Best of 2013: Top 20 Movies, Part 1

My top 20 films of 2013.

20. Spring Breakers

I hate that a Harmony Korine film made my list, but I have to acknowledge the fine bit of cinema that Spring Breakers is. It's all about bright colors, loud noises and sleazy excess. It's a sensorially-assaulting experience, and the story at its center only exists so there's a sense of structure. A film like this lives scene by scene, and ultimately it doesn't matter how they all go together. There are enough individual moments in this movie to make the experience of watching it a worthwhile one. Even the stunt casting (the 4 rebellious main characters are played by 3 ex-Disney stars and the director's wife) ends up working, which on paper shouldn't have.

19. Iron Man 3

As much as the Marvel movies all need to fit into the same universe, and as much as the Iron Man franchise has developed its own kind of rhythm, Iron Man 3 is 100% a Shane Black film. Black made his name writing big Hollywood films that revel in character self-loathing and sarcasm, and those qualities have carried over into his directorial work. Iron Man 3 marks a fitting reunion for Black and Robert Downey Jr. Downey starred in Black's directing debut, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. Downey was then offered the role of Tony Stark in the first Iron Man film based largely on his performance from Black's film. So Black knows exactly what kind of dialogue to put in Downey's mouth. Black may not be great at depth, but the 3rd film in the franchise is certainly its funniest. The scene with the Mandarin (if you've seen it, you know the one) is the single funniest scene I saw all year.

18. Europa Report

The opposite of trash like Apollo 18, Europa Report is a found-footage style science fiction movie that puts the emphasis on science. A crew of international astronauts is sent on a mission to study the ice of Europa, one of Jupiter's moons. As is always the case in these films, they encounter difficulties both on the way there and once they've arrived. The reason this film stands head and shoulders above its peers is that it embraces the professionalism of the characters. Problems are dealt with using reason and proper procedure. When alternate methods must be used, they are done so intelligently. The appeal of Europa Report comes from watching an elite group of people struggle to accomplish something unprecedented. And the end result is very appealing indeed.

17. Drinking Buddies

Mumblecore stalwart Joe Swanberg takes a step towards directing a real mainstream movie with Drinking Buddies. His mumblecore sensibilities are still there, of course, as the film is mostly just people hanging out and talking. But look, it has real stars in it! There's Olivia Wilde, being irresistibly appealing as a press agent for a microbrewery. Jake Johnson is one of the brewmasters, who has a really, really close rapport with Wilde. And there's an actual Oscar nominee, Anna Kendrick, as Johnson's girlfriend! And also Ron Livingston is there for a while. This is first and foremost a hangout movie, where the joy comes from just watching these characters live. There's some drama involved, and some of the story beats look formulaic at first (though don't end that way), but they're not the movie's heart.

16. Lone Survivor

It may double as a recruitment ad for the military, but Peter Berg's film is also a fast, tense action thriller. Taylor Kitsch leads a team of Navy SEALs including Mark Wahlberg, Ben Foster and Emile Hirsch on a mission that goes wrong, leaving the 4 men to flee from a group of pursuing Taliban fighters. Faulty equipment and a disorganized support effort thwart their chances of escape, and the fighting gets very ugly. There's no real depth here, but there is a lot of adrenalin, which works wonders in its own way.

15. The East

While not up to the quality of her previous screenwriting efforts, writer/star Brit Marling's The East is still an occasionally gripping drama about a corporate spy sent by boss Patricia Clarkson to infiltrate a group of eco-terrorists led by a seductively charming Alexander Skarsgard and a suspicious Ellen Page. The story hits some well-worn tropes ("oh no, the undercover agent is getting too deep!" and "maybe the good guys aren't so good after all"), but the acting and directing (Marling reteams with her Sound of My Voice director Zal Batmanglij) keeps the film running along relatively smoothly.

14. American Hustle

"Serious pianists sometimes pound out a little honky-tonk, just for fun." That's how Roger Ebert opens his review of Steven Soderberg's Ocean's Eleven. His review goes on to suggest that while the movie is slickly made and enjoyable, it is ultimately just an exercise in fun between a talented director's more worthy projects. I would describe American Hustle the same way. It's David O. Russell having some fun with his friends, and very little more. The film was overhyped, and has experienced some backlash as a result. The truth is that the film is a good one but not a great one, though it is plenty fun for the duration of its running time.

13. 12 Years a Slave

For all of the positive hype surrounding it, I thought the film actually seemed kind of slight. There are certainly a few powerful scenes and some great performances, but it still felt like the movie could have used an extra 30 minutes of character scenes to fill in the gaps. It's a good movie, but perhaps a touch overrated.

12. Sound City

Half nostalgia documentary, half performance film, David Grohl's directorial debut is above all else a love letter to the music studio. Not just the studio of the title, but to the music studio as a concept; a place where likeminded musicians can gather to create something. Famous and non-famous interviewees all gush about the experiences they had recording at Sound City. Then Grohl buys the legendary Sound City recording board (the studio closed), installs it in his own studio, and invites his friends and some of the Sound City alumni to join him in recording an album. As a documentary, it's a bit shallow. As a love letter, it's remarkably heartfelt.

11. Prince Avalanche

Early in his career, David Gorden Green was often compared (perhaps a bit hyperbolically) to the legendary Terence Malick. Then he took a sudden u-turn into directing terrible stoner comedies, and his potential seemed forever squandered. Prince Avalanche returns him to form, and is easily his best film in over a decade. Paul Rudd and Emile Hirsch star as workers who spend the week repainting road markings and putting up road signs in a forest recently destroyed by wildfire. They bicker, they bond, they experience setbacks and advances in their personal lives. And always they are surrounded by the signs of ruined life, and of the new life that is slowly growing back into the world. It's funny, sad, and visually poetic. The drama is held up only by the fact that there isn't much at stake for the characters, but thats a minor quibble.