Ten years ago, who’d have thought Leo DiCaprio and Matthew McConaughey would be competing for a “Best Actor” award? Reconciling 2012’s mostly humdrum releases, 2013 was an all-around solid year. The Coen Brothers continued perfecting their endings, documentaries gain more public traction and Netflix increasingly made indie and foreign films more accessible. And because some of 2013’s best movies happened during winter break, these are my top ten films of the year.*
10) Frozen
Is this the most original Disney movie? No. But its strong female characters, Broadway hotshots, dazzling animation and unique take on true love places this as a favorite in the Disney canon. Plus, Olaf is The Mouse’s most endearing sidekick since the Timon and Pumbaa duo.
9) Dallas Buyers Club
By focusing on a dishonorable man accomplishing heroic undertakings, we engage with the “means versus end” debate. Beyond this, Ron Woodroof’s attitude toward the trans and homosexual characters should give some Christians pause — he doesn’t like their lifestyle and is often verbally abusive, yet he helps them and fights to save their lives.
8) Nebraska
A steady, prairie pace moves a tender family drama across black-and-white landscapes. Graceless and awkward, the Grant family lets us laugh at their all-too-real dysfunctionality. But director Alexander Payne also uncovers the soft charm underneath family problems.
7) Spring Breakers
More of an experience than a story, director and writer Harmony Korine weaves a surreal and over-the-top fable warning against unrestricted freedom and self-seeking indulgence. Four teenage girls and James Franco — as the ever bizarre Alien — rob and murder in search of vain fulfillment, all the while singing Britney Spears songs.
6) Wolf of Wall Street
It’s a chaotic trip sprinting through a three-hour runtime with a manic performance by Leonardo DiCaprio. Martin Scorsese makes no attempt to diminish the appeal and allure of money, sex, drugs or power. But by showing rather than telling, “Wolf” reveals the impulses within us all.
5) Gravity
Besides being the frantic spectacle everyone’s raving about, Alfonso Cuarón’s latest film uses the vast landscape of space to explore grief’s isolation and grace’s mystery. And it’s the human will to live that grab and drags the audience through fire, water and cosmos to get back home.
4) Before Midnight
This closes the 18-year journey for Jesse and Céline. It’s practically just dialogue driven. And few movies can match “Midnight’s” genuine and heart-wrenching discussion on love and long-term commitment. A sad and touching end to one of the greatest trilogies filmed.
3) Her
Continuing 2013’s ongoing conversation on love and relationships is Spike Jonze’s unorthodox entry. Loneliness and love compulsions are given a whimsical sci-fi spin. The movie celebrates the joy, heartache and fearsome strength love can be.
2) The Act of Killing
It’s a powerhouse, an unsuspecting documentary about government-sanctioned gangsters who tortured and killed suspected communists during the 1960s in Indonesia. As the killers — some now grandfathers — reenact and revel in their past actions, the filmmakers highlight human depravity that is both heartbreaking and disturbing. The movie’s parting images and words are filled with torment and hope, heartbreak and pity — all the more crushing because this is not fiction.
1) 12 Years a Slave
There are movies that happen every decade or so that are needed. Steve McQueen’s brutal look at American slavery is told with visceral anguish through gorgeous craftsmanship and unrelenting disturbances. What makes “Slave” all the more relevant is today’s unprecedented and ongoing slave trade. What could easily have been sentimental mush turned out to be a provocative, storytelling force. This is a masterpiece.
*Though these are incredible movies, I would not recommend them to everyone. Some are too graphic, too intense and unhelpful for some people. For every movie you’d want to see, research it and decide in clear conscience. But if you do watch it, don’t forget the popcorn.
