I actually caught up on movies a while ago but as usual there is something particularly daunting about throwing down with a top ten list. Of the movies that I have seen this year some just floated to the top. The order as always is pretty subjective.

1. American Hustle – Darned if I don’t like a good hustle flick, and darned if this wasn’t a good hustle flick, and not only because of the great cast; an always irresistible (to me) Christian Bale, even when he’s gross he’s good, but Cooper, Adams, Lawrence, Renner, and a wonderful use of Louis C.K. really didn’t hurt.
2. Her – Spike Jonze’s odd take on topics is often a hit for me but this futuristic romance with almost a seventies stylized look took me along a poignant romance path, even if I do normally hate Johansson her roboticness worked for me in this tale.
3. 12 Years a Slave – Our protagonist gets tossed into an awful life where we are made to see in him fish out of water but what’s worse, that he’s not really a slave or that slavery exists? Good performances show a lot to be bothered by.
4. The Way Way Back – The cast and script bring charm to this coming of age tale, summer vacation with mom and her new boyfriend starts out a little rough, but our protagonist starts to come into his own, who knew a water park and its management could be just what it took, Rockwell, Collette, Carell, and Janney add lovely if not lovable character performances.
5. Enough Said – Second takes on romance through beautifully touching performances by Louis-Dreyfus and Gandolfini, maybe I’m getting old, ok older, but the realness in the still cinematically unreal relationships was a nice touch.
6. Out of the Furnace – Did I mention that I love Bale? Well he’s not quite weird enough in this role for it to be my fave but when he tries to do right by his messed up brother he goes from blue collar bad company to back woods worse, violence much?
7. The Spectacular Now – Admittedly I often enjoy these teen coming of age tales and this slant on the ‘party’ guy and the ‘nice’ girl gives just enough of a less than typical character and path to make it feel sincere and effective.
8. Captain Phillips – Based on true stories make me a little crazy but I was brought along with the tense turns of the hijacking with Hank’s well played captain, wondered if paying more attention to what really happened would have helped or hurt.
9. Dallas Buyers Club – The performances from McConaughey and Leto in particular were almost enough to make the movie, but the somewhat historical look at this ’80s cowboy navigating the AIDS medical system kept our story engaging.
10. Much Ado About Nothing – I do love me some Joss Whedon but I also love an interesting slant on existing material and this modern setting shot on a small break at Whedon’s home brings new light to the romantic Shakespearean pairing.

What were your picks and pans from 2013?

Another fine year for film. Following you will see some of the critics and award noms that might point you in the right direction, or not. I haven’t seen them all, but I have done what I can so my seen are shown in bold. And stay tuned for my top picks. Critics key with links below for reference.

• 12 Years a Slave – RC, AFI, CN, GG, CC, MD, AOS, SH, IS, F, AA, KT, BS, CFC, GA
• The Act of Killing – RC
• After Tiller – MO
• Ain’t Them Bodies Saints – F, MO, GA
• All Is Lost – CN, AOS, IS
• American Hustle – RC, AFI, GG, CC, MD, AOS, SH, AA, KT, BS, CFC, MLS
• The Armstrong Lie – BS
• At Any Price – MLS
• Before Midnight – CN, MD, SH, F, GA, MLS
• Behind the Candelabra – MD
• Beyond the Hills – F
• The Bling Ring – AOS, MO
• Blue Caprice – F
• Blue is the Warmest Color – F, AOS, SH, BS
• Blue Jasmine – F
• The Butler – AOS, BS
• Captain Phillips – AFI, CN, GG, CC, MD, F, AA, KT
• Computer Chess – MO
• The Conjuring – CN
• The Counselor – MD
• Dallas Buyers Club – CC, AA
• Deceptive Practice: The Mysteries and Mentors of Ricky Jay – CN
• Drug War – F
• Enough Said – CN, AOS
• Frances Ha – AOS, IS, F, KT, MO
• Frozen – RC, BS
• Fruitvale Station – AFI, CN, F, KT, BS
• Furious 6 – RC
• The Grandmaster – RC, MD
• Gravity – RC, AFI, CN, GG, CC, SH, F, AA, BA, KT, BS, CFC
• The Great Beauty – RC, MD, SH
• The Great Gatsby – AOS
• Hannah Arndt – AOS
• Her – RC, AFI, GG, CC, MD, F, AA, KT, NS, MO, CFC
• The Hobbit  – RC
• Inequality for All – BS
• Inside Llewyn Davis – AFI, GG, CC, MD, AOS, SH, IS, F, KT, BS, CFC, GA
• The Invisible Woman – KT
• Manakamana – MD
• Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom – BA
• Much Ado About Nothing – MLS
• Mud – F, BS
• Nebraska – AFI, GG CC, SH, IS, F, AA, KT, BS
• Out of the Furnace – CN
• Pain and Gain – AOS
• Paradise: Love – SH
• The Past – SH
• Philomena – GG, AA, BA, BS
• The Place Beyond the Pines – F
• Post Tenebras Lux – MO
• Redemption – MD
• Rush – GG, MD, BA
• Saving Mr Banks – AFI, CC, BA, BS
• The Selfish Giant – BA
• Short Term 12 – KT
• The Spectacular Now – F
• Spring Breakers – MD, AOS, SH, MO
• The Square – MD
• A Touch of Sin – MD, AOS, SH, MO
• Touchy Feely – F
• The Unknown Known – BS
• Upstream Color – MO, GA
• The Way Way Back – BS
• The Wolf of Wall Street – AFI, GG, CC, AOS, SH, F, AA, MLS

AA – Academy Award Nominations, AFI, AOS – A.O. Scott for NYT, BA – BAFTA, BS – Betsy Sharkey for LAT,  CC – Critic’s Choice Nominations, CFC – Chicago Film Critics, CN – Chris Nashawaty for EW, F – Flavorwire, GA – Gotham Awards, GG – Golden Globe Nomination, IS – Independent Spirit Award Nominations, KT – Kenneth Turan for LAT, MD – Manohla Dargis for NYT, MLS – Mick LaSalle for SFGate, MO – Mark Olsen for LAT, RC – Richard Corliss for Time, SH – Stephen Holden for NYT

Looking back through the movies of the year it was difficult, as always, to cull ten of these. And then even more difficult trying to put them in order. Am I just getting too old to remember what I watched and how much I enjoyed it throughout the year? Perhaps if I start grading along the way it’ll ease my subjective recollection. Oh and of course I haven’t seen everything so check out what’s bold in the Critic’s Picks if you want to know what pool I was drawing from.

Standard caveats apply, it was a pretty indie year for me and here’s where I’m at, I think:

1. The Perks of Being a Wallflower – I’m a sucker for a misfit teen flick and this coming of age piece struck all the right notes, the awkward and the tragic are mixed with enough humor and truly touching moments, along with great cultural references to make it a real perk.
2. Silver Linings Playbook – I thought Bradley Cooper, and the entire cast, did a beautiful job of conveying the edge of true crazy and the precarious balance that can push a person either way, while the wrap-up may have been a bit on the tidy side after a not so silver lined voyage I enjoyed it.
3. The Hunger Games – So no I never read the books but I thought the flick did a great job of portraying a lot of content and a lot of action in a dystopian post-apocalyptic flick, while of course making me like that bow shooting, moral code keeping, Jennifer Lawrence all the more.
4. Hit & Run – I had doubts about Kristen Bell’s dude Dax’s action comedy but quite enjoyed the chasing and fleeing of the recently discovered Witness Protectee trying to get his best gal to her nonviolent conflict resolution job interview, with a wonderful supporting cast.
5. Safety Not Guaranteed – Low expectations are sometimes the best experiences, the quirky cast of Aubrey Plaza, Mark Duplass, and Jake Johnson are well suited for this offbeat journalist covers a story about a dude who is gonna time travel, what happens when our undercover lady reporter gets too involved?
6. Moonrise Kingdom – A very Wes Anderson film with great casting and an incredible visual style as we follow the romance of youngsters across a New England island, though it may not have been the perfect arc it hit all the right notes to make me appreciate the kingdom.
7. Lincoln – That Daniel Day-Lewis does an amazing job portraying the man and the efforts around the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment, which is a good thing because it’s an awful lot of him telling Lincoln tales.
8. The Dark Knight Rises – I maybe am not giving this movie credit based solely on this chapter, skewed by my love of this reinvention and of Christian Bale and my sadness to see it end, maybe a little too comparable to the initial take by the end I was still hoping to see what came next.
9. Argo – Tense throughout, in almost a comical way, they did a nice job capturing the look and feel and emotion of the hidden non hostages from the US Embassy in Tehran and our hero Affleck who acted and directed their ordeal.
10. Beasts of the Southern Wild – One is torn between wanting to get our young protagonist out of her isolated Louisiana bayou community and keeping it perfectly preserved, the mix of fantasy adds a nice touch to the journey of the storm and flooding as well as the family and community.

What did you love last year? Hate?

I have officially reverted from my stance that I need to try to see all ‘good’ movies, or that I need to see all of the Academy Award, and in particular best pic, nominations. I’ll definitely catch a couple of these on dvd though I’m still debating ZDT… In bold you can see what I have seen to date, and stay tuned for the list of my faves from 2012. List of critics and awards referenced at the bottom with links to see what they have to say.

• 2 Days in New York – ML
• 28 Hotel Rooms – ML
• Amour – AOS, AA, OG, KT, LS, MD, RC
• Anna Karenina – RC
• Argo – AFI, AA, BA, BS, CC, CFC, GG, KT, LH, ML, NBR, OG, PGA, PH, LS, SA
• Beasts of the Southern Wild – AFI, AOS, AA, BS, CC, CFC, LS, NBR, PGA, PH, RC, SA
• Bernie – GA, LH, OG, PH
• The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel – GG
• The Cabin in the Woods – PH
• Cloud Atlas – LH
• Dark Horse – RC
• The Dark Knight Rises – AFI, KT, LH, PH, RC
• The Deep Blue Sea – KT, MD, ML
• The Details – ML
• Detropia – BS
• Django Unchained – AFI, AOS, AA, BS, CC, GG, ML, NBR, PGA
• Dragon – RC
• Farewell My Queen – ML
• Flight – OG
• Footnote – AOS, KT
• Frankenweenie – BS, RC
• Gatekeepers – KT, LS, MD
• Goodbye, First Love – AOS
• The Grey – AOS
• Holy Motors – MD
• How to Survive a Plague – LS
• The Impossible – BS
• The Invisible War – RC
• Killing them Softly – OG
• The Law In These Parts – KT
• Les Miserables – AFI, AA, BA, CC, GG, NBR, PGA, SA
• Life of Pi – AFI, AA, BA, BS, CC, GG, PGA, RC, SA
• Lincoln – AFI, AOS, AA, BA, BS, CC, CFC, GG, OG, PGA, KT, LH, LS, ML, NBR, PH, SA
• The Loneliest Planet – GA, LS
• Looper – NBR, PH
• The Master – AOS, CC, CFC, GA, MD
• Middle of Nowhere – GA, KT
• Moonrise Kingdom – AFI, BS, CC, GA, GG, MD, PGA, SA
• Neighboring Sounds – AOS
• Not Fade Away – LH
• Once Upon a Time in Anatolia – MD
• The Perks of Being a Wallflower – NBR, OG
• Promised Land – NBR
• Quartet – LH
• Robot & Frank – KT
• Room 237 – OG
• Rust and Bone – KT
• Safety Not Guaranteed – KT
• Salmon Fishing in the Yemen – GG
• Searching for Sugar Man – MD, PH
• The Sessions – SA
• Silver Linings Playbook – AFI, AA, BS, CC, GG, KT, MD, NBR, OG, PGA, PH, SA
• Skyfall – BS, LH, LS, PGA, SA
• The Waiting Room – LH, ML
• Zero Dark Thirty – AFI, AOS, AA, BA, BS, CC, CFC, GG, OG, PGA, KT, LH, LS, MD, ML, NYFCC, PH, RC, SA

AFI – AFI Awards, AOS – A. O. Scott for NYT, AA – The Academy Awards, BA – Bafta Awards, BS – Betsey Sharkey for LAT, CC – Critics Choice, CFC – Chicago Film Critics, GA – Gotham Awards, GG –Golden Globes, OG – Owen Gleiberman for EW, KT – Kenneth Turan for LAT, LH – Leba Hertz for SFG, LS – Lisa Schwarzbaum for EW, MD – Manohla Dargis for NYT, ML – Mick LaSalle for SFG, NBR – National Board of Review, NYFCC – New York Film Critics Circle, PGA – Producers Guild, PH – Peter Hartlaub for SFG, RC – Richard Corliss for Time Magazine, SA – Satellite Awards