For the third year in a row, I've been lucky enough to catch as many of the best and brightest movies of 2013 as possible before the official end of the year today. I managed to keep seeing movies and discovered the beauty of Video on Demand, which expanded my opportunities to review movies running concurrently in theaters. I found greater luck being near the big city of Chicago to win my way into advance screenings through contests and Gofobo events. The best part of all was getting the chance to treat myself and take part in the 49th Chicago International Film Festival, where three of my "10 Best" movies came from. I'm amazed that I was able to see all that I did with a new little piece of entertainment at home.
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Since the Christmas Day release of The Wolf of Wall Street from director Martin Scorsese, the peaks and valleys of the buzz and backlash being traded back and forth has been nothing short of eye-opening. We see a few controversial movies come out every year, but this one is becoming hugely different.
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Her, the new film from Being John Malkovich and Where the Wild Things Are director Spike Jonze, takes a look at that level of dichotomy and extends it into the not-too-distant future in a very different kind of science fiction setting.
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It was Oscar Wilde that famously said "life imitates art more than art imitates life." When that mantra gets applied to cinema, we commonly talk about how we, as audiences, live vicariously through the imagination and fantasies that films create for us. The first part of that quote gets talked about all the time in that way. It's not too often that the second half of that quote comes true, but I feel that Ethan and Joel Coen have achieved just that with their latest feature film, Inside Llewyn Davis. As a fictional documentation and internal look at a crucial week-long journey in the life of an aspiring folk singer in 1961 Greenwich Village within New York City, Inside Llewyn Davis uniquely feels more like a film taking on real life than one pretending the other way around, as is so often the case with movies. While unique, I don't know if that's necessarily a good thing. Let me explain.
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Like Tangled, Frozen exceeds all expectations and inches Walt Disney Animation Studios more and more closer to regaining their esteemed animation reputation as the best in the business. I'm not quite ready to crown a new champion the way Cinema Blend describes, but I will say that this puts them back in the conversation.
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During the seemingly long Oscar season each year, studios save some of their best and brightest films for the end of the year so that voters with short memories will remember them most when its time to fill out a ballot for awards nominations. It's incredibly rare to see a Best Picture Academy Award winner from a month earlier than October. The term that gets used a great deal is "Oscar bait." This creates a very flooded market in December of memorable film after memorable film. These studios pull out all of the marketing stops and want that "Nominated for..." and "Winner of..." sound byte or graphic on their print advertisements, posters, trailers and TV spots. They long to be showered with praise and are cradled by the powers-that-be to grab that spotlight. They want you to pay your money and join in that praise, hence the term "Oscar bait."
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Directing his fifth film and first since the purposely over-the-top Tropic Thunder from 2008, Ben Stiller turns the macho dial way down and takes his shot at loosely adapting the famous 1939 James Thurber short story that was previously made into a film starring funnyman Danny Kaye in 1947.
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While it's not quite as good or instantly quotable as the first film, Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues is a hilarious follow-up to make this already funny world even bigger while poking great fun at our modern news. I'm in the camp that loves this sort of thing and it's arguably the funniest movie of the year.
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As a film, I think The Book Thief does enough to get half of that aforementioned hopeful goal to make people happy. The film has its respectful essence, but lacks a bit of the spirit and entertainment value.
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Like a great middle chapter should, this film escalates the tension, danger, and risk towards an as-yet-unseen climax that is sure to blow our socks off. Are the producers still milking us for three movies that could have fit into one? Probably, but, once again, I, for one, have the patience to respect what these filmmakers are up to and value what others might call tedious.
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For my website's 250th movie review, I'm proud to bring you an advance review of Saving Mr. Banks, the newest live-action feature film from Walt Disney Pictures.
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Shedding most of his action star attraction and playing a dedicated father and husband,Hours easily stands out as the best Paul Walker has ever been as an actor instead of just a movie star. With his unfortunate and untimely death, it will be a shame that we will never get to see him capitalize from this passion project and personal success. Hours is a film and performance to be proud of. It's nothing award-worthy, but a very solid effort that resonates.
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