In 2013
Barack Obama began his second term as President of the United States;
Benedict XVI resigned and Francis was chosen to replace him as the 266th pope;
Edward Snowden revealed the US government had been engaged in mass surveillance of its population;
Grand Theft Auto V was released;
Croatia joined the European Union;
In United States v Windsor, the US Supreme Court granted federal recognition to same-sex marriage;
House of Cards, The Americans, Nathan for You, Bates Motel, Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown, Inside Amy Schumer, Ray Donavan, Drunk History, Orange is the New Black, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., The Goldbergs, and Rick and Morty premiered;
30 Rock, The Office, Futurama, Breaking Bad, and What Not to Wear aired their final episodes;
Colin Kaepernick led the San Francisco 49ers to the Super Bowl where they were defeated by the Baltimore Ravens;
Researchers at the Oregon Health and Science University announced they had produced the first embryonic stem cells via cloning;
Prince George of Wales was born;
While Patti Page, Conrad Bain, Stan Musial , Ed Koch, Mindy McCready, Hugo Chavez, Paul Bearer, Chinua Achebe, Richard Griffiths, Roger Ebert, Don Shirley, Annette Funicello, Margaret Thatcher, Jonathan Winters, Allan Arbus, George Jones, Ray Harryhausen, Ray Manzarek, Jean Stapleton, Frank Lautenberg, James Gandolfini, Alain Mimoun, Cory Monteith, Helen Thomas, Dennis Farina, Eileen Brennan, Karen Black, Elmore Leonard, Julie Harris, Seamus Haney, David Frost, Tommy Morrison, Ken Norton, Tom Clancy, Ed Lauter, Hal Needham, Marcia Wallace, Walt Bellamy, Doris Lessing, Paul Walker, Nelson Mandela, Eleanor Parker, and Peter O’Toole died.
The following is list of my ten favorite films released in 2013:
10) The Great Beauty
As a young man, Jep Gambardella wrote a well received novel which made him famous and wealthy. Now, he writes cultural columns and throws elaborate parties.
On his 65th birthday, he walks through Rome reflecting on his life. The first half of the movie, as he meanders through the city, is a Felliniesque version of My Dinner with Andre (1981). But when Jep attends a dinner with an elderly nun, it transforms into a sublime meditation on the purpose of life.
The nun clings to a worldview which looks beyond her personal desires to a much bigger truth. In contrast, her cadre of followers are a pathetic bunch who seek to profit off her piety.
Jep is moved by the encounter, realizing it’s possible to break through the tyranny of self-interest. The odds aren’t good. Of the more than twenty people at dinner with the nun, Jep is the only one who understands what she’s saying, but as long as there is at least one person who can see the great beauty of the world, all is not lost.
9) 12 Years a Slave
In 1843, Solomon Northrup, a free African-American musician, is kidnapped and sold into slavery. He spends 12 years of his life in captivity until he is finally freed and reunited with his family. This film is based on his memoirs describing his ordeal.
A few parts of the film didn’t work for me like Brad Pitt as Canadian Samuel Bass appearing in the final fifteen minutes and providing Solomon with a means to escape his fate. This would have been better with a lesser known actor; Pitt as the unsung hero seems like ego stroking (especially since he also produced). The historical counterpart may have been a Canuck, but it seems too convenient for a non-American to accurately see the horrors of American slavery.
It makes me giggle to think Taran Killim is in a Best Picture winning film. I’d like to think his character is a descendant of Jebediah Atkinson, the 18th century critic he plays on Weekend Update.
I’d like to see this as the first half of a double feature with Django Unchained (2012). I think it would transform Django into a more somber work.
It’s an important film about the ugliness of slavery, but it’s better understood as a movie about what a man can survive and endure. I’ll remember the dignity and strength of Solomon Northup more than the brutality of his captors.
8. Frozen
Watching this in the theater with my then three year old son was a revelation. It was a joyous, celebratory film and the music was as rich and wonderful as anything in the Disney canon. A decade later and it’s still a dazzling success story. Few films have so quickly and thoroughly permeated popular culture and “Let it Go” has entered the Great American songbook.
A decade after watching it with my son, my now three year old daughter has discovered it and her obsession with Elsa and Ana has me even more convinced this will stand the test of time in the Disney pantheon.
Richard Linklater’s Before trilogy is a modern masterpiece. For obvious reasons, romantic comedies rarely get sequels. I can only think of a few: Romancing the Stone gave us The Jewel of the Nile. Enchanted produced Disenchanted. No one wants to see what happens after happily ever after.
Together, the Before movies are a sort of triptych of love in the modern world. The idealized love of Before Sunrise, the compromised settling in Before Sunset and the reality of how messy love and family can be in Before Midnight.
Jesse (Ethan Hawke) and Celine (Julie Delpy) will be touchstones of modern romantics for years to come.
6) Tracks
In 1977, Robyn Davidson (Mia Wasikowska) traveled almost 1700 miles from Alice Springs, Australia across the desert to the Indian Ocean with only her dogs and a pack of camels while Rick Smolan (Adam Diver) chronicled her journey for National Geographic.
Wasikowksa is well-known as the title character in Tim Burton’s unfortunate Alice in Wonderland (2010), but shows more talent and promise here in a much more difficult and physically demanding role.
Adam Driver is an immensely gifted actor who will soon become a household name following his role in the next Star Wars movie.
The comparisons to Wild (2014) were inevitable. Both films feature strong-willed women challenging themselves with a physical test of endurance as a way to overcome past emotional trauma.
But while Witherspoon’s film makes it clear her trek is Strayed’s coping mechanism following her mother’s death, this film focuses exclusively on Robyn’s journey to enlightenment, obscuring her motivation.
Strayed’s grieving comes across as whiny and self-indulgent, but leaving Davidson’s motivation unknown opens this film up to interpretation and makes it more accessible.
I loved this film and will think of it and Davidson’s inspiring journey often.
5) Philomena
Unemployed journalist Martin Sixsmith (Steve Coogan) reluctantly agrees to write about Philomena Lee, who was forced to give up her young child for adoption by overzealous Catholic nuns punishing her because she conceived the child out of wedlock. Fifty years after their separation, Sixsmith and Lee attempt to discover his whereabouts and reunite the two.
From Renaissance Queen to dying artist to gossiping busybody to head of a master spy ring, Dame Judy Dench never ceases to amaze, and her work here continues a long string of excellence.
Most of Steve Coogan’s work has been in comedic films like Night at the Museum (2006), Tropic Thunder (2008), Hamlet 2 (2008) and Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa (2012), but with this film and What Maisie Knew (2012), he proves to be a more than capable dramatic actor.
The first hour is prelude. The movie really lasts about ten seconds, about as long as it takes Philomena Lee to say three words: I forgive her. By forgiving her tormentors, Ms. Lee shows us the power of faith to transform and heal.
There were some who felt it was unfair to Catholicism. If your focus is on the religious institution, then, yes it’s an ugly portrait. The nuns who separated families in the name of Jesus are a horrible manifestation of a certain strain of religion practiced by far too many, but this film demonstrates how beautiful and life affirming faith can be. As long as there are people of faith like Philomena Lee, the future of mankind is assured.
4) The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
Daydreamer Walter Mitty (Ben Stiller) has a steady, boring job at Life, where he’s developed a correspondence and pseudo-friendship with renowned photojournalist Sean O’Connell (Sean Penn).
The magazine is sold to a conglomerate and will become an exclusively digital publication. Its last traditional cover will be one last photo by O’Connell which Walter loses because of his persistent daydreaming. To rectify his mistake, he embarks on a series of adventures to track down O’Connell and retrieve another copy of the photo.
As Mitty’s love interest, Cheryl Melhoff, Kristen Wiig shows a welcome ability to reign in her performance, something unexpected from her work on Saturday Night Live.
Shirley Maclaine sparkles as Mitty’s mother, Edna. Her output has slowed considerably as she enters her ninth decade, but her recent work in Richard Linklater’s Bernie (2011) and Downton Abbey proves she’s still an engaging screen presence.
Sean Penn’s tough guy image, carefully crafted him in films like Dead Man Walking (1995), Mystic River (2003) and Gangster Squad (2013) adds to his performance as the aloof and taciturn Sean O’Connell.
I love Patton Oswalt, but Todd Maher, an eager eHarmony technician, feels like unnecessary padding, written just so they could justify having Oswalt in the film.
Adam Scott’s great as Ben Wyatt but his work as Ted Hendricks, the asshole new boss, is the biggest misstep of the film.
It’s not Ben Stiller’s funniest film, but it may be the most satisfying, and is a major step forward for his directorial career. Wildly different from the 1947 film adaptation of James Thurber’s short story, many dismissed it as a feature-length “Just Do It” commercial, but not every movie can be a detached, irony filled statement on the pointlessness of existence. There’s still a need for positive, life affirming movies, and I liked this straightforward celebration of the countless possibilities of life.
3) The Way Way Back
Awkward teenager Duncan (Liam James) finds a surrogate father in Owen (Sam Rockwell), the manager of Water Wizz. This is not an original film, but the characters are so authentic and the enthusiasm so overwhelming, it’s more than capable of overcoming any deficiency in its conceit.
James’s ability to draw the audience in to Duncan’s turmoil is remarkable for someone so young and Rockwell exudes so much charisma, I missed him when he was not onscreen.
Steve Carrell is great as Trent, the asshole dating Duncan’s mom, Pam played by the underrated Toni Collette.
The pairing of Carrell and Collette made me think of their previous collaboration, the missed opportunity, Little Miss Sunshine (2006).
Maya Rudolph’s relationship with Paul Thomas Anderson fascinates me. His movies are serious musings about important subjects, but his partner is the star of Idiocracy (2006). This makes me want to look for more humor in his movies, and more darkness in her performances.
Co-writers and co-directors, Jim Rash and Nat Faxon, already have an Academy Award for their adaptation of The Descendants (2011). I’m a fan of Rash. Dean Pelton is one of the highlights of the excellent Community, and his work as Lewis, one of the workers at Water Wizz, is delightful. I’m not as familiar with Nat Faxon, but his turn as Roddy, another Water Wizz employee, while serviceable, doesn’t have the same star power.
This is not groundbreaking cinema, but it offers something exceedingly rare: two hours of entertainment, which will leave you feeling better about yourself and the world we live in.
2. Her
After his divorce from childhood sweetheart Catherine (Rooney Mara), Theodore Twombly (Joaquin Phoenix) buys an operating system with advanced artificial intelligence he names Samantha (Scarlett Johansson) and begins a relationship with her.
For once, Joaquin Phoenix comes across as a normal guy, which after the disaster of I’m Still Here (2010) is quite an accomplishment.
Scarlett Johansson debuted in the infamous Rob Reiner bomb North (1994), which earned a zero star review from Roger Ebert . Her career choices since in Lost in Translation (2003), Match Point (2005), The Prestige (2006), and as Black Widow in the Marvel Cinematic Universe have redeemed the early misfire.
Amy Adams is great as Amy, Theodore’s human friend and possible future lover. She’s come a long way from “The Hot Girl” in The Office to one of the most respected and dependable actresses in Hollywood.
Rooney Mara doesn’t do much as Twombly’s soon to be ex-wife. After a small, but memorable role in The Social Network (2010) and a leading role in the American version of The Girl with The Dragon Tattoo (2011) everyone thought she was destined for stardom, but it hasn’t materialized yet.
Olivia Wilde doesn’t do anything for me, but she’s fine as a blind date for Theodore.
As Theodore’s coworker Paul, Chris Pratt demonstrates the charisma which led to his meteoric rise from waiter at a Bubba Gump Shrimp in Hawaii to Star-Lord.
Despite only directing four feature films, Spike Jonze’s style, a sort of postmodern magical realism, has become synonymous with a quirky, bemused worldview.
I love the subtlety of this version of the not so distant future: the reversion to 1940s fashion, a company which produces personalized handwritten letters for people too lazy or not creative enough to write their own. In world of Siri and Cortana, the evolution of operating systems to individual people feels like a natural progression.
Theodore Twombly’s love affair with his operating system suggests we don’t fall in love with people, but with our own ideas of who a person is.
1) The Lady in Number 6: Music Saved My Life
When Alice Herz-Sommer died in early 2014, she was, at 110, the oldest living Holocaust survivor. Her ability to play the piano led to preferential treatment in the concentration camps which saved her life. The Germans needed Jews who could play musical instruments, so when outside visitors came to the camps, the officers could point to their music as a sign of how humanely the prisoners were treated.
Few people live to be 110, but Alice didn’t rest in her old age. In the final year of her life, she practiced the piano three hours a day.
Despite her struggles, she was full of happiness, marveling at the extraordinary life she’d been given. As a child, Gustav Mahler and Franz Kafka were among her family’s friends and her son was a celebrated musician until his death in 2001 at the age of 61.
Nearing the end of her life, Alice remained optimistic, “I look at the good. When you are relaxed, your body is always relaxed. When you are pessimistic, your body behaves in an unnatural way. It is up to us whether we look at the good or the bad.”
Sadly a few days before this film won the Academy Award for Best Short Documentary, Alice passed away. Like all of us, she only lived once, but unlike too few of us, she made her once count.