my list of the top ten worst films of the year and I’m having a hard time remembering all the awful films I’ve seen this year. In large part because there are so many, but at the same time, I have found a lot to love as my list of Best Movies of the Year (So Far) indicates.
While I hate boiling movies down to grades alone, here’s the grade breakdown for the 138 reviews I’ve posted so far this year:
- 4 “A+” grades
- 4 “A” grades
- 5 “A-” grades
- 12 “B+” grades
- 13 “B” grades
- 18 “B-” grades
- 22 “C+” grades
- 7 “C” grades
- 13 “C-” grades
- 13 “D+” grades
- 16 “D” grades
- 7 “D-” grades
- 4 “F” grades
One of those “F” grades is for Aftershock, which I saw last year but was released this year, so count that as you will as I also include a couple other titles here and there that I saw at film festivals last year. Taking that into consideration, last year I had three films I graded with an “A+” and (including Aftershock) three films I gave an “F”. But the crazy thing is that this year I have given out 40 grades of “D+” or lower compared to 32 for all of last year and we still have two-and-a-half-months to go. To go along with that, I’ve already reviewed as many films this year as I did all of last year.
Putting the bad aside for just a second, you look at those numbers above and I have to say, seeing 78 movies that I’ve decided to grade as “above average” isn’t too bad. In fact, I’d say that’s a pretty strong year for movies and we still have titles to look forward to such as American Hustle (12/13), Anchorman: The Legend Continues (12/20), The Counselor (11/25), Her (12/18), Lone Survivor (12/27), The Monuments Men (12/18), Oldboy (11/27), Out of the Furnace (12/6), Saving Mr. Banks (12/13), The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (12/25) and The Wolf of Wall Street (11/15).
All that said, here are the 31 movies that I’ve seen this year that I would say will be competing for my list of Top Ten Worst Films of 2013. No, not all the films I gave a D or D+ are on this list, which is why I hate boiling any year down to the grades alone, but we work with whatever shorthand we have.
Here’s the list, in alphabetical order, I’d love to see your lists in the comments below.
- After Earth (read my review here)
- Aftershock (read my review here)
- Baggage Claim (read my review here)
- The Bastards (read my Cannes review here)
- Bullet to the Head (read my review here)
- Devil’s Knot (read my Toronto review here)
- The Fifth Estate (read my review here)
- Gangster Squad (read my review here)
- Getaway (read my review here)
- A Good Day to Die Hard (read my review here)
- Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters (read my review here)
- The Host (read my review here)
- Identity Thief (read my review here)
- The Immigrant (read my Cannes review here)
- The Internship (read my review here)
- Labor Day (read my Toronto review here)
- The Last Stand (read my review here)
- The Lone Ranger (read my review here)
- Maniac (read my review here)
- The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones (read my review here)
- Oz the Great and Powerful (read my review here)
- Pacific Rim (read my review here)
- Pain & Gain (read my review here)
- Passion (read my review here)
- Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters (read my review here)
- R.I.P.D. (read my review here)
- Safe Haven (read my review here)
- Shield of Straw (read my Cannes review here)
- Stoker (read my review here)
- White House Down (read my review here)
- The Wolverine (read my review here)
I don’t know about you, but for me it’s almost impossible to believe some of these films were released this year.
