Jennifer Lawrence

The Top 13 Movies of 2013

/ / Top Tens & Lists

The Top 13 Movies of 2013

Personal journeys, isolation, the style of the 60’s and 70’s, self-destructive acts and debauchery, troubled romance, rivalries, and overcoming hardships – these were the major themes of the films that composed my list of the Top Movies of 2013. It turned out to be a strong year in movies as several films I thoroughly enjoyed failed to make this list. Rather than doing honorable mentions, I decided to stretch the list from 10 to 13 allowing me to include three more films I wanted to discuss but weren’t otherwise going to earn a mention on a list of the Top 10 Movies of 2013. Here then are the The Top 13 Movies of 2013.

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American Hustle

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: American Hustle
  • IMDB: link

American HustleFor this 70’s tale of con men (Christian Bale and Amy Adams) in over their heads writer/director David O. Russell reunites with Silver Linings Playbook stars Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence. Part character study, part insane and over-the-top adventure, American Hustle offers audiences one of the year’s best films.

After a brief introduction to Irving Rosenfeld (Bale) and his mistress and co-conspirator Sydney (Adams), the pair are busted by up-and-coming FBI hot-head Richie DiMaso (Cooper) who decides to use the pair to pull in even bigger fish. Regardless of danger or consequences, and against the orders of his boss (Louis C.K.), DiMaso pushes Irving and Sydney into going after both the mob and local politicians, beginning with Mayor Carmine Polito (Jeremy Renner) who is interested in rebuilding Atlantic City.

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Catching Fire

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
  • IMDB: link

Catching FireThe Hunger Games: Catching Fire is very much a typical sequel with the same inherent strengths and weaknesses of the first film. Those who enjoyed The Hunger Games (based on a series of teen fiction) are likely to enjoy this one as well. And those, like me, who found the first film wanting will have a similar reaction to the sequel.

Picking up a year after the events of The Hunger Games, Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) and Peeta (Josh Hutcherson) leave their separate lives to reconnect for a celebratory tour on the anniversary of their win. Despite little contact over the past year, the pair play up the lovers angle at the command of President Snow (Donald Sutherland) who hopes it may help quell the glimmer of insurrection Katniss’ victory began.

When Katniss proves unable to give Snow what he wants, and he realizes killing her would only create a martyr, the president reaches out to new game master Plutarch Heavensbee (Philip Seymour Hoffman) to design a scenario to end both her popularity and her life.

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From A to Z – The Top Ten Movies of 2012

/ / Top Tens & Lists

2012 turned out to be a pretty darn good year at the movies. There were two films which I gave perfect scores to this year, one of which the majority of the country won’t be seeing until early next year. I’m breaking my own rule of including it on the list, but we’ll get to that in a moment. Between these two films, which naturally open and close the list (as it’s presented alphabetically), are eight other films rounding out the class of 2012.

Cutting down my list to ten means I need to speak for a moment on films that barely missed the cut. John Carter was the year’s most under-appreciated film, The Cabin in the Woods turned the horror genre on its ear, Ang Lee delivered an amazing journey with Life of Pi, Wreck-It Ralph was this year’s best animated feature, Safety Not Guaranteed was a terrific little sci-fi flick almost no one saw, and Moonrise Kingdom was director Wes Anderson‘s best film since The Royal Tenenbaums.

Enough with what didn’t make the list, let’s get down to discussing what did:

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