2013 #6: THE WOLF OF WALL STREET

The epic, excessive life of notorious Wall Street huckster Jordan Belfort gets epic, excessive cinematic treatment by one of the most epic, excessive of directors, Martin Scorsese.  See a pattern there?  Leonardo DiCaprio is completely and utterly on fire from frame-one, giving it his all in every sense of the phrase.  It’s also, most crucially and surprisingly, the funniest and loosest he’s ever been on screen, revealing new, comedic sides to his personality.  On the complete opposite side of things, the enormously gifted comedic actor Jonah Hill again severely impresses in a dramatic role (his first being his pitch-perfect work in Moneyball), while also landing some of the heartiest laughs in this blackest of comedies.  Littered with tons familiar faces, spot-on character work, and the alarming presence of alluring Australian newcomer Margot Robbie, The Wolf of Wall Street races through its three-hour running time like an out of control freight train being driven by a lunatic mad-man. No movie since Terry Gilliam’s hedonistic masterpiece of drug-fuelled shenanigans Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas has embraced on-screen drug-use for both dark humor and for appalling dramatic effect the way The Wolf of Wall Street does; it’s bracing and exciting and wildly unexpected coming from the director whose last movie was the warm-hearted children’s fable Hugo.  But that’s why Scorsese continues to be the most important, vital voice in modern cinema – he’s always up to a challenge, always pushing the limits, always going for the filmic jugular. Along with the gifted screenwriter Terrence Winter, they’ve painted a sprawling, troubling portrait of a morally decaying society – the American dream run amok, perverted and corrupted by ultra-success and zero consequences.  And the last shot of the film – possibly the best single shot of the year – casually and brilliantly indicts everyone, not just the despicable characters in the film and the zombie-eyed audience members that Belfort is preaching too at his seminar, but anyone in the audience who has missed the point of this outrageous and masterful piece of storytelling.  

2013 #7: GRAVITY

Welcome to the world of the Auteur Blockbuster. I love this world. Filmmaker Alfonso Cuaron reminds everyone why “going to the movies” should still be considered an event and something special. Cameron was probably weeping in his Cheerios. Literally taking 99.9% of viewers the closest they’ll ever get to outer space, this technically mind-boggling achievement is a high point... in big-budget studio entertainment – a thrill-ride with a brain, done in an experimental-for-the-masses structure, with an intensely focused lead performance of considerable heft and guts (Sandra Bullock, very effective). Virtuoso cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki somehow outdoes himself yet again; if there’s any cinematic justice he’ll finally win an Oscar for his work on this film, which is nothing short of insane. One of the first movies to truly warrant the 3-D upcharge and to use the format in expressive, enveloping ways, it’s the simple beauty of the story and the quality of the performances will make any 2-D viewing just as gripping. This is a thrill-ride of the first order, one that first and foremost wants to take you on an adventure, but also isn’t afraid to ask some questions about humanity along the way.

2013 #8: HER

Boldly original, strikingly conceived, and flawlessly executed, writer/director Spike Jonze has crafted an elegant romantic drama for our current technology obsessed times.  This is a deeply layered, incredibly soulful film, one that explores the fundamental idea of love and what it means to humans on both an emotional and psychological level, while also discussing what it might mean to a piece of artificial intelligence.  Joaquin Phoenix is wonderful in a lead performance that couldn’t be any more different from his ghoulish, serpentine work in last year’s The Master, and using only her amazingly intoxicating voice, Scarlett Johansson does tremendous work as the eternal and unseen object of desire.  Repeated viewings will likely reap multiple, previously undiscovered rewards.

2013 #9: PRISONERS

Morally probing, moodily stylish, and intensely acted by all, Canadian director Denis Villeneuve’s harrowing, violent kidnapping thriller Prisoners is one of the finest American crime movies in years, easily on par with modern classics such as Mystic River and Seven. Hugh Jackman goes deep with an emotionally complex, career-topping performance (in any other year he gets a Best Actor nom for this gut-wrenching piece of work) and Jake Gyllenhaal yet again demonstrates how perfect he can be when given the right material. Aaron Guzikowski’s twisty, twisted, and ultimately brilliant screenplay never sacrifices coherence or succumbs to cheap exploitation while piling on the plot threads, while Villeneuve obsesses over all of the small directorial touches in an almost Fincher-esque manner. The incomparable cinematographer Roger Deakins clearly had a ball playing within the parameters of the mystery noir genre, cloaking the film in rain, shadows, darkness, and harsh streaks of light. A breakneck final 20 minutes leads into a lump-in-your-throat finale; this is an absolutely top-shelf mystery that only comes around every so often.

2013 #10: MAN OF STEEL

Man of Steel is supreme, genre-busting entertainment, a blockbuster with a brain and a heart as well as outstanding special effects, that’s both epic in scope yet intimate in the fine details.  Featuring mind-boggling action scenes that have seemingly been ripped from a youngster’s vividly playful and destructive imagination, Man of Steel also pauses for the contemplative and serene (at times it’s as if Malick is ghost-directing), and benefits immensely from an exceptional cast of veteran actors, while Henry Cavill carves out a modern, powerful, and extremely appealing take on the duality of Clark Kent/Superman.  Visually dynamic in ways that few superhero movies have ever been, rich in tradition yet never slavishly faithful to what’s come before, and exciting to ponder in the larger scope of the D.C. comic book movie universe, Snyder, Nolan, and Goyer have considerably upped the ante when it comes to this sort of filmmaking.  The bottom line is this – they all made the Superman movie I’ve been waiting my entire life to see on the big screen. 

2013 #11: TO THE WONDER

At once both exceedingly private and surprisingly open in intimate, emotionally vulnerable ways, this is writer/director Terrence Malick's most autobiographical film to date, even more experimental in narrative form than The Tree of Life, and a totally stunning visual marvel to behold in every scene (the cinematographer is the peerless Emmanuel Lubezki). It's a piece of art that isn't meant to be taken literally in any overall sense, but rather, a film that best resembles half-remembered thoughts, dreams, and moments from a person's life. Olga Kurylenko's face is remarkable to observe and often painful to experience, and as the film progresses, it slowly dawns on you that, yet again, Malick is revolutionizing the way stories are told.

2013 #12: DALLAS BUYERS CLUB

Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto give the best performances of their careers in this incredibly moving true story that shines a light on a turbulent and horrific time in American history. Jean-Marc Vallee's clear eyed and sensitive direction worked in perfect tandem with Craig Borten and Melisa Wallack's warts-and-all screenplay, with McConaughey boldly embracing all aspects of his character's flaws and traits. Here's a film that really is about someone who changed as a human being, for the better, and did something to change the lives of those around him.