Not sure about 'best', but I enjoyed those quite a bit, flaws and all:
New World (South Korean) (After this, as far as I'm concerned, Min-sik Choi can do no wrong.)
The Kings of Summer (U.S.)
We Are Northern Lights (documentary) (U.K.)
Fruitvale Station (U.S.)
Miracle in Cell No.7 (SK)
Gangs of Wasseypur part 1 (India)
Gangs of Wasseypur part 2 (India)
Behind the Candelabra (U.S.)
The East (U.S.)
Pluto (SK)
Cold Eyes (SK)
The Human Race (U.S.)
Blind Detective (HK)
The Great Gatsby (Australia/U.S.)
Oblivion (U.S.)
Europa Report (U.S.)
Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow? (Taiwanese)
Not enough to make it 20, I'm afraid. The bulk of my film-viewing this year are 2012 releases on 2013 DVD releases, though.
The ones I looked forward to the most were The Berlin File, Pearblossom Hwy and Lesson of the Evil, but they weren't as good as I expected. Boo!
Gangs of Wasseypur (split into two parts) surprised me the most. It's a gritty saga of a rivalry, between two criminal families, that spans three or four generations, from the 1940s to the 1990s. With two parts together, the film lasts a little more than five hours.
I say surprise because I'm generally not that keen on Indian films. Mostly because unless it's clearly a musical film, I don't like random song-and-dance sequences in any films, but GoW doesn't have any. It's a straight-up crime drama / family saga. This is the film(s) that's finally convinced me that there is a such thing as New Wave Indian Cinema (Shaitan, Delhi Belly, etc.).
Although quite gritty and grim, it has a couple of funny dark moments, which helped to relieve intense tension at times. Good call. It does have a couple of flaws, but overall, certainly worth seeing. While not the best of the year, it was certainly the surprise of the year.
Films I look forward to the most this year: Snowpiercer, The Philosophers, The Rover, Aberya, A Single Shot (I'd watch anything that has Sam Rockwell), Singularity, Cold War (HK) and The Kirishima Thing.
Films I look forward to the most this year: Snowpiercer,
I'm hearing great things about Snowpiercer but I've just read that Harvey Weinstein is having it cut by 20 minutes for English speaking audiences because he doesn't think that Mid-West audiences will understand it. I take that as meaning that he's cutting a lot of Song Kang-ho's scenes to reduce the subtitles required,
Looks like I'll have to buy the imported version from South Korea.
Haven't seen anywhere near 20 movies released this year...
Out of what I have seen so far.
1. World War Z
2. Star Trek Into Darkness
3. Oblivion
4. The Wolverine
5. Man of Steel
If Jack Reacher counts (released on DVD this year) that would probably be my #1.
You know it's a bad year for films when World War Z is topping your list... I expect that might change when I see Elysium. Planning on seeing The World's End before the end of its run at some point too.
I'm hearing great things about Snowpiercer but I've just read that Harvey Weinstein is having it cut by 20 minutes for English speaking audiences because he doesn't think that Mid-West audiences will understand it. I take that as meaning that he's cutting a lot of Song Kang-ho's scenes to reduce the subtitles required,
Looks like I'll have to buy the imported version from South Korea.
There were rumours of the UK telling him where to stick his dumbed down version. Although, nobody has UK rights (or nobody's announced they have UK rights) yet. So they might struggle to get a UK release if the distributors are certain they want an uncut release.
According to [Tony] Rayns*, the UK will be protesting TWC's proposed cuts and he hopes that Australia will follow suit.
*(a film critic who hosted a commentary track for The Host, from the same director)
I don't think I've quite seen 20 movies this year, so instead I figured I'd do a ranking of the ones I had watched.
1) The Heat
2) Side Effects
3) Iron Man 3
4) World War Z
5) Fast and Furious 6
6) Wreck-It Ralph
7) Elysium
8) Gangster Squad
9) Stoker
10) Despicable Me 2
11) Monsters University
12) Frozen Ground
13) Kick-Ass 2
14) Oz: The Great and Powerful
15) Oblivion
16) Man Of Steel
'The Heat' was quite possibly the most I've laughed at a movie ever. 'Despicable Me 2' and 'Monsters University' were both disappointing considering their hype (then again, I barely remember their prequel.). Ditto with 'Kick-Ass 2.' The last 3 were just laughably poor.
Comments
New World (South Korean) (After this, as far as I'm concerned, Min-sik Choi can do no wrong.)
The Kings of Summer (U.S.)
We Are Northern Lights (documentary) (U.K.)
Fruitvale Station (U.S.)
Miracle in Cell No.7 (SK)
Gangs of Wasseypur part 1 (India)
Gangs of Wasseypur part 2 (India)
Behind the Candelabra (U.S.)
The East (U.S.)
Pluto (SK)
Cold Eyes (SK)
The Human Race (U.S.)
Blind Detective (HK)
The Great Gatsby (Australia/U.S.)
Oblivion (U.S.)
Europa Report (U.S.)
Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow? (Taiwanese)
Not enough to make it 20, I'm afraid. The bulk of my film-viewing this year are 2012 releases on 2013 DVD releases, though.
The ones I looked forward to the most were The Berlin File, Pearblossom Hwy and Lesson of the Evil, but they weren't as good as I expected. Boo!
Gangs of Wasseypur (split into two parts) surprised me the most. It's a gritty saga of a rivalry, between two criminal families, that spans three or four generations, from the 1940s to the 1990s. With two parts together, the film lasts a little more than five hours.
I say surprise because I'm generally not that keen on Indian films. Mostly because unless it's clearly a musical film, I don't like random song-and-dance sequences in any films, but GoW doesn't have any. It's a straight-up crime drama / family saga. This is the film(s) that's finally convinced me that there is a such thing as New Wave Indian Cinema (Shaitan, Delhi Belly, etc.).
Although quite gritty and grim, it has a couple of funny dark moments, which helped to relieve intense tension at times. Good call. It does have a couple of flaws, but overall, certainly worth seeing. While not the best of the year, it was certainly the surprise of the year.
Films I look forward to the most this year: Snowpiercer, The Philosophers, The Rover, Aberya, A Single Shot (I'd watch anything that has Sam Rockwell), Singularity, Cold War (HK) and The Kirishima Thing.
Just wow......not a single good thing about that trainwreck of a movie.
I'm hearing great things about Snowpiercer but I've just read that Harvey Weinstein is having it cut by 20 minutes for English speaking audiences because he doesn't think that Mid-West audiences will understand it. I take that as meaning that he's cutting a lot of Song Kang-ho's scenes to reduce the subtitles required,
Looks like I'll have to buy the imported version from South Korea.
1. The Conjuring
2. The Place Beyond The Pines
3. World War Z
4. Behind The Candelabra
5. Mama
Out of what I have seen so far.
1. World War Z
2. Star Trek Into Darkness
3. Oblivion
4. The Wolverine
5. Man of Steel
If Jack Reacher counts (released on DVD this year) that would probably be my #1.
You know it's a bad year for films when World War Z is topping your list... I expect that might change when I see Elysium. Planning on seeing The World's End before the end of its run at some point too.
1) The Heat
2) Side Effects
3) Iron Man 3
4) World War Z
5) Fast and Furious 6
6) Wreck-It Ralph
7) Elysium
8) Gangster Squad
9) Stoker
10) Despicable Me 2
11) Monsters University
12) Frozen Ground
13) Kick-Ass 2
14) Oz: The Great and Powerful
15) Oblivion
16) Man Of Steel
'The Heat' was quite possibly the most I've laughed at a movie ever. 'Despicable Me 2' and 'Monsters University' were both disappointing considering their hype (then again, I barely remember their prequel.). Ditto with 'Kick-Ass 2.' The last 3 were just laughably poor.