The Great Year That Wasn’t: 2013 Cinema in Review

So what is there to  say about 2013 in film? Towards the end of the year a lot of critics and other movie folks deemed it to be a great year, perhaps even greater than 2007. I did like what cinema had to offer this years, and there were plenty of gems (otherwise there wouldn’t be a top 25), some of which could become all-timers. But a GREAT year? I don’t think so. A lot of these conversations happened on the level of Oscar films, but on a year when mediocrity like Philomena, American Hustle, and dreck like August: Osage County and Rush were even the conversation, that adjective didn’t deserve to be used. So, as far as overall quality goes, it was an average year. 

October 2013- Best & Worst

Last October I set out to watch as many horror films as possible, for obvious reasons. But due to many things (binge-watching MTV’s Teen Wolf being one of them) not only did I only manage to watch two of them, but just nine films in total. This month I did much better, watching 21 films for the first time including 7 which can be considered horror. The best of these was easily Halloween, which I finally got around to see this year and it lived up to expectations despite being completely different than what I imagined.

As for the other films I watched, The Purple Rose of Cairo immediately jumped into my top 10 of all time. I also watched Alfonso Cuarón’s Gravity two times in IMAX because it was an amazing experience that I knew I would never have again. It may not be quite my favorite film of the year, but it’s still among one of the best. And finally, films like The Best Little Whorewhouse in Texas, Enough Said, and Populaire reminded me that light and fluffy films can be just as powerful as any other.

And now, here’s my top 10 of the month, followed, as always by some awards and such.

Weekly Mini Reviews: “Carrie,” “Enough Said,” “Gravity” & More

I’m now going to try to write a few sentences on every film I watch during the week. I know for a fact it’s not going to be possible each week, but I’ll try, even if all I do is copy and paste my tweets.

October 6-12, 2013

Carrie | Brian DePalma | 1976 | ★★★

I’m not too educated on Brian DePalma’s work, but I’ve seen enough of it to be familiar with his very stylish approach to just about every subject. As I recently saw with Passion, he is able to elevate bad material and make it into some thing worthwhile. In Passion’s case, two memorable hours of fun sleaze. With Carrie, his style turns the third act into one of the most intense things I’ve ever seen in any horror film as his use of flooding red lights, split screens, slow motion, and isolated sounds help highlight the terror she unleashes on her classmates and makes you feel as if you are there. However, in the first two acts, his works overwhelms the material rather than make it tense. But overall, it’s a fine film that is worth watching for that third act and for Piper Laurie’s glorious scenery chewing. This Halloween season, you could do much worse than watching this.