So as 2013 draws to a close, it’s time to bring our year in review to a close also and take a look at our favourite movies from the last 12 months, and ultimately announce OUR movie of the year.And don’t forget, its YOU that decides The Movie Bit’s actual movie of the year, in our fourth annual movie of the year poll. Vote here
Victor Barry’s Top 5 of 2013
5 – Trance
Danny Boyle’s Trance simply blew my mind. A fantastic performance from James McAvoy and a movie that just had me gripped from the very beginning. Its rare that something comes along and demands your immediate attention instantly, grabs you by the throat and refuses to let go. The idea was unique and original, and Boyle executed it sublimely with a rather stonking soundtrack to boot. And if you required to see Rosario Dawson do a full frontal (and lets face it, WE all require that) you were well taken care of.By the time the credits rolled, I wasn’t sure who was hypnotised, McAvoy’s character or my own!
4 - Pacific Rim
This was always going to be in my Top 5. Big ass robots kicking the living fuck out of big ass monsters, while trampling all over Hong Kong and using ships as baseball bats. There is nothing more to say here. Simply the biggest popcorn flick of the year.
3 – Gravity
It was the opening shot, that epically long, one take / one camera shot that hooked me in and from there, Alfonso Cuarón took me on an incredibly tense and visually stunning rollercoaster with a career best performance from Sandra Bullock. Gravity was the most enveloping movie of the year and it really demanded that you see it on the biggest and best cinema screen you could find. The IMAX experience was nothing short of jaw dropping.
2 - Saving Mr. Banks
I always knew this was going to be good. I’m a sucker for Disney stuff, especially Walt himself and at the beginning of the year I was lucky enough to see quite alot of footage from Saving Mr. Banks. From that point on I knew this would always feature in my Top 2, let alone Top 5. Emma Thompson’s performance is the greatest showcase of acting this year (Ok so Cate Blanchett rocked in Blue Jasmine as well) and had me laughing, crying and completely mesmerised at the same time. It really was a faultless movie going experience, proving that you don’t need 20 trillion tonnes of dynamite to make a story entertaining.
1 - The Hobbit: The Desolation Of Smaug
It is only as a type this, that my movie of the year has changed. For quite some time now, Saving Mr. Banks was firmly placed in the top spot. But since seeing Smaug a few weeks back, Peter Jackson and his second part of The Hobbit trilogy has never left my mind. Every day, I ache to see it again. From the spiders of Mirkwood to the epic Smaug himself, this had it all. And then some. Great pacing, and the greatest dragon ever to grace the screen. Not to mention one of the scenes of the year, that involved a river, Dwarves and some barrels. Simply fantastic. And that my hairy footed friends, is my movie of the year.
Tom White’s Top 5 of 2013
5 - The Lone Ranger
O.K., I know I'm going to get a lot of weird looks for this choice, considering the critical drubbing this movie has gotten, but Gore Verbinski put together a fun adventure flick with The Lone Ranger. The set pieces, especially the finale set to The William Tell Overture, were outstanding, William Ficthner put in a sublimely creepy performance as Butch Cavendish, and Armie Hammer and Johnny Depp, who stayed on the right side of his usual kooky routine, had some good chemistry as the two leads. As a big budget Summer blockbuster, which it never claimed to be anything but, it certainly delivered.
4 - Don Jon
His directorial debut, Joseph Gordon-Levitt's Don Jon showed great promise for his future behind the camera, delivering an exquisitely shot, smart, and funny commentary on the sate of modern relationships. Gordon-Levitt also brought the swagger in the title role, bringing a strange likability to a sex obsessed jerk, and putting in one of his best performances to date. His spiky chemistry with Scarlett Johansson, as his love interest, elevated this above the usual rom com, but it took Brie Larson, uttering only one line in the entire film, to steal the show.
3 - Frozen
Funny and absolutely heart breaking in equal measure, Frozen was Disney's first real success, after Tangled paved the way in 2010, of marrying the heart of their earlier movies with their new animation style. It feels like old school Disney on every level, from the fantastic array of songs, that will not fail to tug on your heart strings, to the instantly likable characters the House of Mouse is known for, but with a touching story, given a modern bent, that will appeal to both the kiddies and grown ups in the audience.
2 - Pacific Rim
Giant robots and giant monsters, need I say more. Less a movie, more a glimpse inside the brain of director Guillermo Del Toro, Pacific Rim delivered on it's admittedly thin concept, becoming one of the most visually impressive movies of 2013. A love letter to the giant monster movies brought to us by Toho, the sight of a giant robot beating on a giant monster with a cargo ship will probably stay with me forever, and is a fantastic example of what good world building can bring to a movie, instantly drawing you in to such a degree that you will accept anything. Even a name like Stacker Pentecost.
1 -Gravity
Director Alfonso Cuaron delivered one of the most tense, pulse pounding, and visually stunning movies of the year with Gravity. A movie that would bring you to the edge of your seat with some sublimely realized action sequences, only to slow it down again with some heart felt character moments between Sandra Bullock and George Clooney, then ramp up the tension all the way up to 11 again.
