My Top Ten Best Films of 2013

by Christopher Barr

Here are my top ten films of the year.

10.) Nebraska

This film was surprisingly one of the funniest films of the years.  But that’s Alexander Payne’s genius, the man directs a film that is funny, heartfelt, tragic and realistic and often can do this all in one scene.  He hires wonderful actors for his films; Bruce Dern gave one of the best performances of the year.  This film looked beautifully bleached but simultaneously fascinating and the use of black and white was perfectly chosen.  

9.) Captain Phillips

The best performance by an actor this year was not the whole of Tom Hanks’ performance in Captain Phillips, but it was a part of it.  The very last moments of the film when Captain Phillips is being looked after by Navy Medical Personnel, after the kidnapping crisis is over, the acting skill that Tom Hanks performed in that scene is without a doubt his best acting ever in his movies and some of the best acting I’ve ever seen on film.  The film itself is an amazing achievement in suspense and directing by Paul Greengrass.

8.) Inside Llewyn Davis

This film is about the artistic fulfillment in life passing you by as well as how awkward it can be being around uninspired people, when all you wish to do is creatively grow.  You often get the sense of whether it’s you that ruined your life or was it the company you kept?  This film had a dreamy softness to its look, as if everyone in it were all just a bunch of dreamers.  Oscar Isaac played Llewyn magnificently as a tragic figure but also a tenacious performer.  The music in this film was some of the best in film this year.  T-Bone Burnett is simply a master musician and it shows throughout every moment of this glorious film.  The Coen Brothers keep doing it, so I’ll stand in line every time they come out with a new one.  Also, the Bob Dylan moment at the end of the film is one of the great subtle wow moments of the year.

7.) Blue Jasmine

Woody Allen is without a doubt one of my favorite writer, directors in cinema.  He has an uncanny ability to create realistic, neurotic characters, through his understanding of Sigmund Freud and the comedy timing of the Marx Brothers, upon a vast library of knowledge on art, music and film.  Jasmine, played to the detailed composition of Mozart by Cate Blanchett, is a woman living with an electrical storm constantly streaming through her brain, a woman that has a vastly unrealistic view of how life should be treating her as appose to how it does treat her.

6.) 12 Years A Slave

This film is a devastating look at the early days of Southern American prosperity with its ubiquitous use of African slaves as workers.  The brutality and reality of this unfortunate stain on American History was captured brilliantly by director Steve McQueen.  The performances in this film are all top notch with the exception of Lipita Nyong’o who plays Patsey.  Her performance is the tour de force stand out of all wonderful performances in the film.  She plays a slave that is doomed, where Solomon Northrup knew very well what freedom was, Patsey was born into slavery and would have died a slave.

5.) American Hustle

There have been many films that have successfully found an inspiring ensemble cast to help the narrative of their respective stories, but what I think makes this film special is all involved are at the top of their acting game.  There are no weak links in this film and that’s what makes it such a delight to watch.  Christian Bale and Amy Adams stand out as the leads in this con within a con story.  The costumes and sets are a testament to the detail and length director David O. Russell is will to go to tell his story.

4.) Before Midnight

This last film of an unlikely trilogy could very well be the best of the three.  Before Sunrise was the first outing about two intelligent young people, Jesse and Celine, with their futures ahead of them, falling in love.  The second film, Before Sunset was about the complications that adult life brings and also quite possibly destroys.  This third film is about, ‘What now?’  This film deals with the reality of aging while maintaining a joie de vivre toward living.  It is also about the fallacy of love and connection; it exposes some of the lie that coexists with the fantasy of relationships and marriage.  But also in the end, celebrates this fallacy with the reality of sharing your life with a person you love.  Ethan Hawke and Julia Delpy could very be the most realistic couple ever to appear in film.  The mood and life that this film quilts through its narrative is both welcoming and fresh, and to think this trilogy spans the better part of two decades.

3.) The Wolf of Wall Street

A film of this calibre only comes along every so often and is because Martin Scorsese can’t make them fast enough.  This film is on the very drugs and alcohol that are littered throughout every delicious scene.  It’s a three hour movie that I could have easily stayed for four.  Leonardo DiCaprio turns in a career best performance and Jonah Hill is sizing up to be a damn good actor.  Also, the Quaalude scene in the film is one of the funniest scenes this year.  Apparently, greed is still good.

2.) Her

This film is truly a love letter, in an honest and non- sensationalized way.  The direction and writing by Spike Jonze was beautiful intimate and the score was delightful.   Joaquin Phoenix is absolutely a wonder in the role of Theodore, a man with a broken heart who finds love again in the most unusual place, an artificially intelligent operating system, passionately voiced by the lovely Scarlett Johansson.

1.) Gravity

It is a rare thing these days to walk into a movie theatre and watch a film that is a complete celebration of the art of movie magic.  Gravity has successfully made me feel like a kid watching Star Wars all over again.  This film is a technological marvel but more importantly, it’s a story about spirit and resilience.  It didn’t have a secret agenda like a lot of films these days with their demographics and sequel potentiality or brand synergy.  This film had, ‘we love making movies’ written all over it, and that’s what makes it special and what’s going to make it a cinematic classic in years to come.

Here are five other amazing films that I enjoyed this year.

Dallas Buyers Club

Mud

Hunger Games: Catching Fire 

The World's End

Prisoners